The Raceface XY post in the 456 slips just as badly as the Thomson did, I’ve now resorted to a hand-made shim from that renowned manufacturer Stella Artois in order to try to cure the problem.

Good weather, good beer, good food, good riding, good friends. All in all it was good.

A nice shiny new chainset has arrived in the post, I could build a bike round this :)

It’s raining :(

23.5 miles on the crossbike tonight out to Bradford-on-Avon and back. It was fantastically hot and sunny, and very very dusty.

The seatpost was still slipping slightly on the 456 tonight, so I’ve replaced the Thomson post with the best post in the world ever, a Raceface XY. Time will tell if it’s an improvement or not.

That’s how long it’s been since I rode a geared mountain bike off road, gears aren’t really necessary round here, but they do make the first 20 minutes of climbing out of the valley slightly easier. I just did the normal 11 mile route with 750′ or so of climbing. Oddly I was about 0.5mph slower on than last time out on the singlespeed possibly due to the heavier bike with fatter tyres. The rear wheel looks a bit wonky at the moment, but I have a feeling that it may be the tyre rather than the rim, time for investigation later.

The aging Nokian NBX tyres I’ve been running on the 456 for a while have been replaced with a new set of Bontrager Jones ACX tyres in a generous 2.35" size. This is a fairly unremarkable event, but gave me the ideal opportunity to post and entry with the above title. I’d heard rumours of them being fairly trick to fit as they are the tubeless-ready version. However the front went on with very little trouble, but getting the first bead on the back wheel was a bit of a chore, especially when I had to remove and refit it as the logo wasn’t lined up with the valve-hole properly.

This mornings breakfast was partaken of at the excellent Velo Lounge, a full english with a side order of fries, washed down with two mugs of coffee. A very welcome meal given that I hadn’t eaten since Nandos yesterday lunchtime.

Tonight was a benefit gig for the family of the late Tommy Tee. The doors opened an hour or so late forcing us to drink beer in the pub beforehand. Once we’d finally been let in the running list was as follows:

Notoriouz
Bishop Bray (Stephen Burden)
Rev Hammer
The Almighty
Joolz
Ed Alleyne-Johnson
New Model Army

New Model Army were down to a four-piece band for most of the night due to Marshall Gill having broken his left wrist, however Dean White took on rhythm guitar duties, and Ed Alleyne-Johnson, Dave Blomberg, and Ricky Warwick filled in at times throughout the night. The setlist was as follows:

Vagabonds
Stranger
White Coats
Fate
Today is a Good Day
High
Get Me Out
Inheritance
Snelsmore Wood
Love Songs
Wired
Island
Purity
Poison Street
Green & Grey

51st State
225

I Love the World

Marmite with Marston's Pedigree

I picked up a couple of jars to try tonight.