We found some very nice riding around the Suisse Normande – lots of secret green lanes, woodsy singletrack etc. The local VTT clubs mark out colour-coded routes which are always worthwhile and you can pick up a guide book in the tourist office for a few Euros. But go where you like, unless there’s some obvious reason not to.

After that, I need a bottle of Pil’s

:-)My sister brought it over from Austria. Sorry!

Just saying it in the wrong forum too. I told you it was good…

Great that they could draft in Karl Marx on the accordion!

Very nice.
For me, Gilmour was always at his best when he constructed really spare solos – not a note too many or too few. Another Brick in the Wall is a good example; the best though is his opening salvo on “Shine On…” – all the lovely, layered synth like a great vaulted cathedral and then Dave G’s guitar right in your earhole – at 2 mins 10 here:

Sausages, then batter. Don’t know why.

Mary Coughlan singing “Sunday Mornings” on her album “Love Me or Leave Me” had us both blubbing like babies at the breakfast table one Sunday morning.
Also, June Tabor’s rendition of “The Band Played Waltzing Matilda” had snot coming from my nose. Very raw.

I bought myself one of these:
http://www.soundaffectsmusic.com/roland-hd-1-v-electronic-drum-kit-box-open.html

I absolutely love it – of course, it’s fairly basic but more sophisticated kits are available (at a price).
I plug my laptop into it, load up a playlist on Spotify and play along – wonderful therapy.

By the way, I have a new favourite drummer….

There were serious episodes of violence in the grossly overcrowded prison system leading to a number of deaths.

Now where does that remind me of?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-19395427
http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2012/sep/17/prison-probation-suicide-mapped

If it is IS mount, getting the mounts faced can sometimes help.

It could be argued it isn’t a race, it’s a time trial.

You can tell this is at the start of our journey as we are still smiling!
God, it was cold…that was 1st August.

Something like this perhaps?

http://wheelsmfg.com/bb-30-shims-shimano.html

Why vette ee

That’s what the child thought she was called.
It was spelled

Yvette.
Let me guess – Geordies?
“Why vette ee,
Are yez in the nettie?”

Wednesdays have been just great lately – Clare in the Community in the morning and Cabin Pressure in the evening.

Oooh, come on guys, I’m all agog….

Evolution is compatible with intelligent design, since the designer could have just set up the initial conditions and let it happen. No-one knows why there was a big bang after all.

Ah – so God wound it up and let it go, and then evolution took over. And which God was that exactly? And why does he need worshipping? And does he have any further role to play in our affairs? And if you accept humans evolved from an ape-like ancestor, then you agree there was no Adam and no Eve – and thus no original sin, and thus no need for a redeemer; and that, I suspect,is what really annoys the fundamentalists.

Up to 8 inches here in Durhamland and still blizzarding

My fave apostrophe was seen in Newcastle a few years ago….a bar which was advertising Pil’s at £1 a bottle.

Well, you would have a spare wheel but if you were forced to use it, what would you use to carry the trailer?

Good film! Enjoyed the Neil Armstrong tribute before it too. The next night we watched an Australian film called ‘The Dish’ that complemented them nicely.

I think the 2nd one is standing in as an accent over the letter e

The reason I say WT are tolerant of bikes is because I often see notices forbidding motorcycles and horses but not bikes. If you have used the paths freely for years you could threaten them with applying to the council for restricted byway status on all the trails. The prospect of a long legal tussle might be enough to change their minds about informal access.

Surprised at the WT doing this as they are usually relaxed (though not exactly encouraging) about bike access. Why not email them and ask what the problem is?

GT85
silicone grease
carbon assembly paste
copperslip
citrus degreaser
white spirit
Extreme dry lube
chain wax
Extreme wet lube

No carbon assembly paste but otherwise…did you burgle my garage?

She always looks nice – in a “same as yesterday” kinda way. I must see if I can spot when the Extreme Texturing Gum is in use.

This was hardly my parents’ fault…but my 9th birthday coincided with a flu epidemic. For a week before and after my birthday, the local bike shop was closed because both the old boys who ran it were ill. My new bike was inside. Every day I would peer through the window into the darkened shop, imagining I could see my new bike among the line-up of front wheels.
Meanwhile, on my actual birthday, all I got was a bar of Bournville chocolate.

There might be a spring clip holding it in place, surrounding the base of the cap. If so, lever it out with a small screwdriver

Someone wants to sweep up those leaves.

Whoever did the video must be in on the joke! Brilliant.

I think I have this reynauds thing as well as my hands and feet will go numb and in pain within minutes of being out on the road bike at this time of year. The Aldi gloves are complete cack in my experience. I’ll probably try out some thinner liner gloves under them or some thinsulates.

Tom, I am like you. I came to the conclusion lately that it has little to do with the quality or thickness of the gloves – otherwise they wouldn’t work for anybody. In other words, the heat isn’t being lost through the gloves. Your body is, for some reason, choosing to take the blood flow away from your extremities and sending it somewhere more important. I am planning to experiment this winter with wearing more on my upper body and legs to keep my core warm – and I find that once I get properly warmed up by riding the warmth returns to my fingers.

That last bend on the way to the summit of Ventoux is an absolute swine. Compare how Poli took it with how Armstrong and Pantani did it in 2000 and see the difference EPO makes!

Lucky escape for Arsenel if it did

Last orders, please!

I love visiting this forum! (I haven’t just found that out – just telling you!)

Is that a picture of an E-type sausage?

One degree lower, whatever it is.