Tis the season, well nearly……

Didn’t realise this was back on! I’m out for a spin later, I’m sure I can get something….

How you getting on with my old bike?

Love it! Been using it off road with knobblies on for a while. Serviced it this weekend and put slicks on for some winter commuting duties, and while checking out the frame for ways to fit mudguards got to wondering what the nipple was for.

I wonder if on one do a matching retro pump?

Pump peg was my first thought, but there isn’t a matching one on the seat tube.

Besides I haven’t seen one of those old style pumps for years! I can’t imagine it’s a sought after feature on post 2000 bikes?

What on earth is that video? English Disco Lovers declare war in defence of peppa pig!?!?!

Loved that. It’d be great if there were more ‘adverts’ like that in between evening TV slots.

I live in tamworth just north of birmingham. I’ve found some guys on lfgss that play regular near kingheath, so I might go and have a look.

I’ve got a ss pompino that might be suitable if I change the drop bars. It’s got a flip flop hub so I could ride it fixed but tbh I’m not a very good fixie rider so I’m not sure that would end well.

I’ve always secretly hankered after a charge plug but never had a reason to buy one…. N+1 right?

The only people who seem to have an issue with adults on bmxs are other adults.

The kids are always really polite and well mannered, despite what the older generation might suggest. Once they realise your a beginner they give you loads of room and quite often some good advice. One lad spent ages trying to explain to me how to 360, still can’t manage it though.

Bmxs are great, every grown up should own one!

I tried carbon and the flex and juddering was a very unpleasant feeling, I’m much happier with rigid steel. That said it was a pair of exotic forks, which were pretty cheap.

You can have a go on my rigid steel bike if your in the midlands?

About time too. I’ve had enough brambles, nettles and hayfever for one year, autumn is by far the best month for riding.

Better than the warehouses are paying round here

Pretty much how I became a bike tech, one too many 6-2/2-8 shift patterns order picking in a soul destroying warehouse whilst dreaming of riding bikes.

If your anywhere near Birmingham, Liverpool or Manchester you could look into doing a bit of freelance cycle instructor work on the side for Bikeright. I did it for a while and it was a really rewarding job, Bikeright were really flexible too, so I did the odd evening and weekend to fit around my day job.

I loved being a bike tech, but Christmas could be a testing time. The flurry of parents trying to buy a boxed bike at 5pm on Christmas Eve aghast that you can’t ‘just put it together’ in 5 minutes.

Then on Boxing Day all the shame faced Dad ‘engineers’ return, having bought the bike boxed and ‘got into a bit of a mess’.

I had L1 and L2 fused together when I was 17 and have not had any complications ( I’m now 35). It’s certainly never affected my cycling.

Doctors said I’d lose about 3 degrees of movement but I never noticed. Got a sweet scar though!

I reckon the social exclusion and instant access to information that people have by being constantly glued to a device is just a very early step on the path to transhumanism.

But I wonder if and when a future generation does see a technological singularity (when we can make anything) will it create a massive divide between the haves and the have nots, or will the trickle down of technology mean everyone gets the good stuff, a bit like my deore mech benefiting from the 2009 xtr design?

While we’re here… Has anyone ever actually played Magic: The Gathering? I just like the pictures.

Me and a few mates do a regular weekly magic night, it’s good fun and we don’t really play to win (much) so there’s very little nerd rage.

Your right, some of the artwork is fantastic.

If you want time consuming hobby, download the app deckedHD, I’ve spent countless hours on it designing the perfect magic deck.

I have a genesis IO.

Rides lovely, and vey comfy for a rigid. The paint is nice and hard too, it gets plenty of abuse and still looks tidy.

Also they seem to have a bit of a cult following, so if you don’t like it, you should be able to get a decent second hand price for it.

Sweaty!

Went for a 1hr fast cx training ride but couldn’t find my normal helmet so used my pisspot instead. I think it actually baked my skull.

Was good though!

He sounds ace!

Next time suck his wheel

Testicular de-gloving

A mate of mine had similar when he went over the bars and caught his sack on a thumb shifter. Apparently it was more of a rip than a de-glove, but his balls popped out all the same.

Good find, thanks for sharing

Surely this will be more strenuous on your knee?

Really? I just thought it was hopping around on stuff.

My brief experiment with bmx on the skate park seemed all upper body. I’m not looking to pull off big moves, but more things that will help on the trails.

Flatland looks far too rad, but strangely alluring.

I ordered rarebit with bacon yesterday, thinking it was a Welsh delicacy. (Englishman on holiday in Wales)

Turns out its just cheese on toast, was nice though!

Birmingham has an up and coming urban mtb scene

Razzing round car park vid

When I changed 16 to 18 on my fixie I reckon it moved about 1cm forwards.

At least if your wheel moves too far back you can remove a link rather than add one which is always risky, especially on a ss.

A few weeks ago in the phone box museum at Avoncroft.

Actually quite an interesting day out, the RAC phone box from the 90s was my favourite.

Sounds very similar to my local woods, I reckon only a handful of mountain bikers know about them so I always get them to myself (I’ve seen tyre tracks but never other cyclists)

I walk the dog there everyday and always take a pair of hand clippers to snip brambles, so they are pretty clear and the folding saw sorted out a few stray logs.

Right now it’s perfect, spongy grippy trails and lots of bluebells. Love it!

Jessops went to court over the same issue some years ago when a male member of staff refused to wear a tie and was sent home, they lost and dropped ties from the uniform for men.

It is unfair, but is it a big deal?

Get some level 3 National standards training. If your near Manchester or a Birmingham, Bikeright! are very good.

Regardless of how many years you’ve been riding you might be surprised what you pick up from a couple of hours with an instructor. It’s less about the Highway Code and procedures for taking junctions and more about negotiating road space, riding as part of the traffic and route planning.

If a bike goes for more than a year without being ridden then it gets swapped for something else.

I’m down to four now. Xc, road, fixie and cx. I pretty much have a bike for any type of riding I do and I’m not really hankering for anything else.

Jamie – ygm

Just bear in mind there is little evidence that stretching cures or helps to prevent injuries and can actually be harmful

Based on my own experience I’d probably agree. I’ve tried stretching programs before and they have helped loosen things up but not solved the problem. When I’ve combined it with leg work in the gym it really made a difference, in particular I reckon ‘cyclist squats’ to target the VMO (teardrop shaped bit just above the knee) as this gets neglected in cyclists.

Any links? Youtubes etc?

I actually ended up modified a hip flexibilty routine from a vegan community website, just had a look and it appears to be down.

There are loads more around but I found the moves that helped most were lunges, gecko and pigeon also supine twists really loosened up my back.

If your interested I can give you a step by step.

Best advice I had off a physio was basically strengthen and lengthen.

I’ve had knee/hip trouble last year. I’d rest for a week when it flared up, then when it felt better get back on the bike, but the pain would just come back.

Long story short i started doing a ‘runners’ yoga routine every night and squats in the gym twice a week. After a couple of months my joints feel loads better and I’m riding and running pretty hard now in a training schedule.

I’ve recently bought a pompino. Thin end of the wedge?

Didn’t think of the benefit of more teeth, and I think it’ll be the cheapest option too.

I’ll give that a go this weekend

Cheers for the response guys, sounds like the HR monitor might not be the best option

Power training? Hmmm never heard of that before, *googles power meters*…….

Love that!

What tyres for a space hulk?

Goes well in Thai curry

I’ve got an alfa 156 saloon and after trying a boot mounted rack and ruining my paint work I ended up going for roof bars, as I feel a tow bar would ruin the look of the car.

The roof bars look silly anyway and my dog has to sit on my lovely leather upholstery!

I miss my old estate car.

Starting in Warwickshire…….