Get in touch with Boa. You can buy the dials as a service item, but not the bases. One of mine broke on my Bont road shoe in a similar way. Boa were fantastic when I politely asked if I could buy a spare base directly. They worked out from pictures and dimensions which base I needed and posted a pair out to me without charge. The base came without holes to sow through, but it was easy enough to mark up from the needle holes in the shoe and drill, then sow in. I think glue would struggle to bond for a lasting repair. Good luck whichever route you choose. I can’t speak highly enough of Boa’s customer support though!

https://www.pinkbike.com/video/509425

I also raced XC in the same events as a young Martha. Not sure if being overtaken by her would count as part of her development that I can take credit for? The video link above is a few years old, but illustrates both riding and piano talents.

Regarding the robotic thing, could she be one of these in drag? Not just swivel eyed, total swivel head too.

https://youtu.be/29ECwExc-_M

Maybe someone should knock her over and she if she stands up in the same way the bot does? I’d pay to see it.

I’d concur with thols2. Impossible to predict what damage might have been caused, but likely that any data will be recoverable if the main storage is removeable. Some laptops recently come with the main storage (if it is SSD) soldered directly to the motherboard which makes recovery more challenging. If you conclude that getting it looked at isn’t an economical option, it would be well worth taking a look yourself. I’ve replaced screens and motherboards on previous laptops. If you can find a teardown video and are reasonably methodical and not overly ham-fisted, then it is acheivable. I’d advise getting on with it ASAP though – any corrosion that might occur in connectors, etc will only get worse over time. Similarly, if it just a matter of cleaning up still damp contamination – the sooner the better. Good luck!

I’ve alsways been an admirer of Yanis Varoufakis. He always seems to make sense (to me) of complex economic arguments. I’ve never understood why Labour haven’t signed him up as an advisor. He rips through Tory ideology like a knife through butter.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/feb/15/labour-credit-card-analogy-mendacious-tory

Never tried Pilates from a book, but been doing weekly classes for a decade, starting at fifty. My motivation was to maintain what mobility I have and anything else is a bonus. I’d say it has been a success as I have, by and large, avoided picking up niggling injuries and been able to enjoy more saddle time as a result. Many Pilates teachers are also physios which puts them in a good place to judge what will and won’t work for you. Being in front of a live teacher has the benefit that they will observe when the exercise isn’t being done quite as intended. Many of the exercises are targetted at the less used muscles and there is a tendency for me to subvert the intent of the exercise and rely on the larger muscle groups instead. Often it is just a tiny adjustement of technique that is required to get back on track. Another advantage of live classes is that they will regularly use equipment to guide the exercises. This adds variety to the classes, but can also guide and improve technique. I find the classes a very supportive and encouraging environment and there are always inspiring people around. I wish you luck and hope you discover something that will work for you and you can enjoy for years to come.

Another shout for custom stainless option. Had my S-Max done a few years ago at DCMS in Burnley. Cost less to have it made & fitted than I could have got the bits from Ford for. He also switched it to use VW (I think) mounts instead of Ford which he reckoned were awful.

I have an Octavia Hatch hybrid, so a similar system to the Passat. My commute is 18 miles each way. I can charge at work and at home, so I am doing all commute miles on electric only.
At home, yes you can plug straight into the mains. It is only a small battery (relative to full electric cars) so easily charges overnight, I’ve no idea how long it would take to charge from flat to full.
When I got the car new (leased) in August – the range was enough to get me very nearly from work to home and back (happy days). As soon as it got a bit colder, the range plummeted. I think on a properly cold dark morning with lights and heater all on, the range wouldn’t be much more than 20 miles. I’m hoping it will get better again once the days get warmer.
For longer journeys, you have the choice of starting on full electric and letting it use that all up. Once it has done that it runs on petrol, though it will charge the battery during braking and use that when it thinks best generally it just turns the engine off on when coasting downhill. Alternatively, you can program in the journey to the SatNav and put it in Hybrid mode and it will decide for itself on how best to deploy the modes. On a 70 mile trip like this, it was managing about 70mpg. It depends a lot on the type of road and speeds though.
Overall, I’m quite impressed. Some foibles – but mostly software related (like it forgets to pre-heat the car some mornings – appalling, I know).

Educational resource (contains graphical imagery of actual pain):
The Pain of electricity (AC Vs DC)
Much more along the same lines:
Electroboom

Same thing has happened to my two and a bit year old 8000 series chainset. Currently back with Madison for their assessment, though worryingly they are currently saying they haven’t received it. It was original equipment on a Fairlight bike and Madison would only accept it as a return through a bike shop. Thanks for the reminder to chase this up! I’m hoping for a replacement despite being out of warranty. I can confidently say that there has been no abuse or misuse.

Downlight hole repair
I haven’t tried anything like the above, but looks preferable to a full re-plaster.
My fittings are different to yours, but when I got sick of the crumbling plaster after swapping failed LED bulbs I removed the spring clips and drilled out the fitting chassis for use with self tappers through the fitting into some plywood that I glued in on the other side of the plasterboard. The screw heads are covered over by a decorative trim in my case so no visible difference. If you end up re-using the spring clips, you can preserve the plaster board a little by sealing the edges with some PVA glue or similar. Not trying to glue the fitting in place, so let it dry before refitting the lamp.

Splendid. Count me in. I’ll update my stats post Xmas if when they have moved.

@mossimus – that was me you were battling with to the line. I stuck to my game plan of playing to my apparent strength of strong if steady efforts on the climbs that paid off as I managed to keep reeling in folk who had dropped me on the approach. I thought I’d be on my own for the last couple of km, but you defied my best effort to lift my pace on the last incline. I almost fell foul of the false finish line and was fortunate to hang on and max out my effort and come round you to take the sprint by the finest of margins.

@robbo1234biking – brilliant concept flawlessly executed. Take a bow. Many thanks.

My race went better than last week when my link crashed after 1km. This time I got across the start line and immediately pulled out of my SPD, despite having done a ten minute warm up in them. I blame these new fangled start pen launches! The couple of seconds of realisation and clipping back in was enough to be detached from the megawatt blob ahead. I made my way forward a bit and settled into a good sized group that lasted until the first climbs when everything fractured. Thereafter, I found myself with @Chipps and @Straightliner, both of whom had more appetite for energised sprints and climbs than I could muster. The trio came together each time until the final climb series where first Chipps and then Straightliner left me choking on their dust. A feather on the last climb was enough to limit the losses and keep me ahead of the chasing pair behind.
Another great race and a further learning opportunity- though not sure what I can apply to the Queen Stage, other than checking my pedals and offering a small prayer & sacrifice to the connection gods.

First km was lovely. Managed to catch the lead group. No intention or expectation of staying there, but the choice was made for me. Total ant+ fail – trainer and hrm – and nothing would revive it. Two Zwift restarts before it was going again. Hey ho. Solo ride to see if I can hit level 30 now.

Probably scant consolation Robbo, but I was impressed that you stayed with the front group for so long. I watched the front group split away with you in it and made a brief effort to bridge, but had already worked too hard to stay towards the front of the group in that frenetic first few kilometers and had nothing more to give. I did manage to hang with the Oopnorth group that you rejoined. Again – I was surprised how long it took us to reel you in once you were detached from the front group. From then on it was just a case of hanging on and trying to find moments in the race where I could get my HR to drop to more sustainable levels if only for a brief period. When it got into the last kilometer, I think you and I had a similar idea of going early to try and avoid the fast twitch sprinters. In the end Oopnorth came through with an expertly timed Aero boost – I got a little bit of a tow from him, but couldn’t find anything extra to properly latch on. Pleased to have been able to see my HR Max (a lowly 168) as I crossed the line so must have timed my efforts reasonably well. Looking forward to the next one already.

Cheers gents. I’ll start polishing my excuses right away.

Any hints / tips / etiquette pointers for a rolling start? I did my first race with the STW glitterati last week which was a standing start. From reading bits of the thread, I guess I join the group a few minutes ahead of the start time Then when everyone is present we start rolling behind Robbo and when he is satisfied everybody is blobbed up close behind him, the instruction is given go, go, go. Is that about right?

It was my first STW race last night. Congratulations to all participants and particularly to those who achieved their ambitions. And a big thanks of course to Robbo for putting the series together.
I had a mixed ride, seemingly left in the blocks despite watching the clock tick down and anticipating the start. The first climb let me catch up some places and I joined a small group on the descent with Feed & Oopnorth which I felt was cracking along at a good pace until we were swallowed up by Robbo’s group. I managed to hang on to the enlarged group and avoided the temptation to attempt a sprint then somehow managed to make up a lot of places on the last climb. I never know if that is an aberration of my cheap trainer, or the fact that I ride in a hilly area and have an hour long commute (when I choose to ride it) that is a good match for the typical race distance. Either way – very content with the way it turned out.
Zwift has me down as a B class which I think I fluked my way into about this time last year just before picking up a bit of a health fart. A mild Lymphoma that radiotherapy seems to have obliterated. I only ever did one B class race and was trounced – close to last and would have been mid pack in C. I’ve done a couple of races this year out of class with the C’s just because it is much more fun to race where there is a chance you’ll be able to hang with a group rather than being destroyed and dropped in the first quarter then soloing to the end. So the C races are more fun, but hard not to feel like a fraudulent interloper when I’m disqualified from the results for being in the wrong class. Hence last night was a bit of a revelation to just race in a group and see where I fit in. Highly motivating and I hope to get to more events before life get in the way again.

I live in Crawshawbooth and can happily recommend it. It is a village about 10 minutes from Haslingden, just North of Rawtenstall. We moved here when I worked in Stockport and my better half in Skipton. The Skipton commute is doable, but tedious if it is every day. I now work in Hebden Bridge which is a 35-40 minute commute by car and around an hour by bike – add on 5 to 10 minutes to get to Haslingden. We have a good primary school in the village, one of our kids went on to the grammar school and the other to the local secondary. Both thrived. We have great walking & riding on the doorstep and easy access to all the other areas you are considering. Well worth adding to your shortlist I’d say. For a slightly more rural option, look at Cliviger. It’s half way to Todmorden with good commuting access in lots of directions

Indeed Moe. And this was the Foreign Minister speaking in a second language about an issue she could easily have claimed to have been beyond her remit. And yet she was informed and lucid in all her answers. It is possible for politicians to actually answer the questions that are presented and with precision and clarity.
In terms of what else can be done Alcolepon – BJ, DC, etc. want the the Durham and Barnard Castle vacation to be forgotten. They also want to sow the seeds for a future inquiry into their handling to be presented as impossible to predict and all to have followed scientific advice. The Korean experience and example shows this to be nonsense. Nobody in government is reading STW to gather the pulse of the nation, but they can’t ignore their inboxes. Persist. Do not allow the politicians to imagine that their response to Cummings’ entirely self-serving actions is acceptable. Encourage others to do the same.

And if you are looking at the graphs I linked to in the post above and notice a little up tick in deaths starting to appear, keep in mind this comes about 3 weeks after the change from stay at home to stay alert. These same statistics are apparently being used to justify a further weakening of lockdown. Another Boris good news distraction from real events? Policy invention to distract from the DC debacle?

I recommend a viewing of this video showing the South Korean Foreign Minister talking to Andrew Marr 10 weeks ago.
BBC Video
The entire interview is worth a view, but there is a quote in the middle (at about 3:10) that describes a ‘government fully in the service of the people’. I may be naive in accepting this as accurate – I know little of South Korean politics or politicians, but she appears sane and credible.
Keep in mind that the office of Foreign Secretary in this country was recently held by one Boris Johnson and now by Dom Raab who now seems likely to be sued by Harry Dunn’s family over his version of service to the people.
Having digested the South Korean approach, who we should recall had even less warning of the pandemic than we did, take a look at the effectiveness reflected by the data here.
Death Statistics
The lack of action by our government to match that of examples already available then looks either incompetent (highly credible) or deliberate (not beyond belief). Either way it looks positively murderous.

Following on from my earlier post, I went for a two hour ride tonight and the gears never missed a beat. So the shifter can be stripped and rebuilt successfully, no idea if you’ll be able to source a spare spring though if it is not recoverable. Still think I’ll be upgrading to SLX imminently.

I’d go with them being a bit crap. My Trek came with full 12 speed NX, it’s about 18 months old now and pretty lightly used in that time. The gears are the worst part of the bike for me. Fair enough that 12 speed is going to require some fine tolerances, but this set up seems hyper sensitive. Last week the shifter mechanism gave up on a ride. In a middle gear and it just all locked up. Still ride able as a singlespeed fortunately. When I got home I stripped the shifter down and rebuilt it about four times before it started to work again, not certain what was originally wrong, or what went wrong with the reassembly the first few times. It worked OK the next ride, though it needed re-indexing post ride to get all gears. I think the original problem was that the return spring for the thumb shifter had become twisted perhaps, but not at all sure.It wasn’t bent, but it wasn’t in a neat coil either. I’ve started pricing up a swap to SLX shifter and mech. About £90 from Merlin sounds OK, assuming it works OK with the cassette & chain.

http://www.techmoan.com/blog/category/car-dvr-dashcams
Lots of dashcams reviewed here. Lots of variety in the quality of footage too. Just because something is a ‘1080p’ camera, don’t assume it will be of high quality.

See also:

 https://www.sharkcomposites.com/

Has anyone stumbled across a frame and / or fork weight?

https://www.velochampion.co.uk/products/shark-traverse-frame-forks-wheel-set-offer

Shark frames are sold by Velochampion. No idea what their relationship is (dealer, distributor, brand owner, etc.) but this might help you find out a bit more about them. Sold there as a CX frame.

Free DSP Book Download

You could do worse than have a (virtual) thumb thorough this book. Lots of context to go with the maths,

I’m a fan of Continental Grand Sport. Not the pinnacle of performance perhaps, but for £20 an end, they are fast (enough) comfortable (enough) and puncture resistant (enough). I keep on going back for more.

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/continental-grand-sport-race-road-bike-tyre/rp-prod148141

Yes, drive side chainstay, any cable or heel rub spots. I also took the chainset off and put some on where the chain might drop. Probably should just have bought a chain catcher, but this last bit has already saved some chunks of paint get taken out.

Thoroughly enjoyed that. Course was just challenging enough for hilliness without being too extreme. I bypassed the food stops, though I heard good reports from those that did with short queues and good bike service on hand. My wave was about 25 minutes late setting off, last guys out must have been a full half hour late, but weather was kind at the startline and throughout.
Closed roads are a blast – no stopping at junctions, no sore neck from looking out for traffic behind, pick your line through corners. It’s going to be harsh reality check when I get back on the commuter run this week.
And the crowds. The good folk of the Midlands did themselves proud. So supportive and vocal with it. I heard one girl saying to a friend ‘I’ll treasure this day’ as I went past (probably not just directed at me!!) which made me feel very connected with the area and the event. I hope it survives into a second year.

I’m in. Number 12303, riding a white and black Planet X, starting at 8:35.
Done plenty of miles this year, just not in one long ride (yet). Really looking forward to the closed road aspect and the idea at least of having lots of like minded riders around. Fingers well and truly crossed for a dry day and a chilled vibe.

Lots of good reviews and advice here:
http://www.techmoan.com/blog/category/car-dvr-dashcams

Does your conferencing system provide any equalisation adjustment? Your best bet is to kill the reverberations at source as already explained. If this can’t be done, you may be able to reduce the worst parts of the harshness and sibilance by selectively tuning out frequency bands – almost certainly it will be the higher frequency content that you need to reduce. The controls might be labelled as Eq, HF Filter, De-Esser or something similar.

I dream of ‘annoying’ efforts like that! Chapeau b1gf00t.
I was happy enough with mid table obscurity in the Bs. Happy also that it was only two laps for us.

Some generic advice first:
Always weigh the ingredients, including the liquids.
The yeast I use is Doves Farm. Choose yourself a yeast and flour and keep using the same variety unless you have a good reason to change. Every loaf you make will be a little different, control the controllables (ingredients, method, etc.) and accept that things like ambient temperature during proving will cause some unavoidable variations.
Keep a mental note of any variations you make (more kneading, longer prove, fresh yeast, etc.) and try and see what results.
I’m no pro, but this recipe works for me and is very repeatable.

Basic loaf

• 450 grams Strong White Flour
• 310 grams Warm Water
• 9 grams Yeast
• 6 grams Salt
• 15 grams Sunflower Oil

• Mix the dry ingredients – keep the salt away from the yeast initially
• Add in the water & oil – some flours will require a slight adjustment to the water quantity, but 310grams works well with Asda, Tesco, Allinsons. Morrisons needed a touch more.
• Mix in the bowl with a wooden spoon until the ingredients combine to leave the side of the bowl clean.
• Turn out onto a clean dry work surface (no flour or oil required) and continue to mix by hand. At this stage, the aim is to produce a smooth lump free mixture. The processes of ’mixing’ and ‘kneading’ blend into one, but start by working the mix hard into the surface to achieve an even consistency.
• When in the kneading stage, concentrate on stretching the mix.
• After 5 minutes of kneading, leave the mix on the bench while cleaning out the mixing bowl and then applying a thin smear of olive oil to the inside of the clean bowl.
• Return to the dough which will have become a bit smoother while it rested for a couple of minutes. Continue kneading for another 5 minute, then roll the dough into a ball and place in the bowl. Roll the dough ball around to get an even coating of oil – this helps retain moisture. Cover the bowl with cling film and leave to rise. The cling film doesn’t have to be an air tight seal, it is there to keep the dough out of drafts, and to retain moisture.
• Rising will depend on the freshness of the yeast, temperature of the water when mixed in, room temperature during rising. An hour and a half is a minimum, two to three hours is normal.
• Prepare the baking tray with a minimal coating of sunflower oil (a spray works well) and a dusting of polenta. This maybe overkill, but avoiding the mix sticking to the tray is ‘a good thing’.
• Put a generous costing of flour on the work surface (the dough is now sticky) the aim is now to keep the surface of the risen dough smooth so avoid allowing to stick to the worksurface.
• Tip the dough out onto the floured surface. The face of the dough that is now touching the surface will become the top of the loaf so if it starts to stick at all to the work surface, add a little more flour. The dough will collapse on itself when it comes out of the bowl. Encourage more air out of the dough with a brief manipulation of the dough then start to form the desired bread shape. Turn the dough over – hopefully revealing a clean smooth surface. From here, press the side in underneath the dough, creating a stretched surface to the top of the dough.
• Move the dough to the baking tray and finish off any required shaping. Give the top surface a good dusting of flour before putting the tray into a large plastic bag where the final proving will take place. Keep the plastic from touching the dough – the freshly floury surface shouldn’t stick to the plastic, but the flour will be partially absorbed during proving leaving the dough stickier. Having the dough stick to the bag at this stage is not funny.
• Leave to prove for about half an hour. This can (probably) be longer if the bread is in a tin, but if it is ‘freeform’ on a flat tray, it will start to collapse and spread under its own weight if left for much longer.
• During this time, heat the oven to maximum temperature and make sure the oven shelves are arranged to accept the bread. The oven wants to be as hot as it can be when the bread goes in, our gas oven takes about 15-20 minutes to achieve full temperature. The temperature will drop rapidly when the door is opened – hence making sure shelves are in the right place before the oven is up to temperature.
• Carefully remove the tray from the bag. Avoid the dough touching the bag and handle the tray gently. Any knocks or shocks will lead to the dough losing its shape.
• Add a further dusting of flour and then slash the top surface as desired. The slashes are not purely for decoration, they allow the bread to expand in the desire direction – usually upwards. To avoid dragging and pulling the dough, the knife must be ultra-sharp. There are specific knives for this (baker’s ‘lame’), but a well sharpened vegetable knife seems to work well. A little flour on the knife can help to stop it dragging at the dough.
• Now put the bread in the oven, again avoiding any knocks and minimising the time the oven door is open. Set the time for 27 minutes. After a couple of minutes (the time to clean up a little?) turn the oven down to gas mark 7.
• At the end of the cooking time, take the bread out. Tapping the bottom of the bread should give a hollow sound. If not, the bottom – which is the last part to cook – is probably not quite done in which case return to the oven briefly. Otherwise put the bread on a wire tray and admire.

I’ve bought a few batteries and chargers from this seller and he has been quick and reliable for me.
He has this website too, but I think only sells via ebay.
torches site[/url]

ebay shop

If you have a stretchy budget, Saracen Avro (See here) seems to tick all the boxes.

Tesco was best bet when I got one for my daughter recently. They can readily be unlocked with a £2 code from ebay too.