rode it yesterday in the rain, and it was riding really well, no real let up from pedaling though, its a busy lap, and good fun.

We took delivery of an islabike this week, for our son who will be 10 in the new year, went down to there place to check them out, and ordered it there and then, great bit of kit, and nice and light.

Now the daughter wants one……………..

if you want to have a fast car/buggy, with easy maintenance go for an electric powered one, the new lipo batteries and brushless systems are very good, nitro was never of any interest for me, but they are good when they are running ok, and tend to take a bit more stick.

looking at the pictures, they take me back, started with a tamiya hornet, and never looked back, and the avante, was a proper pain in the a**e to setup.

Bristolbiker, did you ever do the BRCA nationals? spent many years doing off road, racing for Tamiya/Schumacher/Associated, before moving over to Touring Cars, with HPI and finally Xray, good times, but not something i miss now, i can throw myself off a bike better than when i was a kid………..

that looks the same as what i saw yesterday just north of Cardiff while riding on the black stuff, never seen one in the eild and watched it fly away, big wingspan, really smooth in flight.

We have ordered a Beinn 26, my son will be 10 in the new year, so by the time summer comes it will be perfect, The “bank of wife” was happy too so must be good!

Indian for me and the wife, as long as she doesnt get locked in the bank tonight……………….

all was good with mine, until the doc went to get something from a cupboard, banged his head, went all dizzy and proceeded to head back to me weilding a scalpel and complaining, i was more than happy when the nurse told him to sit down and fetched his colleague, to finish the job in hand.

the worst bit was they had left the curtains open on a side window, and half way through the gardener strolled past with his strimmer and had a look in!

god save the nhs…………..

i too have joined the massed ranks of folk who are now £6.80 better off.

had an 88 8v “campaign” (metallic black paint, blaupunkt stereo, 16v interior, different alloys,) and loved it, kept it for 7 years, did 110000 miles in it, and had to replace the rear calipers, and numerous sets of tires and discs and pads, the most fun i ever had with a car.
brought a tear to my eye the day it was driven away, and i still see it now, although it is now driven by some little bugger in a hoody! but he keeps it clean and tidy, and has left it as it was.

if it came up for sale, i would chance a period of silence from the wife to own it again…………….

Well i suppose it was character building, did lap 2 and lap 5 for our team, the first of which was fun, but the 2nd was grim, some how i seemed to get into a nice flow and tried to give cheery words to anyone who i passed, i think i only had to walk one bit of the lap, and that was certainly faster than trying to ride it, but then the cold set in and i felt like poo.

Big thankyou to all involved, without you it would never happen, and get well soon to all those who took a knock.

My only moan is the cost of parking, the lovely wife came over to watch, and help with the team, now correct me if i am wrong, but £10 to park from 6.30pm until 10.30pm seems a bit steep to me, thats another pair of brake pads……………

Dont really have the luxury of hiding anything financial, the wife sorts it all, well she works for a bank so its her job, cant complain though i get an allowance, we have a nice life and dont want for anything.
She did surprise me last christmas though, she handed me an envelope with a cheque for £500 in, followed by the words "go out and buy the frame you want then", i could have sworn she said feel free to double the amount though…………..the middle of january was a bit quiet when she had to sort the money for a mates anthem i had off him……….

saturday morning on the bike, afternoon, grumping my way round bathrooms with the wife.
sunday, britsh f3/GT meeting @ snetterton
monday bbq………………

more important than anything, what are you racing at the weekend, planning on a trip to snetterton on sunday, as f3/gt meeting is far better than the overpriced "boring cars" in my opinion………….

if its our car, it goes to my dad, and he sorts it…..need to learn at some point though, not bugger off indoors and eat my parents out os house and home..

thought my chinese was coming back up then, total nut jobs………..

bag packed car loaded, just got to pick up another rider in the morning, cant wait for my first 24/12, went for it as a team of 5 in the 24 hour race…..

must be having some form of mid life crisis……………..

If you like golf its good, and the health club is fairly new, other than that its much the same as any other hotel, will comment on the food after the weekend, going there for a summer ball on saturday night……

we have got 2 running at work, one in the downstairs office and one upstairs, i had a go on both and pulled out brazil both times, so just hoping for a top 3 from them, and then i can have something new and shiny for my bike…………..

he obviously wanted to be in by 9 to watch episode 2 of Luther………..

22 years in the supply industry teaches you to respect electricity for sure, only ever had 1 shock in all that time, all down to a pin prick hole in a rubber glove, put me on my back though, Spent several years working "Hot Glove" (11kv hands on) in an insulated Cherry Picker, very strange thing to get your head round at first, but after time you really do get a sense of how much power is in the network, seen some massive arc"s when breaking connections, will work live on a network any day of the week, but wont touch domestic stuff………..

what really gets at me, is the local travellers to me, turn up in the tesco where we do our weekly shop, while i go round with my kids, pay for what i want, they come in, shout swear and generally annoy other shoppers, then help themselves to what they like, give it to the kids who then bugger off out the door without being challenged, and pay for the odd item, and dont get me started on the mob going round nicking copper, who put mine and colleagues lives at risk, when we go to operate high voltage switchgear……………..

as above with the 2009 model, good spec and nice to ride, i went for a 20 inch frame as i am 6 foot, and its great to ride, a bit on the heavy side, but nothing a set of wheels and a few bits cant cure. the build quality seems to be vary good across the range, and more and more cube bikes seem to be around now.

as a wearer of gas permeable lenses, i never ride without my glasses on, only did it once, got some muck in my eye and it watered for hours,spent too many hours in casualty having them checked out to take the risk, and nearly losing an eye to an infection, makes me wary of licking a lens clean, but each to their own.

2 mounts, and handtec are doing the complete bundle for £186 plus postage, really good piece of kit.

If you can fold 1 part of the seat, you can leave the rear wheel in, if not its both wheels out and lay it flat in the boot, and this will leave plenty of room for the rest of your kit.

had one as my company car since they came out in May 07, now got 75k on the clock and has been no trouble at all, new tires and brake pads is about all its ever needed, nice build, drives really well, and the boot is like a cave, well impressed.

If you have one nearby, Tk Maxx usually have them heavily discounted, if not its Debenhams, My dear wife collects the them, i think as revenge for me collecting bike stuff……

am sure i have got the best wife in the world, mainly because she bought my giant anthem, ok so she wasnt too chuffed when i told her what i spent, but she is taiking to me again now….

Woodfordes kits are good, but then again so is there beer………and the food at the brewery pub next door……and the tour of the place including tasting, need i go on……

Anthem x, Md 100 fork, Thompson post and stem, hope brakes and mix of Xt/Xtr easton monkey lite bars, Ztr 355 wheels, probably the best thing i have ever bought, mind you the wife didnt think so……………..

road bike which lives on the turbo, a cube ltd race (1st nice mtb) and my recent addition, and anthem x, which according to the boss is to be paid for by the sale of the cube, soon told her where to go, cue 3 days of silence!

it sutter tripe about the bulid quality on a skoda, we have had a golf mk 2gti, polo seat toledo and lastly an octavia vrs between myself and the wife, and that was put together so well, so well in fact when it had to go it went to my father, who with 40+ years in the motor trade makes the point of raving about how good it is each time he sees me….