I’m in NZ and I ordered from Probikekit at the end March. The order has never arrived (even now). After 5 weeks I informed them and I was offered a refund or the opportunity to reorder so I re-ordered and was told I could expect delivery by May 22nd still nothing to date.
The Parcel service here is seriously backlogged and if the news is to be believed during our lockdown period everything that arrived from overseas was just left in a warehouse and not touched at all until late last week. So maybe I’ll get both parcels at some point? maybe neither. Even our national mail is taking much longer with the increase in on-line trading this increased volume has left all the couriers and postal service asking for people to be patient so I guess we’ll see.
If I end up with two parcels having only paid for one I’m wondering what I should do? I’m sure all these online sales places must have insurance on the contracts they take out with delivery companies and I’d hate to see the day when there is never a free shipping option.

I have the ‘Nomad’ linked to above. I use it primarily for grocery shopping but find it heaps easier than faffing with the jigsaw like nature of packing stuff into panniers (pack large box as I walk around the supermarket, load box onto trailer cycle home). I do swim regularly (or did until lock-down) and over the years have accumulated pullbuoys kickboards paddles etc which now fill a large Ikea bag this now just goes in the trailer and I cycle to the pool. The towing is straight forward even when close to max weight and the thick rubber coupling has proved robust so far.

Agreed! I’ve waited for it to crash and burn but 5 episodes in and I’m still interested

Is there a reason your not considering overshoe cover rather than socks? My Sealskinz shoe covers keep my feet dry in all but the heaviest rain and surface water although they do get hot which I find uncomfortable.

Doubled up

Seems to be contagious

I haven’t read the whole thread (so someone else might have posted) but the Health Minister here in NZ has just been demoted for a similar thing (only last week he was chastised for going mountain biking outside of Dunedin) then it turns out he’s taken his family to the beach 20km’s away from his home.

‘and in latest beard news’
A few of the Doctors at the hospital I work at have shaved their beards as the N95 masks which are the only kind of mask that is effective against the corona virus don’t fit properly with one and will therefore be ineffective when in use.
Buy shares in Gillette, et al anyone (you could make a quick killing)

Do you want a recommendation or do you want a small pannier?
I have large and small roll top Ortlieb panniers and they’ve been brilliant for eight years and they still look new and have been waterproof. I also still regularly use (every week) some Deuter Rack Pack II panniers that I’ve had since 2008. They’re pretty tired looking now but still functional and used every week but are not waterproof and the pull out rain cover is really only showerproof.
If I’m carrying a lap top I would want and have waterproof for peace of mind.
I have heard it said that Ortlieb make the Thule panniers, if so then I’d expect them to be an equally good purchase.

I sometimes ride through red lights

Don’t worry, it was only a few miles, she rode her £8k Yeti down to pick the key up.

I thought a Skoda Yeti when I read this, So slow!

I have a 7 seater Totyota Ipsum, I think in the UK it’s called an ‘Avensis’ Chain driven 2.4l petrol loads of power when you need it and it’s basically a ute with a canopy when the seats are down for moving anything that you’re into. Unlike an SUV the roof is just about low enough to make reaching a roof box or bike carrier straightforward if you’re 5’11 or taller easier still from the kerb. I’d love to replace mine with a newer version but I don’t think Toyota do them any more

My Son turned 15 on tuesday (where’s that gone?), I’m on holiday with him and a friend of his in Tauranga we’re house sitting. Even in front of his mate he can be a a right gobshite to me (no shame). Angelic til he was about 11. Glorious weather btw and I’m just back from going up the Mount in under 14mins.

Mother nature is indeed a b**ch
A recent client of mine was diagnosed with a type of cancer that only starts corrupting and killing cells when you become pregnant. The bastard thing of it is, it is most commonly only diagnosed through the child after it’s born because of the condition of and tests made on the placenta. So the cancer gets a 7-9 month head start in the mothers body. The newborn also has a high risk of being affected but can quite often be cancer free. it’s messed up

I’m interested in this as I was brought up in Scotland and my Mother and Sister still live there. I’ll acknowledge first of all that I haven’t read through the whole thread so what I have to say may have already been covered in which case I apologise.
The thing is even if Scotland were to get another referendum and opt out of the union as I understand it their membership of the EU wouldn’t be a given. All major changes to the EU have to be by a unanimous vote and Scotland would have to apply as others before them have had to do. Now other countries wanting to join may feel Scotland shouldn’t ‘jump the queue’ and Spain as a current member I’m pretty sure would veto any application involving Scotlands membership because of their claim to Gibraltar being constantly denied. So surely the reality is that Scotlands percieved transition from one Union to another is much less straight forward than just getting indyref2 over the line.

Booking the Huts, car relocation and ferry tomorrow for the ‘Old Ghost Road’ at the end of February. Going to test some kit/bike-packing carriage options on the ‘Moerangi Track’ either next month or early January.

My cycle to/from work is only 10 -15mins. It’s one less car on the road and I don’t have to pay for parking. can you do your fitness exercise at another time?

Sell an old not used very much one first (to make room)

At the end of the day it is just a bike, in a year or two’s time it will be an old bike and you already have a bike. Brexit is coming save your money.

Watching in NZ – I watched till the Woakes dismissal around 0120hrs. At 7 down I was convinced England had no chance so I went to bed. Absolutely amazed and thrilled when when I saw the headlines this morning. Cricket is just an incredible sport – love it!

Following English Cricket is like a crack addiction I’ve had all my life,
I was so upset by Englands first innings display on Friday I vowed not to care anymore. As I did when they were bowled out for 58 in Auckland eighteen months ago and after the performances in the West Indies earlier this year. Last night I was back watching (I’m in NZ) and tonight I’ll be watching hoping! even though i know the pain is coming again.

I’m definitely worried about Englands chances in this series they look very fragile and unlike other Ashes series Australia have had an XI squad in the UK since before the World Cup getting used to ‘English conditions’ which is very often Englands advantage. The openers issue has not been solved. Root is having to change his favoured position to compensate for this and our bowling threat is old. I think Pattinson and Starc will be salivating over the new ball and for some reason Nathan Lyon always seems to cause the England side problems, much more of a wicket taking threat than Moeen Ali.
Really looking forward to it and desperate for England to do well.

I used a topeak seat which clipped into a pannier rack over the rear wheel with my daughter for nursery then school when her brother arrived I bought a second hand Burley trailer and continued to use the seat. Good waterproofs trousers and jacket if wet and riding in the chair. Age difference (4yrs) meant time carrying both of them together was limited. Shiftwork meant I’d always be able to go from and return home with trailer.

From the outside ( i.e overseas) it might look like it’s great place to be but the Teachers are paid appallingly and are striking, the Nurses were forced to accept a disgraceful pay increase after several strikes, The Doctors are currently embroiled in an unresolved dispute over pay and working conditions. The countries major cities have astronomical rent prices which leaves little disposable income so it’s very hard to get ahead. People can’t buy as the average (house in Auckland) is around $850,000 ($600,000 in Wellington) with the average salary still only $49-$50,000.
It isn’t by any means entirely the current governments fault. Jacinda has inherited years of massive under investment in the public sector from the National Party who sat on Billions of dolllars in Tax surplus for years and years. Many issues around the Christchurch Earthquake are still unresolved and that was nearly eight and a half years ago and the National party also dragged their heels disgracefully over it’s management of the Pike River Mining disaster in 2010.

My favourites are Leffe Brun, Speights Old Dark and more recently Asahi Black

Might be something to do with coastal sewage discharge. Brighton, Worthing, Littlehampton etc

the reason specified in the email is as follows

An attempt to defraud someone, access their account, or obtain their personally identifying information without consent.

I guess I would just like to see some evidence from Playstation that this has happened rather than just being told it has and this is the consequence.

Dozens of Swan plants to encourage the Monarch Butterflies

I would have thought that given the majority of contributers on this forum are cyclists there would be a bit more of a concensus for ‘saving the daylight hours’ especially for those commuting by bike. Is the central europe driven agenda because they generally have better more consistent weather (summer anyway) and are less affected by latitude. I was brought up in Scotland and in the winter walked/cycled to and from school in the dark whilst in the summer holidays we were still playing outside at 10:30pm.

Only 3.7kms here, It’s just a touch too far to warrant walking and barely worth getting sweaty for but I can’t bring myself to use the car for such a paltry distance plus we started being charged for parking. A few years back I was doing 19kms which meant much earlier mornings as I was starting at 7am

Six and a half years ago I was a fat slob but hadn’t noticed (or was in denial). I went on an exercise drive building up my cycling distance from nothing to 2-3 rides a week over the initial six months whilst also increasing my swimming (the times I went and distance I swum). I went from almost 90kg to 79.5kg in about 8months. Since then I have had a few periods of time not exercising which have ranged from between 2 and 8months. The most recent being mid December last year to the end of July this year. I didn’t do nothing in that time but but not much. August this year I was getting heavy again, decided to cycle every day(including commuting) and see how many days I could get to. I got to 58  before I missed a day but by that time I was well established back in a routine of exercising and was back swimming regularly as well. I’m not counting the days anymore as I was getting a bit obsessive about it but I’m back to 80kg so much happier.

The breaks are a pattern that I’ve noticed over the years so I’ve become more relaxed about it and thus far I’ve always been able to break them relatively easily and get on top of my weight gain.

I did two gigs in two nights recently

The Charlatans and Queens of the Stone Age both very good nights out especially the Charlatans

Interesting to hear/read that Therapy Terrorvision and Hue & Cry are all still going

Isla de Cozumel in Mexico, I’ve also dived in Israel, Egypt, SouthAfrica, UK and Australia but Mexico was the best.

The La’s

a truely splendid recording

Which team will have a worse goal keeper than KSA?

Apparently some Spanish bloke in some football tournament somewhere has pissed someone off big time because he renaged on something he agreed to only a few weeks ago. He may have got a better offer?

Montaro here

The most comfortable cycle helmet I’ve ever owned (shame about the durability of the pads though)

Not sure if you should get a prize or punishment for disguising another ‘what tyre?’ thread.

Tyres are pretty expensive so why not stick with what you know rather than buy something on the recommendation of a stranger riding in totally different conditions on a different bike half a world away?

According to the Trek Website Bike + Rider weight limit for Procaliber 6 is 300lbs  (136kg)

https://www.trekbikes.com/us/en_US/bikes/mountain-bikes/cross-country-mountain-bikes/procaliber/procaliber-6/p/21816/

Not weird at all but my son(13) was chuffed to find $20 on the trail last week. He nearly took us both out as I narrowly avoided him when he stopped ahead of me to pick the money up.

The ECB know (even though they weren’t really responsible for losing the Radio rights) that the England national team isn’t very good at the moment and there would seem  to be very little by way of improvement available or happening in the near future so having them hidden away on talk sport for the next little while (or longer) might actually be beneficial for them.  Also, perhaps the BBC knows it and doesn’t want to pay that much for broadcasting substandard on field performances.