Pay off most of the debts run up by RBS and Lloyds?

Sometimes employers try to give you the impression that you *have* to work for them, and you couldn't possibly get a job elsewhere.

But actually, if she's any good there will be plenty of better companies only too happy to employ her. Expect a raise when she moves.

Best to understand the problem and then fix it, not just apply the first solution that fits our world view.

Also relevant to bike maintenance.

Soot is a bigger cause of global warming than CO2:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/12/15/soot_bigger_than_co2/

These trails do serve up quite beating on a fully rigid bike though!

+1

Perhaps you need better tyres? I started getting far fewer punctures when I switched to Panaracer Fire XC Pros. Is it the tpi number you need to look at rather than the overall weight?

A bit this morning, at 6:30am. Not settling though 🙁

32:18 here. If I can do it, anyone can 🙂

Did all four trails in about 12 hours.

Am I even allowed to describe routes around Cambridgeshire?

Can you take a photo and send it to the manufacturers for advice?

I asked On-One about care of my fork, and that's what they suggested.

One thing I have never understood about CO2 as a greenhouse gas is why it supposedly works only in one direction like a gaseous diode.

For example if it reflects the heat rising from the Earth back into the atmosphere, surely it does likewise with the heat from the sun, so wouldn't there would be less heat penetrating the atmosphere than otherwise? Thus balancing the equation.

I think the theory is that CO2 is largely transparent to visible light, but absorbs infra-red.

So, light arriving from the sun goes straight through it and warms the earth's surface. The warm surface radiates heat (i.e. infra-red radiation, the old black-body radiation thing). If there's more CO2 in the atmosphere then more of it gets absorbed, warming the air, rather than being radiated out into space.

On the other hand, I imagine the warmer CO2 at the upper levels of the atmosphere will now radiate more heat out into space itself. Could all get quite complicated quite quickly.

Thetford Winter Series. Looks like another mud fest!

Every cell in your body needs cholesterol. Without it, you would die.

You're just applying the precautionary principle.

It's 'elf and safety gone mad!

I don't think the CRU leak can be dismissed this easily. It now transpires that CRU lost a whole load of data at some point, and only ever kept the post-processed data.

So, not only did they screw up on their data retention, they also kept very quiet about it and expected us to just take their conclusions on trust.

On top of that there is some very strong evidence that their data was heavily tweaked to give the "right" result, while yet again refusing to divulge this (until they had no choice).

That's not right.

I've just started reading through the leaked emails and code from UEA ("climategate").

It's pretty shocking to be honest.

It puts the IPCC report into a very different light.

twosheds – that Skiddaw link doens't seem to work.

This morning, riding along the Cambridgeshire guided busway.

Everyone cleans their chain the Sheldon Brown way, right?

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/chainclean.html

OK, so it's just started raining. Might need a third cup of tea before I can go out.

Well over here in exotic Cambridgeshire…

Clear blue sky, a few patches of thin cloud

… It's stopped raining.

… I'm about to have a second cup of tea

… then go for a ride.

Living the dream!

Put your glasses on 🙂

+1 for helmet wearing.

Friend did the dart thing into the ground. Few days later collapsed and was then off sick for about 2 months.

A colleague/friend at work landed on the back of his head (getting out of a jacuzzi at a fancy hotel) and is only now – several months later – able to walk properly. Will be off sick for about 6 months. All better in about 2 years.

It's not just the nasty cuts and fractures the helmet saves you from. It's all the mashing around of your brain as well.

A friend of mine who both cycles and is American told me he would quite routinely get beer cans thrown at him while he was cycling along. North Carolina, which I don't think is especially redneck.

CyB?

It doesn't just drop out. I can only get the 17670 cell in and out by unscrewing both ends and then gently pushing it in/out.

However, if this thread is to be believed, they won't work very well in the P3D – I guess the forward voltage must be too high.

Instead you might have better luck with a pair of 3.7V Li-ion batteries, such as these. The energy density seems to be about the same as my single cell, though still not as high as the non-rechargeables (about 6.4Wh vs 7.8Wh).

Get your ruler out before ordering though.

But while you're ordering from Deal Extreme, you could also just buy one of their newer torches.

So your LED emitter is running at nearly half voltage? What's the light output like?

There's a switching regulator inside which in theory should mean it makes no difference, provided you stay within the voltage range it can cope with.

I've just tried a very unscientific test, switching between a pair of CR123's and a 17670 and they seem about the same to my uncalibrated eyes.

If I was buying a new battery for this torch though, I'd get the 16mm diameter ones (possibly sku.3273 ?) to make it easier to get them in and out.

And if I was buying a torch again, I'd make sure it took the higher-capacity 18mm diameter batteries.

That torch takes 2x cr123.

I've got the PD30 which takes the same batteries. I find that I can just about squeeze in a 17670 3.7V Li-ion rechargeable from Deal Extreme.

75%; seems I'm British.

What a waste of taxpayer's money.

"crap weather" ?

What kind of excuse is that?

+1 for Charlie.

Fit a valve that allows air, but not water.

Doesn't everyone do this?

Don't you just need a port mapping (or whatever it's called on your router) that forwards incoming packets on your chosen VPN port to a PC behind your gateway?

I think most routers will do this unless they are prehistoric. RTFM.

It's littering. Littering is still illegal isn't it? Can't people complain to the local constabulary?

Cambridgeshire police have meetings every so often (monthly?) where they ask what their priorities should be. Go along. Tell them to arrest people who do this.

If you can't be bothered to do that, then it perhaps doesn't bother you much!

Hard to take it seriously while our political leaders still drive around in big fuel guzzling cars, jets and helicopters.

When Gordon Brown starts regularly cycling I'll believe in global warming. Until then, it's probably just a scam.

Right now, Panaracer Fire XC Pro, 1.8". Mainly 'cos when it's really gloopy the narrowness means you're having to push less mud out of the way.

Well, those things are *tough*. Electric drill just doesn't touch it at all.

I'd actually gotten used to the clunking. It was the seizing-up-solid after a ride in the mud that troubled me (although as some have suggested this may have been due to my own lackadaisical attitude to maintenance).

Right now I'm trying to disassemble the freewheel just to see what it looks like inside. I'm about to try a power drill though, as gentle persuasion with a hammer has so far failed.

I bought a steel Hormann door from a local garage door supplier for £500. They claimed that they supply it to the city council for some of the more "boisterous" estates. Apparently it survives having a van tied to the door and driven off.

But I guess if someone is willing to cut a hole in the wall then that won't help.

Just in case anyone else ever is wondering about these ACS claws freewheels – don't get one.

It was fine until last Sunday. Did Thetford Winter Series – 4 hours in rain and mud. Took it off to clean it on Tuesday: totally frozen solid. Left in white spirit overnight: clean and shiny as new, but still totally frozen solid.

WI on order.

I managed to get round Thetford Forest on Sunday on a single speed (36:18). I'm sure there's nothing in the Peak District can possibly be as hard and painful as that was.

Like, I rode 40 miles and not a single cafe!