I got lobbed off my bike at the same place, but Lady Luck smiled and I managed to land on my bike and run down the hill a bit.

Good to know he’s okay.

I’ve got the original GoreTex version of these:

http://www.ultimateoutdoors.co.uk/item/Brand_outdoor-designs-airstream-drysack_0_0_22136_1.html

The small size is plenty of space for phone, wallet, car keys etc and I’ve never had a drop of water inside.

I’ll take the 2300m figure!

Cheers,
Chris.

Anyone know the total climbing on the route for the non-whippets?

Monkey Man looked bored out of his skull by the time we got to him!

I remember we’d been out that day. Me and my Dad sat down to watch the highlights that evening only to see a very sad Murry Walker with the news he’d died.

Spuds are now poking up in their tubs and finally we have life in the spring onion pot.

I’ll be out on snail patrol tonight as they’ve started eating my bedding plants. Grrr!

I clocked 1:58:11 for Sheffield yesterday – was a tad warm in places but still a new PB for me so happy with that. The crowd up Ecce’ Road was fab.

I’ve got an 860 IS – I think it’s EOL now but you might find one for a good price. Has a slightly wider-angle lens which is a bonus and the LCD on the back is huge.

1st Cameras have a nice shop in Newcastle-under-Lyme, so should be good to deal with.

“Security keys”? Are you using WEP? If so, that’s out dated and can be cracked in a matter of minutes.

Does your router, laptop etc support WPA? Much better and easier to setup as it only uses a single pre-shared key (PSK)

Running certainly gives you a good exercise session with less faff than biking.

I’ve been doing more running than biking recently. I ran the Stafford Half Marathon last month and have the Sheffield Half next weekend. I’ve done about ~45 miles running a month for the past three months. I did a 4 hour bike ride as part of an adventure race a couple of weeks ago and thought my legs felt a bit empty (compared to previous races when I’ve done more biking).

http://landshare.channel4.com/ is an interesting idea.

Planted all my spuds now.
Our kitchen looks like a garden centre at the moment. Butternut squashes are looking very promising, courgettes are putting out some new shoots but a bit gangly still. Tomatoes seem a bit weedy but hopefully they can all spend this weekend out in the sunshine. Big pile of growbags ready for when they are bigger.

We sowed basil, spring onions and rocket into tubs last week but no action yet. We’ve got four (count ’em!) figs on our fig tree/bush this year – hopefully our first year we’ll have fruit off it. Repotted the blueberry bush last weekend after reading they need ericaceous compost.

IIRC, Marigolds are good planted with carrots as then the carrot fly can’t smell the carrots.

We’ve found the best slug/snail solution is to go out around dusk (especially if it’s been raining) with a carrier bag and just harvest all the little buggers. Then you either dump them somewhere else (that neighbour you hate?) or jump on them and lob the carnage in the bin. Neighbours will think you’re mad looking in bushes with a torch but it’s helped our bedding plants massively the last couple of years.

Malwarebytes does a pretty good job in the FOC version – some malware “programs” will block it’s acess to it’s primary mirror site, so try a different update site if it can’t updated.

We came across Dju Dju beer in Berlin

http://www.djudju.de (run it through Google for the Engrish version)

Passion fruit and mango seemed popular with my misses.

Dead chuffed with mine as well – superb bit of kit.

I’ve used this company for some IT recycling in the past – seem pretty good (as in nothing has come back to use after being found dumped by the side of the road):

http://www.sitr.com

{Edit to put the right link in}

Does it matter what size 20″ tube you use?

Either of these any good?

http://www.bonthronebikes.co.uk/109-473887
or
http://www.bonthronebikes.co.uk/109-473888

Three of us hired a chalet in Les Houches (Chamonix valley) for a week last September. Was a great deal – it should sleep 14, so no shortage of space between 3 😀 I’m now sat here dreaming of Tartiflette.

Worth grabbing a copy of the MTB guide book written by one of the local guys from Zero G (the LBS in Chamonix) – http://www.tworide.com/article.asp?ID=130

I’m doing the Sheffield half as well. Ran Stafford as my first half a couple of weeks ago – managed 02:03:44, so target this time is under two hours. I’ve been putting in 30 to 40 miles running a month since January. I was very stiff (oo-er) the day after Stafford but dragged myself out to run a very very easy ~2.5 miles that evening and I think it helped.

Finbar – you’re obviously a racing snake!

Count – Another Nike+ user/addict here 😀

I prefer MapMyRun.co.uk over the .com version – less general crap built into the site.

Can I add my missing running shoe please?

1 x Nike Air Kutu trail shoe, missing from our kitchen for ages

Not a fuggin’ clue where it went!

At work, we’ve just bought a load of racking from this place:

http://www.ukshelving.co.uk/

Dead easy to build, about the only tool you need is a big rubber mallet.

Machine Mart do some beefy looking chain[/url] and it’s much easier on the wallet than the Almax stuff.

We use GoDaddy at work for their cheap SSL certificates but not hosting. Our server co-location, special hosting and other stuff is done by Titan Internet[/url]. Top bunch – excellent support.

[/url]

I’ve got a Tradekar Silverbike quick-fit but I think that’s been superceeded by the Oynx now.

Fitting onto the towball takes 15 seconds – drop over the towball, push down the locking lever and slide locking-bar across. The locking bar which stops the lever coming up can then padlocked shut.

My Silverbike and the Oynx both tilt to allow boot access on hatchbacks.

http://www.roofbox.co.uk/bike-carriers/ is a good place to look at a good range of models.

I’ve got some of the Autosocks after twice getting suck in work due to snow (it’s a short but reasonably steep hill to get out of the business park).

It’s not snowed enough since then to need them though!

Met Testagrossa for my size 8+ noggin.

We spent a week last summer in Caunes-Minverois. Lovely sleepy village, we even joined in the Bastille Day celebrations. I quite enjoyed the routine of wandering into the village each morning for fresh bread.

At the recommendation of the owners of gite we stayed in, we ate at l’Oustal de Citou one night. Tiny village just up the road from Caunes. As the link says, it’s a very small restaurant with a fixed menu each night. One of the best meals I’ve ever had, anywhere.

Some fantastic history in the area with the Cathar castles. Great Grottes (caves) to visit too – Cabrespine is one, the Grotte de Limousis another. Some great wine glug to as well (of course!).

Have a look at All-Battery’s ebay store.

You can get 2 x 11.1v Li-ion 18650 packs with bare leads for £25 with postage £10 from the USA.