Strava cyclists TFF

mrs mtx

Member
Location
Pembrokeshire

bitwrx

Member
Just joined your club on Strava. Been cycling a while, on and off, but only just getting into Strava, so thought I'd see what you lot were up to.

Had a great ride out today. On me tod, a few bridleways chucked in for fun. This was the (first!) lunch stop. A303 in the background somewhere.
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Ave just over 20kmh for just over 100km, which I was chuffed with. My first metric century for a while. Just wanted to make sure I could still do it, before I head off on this next week: clicky.
 

Boysground

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Wiltshire
Did Bike Bath yesterday, a week of harvest and midnight finishes didn’t help, was a little tired at the start.

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3 punctures in the 1st 10 miles almost made me pack in, a nice chap gave me another tube. Tubeless caused me problems for the 1st time. Was a good route with plenty of climbing, some narrow lanes, gravel and a trip round the Bath sights.

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Wuffler

Member
Location
Northumberland
Did Bike Bath yesterday, a week of harvest and midnight finishes didn’t help, was a little tired at the start.

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3 punctures in the 1st 10 miles almost made me pack in, a nice chap gave me another tube. Tubeless caused me problems for the 1st time. Was a good route with plenty of climbing, some narrow lanes, gravel and a trip round the Bath sights.

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I'm not a fan of tubeless on a road bike.
I have been running on 23/25 C tyres with latex tubes at 110 psi for years and I can honestly say I can't remember the last I had a flat and I ride 1000's of miles/year...
The downside of latex tubes is you have to inflate them every ride, no big deal imo.
Try them, you won't be dissapointed...
 

adam_farming

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Suffolk
3/4 of mine are tubeless, and luckily I seem to have got on OK. All 3 are on Mavic rims which do fit very well. Road bike is Mavic tyres on Mavic rims which you would hope works flawlessly anyway, MTB's are Schwalbe and Maxxis.

My commuter/gravel, winter road bike is still on tubes with Schwalbe Marathon Mondial tyres on which have so far been great. Puncture free after 2300 miles of mainly country lanes back and forth to work since January, and they still have some of the moulding bobble things intact in places! Probably not the fastest for a pure road bike but can't be bettered for hassle free and good handling. Hedgecutting season is coming so we'll see how well they hold up. If the long term test reviews are to be believed they're good for 10,000 miles!
 

Boysground

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Wiltshire
I’ve only done 800 miles on tubeless and this was the 1st puncture. The original puncture was a cut right in the middle of the tyre. It had loads of sealant coming through so I just pumped it up. That didn’t last long so we quickly put a tube in. That lasted a couple of miles I’ve not checked it yet but suspect it’s got a small pinch in it. The tube that was donated is still up.

Between the 6 or 7 of us that started together we had 7 punctures most on tubes.

Ive not given up with tubeless yet.

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EddieB

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Staffs
Do any of you tubeless riders carry a tyre repair kit (basically a dart that pushes a small piece of rubber through the hole)? I have one but thankfully haven’t had to use it. I just wondered how effective they are.
 

EddieB

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Staffs
Yes I’m riding 28s probably at about 65 psi on my road bike, very nice ride.
Conversely I have a TT bike with deep section tubulars and the tyres at around 140 psi. That’s a proper bone shaker.
 

bitwrx

Member
Do any of you tubeless riders carry a tyre repair kit (basically a dart that pushes a small piece of rubber through the hole)? I have one but thankfully haven’t had to use it. I just wondered how effective they are.
I had a gash in the sidewall on a 38mm tyre that I got near @Boysground's place. Sealed itself till my next ride when I had to put a tube in. Used a Panaracer tubeless repair kit with a little strip of rubber and plenty of vulcanising solution and it's been fine since - just like fixing a quad tyre on the farm.

Currently in the Alps about to start a 4 day charity ride on 32mm tyres, and my front valve is misbehaving a bit... I have a tube, but I really don't want the weight penalty with 12000m of climbing coming up. 😬

ETA: won't be carrying the kit with me, but have it here in case I need it. Will have a tube on me at all times, and a good old puncture repair kit.
 

Boysground

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Wiltshire
I had a gash in the sidewall on a 38mm tyre that I got near @Boysground's place. Sealed itself till my next ride when I had to put a tube in. Used a Panaracer tubeless repair kit with a little strip of rubber and plenty of vulcanising solution and it's been fine since - just like fixing a quad tyre on the farm.

Currently in the Alps about to start a 4 day charity ride on 32mm tyres, and my front valve is misbehaving a bit... I have a tube, but I really don't want the weight penalty with 12000m of climbing coming up. 😬

ETA: won't be carrying the kit with me, but have it here in case I need it. Will have a tube on me at all times, and a good old puncture repair kit.
That’s a great challenge, good luck and post some photos when you get back.

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bitwrx

Member
Quick trip report

Day 2 took us up Col de l'Arpettaz, Col des Saisies and the Signal de Bisanne, before heading down into Albertville for the night.
Gradients were more manageable than day 1, but it was a longer stage overall.
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Beautiful scenery on the climbs, especially up the Arpettaz.
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Plenty of haymaking going on around the place, with some pretty funky machinery. This was my pick of the tractors.
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On the descent into Albertville, there was a collision involving one of the riders. Tragically, he passed away.

I didn't know him, but he was very well known, liked and respected within the group. There are a lot people very upset by his passing.

The organisers provided all the support necessary, and organised a restful day 3, including a short, flat, quiet route, and bike transport for those who didn't want to ride.

The decision was made for day 4 to go ahead as planned for anyone who wanted to ride all or part of the route.

The main climbs were Croix de Fer and Alpe d'Huez. A shorter stage, but with over 3000m of climbing, it still took me seven and a half hours including breaks (one of which involved coffee, a Magnum, and speaking to the slurry contractor).
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The 45km down off the Croix de Fer was brilliant fun and the drag across the valley floor set us up nicely for the climb up Huez, which was pithily described by one of the riders: "the first 3km are hard, then it's just a slog to the top".

Scenery was still incredible, and I saw some local pigs.
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(All gilts, loving life outdoors. Fat little buggers, making the most of potatoes in the trough, and presumably whey from local cheese making.)

A couple of pics of the bike to finish. Being a genuine touring bike, it was by far the heaviest bike there, and I got a fair bit of stick for taking my "suitcase" everywhere, but it's bloody comfy, fast enough, and does everything.
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Overall, according to my old-skool bike computer, I did 368km in 23hrs and 13mins, making a moving average of 15.85km/hr. Slow as sh!t, but I'm happy.

The event this year has so far raised a touch over £150,000 for the Royal Marsden Cancer Charity. It's almost all volunteer-run, and funded by the participants, so pretty much all money donated goes directly to funding research into cancer treatments. One notable success of the research which it funds is the development of liquid biopsies. These allow any spread of cancer through the body to be detected and characterised at a very early stage, allowing prompt and tailored treatment to be administered. It's becoming standard practice in the NHS and around the world. Read more about it all here: https://lecure.org/le-cure/the-research/about-the-research/

I'm nearly at my target of £3000, which I'm absolutely chuffed to bits with. If you've enjoyed my photos, perhaps consider bunging me a fiver here: https://sportsgiving.co.uk/sponsorship/entry/481525
If you put TFF in the sponsorship message, I'll match your donation. :)

Thanks for reading.
 

SFI - What % were you taking out of production?

  • 0 %

    Votes: 77 43.3%
  • Up to 25%

    Votes: 62 34.8%
  • 25-50%

    Votes: 29 16.3%
  • 50-75%

    Votes: 3 1.7%
  • 75-100%

    Votes: 3 1.7%
  • 100% I’ve had enough of farming!

    Votes: 4 2.2%

Red Tractor drops launch of green farming scheme amid anger from farmers

  • 1,286
  • 1
As reported in Independent


quote: “Red Tractor has confirmed it is dropping plans to launch its green farming assurance standard in April“

read the TFF thread here: https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/gfc-was-to-go-ahead-now-not-going-ahead.405234/
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