Chamonix, staying in the Vagabond. Enough riding to keep you busy for a couple of days, great scenery, quality town.

They aren’t endangered round here there a millions of them.

Would any of you bird-huggers care to tell me how long I can expect a nest of starlings to live in my roof? They have been there about a fortnight and are covering absolutely everything in sh1te.

Before anybody climbs my drainpipes and starts a sit-in, starlings are considered a pest aren’t they? My gran has some swallows that come every year, but she hates starlings.

I saw a magpie harrying a heron the other day, they are nasty wee b@stards those magpies.

and how seriously would we be taken if we showed up at summits saying “You have to meet these emission targets or we’re all doomed. Obviously we’re not going to bother, because we’re only small, but you have to.”?

You’re assuming that anybody else gives a fiddler’s what we’re up to. The politicians have to curry favour in their home countries, even the Chinese. That means they’ll align their policies to keep the people happy. Most of the world’s population don’t have the comfortable standard of living that is a pre-requisite for environmental hand wringing, we aren’t going to influence them. The only way we are going to get them to clean up on CO2 is by making renewables cheaper than other sources, or letting them go nuclear, which has its own problems.

I would also feel better on a personal level if politicians in the UK would admit that the reason we pay more for nice cars is that demand is fairly inelastic and it creates a nice opporunity for taxation. I suppose it just grates with me that my tax is justified on a moral/idealistic basis when so much of it ends up wasted in achieving very little.

Just another example of our government forcing us to meet rules that nobody else bothers to enforce. We must turn up at these summits like the teachers pet, the only ones who’ve done their homework, but nobody takes us seriously.

Its ironic that he gets so much flak for being boring off the track, I think he leaves everything out there!

Nice one Jimster I shall put the shotgun back in the case…

I had a run in yesterday, some guy with 4 dogs, all terrier cross type things with a deadly combination of pack mentality and little dog syndrome.

They were very good at keeping just out of reach of the boot which I assume means they harass passers by on a regular basis, the lovable little rogues.

Its a beauty alright!!!

Raceface are pretty basic for the money, Sombrios are a lot of short for the money if you can find them reduced.

A Meta 5 will take as much of a hammering as a Pitch, you can go bolt through on the rear if you want to stiffen it up.

Lads oh lads, even as a qualified accountant I find the idea of a spreadsheet for bike weight slightly disturbing.

Fatmutha there were people getting play in their Pro2 20mm hubs, I had a bit myself but it wasn’t the bearings, it just needs retightened from time to time.

Well it seems that it did the trick with four out of five grasping hypocritical Labour peers Ernest.

You started this thread as a blatant cry for attention, then wandered off and got your knickers in a twist about Maggie Thatcher. Now you’ve gone all weepy and started playing the wounded soldier.

I think you need a lie down, maybe too much sugar this afternoon?

Ernest it would seem there is no pleasing you. Why would they bother to return calls from somebody offering them bribes?!

Well I suppose you’d expect better manners from the Tories “Hello, Lord Fotherington-Smythe here, yes, calling in reference to the cake tin full of cash… Well, I’m frightfully sorry old boy, but I’m going to have to decline, just not my cup of tea you see. Thanks for the offer, pip pip!”

Ed I was getting the same problem, I ran through the set-up, stops & indexing according to Sheldon Brown and sorted it out. The key seemed to be smooth transition between bottom two cogs.

😆 I was just scrolling down to warn everyone off HTC, RooleyMoor got there first.

I had most of the above problems with my Touch Cruise. It then stopped picking up the network. It was sent off to HTC and returned after three weeks with the original fault intact, but the screen replaced! The new screen developed a fault, it was sent back and another month later they told me they wanted £55 to fix the phone. I have 17 handsets on a business contract so I usually get good customer service, HTC have been absolutely dire.

Now probably going for a Nokia, I just want something that works.

Since apartheid has been mentioned – is anybody else a bit ashamed of our lack of involvement in sorting out Zimbabwe, given our propensity to act as world police elsewhere?

Rudeboy I’d have thought you’d enjoy the attention.

Mrsflash we both try not to get wound up about the small things, it has worked out ok so far. With 100% of the household income, half of the childcare duties, and half the housework, I’m sure my responsibilities will be attended to.

Shandy, one word of advice – all my friends moan a LOT when their other halves refer to looking after their own children as babysitting. You aren’t babysitting, you’re their dad!

Mrsflash babysit is just an easy way to say you’re going to be in sole charge while somebody goes off and does their own thing. One thing marriage has taught me is that you are never 100% right, there is always a nit to be picked.

For instance, if I were to say “don’t worry darling, I’ll babysit, you go off and have a good time” my wife would say something like “you’re not babysitting, you’re her dad”. It is a running joke that too much praise will compromise my training.

Empire or Trek Session 88 DH, in the Alps, in the sunshine, today.

DONK I’m going to be a Dad in the next couple of weeks and I’m quietly confident for a couple of reasons.

I’m happy to babysit while the missus does her own thing, we should be able to make a couple of hours for each other to get out most days. We’re both in favour of childcare, it gets them socialised and used to paddling thier own canoe at an early age. Grandparents will want some time with them, a regular half day at the weekends will be nice for kids and grandparents. We’re also lucky in that most of our mates haven’t got kids but are getting broody so I expect some babysitting will be forthcoming.

Stay strong brother!

07 Commencal Meta 552 for about £1200 and an 08 SX Trail for around £1800, neither cost me anything.

Shame on the lot of you, bickering like a bunch of old queens.

Obviously there is a gap in the market for a stylist/interior designer type bicycle building service. That way you can have something a bit niche, thats still like, “totally you”.

BigDummy I have just been a little bit sick in my mouth.

Tracey, my mum used to have mini cowbells on her ski poles, she’d ring them whenever she was passing anyone as she thought it was awfully rude to shout. How can you run them on a bike though?!

thisisnotaspoon those confused onlookers may have been trying to work out what was going on with your sticker job?!

I treid a Yeti 575 that I loved.

Go with bolt through Floats, you want to balance it out. If you’re looking to save weight do it elsewhere, you can still get it under 30lbs easy enough.

Its alright, fair bit of fireroad but some nice sections. I did it in the sunshine with a hangover from Kendal Calling and it was nice and chilled. I think there are plenty of variations you can do round there which one of the locals might care to share.

Ski Mont Blanc
Finish an Iron Man
Retire to the Alps aged 50, with enough dough to live out my days in comfort

It is good for your fitness and keeps you nice and smooth on the pedals. You can cover a lot of distance and explore little back roads, meaning you see a lot of scenery and string a lot of different routes together. The bike doesn’t require as much work and you don’t get covered in sh1te, which is nice for a change.

Its the use of action/actioned by people wanting to sound professional/businesslike that gets on my tits, probably because I usually get it as part of an excuse. Maybe “actioned” in the past tense is technically correct but bringing it into the present tense or overusing it in a call centre/business context is clumsy and lazy.

That and people who tell me they are going on “Annual Leave” when really they are going on their holidays. Also often as part of an excuse.

I deal with a global business who recently introduced two new sales tactics – “raising the bar” and “winning the numbers game”. An hour later it turned out that “raising the bar” meant looking for bigger, key customers, and “winning the numbers game” meant looking for more customers overall. Brilliant.

Action was not a verb?

Action is not a verb.

That is all.

Sounds like a bit of overtraining, make sure you eat plenty of good food, rehydrate, and rest more.

If you are going out and killing yourself to try and forget about life’s irritations they will still be there when you get back and you will be too tired to deal with them. Training has a very simple dynamic, you push yourself, you feel good about it. Life is usually not like that which is why it is easy to get annoyed with all the small stuff. Take it easier on yourself and change some of the things that are winding you up or seem like a waste of time.

Thanks Del!!

Just found this in the Search, anybody care to enlighten me and Jim??

Cheers

Andy

If they’ve got the French involved industrial action cannot be far away.

They sent me the wrong tyre last week, the insufferable b*stards that they are.

TandemJeremy doesn’t use sports drinks then.

I have been using the High5 4:1 for a couple of weeks, no problems with it although it seems lower in salt than some drinks I’ve used. SISGo made me feel peculiar.