My new chainring arrived from chain reaction today.

This one looks much straighter...

Labels: biking

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On our after work bike ride on Thursday I had a bit of a problem changing up onto the outer chainring - if I shifted too slowly the chain got caught in the derailleur and locked the crank up.

Today I found the reason when I took the it off to investigate - somehow I've managed to bend the big chainring outwards.

It doesn't look like much, but it's obviously enough to foul the derailleur cage during gear changes.

Labels: biking

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I've had my iPhone for just over a week now, and here are a few initial thoughts...

The battery life could be better - I've charged it at least once a day so far - though comparing the battery to that on my old K800i may be a touch unfair as I spend an awful lot more time fiddling with the iPhone than I ever did my old phone. Miranda has done nothing but tell me to "put it down for five minutes" for the last week.

The lack of MMS is a real pain - I really can't believe Apple missed this out. And the fact that to receive an MMS you get a text that takes you to O2's "legacy" phone web site really doesn't sit well with the iPhone's ultramodern image.

There are also a few things my palm did that the iPhone doesn't - synchronisable notes being one that I miss - but there are a lot of things the iPhone does better.

Safari is a far better web browser than Blazer and the always on internet connection is amazing for settling those pub arguments with a bit of Google inspiration.

Labels: tech

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My Palm T|X is on it's last legs - this week the sync cable disintegrated - so I've been looking around for a replacement for a while.

Today I finally decided - and bought myself a 16Gb iPhone 3G.

I wasn't really looking to replace my phone as well, but the iPod Touch just doesn't have enough of the non phone iPhone features that I wanted (location services for one) so I decided the phone was the best option.

Let's hope I'm right - this thing comes with an 18 month contract...

Labels: iphone, palm, tech

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This weekend is the Nottingham Beer Festival, and we took the afternoon off to go drinking.

This year the location changed to the grounds of Nottingham Castle, meaning more space and more beer - around 530 different beers this year.

Six hours and a lot of tokens later we headed for the bus back to Marcs house...

Favourite beer of the day was Glotts Hop ("Straw coloured ale with citrus taste, lemon aroma") from the Howard Town brewery in Glossop.

Labels: beer, drink

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Went out riding after work with Andy this evening.

As we set off it was still bright but the sun was on it's way below the horizon.

By the time we hit the bridleway on the way back over from Woodhouse Eaves lights were definitely required!

Pretty soon it will be that dark as we leave...

Labels: biking

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I picked up a multifit spoke spanner from Halfords for the bargain price of £2.50 at lunchtime so I just finished fitting my new spoke.

Planning ahead this time I also remembered to dig out my socket set to avoid the skinned knuckles I ended up with last time I took the cassette locking ring off.

Once that cassette was off I removed the broken bit of the old spoke, threaded the new one through and screwed it into the nipple on the rim.

Bending the spoke to thread it through the other spoke and into the nipple is a bit worrying as you really have to bend it quite a lot to line it up properly.

Overall the fitting the spoke was a lot easier than I thought it would be, and I managed to get it done without having to take the tyre / inner tube off the wheel.

All set for a ride after work tomorrow now :)

Labels: biking

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Woke up to the first frozen windscreen of the season this morning.

Winter is coming...

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Put my new pedals on this morning... eventually. The right hand pedal came off easily enough, but the left just wouldn't budge. In the end I took it across to City Cycles and £1 later it was off... the advantage of having a 15mm spanner long enough for some leverage.

Having fitted my new pedals (with some copper ease on the threads to hopefully make things easier if I ever take them off) I headed off to Sherwood to meet Matt and try them out.

Good first - my new pedals are absolutely fabulous. All the benefits of my M520s but with the advantage of the platform for stability when I'm not clipped in.

Now for the bad... While out enjoying my pedals I managed to break a spoke and lose my bike computer all in one 20 minutes period.

The new spoke cost a whole 50p from the bike hire shop at Sherwood - cheap enough, but it was a cassette side rear spoke which means I'll have to take my whole back wheel apart to replace it!

The bike computer was only a fairly cheap one from tesco, but after buying my pedals I could do without having to replace that too :(

Labels: biking

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One of the guys at Miranda's work goes shooting on the weekends. Usually he goes for deer (and makes a beautiful venison and chilli sausage), but this weekend he apparently bagged some partridges.

Mi brought them home this evening (having refused to touch them) and left me to do the prep while she went out to the cinema with a few friends.

It's been a good few years since I've dealt with food that still has feathers and all it's insides and I'd forgotten quite how smelly those inside can get after a couple of days sat around dead.

With a few reminders from the Shooting Gazette web site I soon had them skinned (far easier than plucking when all said and done) and gutted and ready for the freezer.

I suspect we may be having a game pie at some point as the freezer already contains two rabbits that Mi got from Sally on the allotment.

Labels: food, game, partridge

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I've been using my current SPD pedals (Shimano M520)for about 15 months now and absolutely love them, despite the occasional topple sideways when I don't unclip in time.

One thing I did miss though was the ability to just ride my bike in normal shoes, for the odd forgetful times when I managed not to have my SPD shoes with me.

I now have these beauties. Shimano M647 SPD pedals with a nice platform on them for riding in normal shoes, or in SPD shoes without needing to clip in for those trickier moments.

I ordered them yesterday afternoon from Chain Reaction Cycles, and they were at work waiting for me when I got in this morning.

Now I just need to fit them and get them muddy - bring on the weekend!

Labels: biking

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