norseraider

Ah yeah - total ascent for the weekend was 2300ft (700m), which is not much, but then we are talking about the verdant rolling downs of England, not the High Andes!

So, some pals and I went for a 2-day bivi hike in the Chiltern Hills last weekend. This is an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty that you can access quickly & cheaply from Euston or Marylebone train stations in London. Train fares cost about £25 ($40) in total. It has a lot of footpaths & open access (National Trust) land, so there is tons of walking. Furthermore it's got some great chalk hills, rivers, and interesting & pretty villages with nice pubs We walked 16 miles on Saturday and 10mi on Sunday, for a total of 26 miles (42km). Day 1 route was from Amersham Old Town, via Little Missenden, Prestwood, Great Missenden, The Lee, ending in Wendover. Day 2 route was from Wendover via Coomb Hill and Pulpit Hill to Princes Risborough. It definitely wasn't a pub crawl, but we visited lots of pubs and sampled the wares Saturday night bivi was had within the Iron Age ramparts of Wendover Hill Fort. We followed in the traditions of our ancient ancestors: by lighting a defensive fire and partaking of beer and biltong! Three of us have a combination of bivi bag (mine is goretex, army surplus), sleeping bag, liner & thermarest. One of us uses a military hammock & sleeping bag. We didn't put down ground sheets or set up tarps, so it was super quick to pitch camp! It rained for about an hour in the night, and got as low as 3C (37F), but our kit kept us relatively warm and dry. Goretex bags had the least condensation, as you'd expect. Hammock was apparently super comfortable. Next day the camp went down just as quickly, and we covered our ashes and left nothing to show we'd been there, except patches of dry leaves. In general it was a extremely successful weekend, with the right combination of fun and hardship Can't wait for spring to come to England properly, so we can do a bit more!

Never drink Tequila

This! I have a guru for insulin related questions: one of my best pals is a type-1 diabetic! He knows all about sugar levels & insulin because he has to measure and control them himself. He says that drinking four cans of Coke Zero does nothing at all to his blood sugar levels, whereas four cans of normal Coke might kill him Furthermore, I've read about some experiments in rats that suggest you can get a limited insulin response by putting sweeteners directly into the pancreas, but really it's not even slightly obvious that this maps to normal digestion in humans. The only problem I see with diet soda is that it might not let you shake other sweet cravings (that and if caffeinated you may never sleep again).

Goddammit, I can here for nutrition advice and now I just want to try pumpkin ale!!

Yes! Welcome to the Rebellion! We will band together to destroy misery!

Hi, My name is Phil, and I am a new Rebel in London. I like to exercise, and I'm reasonably fit, but I'm overweight, and looking to get in shape for my other half (and myself!). I stumbled across the Rebellion whilst looking for weight-training tips. I was impressed by the ethos - so many sites assume you are an asocial tee-total gymhead with a cabinet full of supplements -- and I'm never going to be that guy! I have other things I want out of life, including sometimes a beer and a burger However, I'm willing to work really hard, and be smart about where I make changes - so hopefully the Rebellion has the strategy I need! I reckon I need to lose 2.5 stone (35lb) to be utterly ripped. I want this. Let's do it.