Just to put this into perspective… That Shields lad, who's just been pardoned by the Government and released was "convicted" of a crime. This conviction has not been over turned, and in the country where the alleged crime occured he is still concidered a criminal. When he was released there was celebrations, front page exclusives and much merry making. Now, its not my place to decide whether this chap was or was not responsible for the lockerbie bombing, but in his home country they believe he was innocent and wrongly jailed. So they celebrated his release. Its not disgusting, its not celebrating terrorism, its celebrating the freedom of a man they think was wrongly jailed. I'm sure a lot of white south africans weren't best pleased when nelson mandela was free'd, they thought he was a terrorist, and he got freed from jail and celebrated as an international hero.

Whatever he did or didn't do, keeping him in prison wont achieve anything, unless the public need to be protected from the actions of an old man with terminal cancer? and surely celebrating his death shows that just like terrorists, we put no value on life, have no belief in forgiveness and subscribe to that wonderful western passion that is beleiving that we are superior to everyone else.

looks nice, i went with a swobo del norte instead, as i think it looks nicer, but pretty much the same sort of thing. I really like the hadlebars on the 'waggon (I hav them on the swobo now)

i used to love ROX stuff when i was a wee lad. the i realised that the factory was in Melton Mowbray and thats why all the kids at school had the T-shirts, suddenly not cool :-(

slight hijack… but why do people think you're some kind of evil doer if you don't give money to "their" charity? I do give money to charities (that I choose). I also give time when I can. Yet recently when approached by two sepperate people at work asking for "sponsorship" of their even I have refused and been called mean. both these events involve life changing experiences for the doer (walking the great wall of china/ husky tour of the arctic) with a need to raise a minimum ammount. Am I really a stooge to ask A:What do these charitys do? B:How much of the money raised go's to charity and how much pays for your holiday?? C: I'd like my work mates to pay for my holiday, can i come too?

I have sponsored one person at work, quite a lot of money for taking on a genuine challenge (cycling the length of america) organised and paid for by himself (its a holiday for him afterall) with all the money going to a real charity. Shouold I feel guilty for not wanting to pay for others holidays?

Now I'm no saint (3 points on my license) but the difference between 30 and 36 is quite a lot. when I did my emergency driving course we had to drive on a runway at 30 mile an hour, an instructer threw a cone in front of the vehicle and you had to stop before you hit it. at 30mph this was easy. at 35mph i flattened the cone and came to a stop about 4 meters further up the track. short, sharp shock into slowing down a bit. there's also some formula that shows that the kinetic force on a human body at 40mph is 50%more than 30mph or some such figures.

that said, GATSO's are just money generation boxes, if it was really about road safety then they'd use the averag speed check cameras.

I say this not as a hairdresser, but as a retired punk who used to dye hair reguarly…

Some people's hair does not respond well to bleach. is it breaking off? Strawlike? or just feel dry? putting conditioner in and leaving it for a few hours helps, as do expensive rescue serums (same thing I think?) my best technique was to not wash my hair for a week after bleaching (just cover it with gel to get a good solid mohawk) but this may not be appropriate in her case.

A box of normal hair dye will come with a strong conditioner inside, i'd suggest whacking one of those on to wet hair and leaving for an evening? also try and reduce how often she washes it as this will strip it of essential oils repairing the hair.

Trek Y… I really wanted one of them back in the day!

As for where they all go, haven't you ever seen an old person on a really nice bike? They get left in sheds when kids go off to uni, they get put in the back of garages, they get left at mates houses for a long time. they're everywhere!

There's an old guy round our way who rides a fully mud guarded, pannierd (spelling?) orange clockwork with all XT bits… There was an old P7 in the garage at work last year that someone had "borrowed off a mate." the lad who lived across from me last year had a saracen type bike, with chris king headset and XTR Hubs… stuff just gets passed around, frames break and things get forgotten!

Get friendly with the friends she's leaving behind… if you've got toned legs and are reasonably fit they'll be queuing up. this could be useful come late january….

The badge thing really annoys me too. Mostly as the only person who cares whether your SH$%%Y little fiesta is 16V or not, is probably going to know know that A:It isn't. B: thats the badge off a VTS, which just looks silly. Also see lots of Msport badges on cars that aren't BMW and turbo stickers on things that are brown.

mind you, my first care was a 1.1 litre fiesta with and XR2 front bumper. written in the dirt in the back (I ever cleaned it) I had 1.1 TURDO. the number of people who'd get het up about that and start mouthing off saying it isn't a turbo etc… funny times. For a short time I had a massive bolt on upswept double exhaust tip. It looked really funny coming out the back of a fiesta but "sadly" someone stole that!

Its at a crazy angle thats what it is! Hurt my neck tuning upside down to work out how that was floating and which way was down.

Late 70's early 80's lots of Chopperlike bikes on the streets! Clearly needs to be painted black with flames down it, alfine hub, 8 inch rotas front and back (they take some stopping those steel bikes). maybe drill it for internal cable routing as well?

about 15 years ago i was camping in the woods with some friends, looking out across the flat nottinghamshire skyline and saw something almost identical to what you're describing. a very bright light, moved slowly across the horizon (with no discernable shape behind it) then shot back very quickly. It did this for about 40 mins, when we decided to take some pictures (with flash cos it was dark) also, feeling brave we pointed a very powerful torch at it. The light then started coming towards us very quickly and suddenly there was a very loud noise, the likes of which I'd never heard before, like a cross between a Jet and a helicopter.

When the military helicopter with the rear jet rather than rota hovered above us we thought we were going to get shot or something. after a few mins of blowing our tents all over, the helicopter left and we didn't see it again. the rest of teh night was spent telling each other that we weren't scared and knew it wasn't UFO's all along!

And the point of this story?

I like stories!

I really want to ask questions on some of those… I'm thinking "could the box be used for other purposes" and "can I collect the paper clips to save on postage". Sadly, its my fiances ebay accoubt and she wont let me.

vaguey related, when my mum first logged onto ebay, she bid up to £75 for a stuffed puffin in a bell jar for my birthday. she didn't win and we all laughed about it, but I do now feel that my life would be that much richer if I had a stuffed puffin in a bell jar now.

Must try harder, any cost over £100 I ask about NHS discount… and often get it (including 10% off an engagement ring, free track pump with a new bike and a box of just out of date energy bars…)

strip and clean bikes. Set up gears so they work better than ever, remove tyres, re fit tyres so logos match up with rim logos, clean all your tools/ tool box. sort through things in your house that you don't need and ebay them for beer money (don't buy anything!). Tidy the house, read books, go the library and find a volunteer project to fill your time (and CV).

That was enough to fill a day of unemployment for me. I became so bored and anally tidy that I swore never to retire!

get a tatty old one off ebay with a steel frame from the 80's. make sure its got decent wheels, everything else is replaceable quite cheap off the bay (so long as you don't chase modern kit. I got….

Peugeot performance 2000 bike with reynolds tube (just the downtube I think), straight rigida wheels and brand new tyres, 105 brake levers. £75

then added…

Dura ace rear mech £15
Dura ace front mech £5
Dura ace shifters £22
new chain £12
New grip tape £4
New cables all round £20

Top notch for less than £200.

admitably its a bit retro (and isn't working at the moment due to my dodgy building skills), but bargains can be had if you're carefull…

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Raleigh-Dyna-Tech-600-Road-Bike_W0QQitemZ270431579225QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Bikes_GL?hash=item3ef6fa6c59&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=65%3A7%7C66%3A2%7C39%3A1%7C293%3A1%7C294%3A50

its the right size, its cheap as chips, its in wakey (You're yorkshire aren't you?) and with a respray it could be quite nice…

oh yeah…9 speed block should be fine, obviously on a 9 speed compatable hub (rear spacing should be fine, but just measure and check)

down tub shifer mounts if brazed on can be used to attach cable guides… http://www.spadout.com/p/shimano-sti-down-tube-cable-stops/

If you don't have braze ons, (i think you don't?) then I've seen band on, but not sure where or who makes it. If you can't find any, then just buy an old band on shifter set, take the levers off and attach the above product and hey presto!

FWIW I had an old road bike that had band on cable stops a year or so back… It was very old but they were badged as shimano?

new ish,,, i wondered that? most gears no work so we'll see how it gets on

TBH I only buy cheap bits on there and tend to offer my bits for free/swaps etc. I like the friendly nature of advice and trying cheap bits before i buy. I run some quite shonky bikes, and sometimes I just can't be bothered buying all new parts. We;ve all got boxes of random bits kept just in case, and sometimes those bits can help other people. I often look over the classified wanted ads to see if I've got some junk that someone else needs, and likewise when ever I post a wanted, someone is quick to offer me something that might work etc. Prices wise, I tend to buy /sell at the value of a few pints and see exchanges as more of a favour than a business. If I need particular bits then its Ebay, CRC or LBS.

I know we all like to swap and change components/ frames more than our shirts, so lets bring back the shonky carboot sale feel to the classified and make it less of a business!

end rant.

put the dura ace back on, now holding all gears except the top ring… time to man up on the hills me thinks!

I'm 27 and I know lots of things. there's also lots of things I don't know. Lots of people at my work think I don't know anything as I'm "not experienced enough" but in most cases "expereince" is nothing more than doing something one way, then carrying on doing it that way for 20 years. I wouldn't vote for her though.

Seems not on the old Sachs ones… probably on the dura ace?

on going arguement with NTL, who twice sent the bailiffs round to collect -£87. To be fair to the bailiffs, they found it quite funny once I'd explained, and I'd suggested I'd take cash, or if they've got a nice TV in their van that'd do…

The real winner is the guy from TV licensing who knock on the door and asks if I have a TV license. Its 10 am, I got in from the night shift at 8am, Im not at my best, but i confess that I don't know if I have a TV license as my housemate sorted all the bills, but if i didn't I was happy to get one there and then. TV Licensing guy says he'll ring his office and check for me. 5 mins of standing on the door step in my boxers, yup, you've got a tv license. Cue some swearing from me along the lines of "you got me out of bed to tell me that I've a got a TV license already? Thanks."

is it a case of tighten until you can tighten no more, and then give it some more?

When I'm racing 'cross I use the inner ring (36 on mine) for the whole race as I'm unfit. When I'm on the road I find the 46 spins out at about 35mph. When I get round to it I might put a 52-36 on, but to be honest unless you're a speed demon i'm not sure its worth it (for me anyway)

Slight hijack, for cross with a single ring, does anybody do a 38 or a 40 tooth ring?

I take it as a personal challenge if a motorist looks at me and try to race them. Also I'm "always" first across the junction once the lights go green… everyone loves racing from the lights!

I'd go for revoloution, cos I like the fact that when we bought a bike for t'wife, they talked to her rather than trying to sell me a bike (unlike one store which tried their best to convince me that my overweight fiance "needs" a 1k carbon road bike to cycle to the allottment!)

those courier bikes look nice, sturdy and easy to upgrade ould you wish

move the computers this time? Or better yet, pile up empty mac boxes in corner of room. fill boxes with bricks and turd. laugh.

clues in the url? The part I'm after is the same on the 520 and the 540…

looking at pics of the 545 it looks like it might not have the piece I need. Thanks anyway!

http://www.brianrourke.co.uk/shimano-m520-spd-pedal-pi-1473.html?osCsid=90a7f502349dfba1f9cab34419ed764d

I'm not able to post pics, but here's a nice one I found. I've broken the adjuster bit (+ -)at the point where then screw that tightens presses against the metal… If its got the right bit that'd be awesome!

Take your cleats off?

He’d get there if he pedalled a bit more and didn’t brake so much on the down hills…

Its the little things that add up fast, cables, grips, tyres etc. Best bet is Ebay special then add whats needed from here. Or I’ll sell you my 20inch GT singlespeed for £150 with Judy XC forks, LX Hubs on mavic 521 rims, RACE face double and bash chainset, easton stem, bontrager bars and deore v brakes… (could be converted back to geared with a new mech hanger and front mech, rear mech deore rear mech providing tension at the mo)

Most people think they have a balanced diet, but tend to lack a few bits and pieces, but unless you are finding that deficiancies are causing you health problems, I shouldn’t worry too much. I take a multi vitamin a day as I’m vegetarian, anaemic and often eat at weird times/ skip meals. Generic supermarket own brand ones will work just as well as fancy “sport specific” ones IMO. If you know you’re down on something, try eating new foods.. loads more fun/ interesting thamn takng pills though!

I guess when you’re all riding that close together you have to work as a team to some extent, and with so many columbia riders up there in the last few km, it owuld n’t matter that much if armstrong hung off, and lets be honest he doesn’t really need the help!

As a rule, johners tend to get looked down on by NHS ambulance people, which is a bit unfair, though the stereotype of over eager people who smell slightly is often alarmingly accurate, many are people like yourself looking for some experience. If your local area has a community first responder scheme, thats always worth getting in with, they’ll train you in basic life support and defibrillation and oxygen use, which looks good for NHS interviews and shows “giving something back”. Also might be worth considering the red cross, and the scouts. FWIW Scouts would be my favourite, cos you get to fun things like mountain biking, kayaking and climbing, learn first aid, show that you are organised and responsible and really give something back (plus if they’re out riding bikes, the little scrotes wont be stealing your car!).

A lot of St Johns stuff (according to a friend who’s quite high up) is quite cliquey. the same people do the fun stuff, while others get stuck in the church hall making cups of tea.

A lot o the medics I work with came from a life guard background, maybe your local leisure centre is hiring for evenings/ weekends (and you’d get to blow a mean whistle!)

Also, there are plenty of specialist first aid courses, see if you can tie it into your interests, to show them in interview that you are more than just another sap with 2 day first aid. Some kind of mountain leader course will give you genuinely usefull skills, both in life and as a paramedic and interview questions always involve giving examples of situations where you’ve helped someone ec… if you can give clinical situations, and know what you’re talking about then all the better! Depending on your location, life boat, mountain rescue and cave rescue are good places to get valualb eskills for free as well (and you’re certainly giving something back with those groups!)

Good luck!

Jim

Stratobiker, you sir, are my new hero, have a drink from me…

I know I “Should” get ITV 4 on my virgin media, I used to before I gave up TV, according to their website I still should. I tried ringing but despite them elling me my call was important, they didn’t bother to answer it, mind you, i guess it is the weekend. I shall give them hell tomorrow!

depends on the age of the 105 stuff/ the model of wheels, make of frame etc. Is this a new build or second hand?

If you want to punish him a little I have a 20inch SS GT?