Life in the Bus Lane

Eleven years ago today I bought my house. Doesn’t time fly?

Somewhere along the line I think I’ve been infected with the plague. I blame Carl who forced himself to stay at work last week until he was nearly thrown out and sent home ill. The sore throat and cough are now manageable, but it still feels like I’ve been kicked hard in the chest and I’m permanently out of breath.

As a result of that, there is virtually no chance of any proper bike riding before next week, I even had to miss a skittles match last night which is almost unheard of for me.

I’ll drag myself back into the office tomorrow, but it might end up being via the doctors if I still can’t breathe.

Apparently we won 5-2, partly thanks to spares from Tony and Darren. Rumour has it that I played quite well despite being at home ill.

He’s had to deliver seven parcels in the last two days, mostly due to the Play.com sale.

In other post related news, Track and Trace is the biggest waste of time ever. I sent two parcels 10 days ago via recorded delivery, and there is still no tracking information available on-line to confirm that they’ve been delivered.

Another trip out on the 456 tonight, this time with Conti Diesel tyres fitted instead of the Nokian NBXs I’ve been running for a while. Despite being heavier tyres, and having DH tubes inside, the Diesels roll better than the NBXs and don’t seem to grip any worse. They feel a lot more stable as well which is nice.

I did the usual Uni route but missed out Shepherds Walk, or The Path of Pain as I like to call it now. I still managed to ride into a tree later on so it wasn’t all plain sailing.

I’m now waiting for my toes to defrost before I have a shower.

The quote arrived to replace my kitchen window today, so I tried to ring the insurance company to make a claim. Somewhat easier said than done.

After hunting around to find where I’d hidden last years policy documents I tried to ring the number listed for claims, only to find that it was an invalid number, they’d left a vital "9" out. Once I’d found an older policy to check the number, I got through to someone only to discover they couldn’t actually find my policy on the computer system. They’ve got details of the one that starts next week, but not the one that’s actually current. They can’t log the claim against the only listed policy as obviously the claim is being made before the policy actually takes effect.

Someone we managed to log the details somewhere, and apparently someone will call me back to sort things out, but I’m not going to hold my breath.

The Ribble finally got used for it’s proper purpose today, winter road riding. The weather was almost perfect, nice and cool with sunshine and blue skies, the only problem was the wind. Because my back was playing up again I kept the ride fairly short and only did 17 miles or so.

Apparently that’s what it’ll cost to get my damaged window replaced. I’m just waiting for the proper quote now before dealing with the insurance people.

The Ribble is now sporting the Conti Ultra Gatorskins from the spare wheels for the Lemond. These are in preparation for what should be the first road ride of the year tomorrow. Later in the year I’ll get some Conti GP4000 tyres for the posh Lemond wheels, and move the Gatorskins from those onto the spare wheels.

Tonights film watching is following a drug theme. A Scanner Darkly was the opening feature, and is about to be followed by Traffic.

Hopefully the wind will have died down before we head out on the ride tomorrow.

Al has just turned up for video night clutching a couple of ginger and lemon herbal teabags. Hobbes found the second one on the arm of the chair and promptly went mad, drooling everywhere and rubbing his head all over the bag. Very odd indeed.

I know that may be somewhat difficult to believe, but I went out on the 456 again tonight. I did the same route as Sunday but with the added bonus of darkness. I think this was my first proper off-road night ride where I didn’t actually break anything since last winter. I did crash into a tree though so it wasn’t all good.

The 456 was even better to ride tonight. It might benefit from a seatpost with some layback, but for the shortish rides I tend to do on it, it’ll be fine for the moment.

Update: I got back just in time, it’s pouring with rain again now.

I think the battery charger will have the final decision.

Since I last rode the 456 it’s gained some new Easton EA70 bars which are 1.5" lower than the old ones. The main reason for this is to let me run the forks at their full 130mm instead of 100mm. However the bike felt really odd, somewhat similar to riding one of Grant’s bikes. I persevered with it until part way round the ride when I decided to move one of the headset spacers and raised the stem by 10mm. It totally transformed the bike.

It’s now much more comfortable, and handles a lot better. Very reminiscent of the Stiffee, but with longer forks and without the feeling that you’re sitting behind the rear wheel.

It wasn’t as muddy out as I thought it would be given all the recent rain. There was one tree down across one track but I managed to clamber round that without too much trouble. I might even try a night ride one night this week.

Work was insanely busy this week, mainly due to someone having a major "Oh shit!" moment after I’d gone home Tuesday. The rest of the week was spent digging into the deepest recesses of my networking knowledge, and redesigning the core of our network ready for a Monday go-live, and then completing it just in time for the project to be delayed last thing on Friday.

Someone also tried to break into my house and made a bit of a mess of the kitchen window. Two policemen, and a SOCO visited, and someone from the window company is coming next week to sort out a quote for the repairs.

The weather has also been shit and I’ve not ridden a bike properly for nearly a month. It’s starting to get a bit annoying.

It’s over a year since we’ve had one of these, so here’s a tweaked version of a picture you’ve seen before.

Westonbirt Arboretum, December 2006

After a few weeks break for Christmas and New Year, it was back to skittles again tonight.

We won the first leg quite easily, but were left a fairly high leg to beat for the second. Things went slightly downhill when I managed to rip my jeans down the inside of my right leg from arse to knee, we went on to lose the leg as well. Howeverf after that we didn’t look back, even with the exploding bottle of lager.

Housing went on to win 5-1 and took the full 8 points, Treasurers took 1.

Our next match is in three weeks time.

The 456 is now sporting a nice new set of Easton EA70 Lowrise bars to bring the front end under control a bit more. They are replacing the slightly bonkers 2.5"ride Azonics which are very nice, but a bit too high. Hopefully this should let me run the forks at 130mm instead of 100mm without upsetting my position too much.

I’ve not actually ridden the 456 for ages thanks to a combination of too much work, and seemingly constant rain. Doesn’t look like it’s going to get any better this week either.

Snakes on a Plane: Fantastically trashy, a perfect beer movie.

Red Dwarf Series One: An absolute classic.

It’s a bit like being stuck in a very bad repetitive rave.

One of the advantages of working in a hospital is that if you need treatment, they tend to ring you up and say "we’ve got a spare slot in an hour, can you come down?". They rang me at three, and I was wedged inside a MRI scanner just after four. There isn’t a lot of room in there, especially when you’re my size.

I expect I’ll get a letter with the results in a week or two.

Steak and chips washed down with a few pints of good beer, followed by a trip to the cinema to see The Nightmare Before Christmas 3D. There were only four of us in the cinema, and the other two were only there because they were too late for the earlier showing.

Shame I’ve got to go back to work tomorrow.

Disconcerting

Hobbes doesn’t have cancer, it’s apparently a form of irritable bowel syndrome, the steroids he’s on will help with that.

New year was good, but I drank far too much. I’m abstaining from alcohol for at least another hour.

I’ve almost forgotten what it’s like to ride a bike offroad. Maybe I’ll rectify that one day in the not too distant future.

Hopefully I’m very drunk at the moment.