I remember reading this article almost a decade ago and being pretty horrified and then thinking that rugby’s time was up in its current form. It’s a good piece.

The NFL star and the brain injuries that destroyed him

So the NFL have paid a billion dollars to compensate the players affected. Has the RFU or World Rugby got that amount? Surely they would have seen the potential problem a decade ago and made provision.

I used to love watching rugby, but, to be totally honest, seeing Sexton or George North getting concussed for the 10th time or whatever is pretty sickening. I don’t have any answers in how you change a full contact game to make it safe. But in a care home with dementia at 50? My god.

There was a BBC program about this a few years back where they interviewed Bill Beaumont about the problem and to say he was evasive and disingenuous is an understatement.

Ah – no, really sorry to hear that.
Fellow BS9 resident, what part are you in?

I can’t help but feel we’re in the dirtiest era of cycling since the late ’00’s. There’s something going on in the peloton and it’s not good. I mean, Van Aert’s performances are totally ridiculous.
The look he gave Dumoulin as they watched Pogacar cross the line was hilarious. It seems to say ‘We know what we’re doing, but what the hell is he doing?’.
If Porte and Pogacar hadn’t spoiled the party, it would have been a Jumbo 1-2-3. On a mountain time trial.
It’ll get worse before it gets better.

Sorry – yes it is a ridge beam (not ridged) – I am pretty ignorant in these things.
And the private BC company have sent the calcs off somewhere else. I guess they will be fine.

I think the bit i’m struggling with is that we were led to believe that the structural calculations would be done by a struc engineer but the loft co have just outsourced to an architect with structural experience. Is that a common thing to happen?

Many thanks for the replies.

Yes, the loft company are using a private inspection company (apologies, should have mentioned that) who are checking the calculations the architect has provided. They do seem quite prompt to be fair. We did have to chase quite hard to get this guy to provide them and he wasn’t terribly happy about it.

Thanks @Jim25 – that is interesting that you send yours off to a structural engineer.
It seems what has happened here is the company has just missed a step by using this architect for the calcs and beam design etc (perhaps to save money, but maybe because they’ve done 100’s successfully already).

I just want it done properly. Weirdly, the architect (in his slightly ranty phonecall) offered to send his fee back to the loft company so we could get a structural engineer to do it. And told us that we weren’t his client, the loft company was (which i guess is correct).It was very odd. I’m sure he must have had PI before as he’s older and has done a lot.
Nothing fitted yet, scaffold not even up.
The beam was specified as a ridged beam (by our architect) but the one he specified was not.
I mean, f*ck it, its only a roof, right? 🙂
Thanks for replies. I guess we should get an engineer.

Maybe not, but my problem is that MrsJ is a non-British EU citizen who does not have “settled status”, so the question is – where in the world can we live together?

The EU country of her birth, perhaps?
Too simplistic?

Just for balance, I have Dura Ace 9100 on my steel ‘best’ bike but have had DI2 previously. I just prefer mechanical, but that’s just me – I’m not saying DI2’s not great; it shifts the gears really well.

Where it does fall down is on the (at least 10+) occasions over the last five years where a) a clubmate or riding buddy has not been able to ride that morning because they’ve not charged DI2 or it’s screwed itself mid-ride so is only in the smallest sprocket, B) Done that silly thing after a big pothole strike where it goes into a safety mode or C) sensationally overheated in Mallorca after being left outside a cafe in the sun where the battery swelled; the remedy being a wet towel draped over it and, again, no shifting.

Not saying it’s not the bees knees in shifting terms but hmm…..the added complexity isn’t for me.

My friend has a beagle. It once was unattended in the kitchen for 20 minutes and ate an entire BBQ meat selection meant for 10 people that had been left on the worktop. This included 30 frozen sausages.

The dog was found at the foot of the stairs shaped like a barrel, freezing cold from the frozen sausages and, amazingly, a greenish colour.
She was whisked to the vet who reported, appalled, to the owners that on the way to the xray room, the beagle had leapt out of the nurses arms to sniff around a bin that was ajar on the floor.

To detail its other escape attempts and household destruction would take too long.

I’m also going through this – t boned on a roundabout by a taxi who didn’t fancy braking in early December Drove through my back wheel with my clubmate about two feet behind.

I’m not a member of BC(anymore) but am using Leigh day only because I was ignored by his insurers totally until I appointed them. The police were called to the scene and was taken to hospital etc. Nothing broken but messed up knee, shoulder and thumb.

The best advice I read on here was to claim on my own house insurance for the bike and get the insurance company to chase the other insurance. That way, you can replace kit, bike pretty quickly.

The injury claim is going to take months. The worst part for me has been the trauma post accident and my blimmin’ knee which is still swollen. Getting physio and some counselling though.

Not just the UK….though agree it is much worse these days.
San Francisco has a truly shocking homeless problem. I visited a friend who has lived there for 50 years and had not been there for a decade and I couldn’t quite believe what I was seeing. There are whole residential streets that are filled with tents and homeless in areas that are pretty gentrified. Property prices, gentrification, wealth gap to blame apparently. My pal said it had just gotten ridiculous in the last 5 years. Probably the same in other major us cities.

There’s a good chunk of this weeks ‘CyclingTips’ podcast devoted to this very subject.
They interview a tech guy from SwissStop.

The answer seems to be things that have been suggested here (bedding in, heating up on descent) or a ridiculously meticulous cleaning regime post ride that no sane road biker would ever undertake.

They think road contaminants are to blame and that this happens less to MB’s as they are not on the road as much – as mentioned above.

As usual, they eventually sheepishly admit that disc brakes on road bikes, while giving great performance to many, come with some really really annoying traits that rim brakes just didn’t have.
The bit about Pro Cycling team using a machine to bed in discs before a race is particularly wonderful.
Progress eh?

Sorry to hear this.
It’s not ideal, but have you considered using your house insurance to claim?
I was hit on a roundabout by a taxi who just drove through my back wheel from the side as he didn’t want to stop for the junction; I took some advice from TIred on this forum and decided to claim on my own insurance and let them chase it back from the insured driver. My bike was written off and I mangled my knee and shoulder. Amazingly, the police are charging the guy with driving without Due care. I’ve also got a personal injury claim going on.

It’s not ideal as my premium has gone up and dealing with BeValued (on behalf of Aviva) has been a nightmare as they have required three valuations of my custom road bike…..still no payout a month on. But It’s better that having to wait for the legal stuff I think.
Just a thought.

Eynsford, Kent. Nr Sevenoaks.

My good friend has an Evoque of 4+ years and quite likes it but it has had numerous trips to the garage and a whole new auto gearbox.

I have a Nissan Xtrail petrol as a family car and it is very good. I bought ex demo outright as I plan to keep it for 10 years hopefully.

However, the Bristol Nissan Dealership is hilariously bad. It needed a rubber grommet replaced in the steering as a bit squeaky. First time they greased it, second time replaced. Both times they returned the car to me with steering wheel at a 30 degree angle off centre. The first time they suggested my wife had damaged it. To do it once was a mistake but to do it a second time was pure incompetence.

It’s getting a service tomorrow but I’m driving it to a totally different dealership 50 miles away; a hassle but I wouldn’t let those clowns touch it again.

This is the first year I’ve had a ‘winter’ bike. For years I just used my only bike, which was carbon, as I figured, hey, it’s made of plastic. But now I have a nice steel summer bike and I’m a bit precious about it.

I bought a £50 Raleigh hybrid with 501 tubing and traditional geometry from ebay. Great clearances for big tyres. Kept the 7sp shimano gears, added drop bars, 38mm Vittorio Hypers and mudguards, bar end shifters and and brooks saddle and I love it! It rides really well. Dynamo front wheel from decathlon has just arrived and B+M lights are on order from germany. It’s cost like £100 in total (with spares hanging round) and does weigh a fair bit. I ride it a lot and I figure the weight is helping my training for spring…..

I’m even considering taking it on the fast club ride and see how long I can last before getting dropped. Just an alternative to spending a wedge, though I get that OP might want a new bike!

I’ve been using Vittoria Hypers from PlanetX for a while, super fast come in 38mm and pretty puncture resistant. And cheap!

This guy knows what he’s taking about! I second this. Have these on a couple of bikes and they are surprisingly awesome. 38mm and weirdly fast.

Whoever leaked his AAF needs to be shot. Outrageous breach of confidence.

My theory is that Brailsford et al know exactly who leaked the data, hence the rather, ahem, robust press interview and comments about Lapartient.

And, yeah, the slappy spectators and boo boys are just cowards – nothing more. No way would they stand in front of a rider and do it directly to his face.

I heard (on the Cyclingtips podcast) that a spectator grabbed Thomas’ arm near the end as he was riding. I’m not sure if that’s accurate.

If I was French and a cycling fan or not, I would be utterly ashamed at how the spectators are behaving in this tour, in my country. If it was the UK and stages were happening here and our fans were hitting riders and throwing urine….I mean, it would be mortifying.

You can’t control them, and they are certainly not all French, but you can punish and discourage them. That doesn’t seem to be happening.

Still, the best way to show them is two fingers up on the podium.

What about children’s ebikes?

Legal minimum age to ride them is 14, so no point manufacturers making them.

Damn shame. They already have far too much homework etc, why should the poor things be made to pedal around or up hills as well?

What about children’s ebikes?

Surely an untapped market for canny cycling industry?

I can see it now. The kids whizzing about the park on their Islabikes Benin 20 ‘Electro’. Talk about ‘grin factor: huge’, eh?

170mm!

I think the point of the seat position section in the podcast was that they expected the pros to have the saddle far back for the long and low position. I’d totally forgotten about the UCI rule. It sort of echoed the point Steve Hogg makes that sometimes the pros have less idea about positioning than we might expect.

Interesting piece on the TechNerd bit of the Cycingtips podcast about bike fit from a few teams this year. Their observations where that the saddle was slammed forward and had longer stems (150mm / 160mm) from Trek and QStep to get, they guessed, a more TT setup. Judging from that picture above, it looks to be the case. I did think that some of the aero  bikes / positioning this year seem more extreme and excruciating. Progress I guess 🙂

RE: Pizza cutters. Demare might have had an issue yesterday with his front wheel change had he been on them…….

It’s certainly not for everyone. It might not really be for anyone – not even those who enjoyed the first two seasons.

It’s a piece of televisual auterism that will probably not be repeated. It was worth watching for episode 8 alone. That was fabulous.

As another poster said, it exists in the Fire Walk with Me universe so if you enjoyed that (which I’m not sure is the right word) then stick with it.

Oh – and I think it only works on a weekly broadcast format so you can think about it. Binging doesn’t work.

I fully understand that disc brakes perform better in wet conditions. That’s great. That’s progress.

I’m all for that. Yet I just built up a new steel frame that I plan to use for club rides, chain gangs and some very limited (!) racing with Dura Ace 9100 mechanical with callipers.

I just don’t care about the extra braking performance of discs – braking has never been an issue. More of an issue was a lack of training in my legs.

I also don’t believe that (now) the pro peleton will ever fully adopt discs. The penalties for wheel changes and f-ups on changes are too high. The manufacturers don’t care if the pros adopt them now – we’re in the 3rd year of them trying to get them to change and they have, what, one team sometimes using them? They don’t care about this anymore – as someone pointed out, most Freds are buying discs anyway.

What is more odd is the vehemence of those who run discs insisting that all road bikers must NOT run callipers, with a strangely religious zeal. As though they need to justify what they invested in.

For what it’s worth, in the saturday morning chain gang, we have one disc braked rider out of 8. We don’t give him a hard time. We love all equally 🙂 Even if they do squeal like a piggy.

Interesting link, DirtyRider – not as much off road as I thought. Perhaps 28’s then. Was going to go bigger…..

That Kona Rove looks like it might be just the ticket. I haven’t really thought about luggage. I’m ashamed to say that this will be my first audax and I haven’t slept outdoors since ’92. Actually, not true, I fell asleep in a field at a rave some years later.
We have some training overnight rides in the spring which I hope will give me bit of guidance.

Excellent stuff, guys – thank you.
I will look at all of those.

I’m 5’11 and have a medium Giant TCR so 54ish frames. Good point on the kit….the guys I’m doing it with have stuff but, yeah, I’m going to have to budget for lights + equipment as well. The budget is creeping already 🙂

I think they also harvest your data. Have you checked the TCs?

Oh, I’m sure they do, old chap.

The market for the home speaker is not to provide you with a service it’s to sell their products through

Mike’s got it, right there.

Google and Amazon are data collection businesses (as well as others obv). Products like Echo and Home are just conduits to either use you as the product then sell the data, or sell you more stuff. And this is fine, everyone knows this.

Apple seems to me more ‘hardware-y’ to me if that makes sense.

Where is this magical treasure trove located, if you don’t mind me asking?

Street Legal.

What was the christian rock one, again?

yes, they don’t pull them out in reality, they lift them out. Like an old dead tree stump out of the ground, with special lifters.

And sometimes they chisel them. No, really.

What can’t I get in to stranger things? 1.5 episodes in and had enough.

Because it’s a huge nostalgia circle jerk, combining elements familiar to anyone born before 1983; with some seriously wooden acting (Yes, you, Winona) and one of the thinnest plot lines in contemporary drama.

Now, what follows is a half-remembered, possibly made-up in my head, half-guess on my part, but:

With most cars unless there’s an over-riding need to put it on the left, will put it on the right side. They fit the filler cap and tank that side because, when full, it’s heavy 40Kgs or so for 60Ltrs of fuel. The only other asymmetric bits of the car are the steering column and driver so it helps it balance the car. Remembering of course that most cars would have been designed from the outset to be LHD.

Japanese cars and older Brit cars being the exception because they would have been designed from the outset to be RHD.

How true that is I’m not sure, but looking out in the Car Park there is a Seat, a VW, A Volvo and a Renault all caps on the right, and a Toyota, cap on the left.

Now this, this is why I come here.

He’s right about not reading the news, though.
🙂

I might consider ordering a valve cap, but only if I could specify an M4 convertible attached to it as an extra.

Then I’d cancel it.

Oh I don’t know, old chap, I’d still buy a car through Ling after all this. It’s Geordie Mick in ‘sales’ I probably wouldn’t buy anything from; with his ethical ‘problems’.

Is he even a Geordie? Is he even called Mick? 🙂

Wow. That’s a breathtaking level of…..something….right there.

Has anyone thought of asking Ling her opinion of the diesel vs petrol thread? Like what sales have been doing? I’m sure it’d be enlightening.

For what it’s worth, what I’ve taken from this thread is that I like the cut of Ling’s jib.

When you guys say ‘condensation issues’…..do you mean like wet windows in the morning? Or wet walls?

He is very amusing when interviewed though.

If you think that’s bad – try one of Judith Kerr’s other ones: ‘Mog in the Dark’

It’s a stream of consciousness polemic from a cat having an out of body experience.

It suggests that the author was on a therapeutic dose of LSD. Maybe other stuff too.