You've just re-awoken my Fiat nightmares of last year with our daugherts' diesel Punto. After many months of fixing almost weekly for various sensors and others bits failing it thankfully blew up and was scrapped. 😆

I just shifted 800L by hand from a neighbour who is selling her tank and needed to empty it. Took a few hours, but her son looked after most of the unloading, which we did by cuttting the fuel pipe and feeding into a relay of 25L drums. I've now got a tank full of cheap oil ready for winter 😀

Hehe. Just done some Alpine cols on a double – I'm going with a triple next time 😉

you'd better get some pedals sorted out too if you don't want lots of sniggering 😆

Blame St Swithin – that's when it started here.
Anyway, the good news is that the wind is back so the windsurf gear's coming out tomorrow 😀

Spesh Allez which is feeling a bit smug after visiting a few cols in the Alps last week and a Marin Mount Vision which is feeling beefy after going up and down some other big lumps the hard way.
Owner is shagged.

We've had 4 Galaxies and now an SMax as our seating requirement has shrunk. All diesel/auto/cruisecontrol armchair-on-wheels drives. SMax works a treat and carries loads of gear, almost as much as the old Galaxy used to do. For example, it's packed tonight for a trip to the Alps, there are two dark side bikes plus all the bags in the space normally taken by the rear two seats, two mtbs on a carrier on the back, and there's three free seats in the middle that we'll offer to some of the other family travelling with us. When needed it fits seven ok, as long as it's kids in the back row, but no real luggage space then. And it also works as a windsurf van for me with space for one/two passengers.

Woohoo, we'll be there a week tomorrow, with bouncy and dark side toys 😀

I've gone from Shimano (usually lasted about 3 months) to Shimano with BETD bearings (lasted a little longer except for the last change – 1 month !) to Hope, which have been on for a couple of months and seems to need taking apart every few weeks to stop creaks. I despair.

I've got one of the first generation quad link MVs. It's still going strong and does all I ask of it. I think the stem and bars are the only original components left on it. If it ever breaks I'll replace with this year's model.

BBC political bias ? [/url]
Surely not.

It was a windsurfing day.
But I did manage a dark side quickie first thing while waiting for family to get themselves organised.

Last session was Wired playing at son's wedding two weeks ago. What a great night.

I was going to ride over to Hook Norton tonight for The Hamsters playing outdoors and to check out the local produce in the beer tent.
It seems I'm staying at home for a bbq instead. 😥

We had one last night thanks. Chicken tikka madras for me. Really brought on the night sweats 😳

Yep. Twin girls – they were 21 a week ago. It's great. The first few months are really hard work. After that they have a playmate on hand all the time. Simples.
It helped having a big brother who was/is their hero.

We've had one for a few years since may lad spent a winter down there. Realy useful for locating people in a crowd, on the beach, etc 😆
Shame it'll lose it's uniqueness now as every spaz will have one.

I think I need one. My wife just dumps her used bag somewhere on the draining board, in a glass, whatever….anywhere but in the bin !!!
I have learnt to bite my lip 😥

While the "chassis" isn't identical, a large amount of the hidden parts of the Disco and RRS are the same. They are two cars off the same platform (and btw done by LandRover not Ford – Ford just supplied the money 😉 )
Go full fat if you can afford it. No contest.

Panels are on a flat roof, facing due S on a 30 degree angle so pretty much a perfect set up. They've been going for 23 years and never missed a beat, nearly 50000 hours of running.

Getting quotes now but I'm expecting about £12K for 3kWp. I'm not yet covinced about the reduction in our leccy bill as a lot of our use isn't during strong daylight hours, but the numbers still look good.

Edge of Cotswolds. We've already got hot water panels and they go like the clappers for 9 months of the year.

Best job I ever had was working on that thing 30 years ago. Amazing that it's still flying.

Smax with a towball. You can't hang a carrier on the tailgate as it's made of cheese.
Currently in a Fiesta after I (ahem) 'helped' a learner onto a roundabout and it feels really small and tinny compared to my armchair on wheels.

😥 broken metatarsal will prevent me turning up this year – can't manage more than about an hour in the saddle at the mo.

Sorry, numpty diversion.
Can I replace standard Shimano HT2 BB with Hope ones ? I eat thru Shimano ones, even with the improved BETD bearings, every few months.

What spin speed for bike bits ?

9503 here too. Can't fault it. Bought cheap at Halfords.

Get a refurbished Dell off Ebay.
And if you need software go to Software for Students.

It was true in the mid 70s too, in my 700 pupil secondary school. So I guess we can blame Thatcher for this too ? 😆

Riding the Summit 65 in the Chilterns with two mates on Saturday. Sunday we'll see…

But can you see mercury close by ?
Mars is red and sort of overhead in the mid evening at the mo.
Get your planetary news here 😯

The Met office know how long this might go on for but can't say for certain.

Situation normal.

Re aircraft noise, we're not subject to much commercial traffic impact in south of the Shire but normally have a lot of light planes around from a small local airfield. They've been silent too, but I don't understand why. Surely the risk is to gas turbines at 30000 feet, not a piston engine at 500 feet ? Are they all grounded ?

I've just been riding and done a bit of fettling. I'm just about to pop next door to the pub (with wife) for one or two. All bases covered 😀

HONC last weekend, 5h30 and used 4 litres, but it wasn't that hot. I used High5 Energy Source 4:1 for the first time (rather than plain electrolyte) at an event and I felt much better in the last hour than normal.

Yay for signage. Even though I know the area well, it saved having to memorise the route. Garmin ? Shmarmin.

Another fine day out. I decided on a 100K pootle today, and got round in 5h30 – a bit quicker than expected, but my plan was to cruise the first half and then kick on for the second half. This worked out perfectly and I was comfortable all the way round. Could have done without that headwind on the final climb though 😥
Great conditions out there today, and as usual a very well run event. Thanks to all.

I hose mine off after riding along with the bike – no leakage. I only get wet feet when there is water running down my legs into the boots. There was a thread on this some time ago.

We've had the opposite in South Warks / North Ox. Last autumn a number of the well established and hardened up field edge paths were ploughed up right to the hedge – completely in contravention of the country code. I complained to the council, who are pretty responsive on path maintenance, but not much they could do really as the damage was done. Thank goodness it was a well frozen winter, and now there is enough crop showing to make it rideable even in the wet.
And one of our favourite single track sections in the woods on Edge Hill has been ripped up by forestry work. I tried to report this also, but on checking the map found it wasn't even marked as a ROW. Oops. I think we'll carry on using it though 😈

Hope you got sorted. I know exactly how it feels having had a wisdom tooth abscess on holiday with very limited access to healthcare. I would have committed unseemly acts to have the pain stopped 😳 and would even have considered the Castaway approach !
I managed to get on Coproxamol (now withdrawn from use) as soon as I got back to UK and it killed the pain in minutes. Cost a fortune at the dentist to get it all fixed.

mtfu and apply bombers