As thecaptain says, you are required to update your driving license when you move abroad, but you need to have a UK address to do this – DUH. Same with so many things, banks, iTunes and Paypal etc.

I think I’ll ask my parents to insure and then see if I can be a named driver.

Thanks for the input everyone. :lol:

My 2pence:

How happy you are in life can be linked to how much control you feel you have. So along those lines I’d say make sure whatever you do is going to bring several options for the future: options to develop, learn, take more responsibility, travel etc – whatever you feel would be a good challenge.

OP seems to be dealing with his job loss pretty well and he also sounds like a guy who’s been happy to give most things a try – I think that attitude is a winner in terms of life enjoyment.

Trail Rat and Supreme Bean – I think you’re onto something. Seems so obvious but it may be the shower mixer unit. It could be as simple as the tap washer being a bit dodgy.

I’ll look into it.

Cheers all!

Pressure – that we must check!
I’ll read up on the flow sensor. That is a potential as the problem has been getting worse and the “outages” have been getting longer.

I recommend avoiding the “wedding factory” type places. They are geared up to rob you of every penny they can.

We got married on a beach (free)in Scotland. It was a humanist wedding (rules vary between Scotland and England about legality of this). I’m not sure if a humanist wedding in England is legally recognised.

We then had reception, drinks and food in a nearby pub/restaurant place. They do amazing food and good beers so we knew the standards would be good but they’d only done a few weddings before and didn’t screw us on cost. We had no seating plan and only 80% of the required seats – ace! Makes it more social. My wife had to ask for a chair.

Then we moved on to the local village hall (£120 including clean up). The pub put on a bar and did bacon rolls and cake at the break.

Everything included it cost us £7,000.

* Photographer was a friend
* Borrowed rich friend’s cars
* Dress was a £150 “bridesmaid’s dress” – looked stunning!
* Band were a bunch of mates
* Bridesmaid’s made their own dresses together.
* My family made the cake (they are bakers after all)
* We made all the decorations for the tables and the hall.
* Our friends helped with so much – this is a huge benefit because everyone feels part of it. A nice metaphor for your reltionship and life.

GOOD LUCK! You’ll need it.

Don’t live in a filthy city.

Have suffered with Asthma all my life. Was at it’s worst when I worked in London and spent lots of time commuting by bike.

Now commute through forest and woodland in Sweden and my breathing has had a huge improvement. Also haven’t caught a cold for at least two years (probably to do with no taking the tube/train).

I’m on Symbicort (red turbo haler). Took it twice a day before but in the last few years I’ve only taken if I begin to feel any breathing restriction.

Branson moved to the Virgin Islands to improve his health too. Nothing to do with Tax. Nope. Not at all.

I rode Swavis’ fatty the other night and it was STUPID FUN. It felt, nimble, agile, light and FUN. Only realised it was a heavy beast when I had to lift it. If I could justify (and afford one) I wouldn’t hesitate.

Thanks for the ride Swavis!
See you again soon – I hope. :-)

I did a long bike ride with. Just me, him and my mate. he’s a very genuine guy and a total “unit”.

He was noticeably worried to chat with us at first due to his brain issues – he struggles to string words together at times, especially when public speaking. After a while though the banter was flowing and he was a good laugh.

He’s done well to recover from his injuries.

Arlanda Express into town, have a wander round City Hall, walk along the waterside to parliament buildings. Have a drink in Berns then get back on the train.

The page quotes a study done by EA, Defra and WRAP but the website is run by AHPMA.

Members of AHPMA: http://www.ahpma.co.uk/members.html

also, @thestabiliser – I’m not saying it’s false information but the above life cycle comparison of cloth vs disposable was funded by the disposable manufacturers.

Pessimistic glasses on.

Í live in Sweden and it’s illegal to landfill. Our waste goes to a CHP plant which heats my home.

If I buy secondhand reusables, that makes a big impact!

I did the Celtman this year – cxtri.com. My only triathlon. Bloody excellent race. Ironman boring in comparison. Why do a dull course?? Choose an event which will have a fun day rather than a head down slog and 4 laps of a 10km flat road route. I know guys who enjoyed training for IM but then hated every minute of the day. WHY?!

Training:
Depends on your background.
Hours and hours of it regardless.
Don’t increase distance or intensity too fast as you may get injured.

If you have a busy social life, you’ll need to cut bits out. You’ll feel tired a lot. Don’t get swallowed too much by all the techno heartrate, aero helmet babble. Focus on comfort on the bike, eating well (cheese and fried eggs sandwiches for me) and getting the miles into your legs. I overtook loads of folk with pointy helmets, aero bars and socks up to their knees. I was first rider on a standard road bike with normal wheels. Save your money!

No need to do loads of long runs or rides, provided you’re getting lots of distance across the week. My longest run before it was 24km. Ran a 4 hour marathon offroad and over big hills at the end. Chuffed!

Bottom line: your only limit is your motivation.

Great answer – thanks Garry! I think I may take the plunge with the Massive Brewery kit so expect to hear more from me!!

When is the copper chiller used? Is it after the wort has been boiled? I guess this is to get it down to room temp quicker to avoid any nasties beginning to grow in the wort?

If so, would you syphon from the hot wort mix, through the chiller (which is sitting in another bucket of cold water) and out into your fermentation bucket?

Very interested in this!

I ride a Rohloff and other than an annual oil change haven’t done anything to it in two years. 10km each way 4 days a week on average plus loads of weekend tours and a big one in South America.

Steel singlespeed chainsets go a long way!

As thisisnotaspoon days, I doubt we’ll find anyone who rides a motorbike as poorly maintained as some of our cycle commuters. Still interested to understand the maintenance required for the distance delivered.

With no maintenance or oiling etc.

Just get on and ride.

My thought was chain snapping first. Pedals snapping and bearings breaking down don’t necessarily stop you.

Though I did have an interesting BB bearing explosion/fall over in front of a bus when the bearings came loose and jammed the cranks!

Brilliant mate, absolutely brilliant!!

I’ve only had a small wrist injury but my advice is make sure you do as much “rehab” as possible on both hands. I lost a bit of dexterity and now the injured wrist goes numb really easily on long rides (normally only road riding though). It also gets cold easily.

I’m not sure on what exercises but anything which helps dexterity and strength. I have a powerball thingy which is quite good but I didn’t really do anything to recuperate until years after the incident.

Good on ya! Keep shredding!!!

Really? 45 mins from Tavistock to Estover (by the old airport)? It’s only 11 miles.

I’d plan to ride it. I guess traffic is pretty heavy thereabouts?

If this is a non stop 24 hours race, I’d say that an HRM is not very useful.

Use it for training to test your fitness but as far as long distance racing goes, for 24 hours it’s about staying aerobic (mostly) and keeping the mental focus and calories/water/salts going in. The top guys at a lot of the extreme triathlon events (Norseman, Celtman etc) don’t use one.

Good training tool/fitness checker, MAMIL’s plaything otherwise.

Don’t assume that moving country will solve your life problems.

If you’re moving with a partner you need to be 100% honest and supportive of each other as you’ll need to rely on one another. If you’re single it may be simpler to move but more lonely in the beginning.

I agree with the above sentiments that it can take around 2 years to fill the gap left by friends, but I’d say that also depends on your age/stage and the culture you’re in. I moved to Sweden 18 months ago on a local contract and as we are learning the language and insist on speaking Swedish, it takes a long time to get to know people.

Sports clubs/groups are a great way to make friends. Turned up to a local ride with my singlespeed and isntantly got accepted by the other singlespeed riders as we all have a similar attitude to life. I’m finding the same with a local Tri club now too.

It takes about 4-6 years to make really strong friendships I’d say. I expect living in a UK colony would make the finding friends part a bit quicker.

Though it makes life tougher, I regret nothing and relish the challenge. If you can, do.

I didn’t read your post closely enough!

My friend has the polar competitor to the 610 and I think it has a much longer battery life and the watch is very slim. It comes with a separate rechargable GPS unit with 20 hour life. I think it comes with a pouch you can fix to the top of a rucksack strap? I believe the watch battery last a long time as it’s only receiving data from the GPS and HR monitor, not actually going the GPS work.

I think wrist mounted/fully integrated works well for shorter activities, but for longer days a separate GPS makes sense.
Hope that helps?!

What do you want to use it for?

Biking, running, ?
Just to log your routes or for data during the activity?

I have a Forerunner 610 -£200 from eBay.- and I use it to log bike rides and runs. It’s the closest to a watch you can get currently. Battery is only 8 hours but I don’t run more than 6 normally.

Sheck – I did this a few year ago and it worked fine. The opposite to kilo though, I never went back to gears apart from using the wheel for touring.

Mostly I kept the shifter on the bar and just zip tied the cable out the way of the rear dropout when SS.

Eventually I did a bit of sawing and drilling and make the shifter bolted on each side (like a Hope brake lever) made swapping a 5-10 minute job.

Get in touch if you want pics or fancy buying the wheel and shifter – 29er Alfine 8 on Mavic TN719 with choice of 160 or 180mm rotors. Email in profile.

somafunk – agree 100% with you on white chocolate. Without any liqour it’s just fatty sugar. That said I am partial to a bit now and then – think it’s the memories of being 5.

Did you ever make a dark chocolate shell filled with blue cheese? Tried one in Poland and they are actually pretty amazing. Not sure on the shelflife though!!

Just about to place an order for 2000+ chocolate moulds myself – we produce on a slightly different scale.

Go confectionery!!!

Ski mask heat exchanger.

My buff was a frozen sheet this morning, my eyelashes were frozen and my front was covered in my frozen breathe.

It’s cold I tells ya!

I agree about dodgy road conditions, more darkness but also the effect it has on your physiology.

It’s -15C here currently (Stockholm) and it’s immediately noticeable how your performance drops. I actually struggle to raise my heartrate above “cruising” speed when it’s this cold, like my brain is telling me just to plod. When I do manage a mini sprint, my lungs burn and it’s tougher work than normal!

I do a fair bit of xc skiing and when temps are below -10C you see a lot of serious folks using heat exchanger things they breathe through. Apparently the cold air can be pretty bad for your lungs. Managed a 10km loop in -27C last year and thought I’d never be able to use my hands again.

And my dad (in Scotland) still says, “Aye, but it’s a dry cold you get, not like here.” !!

Stay safe!

ed34.

The easiest way to get “fit” is to take pleasure in whatever sport you are doing. If I was trying to choose whether to climb or bike I’d try and go turn about unless the weather was terrible, then indoor climb until it’s nicer out.

I’ve noticed the biggest factor in me getting out is “social”. Having a group of people to go and ride or climb with makes it fun, competitive and you’ll do it every week without fail if they become good mates.

That said, best way to get your fitness up is to insert a few intervals in your riding. Once you’ve been cruising along for the first 20 mins and are nicely warmed up give a few 80% power efforts for 2-3 minutes. This is a lot easier if you’ve got a hilly ride. Intervals will boost your heart and lung ability. But as it started out with, if it’s fun, you’ll do it more.

Hope that is useful?!

Standard Shimano square taper. Think mine is a UN73? Fitted 3 and a half years ago and never had any problems – just beginning to feel a slight bit of play. I ride on average 15 miles offroad a week. Every week, so I rate them!

Square taper BB’s are so reliable that they had to invent other “standards” or “improvements” to keep their business growing.

That’s the one. I think you’re a passenger regardless of your mode of transport.

If you’re considering the Outer Hebrides, from memory we bought our ticket at the start and it was valid for a week or so. £45 got us from Oban – Barra (all the shorter between islands) then from Stornoway to Ullapool. 2004 that was though!

Bikes free as far as I know.

Have a great time! Harris/Lewis are fantastic – pack for 4 seasons.

Every timetable states the price, eg: Barra – Eriskay Timetable

CalMac Timetables and Fares

Tada!

If you have an option to fly with Norwegian, they are superb with bikes. I just rode to the airport on my bike. Checked in, a guy came out to the desk and took my bike away.

Next time I saw it, it was sitting, propped against the wall in the Stockholm baggage reclaim area. No padding, no deflating tyres.

Most folk in the Nordics are sporty in some way so the airlines and trains are quite used to it.

Enjoy!

The Montane is doing nothing to keep you warm as the windstopper is already stopping the wind.

Don’t underestimate how much heat you lose through your neck and head. There is a lot of blood near the surface of your neck. I wear a buff till zero degree and then have a thicker fleece neck tube thing meant for sailing.

If you’re still cold, then focus on moving the windstopper away from your skin with a thicker base layer or fleece. As mentioned above, a synthetic will make you super warm when used under a windproof layer.

I work in Stockholm and ride all through the year. I wear a Gore Windstopper with a merino vest until 0DegC and then I start using long sleeved merino under it. I wear boxers and 3/4 cotton/moleskin trousers between 0-10DegC and when it drops below I’m wearing full length Roubaix leggings under my 3/4.

Riding harder also helps, but if you want to stay at a particular intensity not very useful!
Good luck!

I’m fitting the ice tyres and changing my Rohloff oil tonight! -3 this morning!

Have ridden in many places across the UK and have only seen people wearing knee/shin protection if riding DH or are a “Mr Safety” type.

Recently moved to Stockholm and it is de rigueur regardless of ability or riding style. The terrain suits it as we ride 50% of the time on big bits of exposed granite. There are no long 30 minute plus climbs so you’re rarely spinning and sitting in the saddle. It’s mostly pedal kicks and pumping.

That said, I’d feel weird not wearing them in the UK now as I am so used to it.

Agree that the fit is never good. Your knee flexes a long way and even the nice POC ones are a bit annoying after a while.

Protect your knees!

Go for it!! I hope the weather is better where you are . . .

Just keep moving and you’ll get there. :D

If you’re not near a nice coffee place (I’m not) then I’m sure hasbean or similar have a great choice.

If you get mega serious and fancy a grinder – do not skimp! I did this and bought one which couldn’t actually grind fine enough for espresso.

Yes, that’s the mod I mean. It’s not as scary as it might look!

If you have a backflushing plate then you can do the following:
With the back flush plate in the portafilter, collect water from the over pressure hose (I think it’s the shorter of the two in the water tank, the other being the pump feed). Use this chart to set the pressure to approx. 9bar. This means that you’re aiming to get about 130ml from the pump (through the over pressure hose) in 30 secs.

I’d suggest doing a test first to see what you currently get from the pump in 30 secs. Then reduce the pressure on the Over Pressure Valve and take another 30 sec sample. Play about until you’re satisfied.

The pressure doesn’t need to be totally spot on, but higher pressures bring out the bitterness, not enough pressure won’t extract enough flavour. 8-10 bar is acceptable for me.

Brewhead being too warm is also a big cause of overly bitter coffee.

Remember water and electricity will try their best to kill you :? don’t let them!
More info: Link

With regard to coffees there is no “good” or “bad”, just try lots of different ones until you’re happy! Don’t keep your beans or ground coffee in the fridge or freezer as this exposes it to a high humidity environment and the person who roasted them took a lot of effort to get the water out in the first place! Even if you keep it in an airtight container in the fridge, condensation will form on the surface when you take it out.

I’d say that it’s good to go along to a place who roast their own coffee and get them to grind it straight into an airtight container for you. I keep mine in small jam jars – this means they’re only opened/closed about 4 or 5 times in total so minimal air exposure.

I could ramble on . . .
Email in profile if you want more geek chat!

Bamboo – do the Gaggia pressure modification, take out the crappy plastic supra-crema insert in the portafilter and buy a proper double basket http://www.happydonkey.co.uk/

That will help a lot.

Also, turn the machine off for 5 seconds or a little longer before you start the pump. This will allow the head to cool a little and will avoid bitterness even more. The cheapo thermostat in the Gaggia overshoots the ideal 92-94ish degree C zone and will bring out bitter flavours.