I got myself an allotment a few of months back so will be watching this for suggestions. It too was a featureless plot with only weeds, mostly couch grass and thistles. I’ve dug more than three quarters of it over so far.
From my limited experience, the only advice i can give is don’t try and dig too much over too quickly. I haven’t been able to do any digging for well over a month having got Achilles tendonitis in my right leg from the repetitive action of pushing the spade into the soil. I couldn’t even ride for two weeks because of it.
I’d promised myself to only do the digging a little and often, but it’s easy to get carried away when you’ve got a couple of hours and the sun is out.

A bit out of the way if you’re central, but http://www.skibartlett.com are a specialist shop in Hillingdon Heath. Not in a shopping area, one of those shops you would only go to for a specific reason. I’m not into skiing myself, but the shop has been there for decades so they must be doing something right.

A Supersport was one of the first cars I regularly drove at 17. My mate had one, but he only a provisional licence. I had a full licence, but no car, so got insured on it and drove us up and down the M3 with windsurfing boards on the roof many times that summer. It seemed really fast to me at the time. Happy days.

You won’t be strolling anywhere if it has a view of the fireworks.
Trafalgar Square will be packed like a rush hour tube train, and you can’t see the fireworks.
I would avoid.

Mine is eleven years old now, and has worked perfectly since new. Having a metal strap, it has never had anything done to it, and never been to a shop. Never having to change a battery means that you never have to consider the waterproof seal not resealing.
Mine has small LCD panels with the date. When in the dark for too long these go blank, but are all back to normal within about a second when exposed to the light again. If left in a dark wardrobe for weeks, the whole face shuts down, but once exposed to the light again, the hands spin round and reset themselves within a couple of seconds.
I would recommend.

Another method:
Put one small drop of liquid soap on the inside of the lens, and wipe around with a soft cloth until you can see clearly through.
Works about as well as many of the more expensive options, but I don’t think there is anything that completely stops fogging up if you are hot and the air is cold and damp.

On the scheme where I work (not sure which one, i haven’t used it), you are allowed to top up the voucher to buy a more expensive bike, however they make clear that you are still only leasing all of it, even though you have shelled out your own cash for a good chuck of it. At the end of the lease period, there is no guarantee that you will get to keep the bike, so the extra money you’ve paid up front would be written off.
I

Sounds like a situation where you need to manage your manager. By this I mean where you see a problem or situation that needs changing, put it to your boss is such a way that he thinks he has identified the issue. Then suggest a range of possible solutions in such a way that he is bound to take your preferred idea as being the best.
You may have to let him pass these ideas off as his own and let him take the credit, but once things are improving for the branch I’m sure people will realise that you are the one driving things forward.
In a large organisation this usually works well enough until a poor manager gets moved on or promoted. I’m not sure how that would work for you.
It may take a long time for you to get any real recognition, but in the mean time work may become better for you and the rest of the team.
Good luck.

Inspiring. One of those things that if you were told about it you would not think it possible, standing on a surf board with another person taped to your back. Best video link in ages. Thanks OP.

Try cutting a small square out of an old inner tube, and make a hole in the centre with a nail. This can then be pulled over the valve before it goes into the rim. This extra layer of soft rubber made the difference when I tried.

Fill kitchen sink with hot water, add biological washing machine liquid, and submerse helmet. Swish it about a bit before rinsing off. It will take a while to dry, but easier than refitting all the pads, and the straps get clean too.

Packed today. Overflow car park only at 0900. Cars waiting for spaces at lunchtime. Trails busy but still fun.

With the pedals.

Green tea.

I sat in the pilots seat once, but it didn’t leave the ground.
I also used to work about half a mile from the end of the runway at heathrow. At about the same time each evening when the wind was fom the east you would hear it heading down the runway taking off. If you were on the phone, you would have to tell the other person to wait for a couple of minutes. As it went over the office it was so loud everything had to stop. The windows and everything on the desk would shake, and as the noise faded you would just hear every car and building alarm on the estate going off for the next couple of minutes. I don’t remember anybody ever complaining about the noise though.

Yes to having a bell. Most useful on tow paths where just about every small bridge is a very narrow blind bend with low headroom and a wet drop on one side. Not a good place to have a head on with a cyclist or walker.

I did my first tubeless conversion last week. DT Swiss rims with Specialized tyres, one 2bliss ready, the other not. One needed a couple of patches to cuts. I used a couple of turns of electrical tape on the rims, and valves cut out of old tubes. The only cost was a bottle of Stan’s fluid. With the help of some soapy water both tyres inflated with a track pump, and have not gone down yet.
It’s hard to explain just how smug you feel the first time you get a tyre to inflate without a tube, and i like the extra grip that low pressures give you.
My advice – get some fluid and give it a go.

Fast Track is a really good rear tyre. I ran mine all last winter too.

My commuting priorities are:
Puncture resistant tyres – fixing punctures is inconvenient and dirty work.
Mudguards – rain from the sky is wet, but water off the ground is dirty and leaves you covered in grit.
No rucksack – just too sweaty. A bag that sits on top of the rack rather than panniers is generally better for singletrack and getting through gates and restrictions on a semi rural commute.

I’d say their chances of survival are better than being left to dry up in the sun with no water.

Hora, a log cabin style summer house is really quick and easy to build. Not logs but shaped planks that slot together. Not cheap, but as long as the base is level you don’t even need a saw as everything is perfectly cut to size. Can be put up in two days.
Is there a part 2 to this thread yet? Charred larch sounds good.

Whilst it is this dusty and dry you could ride it on just about any bike. I’d take a 29er if I had the choice. Just did a slow lap of the blue and red on the 26″ commuter with semi slick tyres and loved every minute of it. Temp got up to 28degrees. There are three sections closed off for maintenance, and a few bits have been recently patched up. Diversions are well signposted. I noticed one of the doubles on the blue has been filled in, i guess too many people had been caught out by it.

Solar panels seem to be fitted to just about every canal boat I pass on my commute. I guess the set up would be similar to on a shed, so a canal forum may be a better place for info.

http://midsummerenergy.co.uk/solar-panel-information/Guides/ShedsBarnsAndGarages

I’ve had this at various times on different bikes. I’m sure it is caused by the tyre rotating on the rim. Tyres that go on and off easily without levers are worse than others. Higher pressures definitely help, and pumping newly changed tyres up to their maximum PSI for a day to firmly seat them also seems to help.
I’ve never got a pinch flat (no rocks around here), but am seriously considering tubeless for this reason. Having to throw away tubes without a single patch on them seems such a waste.

I taped over all the branding on my commuter, in an attempt to make it less of a target for thieves. Not for when it’s parked up, as it is out of sight, but for when I’m riding it. It makes it far less risky riding past the local yoofs when they’re hanging around. They probably don’t know much about bikes, but recognise one of the big brand names from a mile off.

If you do decide to move (I don’t think I would), bear in mind that there is a cut off point when you would need to be in the new address for it to count for admissions purposes. On that date you would have to prove your residence by having child benefit, council tax and other documentary evidence showing that address.
This date will probably be sooner than you would think, and could be as early as October this year for entry in September 2014.
This is in place to try and stop people getting round the rules by having their children suddenly move temporarily to a friends or relatives house near to a school, or even rent a house for a month in a catchment area.
If you moved too late, and your child did not get a place at the start of year 7, the only advantage would be that they would be able to jump up a few places on the waiting list for a place, but it could still take years to get in assuming it is an oversubscribed school.
I would find out this date from the school before anything else.

Music Magpie buy clothes.
http://www.musicmagpie.co.uk/identify/identify_mystuff.asp?cat=clothes

The fit is the key. If it is not a snug fit you will get cold water sloshing around inside.
More money gets you neoprene that is far more stretchy and better zips and stitching. These all make for a bit more comfort and warmth, but for occasional use, a cheap suit will be fine.

“I just thought there was a bit more road than last time”

I think it just felt that way because the off road sections were so fast and dry, so you you got back to the road that much quicker. I did the 100km in just over 6 hours, my fastest ever.

My guess is that this is just a new water saving tap, in the same way that just about all new toilet cisterns are now water saving. I noticed the same thing on our new kitchen taps a year ago, but we just got used to it running slower.

I’ll be attempting the 100k. This will be the 4th time for me. I’m expecting the trails to be in pretty good condition. They were nice and dry a few weeks back, and the recent showers should have done nothing more than damped down some of the dust (I hope).

I did this a little while ago. Nothing too fancy. I don’t have a go pro or anything similar.
We spent a few hours at Swinley with an iPad. I rode ahead and stopped to film my daughter at some of the more interesting bits. Included some rooty bits, mud and puddles and lots of the gravel trails.
You can get lists of competencies you need to show for each exam board off the web, and need to show certain things such as controlled stops and cornering on berms. The more you cover, the higher the grade.
We edited down to about 10 mins using iMovies. I was quite impressed with the results, as were her teachers. Only a percentage from each school get sent off to the exam board.

Some electrical tape around the tubes wherever the zip ties are going gives then some grip and stops rattles.
I also made a chain stay bridge out of a bit of plastic tube. This is just held in place with electrical tape too, and the rear mudguard just clips to it. Originally this was just a quick bodge, but it stayed in place for over a year without issues on the commuter. I recently re taped it after a spring clean up, and if this summer is like last year, it may well stay on permanently. Black tape on a black frame hardly notices.
Functional rather than elegant, but if you’re fitting mudguards………

I did this almost 2 years ago. I was advised to get rid of the sling as soon as possible and then start moving the arm as far as it could. With the exercises/stretches the physio advised, you could see my flexibility in the shoulder increase by the day. The riding came on gradually too. Talas forks on their longest setting on the gentlest ride helped.
I don’t really get any pain now, just an odd lump to show for it, but I get a lot of clicking noises every now and then.

The MND Association do a fantastic job helping those who are affected, and fund research with the hope of eradicating the condition. You can ride to raise money for them in a number of events listed on the web site.
http://www.mndassociation.org/get-involved/fundraising/get-yourself-involved/cycling

There are also many local groups all over the country.
I don’t know any details of this one, but here is another link.
http://bigmndrace.com/

Good luck with which ever event you enter, it is a very worthy cause.

I looked at a similar light a while back. I don’t know about picture quality, but with the one i looked at it was very easy to remove the sd card, so it would need to be fitted out of reach of your average burglar.

If she was shopping, why weren’t you riding? Thats where you went wrong.

Dispersable aspirin. Gargle with it. Works almost instantly.

Possibly another option: Try reclining the passenger seat fully. With one end of the planks in the footwell, you may be able to fit them inside the car, maybe resting on something in the boot to raise the other end up. Safer and no doubt a lot warmer if you are going any distance.

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