You’re probably right, I’d never thought about it before and just assumed it was creep in the side plates rather than wear in the pins.

I still aren’t buying into the bike lube marketing though!

failed engineer/irelanst what lube you guys talking about? engine oil?

Sorry I’ve only just seen this;

Normally I use whatever I have lying around that goes in the car. At the moment all I have is some Castrol 80W gear oil which is being pressed into service, it seems to work fine (also used in lieu of fox float fluid).

It’s interesting that people talk about wear, I’ve never replaced a chain because its worn – only because it’s stretched.

pack theory outdated? What has taken its place? I still train mine to be below me in the pack.

have a read of some links if you’re interested; http://www.woofology.com/alpha%20myth.html

I eat first, I sleep where I want, I go through doors and gaps first. I am in charge. Yes, they are allowed on the bed, but when invited. If I want them off (and I often make them get off for no particular reason other than to reinforce that it’s my bed) they bloody well get off.

The dogs do all of these things because you have trained them to, not because they see you as it’s pack leader.

Not sure that I agree with that, at all – based on direct observation. ..

Your observations are influenced by the premise that dogs behave according to pack theory. Dog jumps up, it’s trying to challenge you. Dog jumps on sofa, it’s trying to challenge you. Dog goes through a door first, it’s trying to challenge you. Dog growls at you, it’s trying to challenge you. But in each case above the answer could be, the dog is doing something that you don’t want it to do, but you never got around to training it to act in a way that you find acceptable.

Do you seriously think that a dog believes that it is the same as a human, and is living in some sort of hierarchy in which it is constantly trying to climb the ladder to reach the alpha position? Our dog is a female, will I get home from work one day to find the wife with her throat ripped out and the dog all agent provocateurd up on the bed?

Our friends have a GSD, it’s a huge great thing that could rip your head off if it wanted (I’ve worn the padded suit in protection training and it is really scary). From the very first time I was introduced to the dog it would listen to my commands, not because it thought I was pack leader, I didn’t do any alpha rolls or have to fight with it to prove my standing in its pack. It listened because it has been trained to listen to humans.

I do almost the same as failedengineer, I just don’t thin down the oil, and apply with a rag.

This tells me you’re not prepared to put the work in required to bust him down to his proper pack position.

Or that he agrees with a large proportion of the dog training society that pack theory is a load of old hogwash?

The dog knows that it’s a dog. It still knows it’s a dog whether it sits on the sofa, your bed or the floor. It sits on the sofa because it’s comfortable, and because you are likely to stroke it when it does, not because of some sinister master-plan to take over the family. It knows very well that it’s not one of the family, because the family aren’t dogs. If you don’t want a dog sitting on your sofa then that’s your decision but it has nothing to do with anyone’s position in some mythical pack.

I’ve been sponsored by a shop (in fishing not cycling but a similar industry in many ways – discount online retailers, local shops struggling etc.) and my deal was “trade” on large items of tackle and “cost” on consumables. What that meant was I paid ticket price less VAT on big things and about 50% of the ticket price on consumables. I would also get 50% off any old stock (discontinued poles or rods).

The lads I knew who ride for shops have roughly the same deal, a new bike would be ticket price less VAT, an inner-tube would be 50% off, last years bikes 50% off.

I use pro boat marine grease because it’s cheap. It’s formulated for greasing marine outboards running at 1000’s of RPM in sandy, salty sea water, It seems to manage fine on a push bike.

I think that ransos has it nearly right;

Eat nice food, drink nice wine, exchange gifts with loved ones, go and watch a bike race[/url] on boxing day. Sounds good to me.

For the last few years we’ve been running a set of winter tyres (Goodyear UltraGrip) all year. We do go over the border into Germany quite often so need them in the winter anyway but my thinking is, I’d rather have better grip in dodgy winter conditions than slightly worst grip in ideal summer conditions, they are better in the wet than summer tires which it is quite often here, they are on a C-Max so not exactly a performance car where the difference matters and the Dutch and Belgian ‘B’ roads are often un-surfaced sandy lanes so something with a more aggressive tread helps.

The first winter we fitted them the summer tyres were getting worn anyway so we just put them on the alloys, after the winter I looked into getting some more rims for a swap but it doesn’t make a lot of sense unless you can get really cheap rims. It makes no sense whatsoever to keep swapping the tires onto one set of rims, even if it costs a tenner per corner that’s 15% of the cost of a new tyre each time you change, and I don’t think that the winters wear 15% quicker than summers.

If you get a blank stare when you ask for “one of each” then it’s a fair shout that they won’t be very good.

I would be worried, hedgehogs are horrible tick ridden things – make sure you give your dogs a dose of Frontline.

I would imagine that the hedgehogs will dissapear soon anyway, they are just looking for somewhere to kip for the winter at the moment.

Anyone cycled in that there Europe?

Yes, cycled to work as usual this morning, jeans, black fleece, fleece hat and I didn’t die once. I didn’t have lights on either (on me road bike for a spin this afternoon) but then I didn’t need to go on any roads. Sometimes it’s great living in the Netherlands!

It’s not toxic, but could give the cat the runs.

We’ve been told it’s OK on our dog by the vet when she gets the occasional sore and she just licks it straight off without any ill effects.

Just have to look at the operation puerto to see how things are being swept under the carpet in other sports. Nadal, Barcelona and Real Madrid players all implicated but no further investigations. Barcelona players have been kept away from training when the testers were in town. Messi was giving HGH as a youngster, medicinally for a deficiency but what if they gave him a bit more just for good measure?

Of course skill plays it’s part in football and tennis, but Barca and Nadal are so successful because their opponents just cannot maintain the same level of intensity as them – It may just be sour grapes on my part but it just seems too likely that something dodgy is going on.

6yr old crept downstairs when she was supposed to be in bed;

“What are you watching daddy”
“It’s a grown up film, go to bed”
“Can I watch it?”
“No it’s too late, go to bed”
“Can I watch it on catch-up?”
“No, it’s got grown up words, go to bed”
“Does it have the F-Word”
“No, Go to bed”
“Do you know what the F-word is daddy”
“Yes, Go to bed”
“It’s F*&^ isn’t it daddy”

She went to bed at that point.

I saw this a while ago which made me laugh;

Is there something wrong with her old one?

Yes, it’s no longer with us.

It’s not dead, it’s just back in England, she shares it with a friend back home!

I dunno…

She likes a nice rabbit stew when we go wild camping, and she wasn’t fazed when pinky and perky (her pigs) went to the butchers and she did think that they would be pleased how nice their bacon tasted, but I do think she was thinking big fluffy rabbit this time :lol:

Nice looking bit of pastry BTW

Cant believe that anyone who has the choice of Leffe, Duval etc, picked uo a load of cat-piss Jupiler. It’s what homeless Belgians drink.

It’s chugging beer – it’s not a case of that or Leffe etc. it’s what you keep in the fridge to offer to American guests. To be fair I quite like it though, it certainly beats Carlsburg / Carling etc.

Done and dusted here, she got new tennis rackets a few weeks ago and is having botox this weekend.

Otherwise, the kids must have this year, the Ipad mini?

It was top of my girls list to Santa (she’s 6) – I have no idea how she even knows about it. The list went;

ipad mini
a new pony
iphone 5
Rabbit
Pug puppy
Snowboard…..

She might be dissapointed come Christmas day!!!!

…and don’t say Belgium.

Luxemburg then, tax free!!!!

We live in Holland and the only thing to be smug about price wise is beer and wine. Leffe, Duval, Westmalle etc. are about the same for a six pack as you seem to be paying per bottle! I stocked up on Jupiler last weekend because it was on offer at €8 a crate and you get €4 back when you recycle the crate and bottles!

No help at all to the OP, just wanted to gloat!

Brewing suppliers and catering places use them.

One option might be a coffee chain (like Starbucks) they use CO2 to whip cream.

when I got back to the carpark my Garmin informed me I’d done 2m less down than up. Grrrrrr.

You started and finished at the same point, how much difference were you expecting?

I’m told twice is the plan. I guess that taking it really slow on the first lap should leave enough energy to really enjoy the 2nd

It’s deceptive because it’s essentially one big climb, then one long downhill, so you get down to the car park all buzzed up from the decent and raring to go for another lap but your legs fall off when you get to the climb after the toll booth.

I wouldn’t call the climb that technical though (not ridden it for a few years so may have changed?), it’s all doable without any trials type trickery. If you’re feeling fit then you can blast through most of the rocky / rooty climbs quite easily, it’s if you’re tired that they become a grind.

My top tips, change down before the concrete ramp or else it’s a struggle and when you are on the bit on the side of the mountain don’t look left!

We have a digging patch for ours, which as a bonus was already in the garden when we moved in; it’s a separated into a digging part and a toilet area.

It’s basically an area that was dug out to about 18” deep and back filled with a mix of sharp sand and top soil. There’s a couple of posts buried in with rope attached for a bit of pulling practice and when we are going out then we use a pointy stick to poke some holes and drop treats down, it just needs raking over every now and again to flatten it out.

It still hasn’t stopped the little bugger treasure digging up all the bulbs from the garden though, she can just dig quicker now because of all the practice.

So you’re against disabled people/elderly people being able to marry too?

Steady on there tiger, At what point did I say I was against anyone getting married? Just because I have a basic grasp of the current law doesn’t mean I agree wholly with it.

Either the law is an ass or there is a lot of bigotry about.

The first, definitely. The second, probably a bit of that as well but it’s a big word to be bandying around and by labeling anyone who disagrees with your point of view as a bigot de-values it in my eyes.

EDIT:
Hold on a sec: the law states the marriage is voidable, not void. This means it may be deemed void if either side contests it or an external entity that has standing does. Also David Cameron is actually going to change the law in this respect.

Yes, voidable, as in not a legally binding contract.

Also David Cameron is actually going to change the law in this respect.

Yes it is likely that the law will be changed which is why I stated in my first post; “So when the laws are changed to accommodate same sex marriages then the act of consummation will no longer be part of the contract”

Presumably the laws need to change for the law to change, though, right?

The law certainly needs to change, you’ll get no argument from me on that one. But, I understand why some people have objections and wouldn’t condemn them all as bigots because they hold different beliefs to me.

Not so:
http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Consummation+of+marriage

‘Tis so in the UK :-)
Under Section 12 of the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973, a marriage is voidable if it has not been consummated due to the incapacity of either party to consummate it.

So what’s the definition? My dictionary says “sexual intercourse”.

Consummation requires sexual intercourse which is “ordinary and complete”.

I don’t remember reading that in the terms of my marriage contract?
In fact I don’t recall ever reading a marriage contract at all.

It’s in the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973

Presumably this also excludes severely disabled people from getting married?
And some elderly folk. And well, any folk who just don’t particularly want to consummate for whatever reason.

It doesn’t prevent them from getting married, but as the law stands their marriages may be voidable.

There is no unique relationship between a ‘man’ and a ‘women’ for marriage to describe

Except at the moment there is;

My understanding is that one of the main hurdles in legalising same sex marriages is that the current legal ‘contract’ of marriage is sealed by consummation and under the current definition a same sex couple cannot perform the acts necessary for consummation.

So when the laws are changed to accommodate same sex marriages then the act of consummation will no longer be part of the contract. Some opponents to same sex marriages believe that this devalues the marriage of heterosexual couples and that by removing a historically significant aspect of the marriage contract the new ‘thing’ is no longer a marriage but something different, marriage MK2?

To some people I know the whole consummation thing was a big deal, they were married as virgins and the act of consummation was sealing the deal, to be fair they are deeply religious people and I would imagine them to be in an ever decreasing minority. To me it didn’t even cross my mind because neither of us are religious and we weren’t in the no sex before marriage camp.

However, all of this pales in to nothingness alongside durian….

I’ll second that, had all the usual testicles / brains etc. that they serve up to westerners but the durian was one of the vilest things I’ve ever tasted.

Bags of coffee from roadside shops in Singapore is a weird concept as well, they don’t work very well in a cup holder.

Best whiskey I have ever tasted was a blend, “Middleton very rare” it was much smoother than some of the single malts I’ve tried.

I would go down and tell them in person that you cannot shoot dogs unless they are worrying livestock (and that pheasants aren’t livestock),

And I would gladly tell you that you were totally and utterly wrong on that point.

How so?

Section 9 of the Animals Act 1971;

Killing of or injury to dogs worrying livestock..

(1)In any civil proceedings against a person (in this section referred to as the defendant) for killing or causing injury to a dog it shall be a defence to prove— .
(a)that the defendant acted for the protection of any livestock and was a person entitled to act for the protection of that livestock; and .
(b)that within forty-eight hours of the killing or injury notice thereof was given by the defendant to the officer in charge of a police station. .
(2)For the purposes of this section a person is entitled to act for the protection of any livestock if, and only if— .
(a)the livestock or the land on which it is belongs to him or to any person under whose express or implied authority he is acting; and .
(b)the circumstances are not such that liability for killing or causing injury to the livestock would be excluded by section 5(4) of this Act. .
(3)Subject to subsection (4) of this section, a person killing or causing injury to a dog shall be deemed for the purposes of this section to act for the protection of any livestock if, and only if, either— .
(a)the dog is worrying or is about to worry the livestock and there are no other reasonable means of ending or preventing the worrying; or .
(b)the dog has been worrying livestock, has not left the vicinity and is not under the control of any person and there are no practicable means of ascertaining to whom it belongs. .
(4)For the purposes of this section the condition stated in either of the paragraphs of the preceding subsection shall be deemed to have been satisfied if the defendant believed that it was satisfied and had reasonable ground for that belief. .
(5)For the purposes of this section— .
(a)an animal belongs to any person if he owns it or has it in his possession; and .
(b)land belongs to any person if he is the occupier thereof.

From animals act;

““livestock” means cattle, horses, asses, mules, hinnies, sheep, pigs, goats and poultry, and also deer not in the wild state and, in sections 3 and 9, also, while in captivity, pheasants, partridges and grouse;”

Seems like the original statement was bang on the money to me?

Why’s that then?

Because it’s white balance, not grey balance :wink:

In seriousness, I read something ages ago that using grey can increases chroma noise errors and most grey cards aren’t really neutral grey (mine isn’t, it’s a bit yellow), but mainly I just think i’m more likely to have something lying around that’s easily identifiable as white rather than look for something neutral grey.

FWIW I don’t normally set a custom WB, I’d do that in Lightroom. In the shots shown earlier I think it would be easier to reference the white background for WB (as long as it’s not blown).

If colour accuracy is important I would have thought it’s essential, especially if you don’t have a calibrated monitor. Grey cards aren’t expensive.

I find it easier to set WB using a white card, I would only use a grey card to set exposure (but most likely chimp it). A colour checker passport or similar would be the ultimate if you want to be 100% certain of the colours though.

Picking one is impossible but it would be one of the following;
Beef & mustard Brannigans
Black pepper Kettle crisps
Steak McCoys (by a narrow margin over Chilli McCoys)
Cheez Its
Wokkels paprika

I went to Loughborough in the 90’s on an engineering course. Obviously things have changed a bit since then but my experience FWIW;

Biking – Mountain biking locally was rubbish, slogging around muddy bridleways and no hills. On the roads things were much better, the Uni club was very well organised and transport was always available to races.

Academically – Loughborough was and still is a very well respected Uni especially for sporting related courses. The sporting facilities are superb and accessible. The jocks did have to wear really ‘nice’ purple tracksuits though!

Socially – Loughborough is very much a campus uni, with pretty much everything taking place on site. Loughborough itself wasn’t really worth going out in on a weekend (at that time the locals weren’t particularly student friendly either) so I used to go to Leicester / Nottingham most weekends. The union was OK and had some good events on at times though.

The union used to run a scheme where you could take a short driving test and become a registered minibus driver. If any sports teams needed a driver they could ring you up and you negotiated a price. I spent one year driving the netball team all over the country every Wednesday, driving a couple of hours with 20 drunk girls is an experience!

New Order – Blue Monday
Faithless – Insomnia
Nirvanna – In bloom

Couldn’t your old man sort it for you?

If he has access to lathes / mills etc. It shouldn’t be too difficult. It wouldn’t take long to knock up a D-Bit to ream and face the headtube (or just use a boring head) and the brake bosses could be faced in a mill, a couple of hours at the most.