Have a word with yourself!

My parents gave my wife and I a laptop for Christmas. My dads company was upgrading all of their laptops and he got a couple of the old ones. He knew my wife and I would make use of it, but we would not get round to buying a new one. We are over the moon with it, couldn’t care less that he got it for free, or that it is a few years old. It is better than what we had (nothing), it works and has got enough programs so it fills all of our needs!

My father looked at us, and saw that we would find a laptop really useful, he got hold of one, and gave it to us! That is what counts! Or do I need to get a receipt for all present to check worth? I prefer valuing presents based on thought rather than cost!

Hated shop bought mince pies so I made my own!

Sweet pastry base, home made mincemeat (made with rum not brandy) and a frangipani topping rather than more pastry, they are even if I say so myself, bloody lovely 🙂

They are based on a Richard Bertinet recipe. I made a second batch after the first disappeared, and stuck a rum soaked prune in the frangipane topping….mmmmm might need another one now 🙂

Great course and lovely conditions compared to round 1. I only managed 1lap, lesson learnt about doing my long run the day before a Gorrick event 🙂

I have done a couple of ironman races, they are enjoyable in their own way, you just get into a zone and keep going. I have a mate who I did my first ironman race with, he did the deca ironman (10 in 10 days) a couple of years ago……I can’t even begin to imagine how he did it! I couldn’t really walk the day after mine, the idea of going out and doing it all again is just a little unreal!

Suffice to say he is taking a bit of a break from triathlons at the moment.

I dont think they are allowed to, i think mothers and breastfeeding are a protected characteristic under the equalities act.

Personally i think anyone who finds a mother breastfeeding to be uncomfortable needs to get a grip and stop being an idiot.

We run a summer league and kne tuesday evening is road bike night. It makes no difference which bike i am in though i am still slow 🙂

I think the national exec should put in helmet and rear light rules, they might be forced to if insurance requires it. Personally i think the rear light is more important than the helmet on DC courses.

Sorry just re read your post!

They will be subject to local rules, which will be made clear when you enter.

Our typical road bike rules are:
No tribars
Wheels can be a maximum of 30mm deep rims

That’s about it! It would be too hard to enforce skinsuits etc, our racers would start applying gaffe tape to hold down any flapping jerseys anyway!

UCI have rules, CTT are weirdly accepting, partially based on it is almost impossible for the national executive to agree on anything, so most things get by eg Nick Bowdlers weird and wonderful TT rig from last year BBAR!

Skin suits are fine, deep sections are fine, there are a couple of track front wheels that go over the line due to the amount of shielding.

My local club …a3crg have a variety of local rules, like having to ride with a working rear light, which we enforce during our summer weekly evening 10’s but even this is tricky to enforce for open events.

Time trialling was a real underground activity (hence the codes for courses) and I think a little of that anti disestablishment spirit remains…..or no one knows how to get the rules changed 🙂

Four4th scorpion.

I have been stopped by drivers asking me what it is because they want one for their own bikes!

Three types of flashing, two brightness levels, rechargeable and has a really clever under saddle mount.

it was about £80 but worth every penny, and it is made locally to me, Farnborough!

i have no connection to four4th etc, i just think they make bloody good lights!

I should have done the 3hr, as my 2 laps took that long! I got cold, wet and stupidly muddy, i think i might well have been dead last in vet40 2hr! I had a blast, really enjoyed the challenge and cant wait for the next time. I just need to work on my fitness……and bike handling skills……and 🙂

It is alot more accessible than it was. There is a fairly decent tutorial experience now, and there are so e good corps you can join which will help you get to grips with things.

Couple of rules: never fly anything you cant afford to lose, always get the best insurance, keep your clone up to date and never ever trust anyone 🙂

No other game comes close the the level of anarchy mixed with pvp and insanity!

i started as a miner, got my certs and made decent isk in high sec……..then i got bored with eeking out 0.1% bonuses………….so i joined a certain corp well known for ganking/piracy and generally being d**** and had ablast. No longer have the ti e to commit to it anymore! He bif battles look epic, but due to one server they have to apply time dilation, it looks pretty but nothing happens that quickly!

2 hours vets for me, I have no idea if it is going to be competitive or not, I will be bimbling around at the back reminding myself that taking part is important, and that I make everyone else look better 🙂

My competitive aim is that in at least one of the rounds, I won’t be last male vet! I think it is good to have lofty ambitions!

I seem to remember watching a bit on QI about colour blindness (so these facts might be totally wrong), it seems that colour blindness does not bar you from any jobs, it’s just everyone thinks you can’t be an electrician or an airplane pilot. The only other bit I remember was that one of the numbers in the ‘dot’ books to test for colour blindness is a control that everyone should be able to read, something about making sure people weren’t faking the test.

I am going for my tuppence worth, as always the usual disclaimer about my own children etc etc 🙂

My wife is a lecturer in child psychology and development, and has some pretty strong views about what is and isn’t harmful to children! For our two children we have done controlled crying, when we do go in and settle (after the normal night time routine of reading etc) then we don’t make eye contact, turn on the light, or speak. We simply go in and put them back into bed. They still have nights when they do wake up multiple times, but that is the exception rather than the rule.

I do think that the dad does have a role to play in this, in looking out for the needs of the mother, she is more tired, stressed and biologically programmed to put the needs of her baby above all else, my role was to take on everything else, and at times put her needs above that of the baby so that both of them could have a better nights sleep!

Done, love riding the trails, I see them as a progression from Swinley with a different riding style required!

I have done a couple of ironman races, only got a few bits of advice

1) lots of intermediate goals/races, you will burn out if you go for 18months towards one race
2) your goal is to finish, anything else is a bonus! Really honestly and truly, 16hrs 59mins still counts
3) if it’s your first marathon consider a run/walk strategy. The marathon can be carnage and is all about how much you slow down compared to everyone else!

Have fun

My wife walked in and saw a couple of runs. Her concise analysis, ‘they are mad, they’re riding off a cliff! Don’t you even think about it’

I can say without doubt if you put me at the start gate I would be quivering wreck clinging to the most solid object I could find!

I think we had a chat local, it was me with the two small ones on bikes parked next to you.

As I said in the car park , he didn’t take a wrong turn, he decided the course wasn’t epic enough and added some extra epic ness 🙂

I was second to last in fun male, but I am counting that as a plus, as I was expecting to come dead last. 🙂 Even as several juniors came speeding past me, I just reminded myself that it was a lovely day, and being out on the bike beats the crap out of being at work 🙂

I will be back for crowthorne and will continue my cunning plan of making everyone else look a little bit better on the results sheet!

Just done my entry, doing the fun race, although with a 9am start on a Sunday I question ‘fun’ 🙂

If you see a portly chap on a whyte 529 looking very out of breath and being very slow that’ll be me 🙂

I think the 28days is from when they accept the offer….. I think….

It probably is, but the previous owner is no where to be found, and I don’t want debt collectors showing up. When the situation is explained they are fine.

Four4th? I have an exposure Diablo and a four4th head light, and of the two I prefer the four4th. Yes for the price I could probably buy 10 Chinese specials, but having been to the four4th factory and seen how well the lights are built, I decided to spend my money on quality.

Our house was a repossession job, we were lucky that the person buying our house was paying cash, so there was no chain to hold things up. It was 28days to complete but all of the mortgage etc people seemed to understand that it needed to be hasty and everything was sorted.

The only pain in the backside is that you will get debt collectors sending you letters about the previous owners debts. They are fine if you phone them and explain that you bought the house as a repossession and you don’t know where the previous owner is. As a result of phone calls we now open any mail to the previous owner. Even after being in the house 2 years there are still a few coming through! Btw credit raising is linked to you, not the property so there isn’t an issue with that.

So tempted to start a ‘what tyres….’ Thread 🙂

Four4th scorpion. I use it when road riding and doing time trials. It is rechargeable and very well built. I have had drivers stop and ask me for the make of the light, because they have never seen one so bright (this was in daylight). Quite expensive, but I am a little nervous of road riding so the brighter the better for me 🙂

Hi,

The reason the college is saying no to retakes is a change to the funding methodology, colleges now get no funding at all for students retaking a course. We used to have quite a few retake the year, but the govt has said we aren’t allowed to.

With regards to the btec, be aware certainly at level 3 extended, they are hard work and although there are currently not examined components (although the govt is trying to introduce some) with changes to assessment guidelines he needs to be getting merits/distinctions right from the start (only one resubmission of work after the deadline and a few other bits and pieces to tighten things up).

As for using a btec to get into uni, it is perfectly ok, we have lots of our lvl3 ext dip students going each year, just be aware that more traditional red brick uni’s (Russell group etc) don’t like btecs, but certainly new uni’s are fine, and for media/arts subjects btecs are actually preferred due to the vocational/coursework basis of the subject.

We have students who have done btec in forensic science off to do law, criminology, psychology etc all at good modern uni’s.

The best advice I can give is get an appointment ASAP with a careers adviser at one of your local colleges and talk through the options. There are lots of uni’s and even more courses, there will be something perfect, even if you don’t yet know about it.

When I was about 14 my mate got a copy of ‘live at the met’ and we watched it about 15 times, just blown away with his stand up ability! We had not come across anything like him before, and it opened our eyes about what comedy could be like, as a result we went hunting for other great comedians and it led us to Steve Martin, Bill Hicks, etc.

Just picked up a new four4th light today, I live local so I was able to pop in to their base and pick one up. They were incredibly helpful, talking me through the possible options and what I needed the light for. As for its brightness, it will easily melt retinas I reckon 🙂

I got one of their rear lights four4th scorpion for my road bike, and it is the only light I have ever had motorists stopping me and asking for the make so they could get one, it was that bright and well made!

They are not as cheap as the Chinese/ ebay specials, but when it comes to lights I decided to go for quality.

I race with …a3crg who organise time trials on the A3 (ham barn roundabout up to liphook) in all the years of racing on that stretch (club and open events) they have never had an accident. The only incident was a tester who rode into the back of a stationary car!

I was a little unsure when I got started, and to be fair they are careful about the timings of events, and there are lots of signs, but with two lanes, cars do give you room, and they can see you a long way back.

I think that crash may well end up on the video of the event. I was marshalling at the rooty section of stage four, and I was quite surprised there were only two big offs there, and even then the riders were up and away in seconds……….I was tempted to chuck some water on the roots to make it more ……’interesting’ 😈

I learnt lots watching the fast riders tackle that section!

Loose spoke?

I think it is 8 weeks in advance, I bought the season ticket, so all of them are well in advance. Only slight issue was a computer glitch meant they lost my entry, but it was sorted really quickly, I think a fair few season ticket holders had the same problem.

Loved that final descent as well, but the penultimate climb, the one straight after the road was a killer! I didn’t see anyone ride it.

I did the standard and that was plenty enough for my legs!

I wish 25:14 could come second in my local club 10. Last weeks winning time was a 19:44, and the slowest winner this season was 20:14.

Suffice to say I am somewhere much lower down the leader board!

I only took up testing this season and it is hugely addictive! Same course, no drafting, just you and your bike seeing how hard you can push yourself!

I can’t afford any of the flash kit, so I am waiting till the end of the season when all of the fast boys or triathletes sell off their nearly new kit and I will pick myself up some wheels and hopefully a frame.

I did the short route, it was my first ever sportive and wasn’t sure my very low levels of fitness would cope with anything else!

I had a great time, although when I got to the feed station I was glad I was taking the short route back 🙂 I managed to ride all of the climbs which is an achievement for me 🙂

Loved the feed station but I had to drag myself away so I didn’t put weight on over the course of the ride! The pistachio nuts were a favourite, but how you are supposed to have them whilst riding I wasn’t sure.

I have bought the season ticket and I can’t wait for the next one, there is no short option though next time so I have extra incentive to get t and ride a bit more 🙂

I have two children and there is no way I would send them away for weeks at a time! Sounds like neglect to me, even if you do pay massive fees for someone else to look after them!

I am also not convinced that private schools have the best teachers, they don’t have to hold QTS to work there, and given that generally means they don’t have a PGCE how have they learnt how to teach?

As an ex rower, coaches quotes used to be collected on the twickenham underground website, my fave, of the ones that wouldn’t cause the profanity to explode!

“Rowing is very simple. You put your blade in square, pull, take it out square, easy … anybody who says something different is a c**t and anybody who can’t do it is a c**t !”

My old coach, a 3* world champ included the following gems

‘Pain is just weakness leaving the body’
‘Now that set would have hurt if you weren’t so fit’ this was after the most brutal circuits I have ever done, 90mins and we were curled up in foetal positions at the end of it!

I think for a fit male training five days a week (based on 180lbs) you should aim for an intake of about. 80g per day!

You can take more in but I think your body just gets rid of excess, a nice conversion into urea, so you can pee out that nice expensive protein!

The best dr who moment for me was watching pink Floyd at earls court. I think it is during run like hell but there was a section that was the dr who theme, and there was also a blinding laser show………….I think I may have been under the influence at this point however!

As hunter s Thompson would have described it, a heroic amount of substances were consumed in that concert!

When I split up with my long term girlfriend, which also involved moving out of our shared house I was a mess. All of the advice already given seems good, I planned a holiday for myself, and each week I bought something small that I would take with me.

When I got bad and my imagination ran wild, I would repeat to myself the names of all those people who I know loved and cared about me. It sounds really cheesy, but it seemed to help calm me down and realise that just because one person didn’t love me, other people who were really important to me still did.

I didn’t meet anyone serious for about two years after we split up, but looking back, I am glad the way that time forced me to actually start enjoying things for myself, and not always thinking about the other person.

Feel free to ignore