When it was announced sky had the tv rights, i said to myself no way will i pay to watch a sport i love, but have found myself up early this morning and looking like a lost dog with no F1 to watch…..

Paying for Sky must be akin to announcing you love riding a road bike on here and feel really happy in lycra…..

Junkyard, sounds like a nightmare, really surprised they cant do anymore.
The 3d pictures are cool, looking into the tube with the swirling light is rather strange at first but what they can see and tell is pretty clever, mine looked a 3 year olds picture of the world.

On the subject of stitches, i keep getting told that they will all come out at the same time, although i was under the impression that was the adjustment factor of the graft.

The consultant who did my op is telling me he hopes to take the stitches out after 6 months, which seems quite quick to me, but he knows alot more than me!

+1 for not being bothered about having eyes poked around by medical types, 18 years of wearing contact lenses has made them tough as old boots i reckon, although i did draw the line at having it done under local anesthetic, that would be a step too far……

Junkyard, shame yours didnt work out, i take it the clever coats are now trying to sort it for you? and those hybrid lens things are rubbish, the optometrist had me trying them for 2 years, and they fell apart, gave me 2 eye infections, which nearly resulted in me losing my right eye, and when offered the new version last year, i got a strange look when i sugggested a place to store them!

E maile now sent, I had mine done at my local hospital here in Norwich.

As a keratoconus sufferer for 18 years, my right eye went exactly like yours, worn away due to lens wear, and thin to the point of bursting.

like jolly green giant, i can vouch for the advice on the Keratoconus group website, stumbled across them by accident, but they have been very helpful.

Its early and i am being thick, but i cant see an e mail address in your profile!

no problem, e mail on its way.

Bump no more, i had my right eye done 8 weeks ago, and its slowly improving each week.

I was lucky, i only had to have a partial thickness graft, which means less aggro with recovery and steroid drops. Mine was as a result of no more options for the treatment of Keratoconus.

so far it has been ok, the first week was a bit of a blur (no pun intended) as general anesthetic and lack of sleep took my mind off my eye, after a week the bandage lens was removed, and then it hurt like hell, believe me blinking over 24 stitches is not fun! but after 24 hours that settled and to date all seems ok.

At the moment the stitches are very tight, and vision is still poor, and will be for some time, but the eye is clear, gives me no pain and has amazed me how resilient it is.

The only downside, and the answer you want is yes, it has had an effect on my cycling, as you cannot afford to increase pressure in the eye, anything where blood pressure increases is a big no no, the consultant suggested no exercise for a month, then light stuff after that, so i did some walking, and sat on the turbo at low resistance to pass time, but now i am back to riding the road bike with no problems, not donemuch on the mtb yet, as dust and muck is to be avoided at all costs, to reduce the chance of infection.

i was bricking it on the day of the operation, but looking back, i have no regrest at all, and cant wait to see the final results in a few months.

went to a talk by the guy who flew the vulcan in question, it was great, how they ever got there to drop the bomobs on board i dont know, the planning was unreal, and they were only the reserve crew.

awesome.

There were some very fine examples of both mark 1 and mark 2 escorts at Race retro a couple of weekends ago, although like all rally cars its hard to judge true history, as most of the factory cars had different registrations over the years due to accidents etc.

There is no sound like that of a 2 litre BDG engined escort at full chat in a forest at night, a sound that i am never likely to forget.
And living in east anglia, where in the 70s and 80s the club rallying scene was massive, alotof the ex works cars made there way up here too, whixh as a small lad i loved to see.

Its too ashamed to admit you have been on “Bike Radar” 😀

My new cannondale came with Askiums and they felt really nice, light enough and strong, only thing i found odd was you could feel them being blown around in a side wind, must be due to the flat spokes i would assume.
But they are scrap now,hit a large pot hole in the dark, and front has cracked through and broken at the valve hole, and rear is like a 50p…Less than 300 miles and now need some new ones.

Cardiff is where i will be tomorrow, and going to have a look round the Certini store whilw i am there aswell, Went to the Bike Shed today, they are mid refit so spread out a bit, and nothing new in Tredz, But the missus is off visiting friends, so me and the lad are off to town, he hates shopping, but wants to go to the Apple store.

The humble spade has earnt me many a pound over the years, its surprising how little effort it takes to cut through a cable, armoured or un-armoured…..

When you do the repair, make sure everything is nice and clean, as if you use a resin filled joint, any crud where the water seal is will just let moisture in, and in a few years you will be digging it up again and starting all over again.

I saw it and thought what a nice part of the country to live/ride, and they seemed to be enjoying it, which surely must be what its all about.

Had a set of “whispbars” for about 18 months now, and have to say i am impressed, they are on a Honda Crv (company car) which is driven 100+ miles daily, and at no point have i ever found them noisy, i have got 3 thule racks on them and really cant complain. My only gripe was getting them in the first place, it took about 8 weeks, and when they did turn up, 1 bar was missing from the box! Really easy to fit and good quality…

7 seconds, and ended up chuckling like a fool, didnt wantto see the film, although the kids do, but its returned my childhood love of the muppets, so we will be booking tickets asap…..

Thanks Warton, will go and check my e mails, then really should do something useful……….

e mail confirmation of order, they may well get my business again.

i paid for one on thursday, and redeemed the voucher this morning, but at checkout it directed me towards a £10 gift card thing that was for the suppliers website, which i didnt want, so i think i skipped past it, not really sure if my order has gone through or not…….

A new pair of Spiuk Road Shoes.

Tin of Morgan Blue carbon polish

Sleeping bag for my Sons first scout camp….

When i built mine, i ran a drop of gease around the BB shell, its the shimano one and it has been creak free.

Depending who you speak too at on One you might get an answer, but most likely not the one you would expect.

For me over the last 6 months the road bike has been used more than my mtb”s, family life,home and work have been too usy to find the time to drive 35 miles to the forest, but i can wheel out the roadie and have a couple of hours to keep my fitness up and most importantly, ride a bike.

and the lovely Wife, has bought me a nice shiny new Cannondale Supersix for my 40th! which is sitting doing bugger all at the moment as i have to get over a Cornea transplant first…………

Well i thought i was going to be lucky, found what i wanted, in my size and at a bargain price, so boldly placed the order on Friday evening.
Checked status this morning, and mney had been taken from account, and order was being “processed”….yea i thought, lucky old chap you bagged yourself a deal there, but no, a call this afternoon to just see why order status hasnt changed all day and, yep you guessed it “out of stock” in fact sir we have not had that shoe in for a while!
So why did you accept my order and take my money then?

A hand luggage sized case off the wife, which she informs me will be handy for my clothes, if i decide to buy another bike in the new year.

And my mum bought me xt shifters! just what i wanted to complete the rebuild of mt anthem over the winter!

I did and i finished this time, without being hit by anyone and run over, enjoyed it apart from the bout of cramp on lap 3, seems to be really popular this year.

Not today as racing there tomorrow, there is usually groups around the car park at Brandon Country Park from 10am onwards who will happily have you ride with them, if not cross the road and head towards Mayday Meadow, there is sure to be someone riding the race lap.

I was lucky enough to spend 12 great years following my dad around when he was co driving for various people from about 1977 onwards, at that time we used to see a lot of ex works Ford Escorts being run on events in East Anglia, at the time he was being scared stupid in a Mk2 RS2000, but it was kept at a farm alongside an ex works Talbot Sunbeam Lotus, and a couple of other Escorts, (1 group 1 car, and an ex works group 4). Now being ever helpful and generally nosy, i used to be strapped in to any of the above and given trips round the farm tracks before events, memories i will never forget…
Over the years he had the opportunity to rally in some great cars including,
ex works Escorts, XJO 414V the Roger Clark TR7 V8 and the final one, and my favourite, because it was just plain bonkers, one of the most odd Group B cars ever, an ex factory Citroen Visa Trophy, (1300cc twin carbs, dog box all fibre galss panels and lots of noise.) in this dad and his equally nuts driver managed to win a couple of events outright, against cars with twice the power but not the agility…

Good Times……Rallying isnt as good now though…….

18″ whippet rider here, i hunch over mine at 5″ 11, and have found it to be very good, its comfortable, although i started off with the on one reccomendation of a 70mm stem, this was way too short and have now fitted a 100mm version which is lots better.

Running it 1×9 and all in with my stans wheels its a shade over 20 pounds, the only real negative is the laquer comes off very easily.

Overall really happy with it, and will be giving it hell through the winter.

Just south of Norwich, but use Revel Outdoors in Bury as its close to work, but Madgetts in Diss is ace for the bits you just might need..

Anyone heard anyhting on these yet?

sent an e mail but no reply……

I managed to fall of while going in a straight line @ d2d in the early hours, still not sure how………..

Well in a strange kind of way i enjoyed it, every lap was a challenge, and i just got on with it, gee sorry to hear about your injury, i was having a sneaky pee in the trees when the quads went out, and thought it was the rozzers1

I have to say, everyone i passed got a nice cheery “good luck” as i went by, and i tried to pick my overtakes as best i could, my biggest fright came on my 1st lap, after the home turn, where i came across 3 solo riders having a chat in the middle of the trail, cant say i blame them, its not a bad place to stop…..

Its a nice course for this year, a touch over 10 miles, good mix of singletrack and fire road, and nice and fast at the moment, a bit of rain in the week really wont do the course any harm, as it could do with it.

The arena being at High Lodge is good, loads more room and the facilities being open helps during the night if you cant be bothered to make your own cup of tea!

should be fun, and good luck to all who are competing.

Did 2 laps of the dusk till dawn course tonight, and it was lovely, few bunnies hopping around and a deer who just watched us roll past, really good, and had the same thing as dawson, pockets of warm air that were really strange, never had that before at thetford.

The price of copper and its attraction to the stealing buggers has kept me bust at work for the last 3 years, and in the last 12 months we have had a dead one, a burnt one and a hand left behind next to a hacksaw!

At night now when i get called out, i wonder what the hell i will find when i open a sub station door…………..

Continental X kings, all round black rubberey wonders………

Utilities, 23 years and multiple owners, all who have come in and stripped us down to the point where we are right royally stuffed, now owned by a very large Chinese firm who seem to think we have done bugger all for the last 10 years……….

Redundancy beckons i fear at some point………

i was going rioting last night, but my tracksuit was in the wash……….

I have got both race king (supersonic) and X king (race sport) and they can be buggers to seal, last time i swapped them, i brushed some stans sealant around the bead which helped.

had the same as you mightymarmite with the x kings, when i fitted them the sidewalls looked they had been shot, there were so many pin holes, so i just put in more sealant, now running 4 ounces in each wheel and been ok.

cant believe they didnt tarmac the drive so she could walk in the shoes a bit easier……

cheers guys,

dont lke the sound of the treadmill, got a race on sunday……..
will have to ask some questions tomorrow when i go in..