And now I’ve started the thread in the goddamn wrong forum :evil:

Edit: and I can’t work out how to change it to the chat forum. Brilliant.

Edit 2: whoever made good my mistake, thank you.

The goldcrest. I remember seeing one in my garden as a child (8yo?) and being utterly amazed. I still get excited when I (rarely) see them. Strangely enough I was sat on my car at Leigh Woods in Bristol after a quick early morning ride on Friday and some movement caught my eye: not one, or two but three of them about 5 feet away. That absolutely made my day.

That northwind photo just gave me first belly laugh of 2017.

My 4 above are from the last 2 weeks alone… I must be not double figures if I trawl back.

I have proof of my abilities:

Giant Contact SL Switch

…and…

One for the STW birders…

…and…

Christmas eve rescue dogs thread…

…and…

How do all you dads find time to ride

And now mine has failed. My old version lasted nearly 2 years and a trip to the Alps before ‘upgrading’ to the new version. It lasted 4 rides and now the cartridge has failed; it returns intermittently, sometimes under its own accord and when fully extended it sags about 2 inches. Back it goes…

Old version: good.
New version: utter pish.

Raceface Rip Strip: http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/mobile/race-face-rip-strip-lumbar-belt-2016/rp-prod146908

I find bunbags bounce around whereas this is held tight to your lower back. I carry a phone, 2 tyre levers, 1st aid kit & silver blanket, tube, 2 canisters, bank cards, car keys, multi tool, & a small bag of assorted bits (chain links, zip ties etc). With all that, I barely notice it’s there plus it hides nicely under a jersey/jacket.

Great bit of kit imho.

Boom! I went down there last week for my birthday and was well chuffed to see the egrets, ibex & murmurations. Well worth the trip.

@Countzero: glossy ibex at Ham Wall!

What do I win?

Shotgun! This thread is mine… End of.

Yesterday lunchtime if this household is anything to go by. It was my b’day on the 20th and I received a hamper from my mum with birthday Christmas cheese selection. Winner!

Oh go on then…. Meet Molly, a 3-4 year old heinz 57 model with numerous defects but I love her to bits.

and…

I’ve got Slants with the roughcut HLR damper and they’re a fantastic fork. They easily handle anything I can throw at them. Highly recommended.

I think Cotic spec them on their build as well as they’re so highly regarded. Their sponsored riders def use them.

Well done getting on the rollers alpha 1653 – I moved my bike and turbo into the spare room last week but still haven’t used it.

Cheers buddy. But don’t feel guilty; I’ve had the rollers for about 5 years making my average usage of them about…hmmm…once every 6 months! I probably wouldn’t have it in the spare room given how noisy they are. I’ve retreated to the garage where I can sweat to my hearts content and play loud music without disturbing mini alpha or the alpha female which, as any nature lover will tell you, results in an arse kicking.

@dirtyrider: sounds like your house is a war zone!

Well, because of this thread I made the effort to take advantage of an unforeseen hour of spare time and get on the rollers this evening. Deathly dull and the only thing I seemed to be able to think about was how much my arse hurt but I do feel better for having done it. Maybe it’s the for some sufferfest films to keep me motivated…

This thread could not have come at a better time. Mini Alpha is 3 months old this week and I have managed a rather pathetic 4 rides, including mtb and rollers. Tbh, it’s not the lack of riding that annoys me, rather the self imposed guilt I feel when I want to do something for myself.

Planning ahead is a good idea, and getting rides into the calendar in advance at least once a month. Getting up early is also the way forward to get on the rollers. Unfortunately I’m not much of a morning person…however, I guess ‘get up, or shut up’ must become my mantra!

Up until 2 years ago, cancer had only touched my life when my grandfather died when I was too young to understand what was happening. Then my uncle visited us in west wales in 2014 and came down with a mystery illness. He had just received his GB age group triathlon team suit, was fit as a fiddle and days later couldn’t get out of bed. After a while he was diagnosed with cancer and now it’s so far spread that it’s terminal. He’s fighting with incredible stoicism but he’s in constant pain.

Another uncle died of it only a few weeks ago and my cousins are trying to deal with it as best they can.

And now I’ve just got off the phone to my dad in hospital who is due in theatre tomorrow morning to have major surgery to remove a tumour in his stomach. Even if it is successful, it’s a month in hospital plus 6-12 months recovery. To be honest, rationale or not, I’m absolutely shitting myself that this evening’s conversation could be the last one we have…

Right now, me getting cancer does not concern me; I’m just absolutely furious that it has the audacity to hurt those I hold dear and rob my 3 month old son of loving family members before he has the chance to know who they are.

**** you cancer, if you were a person I’d rip your goddamn head off before you hurt anyone else.

It does demand a bit of TLC but it takes about 10 mins to strip, clean and regrease once you’ve got the hang
Of it. If you’re using the cable entry at the base of the post, use some electrical tape/silicon to seal the entry points under the saddle to stop water ingress.

Stumbled across it and glad I did; a great programme to watch with a real opportunity to challenge all the cliches. Fantastic to see the vast majority of the house mates vehemently challenging the radical guy.

Good recommendation on the Ahearne flask. I’ll drop some hints for the wife to pick up for Christmas/birthday.

Aha! Stanley Hip Flask

I like that. I like that a lot. However, no idea if the hip flask is any good.

No bimbling of late for me I’m afraid though I did walk the dog back to that jump spot I found: it’s utterly enormous and far beyond my capabilities. I start getting nervous if my tyres look like they are due to leave the ground.

Genuine question: any recommendations for a mid ride hip flask? The various ones I have tried all leak which is a huge waste of whisky/sloe gin/damson gin.

“Guurr ffffnnnrree gguuurrr ” at the moment, but he’s only 2 months old so I’ll let him off.

Probably ‘dad’ or ‘daddy’. Eventually.

@Jon: that looks amazing!!

Oh, and make sure you get down town to Lakeside and have a few beers in Busy Bees, best bar in Pokhara!

I spent 3 months in Pokhara with the Brigade of Gurkhas about 5 years ago and did a number of treks including ABC and a longer solo 3 weekend towards Kanchenjunga. The best bit of kit I had was a cheap umbrella which I bought out there: when it’s sunny, it’ll give you shade (especially if you’ve managed to burn yourself) and when it’s pissing it down you’ll be nice & dry. When not using it, just strap it to your pack. Simple.

The porters will sort you out with the rest of the little luxuries. Cards are good. A decent camera goes without saying. Oh, and a little Nepali helps – you don’t need to be fluent but just a little goes a long, long way.

Definitely reorganise your day riding! A random article from the BBC about the importance of getting out and away from your desk:

Linky

Fear not, I said I ‘found’ a jump spot not ‘rode’ the jump spot. I gingerly bumbled past it a few times, got intimidated by the scaffold structure roll-in thing and decided to leave it for others much younger than myself. So I went home and had a warm mince pie and a cup of earl grey whilst watching last week’s Planet Earth II.

Pickers – Member
I aspire to be last on an unknown segment on my next outing.

Now there’s a challenge right there

It’s the very antithesis of Strava!

Oh and Hebden’s post reminded me about the best bit of advice I’ve ever had about dating: make it your aim to get to the end of the date knowing everything about her but without her knowing anything about you. If you succeed, you’ll have spent the evening being thoroughly interested in her and talking about her interests and she’ll be intrigued to know more about this enigma of a lovely guy!

It worked for me. :D

Hey buddy. As Capt FH says, keep talking. There are a lot of people on here willing to listen and help where they can. Apart from admitting that you have an issue, have you spoken to any professionals about the depression?

Personally, I’ve never suffered with depression but I can fully relate to life passing you by – Christmas 2006 was my low point as I was late 20s, I’d lost my job and was and sleeping on the floor of my flat in a sleeping bag and roll mat as my flat mate had taken every single bit of her furniture to her boyfriends as they were about to get married (plus my bed had broken). All my friends were in well paid graduate jobs and getting married and I was moving back in with my parents. For the next 18 months I hated life and ranted to myself in a diary. Looking back on it now, the stuff I wrote was pretty poisonous, self destructive and is a bit scary to read now. However, eventually I spoke to someone about it and admitted there was an issue, just as you have above, and with some encouragement I made some changes which made me a lot happier. 10 years later I’m happily married. Funnily enough I met her on a dating website.

In short, keep talking. Reach out to friends, be that on here or in your personal life, and believe that things will improve.

Moses, funny you should say that, I’ve been granted another outing on Wednesday night around Ashton Court. :)

As for today’s ride, it was a short explore round where I live on the ring road up near Pomphrey Hill. I didn’t find much until I was riding back and came across a couple of guys doing some maintenance on some jumps I’d never seen before. Turns out there’s a not insignificant jump spot about 5 minutes from my house. I’d never have found it if I was head down and riding normally!

Whilst the use of strava is somewhat anachronistic with a bimble, I’m quite proud to say that on one segment today I unwittingly achieved 7,337th place out of 7,422. I aspire to be last on an unknown segment on my next outing.

As a reward for enduring a 3 hour trip to Cribbs Causeway yesterday, I was granted a pass for this afternoon. Did I I drive to Ashton Court? No. Did I clock up 20 miles on the road bike? No. Did I instead choose a 5 mile explore? Hell yes!

Oh Lord…amazing :D

Healing vibes buddy.

You’ve just prompted me to join BC.

There is some epic bell-endery displayed on this thread. Being unable to exhibit empathy just makes you a selfish knob.

Would I own up? Hell yes. It doesn’t matter what it is, if I have damaged another’s property then the courteous thing to do is to admit it to the other person. If they don’t care, fine; but if it matters to them then I will be responsible for my actions and sort it out at my personal expense like a grown up.

I used to really like bonfire night but right now at 1am with a frightened dog and 6 week old child in tears I find myself wishing that the utter arseholes who are setting off fireworks somewhere in my estate manage to blow themselves up.

Can you isolate the dog? I’m writing this sat on my bathroom floor (all internal walls/no windows) with the radio on. Her bed’s in here with some water/food. Seems to be working as she’s asleep with her head on my lap. But if I open the door she starts whining/barking frantically.

Plenty of great advice here guys – thanks very much indeed. Looks like I’ll head over to roof box.co.uk to see what the options are. I like the idea of renting one when required as I hadn’t thought about storage.

Spacey – thanks for the offer buddy but I’m Bristol based so I’m going to have to turn you down.