Winless  and 9 defeats in there last 11 test matches probably 10 in 12 after today( I’m in NZ and off to watch) stretching back to October 2016. No answer to the opening partnership issue for three years, No potential replacements for the ageing Anderson and Broad No established No3 and No spinner who can actually turn the ball picked in the side. It’s been great fun supporting English cricket recently.

As Headline-tastic as this is everybody cheats in many various ways at top level sport.

Footballers dive , Athletes, Cyclists, Baseballers and Swimmers take drugs, American Footballers use a not properly inflated ball. Rugby Union is all about breaking the laws of the game and getting away with it if you can.

It all makes for great news and conversations  in the pub and at the water cooler and the Australian Cricket team are the gift that keeps on giving.

have you posted on Vorb?

I was there ( I’ve just got in)  it was truely stunning As has been reported in the press they batted as if they couldn’t see the ball.

At 23-7 the 26 record was seriously under threat before Overton hit the ball for four. Then at 27-9 I thought I’d be witnessing a piece of English cricket history

Theres  a fair bit of rain forecast  for over the weekend if it doesn;t finish tomorrow

I felt the Pink ball is harder to see at the ground once the lights are on than it is on the TV where it seems to glow

Black,  replaced White recently

Call me gullible but when I posted it I really didn’t analyse beyond ‘it’s an interesting story about someone who had their bike stolen’ and thought I’d share it.

I like the fact that in NZ and Australia you get paid fortnightly instead of monthly

I have Wham and Pet Shop Boys albums from my early teenage years.

Yup! I just don’t buy them and intentionally avoid the isle in the supermarket. occasional packet on special occasions, Birthday, Xmas etc or as a treat with the children. Cake and crisps are also definite no no’s, otherwise I’d be as big as a house and all the hard work that goes in to controlling my weight on the bike and in the pool and sensible portion sizes is lost.

Rotorua.
I’m actually off to Taumaranui next weekend to ride the Timber Trail in the Pureora Forest with my son
I’ll be taking some water, trailmix, beef jerky, apples and cereal bars

So if Ben Stokes does come back into the side at some point how do you fit him in?
For me it would be to replace Woakes. I agree that Curran has looked impressive in quite hostile conditions. Does he eventually replace either Anderson/Broad? Do you stick with Vince? he has many detractors and not many big scores. Do you persevere with Ali or hang your hat on Mason Crane as the future? I say this because 2 years ago the Australians weren’t at all convinced with Nathan Lyon and now he’s one of the first names on the team sheet.
Do we as fans just satisfy ourselves with home victories more often than not (like India)
As usual for England, More questions than answers,

I’ve just been reading how Joe Root as a captain thinks tactically he’s been quite good! ???? and he seems optimistic about winning in Sydney. I realise of course that he is only one part of many moving ones but he is the captain and his team haven’t taken 20 wickets once all summer, First innings they’ve averaged 356 and second it’s been 215 (Australia 20wkts x 3, 1st Inns – 439 2nd Inns-191, didn’t need to be more as Englands scores were so poor). Only positive for me this summer so far has been the emergence/competence of Dawid Malan.

I would say No. Which I am probably responsible for myself. In my late 30’s I had an extremely acrimonious split with my then partner which involved the court system, years of wrangling over access to the children which I was being denied by their mother. A financial meltdown and a battle to clear my name over alledged criminal activity. I was so ashamed of the whole situation and having my affairs in the spotlight that I have basically hidden since. I have an ‘arms length’ relationship with a couple of people and family members since that time.
An old friend got in touch over the last few weeks as it happens and I really feel awful about how generous his approach has been when I treated him so poorly by distancing myself.

So from an English perspective this is dire and i can see it being 5-0 again.
The best players in England can’t get any of the aussies out when they are supposed to and they can’t stay in when they’re supposed to. Dismal

edit: what is it with Flickr and pictures?
Had some pics of my son and I cycling part of the Great Lake Trail (Lake Taupo, NZ, Waihaha section) and ‘The Old Coach Road'(Ohakune) from a few weeks ago. He’s always been a reluctant and anxious cyclist and only learnt to ride without a stabiliser when he was nine (Twelve now). So finishing these trails with him was bloody great.

I have an Orange Five from 2005 (still riding it, still fit for purpose).

Reading through this makes me feel a bit old. For me it’s probably Scotland qualifying for Argentina’78. Brought up in Scotland and in primary we all learnt ‘We’re on the march wi Ally’s Army, We’re all off to the Argentine, and we’ll really shake them up when we win the world cup for Scotland are the greatest football team’ Good times! sadly no longer

Raining constantly here for the last 6 weeks (and cold) which is relative as it’s 15 degrees today. Anyway I’m fed up of it, but I am in Auckland and unlike most of you spring will be here soon.

Surely you really need to ride both sizes to be sure which is the best ‘fit’

Happy that my FTHR is pretty accurate (Short of going to sports science lab). whitestone has it, on the few rides I’ve measured so far I’m riding with less effort in order to keep my HR in the zone 2 parameters and this has a knock on effect on cadence and speed.So I was wondering whether this was normal?

Yes! I tried to post some pics up to a thread I’d been following on here yesterday. No luck! Don’t know why though

This is my Son and Nephew down near Mangakino having just ridden a section of the Waikato River Trail together.

Not really a tour but I’m taking my son to do the Great Lake Trail in Taupo over the Easter weekend. Unfortunately a planned discovery of the Motu trails in the Bay of Plenty in January didn’t happen as having got there first my son and then myself became really unwell so we had to abort. I’m hoping we’ll be healthier this time and the weather is going to be ok. We spent 3 days kayaking down the Wanganui River last summer and on one of the days the rain was biblical with the river rising several metres in a matter of hours.

Between my brother and sister we had a Chipper, a Chopper and a Bomber
No access to photo’s right now I’m afraid.
Good memories

Location: Auckland Fine and 24
Today I’m building a greenhouse in the garden for the SO.
Last week we were up North in the Bay of Islands and it was fine and warm there too.

I’ve recently purchased a ‘Montaro’ and for me it’s the most comfortable best fitting helmet I’ve ever had (and I’ve been cycling for 40 years). Maybe there is something to be said for the design technology nowadays. I read about the pads issue before buying but it was far and away the most comfortabe helmet of the ones I’d tried so just bought a replacement set of pads for the future (which is something I’ve done in the past with MET and Bell helmets). I guess if the pads do disintegrate in next to no time then it is pretty shoddy and and smacks of cost cutting to a price point as mentioned above. For the years of experience Giro have in making cycle helmets they should know by now what works and what doesn’t in every aspect of the design.

Today at a settlement conference in Family Court trying to establish a fair share of contact time with my kids over Christmas and the upcoming summer holiday (I live in NZ). Neither she nor her lawyer show up and later claim they didn’t know about it? I knew about it six weeks ago as did the ‘lawyer for child’ and reponse from e-mails and submissions from all parties suggest it’s highly improbable to be the case and a major delaying tactic. Anyway the Judge was not impressed and now she (my ex) is in a lot of shit and the matter will be ruled on next week based on submissions only which should be good for me in that I’ll get to see them alot more than her miserly idea of time with them.
Fingers crossed

Lucky you! I was looking around in my loft last weekend and found two mouse nests one old and empty and one current with six’pinkys’. I have since trapped four adults.

I could never swim front-crawl for the same reasons and was really fustrated as my other strokes apart from back-stroke were really slow.
I started using a mid-line snorkel, it took the breathing completely out of the equation which allows you to focus on other aspects of the stroke first which was helpful for me as once I got the roll of the shoulders thing going the breathing (without the snorkel) evolved naturally.

Topeak make a great infant bike seat. Very sturdy and the chair part is removable for security.

I have a Toyota ‘Ipsum’ (‘Avensis” in the UK) Van like space but still a car, no sliding doors like some MPV’s. 2.4 litre chain driven petrol engine provides excellent power and good economy.

I thought this was going to be a post about having children.

@ cheekyget
Haha! My son also has one on his 24″ GT Aggressor perhaps I’ll nick it off him?

Babies are designed to survive the first few days with very little milk in terms of volume so try not to worry

Your Wife’s milk may take 3-4 days to ‘come in’ (longer if she has had a cesarean section)so don’t worry.
Keeping up with the child’s feeding and regular expressing (every 3 hours if she can) – this includes expressing after the baby has fed at the breast are very important in the first few days as the ultimate physiology of breast in terms of its ability to produce milk is determined by this regular stimulation.

Your baby’s attempts at feeding may involve several hours at a time at the breast (known as cluster feeding) rather than the more expected feed for 20-30 mins then sleep for 2-3 hours this can obviously be extremely draining for Mum and Dad.

If you are giving bottle feeds ensure the teat has has the correct flow (mimicking that of the breast)if the flow is to fast it can jepordise the ultimate success of establishing breast feeding.
You(Dad)can bottle feed Mums expressed milk so she can sleep.

Tell people who want to visit you straight away to wait a week or longer. Time spent entertaining is cumulatively draining save your wifes and your own energy.
Get friends and family to cook for you, bring food, look after other kids

I’ve had six, five of which I still have.Four of those are still regularly used except none recently as I crashed on one and have broken bones and severed tendons in my right hand.
1995-Raleigh ‘Max’ bought to get to work on when I was living without a car
2004- Marin EastPeak sold after I bought a
2005- Orange Five
2005- Trek SLR bought (second hand in 2009) components upgraded over time
2010- Avanti ‘Kiss’ Singlespeed 29er
2014- Kona ‘Sutra’ bought to fulfill some touring dreams (Well! I do live in New Zealand)

It may well be illegal but would the decision have been the same? or would there have been consideration of a possible radical reaction.

This may have already been brought up, if so I appologise but what happens if the bakery is owned by Muslims and the order for the Cake is something that offends Allah or the Muslim belief system?