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Health & Fitness / Re: Prescription glasses
« Last post by Kim on Today at 04:52:36 pm »
I need glasses anyway and the tinted lenses anyway so they only pay a proportion towards the lenses. My boss isn't daft, so she wouldn't fall for a blag either.

Possibly if you had a computer-use-specific prescription, which in your case you have not got.
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Racing / Re: RATN 2024.
« Last post by Frank9755 on Today at 04:49:42 pm »
Good luck Jonah!

I've just eyeballed the rider list and the only guy I think I know in real life is Jan-Willem Bobbink, who I met in Australia on IndyPac.  He injured himself and couldn't walk but could ride reasonably ok.  I recall he told me that he had to crawl across the floor, dragging his bike, in a deserted hotel with a 24-hour automatic checkin!

Is the Tom Jackson who is riding the org from the Oasts and Coasts?
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Thanks for the warning about the straps!  I like the Tailfin rack but I don't like their bag as I would rather trade waterproofness for ease of access.  I will try to see if I can fit a different bag on to it, one with a zip. I'm not a fan of Ortleib as they seem to be obsessed with roll-tops. 

Agreed about zips being superior for ease of access.  My usual going-for-a-bike-ride rack bag is an old Carradice model with zipped compartments, which I prefer to the flap-closure type.  Obviously it's a trade-off for longevity.  Never had a frame bag or bar bag (I've always filled my DF bike frames with water bottles, and had limited room on the bars), but they seem like the best option for ease of access[1].

Roll-tops are reliable, but they're a faff.  In fairness to Ortlieb, it's their roll-top touring panniers (which, like you say, you mostly access at the end of the day) that they're famous for, and most of their luggage seems to be a variation on that theme.  Great for kitchen-sink touring.



[1] Honourable mention to the back pockets of Brompton bags, which aren't very bikepacky, but are certainly clever non-traditional bike luggage.
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Racing / Re: RATN 2024.
« Last post by quixoticgeek on Today at 04:39:45 pm »
Any predictions for the winners? In the women's category I guess that Nicole van Batenburg is the favorite, but to be honest none of the other names are familiar to me.

Having had a good chat with her today, and seen her bike. I agree.

I think Wendy is another to look out for.

J
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The Pub / Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Last post by Kim on Today at 04:33:56 pm »
'So' at the start of the sentence is certainly a filler, like 'Um...' or 'Right.'  It can be a useful preamble, but overuse makes the speaker look uncertain or thoughtful.

I think the valley girl 'like' is used more as a kind of, like, emphasis.


Obviously the wrongness of such grammatical constructions is proportional to how  a) young  and  b) USAnian  the speaker is perceived to be.
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The issue with the rack-pack for me isn't, necessarily, the roll top it's more the 3 straps that you have to undo to get anything out of the bag. Then you have to connect them all again. With luck, they haven't dropped onto your oily chain.....I know there's a side pocket but that's too small to be any use at all.
OTOH, I love how stable the rack is and the mini-panniers are excellent and they don't wobble around at all.

Back on topic: I don't camp so I don't need a tent and all the other paraphernalia but I've found that even "rigidly" mounted seat-packs cause too much sway when I'm out of the saddle, hence my preference for the Tailfin rack.

Thanks for the warning about the straps!  I like the Tailfin rack but I don't like their bag as I would rather trade waterproofness for ease of access.  I will try to see if I can fit a different bag on to it, one with a zip. I'm not a fan of Ortleib bags either as they seem to be obsessed with roll-tops, but I've never owned one.

The best way to cope with poor access - whether tailfin or saddle pack - is to only have stuff in the tail bag that you won't need during the day.  I learned that the hard way!  Also I learned to pack in a modular fashion. While you get the most in by loose-loading, it wastes loads of time unpacking and repacking everything each time you need one item. Now I have four sub-bags (one each for tools/spares, electrics, personal care/medicines and clothes).

I'm not on commission, but the Arkel seat pack really does not sway - it's basically got a rack inside it so it can't, any more than a Tailfin can.  It's a really well-designed piece of kit.  The rack makes it slightly heavier, and it doesn't work with a suspension seatpost (but does with a dropper) but other than that, it's miles better than other seatpacks.
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Further and Faster / Re: New bike for Audax from Halfords.
« Last post by andyoxon on Today at 04:29:16 pm »
...I shall ride 25 Km in the cyclo park first...

Another 2p.  As a training goal you could see if you can eventually build up do 25km in 1hour.  Not that I've done an Audax at an average speed of 25km/h before, but over 25km - if have reasonable potential fitness, may be a challenge to try.  Training on the same track could be 'boring' though, so after a while perhaps take it to a decent handful of diff routes...
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OT Gallery / Re: Readers' Instruments
« Last post by bobb on Today at 04:24:39 pm »
The shorter Gibson scale length makes A-shape barre chords a bit harder if you have fat fingers

If you can tell the difference at any given position on the fretboard, then you have an astonishingly sensitive touch! Even if you're barring at the 1st fret, meaning your fingers are squeezed up* at the 3rd fret, the difference between a 24.75" and a 25.5" guitar, centre fret to centre fret is less than 1mm! Having jumbo rather traditional frets will make a more noticable difference....

Nice rig though  :)

* No self respecting guitarist plays an A shape barre like that anyway, use the flat of you 3rd or preferably 4th finger  :P
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The Sporting Life / Re: County Cricket 2024
« Last post by Wowbagger on Today at 04:06:17 pm »
Indeed they are!
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Awful photos, but I was about to remove last year's barley straw from the pond when I found this dragonfly nymph on it, so I put it back sharpish. *dances vigorously*

PXL_20240426_124848623 by The Pingus, on Flickr

PXL_20240426_124858854 by The Pingus, on Flickr
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