I can’t remember if it was the Smiler, but a colleague was telling me he nearly made it onto a ride at Alton Towers, when the operator suddenly realised this incredibly tall chap had breached the upper height limit. I never knew they existed but it makes perfect sense.

I can remember I was so excited in the mid 80’s, being just tall enough to ride the Corkscrew!

Oh come on. I’m not the only one who thinks it looks like a giant peenus in a glass am I?

Seriously, am I?

Now you mention it…

Their meat is excellent, just portion it up and stick in the freezer.

Look for deals on washing powder, dish washer tablets, wine and beer. Good for nappies and wipes if you have little ones.

That summer cabin with the hot tub in it looks great :wink:

I think the answer is Sweet Spot Base vol 1, but after my first year on a road bike, I am realising that my sprint could be better and also improve my endurance riding at tempo.

I started Sweet Spot Base 1 low volume in the spring, but did not complete it as I did not religiously follow the plan due to family life, and switched to riding outdoors and joined my local club when the weather improved.

My normal garage fix is TrainerRoad mixed with SF Angels, AVDP or Downward Spiral when I really want to test myself.

Is it worth still mixing these videos up, try something new for a change or just work through and complete Sweet Spot Base this time? I am still getting one road session in per week, 25 or 60 miles depending if it is an evening or weekend ride.

Appreciate your thoughts

We were there last month in the October week. My girls (2 and 5), hated building sandcastles, playing on the beach, flying their kites and exploring rock pools. It is a beautiful part of the world and the weather was fantastic, which clearly helps no matter where you go.

We visited Alnwick Castle twice having validated our tickets for the entire year and had toyed with going to Newcastle had the weather not been great. There is more going on than you think.

“Sorry for the delay folk, please direct any questions to the pillock in seat 27 who was so concerned that his wooden giraffe would be damaged in the overhead lockers that we missed our take off slot.”

It’s a good story and I don’t doubt it, but why would a pilot incite a riot and endanger his aircraft? A few years back, the Captain of an Airtours charter from Geneva to Glasgow I was on, decided to do just that.

Due to heavy snows and avalanches our transfer from Val d’Isere to Geneva was extremely delayed, so much so that the check-in staff were surprised to see us. We had to forcibly excuse our way past the huge queues for security and at the gate, they had to check that the plane was still there. Getting on board, our group was met with repeated tannoy calls requesting us “latecomers” to find our seats, any seat with the threat that the take-off slot would be missed. Having found our seats with little fuss, a few minutes later a tannoy call stated that “due to the latecomers, we have missed our slot and been allocated a new one in 3 hours time”.

Cue an eruption of noise throughout the plane and a torrent of abuse in the direction of where our group was seated. A minute later, the pilot came on the tannoy saying that another flight had broken down, so were getting their slot and departing now. I doubt there was another plane, I believe the bell-end driving the plane, immediately realised their error, and requested an immediate departure slot fearing a riot onboard that they had incited.

Technically we were latecomers, but not of our own negligence. I would have been ok if I had missed the flight, but suspect airtours wanted to wait as late as possible, rather pay to transfer 8 passengers. One of our group did notice a couple who were also late, but not on our transfer. What happened to them, “oh, we were in the bar”! :D

Long story, not particularly funny, sorry. Had some comics on the Central and Northern Lines and the announcer at Waverly Station in Edinburgh was legendary about his warnings to travellers not mistake the slow train to Glasgow for the Express Service.

I wear my gilet a lot, or perhaps not as much I expected to given the relatively warm and dry autumn we have had (for Glasgow anyway).

As Brakes suggested above, if I have any doubts about the weather, I still pack a light waterproof. So even a decathlon or dhb waterproof over your gilet should keep you warm, dry and layered up.

Depths of winter, you may want to rethink things.

I like Keavney.

I am looking forward to riding in a big event with lots of riders, but have to say I’m balking at paying £73 to IMG for the privilege and would prefer more of that fee to be going to charity.

I am doing the Braveheart ride at the end of the month so looking forward to that. That will sort out my ego :-)

Just a shame I double-booked myself against the Fair City Enduro in Perth which is meant to be great.

I am thinking about this as my first proper sportive. I know the area well having grown up in Perth and it is a beautiful location for a ride.

…but, is it worth it for closed roads that are clogged full of cyclist soup. As legend says, bar the main road to Aberfeldy, some of these roads are pretty quiet anyway and loads of options to create a good route?

Happy to make a donation and pay for someones time and effort in organising an event (oops, almost said race there), but I suspect there are better and more challenging events out there – Loch Ness, Obree etc

OP, as all above, there are loads of reasons why children are not always welcome, especially when making numbers and costs work, but I have never seen this extended to immediate family.

If you have the chance, why not have a quick beer with your brother and tell him how you feel, he can reply in turn and then put it to bed. Life’s too short.

Don’t think ive been to a wedding where there were friends kids and quite frankly the parents enjoy having a rare night away. We had family children to ours, would not have minded other children, but to invite friends kids would have at the least doubled the numbers and not practical.

This is what we did. Our nieces and nephews (including a then 6 month year old) were there, but we did state that only immediate family children and babies on the breast were invited. A friends wedding where they did not think they had to confirm this, had friends bring their uninvited kids along, and had to be be catered for at the last minute.

I have been to many child free weddings and it is great having the night off from your own children, but immediate family children have always been there. Perfectly acceptable to tell friends that only they are invited, but I was not going to tell my sister or brother-in-law that their kids were not welcome.

So OP, yes it weird. Ultimately it is their day and their rules, but I do find it strange and that decision was not made 9 days prior to the wedding day so they had plenty of notice to let you know.

I have used a Vittoria 26″ turbo tyre and an Elite 700 turbo tyre. Can’t say there was any noticeable difference between the two. Cannot say they are particularly noisy either, no more than the sound the turbo generates. Both tyres are red, but they were bought for function not style.

I use my turbo in the garage but if you are indoors, you may want to explore some bluetooth headphones if you want to keep your wife happy. Otherwise, you will need to ratchet up the decibels to hear your music, tv above the turbo which may not please your wife or neighbours.

If you get on with the turbo, you should check out Sufferfest and or Trainer Road.

Just bought some “shit” socks and pair of lobster gloves. I’m not a big fan of my sealskinz socks for all the reasons above, but these ones feel a little thinner (in a good way), and will be worn under tights so hopefully I may have dry(er) feet this winter.

Pleased to hear that the Big Trak was shite. And the reissued versions too as I came close to buying one a few years ago.

I always wanted a Commodore 64 so I could play Ghostbusters, but instead I got an Acorn Electron :(

Ungrateful child I was.

OP- lots of good advice and a tough lessons learnt in hindsight, not that I expect that there will be a next time.

In the cold light of day, what is the extent of the damage and costs to put right? Is the shifter and frame still usable? Can they be tidied up along with some new bar tape? I’d take your bike to a trusted LBS and get their opinion.

If the event was part or fully sanctioned by your work, I’d speak with your boss and see what they can do to sort you out, after providing a favour to a “colleague”.

Presumably the borrower has shown no cockwomble tendencies previously, or you would not have lent to him? He has certainly demonstrated this now to you, his colleagues and manager, so I would not worry too much about him not speaking to you. His cards are marked and maybe he doesn’t care (sounds like it), but no one at work will ever do him a favour again.

A payment plan, would you ever see it? Life’s too short. Tell him what you think, the damage he has cost and shut him out. Karma will catch up with him soon and possibly some bombers too. Does he ever remove his shoes at work? :-)

Me too

Merge in turn would be great if as a nation, we were any good at it. We like to queue and therefore see any attempts at merging in turn as someone being a dick and skipping the queue.

My nightly misery is getting off the M74 onto the M73 south of Glasgow where the single lane slip road is shared with an exit lane and has an entry slip road filtering into it 500 metres further ahead. People get into the right lane early as there are no signs, or reasons to suggest merging in turn, so a start – stop tailback is created for miles with people “jumping the queue” and those defending the queue rather than merging in turn.

As well as the multi-million pound roadworks to improve this section of the M8/M73/M74, berpahs they can spend a little bit of dosh educating people about merging in turn.

Nice house, but what is all that blue stuff in the background :-)

@Repack, it is dubya I know, but that is pretty cool. You might not agree with someone, but manners cost you nothing.

I was disappointed to learn that it was not a new series of Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon bickering and doing impressions on a long boat.

Had I known it was one of those “slow” programmes, I might have watched some of it but was tired enough so went to bed.

I like mine, great ventilation and I got it for only £20 when you lot were buying the green Bell enduro lids from Halfords.

Organ you say, DJ Shadow, Organ Donor?

While we’re on the subject, which is the track that goes ‘naaaaaaaaaaaaaaa, naaaaaaaaaaaaaaa, na na na, na na na, na na na, na na na naaaaaaaaaaaaaaa and repeat…

er, Lady Gaga Bad Romance?

I think Blackflag and DONK have it. Common sense, communication and courtesy go a long way and seem to prevail on most of my trail centre visits.

I got a retro OPQS jersey as a present from my wife at Xmas. It was a lovely present, and how cool of Omega to apply their Etixx brand this season and thus make my jersey immediately redundant “retro” and save me from looking like a FKW! :-)

Hi RRR, I think you posted previously looking for flying tips and accommodation suggestions.

We have been away twice this year with our 4.5 year old and 14 month year old girls, getting our holidays in now prior to being subject to school holidays.

We were in Tenerife in March and had a double-buggy for both girls. After an (early) dinner, we would change our youngest into her pajamas and take her for a stroll and stop off for a wee refreshment if and when she fell asleep. We would sometimes have a drink in the hotel lobby and transfer both girls into their cots and beds, and either read and have a drink on the balcony or lounge. Our hotel room had a separate bedroom so we all slept in it, but had a lounge / kitchen so we had some space to chill out once our girls were asleep.

On previous holidays, I have seen plenty of kids either staying up late (why not they are on holiday), or fast asleep in a buggy in bars and pubs. So your night does not necessarily have to end when your child goes to bed, but apply common sense and obviously you know your own child.

You might want to avoid Brits, but are Dutch, Norwegians, Germans and Russians etc ok :-)? I’d recommend finding a family friendly hotel and resort, that cater for the above and that will make your holiday so much easier and relaxing for you.

I’d highly recommend Hotel Isabel, Costa Adeje in Tenerife but that will involve a 4 hour flight.

For getting to Hampden on Sunday, as per Boarding Bob, just head to Central Station and find the end of the queue which will probably wind its way around the building. I’ll be in the queue too. It should move pretty quickly as they are used to handling football and concert crowds, oh and the Commonwealth Games. I’d expect the queue to be a lot more civilised than when Take That played Hampden.

Get off at Mount Florida and follow the crowds, and repeat for the journey home. Not too many watering holes in and around Hampden, but the Clockwork has a micro brewery and is pretty decent.

West is very good and they now have a bar in Woodlands Road which runs into Charing Cross, so would work with the suggestions above. Most bars will serve their beers in any case. The Ben Nevis pub is a good shout too in Finniestoun and a little bit more traditional than some of the other suggestions if that is your taste.

We took our 4.5 year and 14 month old girls to Tenerife in March. The flights went far better and easier than expected, and as Ed Hornby suggested, take loads of books, snacks, stickers, drawing and some smallish toys suitable for the flight. The flight crew were great too and heated up the youngest lunch for her.

Our flights times were very good, morning out and evening back so our youngest had a couple of naps on the plane. The summer schedules can be a lot more varied but see what you can find.

Ibiza, Majorca would give you a shorter flight time and should be cooler in August than Cyprus, Greece and Turkey I’d imagine. The Canaries would be a slightly longer flight but will give you a slight breeze to help keep cool, but don’t forget to cover up in the sun (obviously).

We stayed at Hotel Isabel in Costa Adeje in Tenerife. It was a family focused hotel, staff were great and I’d highly recommend it. Beaches and promenade are lovely, and a zoo and waterparks are close by too for longer days out.

Seriously who cares, politician lied a bit big deal.

Call me naive*, but I do not believe all politicians set out to tell lies, Tony Blair excluded. Sure, some are economical with the truth, suggest things otherwise, spin negatives into positives but tell outright lies, no.

This is different. He could have suggested this at hustings and on the doorsteps, and his constituents could have weighed it up, but to hold back and plant untrue information and then deny it for cynical political expediency undermines the man, his office, profession and his constituents. The moment an inquiry was raised costing what £1.5 million (how can a couple of phone calls be so expensive BTW), he knew he would be found out, but calculated he would be safely re-elected and back at the trough.

He is not fit for office and has to go now. It should not be his decision to collect 67k for 5 years and his ministerial pension, and then see what his constituents regard him. I don’t care who is re-elected but it won’t be him and his lies rewarded.

*Hi, I’m naive…

Sturgeon absolutely made the remark, no doubt about it at all in my mind.

You must be the French Ambassador then, and I claim my Five Euros please.

I had been swapping my magnet between the wheels I run on the road and on the turbo. A friend pointed out the novel idea that I would not need the speed sensor on the road, as GPS should be determining the speed. Not that taking the magnet off was particularly onerous, just one less thing to forget to do.

Zoo Station – brilliantly leads you into the awesomeness that is for me still U2’s finest album, Achtung Baby. It was a great show opener is well on the whole Zoo TV circus.

We read / heard that LA is a huge vacuous place, which is probably true but we quite liked what we saw of it and wished we had stayed longer. Granted we stayed in West Hollywood just off Sunset Strip, rather than downtown or out by Disney at Annaheim.

We spent two nights in LA, first night was really getting over the flight and had dinner and drinks at the Saddle Ranch cafe which was across the street from our hotel. The House of Blues was next door. We spent a day jumping on and off a double-decker bus checking out the sights of West Hollywood, Beverley Hills and Sunset Strip. The Farmers Market is really good, it was fun taking a stroll down Rodeo Drive, but did not spend too long among the cheese of Hollywood Blvd.

We spent a morning in Santa Monica, walking on the beach and pier. My only regret in LA is not making it to the Getty museum and hiring a bike to ride along the boardwalk at Venice beach.

The canvas tents at Yosemite look awesome but book up very quickly. These were in the main valley. We end up staying in a concrete bunker of a hotel complex just outside the park, but it was a bed for the night and the room had a great view of the Merced river.

Great summary Northwind and it I think it gets to the crux of the argument. The man is a shitehawk and his shitehawkery is his greatest crime and failing as human being, but USADA et al cannot and have not punished him for being a shitehawk.

I do remind friends and colleagues that it is not so much that Armstrong doped, but that he was the kingpin of a sophisticated international drugs trafficking cartel. That crime caries a little more weight than someone who just doped or prepared themselves “professionally”. LA could have co-operated with USADA and who knows what his sanction may have been had he done so too.

Hopefully the courts will be the right place to provide justice for LA’s shitehawkery. Fraud, libel, slander, blacklisting and bullying are not doping violations or cheating actons to win a bike race at all costs. They are the crimes of a sociopathic shitehawk and the perpetrator must face these charges in court.

Don’t forget the ice. Some for your G&T and some regular ice packs down there will help reduce the swelling and improve and speed up your recovery.

My procedure went really well, a friend on the other hand got an infection which led to an abscess, but you don’t want to know about that. :-)

Loved riding the black trail and would happily ride that all day than the boardwalk.

i remember trying to slow down on that hateful stretch of timber. a proper brown trouser moment

That’s my experience too

Thanks TINA and Scotroutes.

I am using Trainerroad and I do sit at a desk. Far easier, simpler and cheaper to stand up every so often and will try that first. I still expect it is going to take some time to get used to the new saddle and riding positions, but not going to suffer indefinitely.

I might try out my Spoon first before testing out other saddles.

A slight thread hi-jack if I may, as I’m also new to road biking and this thread is very much of interest.

When will my arse begin to feel normal again?

On any of my mountain bike saddles or at spin classes, I never felt any discomfort. Two weeks in on the road bike, and my backside is still hurting. I find after 40 mins my backside is really getting uncomfortable. Is it just a case of time and allowing my sit bones to get used to the feeling or should I be thinking about my bike fit? I am reasonably central over the saddle and not over stretching for the bars. I am using padded shorts and chamois cream too.

I have no ventured out onto the road yet, but working away on the turbo so probably spending more time in the saddle.

Take a wee ride on the tram that the locals love so much. The toddler will be free. I don’t think the castle will be particularly pram friendly if you are still using it, but great views from the ramparts.

The National Museum is great and of course the zoo.

As Jonba suggests, if you get offered a new job why don’t you ask about voluntary redundancy? It may help you, your colleagues and your previous company.