West Midlands champs in Wolverhampton. Weather forecast looks interesting with some snow/sleet coming through on Sunday morning. Whatever happens I’m sure the course will be nicely marmelised by the time us v40s get going. 

In my experience the  rival mech is much less noodly from the get go and more robust in the long run. I have apex shifters/brakes with rival mech on my CX setup.

I’m keeping an eye on the weather forecast and it looks like all the heat thats building this week will break before Saturday. Not sure I would survive 6hrs at 30 degrees C!

Did you actually come in last place? There were a couple of DNFs in the seniors/vets so if you finished you beat them.

I love racing in the west mids league, I am definitely placing towards the back each time but always racing someone.

Got an uberbike 32T steel ring, haven’t used it in anger yet but seems okay on my 10speed setup in the workstand.
https://www.uberbikecomponents.com/view-product/Uberbike-Made-In-Sheffield-UK-Steel-MTB-E-Bike-Chainring-Steel-Bolts-104BCD-32T

I have used one of these:

https://www.hubjub.co.uk/sunxcd-chain-tug-with-derailleur-hanger-4059-p.asp

all good so far.

Caught up with it on iPlayer, the kids and I loved it. The biggest complement to it was probably my eldest asking when the next episode is on. My youngest (2.5yr old) called out with “Santa is sick!” when she first saw Worzel.

What’s the back of the pack racing like with this series?

In my opinion there is a really good spread, some very fast (but polite) riders lap me at least once or twice a race, but I am still racing quite a few people with similarish fitness and ability. The course at fillongley is fast but with a mix of surfaces including a nice big sandpit.

I have a tcx slr and the mud clearance is fantastic. Is the clearance a bit more limited on the carbon version? might be something to consider if you are doing cx races.

West Midlands league for me, really looking forward to it. CX is really the only organized/competitive cycling I do these days as it seems to fit in with family and work commitments pretty well. Also I do like a bit of mud.

When is she actually going to join the commentary team? not for todays boring flat stage is it?

I decided to have a flutter on this years race. As you’d expect the odds were very short on Froome and Porte so I went for Quintana at 7/1 for the overall and Bardet at 25/1 (but i chickened out and went each way).

Hoping this years race is going to be as good a watch as the Giro.

I turned up nice and early (about 12:30 ish) and I am registered for the league so I got a place fine. According to the electronic timing there were 146 starters in the Junior/Senior/Vets 40+ race and on facebook they stated 160 max before the event, so no quite full but getting close.

I guess keep an eye on the facebook page this week and see if they state a limit for this sundays round? Turn up early and you will increase your chances of getting a place plus you can also cheer on the youth race.

Yes I am looking forward to the next one. There is one every Sunday now until the first weekend of October.

One of the reasons I thought I’d give CX a go is that in theory it should fit in okayish with my family life. Saturday is currently written off with my kids activities, Sunday morning the wife does bootcamp, Sunday afternoon racing CX should be fine (and the family can come along too). Lets see if theory actually works in practise!

I think I need to turn a few of my bike commutes into training sessions in the week.

I’m in. Will be riding my Nerve AL 29er. I’m going to give it a proper clean and fettle this afternoon to get it ready. In terms of finishing I’ll be happy to make it round, so no idea on overall time. When I did the old Kielder 100 race the weather played a big part in how hard the day was. Fingers crossed that the weather gods are smiling on us for saturday.

EDIT – sorry northwind, another one on the M6 so i can’t give you a lift.

ring road drift 3 bw by lazymandias[/url], on Flickr
ring road drift 6 bw by lazymandias[/url], on Flickr

Well my entry is in, looking foward to it already.

94 entries and counting looks positive as well.

Excellent news. Even at “only” 101km it will still be a big challenge for me. Bring it on!

My head office and our main factorys are in Iwaki city, which although it didn’t have the worst of the damage was still hit very hard. Two colleagues lost their lives, and a few more lost family members. Every time I have been out since then a little bit more is repaired or replaced but I think some areas will just be left as is. Its also very close to Fukushima nuclear plant which still continues to be a worry (and probably will be for a few lifetimes yet). When I visit its always really hard to get hotel rooms as the place is crawling with Tepco employees. When you sit down to breakfast with them it puts your day in the office in perspective.

thanks for the feedback, sounds promising. So now I just need to justify the purchase as an early christmas present to myself…

I work in Automotive development, which seems to be going very well. Seems that despite the economic slowdown in the UK, the rest of the world keeps on buying Range Rover sports*.

*other stupid cars are available on request

Absolute class.

Why haven’t the dvds been released? Why is it never repeated (unlike every other bbc program)?

Is it because the west brom Jihad sketchs were getting a bit close to the bone?

I’ve been using a pair from them for the last four years, still very true despite a few minor dings to the rims.

Clipping a ferrari again

Definite brown trouser moment. Will mcnish help them out with the dry cleaning bills?

The car came very close to going over the barrier. I hope the marshalls and photographers on the service road behid are okay, there looked to be a lot of debris heading their way.

Rheged, or eden ostrich world if you are prepared to venture a little bit further from the motorway.

ebygomm – Member
The way I read it
Current situation
1 year work experience during last year of teacher training – unpaid
1 year probation – full time salary
New Proposals
1 year work experience during last year of teacher training – 0.5 full time salary
1 year probation – 0.5 full time salary
Surely the net pay is the same at the end of the day?

Gross pay is the same overall, but won’t net pay actually be higher as in both years the teacher will only be paying income tax on a few thousand pounds of earnings over the personal allowance?

Soylent Green is based on How to Cheat at Cooking by Delia Smith.

The life of Brian was based on the Bible

The Social Network was based on Facebook

+1 for retrobike, they should be able to help you out.

Some folk have to struggle for years or decades to scrape together funding and support and so on. Of course I’ve no idea what the full story is in his case.

I will await the fully audited accounts of all his climbs, and a full report on his parents finances to be published. Why didn’t the bbc report this in the original story? Don’t they know that we are only allowed to like poor people on here?

The OP is right – it is a nice story and well done to the lad.
The added weight of chips on shoulders would have prevented many forum members from completing the same climbs.

You once ate so much blackpudding that you got iron poisoning

Prolapse inducing?

I predict a dry start, but the heavens will open just after all the drivers on soft tyres have made their first stop. All hell will break loose and someone random from a midpack team will luck into a podium finish – perez? Di resta?

I then predict that some people will get their knickers in a twist about why people like/dislike certain drivers/teams. And then someone will say that moto gp is betterer.

not really going to further my career and I got so much on at the moment I could really do without getting stuck in Japan if something does happen.

So you agreed to go before it all kicked off and had all your flights booked etc, but now your too busy. I’m sure your japanese colleagues will recognise your cowardice high workload and accept that you aren’t coming.

My suggestion is use of weapons. Absolutely fantastic. I would argue that its his best book, regardless of the M in the middle of his name.

Had a mark III prius as a company car for the last 10 months.

Its averaged 52 mpg over the 11000 miles its done from new with me. Day to day driving is all urban and suburban, but I’ve done a lot of road trips in it. The worst mpg it gets is high 40s in very cold weather for short urban journeys when the engine seems to run more for heating the cabin/screen. The best i’ve got was drving from the midlands to north wales – a mix of Mway and A roads in the summer gave about 65mpg.

The interior has lots of space, and certainly more leg and shoulder room than a focus or golf. Its very relaxing to drive. I have had zero reliability issues.

I can’t comment on servicing costs as i don’t pay them or even see the bill. As a company car its great.

My head office and main factorys are in iwaki city, which was hit hard by the quake and the tsunami. It was mid afternoon when it hit, and our sites are up in the hills away from city so did not get any tsunami damage. The people i really fear for are my colleagues families – most of the housing and schools is only a coupke of metres above sea level on the narrow coastal plain.
So far i’ve managed to get hold of 1 guy on the phone, and two guys through facebook (mobile data seems to have been restored quite quickly there.)
Just to make things even worse the Fukushima reactors are less than 50 miles away up the coast….