Been worried about mine during lockdown,started really feeling/hearing my heart pounding to the point it was keeping me awake at night.
Bought a home monitor and the average over a few weeks was 120/80 which is pretty standard for a 52-year old stress-monster,not noticing my heart pounding as much now that I`m back to work and exhausted again, so sleeping better too.

Since Yesterday-Strawberry Switchblade,such a sweet and simple track

After reading this yesterday decided to list my 2016 bike on Pinkbike yesterday evening,sold it today to a guy that travelled a fair way to collect it,had people offering more than it was listed for too,crazy.

Love that era Lambos,the Miura was an awesomely styled car too

Reminds me of how my taste changed over the years regarding women generally,and Bananarama specifically.
Teenage years were all about Keren,the dark one,then changed over to Siobhan during my late twenties,and nowadays it`s all about Sarah,which I really never would have predicted.
Whereas with Steps I stayed true to Clare since day one (apart from her obese years,during which I was spitefully indifferent)

Desperately trying to avoid the clichés,but do you have anywhere that you could live for a while to provide temporary respite,and to maybe give you both context regarding you current situation ?
The immediate time after a split is the nightmare of reality,I made my marriage last until my Son was old enough not to care whether we were together anymore by moving out on the occasions where it was getting too much for all of us,and it gave me some much-needed headspace and escapism that I to pull us both back from the brink of divorce-You`d also be replicating the aftermath,and if it made you happier then theres your answer.
Don’t they say that a large percentage of being a good parent is just being there ?

Insert token misogynist comment here….
Soon to be known as Fatland once they hit 40

Guaranteed to be an incident involving Travellers,with that many people and with participants that young

Had this last year whist trying to buy a 3k Santa Cruz on there-Complete radio silence to my initial enquiry for about a month so carried on looking elsewhere,eventually found a similar bike so ended up buying that one instead,got home from purchasing it only to find a response from original guy replying to my month-old message asking if I was still interested in his bike…..

Thanks for the responses and perspectives everybody,fascinating isnt it.
Ive always been tempted to completely abandon any form of exercise and eat nothing but junk food for a while,but I just know Id end up looking like some skinny-fat abomination like Rhys Ifans in the famous doorstep scene in Notting Hill,or even worse still Wilfred Bramble as old man Steptoe.

Yeah I do realise that its a double-edged sword,for instance its always meant that getting really fit again is never more than a week or two away,and every girlfriend/wife ive ever had would have killed for a sleek physique like mine. Little things like being able to wear shorts socially without people tossing money at me due to my polio-like legs,and men many years older than me calling me Son due to my physique I could manage without though.
Although tbf I wouldn’t swap any of my height for weight,so maybe I should just accept the burden of being able to eat and drink what the hell I like,like the god-like athlete that I obviously am….. 🙂

Retinal migraine due to dehydration ?

Havent ridden my hardtail or Enduro since buying my Hightower and changing it to 150 up front,probably sell the other 2 now as the SC pretty much covers everything

As above really-Lots of mentalists and easy sex,never take any of it very seriously, and expect to be surprised at how many crazy people are living among us so choose wisely.Prepare your self esteem for a crazy roller coaster ride,and view it as a fun thing rather than pinning hopes on meeting ‘the one’,although she will be on there somewhere.Just celebrating one year with a fab lady that I met on POF after a few months of dating crazies.            *One thing I did learn was that If you get invited to their homes then theyre definitely up for it…

Poly-Not if they’ve been proved to work,as in the example explained the rest of my post.            Anything that helps build confidence  and self-esteem will make a difference

Being bullied means that its his self confidence thats ultimately being undermined and attacked,so realistically thats what you need to find a way to re-build for him.                              My own Son was a small for his age blond haired  only-child  with a lovely caring nature and also a type one diabetic requiring regular injections,so in theory should have been a prime targer to be bullied but thankfully wasn’t ,mainly because we taught him from an early age that people can be cruel and its only bullying if he let it offend him .                                                    Find a way to bolster his confidence and change his perspective of whats currently happening to him ,whether its smartening up his appearance,buying him the latest trainers etc,definitely force him to join a martial art gym (you may have to drag him there but believe me it`ll change his personality for the better-A colleague did it by agreeing with his bullied Son to try it for just two weeks, and he could stop after that time if he still hated it-he absolutely detested the first week,the end of the fortnight passed without him ever asking to stop and he still trains there now,5 years on) and as daft as it sounds,watch lots of comedy with him-Teaching him that laughter,however dark,is a wonderful way of deflecting spitefulness could be just the thing to alter his perspective of his current mindset.

Many thanks campalumpa

Many thanks for the suggestions guys,all very much appreciated and please keep them coming.

Anybody camped on Shell Island, or is that the complete antithesis of quiet and cosy ?

Many thanks-Will add it to the list

Randomly took a mid-week day off with my wife,decided to visit my paternal Grandmother for the first time in about a year as it was long overdue.Arrive and are greeted by my Sister and her children which was odd enough, who have also randomly decided to visit same elderly Grandmother on the same day.Sat discussing the odds of this happening when the doorbell rings and it`s our Brother,random day same Grandmother visit etc etc.

Catching up on family gossip with TV on in the background,conversation eventually lulls and we all decide to leave,as we`re all putting coats on local news comes on to announce that a Family from Bristol have been killed in a Helicopter crash in Romania,six people from the same family confirmed as dead.

It was my Uncle on my Dads side,Auntie,Cousin,Cousins boyfriend,and two members of extended family unknown to me.

CRC were discounting the OE pads at a tenner a pop,just checked and theyre back to £20 again now

Just as well I bought a discounted set with every order then !

I work in the trade,for a large Car Supermarket,and youre far more likely to be upsold than discounted nowadays.
Our salesman earn just £40 per car sold,but mainly earn and are targeted on the extras that they are able to sell,so its all about paint protection,additional warranties,upholstery protection etc.
We never haggle or deviate from the screen price,so its screen price and whatever the salesman is able to sell you for his commission.
We realistically expect to sell @ 700 vehicles in January alone,after 7 record months in succession,so business is definitely booming.
Its almost a sellers market !

Regarding heating engineers,we had a local Gas safe engineer recommended to us to carry out the annual check on a rental property.
It amounted to £85 cash for what was literally 5 mins in the house,but we still used to have to chase him for a good 5 or 6 weeks before he eventually turned up and did the job.

Anybody tried the Endura Helium 3/4`s ?
http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/endura-helium-3-4-2017/rp-prod107378

Follow your instinct and become a firefighter !
Great salary and so much free-time that you wouldn’t believe.
Ladies love it too

Personally its people hanging around at the start of trails,with the sole intention of giving you headstart then (trying to) catch you up.
On one occasion the guy was in the queue behind me at the bikewash,and explained how he would have caught me if it wasn’t for him dropping a chain,and another time heard riders discuss how long to give me before they “chase me down”

+1 for another redundancy after 18 years at the same company,due to consolidation of company premises.
Thankfully it was all amicable and the pay-out pretty decent,took a few months off and really enjoyed myself and then walked straight into a full-time job that was better-paid than my previous one,despite being totally unrelated to my experience !
Not intending to sound conceited,but it just shows that there is life after redundancy,as long as you view it as an opportunity rather than an affliction.

Watched “Dead mans shoes” last night,what a load of rubbish that was !
It”s revered as a cult film in many circles,it just reminded so much of Phoenix Nights that I half-expected Brian Potter to make a cameo appearance in his wheelchair at some point.

Anybody tried the POC DH shorts at all ?
Thinking of buying a pair,but at £100 it seems a lot on cash for a pair of shorts.
http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/poc-resistance-dh-shorts-2017/rp-prod153711

Feel the same as OP,currently trying to justify purchasing another bike to try to kickstart the feeling again.Ridden constantly for the last 6 years and am getting bored with riding the same trails,I”m in Bristol but have ridden all of the local and S Wales trails to the point of boredom,but don”t really have the inclination to spread my wings any further at the moment.

There is also a 3/4 length version of the MT500 shorts available,for even more protection from the elements

Probably not much help,but I have a pair of new and unworn AM45″s in size 44 that I’m never going to wear if that”s any use ?

Do you mean on the washer/collett thing ?

Ordered from CRC Wednesday late evening with free delivery,received order today,Saturday.

Bristol is fast becoming Little West London unfortunately.
A couple of friends have sold houses here in the last few weeks and have been subject to bidding wars,we”re almost back in gazumping territory.
And don”t even get me started on the traffic …..

I feel your pain-A close friend died about a decade ago from a brain haemorrhage ,and at the wake I was jumping around on the bouncy-castle with his daughters,aged 3 and 5,very surreal.
If it”s any consolation they`re both lovely and well-adjusted teenagers now,although we all still miss their Dad to this day.

Managed two laps of Twrch yesterday,and it was great to have it all rideable again.
Aching today mind !

Within the last 5 years-Got divorced,lost my Father to suicide,met the woman of my dreams,got divorced again,lost good mate to drug overdose,currently recovering from removal of 4th case of skin cancer(only basal cell carcinoma,but still …)and have just taken redundancy at the age of 49 years old with no real marketable skills.Currently struggling massively with motivation,or it could just be self-pity.I have good family and friends but spend a lot of my time avoiding them lately,genuinely feeling that life could go either way at the moment.
Just an average story though going by this thread so far !

My local Specialized shop price-matched Chain Reaction`s price for my rear cassette this week.I did have a fair bit of additional work done at the same time but it was still a nice touch

I have an 2016 Enduro in 650b form,the first Spesh that I”ve owned and its not proving to be very durable.It`s in the Shop now having all suspension bearings renewed,rear wheel bearings too,rear cassette and front chainring,headset bearings and the dropper leaks air too.
Are they known for this or have I just been unlucky ?