After years of using HasBean I come across Coffee Real this year http://www.coffeereal.co.uk/

Their coffee just seems to taste better than any of the other online guys I tried, and seem to get a bit more in each bag to.

if you google van damme splits you’ll see hes been able to do full box splits for a very long time – it was a ‘trademark’ of his back in the dim and distant 90s

no one?

Until this year I used 2 cree torches on medium – bright enough for cars to think youre not a bike, whcih is half the problem – car driver sees bike and pulls out – I never had any one pull out on me

This year Ive got the ‘2000’ lumen light – not dark enough at the moment to measure effectiveness, but one thing Ive noticed already is that the lens’ are not out of the box waterproof – the seals are too thin – a bit of instant gasket and they are now…

depending on what they are £150 could be nothing – if youre looking at selling all of them head over to one of the online valve dealers

I dont know about old radio valves but I do know about guitar amplifier valves (the same things!)

There are obviously loads of different ones but if youve got any mullards and they say anything like EL84, 6V6, ECC83 or 12AX7, youll sell thme very easily providing theyre all working

You might be better off going to someone like Hot Rox or the tube store who may take the lot for a decent amount – save you faffing with ebay and fees and postage (but stay away from Watford Valves – the worst reputation Ive come across, The Dave Hinde of the Valve World!)

On the other hand Ill give you say £20… 😉

Well going back a page or two I ordered mine Thursday and it d this morning so despite being a Chinese seller they are based in the UK

hmm th weights have gone up too – lightest bike is about 1.5 kilos more than previous – thats them off the new bike list…

Ive been racing this year on two pairs of tyres dating backto 1996 – IRC XC & IRC xc Slicks – best tyres Ive ever used and at 350g a tyre also one of the lightest.

With a season full of races and numerous trips over the olympic course never had a problem or a puncture (even with ultralight tubes)

another UK based seller at £29.00 (with a free rear light!!)

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Ultra-Bright-2x-CREE-XML-U2-LED-Bicycle-Bike-Light-Red-Black-5000-Lm-UK-stock/161120053996?rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.m1851&_trkparms=aid%3D222002%26algo%3DSIC.FIT%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D17233%26meid%3D1719272782693383327%26pid%3D100005%26prg%3D8045%26rk%3D3%26rkt%3D4%26sd%3D200959831751%26

Ive been a user of time atacs since the first pedals (still got them as I found out the other day) and after reading the reviews bought a set of the new carbon ones (XC8)for as much as anything the weight – during the summer and dry hot bits they worked faultlessly then a couple of semi muddy races and different story – one of hte beauties of atacs was always their mud clearing properties, first off I had huge problems clipping in with mud in the pedal and then when cleaning them noticed that theyve put in a kind of little tunnel in the back of the pedal where the mud is supposed to go into when you clip in, however it was clogged solid, the sticky clay type mud had blocked it totally, hence my problems clipping in but when I took them off to clean the pedal was at least twice its normal weight, and it was a right bugger to clean out too.

For muddy races Ive started putting my old pedals back on…

I used to go to hasbean, but now get everything from Coffee Real in Sussex (not to be confused with Real Coffee) their 6am blend and decaf espresso is amazing…

http://www.coffeereal.co.uk/

these guys are a fantastic way to make your own curries:

http://www.haresmoor.bigcartel.com/

always fresh ingredients and you don’t have to buy lots of something youre only goingto use once..!

Not bad. Parcel Force charge you £13 for the privelege of putting your packet on the shelf until you pay the duty to the tax man.

not quite – Parcelforce charge you for them paying the tax man on your behalf, and then claiming it back off you… It would take a whole lot longer for HMC&E to send you a letter, get paid release the parcel to delivery service etc…

It used to be that if a parcel is shoebox size or smaller the chances are it would go straight through, no charges, but lately smaller items are being stopped and charged. And don’t forget you get charged on the shipping cost too.

The only way to bypass this is to put an incorrect value, which is (a) illegal and (b) in the event of a claim (if insured) you cant claim more than the listed cost.

Me – still got xtr v’s on my Kona, still use it for racing most weekends….

Im just too tight to upgrade to discs, but then the bike is nearly 20 years old…

I know Michael travers the guy doing the site and bikes etc not ridden any of the bikes, although Ive had a chance to – you’ll find him over on the hadleigh mountain bike website / forum – super nice guy..

don’t know if anyone saw the report on this on the BBC this morning – car exiting roundabout nearly took out the cyclist, who just stopped in time, car, even in a demo for the report had no intention of stopping…

We have large areas of ‘shared space’ locally and in no way shape or form is it shared – cars take priority everyone else has to wait for them, even on the pedestrianized areas, the driver just assume priority – it will take a lot of retraining an education of drivers for it to work but there are drivers out there who just won’t accept it.

the list wasn’t restricted to Spanish sportstars only – Hamilton in his book makes quite good mention of using Fuentes (or rather his assistant!)

The trouble is doping at the time of the raid wasn’t illegal in spain so Id imagine that use of the blood bags and computer records would constitute a breach of soneones rights – or that’s at least what Id expect a wealthy footballer’s lawyer to argue…

It was quite obvious during the trial that people were being leaned on to make sure the details were not released during the trial – how odd he’s been convicted of doping athletes he can’t tell you about..?!

The offences date back to the early/mid 90s I think millar was the only british rider to speak of at that time.

The reason the samples are to be destroyed is so t hey can never be linked to the tennis and footballers that we were told numerous times were in there, but everytime the good dr has offered to name names he’s been told to shut up – even during this trial – it was a farce from start to finish..

I lived on canvey for years, nice place tbh, theres a sense of community there Ive not encountered for a long time – problem with canvey is that unless youre riding (which is very possible) it would take longer to get into southend than chelmsford, and if theres an accident it can takeup to 2 hours to get off the island depending on where you live there. I used to ride from canvey to southend every day and due to the seawall between canvey and leigh it took about 30-45 minutes depending on wind direction and was mainly off road – obviously in winter it can get a bit boggy.

The garrison in shoebury is really nice – obviously good for getting to southend (again very easy to ride into every day) and may take up to an hour to get into chelmsford. I ride from shoebury to southend every day can take between 20 to 45 minutes depending on route.

hmm… a normal 35 minute journey took about an hour along southend sea front this morning – but on a plus side I appear to have picked up a couple of KOM’s on when I turned round..?!?! 😀

matt Illingworth (commonwealth gold medalist – so I guess he counts) – used to live locally and Id love to say I used to go out riding with him, but I used to start off with him and then him and Jason White (currently in Halfords TOB) used to bugger off and Id never see them again?!

Im still riding and racing my 96 kona Hei Hei, not had any problems with that – Litespeeds were always known to have problems, I remember in 95/96 a couple of frames going back for warranty with cracked headstocks…

I started in May 2011 at 12.5 stone, by August I was down to 10st7 through out last year I fluctuated between 10st4 and 10st7 depending on racing, with a bodyfat level between 7-8%…

I find it really easy to maintain this weight. Thing to remember though is this is not a diet, change our style of eating not for a short term but for good. Also its not a low/no carb diet, from day one it was always about only eating the carbs that were needed, as stated oop there, if you dont need them don’t eat them, its that easy.

My only proviso from day one though was that I had two days of eating what I want – this wasnt an excuse for 24 hour eating just having a few things I wouldnt eat during the week, currently coconut kitkats and bowls of capuccino…

The hardest part of the whole thing having to buy a whole new wardrobe of clothes as quite literally nothing fitted me, looked like I was wearing someone elses clothes.

jimster that Persian curry from Hares Moor is not a sauce or pre made, its the raw ingredients for the curry:

dried limes, ginger, green & red Chillis, spices etc… You have to add onions, chicken and tomatoes, chickpeas or lentils if you want them

All instructions are included.

dansak supposedly being persian this is amazing:

http://haresmoor.bigcartel.com/product/persian-chicken-with-dried-limes

Ive always got at least 3 of these in my fridge at any one time

A lifetime ago I used to dj the northern allnighters right across the country (well the late 80s early 90s at least)

Theres always loads of dos manchesters and stoke way, in London youve got the 100 club once a month, and youll find local dos and nights everywhere – soul source is a good place to start, BUT for gods sake dont start collecting vinyl… Its adictive, will leave you skint and you wont believe how much some ofht e 7” go for (anything from 99p to £4,800…!)

The Kent compiliation cd’s are an amazing source of very rare tracks at very little money and can be found on amazon at decent prices…

I think the big pointer is that a Spanish Dr has stood up and said that he has worked with athletes, tennis players, footballers and cyclists. Now about 70 of the 200 blood bags found were linked to cyclists, that means about 140 other sports stars used his services. Thats easily 7 big football teams and 10 tennis players and 30 odd athletes. (They would not all be Spanish of course – many of the cyclists caught were not, but most Spanish pros seem to be implicated one way or the other in drugs during this time).

This was in 2006, when Spanish sports stars (inc a certain tennis player renown for his exceptional physical endurance) were doing very well in general. The Spanish Government have been happy to sit on the evidence and protect their sporting heros. The only Spanish to have been caught for this were caught by other cycling bodies such as the Italian one).

As regards tennis and football, both require skill, but the extra 10% or whatever in the last quarter of a match when the opponents are flagging often will win the match

thats Dr Fuentes who’s trial has just started, and already its turning into a farce.

He’s offered to name all the people he worked with, he was told he didn’t need to, they’ve uncovered a letter from the Spanish Roayal Family asking Contador not to be pursued or investigated for doping and the Dr has stated under oath he received death threats from 4 major football clubs in Spain.

there were an awful lot of footballers and tennis players on teh list and there are some people who will go to some pretty extreme lengths it would seem to stop the list becoming public…

I like it but as has been said £9 is silly money for a magazine – my only wish is that you could buy one off digital versions easily, would make my odd commute to london a lot more bareable.

Ithought something was up when he cancelled the oysterfleet gig last year, but going without chemo is a brave move, although I don’t think we’ll see him perform in the UK again, but would glad to be proven wrong – has shades of lee brileaux all about it..

Also its about time canvey actually recognized the achievements ofthe orig lineup, theres a plaque on a bench in new york, but absolutely nothing on canvey… ridiculous..

I can do 2 1/2 hours easily, i do that once a month in winter, thats 1 & 3/4 ascents of mont ventoux (on the fortius)

Obviously with the fortius you have the option to race yourself or others this always takes my eyes off the clock and to what others are doing.

Normally Ill do 1 & 1/2 hours on the german and spanish mtb course, racing against various mes…

ow…

Around 94/95 when I was doing a lot of boxing I was using a floor/ceiling ball (my own) but hadnt secured the floor hook correctly – A 2 ft piece of rubber/elastic, stretched between the floor and ceiling with an s hook on the end – half hour of not physically being able to stand up and being sick. The dr later described it as putting a tomato on the floor and stamping on it.

For two years I was kept under obs as one side was constantly the size of a tennis ball, then one day I was told that what looked like a tumour had developed – surgery within 3 weeks and 3 months of chemo followed (and whilst I was in hospital I picked up cycling weekly and read about this young US rider that had just been diagnosed with TC too…)

Oh well still had one t hat owrked and I now have a 5 year old son and a 3 year old daughter…

christ Id forgotten about those videos Zanx did – seems like a lifetime ago… He supplied some really potent coffee too!

Brieze blocks would be pointless youd be able to lever it off with a good screwdriver, a ground anchor with the chain vertical (ie over the top tube and wrapped till taught) would make it more difficult but not impossible with croppers.

But as we were shown earlier in the year you can stand in broad daylight cutting bike locks and no one will take the blindest bit of notice – weeksy’s right get the best security you can afford if you dont want to lose your bikes.

theyre removable fences to stop people sneaking onto the site and riding / moving stuff / hurting themselves whilst theres no one about – obviously taken out when Tom does the rides

One thing that puzzles me (as we didnt get onto it at the time) – why is it called leap of faith – I always though that looked quite ‘easy’?!

triple trouble??

I had two sims faders (the jemma jameson ltd edition) sold one last year for £100 more than it was new… Obviously the craftsmanship and rideability of the board…

I marshalled at a race on the course in October and as I was right over the other side of the course I took my cx bike, any mad ideas I had of riding the course to where I was stationed were soon forgotten – about the only bit I did manage to ride wasthe zig zag hill up to triple trouble, then I erm.. changed my mind! I took the fireroad path after that..

im disapointed the 1 handed endo on deans didnt make the video…!

Cool , thank you…

ooh how do I do it then…???