Craig Sawyers

Yes you are right. But working men in the North East of England at that time did exactly that - work their socks off. So the idea of becoming a professional bike rider would have been laughable. Stan was a painter and decorator. A contemporary of Stan's in North Yorkshire, Brian Trippett said in an interview "I didn’t race in the Tour de France for the same reason. I was asked to twice, in 1959 and 1960. But it would have meant using up all my annual holiday." You get the drift. But now the world is different, and many of the excellent British riders who rode superbly back in the day would have a host of different opportunities now, particularly with the dominance of British riders in track cycling and grand tours. Opportunities have dropped temporarily since the UCI reduced the team size from 9 to 8 in an attempt to reduce the number of crashes. It has actually had no effect in that regard, so lets hope they increase the team size back to 9 and get more pro riders on the grand tours.

Just seen Carole's uncle Stan on the BBC 10pm main news. He's now 87 and is being treated for wet macular degeneration - which is what the news segment was about, and different drug treatments. But back in the day he used to cycle for England, 60-odd years ago. A fiendish climber, he is the typical light weight small built bloke. This was well before professional cycling, but he would have been a dead cert had he been in his early 20's now. He used to do 24 hour endurance races at a weekend while working. When he had kids and got to a normal work life, he didn't cycle again until he retired at just over 60, having not been on a bike for nearly 35 years. Then he got back to 300 miles a week, and in his mid 60's got his hour distance back to greater than 25 miles. His miles have dropped off a lot because of age, and eyesight - but he still gets on his competition bike most days.

Have a truly superb day, you tall geezer!

I have Astronomy Picture of the Day as my Chrome home screen. The phases of the moon was yesterday's APOD. Always fascinating. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html This one is a really weirdly produced one with an almost robot voice and fuzzy movie, but it describes what you would see if you approached the speed of light - if the speed of light was 1 meter per second. It shows how totally wrong sci-fi movie makers are - nature is a very strange place. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap111018.html

Have a great day! Happy birthday!

Yup. That's me. A few years ago when I'd completed the LX521's.

Oh bugger. That has really knocked be back. I knew he was not well, but did not know that he was that unwell. RIP and godspeed SL - I built his first active design (published in Wireless World) back in the late 70's, and his last large-scale active design (the LX521), which I love and listen to daily. SL's website, a tour de force of loudspeaker design, is safe though - he handed the keys to that across to Frank Brenner (proprietor of https://www.magiclx521.com/ and an airline pilot) some months ago. I guess that might have been a hint that he was poorly.

It also depends on the threads being cut parallel in the bottom bracket. Not sure how that is done on a carbon frame. Threaded inserts bonded in? In any event, if the threads are not parallel and/or have a linear offset it is a manufacturing fault, and there is no alternative but a replacement frame.

Do you have a friendly machine shop with some metrology gear so the you can get the frame measured? There must be something very screwy around the bottom bracket so it should be easy to measure it.

Similar coronary dish is a specialty of the Auvergne region of France called Truffade. Thin sliced potatoes, duck fat, and lots of Cantal (a local) cheese. Some recipes chuck in cream too. Basic ratio is 4lbs of potatoes and 2lbs of cheese of that particular variety. It is absolutely delicious. And potentially lethal ?

Two or three years ago I bought a ceramic burr grinder. And either use a French press or an Aeropress. I've also got a milk frother. And oh man does that make killer coffee. Good luck on your way to coffee nirvana Dusty! Not as expensive a fixation as audio, but distinctly addictive all the same.

Oh yes - to all three!

That was totally priceless thanks Stretch!

RIP Burt. Somehow it seems those films were so recent, Stretch.

Well it looks like you are "cured"

That is hilarious. Wondered where it was going for the first 30 seconds

Happy birthday!

That has to be somewhere in Japan?

Looking good! Any post op shit to deal with?

Happy birthday!

RIP all those dead in the horrific bridge collapse in Genoa, Italy https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-45183624

That sort of thing gives you a sick feeling in the pit of your stomach. Suggestion - there is a Russian guy with a thread on Steve Hoffman's site who repairs cartridges with snapped off cantilevers. Yeah, I know there are opinions about Hoffman's forums, but here is the link, with lots of pics of before and after resurrection. http://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/stylus-retipping-service-phono-cartridge-specialist-from-russia-moscow.686418/

Welcome to the serious cat club! Well done. And sorry to hear about the other woes - that sucks.

Happy birthday!

Happy birthday Todd - and what Stretch says too! Have a great day.