Well .I have my own Private Well so only costs me to run a pump.
(no Manky Mains Water ) for me.

Incidentally they seem unable to get water treatment correct as mains water i come across in various work locations is so variable.

Moved here in 2012 as wife wanted to help look after mother (terminal cancer),they moved over 2 years previous.
We sold up UK wise and brought our cottage outright.
We both work in care industry and now better off than we’ve been for last 30 years.
Yes cars are expensive if taxing older car but positive is no council tax or water rates,a quieter life as were mid south east,good 1 -1/2 hours from Dublin.
Excellent mountain biking n quiet trails, good Craic at events, like NIRE VALLEY DROP n COOLEY THRILLER.
Excellent range of growing craft breweries too .

Two Rashers Collar bacon rind on ,
Cumberland Sausage ,(part of a Ring)
Black Pudding,
White Pudding,
Fried Bread 1 slice,
Fried eggs x2,
Mushrooms n tomatoe,
1slice fresh bread for moping up.
Lge pot of tea Lyons or PG.

Brown sauce HP

https://www.dropbox.com/s/qx9sdo5rvxrj508/20170124_144616.jpg?dl=0

Local electrical shop ,found us a decent basket fryer.

Ideal for HOMEMADE SCOTCH EGGS too. As Tesco ones have a poor substitute for sausage meat wrapped around em

I had a collision with one of those Magnetic Tree Stumps that attract the front wheel during an event recently ,that lead to me going OTB and head butting a friendly rock .

A following rider stopped and asked if i was OK as i was lying in his way , i got up took off my helmet (Halfords Hard NUTZ) and felt i had an abrasion to fore head where the helmet moved on my head.

Got back on bike and felt little wobbly but carried on and completed event the remaining 25km and thought no more other than glad i wore a helmet.

Move on to the Tuesday night when the wife’s at work and i’m reading the article in Singletrack about “MIPS” and i decide to take a closer look at my helmet to discover its actually broken right through where the impact was.so i had a possible lucky escape as without said helmet i most certainly would of ended up in casualty if not in ICU itself.

So , today I’ve just collected my new BELL helmet with MIPS.

Money well spent i think .

Once sold a sea Kayak on e-bay and went 50/50 with the buyer  who was in Scotland  and me in west Wales using local courier who passed it on to another courier in Liverpool.

Wrapped in roll of bubble wrap n lots of Gaffa tape.

5-3 in height and 29 ” inside leg  so looking at 15″ frame really or 14″

What Vibrating Pillows for the Hard of hearing.

The link in the video to riding the  Reservoir is good viewing too.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NG2JUTwfBTw

Job done ,top washer was well rusted to fork crown , bearings at bottom shot , so LBS on monday order new headset .

Not bad thou at 5 years n a bit , been sat in shed last year  as not used since got me full suss.

Breaks were stiff as could be ,but managed to free off pistons too,shell soon be rollling again as too good to scrap .

Will double as pub bike :)

No its a conventional  non threaded job .

Cheers , may see ye up there some time .

Excellent bit of film there.

Where about in wicklow  is that.

I’m in New Ross area so inistige and area are my local runs, but wrk over Kilcullen direction.

A useful filter i find is tell them i was Butcher in a previous career and that gets rid of the Veggies .

a quote from one i got a match with.

“My story is i’m quiet shy,so take my time getting to know someone,need to fell a connection as well as attraction. I’m a slow burner believe in quality over quantity .”

Then she answered back with one word replies to my long messages .

Frustrating  or what .

Depending if you have more time to play also
https://fatbikeadventures.ie/ these guys are worth a look up too.

Local guys rate bikepark Ireland well.
Loads of scope on many paths n forestry as well and you very few bobble hat brigade over here,most walkers just lok at us in Awe.

Unless you have to be in central Dublin i would avoid and come out a bit far more value around .

Thanks guys ,not sure about the Butt plug suggestions, that may of been the answer if i’d got our DTL ,as she needs some plugging.

May go with box of mixed craft beers n Tayto’s

Ireland . kilkenny ,waterford area

Better by a million miles than our wind and rain here in south Kilkenny Ireland .

I had a Saracen back in 1999 ,it was proper heavy too.
Orange painted frame ,shock that was a sod to adjust n forks that were HEAVY
My son rode it for a while around n to work good 12 mile on muddy welsh lanes ,then my youngest stripped it down and the frame went to the scrapper in the sky.

Hindsight should of kept it as museum piece for the future.

My Giant Anthem is a different beast totally now restored my faith in full sus.

Just done mine ,i know i’m in Ireland but it took just over a week .
Did photo renewal on line , then posted up old one which was out of date by 2 years to Belfast ,they received it on Friday 08.30 signed delivery and i had new one back following Friday at 12.00 midday .

Fantastic service n simple to do.

He was a travelling salesman and had a family either end of the M4. He’d been doing it completley in secret for 20 years

On reading that my first thought isn’t “how?” but for friths sake “why”?

He was never having to spend nights away from home !

Have a 2004 Santa fe Diesel .Only issue really has been corroded front brake pipes at NCT(MOT) time,track rod end .Plus oil pressure switch failed which was good a least spraying oil everywhere but at least the underside got a good corrosion resistance coating .
Does on average 40 to the gallon n pulls like a train .

I cycle twice a week usually, and go to the gym between 5 or six times. Some work in the gym is on the stationary bike, some on the stepper and the cross country thing,

How do you fit this around a working week especially as shifts are of 12 hour duration ie 9 till 9 with 1 n 1/2 hour drive either side usually 4 days a week

I was running low ,awaiting pay day to fill up and was surprised how little the level dropped using showers and even putting the heating on for a couple of hours as house felt damp couple evening when the mist was down.
So go get 2x20l n that will last you.

Well nearly 4 wks on now and i can finally sleep back on my normal side.Did a 47k ride last wed with some strenuous climbs and tech bits and was sore after but recovered quick enough.
The most annoying/frustrating factor being i had collected the long awaited new bike (Anthem 3) and couldn’t benefit from the time off work.

Was back to work sat night too with couple night shifts to ease me in .

Roll on the Glorious 12th now ” DA COOLEY THRILLER” up in the COOLEY Mountains with 1500 metre of ascent .
First of 3 events planned for this year.

Remember buying some KID’s few years back when in Bristol area and the woman I bought them off said she had refused to sell them to “coloured gent” as she put it for fear that they would end up in a curry.

They went on to be part of a fine herd of grazers that sired many currys n pies later after having a happy life in wales.

After first proper ride out round my local loop of Desire ,found the Racing Ralph on the rear to be a liability on the wet slippy rocks n roots .
|But i must say the rear end felt planted on the climbs and cleared parts that usually take a couple of bites or pauses at least or it could be my legs working better.
But certainly an improvement over my previous hardtails.

So purchased a 2.6 Nobby Nic today ,seems to fit with good clearance too.

Local facebook free ads is another place to pick up old bikes cheap.

I have 2.4 Trail Kings on 17mm rim .running front tubeless n rear tubed as rim would not seal for love nor money.

Feel great too and lovely hum on fresh tarmac other day .

Finally got my Anthem 3 yesterday through the bike to work scheme for part of it.
Medium frame ,giant dropper post and BBB pedals.

Out for a shake down spin in the afternoon but limited time as had to be back in time for sons 18th birthday meal.

Impressed by the ride ,loving the geometry and smoooth changes of the new gears.
But first off worked couple layers of turtle-wax polish into the frame.

Well it has to be Peppa Pig the movie ,absolute drivel .

Worse as i had to endure it during a hot afternoon viewing as it was a work client. so only bonus was that i got paid to watch it.

andy4d – Member
You should come over to Ireland. I need a mtb just to cycle on the roads they are so $hit.

Agreed Andy4d my local single tracks around the forestry are better than our L roads here in south Kilkenny.

For reference Irish |road grading :
N = National roads Mostly good occasional potholes
R = Regional roads Not so good regular potholes occasional top dressing .
L = Local roads Mostly pot holes with patches of fill which squish out from tractor use and create lumps n bumps.

Sorry to hear this.

So glad i moved out of Brum all those years ago.
Thou can happen anywhere really

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