Seemingly trivial things that annoy you

Pross

Bus timetables or rather bus rough guides to when a bus might turn up. Got to my stop a few minutes before the hourly service is due, nothing shows up within 10 minutes and there’s no way of knowing if it went early or is running late. I then have to make a decision whether to walk to a different stop on a slightly different route and risk seeing it drive past me or wait a bit longer and rush to the other stop.

The bus company app is supposed to show live data but I can’t find it anywhere and there is only RTI signage on a few major stops.

Pross

To add to the annoyance a bus just went past on the original route at the time it should have got to the stop I’m waiting at so now I don’t know whether that was the original running 20 minutes late or the one I’m waiting for taking the wrong route!

No wonder people drive instead of using public transport!

veronese68

rjsterry said:

veronese68 said:

pblakeney said:

25.4mm bars are still available. Purely for example...

https://www.chainreactioncycles.com/c/bike-parts/steering/handlebars?discipline=Road bike&productTypeAttributes.handlebarDiameter=25.4mm

If only life were so simple. As I discovered when trying to fit handlebars to a nice old quill stem there are 25.4mm (1 inch) and 26mm. Fit the wrong one and your handlebars may slip, luckily I noticed before any mishap. Looking at the SJS website there is also 25.8!!!


Seatposts going up in increments of 0.2mm is just ridiculous. My Chesini frame that got bent had a 27.0mm rather than the more common 27.2mm The frame I bought to replace it has a 26.6mm seatpost.

Surely you have some calipers?

40-50 year old frame and the seatpost hole was out of round. For the handlebars I too though it was all 25.4, not that there was a metric 'close enough' version

Have you finished your Mercian yet?

rjsterry

TheBigBean said:

rjsterry said:

veronese68 said:

pblakeney said:

25.4mm bars are still available. Purely for example...

https://www.chainreactioncycles.com/c/bike-parts/steering/handlebars?discipline=Road bike&productTypeAttributes.handlebarDiameter=25.4mm

If only life were so simple. As I discovered when trying to fit handlebars to a nice old quill stem there are 25.4mm (1 inch) and 26mm. Fit the wrong one and your handlebars may slip, luckily I noticed before any mishap. Looking at the SJS website there is also 25.8!!!


Seatposts going up in increments of 0.2mm is just ridiculous. My Chesini frame that got bent had a 27.0mm rather than the more common 27.2mm The frame I bought to replace it has a 26.6mm seatpost.

Surely you have some calipers?

I used an adjustable wrench and a tape measure. No expense spared.

🤦🏻‍♂️

rjsterry

veronese68 said:

rjsterry said:

veronese68 said:

pblakeney said:

25.4mm bars are still available. Purely for example...

https://www.chainreactioncycles.com/c/bike-parts/steering/handlebars?discipline=Road bike&productTypeAttributes.handlebarDiameter=25.4mm

If only life were so simple. As I discovered when trying to fit handlebars to a nice old quill stem there are 25.4mm (1 inch) and 26mm. Fit the wrong one and your handlebars may slip, luckily I noticed before any mishap. Looking at the SJS website there is also 25.8!!!


Seatposts going up in increments of 0.2mm is just ridiculous. My Chesini frame that got bent had a 27.0mm rather than the more common 27.2mm The frame I bought to replace it has a 26.6mm seatpost.

Surely you have some calipers?

40-50 year old frame and the seatpost hole was out of round. For the handlebars I too though it was all 25.4, not that there was a metric 'close enough' version

Have you finished your Mercian yet?

🤣😭😭😭

veronese68

rjsterry said:

veronese68 said:

rjsterry said:

veronese68 said:

pblakeney said:

25.4mm bars are still available. Purely for example...

https://www.chainreactioncycles.com/c/bike-parts/steering/handlebars?discipline=Road bike&productTypeAttributes.handlebarDiameter=25.4mm

If only life were so simple. As I discovered when trying to fit handlebars to a nice old quill stem there are 25.4mm (1 inch) and 26mm. Fit the wrong one and your handlebars may slip, luckily I noticed before any mishap. Looking at the SJS website there is also 25.8!!!


Seatposts going up in increments of 0.2mm is just ridiculous. My Chesini frame that got bent had a 27.0mm rather than the more common 27.2mm The frame I bought to replace it has a 26.6mm seatpost.

Surely you have some calipers?

40-50 year old frame and the seatpost hole was out of round. For the handlebars I too though it was all 25.4, not that there was a metric 'close enough' version

Have you finished your Mercian yet?

🤣😭😭😭

If it's any consolation it was in that unfinished state when someone cut in front of me to join the back of a queue of traffic and slammed his brakes on. I was just starting my trip over the bars when I hit the back of his car. Bent the top and down tubes and broke my wrist. I just had to settle on the position of the brake levers before wrapping the bars. Found another frame for £250 but it's not as good as that one was. Luckily most of the components could be swapped over and insurance had valued the bike at £1500

briantrumpet

TheBigBean said:

How long does a bike last you lot? I don't ride as much so everything lasts longer, but the bars I want to replace are 20 years old whilst the frame is 10 years old. I only replace stuff when it breaks.

My main bikes are 13, 10 and 8 years old now. Apart from drive chain, brake blocks and cables, ditto re waiting till things break (and sometimes the gear cables beat me to it). Actually, struggling to think of anything on these bikes that has actually broken. Oh, SPD pedals if/when the bearings pack up, and ditto bottom brackets.

pblakeney

TheBigBean said:

...
How long does a bike last you lot?
...

In order, 20 (trail), 15 (good) and 12 (foul weather) years so far.
I'll replace if any of them fails, but not before.

Pross

My 1990 653 framed Ribble is still going (albeit I let someone borrow it as I don’t ride these days. It did sit in the shed unridden for 12 years but when I decided to take it out again it just needed a clean up and oiling.

Most of the original Ultegra 600 groupset is still on it and it has the original wheels. I had to replace the rear mech and I upgraded it to 9 speed using a 10 speed cassette with a sprocket removed and 10 speed Dura Ace down tube shifters when I started riding again. It was going to be my commuting bike but then I got a CaadX on C2W that could have panniers and proper mudguards.

Even my best bike is now about 13 years old although only the frame, stem, bars and seatpost are original but I haven’t ridden regularly for 5 or 6 years now.

orraloon

Ignoring my 1997 Marin Mount Vision which is with my brother and doubt getting used much, Kona Sutra steel bombproof tourer is 12 yo, v seldom used as not been bikepacking for a while, roadie Synapse is 6 and Boardman gravel is 3. They've got loads of life left.

pblakeney

Annoying me again, the weather forecast.
It's to warm up rapidly but brrr 🥶 autumn is hitting tomorrow morning early.

rick_chasey

Yikes that’s straight to winter territory.

briantrumpet

pblakeney said:

Annoying me again, the weather forecast.
It's to warm up rapidly but brrr 🥶 autumn is hitting tomorrow morning early.

I've forgotten where you are, but maybe you should move. I can cope with this.

pblakeney

Clear skies and up the hills.
It improves dramatically after 09:00 so layers are the order of the day. 😉

briantrumpet

Grrr. I had an NHS heart monitor thingy fitted yesterday to check up on odd extra heartbeats I've been getting (GP not really concerned, but just checking)... I naively thought that, as you wear it for five days, it would monitor my heart over a range of activities, but it turns out that the max it will record over the five days is a grand total of five one-minute bursts, and you have to press a button if you think your heart is doing something funny.

Not only that, but then I got a text today asking me to return it, as there is a general problem with them. Well, that was a waste of everyone's time.

I might look into the sort of thing a friend has got that works off a sensor on the knee, and records long stretches into a mobile phone via bluetooth... I'll ask a cardiologist friend if they are of any genuine help, or just a gimmick which leads to worry on the wearer's part.

rick_chasey

briantrumpet said:

Grrr. I had an NHS heart monitor thingy fitted yesterday to check up on odd extra heartbeats I've been getting (GP not really concerned, but just checking)... I naively thought that, as you wear it for five days, it would monitor my heart over a range of activities, but it turns out that the max it will record over the five days is a grand total of five one-minute bursts, and you have to press a button if you think your heart is doing something funny.

Not only that, but then I got a text today asking me to return it, as there is a general problem with them. Well, that was a waste of everyone's time.

I might look into the sort of thing a friend has got that works off a sensor on the knee, and records long stretches into a mobile phone via bluetooth... I'll ask a cardiologist friend if they are of any genuine help, or just a gimmick which leads to worry on the wearer's part.

If you can with that kind of stuff private is worth it.

briantrumpet

rick_chasey said:

briantrumpet said:

Grrr. I had an NHS heart monitor thingy fitted yesterday to check up on odd extra heartbeats I've been getting (GP not really concerned, but just checking)... I naively thought that, as you wear it for five days, it would monitor my heart over a range of activities, but it turns out that the max it will record over the five days is a grand total of five one-minute bursts, and you have to press a button if you think your heart is doing something funny.

Not only that, but then I got a text today asking me to return it, as there is a general problem with them. Well, that was a waste of everyone's time.

I might look into the sort of thing a friend has got that works off a sensor on the knee, and records long stretches into a mobile phone via bluetooth... I'll ask a cardiologist friend if they are of any genuine help, or just a gimmick which leads to worry on the wearer's part.

If you can with that kind of stuff private is worth it.

The whizz-bang monitor is £100-£150 - the friend who's using it has a diagnosed heart problem, so I suspect it has been recommended. It does make the NHS monitor look like a museum piece in comparison, both in hardware and software terms.

One of the things that cheers me up about teaching where I do is that I have access to parents and friends who cover most parts of the body... I can ask consultants about brains, jaws, eyes, hearts, knees, lungs, gastroenterology, geriatric medicine and gynaecology, though the latter won't be of much use, other than as a trumpet player and for inappropriate anecdotes.

rick_chasey

briantrumpet said:

rick_chasey said:

briantrumpet said:

Grrr. I had an NHS heart monitor thingy fitted yesterday to check up on odd extra heartbeats I've been getting (GP not really concerned, but just checking)... I naively thought that, as you wear it for five days, it would monitor my heart over a range of activities, but it turns out that the max it will record over the five days is a grand total of five one-minute bursts, and you have to press a button if you think your heart is doing something funny.

Not only that, but then I got a text today asking me to return it, as there is a general problem with them. Well, that was a waste of everyone's time.

I might look into the sort of thing a friend has got that works off a sensor on the knee, and records long stretches into a mobile phone via bluetooth... I'll ask a cardiologist friend if they are of any genuine help, or just a gimmick which leads to worry on the wearer's part.

If you can with that kind of stuff private is worth it.

The whizz-bang monitor is £100-£150 - the friend who's using it has a diagnosed heart problem, so I suspect it has been recommended. It does make the NHS monitor look like a museum piece in comparison, both in hardware and software terms.

One of the things that cheers me up about teaching where I do is that I have access to parents and friends who cover most parts of the body... I can ask consultants about brains, jaws, eyes, hearts, knees, lungs, gastroenterology, geriatric medicine and gynaecology, though the latter won't be of much use, other than as a trumpet player and for inappropriate anecdotes.

That is good. From recent experience there are long waiting lists even for private specialists nowadays.

6 weeks I had to wait for a gastroenterologist

briantrumpet

rick_chasey said:

briantrumpet said:

rick_chasey said:

briantrumpet said:

Grrr. I had an NHS heart monitor thingy fitted yesterday to check up on odd extra heartbeats I've been getting (GP not really concerned, but just checking)... I naively thought that, as you wear it for five days, it would monitor my heart over a range of activities, but it turns out that the max it will record over the five days is a grand total of five one-minute bursts, and you have to press a button if you think your heart is doing something funny.

Not only that, but then I got a text today asking me to return it, as there is a general problem with them. Well, that was a waste of everyone's time.

I might look into the sort of thing a friend has got that works off a sensor on the knee, and records long stretches into a mobile phone via bluetooth... I'll ask a cardiologist friend if they are of any genuine help, or just a gimmick which leads to worry on the wearer's part.

If you can with that kind of stuff private is worth it.

The whizz-bang monitor is £100-£150 - the friend who's using it has a diagnosed heart problem, so I suspect it has been recommended. It does make the NHS monitor look like a museum piece in comparison, both in hardware and software terms.

One of the things that cheers me up about teaching where I do is that I have access to parents and friends who cover most parts of the body... I can ask consultants about brains, jaws, eyes, hearts, knees, lungs, gastroenterology, geriatric medicine and gynaecology, though the latter won't be of much use, other than as a trumpet player and for inappropriate anecdotes.

That is good. From recent experience there are long waiting lists even for private specialists nowadays.

6 weeks I had to wait for a gastroenterologist

Oh, I wouldn't get to see one for treatment quickly (it would be unethical for them and me, and I'm sure that there are strict protocols in place), but at least I have people I can ask for general advice, if I feel the need.

The cariologist is a private one, and from the look & location of their house, I'd not be able to afford the fees.

I reckon that about half of the parents of my pupils are medics of some description.

pblakeney

briantrumpet said:

Grrr. I had an NHS heart monitor thingy fitted yesterday to check up on odd extra heartbeats...

Can you not just simply use a standard HRM and carry your cycle head unit for as long as the battery lasts? Upload that for reference. Not ideal but better than supplied.

Guess that won't highlight fluctuations, more for sustained peaks and troughs, Carry on...

briantrumpet

pblakeney said:

briantrumpet said:

Grrr. I had an NHS heart monitor thingy fitted yesterday to check up on odd extra heartbeats...

Can you not just simply use a standard HRM and carry your cycle head unit for as long as the battery lasts? Upload that for reference. Not ideal but better than supplied.

Haven't got any sort of HRM at all, as I'm a dinosaur who likes to try to ride on feel (and gets it wrong often - not that that deters me). So I'd probably go for something whose app is tailored to medical rather than fitness settings, as I don't need something that keeps on telling me I'm getting older and slower.

Wheelspinner

I have one of those Kardia devices, was recommended by GP. It does 30 second readings at a time on left knee with both thumbs holding it on. It appears to produce a quite detailed trace, which you can save as a PDF, or just leave in your logged history on the phone.

briantrumpet

Wheelspinner said:

I have one of those Kardia devices, was recommended by GP. It does 30 second readings at a time on left knee with both thumbs holding it on. It appears to produce a quite detailed trace, which you can save as a PDF, or just leave in your logged history on the phone.

Ah, thanks - pretty sure that's the one my friend has in that case. Interesting that it was recommended to you by a GP. TBH, it seems to be a nonsense having had this NHS thing plugged in with me all day in order to take a one-minute reading at 10.20pm tonight, and the pads stay stuck on me (same points as for a defibrillator) for five days. (It also shows how outdated it is by the fact that the nurse will have to 'extract the data' (all five minutes-worth of it) from the device when I drop it in at the surgery next week.)

I suspect one tends to notice heartbeats more when one isn't haring around at work, distracted with all sorts of other noise and things.

Wheelspinner

Cardiologist thinks the device is “useful” but stopped short of full on enthusiasm. I’ve done the wear a recorder for 24 hours thing and also found the concept useless really. It would start up and do a reading once an hour or something. Given it was to (try and) track an intermittent and somewhat random issue, it didn’t achieve anything. The Kardia device has at least been available so I can use it when actually required, which for me is usually about 2am.

I’m nearly certain the heart rate issue I have - periods of higher rate and “heavy” pulse - are in fact diet and food intolerance related. The specialist experts have no better answer.

briantrumpet

Wheelspinner said:

Cardiologist thinks the device is “useful” but stopped short of full on enthusiasm. I’ve done the wear a recorder for 24 hours thing and also found the concept useless really. It would start up and do a reading once an hour or something. Given it was to (try and) track an intermittent and somewhat random issue, it didn’t achieve anything. The Kardia device has at least been available so I can use it when actually required, which for me is usually about 2am.

I’m nearly certain the heart rate issue I have - periods of higher rate and “heavy” pulse - are in fact diet and food intolerance related. The specialist experts have no better answer.

Ok, thanks... interesting. Which is probably all my GP will say to me. But hadn't thought of the possibility that a heart oddity could be linked to a food intolerance or similar.

Wheelspinner

briantrumpet said:

Wheelspinner said:

Cardiologist thinks the device is “useful” but stopped short of full on enthusiasm. I’ve done the wear a recorder for 24 hours thing and also found the concept useless really. It would start up and do a reading once an hour or something. Given it was to (try and) track an intermittent and somewhat random issue, it didn’t achieve anything. The Kardia device has at least been available so I can use it when actually required, which for me is usually about 2am.

I’m nearly certain the heart rate issue I have - periods of higher rate and “heavy” pulse - are in fact diet and food intolerance related. The specialist experts have no better answer.

Ok, thanks... interesting. Which is probably all my GP will say to me. But hadn't thought of the possibility that a heart oddity could be linked to a food intolerance or similar.

Perhaps an entirely different heart symptom to yours, but seems the least improbable explanation for mine is vagus nerve over-stimulation. Stress, reflux, and other digestive issues can affect the function.

For me, things like a lot of dairy fats (cream, lotsa cheese) after dinner and specific spices like cinnamon and smoked paprika, or dried chilli are triggers. Food additives like any form of flavour enhancers (MSG etc) are also bad. Not a rigorously scientific analysis by any means though.

Pross

Missing out on a course PB at Parkrun this morning by 4”. Particularly annoying as I ran the second lap 45” faster than the first and also the course has been remeasured since my PB as it had been around 100-150m short previously so I actually ran a faster pace.

mully79

Wheelspinner said:

briantrumpet said:

Wheelspinner said:

Cardiologist thinks the device is “useful” but stopped short of full on enthusiasm. I’ve done the wear a recorder for 24 hours thing and also found the concept useless really. It would start up and do a reading once an hour or something. Given it was to (try and) track an intermittent and somewhat random issue, it didn’t achieve anything. The Kardia device has at least been available so I can use it when actually required, which for me is usually about 2am.

I’m nearly certain the heart rate issue I have - periods of higher rate and “heavy” pulse - are in fact diet and food intolerance related. The specialist experts have no better answer.

Ok, thanks... interesting. Which is probably all my GP will say to me. But hadn't thought of the possibility that a heart oddity could be linked to a food intolerance or similar.

Perhaps an entirely different heart symptom to yours, but seems the least improbable explanation for mine is vagus nerve over-stimulation. Stress, reflux, and other digestive issues can affect the function.

For me, things like a lot of dairy fats (cream, lotsa cheese) after dinner and specific spices like cinnamon and smoked paprika, or dried chilli are triggers. Food additives like any form of flavour enhancers (MSG etc) are also bad. Not a rigorously scientific analysis by any means though.

I have a weird ectopic beat, seemed to calm down when slightly compressing vagus nerve in neck. vaping was a huge trigger.
I've not noticed it for 5 or 6 years at all and now it's sneaked back. I haven't worked out if it's a food intolerance or an allergy yet.

briantrumpet

As far as I can tell the heart only does weird things when I'm at rest... I had to stop myself chuckling when the GP said to record if I had any chest pains or shortness of breath when cycling... I think I might have said I only get SOB if I ride up Peak Hill or an Alp too quickly.

A 70-year-old friend of mine said he'd drawn a blank using one of the NHS things to investigate his extra heartbeats... but since he qualified for his 30th consecutive year for Super Randonneur this year, I don't think there can be too much wrong with him.

webboo

My dentist insisted I use those TPI brush things trying to go up a size when I got one through the gaps between my teeth. Now every time I eat I get food stuck in the gaps.