S-Westerly

Recently the council sent a team to paint up the give way markings at the bottom of our road. To our collective surprise they also painted this. There is NO road beyond the SLOW sign!

I was spending a wet afternoon in my local museum when I came across this - a Baughan bike and sidecar. Built in Stroud in 1929 and apparently it swept the board in trials competitions. The side car wheel was powered through a dog clutch running off the rear wheel axle. Apparently it was rubbish on the road as it wouldn't go round bends too well.

Baughn bike and sidecar

No you're not.

Finally off the mark. I HATE stopping.

Hare and Hounds

Westonbirt Arboretum

Went to the Jamie's Italian in Bath not long after it opened. Had to queue and what a disappointment. Overcooked and overpriced. Never been back and I think it's closed. No surprise if it has.

Other things about restaurants: if it's empty when you arrive, unless it's just opened, walk out. Second if the menu is long the food will be crap.

Anything attached to Rick Stein is pretentious. Spent a week in Padstow once due to being weatherbound and it's like he owns the place. After the first insanely expensive meal in his cafe we made an effort to eat elsewhere.

Depends what you like to eat. My OH is a truly excellent cook so unless we are away we only eat out of its likely to be either different or better than at home. So cafes are out and only gastro pubs get a look in. Food snobs? probably yes. That said when I'm out on the bike I am a keen aficionados of bacon butties. Also when I'm at work I eat some utter shite on occasion due to there being bugger all choice.

@onesea I had no idea the New Forest was so popular. It is just a Forest isn’t it? Round here there isn’t anywhere good to eat. It’s all very poor quality so you have to drive to Bristol or Bath. The southwest is relatively poor area and nearby Weston Super Mud is racked out with elderly care homes and drug rehab folk. The tourists that come this way are after an icecream or candy floss on the pier, maybe some fish n chips so there’s lots of sticky vinyl seat cafes selling whatever Booker has on offer cos it’s past it’s sell by date.

@S-Westerly It’s gone onto my avoid list. It did taste good, they know how to cook but they’ve moved from thinking they’re superior to demonstrating by giving you no choice but to choose from cabbage, cauliflower or carrots as a main course.

I’ve just looked at the menu and yesterday there was no quail on offer it was a small ramekin of strings of beef or the dot of cod. Today I have stomach ache, unsurprising given eating large quantities of cauliflower isn’t my thing

Don't know exactly where in Somerset you are but the Queen's Arms near Sherborne and the Swan at Wedmore used to be decent gastro pubs. Haven't been there since we moved up to Gloucestershire so may have gone to seed since.

Had not heard of the Ethicurean (and the name alone is a bit twee). Just had a look at their menu and speaking as a shameless carnivore they really don't appeal. I'm afraid animal based protein is the core of any meal I eat.

As to pretentious restaurants: I'm not sure if this is current as it was a couple of years ago: Beresford Arms in Northumberland was reputedly renowned for classic British food. Took my Dad for lunch and the steak and kidney pie was like school dinners from 45 years ago. So disappointing. Never been back.

Part of the problem is car drivers generally totally underestimate how fast a bike can accelerate. I'd one the other day coming off a roundabout where the speed limit is 40. About 100 metres up the road on the left there's an access road into Bath university. I saw a car at the junction as I was peeling off from the roundabout come across which was fine, he cleared. Unfortunately the bloody Mercedes behind him did the same when I was probably less than 25 metres from him and doing 40mph. Cue swerving, braking and lots of swearing. In the end I missed him by about a metre and went around his back end. I'd guess we were both at fault - I'd seen him and I'm sure he'd seen me; I then assumed he'd stop. He'd seen me and assumed my speed and acceleration were less and that he'd be safe to cross. Double Oops

 

I know exactly the one you mean, off the Globe pub roundabout. I think people look but don't see - they know they usually wait a while so pull up, glance and if they 'see' a gap they go. I've had people do it there so I'm generally covering my front brake.

This sums it up neatly https://www.londoncyclist.co.uk/raf-pilot-teach-cyclists/

 

Do you not generally ride covering the front brake or is it just me? I have always done it around town after my first off 6 days after starting riding where u grabbed a handful of front brake when I didnt need to and locked the front.

The reason I do it is I feel it either completely eradicates the reaction time or at least lessens it as your fingers are already on the brake lever so when you think I need to brake here your straight on the brakes without faffing about

Generally no. I was always taught to "keep your hands off the silverware" . I'll cover the brake and/or clutch when driving slowly in heavy traffic or filtering but not normally.

Kenya's roads are pretty crap. Went there a few years back, we asked about the roads and he told us Kenya had 3 full tarmac roads only.

Potholes like bath tubs.

 

I used to go out there quite a bit with work, and every time I did I swore I'd never complain about British roads again.

This is so true but Kenya is not exactly a country claiming to be a first world powerhouse which our politicians regularly do and it's just not the current crop either but both sides going back 30 years. Comparing our roads to 3rd world ones is perhaps appropriate at this point in which case they are amazing.

A

I've been thinking about this lately, as I took the bike back in to the dealership a whole ago after feeling that it was a bit snatchy, particularly in 2nd gear at lowish revs. i had the map for second gear uploaded again and the bike was fully tested before being returned. Subsequently, though, I concluded that it's the consequence of a particularly sensitive throttle and road surfaces that are absolute pants.

It doesn't help that - aside from potholes and other such defects all over the place - the quality of workmanship for cable laying, etc, is really, really poor.

Yes, and how often does the road get dug up by the gas company for example, then a few months later it's the electricity or the water ad infinitum. The patches they make are always crap.

Unfortunately at the moment most of the good roads are like pot holed corduroy with a liberal spatter of mud, grit, dead badgers and spilt diesel. Parts of the A46 are still good though. I'm guessing if you were flying out of Aston Down it may have been gliding?

According to their website they are DOT approved and ECE 22.02 so they meet some standard at least. Quite neat looking helmets as well.

Actually my bit of Gloucestershire does grit and quite well to be honest. I live up a steepish hill which is regularly gritted. We've had little icy weather this year but last year in the beast from the East we could always get in and out. That's Stroud District rather than the posh bit out in the Cotswolds.

@S-Westerly yep completely agree the roads in Somerset Bristol and Bath are appalling. A lot of the local councils have no money, they put it out to tender, the cheapest contractor gets the work and they either don’t know what they’re doing or are using poor quality materials so it doesn’t last.

They filled a load of potholes last year (they were more like craters) and they turned them into humps! I thought there’s no way they are going to get away with that but they did, they carried on going around the area creating humps instead of holes!

I watched a Nottingham rider vid the other day about road positioning and he kept saying “people say the centre position is no good because it’s full of gravel and debris but look it’s not” Obviously depends where you are because down here it most certainly is!

And in Gloucestershire too. Half the time I end up closer to the white line than I'd like but at this time of year from the near side out to mid lane it's a happy mixture of potholes and gravel slicks. Throw in some mud and the obligatory spilt diesel and it's just so much fun - not.

Yeah I know. Just thinking where I've been in the last few years that had worse roads than us and so far only come up with Russia, Turkey and Egypt. It's just so depressing. As for riding elsewhere it's a bit difficult to have an afternoon whizz in France for example.

Ouch. Corbin were popular with some Ducati owners a while back. I agree that local would be better.

When exactly did our roads get so bloody horrible? This last week I've done just over a thousand miles. About 750 in the car between Gloucestershire and mid-Northumberland on motorways and A roads and the rest on the bike in Gloucestershire, Somerset and the cities of Bath and Bristol. I can honestly say I've seen better in most developed countries that I've been to and that most western European countries are generally better. What with potholes, ridges, trenches and bad surfaces overall they are a total disgrace. My local M5 junction (13) was resurfaced less than 2 years ago and it now looks like a topographical map of the moon.

Why?????!!!!!

Another custom seat builder is Corbin although they are based in the USA. About £400 for a seat though.

The word I hate the most is "fami-lam"

"Visiting the familam today"

No Dani, with your infinity symbol neck tat and 'live love laugh' decal on the wall, you are seeing your parents today. That is not a word.

WTF is a familam? Not doing most social media I am far behind the curve of modern usages but I can't even work out where that particular abomination comes from.

Part of the problem is car drivers generally totally underestimate how fast a bike can accelerate. I'd one the other day coming off a roundabout where the speed limit is 40. About 100 metres up the road on the left there's an access road into Bath university. I saw a car at the junction as I was peeling off from the roundabout come across which was fine, he cleared. Unfortunately the bloody Mercedes behind him did the same when I was probably less than 25 metres from him and doing 40mph. Cue swerving, braking and lots of swearing. In the end I missed him by about a metre and went around his back end. I'd guess we were both at fault - I'd seen him and I'm sure he'd seen me; I then assumed he'd stop. He'd seen me and assumed my speed and acceleration were less and that he'd be safe to cross. Double Oops

Thanks everyone but sure it will be fine

That's the annoying thing it couldn't have been anything from browsing as didn't mention it online or search anything related, only thing that would have flagged anything would had been from WhatsApp which is no surprise really as it's owned by Facebook.

 

The internet moves in mysterious ways. For ages wherever I went online I was offered Plus Size Ladies Bathing Suits . No idea how that could have happened.

I got these recently... still trying to work it out

An image in my head that I really wish I didn't!

Interesting what you say about glasses @JRH, never had this problem and I have both rimless glasses with quite thin arms and full frames with quite chunky arms.

I think it's all down to the fact everyone is different - different head shapes, different ear canals and different helmets just for starters. Eg. I can't use any kind of in-ear head phones as the shape of my ear canals means they just call out. Some folks can actually exercise in them

Park and ride ones are usually ok but for any other kind of bus I'm in full agreement. Slow, smelly, and often late. Haven't ridden one in years.