Chip Butty!

Thanks Legend, will give some a go for £60.

Over the jersey, or under?? And is a tie mandatory? 😛

30 to 40% margin is what we aim for. Sometimes its much higher, sometimes much lower, especially when some of the main contractors we work for do everything in their power to not pay us, then ask for a “deal” to let payment go through. 🙄

Yep, my cables are proper hard-nosed bastards! They give me no sympathy when I fall off at all. 🙁

60 mins XC in the fun class – flat out until you fall over. Or vomit. Or both.

🙂 Liking this advice!

I’ve got them on my Pashley road bike, and they are a bit pants for me.

My old road bike (Colnago Arte, sold about 5 years ago) with Ultegra rim brakes was much better IMO.

I’m using Campag Levers, and compassionless cables. I do have the stock pads in, so may be worth trying some better ones… I’ll check the cable position at the calliper too.

Got my first race in a few weeks at Sherwood Pines.

Bit nervous to be honest, but I’m only in the fun class and will just try to enjoy it. Think I’m going to stick the word “pace!” on my bars in tape before I start, I’m rubbish at not chasings people down, which usually equals blowing up and needing a rest. 🙄

My bike doesn’t have a bottle cage, so I’m thinking of just drinking plenty beforehand… may be a big mistake, but it’s only 2 laps (12km ish???), so shouldn’t take too long (hopefully!)

Try living near Peaty! Him and his pro mates have KOM’d almost everything.

See them sometimes riding trails, one in front of the other, having a chat and still going far faster than I ever could.

They don’t play by the same rules as us lot I’m afraid.

One thing that helps, put your front foot almost at the top, rather than at the front, and back foot almost at the bottom, rather than at the back. (Does that even make sense??), and point your toes upwards as you move back.

That’ll naturally put your weight further back and make getting the front wheel in the air easier.

Hope that helps.

Cheers,

Think I’ve got some old DX pedals somewhere, so will look for a good deal on some flatter Shimano shoes and see how I go.

^^^^
That too!

I’d happily pay more NI to –

A) Give doctors what they want, which doesn’t seem that unreasonable to me considering how hard they work.

B) Keep the NHS out of private hands.

Just did some sums, we could pay our mortgage off in 5 years if I stopped spending money on bikes, bike bits, motorbikes, my camper van (that I never camp in), and cut general spending down to a sensible minimum.

Pretty enticing to be mortgage free at 35…. The job would get sacked off for a part time one straight away! Just think how much riding* could get done!

Like many people, I think learning to not splash out on shiny stuff needlessly can be a good thing….

In terms of managing with house prices, I would have struggled big time to buy a house without my wife. Our 2 bedroom stone house with a garden, big drive, workshop and double garage was only just worth what we paid for it (£150k) in my mind. I don’t know how you lot down south cope with the cost of houses/flats. 😯

(*watching TV)

Seems like the UCI have a simple, quick way to check for motors now, so hopefully this isn’t widespread like many are trying to make out to be. Just a one off I hope.

VW vans are better than transits and other crappy face-lifted 10 year old design vans. Discuss! 😛

The government is doing a cracking job. Discuss! 😛

(That’ll keep it going)

Once we have a free and independent Yorkshire, I’ll be a patriotic as they come. 🙂

My Vision 2 is going back this week.

It goes back every year(ish) because the connectors are rubbish and wear out, so the light cuts off if you hit a bump and the connectors wobble a bit.

But hope always replace the connector for free and send it back. 🙂 Not bad for a 5 year old light.

Seems to me that the big companies are playing by the rules, but using them to their advantage.

Everyone does the same, but because we’re talking about millions instead of the hundreds of pounds that individuals can save, it’s somehow more wrong.

In my experience, the mileage doesn’t matter on T4 or T5s, regular servicing and looking after them does. I know someone with a 300k+ early T5, that hasn’t had much work on it at all.

I like my T4, It’s rough on the outside but the engine is sweet and it drives nice and gives really good MPG (1.9 TD).

I’ve driven my work’s transit custom, and it’s much more civilised, like driving a big car, but that doesn’t do it for me. I like that my T4 is how I imagined a van to drive before I bought one, especially as the (extended) gear stick needs to moves about 30cm to go from 1st to 2nd etc… like driving a big rig(I imagine in my own sad way)!

All beemers for me…

2007 K1200GT – Very comfy and silly fast for a big touring bike (150ish BHP). Clutch biting point use to wander when it got hot, BMW couldn’t fix it and it was expensive to run, so I sold it on. Still the best all-rounder I’ve had.

2001 R1150RT – Loved it! Not fast, but it handled amazingly well for a big bike. Traded it in for the 1200GT and regretted it ever since.

1980 R100S – Still have this one, 90k miles on it and still a nice bike to ride. Older than me too. Will never sell it, ever! Just having the barrels, pistons and heads reconditioned now, hopefully have some long trips planned in the summer. 🙂

I was hit a few months ago.

I tried to be angry, but to be honest, I was in shock, then just very sad/disappointed that my bike was broken.

To be fair the guy was nice and also shocked. Admitted fault, drove me home and paid for the bike to be fixed.

Other than that, close calls are dealt with by head shaking or an open palmed “wtf” gesture. Don’t think I’d ever end up in a fight…

Some bits of my commute go along the river Don in Sheffield.

I like the mix of nature and industry, especially as nature is slowly taking back the few abandoned factories.

I’ll always support doctors and the NHS. We’re very lucky to have them/it.

Any politician trying to screw either over won’t have my vote next year.

It was shocking, I couldn’t understand how it was possible for a bunch of intelligent people to arrive at a guilty verdict for either of them.

For me,there was far more reasonable doubt about their guilt, than evidence to prove them guilty.

I’m not saying 100% that they had nothing to do with it, but the trial was a farce.

Also, is it normal for the prosecutor to go on TV before a trial and explain in detail what happened to the victim? Seemed a bit off to me.

I use MTB shoes and pedals on all my bikes. Road shoes are pants!

I got hit a few weeks ago. The guy admitted fault and offered to pay for the damage. Got the bike fixed and told him how much it cost, and he dropped the cash through my letterbox.

Glad I didn’t have to go through his insurance, but If I did, I’d get BC on it straight away.

I’ve suffered with them for a good 15 years now (god I’m old!).

Stress and tiredness seem to increase the risk of getting them. I’ve cut sugar out of my tea (used to have 2 spoons in each cup) and have only had sugar free fizzy drinks for the last few years and they’ve reduced a lot, in terms of both the amount and severity.

Any orange cheese is also avoided like the plague!

Horrible things to have, and unfortunately, massively misunderstood by anyone who’s never had one.

I don’t mind new tech, but I’ll never have a press fit bottom bracket! (work of the devil I tell you!)

My Superlight had a definite ‘bob’ to it when you climb, but you quickly adjust to it and stop noticing, unless you lock the shock out, then you notice that your not peddling quite as smoothly as with the shock open.

A Losi XX-CR RC car kit. Remember building the whole thing from scratch and being quite nervous about putting oil in the shocks!

The fluro pink stickers still stick out in my mind to this day.

(not my photos, just googled it).

The ****ts ride up and down main street doing wheelies too. Something tells me they aint bothered by the police…

Right, so when at the tyre shop, is this going to inspire you to choose Maxxis over Schwalbe?

My argument is not that advertising has to be literal. Far from! UK advertising has a fine history of depicting product benefits in interesting and attractive ways. My point is that Maxxis could do so much more because people have good feelings towards the brand (established through use of their products).

probably wouldn’t sway me one way or the other. Come on, this is a novelty item, not a major marketing campaign led advertisement for maxxis tyres.

But, here’s a calendar full of pictures of naked women, from your favorite tyre manufacturer. “This is what we think of women” – their only place in our sport is to sell tyres to lads/cumberlanddan etc. etc.

Just because they’ve produced the calendar, doesn’t mean they think – “This is what we think of women” or that they would like anyone else to think that. The only people who seem think that are the people with the issue. Again, we’re not (all) stupid enough to let a naked picture affect how we treat or see women in the real world.

OK, but what does this have to do with selling bike tyres? Pushing a bit further, what does this have to do with promoting products and services?

You like looking at the image of nice lady, while she’s wearing ORANGE underwear with ORANGE maxxis logos all over the place and probably near some maxxis products…

Who says the main subject matter in a promotion needs to be just your product nothing else?

Also, it’s maybe not a masterminded example of marketing, and just, you know, a colander with ‘interesting’ images.

I don’t get it…

I’d be the first to stand up for anyone’s rights and would be furious if anyone I knew didn’t give someone a fair go because of their sex/skin colour etc.., but I really don’t see how using sex as marketing is that bad.

We all like to look at the opposite sex, and the better looking members get looked at more (that includes women looking at guys too). It’s how our brains are wired, and perfectly natural and basically how we find a mate.

If the models who do these shoots are happy to do it for a living, and I assume they get paid well and put a hell of a lot of effort into their looks to able to do it, then what’s the issue? No ones being forced to do it…

I also don’t like the phrase ‘objectifying women’. When men look at such a calendar/image, we don’t suddenly and instantly think ‘all women should look like that and any who don’t are unworthy of my time!’. Believe it or not, we’re not(all) that stupid, and know the difference between an attractive photoshopped image and real life.

Where’s the line? Is drawing a naked woman in a life drawing class an issue? What about naked statues of women?

All in all, my personal view is that I’m mature and smart enough not to let those type of images affect my judgement or attitude towards women, and take them for what they are – an image design to grab my attention.

Maybe I’m well off the mark with that, but it’s just what I think.

Friends come and go…

I don’t have any really close friends, a few work colleagues I get on with really well and a few people I visit every few weeks for a chat.

Me and my brother are very close though.

I got hit last Wednesday evening, so know how infuriating it is!

Was approaching a junction (a slip road off the M1) joining onto the overpass I was on. I see a car coming up the slip road quite quickly, as they do when they are leaving the motorway.

Feeling this may not end well, I stopped peddling, moved into the middle of my lane and covered the brakes.

A few second later, after looking right at the guy (with my helmet light on) who was driving, he stops at the junction and “looks” at me.

I’ve looked at him, he’s looked at me, he’s stopped, it’s my right of way, so I carry on. Bang! straight into the side of me (at a very slow speed)!

Swears blind he didn’t see me. 👿 But he gave me a lift home and paid to have the bike fixed (destroyed the back wheel), and did seem genuinely concerned and upset about it.

I think he had a quick look, didn’t register any cars, and then just stopped at the (give way) junction just as a courtesy to the highway code (while day dreaming!), then slowly set off.

Back on topic, I think it’s crap that the guy didn’t even get out to see if you where ok!

Currently –

2963.7km
197hours, 59mins
34,532m of climbing
176 rides

– 2.5 stone. 🙂

March to August was rubbish though, didn’t ride much at all. Upped my game since November, lost the weight and upped my climbing in particular – this month I’ll hit the strava climbing challenge for the first time ever! 🙂 Roll on 2016.

Great collection. You have a lot of potentially very angry spiders there! You just need an OBT and a Cobalt Blue now…

I’m quite arachnophobic, but (slow) tarantulas just aren’t as scary as the big wolf spiders you get in the shed/garage. I think it’s the speed and skinny legs that get me worked up…

I had a Mexican Red Leg that we called Pac because the marking on her back looked like pacman. Unfortunately she died mid-shed about a year ago. 🙁 Also lost a Columbian Giant a few years before that.

Just have Didget left now, she’s a Rose Hair that I’ve had for 10 years. She was a wild caught adult when I got her, so who know how old she is…

Still have the two empty tanks in the spare room, always thinking about getting them set up again…