Your Anti-Rants here

Snakebite the 2nd

I've just realised I can manually add rides that have failed to sync with Garmin Express.

Took me a while to realise, but now those ones that fail to upload can be recorded to make my feeble milage less feeble.

wolfsbane2k

Riding in this morning via a scenic route, witnessed a sparrowhawk take a sparrow mid flight.
Quite a sight and sound, glad there wasn't any cars near me!

Quins

First week of commuting to a station 12 miles away, to get some miles in while weekends are taken up with other stuff. lovely flat rural route, not had to stop at all. Thanks to the lovely Kent Velo Girl who not only offered the use of her track pump ( in her car in the station car park) when I had a flat, but then proceeded to pump my tyre up. What service! Wishing her you a great training camp in Majorca (?).

itboffin

Wolfsbane2k wrote:

Decathlon customer service.

Yeah they're very good

wolfsbane2k

itboffin wrote:

Wolfsbane2k wrote:

Decathlon customer service.

Yeah they're very good

Especially if their customer service has a hiccup.

rick_chasey

Martinis are bloody lovely.

hopkinb

Rick Chasey wrote:

Martinis are bloody lovely.

Why yes, yes they are. What could possibly be bad about a large glass of very cold gin?

DrLex

Drinking them at 9 on a Saturday morning? There goes the weekend...

veronese68

An Australian customer called my local and stuck £50 behind the bar in my name. :-)

corriebee1

Rick Chasey wrote:

Martinis are bloody lovely.

Had some neighbours over on Sat afternoon to give our kids tea together and have a drink. We didn't know them all that well til recently but it turns out they're really nice, and the father is passionate about good food and even better booze! He made some Martini's (after i had made some cosmo's) and a potentially painful kids tea party turned out to be a very civilised (and rather boozy) affair!

Snakebite the 2nd

I have just legitimately added 316.9 miles to my Garmin Connect.

Due to rides not being added when I sync I lost out.

Although time consuming it was easy to work out as I do the same route(s) everyday and could visibly see the gaps. For example it says I rode to work, but there is no ride back. This amount was then manually added.

I keep a work log, so knocking holidays off wasn't an issue, as was sick days.

It really bothered me at first not having the "correct" total, but I assumed it wasn't possible to change, so I got over it.
Now it is correct, or as near as possible I'm very happy!

veronese68

Day off tomorrow. Going down to Guildford and riding back along the tow paths of the Rivers Wey and Thames with a couple of pub stops for sustenance. Might be a bit muddy after the last few days but I really don't care.

wolfsbane2k

Veronese68 wrote:

Day off tomorrow. Going down to Guildford and riding back along the tow paths of the Rivers Wey and Thames with a couple of pub stops for sustenance. Might be a bit muddy after the last few days but I really don't care.

Very Jealous. Where abouts are you heading back to?

veronese68

Wolfsbane2k wrote:

Veronese68 wrote:

Day off tomorrow. Going down to Guildford and riding back along the tow paths of the Rivers Wey and Thames with a couple of pub stops for sustenance. Might be a bit muddy after the last few days but I really don't care.

Very Jealous. Where abouts are you heading back to?

Kingston, so about 25-30 miles of leisurely riding with a couple of mates celebrating the 50th birthday of one of them.

wolfsbane2k

Went for a 5 mile detour this morning and found a beautiful piece of wide, clean, un-potholed tarmac buried in the countryside with a beautiful dappling overarching of green oaks and birch.
And it was going downhill.
And there wasn't a car in sight.

Turns out it's the main route to a National Grid Major Substation. Going to have to trace the rest of it out shortly!

fatsmoker

Coming through Leicester city centre this morning with all the barriers out ready for the Foxes open top bus tour of the premier league trophy was like riding through the closing kilometre of a grand tour stage as I gave commentary of my epic solo break away in my head.

dyrlac

Having just gotten back from Mt Ventoux, I am pleased to report that 5,000 mostly commuting kilometres in 2016 more than makes up for a total lack of alpine-specific training. Spectacular trip, great weather (albeit a bit blowy). The gorges de la nesque was a particular highlight. Ride in this morning was tentative at best though.

sswiss

Chain broke on the way in (see rant) - not far from an LBS so dropped in and they were kind enough to lend me the use of the stand and chain breaker, removed offending link, had a good chat and back on my way. Top Marks

DrLex

Unseen bird in a tree this morning must have ingested leftover takeout curry, old stock picolax and slurry, given the welter of faecal matter that ejected from its cloaca and resurfaced the road under the bough on which it perched.
Luckily, I was a few metres away from the start of the shower and was able to give it the required berth. Couple of seconds later and I'd have had a very unpleasant half hour finish to the ride and probably the need for new hat...

rower63

... cont'd from rants.

How satisfying when the fifth hopeless bodge-attempt to extract the remains of a sheared bolt from an expensive part actually works!

Having sheared off the head of my Ridley Noah seatpost clamp (£160 to replace) tightening-bolt, I tried grasping it with some sharp snips and unscrewing it - cue lots of gouged metal and ruined threads; I cut a slot into the bolt-remnant to screwdrive it out (didn't work, threads now buggered, just created more gouged metal; I tried drilling lengthwise through it, broke the bit; tried drilling with a bigger bit, broke that off too and left it inside; as a last forlorn resort I tried grasping it with some needle-nose pliers and unscrewing it, but without any hope by now. BUT IT WORKED!

happy boy

MrSweary

Parts finally came to get one of my bikes back on the road (Paddy Wagon) so I'm finally back on the bike after two and a half weeks (holidays included). What a beautiful day and what a lovely feeling. New freewheel is silent and the new wheels make the bike feel noticeably more sprightly going uphill. Basically, I'm a happy bunny!

CoalTheCat

Very lucky to have a shower room at work with toilet, sink, clothes rails and even an old Corby trouser press.

The only thing it’s missing is a heat source to dry damp clothes after a soggy ride in.

A chap has just arrived to fit an electric storage heater radiator type thing in the shower room.

This is a result, as I got a soaking on the way in this morning…

redvee

Managed to find a pair of Morvelo pink socks with cancer on one leg and a sweary word on the other, might get another pair when they come back into stock so both ankles have the sweary word on them.
Went out for a ride this afternoon and on the return leg caught rush hour traffic, over 2 miles of it with an empty bus lane to ride past it in.

asprilla

I've been told I can have a locker at work. That means I'll be starting to cycle again on Thursday.

Woot.

veronese68

Asprilla wrote:

I've been told I can have a locker at work. That means I'll be starting to cycle again on Thursday.

Woot.

About time too.

redvee

Asprilla wrote:

I've been told I can have a locker at work. That means I'll be starting to cycle again on Thursday.

Woot.

Lockers for those who cycle or use a motorbike are twice that of the lockers for car drivers in our place but I still hang my riding gear up in one of the unused shower cubicles to air when I get into work.

asprilla

redvee wrote:

Asprilla wrote:

I've been told I can have a locker at work. That means I'll be starting to cycle again on Thursday.

Woot.

Lockers for those who cycle or use a motorbike are twice that of the lockers for car drivers in our place but I still hang my riding gear up in one of the unused shower cubicles to air when I get into work.

It's more to do with storing my laptop, jeans, shoes and wash kit. We have a hot desking policy so you have to bring everything to work each day and carry it around all day. Unless you have a locker.

redvee

Riding home on Friday 27th the sidewall gave out on my rear tyre which led to a very rapid deflation when the tube caught the mudguard stay, managed to bodge a boot to get home and replaced the tyre the following morning. Took it back to the shop I bought it from as it had only done 1500 miles in the 4 months I had it on my bike and the shop took photos and sent them off to their supplier. Been in the shop three times in the two week since the tyre failed and left today with a brand new tyre to replace the one that failed.

asprilla

I rode to work today.

kingstongraham

Got a flat from the Castelnau pothole zone the other evening, and just as I'd got the new tube in and then listened as my CO2 canister emptied itself nowhere near the tyre, the first cyclist who passed asked if I was OK, and lent me a pump. What a wonderful world.