My regular group mtb ride this week was a road ride, and my regular Sunday solo road ride was on the mtb. I just like riding, the more I ride the fitter I get and the more I enjoy it…

2 1/2 hours of riding in constant rain, came home covered in grass seeds and sticky jacks, reminded me what a proper summer ride was like 😀 Rule #9[/url] applied. Nettle tingle has just faded…

I was in a Giant retailer a couple of weeks ago getting new bearings for my MkI trance and had a sit on the 29er version. The salesguy explained that 650b was like big tyres on a 26″ and that 29er was the way to go but they’d sold out of my size. So thank you, I have mahoosive tyres already and like them for rocky rides. I was thinking of a buying 29er but I’ll save the money for something else now…

After two horrible winterssummers everyone will be out on lovely nature made trails enjoying the dry dustiness and the taste of sheep poo on the breeze.
Personally, I was out overshooting hairpin bends on my road bike in County Durham 😯 45 mph and cheap tires, not a good combination…

Our chocolate roan cocker is 14 and still going strong (if a bit creaky and deaf). She has been an excellent dog, everyone’s friend, easy to travel with and leave with other people. She’s a bit of a whiner, which isn’t unusual for cockers.
The important thing is to by from a good breeder, and see the dam at home. Friends had to have a working cocker put down as he’d been mistreated by someone (probably a gamekeeper) and his behaviour was unmanageable (they really tried to sort him out). When they got him he was filthy and urine soaked. They now realise they should have called the RSPCA. Their other working cocker is terrible with children and eats everything, dead or alive.
Well bred cocker should be everyone’s friend, constantly busy when out, but relaxed at home. They are stubborn and need gentle, consistent handling to get the best out of them.
We now also have a 4 year old Welsh Springer and she’s a completely different animal – nervous, wary of strangers, and unpredictable.
Our next puppy will be another English Cocker for sure.

Funnily enough, as we were moaning about the dessicated state of the trails last night, a live firing exercise was whoomping away over at Otterburn. We could see the flares going up as Mr Bandito fixed his second pinch flat of the evening. Fortunately the big guns weren’t aimed at us…

So a local hack has raised the road tax debate on facebook. I just sent him this message.

Dear Nick,

I am amazed that you are trotting out the old road tax argument in response to someone’s life being endangered by dangerous driving. As I’m sure you know, vehicle excise duty is based on CO2 emissions and related to engine size, a number of small cars have £0 VED and so would a bike, so collecting VED on bikes would generate negative tax for the Government as it would cost more to administer than it would raise.

Yours

The best gag this season was the Victorian Thomas Thomas giving Strax directions… 😀

Saturday I watched the finale of series/season 1 with my 10 year old son, and we both enjoyed it and the simple Dalek beating plot.
Sunday we watched the current season on i-player and had to keep pausing it, as dab Jnr kept asking what stuff meant and why did he/they say that and the dialogue was so fast. We enjoyed it, but it seemed unnecessarily complicated and fandom laden.
The conclusion is that they have written The Doctor to be so powerful that the only enemy he needs to expend any effort to defeat is himself. The smart money is on the Time War genocidal Doctor played by John Hurt…
can’t wait…
and keep the gags coming Strax…

I have black iridium transitions prescriptions that I use for all my riding including night riding. The tint with the iridium coating is possibly a bit dark for night riding so I upgraded my lights! Perfect for road and mtb in nearly all conditions other than that difficult dusky time. The prescription lenses are super clear and better than my regular glasses. My next regular glasses will be clear Oakleys.

As the OP says “appear”. I would first find a quiet calm moment to sit down and say something open and non-confrontational/judgemental like “Tell me what has been going on at school?”
followed by stuff like
“Are you happy with the way you responded to that situation?”
and
“What would you do differently if the situation happened again?”
Let your daughter do the talking and thinking, and let her know that you love and respect her, and expect her to behave with the highest standards.
School life can be so confusing for kids.

If it’s good enough for Wiggo in the TdB, it’s OK for me in the damp and windy North Pennines. I like to be warm, and there’s nothing big or clever about being cold…

How about airport security? Dog sits by door, stream of people go past with bags, one of the bags contains treats/toy. Dog has to indicate the correct bag to win…
Could be a gameshow for dogs in a parallel universe…

shocking health and safety implications there – did they even do a risk assessment!?!

+1
Who will the HSE prosecute if/when he falls to his death? The production company, the sponsors, the railway?
Don’t try this at home kids…

I’m built like a road cyclist and a mountain biker biker
bang go my excuses then 😳

…and the rough kids pushing you off at Sharston baths 😯

Sadly, gone are the days when aged 9 you can climb the 10m board at the local baths, look down and think better of it, go back to the slippery wet steps and think better of them too, then take a deep breath, shout “Geromino!”, run to the edge and jump….splash!
Happy days…

top marks to Belgium for the best cycling top – nice!

^^^
that’s just what I thought!

Floyd yeah!

Ohh pretty!
Long elegant stems 😯

Ali, so sad…

“The Olympics are coming home”
uh ohh…

Really looking forward to the sport.
And signed the 38degrees petition about corporate tax dodging – turns out the sponsors don’t want negative publicity after all WIN![/url]

True there’s not been much action around the GC most of the time, but we have had: escapes caught and passed with the finish line in sight; escapes getting away ending with cat and mouse sprints; swashbuckling mountain climbing for the KOM competitions; and a few bunch sprints including one lead out by the yellow jersey; and a huge number of big crashes followed by riding with blood-soaked injuries.
If that’s boring go and watch golf!

shouldn’t he have his little finger stuck out daintily while sipping his espresso?

did anyone else spot the look between Wiggins and Froome on the last Nibs kick. Froome was overcooked so Wiggins covered the move. Nice teamwork!

I predict a diagnosis of impetigo and a course of erythromycin, or amputation, but then I’m not a medical doctor…

Roads dry out quicker than our mud soaked, waterlogged trails…

I’m going to shoot to AW cycles after work, sit on their bikes and then measure them up, comparing to his

Is the correct answer! – amazing that no one suggested this 🙄

@ir_bandito you are SO going to get a smack from the mods for the second line there. Shhh…

Campag – cables hidden under bar tape, looks tidier.
Shimano – stick out of shifter, looks untidy.
my 2p…

I have prescription black iridium photochromic Oakley lenses and they’re great for everything including night riding. The only downside is that my not so strong prescription for shortsightedness leaves them with very thick corners. If I was buying again I’d go for a style with a full frame.

Bruchner’s 4th symphony and Mahler’s 2nd symphony, if you like late-romantic German composers, who like brass and especially tubas.
Elgar’s cello concerto for post WW1 melancholia.
Shostakovich piano concertos 1 and 2, sublime.

If he screams for attention we pick him up..?

Yes to all three questions.
Do other primates put their babies down and leave them? The cry to be picked up is quite natural and normal, and they do grow out of it (eventually).

IMO Always pick up baby and sort out the reason for the crying (when crying properly) and cuddle. Pop them back down when they stop crying (repeat as many times as necessary*). Also withdraw contact gradually, from cuddle to lying with hand on tummy, to finger, to sitting next to them, to leaving the room.

*Occasionally give up (when n > 100) and let them sleep on you.

back on topic

Why when you see someone yawning, does it always make you yawn yourself?

It’s allomimetic behavior, same as dogs barking and wolves howling together, and maybe posting on this thread. All down to mirror neurones ‘parrently.

“How are you feeling?” is usually a good way to say “happy to listen if you want to talk, but equally happy not to if you don’t”

There is a big difference also between coeliac disease which is an auto-immune reaction to gluten in the intestine which can be triggered by ~5 mg of gluten and wheat/gluten intolerances, not to mention IBS. Anyone who thinks they are gluten intolerant should have a blood test at the GPs to rule out coeliac (or to get diagnosed and get prescription GF food).

@xiphon – spelt is not suitable if you are on a gluten free diet for coeliac disease as it contains a moderate amount of gluten. According to wikipedia some wheat intolerant people can tolerate it, but the references look iffy to me.