I’m a lab manager, maintaining the day to day running of a research group investigating the replication and immune system evasion of blood borne parasites like Leishmania and Trypanosoma species at Glasgow Uni. As part of my job I also run a sequencing service, where I prep and run DNA / RNA on Next generation Sequencing tech. I absolutely love my job. Every day really is a school day.

I’ve read some amazing job descriptions on this thread, there’s some incredibly talented people here. For me though, the winner is @Kimbers. You keep checking folks colons mate. You’re my hero. I wouldn’t be here now if it wasn’t for dedicated professionals like yourself, the oncology teams and the rather awesome NHS.

B.

BBM at the Barrowlands. It was a collaboration between Jack Bruce, Ginger Baker and Gary Moore. It could have been good if Baker hadn’t been so hammered he collapsed over the drum kit and had to be helped off-stage.

The Black Crowes at the O2 Academy, Glasgow. This was during a blues festival and I’d actually seen Gary Moore the week before at the same venue, so it wasn’t the acoustics, they were just appalling.

Ooooh, Van Morrison at Glastonbury. He obviously didn’t want to be there, and I wasn’t really enjoying being in the crowd forced to watch the miserable old git.

Absolute trumps though goes to Jeff Beck at the Playhouse in Edinburgh. He comes on stage at the start to tell us his vocalist is ill, but not to worry, the band will still play without him. Wait, what? My mate was in raptures, I was in purgatory. A 2hr long twiddly guitar solo, then the evil swine came back on for two encores!

On Saturday I did my local loop with a mate. I ran my e-bike (a Spesh Levo) on Eco mode at a fairly high cadence around the 24km, 400m climbing, muddy, 90% off-road loop to keep myself warm as he was on a regular bike. I think my battery was sitting with around 68% left at the end. I currently weigh in at around 105kg.
Last night, after a particularly shite day at work, I headed out in the dark, wind and rain. I did the same loop, but much angrier, so had the bike in Trail most of the loop and even Boost mode a couple of times. I got home with about 46% of the battery left.
So, try smiling when you ride, your battery might just last longer!

Hang on! Is that my lovely Jaspa you’re having a pop at?

It’s an incredibly comfortable bike to ride, just don’t try to change gears, cause you’ll brake suddenly. Nor should you try to use the rear brake if you don’t want to instantly change gear. I suppose turning is a bit of an acquired skill as well. It does need a lot of turning space. Other than that, (oh and the fork legs have a disconcerting habit of not actually looking straight, I think the left fork leg is slightly leading the right), but other than that it’s one of the nicest bikes I’ve ever ridden. In a straight line….on the flat.

:-)

This is my Jaspa. It’s a replica 1920’s track racer, kitted out with Sturmey Archer chainset and 2-speed, kickback rear hub with coaster brake. Oh yeah, it’s a lethal combination. To take my mind off the whole instant death thing whilst innocently trying to change gear, or heaven forbid, levelling the pedals when bumping up or down a kerb, it’s a very comfortable pub bike. The springy, hand built steel frame, Brooks saddle and hand wound Brooks leather grips are lovely contact points.

Now, I’m goint to try and post an image of it….

I’m very much a beginner, even though I’ve owned a few bass guitars over the last 30 odd years. I currently have a Squire J-Bass in a lovely Lake Placid green. I pick it up, learn a couple of easy songs, then put it down again for months on end. I’ve started learning songs and techniques again via a Fender Play subscription and I’m quite enjoying it. However, in all the time I’ve had a bass, it’s always been a right-hander. That’s what I started learning on as a teenager, and it’s what I’ve stuck with all through the years.

A big part of me now thinks that my reluctance to really commit to learning the darn thing is that in the back of my head, I’ll never really play it well because it’s a weird righty shaped thing.

I’ve started eyeing up proper left-handed basses, but I’m still kind of reluctant to commit because for all I’m very limited in what I can play at the moment, I don’t know if I really want to go back to complete basics!

Arrgh!

Back at the very start, Footflaps was asking advice about young un’s turning up for the ‘club’ rides he’d organised, and was regarded as, the nominal leader. If it was me, I’d be wanting to know if these youths were old enough (18+) to be on the ride without a parent or designated adult. If they couldn’t show proof, I’d be telling them to hoof it. However, I’d personally find it a bit awkward to stipulate ride rules, even if I’d organised the ride, when I wasn’t actually a paid up club member, as is the case with Footflaps.

I still think the simplest remedy, if he’s happy with the way the club’s run at the moment, is for Footy to pay his membership. Once done, he’s got a legitimate voice in the club, and if there’s no current rules about under 18s joining the death or glory fast run, then he can make them.

I started using it yesterday at work via the Microsoft authenticator app when logging onto Teams and Office 365. It seemed to work okay, only requiring me to open my phone with my existing pin to authenticate my login. Just another pain in the bum reason to have to carry my phone around with me everywhere though. Bus ticket to Glasgow, Nextbike to University, Authenticate login so I can check emails etc, and check I’m not dying from diabetes with my Libre 2. If I forget my phone, my day is doomed!

I think your simplest option would be to actually join the club. Then if you still want to be ride leader, you can tell any kids that want to join the ride to bugger off.

After that, anyone that’s not part of your group, isn’t part of your group. Although even then, I’d probably still feel responsible for them. I’m part sheepdog, and can’t help but try to keep everyone together.

I’m in the same, very large and well organised club as Dick Barton ^^^ up there. I used to lead many of the off-road rides and regularly came across this problem. Parents would rock up to the meeting point and drop off their kids. Each time this happened, I made it very clear that there was no way the kids were coming with us unless the parent tagged along as well.
Not such a problem nowadays as the club has a strong junior section, but I’m still clear on the fact that I’m not interested in a group ride with kids, (under 18’s) unless they have a parent alongside them.

I have had the Sureflap for Ruby and Luna for about 5 yrs now. The batteries last about 6 months and the locking mechanism is loud, but they quickly got used to it. The only issue we had is that Ruby’s microchip has migrated down to her arse, so she has to wear one of the supplied tags on her collar. We couldn’t convince her to enter and exit backwards….cats, eh?

I’m slowly getting back on the bike after 18 months sofa time due to illness. What I would say is that while I was feeling peaky, time flew in because I was so focussed on getting better. Even now, I struggle to believe that my diagnosis (nowt as scary as your dodgy ticker), was actually so long ago.

Ahem…Obviously, the support from family and friends is the greatest boost to my recovery, but dreaming about my bike, reading Singletrack when it plopped through the letterbox, and smirking at all the internet warriors sniping away at each other on here is a huge help as well. ;-)

I’d store the bike away for when you’re better. It’s there waiting for you, which is a huge positive incentive. It’ll also allow you to ride alongside your mates, or go out for a quick spin, at points in your recovery when walking up a flight of stairs still leaves you with purple spots in your eyes.

Have a serious think about how you feel about the bike, and whether you might at any point regret getting rid of it. In my opinion, approaching your illness with a positive attitude, and giving yourself goals (this time last year I challenged myself to ride 300km on Zwift in a month during the worst part of my chemo, nearly killed me, but the month flew past), will help you work through it. I think having the bike sitting there, patiently waiting on you, will help speed your recovery.

All the best!

Craig xx

I’ve been a regular visitor to the Lakes with my mountain bike every year, for well over 20 years. Although now I’m mostly riding an e-bike, I don’t know if MattKKitch will let me come down again. :-(

The Borrowdale Bash has been an integral part of these visits for me, often combined with a loop out to Skiddaw house and round the back of Blencathra (with a stop at the Quaker church for coffee and cake), for a big day out with lots of beer stops. Far and away the worst part of that ride though, is the road along the side of Derwent Water. It’s horribly busy, with loads of blind corners. I would be Cocker-a-Hoops (see what I did there), if I could ride the Bash from our regular campsite at Castlerigg Hall farm, up onto Walla Crag and along to Allness bridge. I’ve walked the route often enough, but never ridden it because as a visitor to the area I’ve always felt obliged to stick to the rules.

In my opinion, allowing riders onto the Walla Crag path would be so much safer for them. I’m also another example of a rider who has seen very little conflict with walkers in my 30+ years of riding off-road. I’d be very surprised if this was being driven by complaints from a large number of walkers.

C.

I’ve been here since the days when the site was called ‘GoFar’ and used to post regularly on the site. I rarely do now, because so many people are looking to pick a fight. I lurk nowadays. It’s still a great source of information and entertainment, but I rarely contribute now for fear of offending someone’s sensibilities.

Just this week I learned that the numbers on the dial of a toaster refer to minutes, not how brown you want your toast.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/7463561.stm

In 1984-85? This thing actually suggested I join the clergy. I haven’t got a religious bone in my body! Glad I didn’t listen to it though, I’m now the lab manager for a research group doing cutting edge work into the origins of DNA replication loops.

:-)

We live in Dunipace, about 8 miles west of Falkirk. My wife commuted to Croftamie along the A811 for a couple of years. On a good day, she could make it door to door in around 45 minutes, so I’d add another 15-25 minutes to get into Falkirk from Killearn. Another thing is that the A811 is a horrible commute, especially in winter. According to my better half, the road is arrow straight, but riddled with blind summits. Impatient drivers pulling crazy dangerous overtakes are apparently very common.

I’d echo the thoughts above about Dunblane, Bridge of Allan, maybe Braco or Blackford if you wanted smaller villages. Lovely places, but more central for a commute into Falkirk and of course you’d get to hook up with all the fabulous Stirlingshire mountain bikers.

C.

Nope ;-)

Last Spring, I was feeling pretty poorly and low. I’d finished radiotherapy and was in the middle of chemotherapy when these ‘Ride 300 miles in a month’ challenge things started popping up on my Facebook feed.

With the state I was in at the time, 300 miles was not possible, but I thought about it and decided to challenge myself to ride 300km, on Zwift, in the month of March. I then setup a Just Giving page and let my mates and colleagues know what I was doing.

The support I got, and the motivation to actually push myself to do the challenge was phenomenal. Admittedly, I think I had bitten off way more than I could chew. It was really hard and I didn’t feel like I was getting any fitter, (Didn’t know it at the time, but the chemo had riddled both my lungs with embolisms!), but my mental health improved massively and I was enjoying being back on the bike again, even if it was just my roadie bike in the garage. I managed the final few km’s just before the end of the month, raised £3000 for Bowel Cancer UK and found myself in a much better place. Even though it murdered me at the time, my surgeon remarked on how quickly I recovered from both rounds of the surgery that finally got rid of Trevor, my unwelcome lodger, so maybe the challenge did actually help me physically as well.

Sorry for rambling, but as a motivational tool for getting back onto the bike and towards fitness, that worked for me! Oh, and if you do go down that route, let me know and I’ll pop a few quid in your tin.

Beagy xx

Just got the same email, pretty gutted as I really want one of these but can’t afford the asking price.

😔

My PayPal payment came out of my bank account yesterday. My hopes are rising! This is proper nail-biting stuff. 😬

Monday before Christmas, the surgeon who headed my cancer treatment team said ” See you in 6 months for a check-up ”

Tonight, my wife and I are going to celebrate the start of a New Year and the end of 18 months worry and uncertainty.

Bring it on, I’m ****’ invincible!

I’m starting to crumble under the strain. Order still says pending (from 3.30ish on Christmas day). Been lusting after one of these for a while, but could never afford the price.

It’d drive me to drink, if I wasn’t already pretty loaded in preparation for Hogmanay. 😁

I’m really gutted now. I’ve been admiring these for a while and really wanted one, but they are too far out of my price range. When I saw the deal on Christmas day I jumped at it. Put my order in around 3.30pm (just before the sprouts went in the oven), and re-filled my wine glass in celebration.

My order is still showing as ‘Received’ at the moment and no money has come out of my account, but I think it’s a pretty poor show if they’re just cancelling the orders with no explanation.

Might have to fill a wine glass to commiserate with myself now. :-(

Any blood in your poop, get thee to the doc.

I began experiencing this at the start of last spring, around my 50th birthday. Altered bowl habits swinging from bouts of constipation to phases of the squits. The constipated poop often ended up with blood showing in it, which I put down to piles popping because of the ‘strain of passage’.

I put off going to the doc as I didn’t want to bother them when they were swamped with the first lockdown and also, I’d convinced myself I had IBS as the symptoms kept coming and going. Anyway, it was late summer when lockdown ended that I finally called my GP after excluding all the fun things from my diet and going through all the over the counter remedies I could think of.

Poop was sent away the next day and within 48hrs I was contacted for more examinations.

I’m alive!!!

I’d left it so long that Trevor the Tumour was in an advanced stage and very large, but the amazing staff at the Beatson in Glasgow, and Forth Valley Royal, hit me with a relatively new, intense treatment protocol that has been showing great results. I had a course of radiotherapy that was condensed into 5 days rather than the normal 5 weeks, then 3 months of very high dose chemotherapy. This effectively hammered Trevor so much that in his retreat he pumped me full of clotting factors in revenge. So my cancer treatment had a three month hiatus while the docs cleared all the pulmonary embolisms from my lungs. After that, I had surgery to remove the remains of Trevor then a five month break until last Monday when I had corrective surgery to reconnect all my plumbing and stuff it all back inside where it’s supposed to be.

I’m all sorted now, just slowly recovering and aware of how very, very lucky I’ve been. However, I’m also very much aware of all the heartache and worry I could have saved myself if I’d just picked up the phone the first time I saw traces of blood in my jobbies.

No matter your age, or gender. Blood in your poop? Get it looked at!

Craig xx

When I worked at the University of Stirling, I used to walk past Rowdy Yates office. I think he might even still work there.

Up my way there’s a couple of Facebook groups with 1000+ riders between them that have regular rides. I’ve been on a few of them and they’ve always been a friendly bunch, with rarely the same people out on a ride. There’s also a lot of MTB stuff on that ‘Meetup’ app. Or you could join your local MTB club?

I was sat on the bus reading about this on my commute into Glasgow this morning.

;-)

I plan to try and learn the bass guitar again (countless failed stop/start attempts over the past 30+ years), even though I have no musical aptitude. Get a guitar. start learning and we could be famous!

@Boxwithawindow I have a full, unopened Stans Tubeless kit that I recently bought in error. I’m in the lab at the moment but bunking off early so should be home around 1.30ish. I live in Dunipace, about 8 miles south of Stirling town centre. You’re welcome to pop over this afternoon and fix your wheel.

Craig

I own a Bass, it’s a rather lovely looking Squire Jazz in Lake Placid Blue. It’s sitting in the corner of my room glowering at me every time I go in because I can’t play it.

When I were t’nipper, I got my hands on a lovely USA built Fender Music-Master bass. It had such a punchy sound, it was amazing. I tried playing at the time but was awful and convinced myself that the problem was I was trying to learn on a right-handed guitar. Not that I was a talentless, fat fingered oaf.

Many, many years on, and I bought another guitar (the Squire), but because I originally started on a right-handed guitar and could still plug out a few blues progressions, I stuck with the right handed version. For a while, I had a hoot of a time going to a sound studio with a couple of mates, but when my mates and I had a falling out, the guitar got hung up in a corner of the room, where it now sits, glowering at me.

I’ve since signed up to the online lessons on Fender’s website, but I think I have a problem with the guitar being right handed, which limits my playing ability…not the fact I’m a talentless, fat fingered oaf.

Still, reading the posts on this thread has got me thinking about it again. Really, as long as I can plunk out a 12 bar blues, I’m happy. Yeah, I think I’ll tune it up again and have a play!

B.

I was in the ‘Yeah, I might get one in a few years time’ category. Then last year during the middle of the 1st lockdown, just after my 50th birthday I got a bit ‘cancery’ and had to go through rounds of radio and chemotherapy. That led me to have a good think about things that I wanted to do. The idea of postponing anything has kind of gone out the window. I have no impulse control anymore! :-)

The day after I came out of surgery, I hit the spend button on my phone and got a Specialized Turbo Levo. I’ve been riding it now for about 6 weeks (I’m nearly 12 weeks post-op), and it’s letting me ride my local trails even though I know that my fitness shouldn’t let me. Not only that, but I’m able to ride with people, rather than 100-200m behind them for the first time…ever! It’s also allowing me to ride out to locations further from home (I can’t drive due to issues relating to my type 1 diabetes), and still have a great day out. Climbing? Oh my goodness, I can do a long grinding climb now without it feeling like someone is constantly twisting a knife into my back! For the past five years, since the ‘Bulgaria Incident’ (smooshed my L1 vertebra down to 50% of it’s original size in a snowboarding mishap), long climbs have been a trip into hell, but the e-bike greatly eases the discomfort. It’s amazing, a couple of weekends ago I rode into Stirling, climbed Dumyat, dropped down towards Dunblane, then Bridge of Allan (stopped for a beer in the brewery), before pedalling home. A 55km loop with 900m of total climbing. It’s a regular ride for me on my normal bike, but there’s no way I could have done that with my current fitness levels.

It’s an expensive toy, yeah, but I bought mine on 24 months interest free credit, and it was actually only £700 dearer than my Orange Four that’s currently glowering at me in a jealous rage from a corner of the garage. It’s not something I’d want to take on a big day out on the hills. That’s what my Four is there for, but it’s helping me get out and have fun on a bike again while I work on my recovery! In that respect, I think it’s paid for itself already.

I think what TheBrick was meaning is how are you going to deal with the limitation on battery capacity you can travel with if you fly?

My new Levo has a 500 W/h battery and I think airlines will only let you travel with around half that.

Florida men, one dressed in bull onesie, attempt to burn down house with Ragu sauce, police say

I know this sounds silly, but we bought a car from a dealership about 10-15 years back that only came with the one key. We got it copied just in case, and everything was dandy.

We’d had it for a good few years until we finally went to trade it in for a new model. On the day we were handing it back to the dealer, I went through all the pockets, nooks and crannies in the car. I pulled open a drawer…it might have been an ashtray as we don’t smoke, so didn’t use it… and there was the original spare key, still with the dealers tag on it.

You never know…..

I’d go with the others on this. I’ve given my ribs a good walloping on the MTB, Snowboard and once as a kid at Karate training when I went in with my guard to high against that wee git Craig Johnstone.

Each time it’s been around 6-8 weeks before I could cough, laugh or sneeze without going cross-eyed with the pain.

C.

When our boiler makes a clunky, banging noise it’s usually because the water pressure in it has dropped and it needs topped up.

C.

Actually, I think you’ll find that most of the clouds are my fault. New telescope.

My tuppence?

I’m in the ‘planning on using it to get fit again’ category. A year of cancer treatment has left me knackered and unfit. As a treat to myself for getting rid of Trevor the tumour, I’ve bought a Spesh Turbo Levo. In my head, the idea is that I’ll be able to gently work up my fitness again on local trails, maybe even in the company of my mates but Once fit again, I plan to swap back to my main bike, an Orange 4, for local trails when riding in company.

The best trails in my area though, are around Stirling, about 10-12 miles away from where I live. I don’t drive because of an issue with my type 1 diabetes called Low Hypo Awareness. So for the past 20 or more years, when riding Stirling trails with mates, I would have to pedal 45-50 minutes to the meeting point, hook up with everyone as they got out of their cars, chase after them as we climbed the trails, then struggle on the descents because I was so knackered. Once back at the meeting point. I’d then have to watch as everyone packed their bikes away and drove off, leaving me to drag my ass all the way back home in all weathers.

I very rarely do these sort of rides anymore as I just don’t have the enthusiasm for it, however, I’m hoping that the Levo will change that. If I can get a wee eco assist on the way into Stirling, and crucially, on the way home, I’d be more willing to head over to these trails again, widening my range and catching up with folk that I haven’t ridden with for a good few years. I’m actually hoping it’ll get me back into riding with the local mountain biking community rather than driving them off!

Another three weeks and the surgeon says I should have healed enough to start getting back out on a bike again. Till then, Lemmy the Levo is sitting in the garage untouched since he was unpacked by my mate two weeks ago, still with some of the new bike stickers needing peeled off (I can’t bend low enough yet). Can’t wait to get out and ride again!

Ohh Lordy, the underpants photo….

Mrs Beagleboy! Pass the Mind Bleach please?