Cheers for the ideas

No I’ve no mattress ready, not with that rear suspension anyway 😉

I agree with putting it in a container and walking away, I only got the van cheap to see if I really needed a Van or if I’d be better with a Car and to build up some no claims hopefully. I want a Caddy Maxi when funds allow but I’ve a House that needs rebuilding first.

I can’t comment on the Super Patches as I normally just put a new tube in then fix the puncture at home so the Patches stay dry in the toolbox but I ripped a Tyre a few months ago and the Park Tyre Boots that I’d had in the CamelBak for a coupe of years had lost all the adhesive.

I managed to jam it between the Tyre and Tube so got away with it so I’m guessing the Patches may have the same adhesive which goes off after a bit ?

Road – flat bits and climbing

MTB – anything

I’ve got my weight down to 13 stone 7 which is about the same as when I left School 21 years ago and I’m enjoying the climbing more.

Strangely the fastest I’ve done on a Bike downhill is 47mph on the Road on the MTB coming back to Bolton from Rivi about 1 in the morning. Fastest I’ve done on the Road Bike is about 37 mph, I just don’t feel as comfy descending on it as the MTB.

I did a bit of the Pennine Bridleway above Settle the other week and was descending when I thought ” ooh this is a bit fast ” checked the Garmin after and was doing 30 mph, that’s the fastest I’ve done off road.

I can never work out why the M6T services have been busy when I’ve been when the idea of a Toll Road is to get there quicker.

That website that Cougar linked too seems out of date when I’ve searched the M61 which runs at the back of my house and misses pubs that are litterally off the motorway, pubs at both junction 4 & 6

A few times there are petrol stations just off the motorways that have coffee machines, toilets etc and petrol at normal prices M6 junction 23 and 31 are examples.

I was going to Dorset once when I stopped somewhere on the M5 that had a multi storey car park that was weird. Rivington / Bolton services before the demolition and rebuild were scary, I found a guy camped out in the toilets once.

Tebay is fine unless its busy, I’ve spent 15 mins at times waiting to be served in the restaurant.

Cheers.

I was just trying to find out the feed zones as my Godaughter wants some souvenir musettes / bottles.

The Tour of Britain publish the Race Book online but guess the TDF is worth more 😀

If I remember correctly Granada TV took a call that a security guard answered. They was based in the City till recently before moving to Salford. They were called about 90 mins previously and told a Bomb was due to go off and given a code word in the call which the police intelligence knew meant they weren’t messing about.

They just wanted to cause damage. They destroyed everything apart from that post box outside M&S which is still there with a plaque about the bomb on it.

I remember it well.

I was cleaning my car and my great uncle had been shopping and came back saying he had heard the IRA had bombed the Arndale.

I went to the city the day after and couldn’t believe it. The main thing I remember is all the glass everywhere and the noise of the alarms in what is normally a busy area was weirdly quiet apart from the alarms.

I went a few times that week just to get my head around it. I remember buying a car radio from a shop at the bottom of Deansgate which was about 1/2 mile as the crow flies from the truck which blew up and they said everything fell off their shelves.

At least no one was killed.

Hope everything goes OK

My Lab had around £5k spent on him when he was a pup with ops on his legs and has had £100’s recently with nail bed infections and has now got arthuritus.

£600 of X Rays a couple of weeks ago and now £300 of hydrotherapy.

Pet Plan cover for life. Excess has just gone up from £75 to £105, but he is 8 now so it does go up with age.

He’s quiet this morning as the hydrotherapy yesterday has found muscles he never used before 😀

I’ve been with the RAC since last century and had now had 3 separate patrols swear as if we were talking at the pub whilst on a call out.

I hadn’t encouraged this as I’m no Angel when it comes to swearing but I work in a customer facing job and you have to be careful.

Every time they have sorted the vehicle at the roadside so I’ve no complaints there but, since I’ve had the Van I’ve had to call then twice and the patrols seem really despondent with the managers etc.

It’s going to be a ” normal ” bulb but with a red coating for the rear lights / brake lights.

I’m guessing the light shines through a clear lense ?

What you will need to establish is if its a 380 ( 2 filament stop & tail ) or 382 ( stop only )

A quick google brings these 380 up :- http://www.autobulbsdirect.co.uk/380-P21-5W-Stop-and-Tail-replacement-bulb-RED.html

Or 382 :- http://www.autobulbsdirect.co.uk/382-P21W-Stop-and-Tail-replacement-bulb-RED.html

isn’t that the section of the A58 that’s really steep
not really (max of about 10% I think) :

http://www.strava.com/segments/blackstone-edge-873245

Its ages since I’ve been there and all I remember is when I first started driving, heading down there and being petrified of hitting any sheep 😯

I’ve decided to view at this point as well.

Can’t work out whether to ride / walk up the A58 from the town, across the Pennine Bridleway from the other side of the M62 or just drop down on the MTB on a off road section along the climb.

All these options will involve parking the Van and walking or riding.

I’m going to nip up over the weekend and have a mooch about to see if there’s anywhere to drop onto the route on the MTB then take it from there. A bit back from the A58 looks like a road that comes over the hill but looks like it Water Board property……..

Might be walking up but isn’t that the section of the A58 that’s really steep ? Ages since I’ve been that way.

Just heard it on the Car Radio at the end of the News so it must have only just come through.

RIP Rik, I didn’t really get The Young Ones when I was younger but saw an episode a while ago and its genius.

I best remember him in Bottom but reading this thread makes you realise how much he actually did otherwise.

A true English Actor and Comedian who will be sadly missed.

A few months ago. Had a bit of decent weather for a change and went out on the MTB for a relatively long ride after just short fast rides and turbo sessions.

Planned a ride along the canals then a stop off at a pub as it was going dark then potter back along the roads.

Back tyre went spongy so slow puncture I thought. Put a tube in, check tyre for thorns nothing so set off again. 10 mins later same scenario, check tyre nothing in it and it’s really getting close to dark now so just decide to pump it up as much as I can and hope for best.

Same again. Another tube more checking of the tyre and nothing in it. By this time I’d given up and started heading home. Same again. Turns out there was a tiny split in the sidewall and I mean really tiny and it was pushing the tube through.

Stuck a tyre boot in and set off on my last tube and patch. Got me home but wasted about an hour and half of messing about.

No Fabio Casartelli
Yeah, I know who you were talking about. WW was an example of another pro rider who died whilst racing, but he died despite wearing a helmet. They’re not some sort of magic armour. There’s no knowing whether or not a helmet would have saved Casartelli, it’s just pointless speculation.

Wouter Weyland suffered massive facial injuries, his helmet was still in place and looked undamaged. The Docs were cutting the straps in a desperate battle to revive him.

I don’t remember Castarelli as well but didn’t he slide into a concrete block which are quiet common in France ? Think the top of his head bore the brunt so a helmet may have helped.

Let’s face it in them kind of incidents at that speed nothings going to work 100 %, young Taylor Vernon who races for GT Factory Racing smashed his back in last year despite having a back protector on.

Normal riding I think they will make a difference between injury or no injury or at least make things less worse.

I use a Hope Vision 1 on the Road Bike.

It uses AA batteries and is pretty lightweight, I used it for a while on the MTB and it gave decent light but the only issue I had was there is no battery indicator and it doesn’t just drop down a notch in power, if it goes low on Battery it just goes off completely.

Bit dodgy but a good light if the power is kept topped up.

I’ve been lucky so far on the Bikes but I once hit a Pheasant in the Car whilst doing 130mph on a ” private ” section of the M55.

That was when I was young and stupid.

Had a Girl out on Test and, whilst just Driving along, a Bird left its droppings right in the Centre of the Windscreen. It went with a right thud and the Girl just kept going as she didn’t want to use the washers as it would have smeared everywhere.

The Examiner just kept saying ” muck for luck ” yeah she passed.

Pet Plan have paid a fortune out for my Lab over the past 12 months and he had X Rays the other day and it came to nearly £600 just cost me my excess of £75.

I finished work just before 8pm and nipped out for an hour on the MTB, just had a Pastie, crisp and just chilling on here.

Gonna go bed in a bit as I’m at work at 8.45 and the Dogs will need walking before that.

I worked Saturday for a couple of hours then went my mates, came home, lit the Chimanea and got rained off.

Debated all Sunday morning about going to the Lakes for a Ride and decided to just got for it and get Wet if it poured down, I did the short loop off the Route Guides on here from Staveley.

Top ride out and avoided the Rain which came down big style on the M6 on the way back just went onto Lancaster services for a brew.

Went to Settle today and did a loop out of a MBUK which was really good. What surprised me was the lack of people on these routes, I only met about 4 people on each of the rides both Today’s and yesterday’s. Probably spend too much time around Rivi dodging Families.

Starving now despite going McDs on way home so gonna get a huge bag of Doritos and have another go at lighting the Chimanea.

I ordered a Tarmac Jacket, guess that means its for Roadies as I need a new Jacket and noticed it was 39.95 but it said underneath instore price 19.95 so guess there’s quite a big mark up anyway.

Jacket and Water Bottle £6.97

Let’s see what happens……..

It depends on how much you want to spend and how long you intend to keep the car.

For a full repair that includes cutting out the rust and replaceing the panels, you are probably looking about £500 at a body shop. I’ve been out of the car repair business for a while so that’s just a guesstimate, but the panels are about £25 each, labour of fitting, paint etc so few hours labour and materials.

Picture 6 looks like the sill will go into a hole at some point soon so another method is just to patch it and paint it over, probably looking about £100 if they rub down the wheel arch as well.

I may be out with my prices so anyone else do correct me, but that rust looks like most of it is coming from the inside out so the only proper way to get shut of it is to replace the metal.

I’ve done that and it shows in the “new files ” folder on the computer but not in the courses of the Touring.

Stars and Cars Keswick.

I used to be really into Cars so couldn’t wait to see all the Cars from the Films and it’s basically a few cars in some guys garage. Charges about £8 for a walk round that takes 5 mins.

There’s many more but I think I’m just boring and don’t enjoy anything that’s supposed to be fun but find things that are boring more interesting.

Adjusting the rebound on the forks on my new bike then bouncing the front up and down to see what happens for some reason I will never understand, grab a handful of front brake, OTB wondering what had happened.

Think sometimes when its unexpected you don’t hurt yourself as much as you don’t tense up.

Road bike, few months after getting it and not realising the limits of adhesion with roundabouts, damp weather and road bike tyres, ended up sitting in the middle of the road whilst the nice man in the massive tipper truck behind stopped whilst I got up.

About 10 years old, Mag Burner BMX decided to clean it proper and took the wheels off, forgot to tighten them back up, first wheelie = face plant onto cobbles in the back street.

To avoid the chaos my idea is to park the van in Lancashire, then take the MTB over, ideally finding a Bridleway or simular that just drops onto the Route.

Any on the Route of either stage ?

I’d love to see the race but I seriously can’t cope with crowds as I get clostraphobic (sp)

Harry, on my Bolton News link Craig has commented with a possible location which may make sense to you as I don’t know the trails as well as you do.

http://www.theboltonnews.co.uk/news/bolton/11192558.Mountain_biker_seriously_hurt_in_beauty_spot_crash/?ref=rss&utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

My mate has just moved and dealt with the estate agents initially who turned out to be useless lying cheats, at one point they said the seller was going to pull out of the deal, luckily my mate had already met them by that time and he went round and spoke to them.

Turns out they had said nothing of the kind. Spent the night with them supping tea and whiskey.

Earlier in the deal process before they had met the seller, my mates missus was stressed about it all and went into the local chemist to get some Kalms or simular. She got talking to the lady serving and explained about the nightmare estate agents and the problems and the chemist lady was having the same issues. Guess who opened the door when they first met the sellers 😆 think that broke the ice…..

I got a lock, lightweight jacket, road bike shorts and one of the £7.99 jerseys.

Just done a MTB ride with the jersey on and the lightweight jacket and they are fine.

I’d say the jacket is more of a summer item just to take the chill off if its a bit nippy, I wouldn’t want to use it in a downpour or cold weather.

The jersey just has one big pocket, not the usual 3

It was like a pantomime in the store with about 30 people queuing up outside waiting for 10am and the stuff was being thrown around as people looked for their sizes. They must have took a fortune in that first hour.

Bump

Mine played up today.

I was just using it to record a ride and had the map running and, after a off road section, realised it thought I was still 1/2 mile further back. Had to press the screen and then it located me instantly.

Last week it just went off whilst navigating and I lost a 34 mile ride which was annoying.

This is on a Edge Touring.

Think I’ve got it sorted now, it’s appearing in the map options so I’ve just sent a previous ride to the Touring so now time to try it out.

Will report back all being well 😀

I’ve just tried sending this to my Touring and I need another 322 MB of memory.

Will I have to buy another SD card and put these maps on that ?

I did a simular distance yesterday and I will probably never loose weight because I eat quite a lot.

Before 2 x toast with peanut butter, a 6″ subway sub that was about 1 – 2 hours before.

Took a 750ml of weak vimto and a 500ml of water topped up with SIS tablet, stopped after 20 miles to get a couple of flapjacks ( roadside butty van didn’t even get off the bike 😆 ) scoffed one straight away and had one about and hour later.

Stopped at about 30 miles to get more water and a can of pop. That did me fine till about 5 miles from the end when I started slowing down a bit so just had a gel then.

I stopped a few times on the ride for a ” comfort break ” but it defiantly sounds like the OP was dehydrated. I find I need to drink loads else I get a mega headache after.

As DanW said, use Streetview or Google satellite views.

I also have Viewranger open which shows NCN routes on OS maps.

I’ve a Touring and I’ve given up trying to use it as a Sat Nav ie putting a postcode in and going for it as it always sends me down routes unsuitable for the Road Bike. Also, it doesn’t know NCN routes. The other week I was following Route 55 into Manchester and it didn’t recognise it.

It just kept saying traveling south west or whatever. I turned the Map off in the end. ” riding on M60 ” is something you don’t want to see on a bike GPS but that came up when I went under the motorway bridge.

I’ve set it up for Road Bike and it still does it. Plotting a route then sending it to device works brilliantly though.

Just got back from the Docs, the blood tests may be back Thursday but more than likely next week because of Easter.

So far :-

Height 5ft 9

Weight 87 kgs

Blood pressure 106 over 60 which she said is fine.

According to the BMI I’m over weight and need to be under 12 stone and I’m currently 13 st 10

All the tests have come back fine, cholesterol was 3.4

Now where’s them Cream Cakes 😆

Just got back from the Docs, the blood tests may be back Thursday but more than likely next week because of Easter.

So far :-

Height 5ft 9

Weight 87 kgs

Blood pressure 106 over 60 which she said is fine.

According to the BMI I’m over weight and need to be under 12 stone and I’m currently 13 st 10

N I is about £12 per month when paid by Direct Debit, I set mine up as soon as I went Self Employed.

You can also pay annually but I prefer monthly and it’s such a small amount, don’t really notice it going out.

There’s a Kwik Save in Little Lever near Bolton that’s been opened within the last year or so but I think its the only one in the country.

Whether the guy bought the name or just used it is anyone’s guess.

Round here there was CO-OP Normid which I think stood for North West and Midlands, was basically the good old CO-OP under another name.