Jekkyl – the word manual is alien to me, even on a bike

Got those fancy all in one Powerball things, perhaps it comes down to me stacking plates like an airline baggage handler

did he string 4 words together without changing the subject or heading on a odd tangent? He sounds like a singing version of russel brand, lots of big fancy words and verbal posturing, his songs appear to have shagging refs.

J mascis I heard get interviewed by Marc Maron on his podcast and he came across great, I do like Dino Jr though.

Birmingham Marathon? got mine for $25.

Oh crap! I never for one minute thought ‘that was cheap’

Reminds me of my mate who constantly sent his wife blank texts when the fell out and weren’t speaking.

Thanks gang x

I needed new valves for a similar style tap in our kitchen, I ended up getting them from a place in Thirsk online, http://www.paini.co.uk they had all sorts

Wold Top beers are really good (3 varietys), Hambletons are now doing 3 as well, if your down south (Kent) well worth a visit to Westerham Brewery everything they do in bottles is GF (an excellent range) and in some of the pubs they have stuff on draught. Their Bohemian Rhapsody pilsner is fantastic.
On Monday afternoon I sat in my local drink Hadrian & Border Grainger ale on draught! This is also available in some Wetherspoon branches in the North East, Wetherspoons also do Estrella Galacia which is a pretty tasty lager, some still have Estrella Daura in as well but be sure to get the right one as label on the non GF is very similar.

There’s a brewery in the Lakes as well, Stringers(?) they do a couple including a nice porter.

Some of the Brew Dog pubs have their GF beer on draught, Newcastle’s does.

Westerham, Wold Top and Hambletons all deliver from the websites as well IIRC.

Food, yeah that’s available as well.

I used to get the bell argument all the time on a lot of shared paths bridleways etc, but so many people walk around now with ipods etc plugged into their ears they never heard anyway, ive taken to bellowing out loud to shift people, with some it works others just look startled and shout at you.
I am one of the cheery hello, good morning, nice day isn’t it type of conversationalist on a ride but sometimes I do get a tiny teeny weeny little bit PEEEED OFF TO ****. Considering most of my riding is to get away from the real world and stress & depressing things etc this doesn’t help.

T25 Westfalia Joker, 1988 1.6 td 199k kms (LHD import from Germany) not sure what it does on diesel tbh never really thought about it, insurance is £360 includes uk and Europe recovery, bought for £8k prob worth about the same or a little bit more. Its in fantastic condition and has an amazing interior. So far I’ve bought a new starter motor £160, engine servicing and parts c£500 couple of mot’s and subsequent ball joint and new brakes another £350.

I did 2 weeks in Europe last year drove as far south as Zurich without a single issue.

Looking forward to hitting Holland and Belgium again in June this year.

I broke my ankle early feb and was back riding by july, albeit very short rides. My main problem was losing the fitness, ankle has been fine since (6 screws and some plate). I hadn’t ridden through the winter till that point so I went almost 8 months without riding.
Haven’t looked back since

I got shot out the door December 1st last year after 13+ years, Dec and Jan were hopeless for job hunting, thankfully things have picked up recently but still dipping into my redundancy. Cycling’s been good, but frankly I would like to get some money coming in and keep my pay off for other stuff but mortgage and gas bills…

Can’t speak for Wales but in England my daughters costs break down into course fee (wholly funded by Student Finance England £9000 per year)
accommodation (this is means tested based on salary, initially she received £5442 this has been reduced by £1800 and I now have to fund this (the reason for this is that I was made redundant)
eating and clothing and student life costs (wholly funded by Mrs101 and myself)

Its not cheap at all, but if you think that the tuition fee is paid back over years and years that’s less of a burden (at least in my mind it is) I think the costs are crazy but they aren’t going to get changed any time soon.

She is enjoying her life in Nottingham as well and this is what makes me happy.

remind yourself how happy Cav looks when hes just been beaten in the sprint at the finish of a race.

Given that they were on the podium 5 mins after race end, its no surprise that she looked a bit sick having just missed the chance to win the championship.
She finished 2nd last year.

3 years ago we bought a real tree and for the last two years it has been in a huge pot which we drag onto the decking at the back of the house and adorn with lights and sit it in front of the French doors. Still going strong and saves a lot of space indoors.

I got a bottle of jack daniels from a guy who works for me, but then again it was to say good bye as the company had given me a P45 after 14 years graft.
Never got anything from customers, although when I first started the company I had a namesake who received a top of the range M&S hamper from a recruitment agency. Sadly for him they sent it to my address not his!

Not sure how far back iPlayer goes but on BBC Alba on 27th Nov there was a 1954 b&w film The Maggie a comedy about an old puffer.

I think I will bring it up with my MP, god knows there is enough people still getting made redundant these days and I won’t be the only one.
This is the document I found online which confirmed the changes http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2014/1766/pdfs/uksiem_20141766_en.pdf

The worst line is this:

8.1 We have not conducted any formal consultation about these further education
changes

Junkyard, yes your right and I wont pay tax on that redundancy payment but as I said above ‘without consultation’ the dept for Bus skills and initiative decided that they would allow student finance England to take that amount into consideration when calculating loan amounts to students. Therefore if you lose your job any salary paid within that tax year and any redundancy payment received is added together and then used to recalculate the amount the student receives.

Northwind, I will speak to her and get her to go and ask about it. She is totally gutted by it and it has really upset her (on top of burst pipes and silverfish infestation not getting dealt with in her room!) Its all you need in the first few weeks of a new life away from home.

M0rk, I have been informed that my salary paid to date and my redundancy payment are taken as taxable income for the year, even if I earn nothing right through until next May ( when reassessment is carried out) nothing will change and I will have to fund the shortfall from my redundancy. I argued that this money would have to go towards my debt commitments not paying for a pokey little room for my daughter.

The real funny (hahaha…not) bit was that they refused flatly to discuss my salary and redundancy payment with me for data protection reasons and could only discuss them with my daughter! Irony for you.

And this change in loan details wasn’t sent to me after I filled the forms in but directly to my daughter, who I have tried to keep my redundancy from until she was more settled into Uni in the hope not to upset her….

I haven’t even got the energy to rage about the tossers who made me redundant and then asked me to train my ‘replacement’ in how to do my job!!

went to 2 shops today, none

I stopped at the same place a few years back for a trip to Cannock. Town centre was interesting on a night time, IIRC I had breakfast at the KFC or little chef next door? Memory is fuzzy.
It was handy though only 10 mins up the road in the car

Do I have to go fetch this upgrade from somewhere?

I ‘reserved’ it free when invited by microsoft back in June(?) but have seen nothing yet, is there any point in paying the £99 for my plodding PC as well?

I once said seat stem instead of seat post, it was 11 ish at night after much wine, bloody hell I may have well as slagged off the queens corgis as strays.

I read the title and was dreamily thinking of my ‘first time’ 20+ years ago now those hazy lazy days and I have aged a fair bit better than she has but I like to remember us then…..

*no longer with the lady in question

Hora, is that Brugge site Memling? I was going to try and get there on the way back towards the ferry but ran out of days.

Just had 2 weeks in Europe in the camper, sites ranged from 8 euro for electric hook up and free showers in France to 30 euro just outside Amsterdam. I think the last was overpriced but it was very close to the ferry back so was happy to pay it.
I’ve paid £26 at a site in Pooley Bridge in the Lakes for a tent and no elec and recently £28 in North Yorks.
Some places are overpriced, some are over hyped and others get away with murder.

A few years ago on getting to the shower block with only one 20p to his name for a shower my mate Steve decided to strip off lather up and then put his money in the box to get the most from his 3 mins shower.
Clothes off and neatly folded he proceeded to liberally apply his shower gel then lent out of his cubicle and dropped the money in the slot, cue the bloke in the next cubicle screaming out as the hot shower covered him as he got dressed.

Having done 70 on my cx bike on Saturday for charideee I can def recommend a comfy pair of shorts with good padding and a comfy saddle as the most important thing. We did it with a mixed age/ability group and generally went at the same speed as the slowest rider. We took just short of 7hrs. My iphone running strava was on its last legs come the finish line, whereas I was pretty comfortable. The steady speed and regular food made life easier. But the rear end was a bit tender that night!

You got old when you realised this, before hand you were still living the dream, you can still live the dream just drink a bit more and you will forget having realised it. Possibly, who cares, go riding on Monday and you won’t give a shat anyway

This Tarmac is disgraceful you should be ashamed Gosforth! Kinda speaks for itself that one.
I did ‘mmm……black pudding climb’ recently on Wigan.
A regular closer to home is ‘devils dip (crappy ghost)’ which confuses me.

Getting loads of pain in my right hand since I started riding my road bike a lot more, thinks it the change in position and the gear changing flick of the hand. Lots more aches and pains in both hands of late think a trip to doc May be needed, don’t get the pains as much on the mtb

Stopped at the same hotel their twice, really liked it. Haven’t done any riding in the area but as has been said some great places to eat. I liked the pedestrianised areas, really safe for jnr.

FWIW I’m clocking between 70-100 miles a week on a mix of cx and mtb and I am well chuffed with myself at the grand old age of 43.
I feel fitter than ever, only things stops me riding more is time to do it…

I am regularly indecisive on the bike (also in spelling) however I tried a week or 2 ago running strava on my android and my newly acquired (cast off from daughter) iphone 4s whilst on a ride. There was oddly about 125 feet in height and 1/2 mile in distance discrepancy.

My neighbour has 3 cars and a 3 car drive. All cars parked in street. I do more miles on the bike in a week than these 3 cars put together.

sunny this weekend

dry dusty trails

wife at work

in that order!

I’m in luck

beer in fridge

all six numbers

My Sony dslr has had these marks on my photos for a long while now, no amount of cleaning seems to be working. Have stopped using it since my holiday last year, got tired of having pics ruined. Should really get it cleaned properly and move it on. Find my phone does everything i need now.

I have clocked in just shy of 1200 miles on my ’14 Arkose 3 that I got late last summer, best thing I have bought in years. About to swap front and back tyres due to some wear on the and have been looking at some schwalbe marathon plus tyres to take the summer riding.
I don’t notice any weight issues to be honest, at 12 stone and being 43 speed is never an issue anyway especially on the tracks I take it, that and the fact my other bike is a Camber and not the carbon version. Only thing I didn’t like was the cheap rim tape which cost me 2-3 punctures in the early days but all in all its not much to worry about! Have done plenty 40+ milers and a couple of 50’s without any issues

So much of the C2C is being tarmacked round our way you could do it in a pair of slippers. I ride a 20+ mile section 2-3 times a week with kenda small blocks on my Arkose. Between Consett and Sunderland its fairly easy on tyres and legs!

Gutted for the bloke. Last time I checked on Strava the American guy did seem to be clocking the miles in but doing nowhere near the amount of climbing Steve had been putting in.
Took me around 4 months after my ankle break, mind you I wasn’t half as fit as this guy! When you consider the logistics and planning that must be going into the whole event the support people must feel totally deflated. Hope they can pick themselves up and start again another time.