It was one of the “must do” rides that folk (mags) kept banging on about in the late noughties, like the Doethie valley. I did both back then and yes, they are nice enough ways to spend a day, the views are lovely and you get that feeling of being in the middle of nowhere, but for me the actual riding was a bit meh. Probably not helped by MrsP managing to snap a tubeless valve clean off her wheel going down Bowderdale – Stans wasn’t fixing that one.

Near Chertsey?

That’ would overlap my local patch but searching strava brings up segments in other places like Newport and Soller. Guess those pigs fly a fair way.

Still seems a bit odd for a club to “claim” a segment, but then I don’t understand a lot of things about roadie clubs.

seem to recall that someone with a background in F1 aerodynamics came up with a fan system that acted as a virtual door to reduce power consumption of open fridges.

Williams Advanced Engineering came up with an aerofoil blade that could be added to the front of the shelves which kept more of the cold air inside the refrigerator, saving a chunk of the running cost. IIRC it was pretty widely adopted by all the major players.

McLaren in particular have plenty of history of having two top drivers and letting them slug it out for race wins: Hamilton and Button, Hamilton and Alonso, Senna and Prost, Prost and Lauda…

All of those are as relevant to today’s McLaren team as the Honda F1 team is to Merc. The team might have been called McLaren back then but there’s hardly anyone left in a senior position from those days. The current McLaren team are still learning how to win regularly and finding that it’s actually really difficult to get everything right every race.  That’s compounded by having several close competitors who may be a smidge slower on paper but have way more (current) experience at the front of the grid.  It’s nice to have some proper competition and uncertainty in F1 again.

Cassette fully tight?

No, about £60 with my old Octavia, but I would have got around 500 miles range from a full tank, about a month’s driving…

So sounds like your car is sat idle for huge amounts of time, and you most likely use it for shorter journeys – pretty much the same as me and perfectly suited to an EV. At that sort of mileage the numbers don’t really stack up for a new EV but I would definitely be looking at used options when I come to change my Octavia. Just hope there’s more choice of estates by then.

I have an old hex that I didn’t use,sorts out most ailments

IME people who claim that sort of thing are all Torx and no trousers.

Thanks for the suggestions so far – sadly it seems that hitting bursas with bibles, worktops or phones isn’t a good idea after all. Might try the brake syringe though – but am I running on mineral oil or DOT4?

Oh and the tablets? Normally they just say “take three times a day” but the instructions on those are a bit more comprehensive

Well that’s a bit of a snub for Audi – and it’ll be interesting to see how he shapes up against Albon.

So Antonelli to Merc then?

IMO it is like the cat aids, and therefore putting you down immediately is the only way forward.

What bikes ‘need’ clearing out for you. I can volunteer my time…

Only if you promise to scratch me gently behind the ears while I’m slipping away :)

Turns out I CAN descend like Nino!

Are the cars not inspected after qualifying?

AiUI there’s a bit of a random element to scrutineering as they don’t have capacity to check every bit of every car – for instance when there were plank wear issues at the US GP last year only a few of the cars were actually checked

I’m puzzled why any of them are standing now. Recent history has shown the relatively short term nature of Tory leadership and I’d expect this new leader to be replaced before the next GE. They’ll have about 18-24 months to try to get the polls moving in their favour, then the squabbling will most likely start again.

Unfortunately it looks like three hours of the filler bits between songs at Eurovision.

Just needs Graham Norton doing the commentary!

If they wanted, they could request payment in carpet and refuse service otherwise.

That’d be an unexpected twist.

 I like the red flowers….

Kniphofia innit, aka red hot pokers.

New bike, apparently new paving on drive … How’s Mrs TINAS?

If you get asked if you want to watch any more Just Say No.

the fix requires booting each system that is having problems to safe mode

So when Microsoft say they are taking “mitigating action” they actually do mean turning it off and back on again?

Good news on the prompt treatment and recovery but make sure those around you are vigilant for symptoms over the next few weeks in case of recurrence.

Ah but if you get fancy pants bread it’ll ruin a bacon sarnie or chip butty which demand the fluffy nothingness of cheap white supermarket bread. A sourdough bacon sarnie can get in the sea.

I’m pondering this at the moment – my current winter bike is my old 26″ full sus but a) I don’t enjoy riding it that much any more and b) the carbon is in a shocking state and the bushings wobble. I could do another year on it, but I’m keeping half an eye out for deals on something like a 120mm hardtail with decent geometry, 1×11 and mudguards.

Can you get 20k put into an S&S ISA wrapper? But as above best speak to a professional

Something for your shopping lists?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c9wv19gv119o

KISS?

Jetsam’s finest! :)

Had fun chats with a TSA chap at LAX about the item in my bag inscribed with “This device is capable of killing you without warning”. He was understandably suspicious and trying to explain how a diving rebreather works took a while.

Brand X did a lever for 2x/3x systems –

Brand-X Ascend Dropper Lever Kit – 2X – 3X Gears

As above go for the longest drop that can fit in your frame, depending on the frame you may need to go for external routing or be brave and drill a hole to get a cable into your seat tube.

My current wired earphones are some sort of Sennheiser Momentum 2s

My M2s are wireless or wired – are you after wireless earbuds? I have Sony WF-C700s which are pretty good, but the M2s are still better for “proper” listening

Dutch have all the energy and desire now

That aged quickly

I put GX on my bike as Shimano was only selling XTR at the time. I expected to replace it with XT as stuff wore out but it’s still going strong and hasn’t really missed a beat (now running X01 chains which last and last). I put Shimano on MrsPs bike when I built it and she’s had one XTR shifter fail under warranty and the clutch on the XT mech needs regular servicing to keep the shifting sweet. Based on that I’m now thinking of migrating her bike back to SRAM.

In the past I’ve used pliers to hold them over the gas hob – that seems to burn off contamination pretty well but make sure the kitchen is very well ventilated as it stinks.

I was hit by a van that failed to stop at a roundabout – fortunately I noticed that it wasn’t slowing and was able to brake and steer into the centre of the roundabout so it was a side to side impact rather than being T boned. All caught on video, reported and the police ended up asking me whether I wanted to take it to court or deal with it through a driver improvement course.

If you need a goal to stay fit, perhaps switch away from XC to something like enduro racing which will test your skills in a different way without such focus on being fast uphill?

I’ve just bought a NowTV pass for the race.

I’m just watching live on C4.

Time for a new bike?

Good news and bad news for Ollie B – the good news is you’re in F1, the bad news is you’re driving for Haas. But if he performs as anticipated I expect it’s just until Lewis or Charles make a space for him to fill.

I believe it’s owned by Touker Souleyman from Dragons Den on the telly. Your choice whether you want to add to the wealth of a rich man who’s ethos seems to be buying as cheap as possible from China.

Galibier do some of their kit in different leg lengths

https://www.galibier.cc/product/peloton-bib-shorts/

But for info they’re on a brief summer shutdown at the moment so won’t be shipping orders until next week

The blubbing has begun!

maybe just a wee shower

What goes in Spa stays in Spa…

Grrrrrrrreat flick from Toney

Like NumberWang

That’s WordWang!