Milton Keynes Spring Road Race 2003. Rode my training bike and some chump was laughing at the old 105 stuff on my bike. He definitely finished behind me that day. Everyone did 😀 and that was an E123 8)

If he can’t win a 2/3 road race then I doubt he’s going to win the Masters Road Race Championships.

Just realised that the local Surrey League handicap is on tonight. Only 3 miles from work and I’m on my work bike today. Don’t think mudguards are allowed 🙂

Get well soon. We are about the same age and I missed the masters nationals in 2012 when I broke my arm a week before the race.

I work in Chertsey and I have never liked those mini roundabouts. Well I have never liked ANY mini roundabouts!

No adjustable stem on my new Tarmac but the old 2011 did have one.
We could fine tune my wife’s position on her time trial bike with it.

One downside is that you can’t really have a spacer on top of the stem as the top cap has an off centre hole.

I have just got a lovely new road bike a few weeks ago and I bought my first GPS computer (Garmin Edge 200) to go with it.

I have ridden 5 rides on the new one and I am significantly faster than on my winter training bike. I put it down to much lighter bike, increased fitness and nicer weather.

However, the Garmin records my average speed over the total 301 miles as 20.2 mph which seems too good to be true!

The Garmin definitely struggles to get a good signal on wooded road climbs which I am less impressed with as the speed goes up and down a lot. Is this normal?

I am an old school rider and have always tried to break ‘evens’ as a target. It was a good training ride when I managed this around Surrey. I live in Epsom so normally have a long climb home at the end of the ride. I have to admit that I was a rider in one of the South East’s top sponsored road teams for over 10 years.

I have a Traser Commander titanium watch and it came with a Nato strap which was naff. I changed to the Traser rubber strap which is OK but really thick and grips the skin.

Looked around some watch forums and found that a company called Hirsch do natural rubber straps which are meant to be really nice.

Bought a Hirsch Accent which is lovely. Very soft and superbly made. Never thought a rubber strap could be so good.

Hirsch ACCENT Natural Rubber Watch Strap in BLACK

I use the SKS X-Blade II 29 inch on my rigid 29er

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/sks-x-blade-ii-rear-mudguard/rp-prod104736

Highly recommended

If you have a workstand that clamps the frame/seatpost then a round seatpost is much preferable. And as someone said above, aero seatposts can be tricky to buy later on.

Bought my focus through drive the deal. Take it to the Ford garage on the way to work for servicing. They seem very happy to have the custom.

Don’t have to talk to a car salesman at all. That’s a win in my book!

Check out the Honest John website

http://www.honestjohn.co.uk/

My wife has an 03 with the 1.3 litre engine. She uses it for her gardening job and it is pretty good for that as lots of room inside.
Was 6 years old when we got it and had only done 11K miles!

Think there was a mistake on the CO2 emissions as the Tax is £150 a year when all the websites say it should be in the band below.

I bought a 50″ TV a few years ago and was disappointed when the box did not fit in my Skoda estate as the guy in the shop said it had be transported upright. No problem in the Wagon R!

It is noisy and does seem to feel every bump in the road.

Just got a Garmin Edge 200 for £72. Plus my British Cycling discount instore brings it to £64.79. Thanks 😀

I do small ring and smallest sprocket and set the chain length so that the rear mech is just starting to take up the tension.

It is an annoying situation but just let the credit card company handle it. I had an issue about a refund for some hope wheels that were never in stock after I had paid. Eventually I rang the shop and they agreed that they would refund me. After 3 weeks, no refund so rang the credit card company and then almost instant refund.

I am thinking about getting one of these. They need a key but can operate from either side.

http://www.elitesecuritysupplies.com/garage-door-security/garage-shed-door-locks/gate-shed-lock.html

I have a pair of Zipp 404 tubulars that I bought a few years ago and I share them with my wife. She uses them for time trials and I do the odd road race.

I only use carbon specific brake pads with the Zipps. Brake pads used with alloy rims get little bits of aluminium embedded in them which will mess up the braking surface on your new carbon wheels.

Had a similar off about 9 weeks ago. Felt my foot twist and something stretch too far. Very sore and swollen for about a week but could feel it getting better so didn’t go to A&E. Felt a bit embarrassed as they know me there 😕

Could ride on it after a week but could not do any running at all. Still aches every now and again. Main problem for the first few weeks was walking down stairs in the morning after it stiffened up at night.

I have a skiing trip in a few weeks as well but I am a few weeks ahead of you.

The problem is that’s the whole world’s supply of the special green liquid used in one experiment.

My FS 29er fits in the back of my Focus estate without taking the wheels off. Would not have fitted in my old Octavia as the wheel arches intrude and reduce the width.

Not far from me as I live in Epsom. Awful lot of money for a cycle path that even the people who live there can’t see why anyone would use it.

Few months ago on the way home from work in Lower Sunbury I was informed by an old lady driver that I was holding up the traffic and I should be in the cycle lane. I informed her that there was no cycle lane and the path on the left was the pavement. Annoyingly I thought I was pushing on quite well for a change at 20+. I snapped and said she was a stupid old bag.

Funny this is, half a mile down the road was a 1 mile traffic jam that is there most days. Who is holding up who now?

Lift the lid and then open all the drawers an inch. Then close the lid and push all the drawers in one by one.

Now the drawers are not quite closed so they don’t get locked by the lid.

Just be careful if you move it or tip it then the drawers could open.

I have a X-type Uno on my singlespeed Swift with a Hope ceramic BB. Now done 5000 miles on the original BB with no creaks at all. Have changed the Uno ring once which is quite expensive but got a new one from the classifieds for £50. Recommended 🙂

Put the kids on the payroll 🙂

Received my cheque yesterday 😀

Decided to take the 50% offer. The insurance company wanted to deal with my original solicitor so went with that as well.

Thing is, I could not get a new solicitor to take the case before so I would not be able to get one to help me push for 100%. The offer was fair as there wasn’t a real witness to the accident. Also, did not want to push them too far as they might take the 50% offer back.

Last year, the insurance company valued my claim at X but said they would not payout due to disputed liability.

My solicitor wanted to value my claim at X but I pushed them to ask for more so they upped it to X + 20%.

Insurance company agreed so I got 50% of X + 20%

I recently bought myself a new bike on the promise of a good result and the payout covers 75% of it 🙂

I would have thought Guy Martin would be using Hope bottom brackets 8)

When I built my singlespeed nearly 3 years ago I got carried away and bought a Hope ceramic. Still going strong 5000 miles later!

Wonder where this stuff is made? I have just bought some Lusso bib tights for £50 that are made in the UK.

I replaced my Octavia 2009 1.4 TSI with a new Focus 1.6 180 bhp Estate.
Much nicer to drive and I can easily fit a 29er in the back without taking the wheels off. Octavia had a bigger boot in terms of more litres but the wheel arches really intrude :|. Focus is nice and square in the back 🙂

I’m 5’10.5″ and I recently bought a large Camber 🙂

Radial head fracture?

Crud Raceguards are absolutely terrible.
Probably worst bike component I have ever bought.
Even their MTB rear ones are rubbish, they just rattle after a few weeks and no way to tighten them up.

SKS all the way.

I got a 2015 Camber Expert Evo a few weeks ago. It actually came with a shorter stem (70mm) rather than the 90mm listed on the website.

Cheers! Great price.

Maximum Overdrive

Maybe your wife has bought you a surprise present with your voucher 🙂

The postie just delivered a letter today (Sunday!) and the insurance company have ‘on relection’ decided to offer to settle my claim on a 50/50 basis.

They want me to get in touch with my original solicitor so they can work out an amount between them.

Last year my claim was refused due to the ‘independent witness’
My solicitor tried for 50/50. Rejected again because of witness.
Solicitor gives up with case.
I research the driver and witness and find evidence they are bogus.
Tell my solicitor who says he can’t do anything.
Few months later I write with my evidence to insurance company. Not interested.
Tried again and this time they take it seriously and look to investigate.
Now they have reflected and want to offer 50/50.

My solicitor is going to be surprised. They may get some money out of it.

I think that 50% of something is better than 100% of nothing 🙂
The driver has made no claim and anyway I have third party insurance.

I am not obsessed but it has been 59 days 2 hours and 39 minutes since the last contact. 🙂

Well there has been a development in my case. I wrote another letter in July to the driver’s insurance company. I pointed out that they weren’t behaving with integrity in not investigating the driver and that they should be taking seriously my claim that the driver has made up a witness. Otherwise everyone would be doing it.

I copied the letter on email to an executive at the company and I got a reply the next day. I had a customer complaints specialist working on it. Within a week, they had apologised, and said they agreed with all my ‘evidence’ about the driver and the witness. They said that they are taking it seriously now and will investigate the driver and the witness.

Reading between the lines, it seems that they don’t believe the driver now and hopefully I will be getting somewhere.

The last contact from them was in July, and they did say the investigation would take some time.

I think it’s time for another letter to keep them on their toes.

Smudge appreciates all your kind comments 🙂

She lost a fight with a fox earlier in the year which cost quite a lot but she is fully recovered now.

I definitely wanted the XT brakes as I have them on my other bikes.

There may be a chance that I will get an insurance payout in the near future. I decided to risk it and buy it now and get some good rides in before the end of the summer. Got a holiday in the Lakes coming up as well.

Both wheels are the same size!