Road Cycling

Soldato
Joined
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Hereford
I'd be reporting that council woman for assault next door but sounds like that's a no go. Or go in to her work and confront her infront of all her work colleagues. I'd be not afraid to mention you'll take action into your own hands to protect yourself.

You can do loads of things to screw with people without being caught if you really have no other option. Credit cards setup in their names, pizza deliveries etc etc (not just damaging vehicles!).

Hell if I had a repeat offender like that I'd be doing something about it, but that's just me. I have access to firearms but this ain't quite the States! I've always joked about cyclists being allowed to carry handguns would solve things overnight...

For example, the 2 tractors which have driven me off the road I called around all the big local landowners (who would be using contractors) to track down who they where. I got 1 confirmation of it being a tractor they knew but they wouldn't tell me his name. :rolleyes:

I had mentioned I had camera footage so the optimist in me thinks it was mentioned to the driver, so he was at least aware it happened and could get reported to police if he wasn't a little more careful. The threat/fear probably is much worse than the actual report from what we've seen...
 
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Soldato
Joined
24 Apr 2013
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3,067
I think I have solved my problem.... I will invite @Roady up for a week holiday to the Highlands and take him around as my bodyguard :)

I think we all know not to get on wrong side of you now sir :p :p Lycra'd Liam Neeson over there!
 
Soldato
Joined
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8,420
Location
Hereford
Haha 'benefits' of living with a bottomless pit. How is she & mini xd doing? :D

Although with your training you probably burn the calories. I've been quite bad for snacking/beer this winter and can't seem to shift my excess... Currently 78kg! :o

Mine is grand, this morning the other half tipped the trailer on a curb. Not sure how she tipped 35+kg, must have been some thump/bounce! Got mini out and he said "Harry fell over, but I'm ok" gathered some sticks while mummy uprighted things, then climbed back in, "Go to school now mummy". Little Legend! :D
 
Soldato
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3,067
Haha 'benefits' of living with a bottomless pit. How is she & mini xd doing? :D

Although with your training you probably burn the calories. I've been quite bad for snacking/beer this winter and can't seem to shift my excess... Currently 78kg! :o

Mine is grand, this morning the other half tipped the trailer on a curb. Not sure how she tipped 35+kg, must have been some thump/bounce! Got mini out and he said "Harry fell over, but I'm ok" gathered some sticks while mummy uprighted things, then climbed back in, "Go to school now mummy". Little Legend! :D

All is well with only t-minus 5 weeks until arrival of 2.0.
Funny you should mention toppling over (and always remember, if it's impossible, a woman will manage it somehow!)... We went to help her friend last night take some horses in from the field. We always help when her husband is away as we fear her falling over or coming to trouble. So yeah, Jo ends up actually falling over. We go to help and stop anyone falling over and she falls over. Landed softly on her side at least and not on the bump but I wonder how women can manage what they do sometimes.

I'm also not training enough and favouring the beer and cookies too much this winter but just managing to keep the weight off with Zwifting. Team camp thing in a months time down the Cairngorms so I better get the finger out!

Do you get little fella into nursery soon then? We just this week registered Rorysaur to start but he won't go in August due to being born in October. Has to wait till January. I believe England & Scotland very different in start terms and hours you get at a nursery etc.
 
Soldato
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Hereford
Do you get little fella into nursery soon then? We just this week registered Rorysaur to start but he won't go in August due to being born in October. Has to wait till January. I believe England & Scotland very different in start terms and hours you get at a nursery etc.
Good to hear she's all ok. Haha yeah mad how they manage things isn't it?! Also how they just refuse to slow down or take it easy. I don't miss having the pregnant whale around as mine was utterly useless at it, she'd then sit down to chill out and do something else, totally forget and just fall asleep lol. Found her asleep in the middle of doing something so many times...!

Good lad, bet he's the same as mine now - into everything, insanely clever, stringing mostly complete sentances together which make sense!? Telling me/the dog off along with the absolute meltdowns for very little/no apparent reason! :rolleyes:

EDIT: Regarding weight, without Zwift I know I'd be nowhere the last couple of years. I think with the riding I do much of the weight is now muscle as I've not really gained much waist since I was 73-74kg. It's all thighs and just filled out a little on my torso and face/neck. Several people commented I 'look healthier' than I did in 2016/17 when I got that low. So think a summer weight of 75/76kg and winter of 77/78kg will be quite normal for me now. Can't see my ribs anymore! I'm happy with a 32" waist (tend to go boot cut jeans to get more thigh, rather than 34" waist) and 'Small' in t-shirts (currently favoute brands are Superdry & Timberland)...

Harry's been in Nursery/daycare since 8 months old. Since July 2018 - 3 days a week 8:30-4.30. When he's 3 we'll get the childcare 'allowance' but it won't start until the term afterwards, so think that's January 2021. Then we'll get 20 hours a week 'paid' for, only then paying the difference. Childcare costs will drop from £560+ a month (we pay it weekly) to under £100 which will be amazing/a huge change for us! At the moment my monthly 'wage' is only enough to cover mortgage, childcare and our bills. Thankfully the other half is paid well for her 28 hour week otherwise we'd not be living! Even some months now when a big bill or two comes in we're only 'surviving'. But I had expected to eat into my savings, but have not needed to - so far! I can't grasp the costs involved in Nursery fee's for some of the kids in Harrys class. For an 'early' dropoff (8am) and late pickup (5pm) it would cost an additional £28 per DAY! :o

Harry has thrived in Nursery, really really impressed by the way he's handled it and how fast he progressed so really glad we put him in 'early' and in quite a busy Nursery, as he'll be in a busy primary school & secondary. In Nursery because the majority of the ones in his class have been older than him, he's progressed quickly and kept up with them. When little ones have joined his classroom he's always seemed loads older than them - we've pushed twice to get him moved up 2-3 months early to keep with his 'mates' (couple of older ones who where held back a little from their group). Just means at Christmas he moved up at 2 years (+3 months) to a room where most of them where 2.5-3. But he's not out of place there as he's tall, just wasn't potty trained - but then within 2 weeks of moving up he was. Just one day he 'decided' he wanted to wear pants and we had very few accidents (couple of weeks before then we tried to force it and had several, he just wasn't ready).

Harry being born at the end of September is going to work out a little awkward for us, it does mean he'll be one of the 'oldest' in his year when he actually goes to 'real' school. Which will be great, but also means he'll be in Nursery until nearly the age of 5 as age cutoff is the second week of september or something. They only seem to start them in September here. He's going to be so overly ready to go it'll be insane! He'll also 'lose' the group of friends who'll start school the year before him, which will be a real shame. It's really going to be tough as to us it's obvious it'll hold him back - he can count in sequence to 16 already (actually counting items in front of him he can do 6-7), knows almost all his colours and I'm getting quite a bit of the alphabet out of him (although he's a long way from remembering the whole thing). He's a monster on his push along (so confident & fast), can use a scooter (although slowly), kick & throw a ball (but not catch yet) and is close to being able to pedal. That's at 2 years and 5 months. #lifestory #prouddad :D
 
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Soldato
Joined
24 Apr 2013
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3,067
Good to hear she's all ok. Haha yeah mad how they manage things isn't it?! Also how they just refuse to slow down or take it easy. I don't miss having the pregnant whale around as mine was utterly useless at it, she'd then sit down to chill out and do something else, totally forget and just fall asleep lol. Found her asleep in the middle of doing something so many times...!

Good lad, bet he's the same as mine now - into everything, insanely clever, stringing mostly complete sentances together which make sense!? Telling me/the dog off along with the absolute meltdowns for very little/no apparent reason! :rolleyes:

Harry's been in Nursery/daycare since 8 months old. Since July 2018 - 3 days a week 8:30-4.30. When he's 3 we'll get the childcare 'allowance' but it won't start until the term afterwards, so think that's January 2021. Then we'll get 20 hours a week 'paid' for, only then paying the difference. Childcare costs will drop from £560+ a month (we pay it weekly) to under £100 which will be amazing/a huge change for us! At the moment my monthly 'wage' is only enough to cover mortgage, childcare and our bills. Thankfully the other half is paid well for her 28 hour week otherwise we'd not be living! Even some months now when a big bill or two comes in we're only 'surviving'. But I had expected to eat into my savings, but have not needed to - so far! I can't grasp the costs involved in Nursery fee's for some of the kids in Harrys class. For an 'early' dropoff (8am) and late pickup (5pm) it would cost an additional £28 per DAY! :o

Harry has thrived in Nursery, really really impressed by the way he's handled it and how fast he progressed so really glad we put him in 'early' and in quite a busy Nursery, as he'll be in a busy primary school & secondary. In Nursery because the majority of the ones in his class have been older than him, he's progressed quickly and kept up with them. When little ones have joined his classroom he's always seemed loads older than them - we've pushed twice to get him moved up 2-3 months early to keep with his 'mates' (couple of older ones who where held back a little from their group). Just means at Christmas he moved up at 2 years (+3 months) to a room where most of them where 2.5-3. But he's not out of place there as he's tall, just wasn't potty trained - but then within 2 weeks of moving up he was. Just one day he 'decided' he wanted to wear pants and we had very few accidents (couple of weeks before then we tried to force it and had several, he just wasn't ready).

Harry being born at the end of September is going to work out a little awkward for us, it does mean he'll be one of the 'oldest' in his year when he actually goes to 'real' school. Which will be great, but also means he'll be in Nursery until nearly the age of 5 as age cutoff is the second week of september or something. They only seem to start them in September here. He's going to be so overly ready to go it'll be insane! He'll also 'lose' the group of friends who'll start school the year before him, which will be a real shame. It's really going to be tough as to us it's obvious it'll hold him back - he can count in sequence to 16 already (actually counting items in front of him he can do 6-7), knows almost all his colours and I'm getting quite a bit of the alphabet out of him (although he's a long way from remembering the whole thing). He's a monster on his push along (so confident & fast), can use a scooter (although slowly), kick & throw a ball (but not catch yet) and is close to being able to pedal. That's at 2 years and 5 months. #lifestory #prouddad :D

It's amazing how similar our lads sound Roady. Very much nip and tuck on most things by sound of it!
Rory goes to a child minder 2 days a week and it has seen him come along so much. She's said for 6 months his speech is WAY ahead of where it should be. He's speaking better than 3 year olds she has. But on the other hand he has some mates that are a month younger than him which are in clothes much bigger and they have 2KG on him. He's not going to be a big lad that's for sure but it's awesome to see how they all differ..... although out two sound very similar in many ways!

I should have worded my nursery question better as I of course knew wee fella went to nursery for long time with your chariot workouts these past few years. I wasn't sure on the free hours and how you would then transfer onto those but you understood what I was asking either way. I am glad it will help you out financially at least and I would not bother about the age cutoffs and him losing mates he has now as he progresses through nursery to primary. He sounds quite the little dude, he is not going to have issue interacting socially with anyone new you put in front of him and will come home with a new group of mates no matter. It's exactly the same I see in Rory, it'll be totally fine :)

We get 30 hours free child care for him in Scotland. Our cut off is different also. Like the youngest kids in classes are the February (like me) and the early March birthday kids get choice if they hold back a year or go when they are very young compared the kids born in June/July etc.
Our nursery is letting us take 23 hours a week though rather than 30 which means we get 48 weeks of the year covered @ 23 hours a week. If we take the 30 hours we do not get free childcare cover during school holidays... so with Jo working part time and gran having him Monday's we will hopefully have 2 days of 8-5 and use the rest on another day if at all.
He's at child minder now with kids ranging from 6 months to 9 years. He gets on great with all age groups and is basically got a second family at the child minders as she has 2 teenagers and a 21 year old who he loves to pieces. I'd honestly rather leave him there until he goes to primary school to be honest.
 
Soldato
Joined
24 Apr 2013
Posts
3,067
Forecast looking great for the weekend!

All our club rides have been cancelled. Zwift is is then! ;)

My teams reliability got cancelled on Sunday and rescheduled for this Sunday. Will be cancelled again.
Local club also has a reliability I would do instead as no travelling needed. Will also be cancelled.
Weather joys!
 
Soldato
Joined
26 Oct 2002
Posts
4,168
Location
Norwich
I’ve been riding my new Cannondale Topstone and I love it, my ridiculous 2km commute is under 5 mins and I can zip along on the roads and feel confident curb hopping and hitting the mud on the estate (new builds in progress) all while saving petrol and my turbo no doubt.

I still log the rides on my Wahoo but don’t display on Strava but is there a way of automatically hiding a route as doing it twice a day is a pain?

I’m also after a Wahoo Mount for my roam plus a light as having both on top of the bars takes up so much space it’s hard to get to the side buttons - that or a light that goes under the bar I guess with a mount that looks ok on top of the bars if that makes sense!?
 
Soldato
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
8,420
Location
Hereford
It's amazing how similar our lads sound Roady. Very much nip and tuck on most things by sound of it!
Rory goes to a child minder 2 days a week and it has seen him come along so much. She's said for 6 months his speech is WAY ahead of where it should be. He's speaking better than 3 year olds she has. But on the other hand he has some mates that are a month younger than him which are in clothes much bigger and they have 2KG on him. He's not going to be a big lad that's for sure but it's awesome to see how they all differ..... although out two sound very similar in many ways!

I should have worded my nursery question better as I of course knew wee fella went to nursery for long time with your chariot workouts these past few years. I wasn't sure on the free hours and how you would then transfer onto those but you understood what I was asking either way. I am glad it will help you out financially at least and I would not bother about the age cutoffs and him losing mates he has now as he progresses through nursery to primary. He sounds quite the little dude, he is not going to have issue interacting socially with anyone new you put in front of him and will come home with a new group of mates no matter. It's exactly the same I see in Rory, it'll be totally fine :)

We get 30 hours free child care for him in Scotland. Our cut off is different also. Like the youngest kids in classes are the February (like me) and the early March birthday kids get choice if they hold back a year or go when they are very young compared the kids born in June/July etc.
Our nursery is letting us take 23 hours a week though rather than 30 which means we get 48 weeks of the year covered @ 23 hours a week. If we take the 30 hours we do not get free childcare cover during school holidays... so with Jo working part time and gran having him Monday's we will hopefully have 2 days of 8-5 and use the rest on another day if at all.
He's at child minder now with kids ranging from 6 months to 9 years. He gets on great with all age groups and is basically got a second family at the child minders as she has 2 teenagers and a 21 year old who he loves to pieces. I'd honestly rather leave him there until he goes to primary school to be honest.
Yeah they've both been into the same things at the same times ain't they! For us Harry was more mobile before really doing much speech but once he'd masterd that speech came along so fast. As you probably found with Rory. Someone said that Boys will do that - learn/concentrate 1 thing at a time, whereas Girls will tend to take a little longer but learn multiple things together. Just the stringing of things together now is pretty amazing, rather than just phrases it's combinations of stuff like "NO Daddy, don't tickle me, it's naughty!" (told you telling me off!) or things like "Coats off its wet mummy fetch towel please".

I can see why some people prefer child minders, it's much more personal and it sounds like Rory has certainly done well at his! For us they where a more expensive option we might have taken (we'd have to travel further) if we didn't like the Nursery or found he struggled. He didn't and really seemed to thrive there so we know we made the right choice. One of our neighbours has a boy who's 4 months younger than Harry and he started off at a minders, then joined the same Nursery (great as they'll be in the same year at school and will be good friends growing up together), but he is a little quiet timid thing, seemed to be miles behind Harry back then and probably would've struggled in a room of bigger/louder kids at Nursery. He's still quite a bit smaller/quieter now but growing into himself now he's that bit older. I think the competition with other kids really does help them to a certain extent but really depends on the child, even now have to remind Harry to share things with smaller kids as he's just so used to playing with older kids. He just takes what he wants, rather than being too aware of others wanting it too. Sharing (even with daddy) can still be a battle! ;)

As expected the cutoffs and childcare is similar, our childcare allowance is the same as we need coverage for the whole year, not just the term times. But I think our 'September start' is more to do with the School he'll be going to, it'll be busy (30+ kids) in his class so I don't think they stagger things. We're lucky with where we've ended up, as you've seen how short my commute to work is? 2.4 miles, well I ride past 2 of the 'best' (by ofsted ratings) primary schools 'north of the river' here. There's 5 'main' primary schools in Hereford city itself and we're within walking distance of the highest rated and cycling distance of #3. Perfect placement as well within catchment area of both so he can get into either! Even when he goes to secondary school that's no further than we take him to Nursery (similar distance) so we'll be cycling our commutes and his school run for the next 14 years at least...! Haha ;)

We've got family who could do a day but with a 35/40 minute drive each way it's really not feasable as a weekly thing, can't really ask them to travel either (although they would!) as they're all getting on a bit now! :o


I’ve been riding my new Cannondale Topstone and I love it, my ridiculous 2km commute is under 5 mins and I can zip along on the roads and feel confident curb hopping and hitting the mud on the estate (new builds in progress) all while saving petrol and my turbo no doubt.

I still log the rides on my Wahoo but don’t display on Strava but is there a way of automatically hiding a route as doing it twice a day is a pain?

I’m also after a Wahoo Mount for my roam plus a light as having both on top of the bars takes up so much space it’s hard to get to the side buttons - that or a light that goes under the bar I guess with a mount that looks ok on top of the bars if that makes sense!?
Aweome bike, you'rs a 2020 with the really dropped seat stays? Or the more traditional Cannondale shape? Sounds like you're using it perfectly - similar to how I'm using my 'gravel' bike which doesn't see any gravel... I use it as more of a monster road bike - commuting it doesn't shy away from rough gravel, pot holes, ice/snow/mud/leaves or anything, just smashes on through with big tyres (32mm slicks but tubeless) under full guards. It's a supreme winter/bad weather bike. I'm not afraid of taking it off road if I wanted/had to, but I don't ride off road...!

Ummm, so you're after hiding your commute activities on the Wahoo app? Not sure there's a way. But if you uploaded to Strava you can use a little tool like this to auto mark them as commutes, might even be a way to automatically set them as Private which sounds what you're after? You want the data but don't want to plaster your friends new feeds with it?

Depends on your light... I'm using a K-Edge 'combo' mount for my ELEMNT (bought a puck to fit the K-E) and a camera below (using GoPro adaptor but its not a GP). You can get light mounts for most makes which will attach to a GP adaptor. If you can't find one then you might find a stem mount for your light too you could use instead to mount in the same position. I have my Race fitted using it's usual QR adaptor but inverted so it's below bars. It's offset but that doesn't bother me - I have it curbside and angled inwards. Feel it's actually better there as more light towards side which has the majority of hazards (joining traffic/junctions/debris/pot holes/etc). Only bang my knee on it occasionally! :o
 

dod

dod

Soldato
Joined
31 Oct 2002
Posts
4,098
Location
Inverness
Ummm, so you're after hiding your commute activities on the Wahoo app? Not sure there's a way. But if you uploaded to Strava you can use a little tool like this to auto mark them as commutes, might even be a way to automatically set them as Private which sounds what you're after? You want the data but don't want to plaster your friends new feeds with it?

If you tag your ride as a commute you get the option to exclude it in your training logs, just untick the box. That's on the desktop anyway
 
Soldato
Joined
26 Oct 2002
Posts
4,168
Location
Norwich
Cheers both, my Topstone is an Alu Tiagra one so traditional frame - love the carbon sus ones tho and a one bike solution would be amazing!

I have a couple of lights, one has a GoPro mount that I use on my giant stem thing, currently on my bars but just too close together - maybe a k-edge Mount with GoPro adaptor is the way to go.
 
Soldato
Joined
25 Mar 2008
Posts
9,180
They done those op close pass things around here Roady and it hasn't made a difference. All they do is give people a "talking to" and on there way.

I had a lady who used to dangerously target me most mornings on my commute. She would pass me as close as possible (at 60 on a NSL!) and blast her horn to the point I used to genuinely worry if it was her coming up behind me each morning on my way to work. I had her name, reg plate, times every day she done it. I knew where she worked and I even knew which space she parked in every day at her work at the council offices right next door to the police HQ!...

The police haven't touched her. Not interested in following it up. The traffics chap said the most he could do is have a word with her really. I'll not be wasting any more life, energy, effort on reporting things to the cops.

A bus pulled along side me to pass as a lorry was emerging up ahead (he seen it, but went to pass regardless). He was side by side with me and just started coming back over. His bus physically touched my shoulder and pushed me off the road onto the verge.... I near came off in a proper ditch on the verge and managed to correct it and get back on the road.
I challenge the driver and he flipped me the V's over his shoulder and then drove off.....
Reported that one to the bus company and the lady took heaps of info and seemed engaged.... Then a week later I get a email saying they closed my incident case ref and sent me a survey asking how they dealt with the situation.
I have no idea if they even done anything to that driver. They never replied to any of my follow up mails to that and seems they swept it under the carpet and moved on.

So you can see why through various experiences I have ultimately gave the **** up with humans in every regard.
My commute used to include a dicey stretch of narrow A road that involved a 60mph near - pass at least once a week.

When I got my ride-to-work bike I chose matt black, and all my kit is black apart from one of these...

PYVUzX3.png

We moved and I don't cycle commute anymore, but while I did, it felt like the vest gained me an extra meter...
 
Soldato
Joined
25 Oct 2006
Posts
5,386
I was surprised to get out for just under 2 hours this morning. Storm hasn't really arrived just yet. Thought the whole weekend would be written off.
 
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