oh i realise there’s always never ending rumours about Apple. And there is always a new better phone on the horizon. The SE prices are static (my daughter bought one from JL at the same price as quoted above last july). That implies to me any new release isn’t imminent.

To me a phone is a phone .I’ve got an iPhone 5s from work, and some vodafone thing. I use the vodafone one – the iphone sits in my work bag gradually decharging until i remember.

haven’t asked the family yet. Seeing the parents on Sunday, so was going to wait until I heard what the doctor said before springing the joyful news on them.

As to vikings – hah! No. But who knows 20 generations back; one brother is ginger after all.

my wife is waiting for this

Coming next month. Apparently

okay –  potentially serious may be a little bit of hyperbole.

However, having seen photos on t’interweb, if (and a bit if) it gets bad, it could interfere with quite a lot of life.

It does ache after splitting wood, or gripping bike handlebars for a long time. And it is getting worse; the nodule/dent is more pronounced, and you can see and feel the track of the tendons

I have private health with no excess, so I will push for some sort of treatment. If I’m going to be incapacitated anyway when they re break the dodgy finger, I might as well have it done at the same time.

have a word with justin burls

his made to measure frames are £1125. You could get the rest for £900. Be better than a PX or VN

and then obv it’ll be more comfortable, as it’s designed for you

<span style=”color: #444444; font-size: 12px;”>That’ll be why you’ve only applied for it four times </span>

Oh I’m not saying I wouldn’t do it, or apply again. Just to say I have done it. But if i don’t get in, it’s not the end of the world.

i’ve been rejected four out of four

seen it finish a couple of times though, and in a way (no sour grapes, honest) I’m glad I’ve not got in.

Riding with 25k other people just doesn’t tweak the nipples. But it does mean the roads near me are nice and quiet for a weekend…

go to adventure dolphin in pangbourne. Have a canoe day.

or for my daughter’s 10 and 11th we hired boats and cruised up and down the thames for a couple of hours. A gaggle of girls together loved it. The best and cheapest was through the Beetle and Wedge. Her birthday is in the summer though.

I’m assuming she’s done trampolining. Having tried them all in the vicinity (out to swindon…) the best is in Wycombe

Coral Reef in Bracknell has just reopened (and directly opposite swinley of course)

The indoor ski centre in Reading has gone bust unfortunately.

Although there’s a certain element that come 11 etc, all they want to do is go into Newbury/Reading and hang out together. Feasible if you trail them at a distance! You do look a bit sad though.

the elemnt is ace. Been using mine on night cycles recently; back light on all the time, and after three hours it’s down to about 79% battery.

no complaints at all.

the wahoo elemnt mini uses the wahoo app on your phone, and you can pair a HRM to that. It then displays all the data on the mini. No navigation though.

But it is mini. Hence the name.

And it’s £55 from wiggle.

personally think the elemnt is better. Less flaky. Been excellent for the year and a bit i’ve had it..

on the basis of recommending what you’ve got, a decent Ti frame with mechanical Ultegra.

like this http://www.enigmabikes.com/bikes/echelon/

i’ve been using buckingham nurseries for years. Massive choice, good prices, and trees do well. Got a few pear, apple and plum varieties. And hornbeam and hawthorn hedging.

I climbed Bowfell with the wife and kids.

It was ace. People I wanted to be with, and no pressure.

If you want to have a party, have a party. But don’t feel you have to.

i think this one is my favourite

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/derelict-bike-christchurch/132466100993

as it says, fancy a challenge?

i bought one of these last month, and it’s been excellent so far. Had a 3 hour cycle on friday night, on country lanes with no street lamps, and still had 1.5 hours showing on the LED.

here’s a review  

Careful with what, your aim?

Couldn’t possibly comment. :lol:

i wear fake five finger shoes from ebay. Like these original ones. And if it’s cold, I’ve got some five finger socks as well. Really warm, and mean I’ve obviously not become old to wear slippers. The mid life crisis is doing well however.

I used to have the north face ones. They will smell if you’re not careful…

i always like same same[/url] as a little cafe stop. Lovely place, and great food

marvellous

my 13 year old daughter has one – from nationwide. Had a 2 hour chat with them about the responsibilities of it, and an app on the phone

Most of the money resides in the savings side, with only an amount in the chequing (checking? Americanisms!) side. Helps if it gets nicked.

You can control how much goes into the spendy side, but trust is the key really….

RideWithGPS, set to “optimize for cycling”.

Then copy it into Suunto or Wahoo.

we have one of the tootega Pulse 120s[/url] (and a couple of the one mans)

got no issues – does the job on the thames in summer. Light enough; I can lift and manoeuvre it myself.

Can get two small ones, and the large one on the top of a passat. Albeit we don’t go that far!

i’ve just sold all my separates, and floor speakers and got a pair of yoyo m. Very good, decent stereo sound, completely wireless (batteries in them). Love them actually.

Also got a few smaller BT speakers, and google homes, and the difference in sound is very noticeable.

we’ve done this[/url] in Brittany – very nice. Lovely area, but kinda weather dependant. Stay in a cabine, and book direct. Much better. Walk past a Cidre farm on the way to the beach. Used to go to Port Manec’h when I was a infant.

Also of course, there’s the Il de Re – lovely, but further and more pricey. Here‘s good, and you get to stay in lovely little BnBs en route. Like here[/url], or here[/url] with its gypsy van and moules night

Surely the best thing would be poole/portsmount to cherbourg, rather than calais.

So these Safety razors… I have childhood memories of my Dad wandering around with bits of tissue stuck all over his face – is this outcome still likely?

you can get razors that cut closer, or leave a bit.

As I have sensitive skin (the main reason for going this route in the first place), I use a extremely mild one that leaves a small amount of stubble. And only shave twice a week. Some blades seem to be better than others – trial and error unfortunately; the most lauded Japanese ones aren’t as good for me as some dodgy Egyptian ones.

This is what I’m using. You can get similar things over here, but I started off with one of these. Both very good.

I am generally the most cack handed person alive (can’t do anything without bleeding), but I’ve not cut myself on either since the first attempt. But I can now go out after shaving without being embarrassed by a face that looks like the inside of a watermelon.

Only downside I can see is you can take the blades in plane hand luggage.

They’re just not as good as a mach 3.

in what sense? They cut the hair at skin level. They may not cut below skin level (due to a lack of pulling a hair half out), but then they don’t cause ingrowing hairs either.

However, each to their own. Personally I’m all for bits of metal being recycled rather than four quid little bits of plastic (and metal) being chucked away

just buy a double edged safety razor, and blades. Ten blades for £1.50? Get a decent actual razor do £25. Better shave, better for the environment, and a lot cheaper. What’s not to love.

NLS is a great website – comparing places like Happisburgh and seeing how much land has fallen into the sea over the last 70 years is amazing

it’s got a footpath through it, so pop along…

here

done

just got the boy one of these for xmas.

gets good reviews, and a proper 20mp sensor

we live in a road parallel to one of the top 100 climbs.

It’s not gritted. North facing. We live at the top. It’s 500m of about 7%. Primary school at the bottom.

You learn to clear and grit the road yourself as quickly as possible, otherwise it doesn’t get done, and you don’t get out for weeks.

At one point there was a whole 5 of us working on it. The other c70 adults down the road decided to stay in the warm. Bless them.

As a result though, the road was fine. Just a bit chaotic when you go elsewhere.

back in the day (good 20 years), i used to work in natwest for cheque clearing.

We never checked anything under £5k. Probably even more now

i’ll just recommend this[/url] again, with my default of this lock. Got three – all very good. Now £18.99.

First comment (not mine, obviously) on the site is

I am the author of probably the best guide on cycle locks and security available on the internet (http://www.lfgss.com/conversations/144109/), and this is one of the recommended locks. Almost all locks of 16mm thickness, or thicker, CANNOT be cut by hand operated bolt-cutters. Therefore this is an excellent lock, especially for the price. The more famous locks that are 4 or 5 times the price, may have better weather proofing. To increase weather proofing on this model, simply use Lithium Grease regularly, and the lock should last a long time. From time to time, when it needs to be cleaned, use WD40 (dry spray), then use the lithium grease afterwards for lubrication

similar i guess to the Spot Tracker, and does use the phone (although only needs 2G), Vodafone have just brought out this. It also does update every 5 seconds.

they may of course resent being pets…

i have the wiggle ‘exclusive’ ambit3 vertical.

it’s very good, logs well (running, kayaking etc). Followed the route on it in dense mist off Great Gable. Pretty good, but big!

The app on iphones was good, the one on android was less good until a recent release. Uploads pretty quickly to Strava etc. i use my wahoo hr belt with it, rather than the suunto one (just because i prefer the strap…). Black and white, and no touch screen, but not a problem; i’d prefer something that worked over flaky bells and whistles (hence the wahoo!). But buy a sapphire glass for it off Amazon. It is so big it catches on everything.

Don’t pay full price; i paid £200 i think. Even cheaper now, but no HR monitor.

same as this [/url]surely

which i do have, and it’s good enough

get a wahoo elemnt. big screen, e-ink, so can be read in bright sunlight, and easy to restrict the screen to just the metrics you want. My dad has just two (speed and distance) and even he can read it without reading glasses

been going on pistonheads for a while…