Last Friday I was in a hurry to start work in my van, 5 minutes down the road I noticed in the wing mirror something bounce in the road. At the end of the day I discovered that thing was 2 keys to my house, 2 other house keys, the works lockup fob and my car key. Currently looking at £200+ for replacement. I wouldn’t mind but £165 of that is the key for a Renault Modus – if I claimed on the insurance it would probably be an uneconomical write off 😂

I have some of the Karrimor SF army boots that are a lot better than the normal Karrimor brand. Use them every day for work and also for hiking. Second hand they are about £60 but bear in mind that to resole them it can’t be done at most shoe repair places (due to tread and EVA unit being one piece, apparently). To send them away it’s about £70 so just as cheap to get a another pair.

I have signed up for the 10k run, I expect to be there making up the numbers😀. Planning on wandering around the Brewery site… is it free to enter? I know some of the events need tickets but I wasn’t sure if everything needed booking

I’m sorry to hear this has happened to you Rich, normally in situations like this someone will suggest that you get out on your bike to keep positive but I’m sure you won’t have a problem there!😀.
As always there’s a lot of good advice given already, from my own personal experience of being where you are now (albeit I’m a year down the road..) is that the lawyer situation is a personal choice. I didn’t go that route except for a free half hour meeting (with MG Legal in Lancaster) which was useful to check a few things. I found that if you can keep civil and friendly between you it makes things so much easier and cheaper – not just now but going forward.
If you can stay on good terms it means you can share events in your daughters life without drama overshadowing it.

On a positive note I am now in a far better place for separating – happier, healthier and enjoying life. Have better quality time with kids now my time with them is clearly defined (I do “my stuff” during my time so it doesn’t interrupt “our time”).
I’m in Kendal so if you need a hand moving furniture etc when you find a place, let me know.

All the best to the 3 of you.
Barry

Only went for the Saturday last year but it was a lot of fun – the Sonder guys were great, they let my girlfriend demo a Transmitter (..and lent me one when I had a mechanical on my bike.. which they fixed while I was out!). Being able to chat to the frame designers from Sonder and other brands was very helpful. Bringing the kids this time as it looked very family friendly.

Just having a look at the route for the 70 mile course and trying to figure out where to camp. Halfway point appears to be around Walna Scar road and I’m not sure wether to stop before Walna Scar ( pros: wont be climbing at night, cons: more to do the next day) or stop after/on the road (pros: got it out of the way and nice downhill in the morning, cons: might not have the energy!). Any advice?

Just be aware that ‘decaf’ tea still has some caffeine, the only real decaf is redbush. My girlfriend can’t have caffeine so I have been drinking Tick Tock rooibos green tea and Dragonfly rooibos Earl Grey, both are worth a try if you can get hold of them (not every supermarket stocks them, Booths do if you are in the North West).

I’m in again, each year has been a really good weekend of riding and meeting great people. The 70 looks ideal for me, did the 50 last year (because I hadn’t been out on the bike much) and it felt a bit short.

I could only make it to the Saturday but it looked like everyone was having a finetime. Thanks Rich and family for putting on another excellent event – you must have called in a lot of favours as the site looked great with loads going on. Thanks also to the guys at Sonder/Alpkit for all their excellent advice and for lending me a Transmitter to demo when my rear mech died on the way onto site!… wasn’t intending to buy a new bike this year but it was a hoot to ride so I’m now saving up😀. Nice to meet Tom riding the Surly on the way back from Kentmere – good luck with setting up your event!.

Just signed up- really looking forward to it! Rich, do you need me to state which distance I’m going for? Im probably going to go for the 50 mile but if my fitness drive keeps momentum I might just go for the 100. when would you need me to commit?

Done

Oh Yeah!! I will be there. liking the idea of the 50 miler – its time I faced facts that the 100 mile is too much for me. The 50 will give me time to take in all the pubs scenery like the real bikers do :-).

I would add that they are a good ‘introductory’ pet to see how keen kids are to look after them. I do most of the cleaning of the cages but that is only every fortnight if you encourage a ‘toliet space’. (ours have used a wooden platform attached to the cage walls which keeps most of the bedding clean).
We have managed to go away for a weekend and leave the gerbils on their own with two full food bowls and two full water bottles, no need for anyone to look after them and they hardly missed us!.

What is gerbils issue with cardboard? if I put an egg box or cardboard tube in the cage they destroy it as soon as possible!

I have had the same issue with using the Joey harness so I don’t know if changing to a Joey will help (I wore a hole through my dry bag it got that bad..). I did consider buying the Alpkit Love Mud copy of a Jones bar to see if having two points of attachment for the dry bag would solve the problem but haven’t got round to it. could it be the straps working loose? i found it was worse when riding in wet conditions suggesting it was the bag sagging in the wet that caused the problem.

rock and run have 5.10 Camp Four GTX in size 12.5 link

(shoes rather than boots but gore tex and £69.90)

I would recommend using a ‘microlite’ (not the plane thingy, This ). We use them at work and they make a big difference in how stable the ladder feels, plus they allow you to roll the top of the ladder up the wall when extending.

I used them a few years ago, only place I could find that would service a Specialized Brain shock (without me having to remove it from the bike – needs a crowfoot adaptor for the torque wrench to do this). Dropped the bike off, had the shock and fox float forks fully serviced for £120, all done in about 3 hours. Couldn’t fault Evans.

Im working the other way around. Went out last night and should have woke this morning with a screaming hangover, but karma decided to let me off and I feel absolutely fine. As a result I repaid the karma bank loan by helping a couple with a tricycle get their dropped chain back on the bike. we celebrated by doing the “oily hands club dance” at the side of the road.

Nice! That explains why you were selling the Singular – does this mean you have reach the “one bike in, one bike out” limit?

Thanks again Rich for organising this ride, it stepped up a gear from last year! I have to say its the only bike event i have been to that had a ‘before and after’ professional photoshoot, makes me wonder what you will pull out of the bag next year! :-) huge amount of money raised, with a special nod in the direction of the person that gave £5K – amazing generosity!.
Cheers to all the people I rode alongside, wether it was for a few miles or a day – everyone was friendly, encouraging and smiling – even with lost chains, destroyed rear mechs, mud and rain!

anyhoo, took a couple of shots..

IMG_2287 by Bazwadah[/url], on Flickr

IMG_1800 by Bazwadah[/url], on Flickr

IMG_1789 by Bazwadah[/url], on Flickr

IMG_1801 by Bazwadah[/url], on Flickr

IMG_1804 by Bazwadah[/url], on Flickr

IMG_1823 by Bazwadah[/url], on Flickr

IMG_2289 by Bazwadah[/url], on Flickr

IMG_2291 by Bazwadah[/url], on Flickr

IMG_2294 by Bazwadah[/url], on Flickr

IMG_2298 by Bazwadah[/url], on Flickr

IMG_2301 by Bazwadah[/url], on Flickr

IMG_1856 by Bazwadah[/url], on Flickr

IMG_1851 by Bazwadah[/url], on Flickr

Well as Grum is one of the few STWers I have actually met in person (last weekend in fact when he was photographer at my brothers wedding) I can say that he is a throughly nice guy. Healing vibes for your biking injury fella!.

Not used to apologies on STW, if this carries on I’m off to Mumsnet to get my fighting fix! :-)

The first time I ever wild camped with the bike was on the JennRide last year. As the forecast was for good weather I chanced it with just a sleeping bag, 3/4 length mat and Alpkit Hunka bivy bag (plus survival bag as groundsheet). Got away with it even though temperature dropped to 1 degree overnight. This time I have an old tent flysheet that I have cut in half and will stretch over the wheels to form a shelter if it rains (copied idea from one of PostieRich’s fine photos of a similar design..).
I think choosing location is quite important, behind a drystone wall, in a forrest seem like better ideas than being on top of a hill for the views!

ha! thats great, although i wish i didn’t live near so many cul-de-sacs!

Donated. must be frustrating to know that the bike wasn’t stolen to sell, just wrecked by joyriders. bet they didn’t know or care what the bike meant to the owner.

This happened to me a few years ago, bike stolen from work then dumped back in the bike shed an hour later. One of my friends that I rode with at the time is a police Sargent and while on duty spotted a known thief riding a rare bike that looked just like mine (Ridgeback Nice Guy Eddie – rare cos it was a bit naff!). Putting 2+2 together, he tried to speak to the thief who took off and escaped down an alleyway. My friend said the reason for returning the bike was that as the thief had been identified (and his home address was now about to be searched!), if he returned the bike he could claim he was just ‘borrowing it’ not ‘permemantly depriving’ me of it. Added up to a lot of police paperwork with little chance of prosecution success.

I get this when I wash the car using a shampoo with wax in it, great on the bodywork but leaves watermarks on the windows. I would have thought the vinegar would remove it but maybe a more specialist wax remover might help?.

I was in the lakes today, looked over at the snow on High Street and though “glad I’m not over there, looks bloody cold!” :-) I must stop reading about your rides Rich – I’m trying to use my age as an excuse for not doing all day epics and you doing stuff like this at 50 (powered only by jaffa cakes, pot noodles and beer) aint helping’ my excusin’….. :-)

Timesplitters 2. I still have my PS2 in the loft and occasionally bring it down for some multiplayer gaming with a mate. if you like running around as a robot with a fishbowl for a head, shooting snowmen riding on flying carpets… then this game is for you.

jaylittle – Member
I have the same problem with a neighbours cat/cats…. bought one of those high pitch deterent devices. Hurts my 6 year old nephews ears but not done a thing to stop cats doing their business in my garden.

I have a sonic device too and at first it didn’t seem to work – turns out that older cats take longer to be deterred than younger cats. I changed the settings and it worked great. kept it in the garden for a week then removed it and cats didn’t return for a month. when they did come back i just turned the device on again and the cats were gone. (cannot have device on all the time as my kids say it sounds like nails being scratched down a blackboard).

Well for someone like me that lives in the Skerton / Beaumont area ( and has done for over 10 years..) I would strongly disagree with its reputation for being rough. Never had any trouble, unlike my parents ( who live south Lancaster – Bailrigg- near Lancaster Uni, have been broken into and had things take from their garden). From north Lancaster I can get to the uni in 25 minutes by cycling down the canal, probably less if going through town and the traffic lights are on my side. South Lancaster has some lovely houses but is more pricy due to student housing demand and access to the motorway. If you are happy to look in the north side then slyne-with-hest, hest bank are nice but just check where the new bypass is going first ( this is going to help easy the traffic situation in Lancaster).
I moved here from the south 20+ years ago and love it, a city that’s not too big, not too small, good pubs and restaurants. Like other said, there is no mountain biking from the door but the Lakes and Dales are near enough.

Amazing event, huge thanks to Rich and his family for all the effort that went into setting up the first JennRide. Even though the whole weekend had a relaxed “mates just going for a ride” feel to it, there will certainly have been a lot of organisation going on behind the scenes.. the route planning, the parking, signing out, signing people back in, checking we all got back ok, etc etc, so cheers! . I didn’t know anyone before starting the ride but I had some great laughs with loads of different groups along the way, now know that black sambucca is my hip-flask drink of preference (cheers Steve!), that sandpaper can fix valve issues, and that my bike will survive 100 miles in the Lakes if I promise it a shiny new headset in return.
Hope Cameron got back to Edinburgh ok, cheers for opening all those gates!

Barry

IMG_1130 by Bazwadah[/url], on Flickr

IMG_1122 by Bazwadah[/url], on Flickr

IMG_1121 by Bazwadah[/url], on Flickr

IMG_1119 by Bazwadah[/url], on Flickr

IMG_1099 by Bazwadah[/url], on Flickr

IMG_1127 by Bazwadah[/url], on Flickr

IMG_1125 by Bazwadah[/url], on Flickr

IMG_1123 by Bazwadah[/url], on Flickr

IMG_1100 by Bazwadah[/url], on Flickr

IMG_1095 by Bazwadah[/url], on Flickr

Over aggressive mosh pitters, who are there to shove and ignore the music.

This happened at the Afghan Whigs gig last year at Manchester Cathedral. A guy was dancing aggressively in between songs, Greg Dulli spotted this going on and said ” buddy, I appreciate your enthusiasm – I really do, but if you start a fight – I’m going to jump down there and ****ing end it. Be cool”. sometimes a quiet word from the right person does the trick! :-)

not just for the artwork but also the humour… where else do you get a robot assassin that thinks he’s Ginger Rogers?

Real names Barry, get called Baz by some people. Years ago I worked with a guy who took great delight in carrying out suprise attacks on me to check my reflexes ( think Kato from The Pink Panther..). One day he hid in a service lift that I mistakenly thought was too small for a person to hide in, when I opened the door he launch at me shouting “bazwadah!”. Use it a lot as it tends to be available as a username

I have only gone as far down as Forton. Like you say, the bit around Carnforth/Morecambe is either tarmac or well graded gravel – as soon as you get to Deep Cutting Bridge (south Lancaster) it is more of a muddy track with water running off the surrounding fields making it quite soft in places (even in summer). I have managed to get my 5yr old and 8 year old kids to do 10 miles along the canal with no problems.

I could be totally wrong here but it does look like a reflection in a black glass screen ( TV? As mentioned already). That could make it a tapestry by Roy Lichtenstein as shown

Image from here

Donated on the JustGiving page so hopefully I have made the list. Never bikepacked, never done 100 miles in a weekend, 13 year old bike, fitness destroyed by mince pies and stollen – what could possibly go wrong? :-)

Its a rubbish feeling but it helps to remember that its the job that has been made redundant, not you. Just because your previous employer can’t keep you doesn’t mean that there are not other positions out there. I have been made redundant 4 times and each time have found work within a couple of months, often with better working conditions/hours – sometimes with better pay!. Claiming all the benefits you are entitled to is important but don’t allow yourself to become demoralised by visiting the Job Centre – I never found it to be that conducive towards getting a job, it was just a hoop to jump through for me and the JC staff. Along with the usual job searches (online and in print) try and put the message out that you are looking for work. (as an example my current job came from my wife meeting my boss’s wife at a nursery event). Good luck and stay positive!

Acorn Electron with a copy of Ant Atack, or a Commadore CDTV with Xenon 3 just to see if the music by Bomb the Bass was as awesome as it sounded back then. It would almost certainly be a let down… :(