I finished this book about a week ago.
It did read like a collection of articles/stories (obviously).
Some were better than others, with some being very good indeed.
The writing style was good and it was like reading a compilation of the best bits from a cycling magazine. So considering how much we pay for magazines, I’d consider this a good buy.

If we’re doing ratings: 4/5

Re: the OP
I cant exactly remember BUT all the episodes start with a very extensive “previously on homeland” recap, so that will fill in any blanks.
FWIW I’m currently up to ep 4 or 5 and it seems ok. Very silly but quite snappy and engaging. You will need to unplug your brain while watching this. It reminds me of 24 a lot.

+1 swinley in the middle of labyrinth. I see the bin liners taped to the trees these days but first few times through the place looked like a landfill.

+1 on the Baby Maker trail there. All the kids sessioning the tiny jummps.

Using your kid as a windbreak, what’s not to like?

I actually quite like it. Not that I’d ever buy one.

At 20 months we took the side off her cot bed. It went well.

She’s quite wriggly, so sleeps in a bag.

def worth bedding in.
I wouldn’t worry about exact bedding in procedures, just get them blimmin hot. ride around for a couple of minutes dragging the brake. Then do 4 or 5 sprints, braking hard to a stop while still pedalling (doing this down a hill is good)
Once they’ve bedded in, you’ll feel the difference in braking modulation immediately.

BSG (just make sure you watch the mini series first)
and Firefly (watch Serenity afterwards)

Intro and description read well, so I reckon it’s worth a punt for a pound.
now up to 731 in the best sellers rank.

Im in the middle of week 4 and have been finding it nigh on impossible to do the last 5 or so of the last set. I presume this is normal, is it?

I found it really starting to ramp up during week 4. If you’re only 5 away from completing, jsut repeat the week and you’ll prob nail it.

I’m now on Week 5, Day 1. Although have now dropped to the middle column and am under the impression that I may need to start repeating weeks from here on in.

Redhill’s big plus point is the trains into London. If you dont need those, then i’d chose one of the smaller towns nearby.

sugar and grand marnier.
lemoncello is also good

while we’re on the subject of 6Music – Jarvis Cocker’s Sunday Service is excellent. Quite akin to John Peel at his best.

Don’t have an accountant yet – I’m starting my first contract at the end of the month, and for now I’m signed up with an umbrella company.

ditch the umbrella co and get a ltd company. If you’re using an umbrella co, you may well fall under the new european working directive rules, which will totally scupper any attempts to avoid IR35, which will vastly outweigh any tax saving you’re going to make on a van.

I ran the rotor on my front Hope M4 down to about a third of its original thickness before I noticed it! Then immediately replaced it as it seemed sensible. However, it was still working ok.

dont know but Sonos on line support (where you type to one of their support people on line) is very good.

“watching tv doesn’t get any tougher than this”

read the first book – thought it was rather mediocre. struggling to see what all the fuss is about.

nice write up. good luck and keep them coming.

Which is best for obscure music?

There doesn’t appear to be much to choose between Napster and Spotify. I’ve been a subscriber to both. I guess it also depends on the genre of obscure music. Mine was largely around 90’s electronica. Napster was marginally better, but not by much. Ended up going with Spotify purely down to service reliability* and the Spotify mobile app$

*The Napster streaming services went down over xmas/new year a year ago.
$Napster now has a similar mobile app. I haven’t used it.

philconsequence – Brechfa is def the best for a total newbie.
However, as you ride in Swinley. If you’re totally comfortable on the Labarynth/Deer Stalker/Baby Maker trails (esp the steeper bits near the start) and can ride the Corkscrew (and the 2 roll ins above it) in control, without dabbing, you should be ok on all the Welsh reds. There are a few rockier bits to armour the trail, but the technique is not hard. Have fun.

I used to do some mtb ones.
They’re good if you dont know the area and you cant be bothered to put together your own route. It’s quite nice to just plough along for a few hours in a new area without having to look at a map.

They generally try to pick the best of the bridelways in the area.

Keep your eyes open as you go along and you could then do a day exploring the area for more fun trails while basing a ride on bits of the route that they did.

The atmosphere was always well organised and easy going.

It would be perfect.
Got a 456 with a RS Rev 150 on it. rides fine but have to watch my technique on steep climbs to keep the front under control. A TALAS would be great for it.

Thanks for the advice. You’ll see from earlier in the thread that I was trying to avoid the Peaslake car parks. My route takes in SL, Telegraph Row, Y Pots, BKB etc. I often use the car park near the top of BKB but I wasn’t so sure on the Leith Hill area of my route.

In that case, you prob want to try the Starvael car park, which you will likely already pretty much ride past. Its reasonably big and often quiet. Just remember to take your bike off the roof before you drive in!

thanks all

FWIW Westcott also gets overcrowded (from a car parking perspective) at weekends, so best avoided unless you are joining a Nirvana Cycles ride etc.
I never use the car park behind the pub as I’d prefer to keep that for the people who are using the pub.
Just take a look at a map of the area, there are plenty of other car parks that you’ll prob ride very near to on one of your rides, so you might as well just start in one of those instead.

Tim, even the car park up the road past the village hall? Not been out there for a couple of months, I must admit.

Yep. Even after being made bigger, the car park is very busy. The amount of traffic (esp cars) is really starting to annoy locals. Understandable considering the small size of Peaslake and the amount of other car parks available in the area.

Also, the pub in Coldharbour wasn’t that good when I was last there.

Been a long time since I’ve been there. And I do like the one in Peaslake a lot (I had my wedding reception there!)

Far better to park in Peaslake, then have a big proper ride over to SL. Finish down Barry’s, then in to the pub/shop for post ride refreshments!

I disagree. Peaslake is getting far too busy. Much better for all concerned to park somewhere else and take in Peaslake during the ride.

And the pub in Coldharbour is good for a post ride beer.

here

Coldharbour is small and often overcrowded. So use the Land Slip car park.

iPad is fine for email, banking, ebay, general internet shopping etc.

Since we got an iPad, the laptop just gathers dust. Only to be booted up to do word processing and use specific apps like Spotify desktop (where iPad version lacks functionaility).
If you already have a laptop or PC in the house, def get an iPad.

Edit: too slow…

it’s not really the politicians who screwed things entirely, but that good old fashioned greed and sense of entitlement from the people, who didn’t understand the long-term impact of their behaviour and expectations

Indeed. but the politicians need someone to blame (bankers*) because if they told the elctorate that they were to blame, no one would vote for them!
*yes, I know bankers did cause chaos, but this was based upon greedy people borrowing too much money to start with.

Chips was bobbins
I remember the Water Margin and Chelmford 123, although never watched much of either.

Personally, it doesn’t get better than The Mysterious Cities of Gold. Brought and watched it on DVD a few years ago. Still awesome.

+1 what Nobby said

Swinley is very good for beginners. But no way marked trails, so you need to know where you are going.

Please can anyone let me know whether a pair of Rocket Rons will provide enough grip or do I need to put the mud tyres on? Thanks

wow. That Bose stuff is incredibly expensive for what it is. And very fugly.
Good advice above.

If you like Highland Park, you’ll prob like: Glenmorangee, Macallan, Glenkinchie, Arbelour and Jura.

Dont pay any attention to that whiskey map. It wont tell you which ones are peaty (which i also hate!).

BTW, if you’re ever in an airpot, always pop to the duty free whiskey section for a free tasting session and some recommendations!

two options:
1) fill in the holes as various groups. if litigation appears, all insist that someone else filled in that hole. cant prove who to blame so case collapses.

2) Notify council of pothole problem. all residents continually bill the council for damage to cars etc caused from potholes until they realise that it would be a good idea to just fix them.

watches with interest

Dracula
Ok but a little slow going. My internal reading voice keeps using Keanu Reeves’ accent from the film 😀

All of which I enjoyed apart from Catch 22, which I realise puts me into a minority

I thought it was alright but somewhat overrated and could have done with some editing.

That was my first experience of an event like that. I plodded around for four slow laps. It was a real eye openener (and somewhat dispiriting) to see so many people overtake me so quickly!
Still, good course, well organised and good fun.