Don’t forget to sign up to alpkit rewards before you buy – I got a tidy wedge of vouchers when I bought my Colibri 

I think it’s the first show (at least that I can remember/ have seen) that has accurately shown the mess a shell or flak makes of an aircraft. 

Generally thought the show was good, not especially invested in characters by the end of ep2. Will probably still watch it…

London Aerons

not as cheap as they used to be.

I bought my aeron, second hand, at least 15 years ago (definitely before we got married) for about £350 which seemed like daft pricing at the time, but apart from maybe needing the arm pads replacing it’s still going strong. 

Tesco have a flat £100 limit on contactless of all varieties in our local store so the fortnightly shop needs a card, otherwise, I could go cardless.

My money is now of contact corrosion, which you probably wore off by poking a few different cables in there :) 

I’m gutted that the clean line of the top tube is interrupted by those two unsightly mount holes & screws.

Put some low profile silicon grommets in there if you’re not going to use them ?

I understand the perspective of the viewer now, I didn’t before…

I bought an aeropress.

Rarely use it now I have a v60…

Appreciate you’ve tried a few, but fact that the cable charges from a plug doesn’t automatically mean it’s a fully working cable – the charge contacts are different to the data contacts.
USB socket is only 4 contacts, they are cheaper than (micro) chips so pretty easy to solder if you can get to it. You tube for tutorials if you’ve never done it before.

It’s also feasible that it’s not the socket, but something else on the board – that will be harder to diagnose without a bit of experience.

Unfortunately you can’t get a bike to Lille on the Eurostar.

It’s Brussels train?  Do they not provide the service to take it off the train at Lille? 

@ransos – In the last two years the only direct ski train from London has been a charter by Travelski, and you have to buy a package holiday.
It wasn’t available this year when we looked.

Own travel on Eurostar and TGV is very doable if you have time and inclination to plan it, either via Paris or Lille can get you to the Alps.

https://www.seat61.com/trains-and-routes/eurostar-ski-train.htm

You can get trains to the Alps from Lille Europe. You don’t have cross Paris, but you might have to change in Lyon. 

I can’t get raileurope.com to route that way either, but should be possible with separate ticketing.

Some TGVs accept unboxed bikes so it could be feasible to go all the way without disassembly but would take some planning

There is some chat in the Facebook group of PHEV Kugas being crap with 12V batteries. 

They are quietly replacing them with AGM batteries for a few people but I haven’t been able to moan enough yet, but do carry a battery booster pack to get us out of trouble. 

Been back from Les 2 Alpes a week and a half, nothing else booked. A picture to half cheer me up…

mostly on fixed rate mortgages themselves.

To be fair, since the BOE got their independence to set rates there hasn’t been *that* much volatility in rates, but I remember my folks having a house repossessed in the late 80s as they just couldn’t afford it any more – I think there’s a lot of people with memories of similar.

I always fix – even at a premium.

Looking at some 5 year deals (offset) around the 4.3 mark.

It’s affordable compared to what we are paying today, so I think we’ll go with that. 60% of mortgage deal ends in March, the rest in October.

Bought one in 2022, and 2023, I think 2024 won’t have a new bike in it – unless it’s a sub £200 single speed commuter thingie, but even that’s hard to justify… 

I have the Machine Mart tool trolley – they do a 10% off every now and again. 

https://www.machinemart.co.uk/c/new-tool-chests-and-cabinets/

Have racking and a workbenches from BigDug, that’s been good too. 

I used it in the other direction to do the Badger Divide, just after they had refreshed the trains.

The toilets and shower didn’t work (no water… they might have fixed this by now), but the bunk / beds were comfortable enough.

It’s hella expensive for what you get, even when it’s marketed as a “premium” experience

I’ve never used “road” pedals – always SPDs, but I generally want to be able to walk around without sliding whenever I get where I’m going :)

I used Canary for a while – believe it has a windows client 

I’ve used a dynaplug on a car tyre, on the shoulder so new tyre or lengthy repair so I was willing to give it a go…

Got us locally mobile to the tyre shop the next day.

I drank my pre-Xmas pressie of 3x Turning Point Singularity Stouts (12% heaven).

I haven’t started on my Tiny Rebel Sleigh Pufts or the selection box – will be some treats in the New Year…

I have the first two wheel sets on your list.

Dunno what you’re planning on taking with you touring, but the carbon have a massive weight limit (140kg).

I haven’t got on well with the carbon, it’s a ball ache to fit tyres (every time) and I had to send the rear back after a few 100kms as the nipples had cracked – they have replaced the nipples with brass. I’m not light( but 15-20% under limit loaded on the bike), or particularly gentle on wheels, but I’d have expected better. I also have a bit of a taping issue with them, I don’t know what it is, but they often seem to leak through the tape or valve and air comes gushing out of the drain holes when first fitting tyres – took ages ages to set up, but that is probably my cackhandedness. Will see how I get on in the next few months before I decide if they are worth the hassle or not.

By contrast, I’ve two sets of 4 season Superdura wheels (I guess those are the ones you’re looking at) which have been faultless, done gravel and road touring with them, and whilst I’ve been on the weight limit a couple of times they have performed well.

It seems quite hard to get DT Swiss wheels with 32 holes & decent rims, I used to have a great set but they were unconvertible QR so they are on the wife’s occasional bike now.

If you’ve got a decent wheel builder in your local area it’s worth a chat to see what they can build for you.

My 2x grx setup is 11-40 x 31-48 without any goat link etc 

The 11-40 cassette with 2x is in theory outside the limit of the derailleur but it works.

I don’t know how to do the maths on how much %age that is, but it works for me.

Watched the vid and enjoyed it, but he took more risks in that storm than (IMO) a truly unsupported rider would have done (he was close to pushing his SOS button… )

His final few hundred kms make a good case for cables.

Good job on the fundraising though.

Roadside cafe, SW corner of Viti Levu, Fiji – the best chicken curry, dhal and rice ever.

2nd place curry was a restaurant in Moscow, but I reckon it’s gone now.

Other standouts:Ploughman’s from the Seymour Arms, Whitham Friary circa 1993Meats from a kiwi HangiThe Waterside Inn at Bray

Yeah, I’m top 2% too…

6830km on the bike, 62480m climbed according to Veloviewer.

1073 new explorer tiles too, which is nice.

Been playing Dave The Diver after that guardian recommendation.

It’s quite engaging.

I’ll still give it a go!

It will be well past its best. You can’t really leave Ruby port for long once the bottle has been opened as it oxidises and changes taste.

Tawny is already fairly oxidised so isn’t affected so much, so if you’re not going to drink the bottle, drink tawny :)

My brother in law is coming for Boxing Day and likes a tipple, so we might break open something but I’ve actually got a Sauternes that needs drinking so it might be that instead.

Another strike to BBC news here.

Made it all the way last year too…

The radio station I listen to most also have a “intentional whammings don’t count” rule so whambushing isn’t a thing…

Double post edit fail

I was going to go look but @razorrazoo has done my work for me :)

There’s a few 1 bed houses within 5 miles, but nowhere you’d want to swap for a flat in Twickenham ;)

Left-field suggestion, but also recommend what you have.

Sonder Colibri TI.

It’s replaced my gravel bike for audax-y rides and is completely comfortable for 10+ hours in the saddle (obviously with my favourite saddle and bars, I didn’t like the ones supplied)

Steam Deck – I tend to do “slow” gaming on this platform.

Stray is my #1 pick. It’s not very long, but it’s lovely.

Prefer Mud Runner to Snow Runner, I think the controls on Snow are just harder…

Power Wash Simulator is just mindless, but also strangely satisfying.

Working my way through Humans Fall Flat too.

High on Life is hilarious, but a bit hectic on the deck so I never finished it – need to get back to that.

PS5/console

Ive been  CoD fan for years, and have been playing MW2 as my go to game for ages. This years episode hasn’t swayed me into parting with whatever exorbitant fee they want this time around, so I’ll continue to dip in and out of Warzone and DMZ but that’s it.

Played a bit of Gran Tourismo lately – still gorgeous.

Loved Ghost of Tsushima, Assasins Creed Valhalla and Red Dead Redemption so I’ll probably spend this years blockbuster cash on something like that.

More to the point, how is their business still afloat?

If my in laws are anything to go by, old people. 

I’ve signed up on strava, but unless I smash out 400km of it on the 24th (v.v. unlikely) I won’t have time.

I probably will do the Restrap Solstice Century this weekend though (on road).

I have a Velcro loop watch strap that I can poke through the ring.

I think we need more episodes of Disappointing Pies…

I hate the mouse, the Magic Trackpad on the other hand. Well worth the exorbitant pricing…