thanks mate

I’m looking at 25mm Tesa tape on Amazon and getting an option of indoor, outdoor or sensitive (for extra pleasure). Which one do I need?

I pacifically asked you not to start this thread.

Thread re Klopp on Twitter is amusing. Female comic pretends what would happen if she were in a relationship with Klopp

https://twitter.com/lauralexx/status/123­8601779773952005?s=20

it made me laugh anyway

Mk I eyeball, for the use of.

you know those kids who used to ring peoples doorbells and then run away before they answered?

Where do you think they went to work when they grew up?

Having skim read your initial post, not bothered to read much more of the thread, read between the lines, come to my own massively skewed assumptions and inserting my own prejudices (this is STW after all) it seems to me that you have cycled for years and enjoyed it and now due to some vaguely asserted requirement to ride a bit faster you have done lots of stuff which means you are no longer enjoying cycling.

Give that up and go back to doing what you were doing before i.e. just ride and enjoy yourself.

same as most above.

one of the best things I did for my twice a year drive deep into France.

mine was bought 4 or 5 years ago from SANEF (now been taken over by Emovis but this was an email exchange only, I still use the same Dongle).

no more finding change or joining long queues baking in the sun or wishing you had joined the 5th lane from the left not the 7th cos that is moving quicker and has only been there 45 minutes. no more hanging out of the window, finding your card doesn’t work or dropping the coins or speaking to the surly French attendants.

no sirree bob, you go wide left (usually) and join the tag only minimal queue and gasp in wonder as the dongle beeps and the barrier jumps up and you are through and accelerating still in 2nd or 3rd gear (or whatever my 7 gear DSG thinks is good) and heading out the other side laughing at all the mugs sitting in the queue, particularly that knobber in the sports car who flew past you dangerously 20km back and is still sitting there waiting for the queue to move.

you pay the same toll whether you are paying by card, cash or dongle.

it’s liberating.

YMMV

I don’t find it particularly interesting but that’s probably cos I’ve never really understood how it works.

I get that in a Simon Cowell X Factor type process they are working their way through the contestants to find out who the two finalists are but can someone provide a simple guide to how this works e.g. why do they only go to certain states and in which order (and why that order)?

I’m assuming you mean tuneless rather than just not liking it anymore.

On the not liking it anymore front I do remember being very excited about buying Einstein-a-Go-Go on 7″ vinyl in Preedy’s Banstead High Street in errrr…(checks Google for release date) 1981 and walking home then playing it about three times before deciding it was rubbish.

I think it’s still in my singles box in the under stairs cupboard. It hasn’t been played since.

That’s 79p I’m never getting back…

yeah i know, skateboard for Christmas 1977 for me

I’ve used it twice. It’s very good for losing weight relatively fast. I have no idea of any other issues eating too many proteins/fats etc. may cause depending on your general health or any specific health issues #IANADoctor

The weight did eventually go back on but it took over 18 months for this to happen because I could only eat about a quarter of the carbs that I used to smash down at a pre-diet mealtime.

When you first start Keto you piss like a horse and feel very tired/lacking energy. Also as I was still cycling 4 or 5 times a week you feel exhausted as the body isn’t used to not having the carbs to burn.

After a couple of months you adjust but I definitely lost power and it took a while to get it back.

YMMV

there are many examples of this but ISTR that last year the po po set up an operation somewhere in London to clamp down on cyclists breaking laws.

Turned out that the statistics showed they stopped/caught/identified something crazy like ten times as many drivers breaking laws than they did cyclists.

the biggest trick that the motoring lobby ever pulled off was convincing car owners that it is all the fault of the cyclist.

it’s known as Schrödinger’s Cyclist whereby they are simultaneously going too fast and too slow at the same time.

what’s really annoying is that it’s weeks and weeks until Shrove Tuesday and yet the supermarkets are already selling eggs. flour, sugar and milk. Grrrr….

Count it as a life lesson and don’t bother going out with that group anymore

as @grannyjone alludes to above it depends what you are going to ride when you are there.

It’s very easy (but IMHO opinion boring) to stay in Morzine all week riding the black/red Pleney side or the blues and reds on Super Morzine side.

If that is what you are planning it will be 100% lift assisted so you may as well take the DH bike.

If however you fancy travelling all over the PDS area to Avoriaz, Les Lindarets, Les Gets, Chatel, Mossettes Morgins, Champery etc and over into Switzerland and back then the more pedal friendly bike will probably be better. You may occasionally wish you had a bit more travel on some of the trails but you wont regret being able to pedal some of the transfer trails between trail centres/DH bike parks without killing yourself in the 30/35/42 degree heat (as it was for me in 2015).

I’m fortunate enough to have been there about a dozen times over the last 15 years and know my way around well. My recommendation would be to try to hook up with someone who knows their way around and is willing to show you around a bit.

I’ve met so many groups of mainly northern lads looking lost who are searching for some mythical other location than Les Gets where they have spent five days riding and it’s only on their last day that they hear there are some other trails to explore but which require a bit of navigation and pedalling to reach.

I tried to hire a landscape gardener once. He said he couldn’t help me cos my garden was …oh, you got it already.

some people just need a high five…in the face…with a chair

good stuff, thanks for the update.

I didn’t post before but I think you got the message that you really shouldn’t push yourself that hard on your first time out. Get some more classes and general fitness under your belt first which you appear to have taken on board.

Keep it up.

how about Girona? a beautiful location for the wife and loads of rides, climbing, road for you and gravel for you/your wife. good weather too

I’m off there in April and am taking my wife as a non-rider. she will just shop ’till she drops.

“Girona is a paradise for cyclists. Known as a favourite training place and home for professional cyclists, Girona really does have everything: quiet roads, varied terrain, quality restaurants, a medieval city centre, cafès & a buzzing cycling culture.”

we stayed in the Premier Inn, Manchester Central ISTR.

It does what it says on the tin. Whether you like what it says is down to you but we had no complaints.

surrounded by a haunch of burly ex-SAS types

SAS or ex-SAS are very rarely burly, more usually wiry.

they kinda knew that though didn’t they?

The literal translation of Regatta de Blanc is white reggae. they knew what they were doing and acknowledged it in naming the album.

I used to love them in the 80’s up until that red/orange album as someone mentioned above.

Listened to some tracks again recently and really enjoying them again. some classics like walking on the moon and some irreverent ones like On any other day

I hadn’t planned on doing it but it just seems to have happened. Dry so far and not particularly missing it. Mind you I have avoided pubs and the like.

First test is this Saturday 3pm when I’m off to the footie. always meet up with mates for beers beforehand so may just say I can’t make it as being in a pub and drinking soft drinks is the pits.

Ginster’s Cornish Pasty available in most supermarkets for just one of your Eengleesh pounds.

cup a soup and a loaf of bread of your choice?

Mine was circa 20 years ago. I’m not certain what a scalpel-free version entails and don’t want to Google it at work but for me the op was ok, a bit uncomfortable but nothing compared to the discomfort of the pre-op shaved pubes growing back over the next few weeks.

as if that wasn’t enough, Robbie Williams (yeah, sorry) latest album has seen cassette sales hit a 15 year high.

Apparently in 2019 there were over 80,000 cassettes bought.

Who are these people?

@MTB-idle most mountains in Europe will mean highest % of the country’s area covered by mountains.

Fanx Matt

View this post on Instagram

Little spill for young Tom this morning. He was lucky I was following him or the world may never get to see these pics. Double #garmin day for me too #mtb #mountainbike #mountainbiking #crash #eatdirt #thisissurrey #Esher #eshercommon #garmin800 #garmin820 #tld #troylee #troyleedesigns #ytcapra #ytindustries #pedalstrike

A post shared by Richard Sear (@ralph_e_rogers) on Jan 5, 2020 at 1:35pm PST

The acceptable age difference formula is:
(your age / 2) + 7.

That is true unless you are on tour when it’s (your age / 2) + 5.

OP deffo appears to be on tour and so the maths now work for him altho he probably needs to watch Shirley Valentine

.

rTed C
Wreckless Eric to the forum please!

top quote here.

A few years ago we were at work talking about relationships and totally deadpan I related the following story:

“When I was a young boy my mother said to me there’s only one girl in the world for you and she probably lives in Tahiti”

Many of my team were astounded and thought my old mum was being cruel (well, she can be). No one knew the lyric.

I went to Dobrota on the Bay of Kotor in September. I hired a car and drove. The local drivers are slightly crazy but no more so than in other countries where I am a visitor taking things carefully in a hire car on local roads and they are in their own backyard.

It’s a beautiful country, apparently the most mountainous in Europe although i’m not sure on what basis they are measuring that.

I didn’t go cycling unfortunately but drove a fair bit and the roads were no worse than Surrey although some gravel type roads were up in the mountains.

I was in Kotor on the day that the Tour of Montenegro kicked off. Lots of lycra and expensive carbon but a very laid back feel to it.

ISTR the recommendations I saw were not to go MTBing without a guide as you could get either horribly lost or hurt on some of the trails if following them blindly.

View this post on Instagram

Sod me and my fabulous aspirational holiday snaps according to my straight talking Aussie friend (is there any other sort?) #holiday #holidaysinthesun #montenegro #konoba_barba #konobabarba #kotor #dobrota #bokaheights #crnagora #mountains #nofilter

A post shared by Richard Sear (@ralph_e_rogers) on Sep 17, 2019 at 9:08am PDT

View this post on Instagram

Beer o'clock in Montenegro and it's time for a sundowner after a lazy day doing nothing #holiday #holidaysinthesun #montenegro #sundowner #beer #niksicko #niksickopivo #bokaheights #penthouse #penthousesuite

A post shared by Richard Sear (@ralph_e_rogers) on Sep 16, 2019 at 8:53am PDT