Blimey – went through the 1,000 mark at 10:53 😯

Seem to be going at one per second! In with a few of the mates, should be fun as always 🙂

Have done a fair amount of work with NI Water, they readily acknowledge that they’re 15-20 years behind England & Wales in terms of their asset management expertise – i.e. they’ve not developed the planning to avoid failures or the operational capability to rapidly respond when things do go wrong.

On top of that they’re still in the public purse, so while iDave is kind of right, they do pay but via their taxes – so only what their local government feels fit to spare once all the other priorities have been budgeted for. Investing in pipes is never a vote winner – one of the reasons for privatisations in E&W was that our government scrum-halfed it to the private sector when faced at the end of the ’80s / early ’90s with a large bill to pay for various environmental Directives which would have had to come from taxation.

NI Water was set up with the aim of going down the E&W model but has been scuppered by the complex politics.

The CdS is a self-organised thing in our case. Logistics of getting to the start and back from Santiago are quite challenging. The route itself is well waymarked. There are only a few cycling guides for it as it’s mostly a walking pilgrimage, but Amazon has some useful stuff. Will find out where my mate sourced the maps from.

We’re planning on taking it steady over 8 days and mellowing out.

Spikes would’ve come in very handy today – especially on my boots! Largely ok on normal tyres but perhaps 30% some spikers would have come into their own. Great fun anyway though!

Heading over tomorrow – anyone been today, was wondering home brew ice tyres would be wise or has it thawed at all today? Ta muchly.

Doing the Camino de Santiago in April with a mate, should be fun (no religious connotations on my part!). Then the Deloitte JOGLE in June (work is paying 😀 ).

Previous long/endurance stuff: London-Paris in 22 hours, TransWales, a couple of 24 hour solos. All good ways of finding things out about yourself.

One day I want to give TransRockies a go. A couple of weeks’ self-sufficient touring off road would also be something I’d like to do at some point.

Another one for something Santa Cruz-esque – Blur LT Carbon would be luuurvely but would mean putting the VT out to pasture. Or not – bigger garage maybe too?

Oh, and something fat (other than what’s round my middle) would be fun.

Postal service is diabolical at the moment, it’s putting us all through purgatory.

Yup, every year since our daughter was a toddler – family tradition now a decade on!

A gang recently broke into a Viagra warehouse. Police have warned locals to look out for hardened criminals.

TJ has it – embrace the diversity! 😉

Familiarity does breed boredom if not contempt, it’s just great to mix it up if possible. Exmoor, Dales, Pentlands, South Downs, Malverns, trail centres, all fun in their own way.

Even though I can’t go somewhere all the time, I’m lucky enough to try the same local routes on different bikes and it keeps them interesting.

Buzz, not sure where you think the flow into sewers ends up after treatment 😉

Salinity removal by sewage treatment is minimal, and it also compromises the effectiveness of treatment too, as well as generating more sulphides than normal (bad egg pong, not good).

Waderider has a point, but that depends on the catchment, in-river flow and antecedent rainfall – discharges from combined sewers can be out of synch with flows in the river so there can be localised impacts.

Guns of Brixton.

Work, here? Is that what I’m doing? 😉

Sleepless nights, dealing with temperamental brats – you’re already in training :-0

Definitely time for some more WFH and/or meetings off site e.g. Swindon 😉 or Somerset!

LOL at the “UST gonads” – there’s a t-shirt to be had from that somehow (and I’d be in the club too!).

Cheers for the ‘loan’ ^rob^

On the basis of the one ride so far with a build from available spare bits (wonky brakes, too short a stem and too narrow bars), you ain’t getting it back 😉

Bit of a grind on climbs round here in Zummerzet but oh what a hoot when pointing down 😯 Methinks a quick pop out for a pootle over lunch is called for 😀

One’s just too hard, sorry. Biffy and Foo Fighters getting a lot of airplay in this household. Really looking forward to the MK Bowl gig next year.

The Fopster’s list seems to overlap with a lot of my tastes!

White Stripes, Muse, Jimmy Eat World and Arcade Fire also a strong showing on our playlists.

The Church is probably my most played band over the last three (eeek!) decades.

What geoffj said, it’ll be the family Crimbo pressie this year.

Also means our various Touches can be online when away from the house and I’ll get less earache from them about having an iPhone for work!

Still debating whether to go for the 1GB/month MiFi or 5GB.

Yeah they can be done in Derbyshire. Used to be Tony Barton but Mike the Mechanic does it now. Expect some sucking of teeth / I’m rather busy / away on World Cup circuit, but he does a good job.

Address is Magura Tech Support, c/o Moore Large & Co, Sinfin INdustrial Estate, Sinfin Lane, Derby DE24 9GL Tel 01530 414142 or 07785 538080.

Was £85 for a full service plus P&P, took about 10 days to turn round, but I think might be cheaper and quicker now that it’s the off season. Some cheaper options too.

Some good tips from all the above. Take it steady, be enthusiastic, know your stuff.

And don’t overdo it on the PowerPoint – definitely go with the less is more. This is one of the funnier takes on how people get carried away with it:
Life After Death By PowerPoint

Have fun!

Cheers, user-removed, much obliged.

Will be heading off to get the train at sparrow’s fart tomorrow morning then, oh joy! 😕

@ user-removed – which bit of the A19 is that? I’m s’posed to be heading up from Bristol to Durham tomorrow (by train) but am wondering if the people I’m meeting will actually get in to their offices (or indeed if I can get from Durham station which is on a lovely steep hill…).

Hope your wife gets back ok!

Our daughter is currently raving about ‘Looking for Alaska’ (John Green).

Spiffing.

Lashings.

And other Enid Blyton-type words.

Got ours on Wednesday for the Sunday gig – wahay! ‘Mon the Biff etc 🙂

We booked at the Hilton Northampton just off Jn 15 of the M1, £75 inc breakfast, for a room for 2. It’s about 30 minutes up the road.

IIRC the XTC is about 1.3kg so say 3 lbs, and the Superlight is a smidge over 5 lbs (all dependent on frame size). So a couple of pounds in it.

I got my Superlight to about 24 lbs with nothing bling, just judicious 2nd hand XT / X9 kit and some decent DT wheels (4.1 on 240s). A bit heavier now with tubeless but a fair trade-off IMO.

Seems like your wheels are your best bet if you do want to go on a diet 😉

LOL at Northwind’s tyre selection process – probably a bit close to the truth!

Bonty tubeless ready all seem quite good value and relatively light for tubeless. Personally reckon Nobby Nics UST are great all round – but not cheap. Some good 2nd hand bargains around.

Partly ‘cos I’m wasting my time trying to get a fewkin’ straight answer from O2 on a simple SIM swap on a new business ‘phone (looong story – and they reckon retail competition is a good thing?!).

Partly ‘cos I need to tweak a proposal in time for Monday.

But then need to fettle, having been away for a couple of weeks and neglected bikes before I went away. Tsk.

Still, hopeful of getting out later – and being coerced by Mr Merman into my first ‘cross race tomorrow 😯

@robdob / Kuco – the word going round is that there’s scope for the flood defence aspects of the Environment Agency’s remit to be picked up by other parties, potentially the water companies, who have some track record in investment planning and delivering efficiencies in delivery over the last couple of decades.

As for the other functions that the EA fulfil in pollution prevention etc – yeah, wouldn’t it be odd if it was all split up again, back to the NRA / HMIP / Waste Regs. Seem to recall the argument back then was that merging = efficient… Can’t believe that anyone would be daft enough to bring say an NRA role back into a water company though (poacher and gamekeeper under one roof like when what became the NRA used to be the Rivers Division of the Water Authorities).

As a general comment – let’s not confuse most of these proposed cuts with efficiencies, they’re just savings. Efficiencies are when you do the same with less (or more with the same).

The top of Catherine Street on the Cobble Wobble 😀

"Don't get cocky, kid" [Han Solo]

As a reminder to self once I've just cleaned something I don't, to keep my *hit together for the next section 😕

If you're using electrolytes in your drink then they'd have the same effect as plain NaCl in lowering the freezing point (but insulation would make it less cold to drink).

I love the winter, and all the changes across each of the seasons. My arthritic fingers, however, aren't looking forward to it!

The original e-mail I got from Rouleur said:-

"Privateer will go on sale on the 1st of October but if you subscribe now, the first issue will be mailed to you on the 17th of September."

Which would be nice, as that's my birthday 😀

Tsk, numerous pink opportunities missed there Mr T. Pink cables, grips, saddle, fork… 😉

Looks excellent. Loving the XTR spec – from the Ti Duster (RIP)?

When d'ya fancy a pootle? I'll bring Maia's uber pink 26er Scandal 😯

Hmmm… worryingly, I can't think of a reason not to be there… 😕

A short pootle round Glentress this afternoon, having come up yesterday to Scotland from Somerset and staying with my bro-in-law (who is also doing the event). Nothing heroic, more a chance to meet with some mates I don't get to see often (and consume cake at The Hub!).

Will spend a few minutes this morning bedding in a couple of sets of spare pads so they don't disintegrate in the damp. 💡

Other than that, just controlling the butterflies and getting a positive groove on.

Hope everyone has a fun time, all will be well. 8)

As foretold by my grandad, "Adrian' became 'Adrain" (through typos at first then "ooh, that's funny, look") then plain 'drain'. It's stuck since I was about 13. And bizarrely/through another example of nominative determinism, I ended up working in the water/wastewater industry.

Any rumours that I have a mind like a sewer are scurrilous and unfounded 😉

Comfortably Numb, closely followed by Wish You Were Here.