My two local walls use the V grading system – they seem to have invented + and – grades at the lower end of the scale, which I can’t see the point of – a v0+ or a v0- is just a v0

They recently moved away from a grade range (so everything was v0-v2, v1-v3 etc.) Prefer the new system aside from the + – nonsense

Not had anything PF recently but last time I did (which was a bike frame) they had issues finding my address (not sure why it’s not a new build and has the house number and street name on a plaque at the front of the house) – had PF deliveries to my house prior to that one. I offered to collect from the depot as I live fairly close, but they wouldn’t do that either. Eventually they did find my house and promptly abandoned the parcel in my ‘porch’ (I don’t have a porch) – it was left just in front of my house (this was pre-covid so leaving parcels by the door wasn’t the norm). Luckily I was able to quickly nip home and stop it being taken by anyone else

Had a slight issue with TNT recently – they tried to deliver but I was out and shoved a card through the door saying the parcel had gone back to the depot and this was the final delivery attempt – I was told I must get in touch to resolve. Their app was awful and didn’t recognise the tracking number. I eventually managed to book a redelivery only for the parcel to be delivered an hour or so after I filled out the form.

Similar issues with Hermes having issues finding my address (had loads of Hermes deliveries previously). Jumped through the hoops to try and resolve only for the parcel to arrive half an hour or so later

Definitely agree on the too many matching components. Someone I used to know loved adding blue components to their bike – blue bar, blue stem, blue anodizing on the grips, blue cranks, chainring and so on – it was just too much

In recent years the colour of Santa Cruz bikes – they seemed to be at the forefront of the bad shades for brown trend

And since I posted in the other thread…

Riding home one Autumn after dark (I think it must have been Novemberish) in the distance I saw something walking along with an unusual gait. I couldn’t work out what it was, but I continued to catch it up. I got to a few meters behind and it became aware I was there, turned round, saw me and bolted. It was the one and only time I’ve seen an Otter in the wild, more surprising was that I was riding through a park in Milton Keynes.

A couple from me…

I used to do a 16.5 mile commute each way, usually 3 or 4 times a week. I was in pretty good shape, but didn’t really look like a full on roadie. Coming up to the top of a small climb a roadie pulled out in front of me (it was safe to do so) dressed in all the gear. I tagged onto his tail and after half a mile or so of undulating roads I pulled off his tail and moved to the front. After a few hundred yards more I indicated to turn off. As a I turned off he yelled at me ‘I BET THAT’S THE FASTEST YOU’VE BEEN IN YEARS’. It wasn’t, I resisted the temptation to chase after him and tell him what I thought of his comment.

Coming home once on the same route there we a few cars coming towards me indicating to turn across my path. As it was safe to do so the first one crossed, as did the second, the third blindly followed the second and I passed between the two, the third car’s front bumper brushed my rear tyre, but luckily didn’t knock me off. Had I been going slightly slower it would have been a different story. I turned round and shouted at her that she should stop, then made her aware of what she had nearly managed to do

And finally a very recent one, which could have been much worse. Riding back to my house coming uphill my handlebars suddenly broke clean in two, where the bar meets the stem. There wasn’t any impact to have caused this it just happened. Luckily there was nothing to hit so I somehow brought the bike to a stop

They’re not the best – I had a freehub crack on a set

Availability of spares wasn’t the best either (and that was before the parts shortages of the last 18 months) – when mine needed a new axle I had to order one from the US

Sold mine after 18 months of use

The stages don’t usually change that much from year to year

The main difference compared to 2016 is that it is now 7 stages, whereas it was 5 (I think) back then – the two new stages are both fairly similar to each other and were slotted in after stage 4

I’ve also pretty much dropped listening to 6music recently – too much repetition of songs and the news is on far too frequently – should be maximum twice a day

I now listen to https://www.fip.fr/

You can choose a genre of music you prefer – no song is repeated more than once every 48 hours – minimal chat (and what there is is all in French) – no news (I listen while working and am yet to hear any)

I’ve done it twice over two days (supported event) and once in one day. I wouldn’t consider doing it again in a single day (and for reference my fitness level was good at the time)

Both the supported events I did were around 15 years ago and I did it in one day a couple of years ago

My experience from the one day version…
1. We found the water points pretty easy to find
2. Start early (and I mean really early) – we did it in early July and started at 6:30am, this was not early enough as we finished after dark
3. Assuming you go Winchester to Eastbourne, then remember that there is a significant amount of climbing in the last third or so of the journey. I was told that there is as much climbing in the first 63 miles as the final 37 – the YHA roughly marks the 63 mile marker
4. You will need plenty of sustenance – according to my smartwatch I burnt 7000 calories that day
5. There aren’t lots of places to buy snacks/food en route

I consume so much BBC content, broadcast TV and radio, plus iPlayer, every day of the week – I have no problem with the licence fee and if it changed to a subscription model instead I’d happily pay for that

I also have access to Netflix, but rarely watch anything on it, the main problem with all these subscription services is they only have a limited selection of content to choose from. It’s a bit like going into Blockbuster back in the day, but only being allowed to rent films from selected shelves in the store

If you’re suspicious add their eBay ID to your blocked bidder list to prevent them bidding/buying