If you can afford it, go to a good private physio.

I’ve had fairly useless physio from the NHS in the past -they just don’t have the time, and blokes with sporting injuries aren’t a priority.

has anybody got a recommendation?

or

Dutch Army Surplus

or, for a bit more glamour, RAF fast jet flying suit:

joao3v16 – Member

Isn’t modern society designed almost entirely to make everyone feel unhappy/inadequate, then sell us (usually expensive) things to make us feel happy/adequate?

Breaking News:

The High Street was hit hard by joao3v16’s statement earlier. Consumer confidence is now low enough that people are buying less stuff that they don’t need with money they don’t have.

Most of us were extremely lucky to live in the UK in the late 20th century. .

Many of us are/were frustrated by not being quite able to live the dream, though.

-We can’t all be Binners.

Things may be on the slide a little now, though

footflaps – Member
Actually it’s the magazine that is designed to make you feel bad. Negative emotions are strong motivators and the aim of the magazine is to please the advertisers. The basic plan is, fill the magazine with images of unrealistic perfection, feed insecurity and hope readers buy advertiser’s stuff in an attempt to feel less insecure.

Obviously everyone is affected to a different extend, but that’s what they’re designed to do.

I would regard myself as cynical enough not to be taken in by magazines and ads, but having a read of a pre- Xmas MBR even had me thinking about my second-hand bitsa bikes and,

“Maybe I do actually need a 29er with electronically-controlled full suspension? and a 29er hardtail?”
and,

“how have I managed to ride for 20-odd years without a dropper post? In fact, I’ve obviously not really been riding”

I went for a ride on one of my shonky machines and quickly snapped out of it.

If I were a weaker man I’d have thought,

“My suspension coatings are all wrong”

“9 speed is extremely wrong”

and gone out and bought a flash new bike to go with the Audi S-Line that is essential for a trip to Llandegla.

I haven’t seen these notes but the problem I’ve had in the past is finding “the radiator that heats up first”.
Is there a way of finding out that is better than the guesswork of running round house and feeling the rads?

Maybe your system is already well-balanced??

The next step is to measure the flow and return temperatures when the system has warmed-up and adjust the lock-stops to achieve the desired temp drops.

Simple Wireless one

Programmable Wireless One

I’ve had one of the simple ones for a couple of years and it’s been great. Friends and family have bought them since and have also been happy with them.

PrinceJohn – Member
Next thing they’ll try & convince us different size wheels are a good idea…

It’s only a matter of time:

He’s even wearing Rapha

ahwiles – Member

forks are expensive because we’ve all decided that we need forks with 160mm travel, 1600g, tapered steerer, moco/loco/blackbox/FIT damping, dual air, high/low speed compression damping, kashima-coated stanchions.

That’s because the skill and ability of all weekend warriors has increased massively in-line with the technical developments, of course.

There is a fairly horrible one on the way south into London from the M1, not sure of the name.

The M5 is full of horrible ones.

Tebay is better than the other UK ones I’ve been to. Can’t knock it, really.

There are some good and some ropey ones on t’continent.

In France, even an aire with nothing more than a petrol station and a toilet will often sell nice sandwiches.

Many German ones seem to have a very limited food choice.

My memory of the one on the Antwerp ring road is of loads of blokes (having tail-gated, swerved and barged their way down the motorway) getting out of cars and pissing in the car park. Not discretely against a bush, in the middle of car park.
-That summed up my experiences of driving across Flanders.

alibongo001 – Member

Cheers Andy

I bet there will be a lot of balancing going on tonight!

I bet there will be a lot of half-done, even-less-balanced heating systems out there 😉

It can take a few iterations to get it right if the system is large, tortuous and very un-balanced.

Before balancing, get your system nice and clean, check that your pump is pumping properly (not just spinning) and give all of your TRVs a bit of a checking over for movement and freeing-up if necessary.

I nominally balanced ours on heating order, then on temperature drop and did tweak it a bit after a few days, with a bit of further tweaking to suit requirements later on.

They do seem very expensive and I wouldn’t feel justified in buying a new set but…..

…maybe we’ve just become accustomed to getting an increasing amount of engineering and manufacturing for next-to-nothing for the past 20 years, with the last 5 years the beginning of some sort of correction and people only now beginning to notice?

To put it into some sort of perspective, these days filling a tank of diesel in a family car from empty costs ~100quid.

Michael McIntyre was a surprise guest at a Frank Skinner compered event at the Edinburgh Festival a few years ago. I’d never been impressed by his TV apearances beforehand, but enjoyed his live performance.

I only saw the part around 10pm-midnight. Jonathan Ross and Jack Whitehall. Lame and crude.

daveh – Member
+1 on all of that. The only thing I’d add is the mk4 steering isn’t quite as good as the mk3, it doesn’t weight up as well in corners, but it’s way better than most other cars on the road!

Yes, I’d go along with that too. I got used to it very quickly though.

I like utility cars that can be driven enthusiastically all over the place, cart stuff about without worrying about scratching them and don’t concern myself with ‘image’ or ‘re-sale’.

I’m also in a lowly Edge spec, which has everything one might need (it even has the extremely unnecessary voice control) and the ‘small’ (16″) steel wheels that actually have tyres with some air cushioning.

It felt heavier than my old Mk3, but is very composed and has good steering for a large car. Surprisingly nimble on tight back roads, the standard suspension gives great grip, ride and handling if you’re a keen driver, much more comfortable than the sport with massive rims.

The Mk4 engine is far better. The 140 (a conservative number, apparently) felt no quicker than the old 130 due to the more linear response, but having done extensive autobahn testing on holiday in both, it does accelerate more quickly and can maintain higher speeds.

It’s not fast, but never feels slow.

The Mk4 Mondeo is a great family does-it-all car, albeit a bit too big, bulbous and under-windowed to see out of easily in tight car parks.

more access to places like this:

When I first got my used ‘140’ it would occasionally ‘surge’ when accelerating uphill at motorway speeds. It felt like the turbo boost was increasing and decreasing rather than holding a steady pressure.

I read somewhere that it could be something to do with the turbo vanes moving incorrectly.

Anyway, I gave the MAF, intake, EGR etc. etc. a good clean out and checked/tightened all intake pipe joints.

I do give it a bit of welly at times and drive long distances, which is apparently good for the DPF.

It’s been fine since.

There’s something to be said for an Italian Tune-Up.

My Crosslight has been used for all types of riding (although the original frame did snap)

For somebody who isn’t road racing, a bike that has clearances for off-road-able tyres is great.

My experiences of the physios at the sports physio clinic I go to periodically have been very positive.

Boba Fatt – Member

Sometimes do wish I had become a mechanic or similar

A nice idea, but from what I’ve seen, terrible money and conditions. For most, it will consist mainly of replacing brakes and timing belts on Corsas.

Restoring, modifying & race-preparing classic cars and bikes in a nice, fully-kitted-out workshop appeals, although having to do it for a living for years on end may spoil it.

This is an interesting (if slightly repetitive) book:

What size & density of foam roller are you all using for calf work?

The Physio advised that I should regularly massage my calves, as they are quite prone to tightness.

willard – Member
I did have a huge feeling this morning on the way in to work that maybe I could be offering more to humanity.

That’s something that has often occurred to me too.

Still, it’s not too late to win a triple rollover Euromillions jackpot

Sad to say, I have that fairly vain hope too, although I’d be happy with much less!

MrTall – Member

I know i’d much rather do something else but what? I’ve always been envious of people who grew up knowing exactly what they wanted to do with their lives and had something to aim for.

Indeed. Having no plan and thinking, “It’ll be ‘reet”,
is not something I’d recommend to younger folk who are about to embark on the journey through life. Having said that, I’m not sure what I would recommend….

The fear is doing something new for less money but ending up not enjoying that either.

Quite. Maybe those who take risks are the people who succeed -or lose everything 😉

….not sat on my own all day every day going stir crazy).

There’s something to be said for working part of the week at home (or in a quiet room away from an open-plan office) and part of the week with other people.

I Googled “grind flat end socket”:

I’ve managed so far not to grind down my Britool sockets, but you do need to make sure that you have the socket on the top cap carefully to avoid rounding the corners off the top cap.

dukeduvet – Member
that seems to be exactly what the Christian faith is all about – hope and that it will be fulfilled.

What are the chances of the thing you are hoping for actually being correct though?

dukeduvet – Member

People will always ask ‘is their a God? what is the point to all of this’. Others just wont care. I’m sure many (myself included) would say they have had some sort of spiritual experience that transcends this world and leaves them asking deeper questions. You cant prove or disprove it – hence faith in the unseen.

When something happens to you that you can’t explain, you presumably do not know what has brought it about, so it’s not really faith is it?

Is it not more a case of hope that the meaning you have projected onto the situation might possibly be correct?

Having said that, I suppose that it could be faith in something traditional that somebody else, who also can’t demonstrate or prove it, has told you to be true.

Religions may have done some “good things”, but that is not their raison d’être.

klumpy – Member

Basing all your exercise on being outside when ya live in the UK is, I’ve just decided, the reason we are an obese nation.

Much as I hate to disagree….

Berm Bandit – Member

I reckon about the time that you start pontificating to other people about how what you beleive is the one true way etc etc that then also coincides with the appropriate time for bringing out the ducking stool and stocks

Indeed.

I do wonder if the leaders of the various religions genuinely believe that a “Higher Being” has passed the various (changing periodically) rules of their club to them, though, rather than it being them forcing their own prejudices onto other people.

Berm Bandit – Member

You see thats where I diverge from your view. Christianity, as in the organised structure of religion leaves me cold. Pretty much the same with all other religions too. However, that is not to say that I reject the morality of religion at large,

It sounds to me that you are interested in ‘humanity’ and helping out other people for the greater good.

As far as I can tell, this doesn’t require organised religion (which often appear to evolve in a fairly man-made kind of way) or even a belief in a “higher being”.

A lot of people do appear to take comfort from belief in something that they know full-well is impossible to demonstrate or prove …and, by their logic, is therefore impossible to dis-prove. Strong, blind faith in this unprove-able “Higher Being” being important.

Personally, I struggle with this concept.

The cardinal in question was speaking on the radio last Friday. He was in favour of heterosexual marriage for priests, but against homosexual marriage for anyone.

He claimed that he had never given marriage for himself any thought because it wasn’t possible for somebody becoming a priest in those days.

ahwiles – Member

how far are you running?

I began running ~half a mile with no hills, twice a week. There was a lot of stiffness.

I built up the distance over about a month to about 2 undulating miles, which felt fine at the time.

After a niggle/tear that showed up within about 200m of starting the next flat run, I rested a week, with lots of stretching and rollering.

I then did a gentle 1/2 mile run with no issues. A couple of days later I did a gentle mile with a couple of short hills. The niggle re-occurred right at the end.

ps. Biking doesn’t seem to be affected.

When it’s wet and cold, put on a pair of these:

I’ve always found that running in the rain is less unpleasant, and can be less messy (depending on how much deep mud you are going to be crawling through) than on the bike.

I’ve long been plagued with issues linked with running.

My current strategy is physio, which seems to be working, weaning myself off orthotics and fore/mid-foot running in light, low-drop shoes.

The new technique feels great, but…..

After a few weeks, my calves are still taking a battering. The shins and knees appear to be holding up well.

I thought I’d gone past the worst, but right at the end of a short run yesterday there was a recurrence ‘tweak’ in the muscle which became a cramp/contraction.

I’m intending to buy a foam roller, but whilst looking for ideas in the kitchen, discovered yesterday that a 2/3 full, round, 2 litre plastic water bottle made a good substitute(followed by a wine bottle, which was quite painful and may or may not have helped). After the pain of using it, it certainly eased the tightness and this morning I can walk normally, although it is sore to touch.

I’m intending to see the physio for some more pummelling and some advice about resting/stretching/re-starting.

I’ve heard good reports about using “The Stick”.

Some flurries of snow on the Lancashire Moors last night and earlier today

That’s cheap. These people want £24,995

As a commuter, child carrier and occasional leisure ride machine, I use a Kinesis Crosslight (it has mounts for rack, mudguards etc) that I’ve had for years (everything’s been changed other than the seatpost, it’s like Trigger’s broom)

Although fatter tyres aren’t ‘fast’, I prefer to be able to use robust, off-road-able 35mm Land Cruiser (or similar) tyres than 23-28mm slicks. 2 punctures in many years of use.

I prefer drops for commuting, but I currently have flat bars on it (due to a broken STI shifter lever), but it does allow V-brakes that give much better performance than the old Cantis.

Panniers and a rack (that prevents the bags hitting the spokes) give far superior comfort to a rucksack/messenger bag, although the handling can be a bit funny.

I can recommend carbon forks.

I think such cars can use old-style motorbike tyres.

Flow & Return (most common, more efficient):

Single Pipe (some older systems):

I think this version would be good, no spoiler and black steel wheels:

It probably wouldn’t sell well in the UK, though.