Ramblers Pub Meet

26 April 2007 23:39

Tonight was a Ramblers Pub Meet at the Boathouse in Peterborough which is a generic family pub type of place.

However there was a pub quiz which I don't think was expected when the event was put into the clubs calendar so we broke up into 2 teams and took part in the quiz.

My team won but I think that was only because we were sat slightly closer to the announcer, the speakers in the pub were very distorting. It was like trying to take a quiz via the tannoy system of a train station but it was a lot of fun.

That was close

25 April 2007 10:49

I was riding down a B-road yesterday between Luton and Harpenden when a sheet of plywood which had been lying on the road got flicked up by the lorry in front of me, I didn't even see it coming until the last moment when it's angle to me changed from being edge on to being flat side on. It must have been about 0.5m 1m in size.

The sheet hit my bike head on, then slide around the right hand side of the bike, scrapped my leg and splintered into little bits behind me.

It didn't feel like a particularly hard hit, the bike didn't even get moved from the course it was on, no wobbles or anything and I didn't give it much thought since the impact seems so light.

I guess because the impact was almost head-on hid how much weight that sheet of wood had because when I walked around the front of my bike this morning I found a big hole in the front fairing below the headlight and what looks like a compression crack on my lower right fairing.

I've made a claim on my insurance and I'm taking the bike to be examined next saturday so some pictures can be taken and the insurance company can decided on what to do with the bike. The bike is still rideable so I can't see them doing anything other than authorising the repair.

And then there was 3

25 April 2007 06:57

This week one of my friends is moving back down to Devon to be closer to her family.

That leaves just 3 of us who go out on a regular basis.

Last night we went to Zizzis in Cambridge for a goodbye meal before moving on to All-Bar-One while we waited to fee if Ginny was going to make an appearance.

Quote of the Day:
Martina - "Do you want to put your helmet my boot."

Laser force

22 April 2007 09:06

Last night a few of us Ramblers went to laser force in Peterborough.

It was great fun, we got 2 games with a free drink between the games to cool of and discuss strategies.

On my team was Debbie, Karen & John. On the green team was Gordon, Roger, Katie & Wendy.

Our team won both games and I got the highest score in the first game and the highest accuracy in both matches.

After the game we walked into town for a few pints before going our seperate ways.

These brakes were made for stopping ...

21 April 2007 14:07

... And thats just what they'll do. Even if I don't want them to (ok so it doesn't have quiet the same ring as the song)

Yes, my bike brakes are sticking even after buying a heavier lube last night to try to fix the problem.

After spraying everything in sight with this heavy lube I then drove off down to Harpenden to see what the roads are like down there and was still having problems, I managed to break a key at a layby trying to force the brakes open. Luckily the key was for my cycle lock which was nicked along with the bike so I don't need that key for anything.

I can free them up for about an hour but eventually they will start sticking again sucking performance out of the bike, heating up the pads until they start to fade under heavy braking and costing the earth in needlessly burnt petrol.

I've come to the conclusion that the only solution is going to be to dismantle the brakes, clean the gunk out of the piston and relube it properly.

I would like do the work myself since if everything goes to plan it's suppose to be an easy job but if something goes wrong it is supposed to get very complicated very quickly and I am very aware that it's my brakes i'm dealing with and maybe that's not the best component for a DIY disaster like myself to start messing about with.

What to do?

Dentist Appointment

16 April 2007 21:17

Tonight I had a dentist appointment, just a routine check-up booked last year.

I was in the chair for all of 45 seconds at the end of which the dentist said every was fine and charged me £15.90 for the privilege.

It took longer to enter my credit card pin number and have the transaction authorised than the dentist spent examining me.

I worked out that is the equivalent of £1275 per hour. I'm in the wrong business.

Happy Birthday to my bike

15 April 2007 19:12

Today is the 1 year anniversary of getting my bike.

In the last year I have

* riden 22876 miles
* burnt 393 gallon's of petrol
* spent £4742 on insurance, tax, maintenance and petrol
* fallen off once in the snow
* had to perform 4 emergency stops - 1 cat and 3 myopic car drivers

Oxborough Walk

15 April 2007 18:46

Today's walk was from Oxbraugh Hall in Oxborough near to Thetford.

It was 7 miles going through Brahamwell and Gooderstone in surprisingly hot weather.

I think the heat caught everyone by surprise, we all had coats and only a few of us had hats with us.

I think I'm going to have to buy some walking shorts because my trousers cling to me when it's hot.

Early Morning Starts

13 April 2007 07:03

Since the clocks changed a few weeks ago I have been waking up as soon as it gets light and it is starting to get on my nerves, this morning I was awake by 04:45 and couldnt get back to sleep.

Do you know whats on TV at 04:30 in the morning? Nothing.

I wouldn't mind but because I'm getting up so early I'm also getting sleepy earlier and earlier at night, last night I was in bed by 21:00.

On the plus side, it is giving me some time to sort out the photo album on the computer, review my bank accounts and search the job sites online for a new job.

Meal with the family

08 April 2007 16:39

At lunch today, I ate out at The Royal Oak with Mum, Nan, Granddad, Shirley, Roo, Jen, Matt, Dave & Anita.

I asked for a Gammon Steak but I was later told that they had run at of Gammon :( so I had to change the order to a rare Rump Steak which was very nice but was a bigger meal than I had hoped for so I left a lot of it.

After the meal we all went our separate ways, last right we discovered that Mums car had a blown head gasket and so was prone to overheating.

We debated calling a Breakdown Truck to carry mums car home but decided to drive it home and I would follow on the bike.

People really dont like having to drive at 50mph which is what mum was doing and the number of drivers who got so close to me that I could see the drivers face in my wing mirrors.

One driver in particular was bad, a Mauve Sierra who kept dropped back then speeded up to get as close to my bike as possible before breaking hard and dropping back again.

Both the outside lines were clear at this point so he could have past me and mum very easily but instead decided to play chicken.

I tried slowing down gentle hoping it would prompt him to pass me but that didn't work. By this point mum was a quarter of a mile ahead of me so I accelerate out of his way and when he finally catches us up again he goes past safely. This guy was chasing me for abolt 8 miles for no reason that I could see.

Ian & Sarah's Wedding

08 April 2007 07:53

Yesterday was Ian and Sarah's Wedding.

I rode down to Shirley's house in the morning where I realised that although I had shirt, jacket, tie and shoes I didn't have my trouser :(

I had to run into Orpington to buy a pair of trousers; the cashier, who had I very nice smile, thought it was hilarious and suggested that next time I don't bother bringing any clothes to the wedding and just go shopping on the way to the church.

The wedding was at Ripley Arts Centre and was very nice, after the wedding there were photo's, then some more photo's, followed be yet more photo's - In fact, there was 2 hours of photo's before everyone headed to the reception.

The reception was at flamingo Park which is a local football club. The reception was good but the hall was cold and far too smokey.

During the night I fell back into my old habits and acted as taxi driver taking Nan & Grandad home before returning to take Mum, Jen & Matt home.

Congratulations Ian & Sarah.

Sunshine Tickets

05 April 2007 21:10

Today I have been trying to organise a trip to the cinema to see Sunshine with Matt and Martina tomorrow.

We finally agreed on a time so I went to book the ticket's but found the booking fee is now £1.65 a ticket! The last time I booked a ticket the booking fee was sop a ticket. The money grabbing gits.

So I rode up to Huntingdon after work and bought the tickets in person avoiding the booking fee.

Of course it helped that the weather was perfect and the roads were very twisty :)