Now a tale of customer service, first good customer service. I arrived back home last night and as I walked into the house I thought it was cold, checked the central heating pipe in the hall and they were stone cold, checked the boiler clock and the lights were indicating the boiler was on. Checking the boiler there was no pilot light, I relit the pilot light but still the boiler failed to function. I had this really bad feeling about the central heating at this stage.

The wife remembered that we should of had the boiler serviced back in December as part of the deal we have with our gas\electric supplier, so she phoned them up. By the time she got through it was 6:30pm, she explained the missed boiler service and the now dead boiler to the guy on the phone who replied “thats ok, you have 24\7 support on your central heating”

This surprised both of us but we sure as hell were not going to complain, we were duly booked in for an emergency call out and told an engineer will be with us in the next 12 hours and yes that did mean even at the early am hours!! Thankfully just before 9pm an engineer turned and had our boiler sorted working in less than 10 minutes, it seems that when somebody relit the pilot light they forgot to turn the dial another quarter of a turn which allows the boiler to fire up. My excuse is that it was only the 2nd time in 9 something years that I have had to light the boiler.

Now bad customer service. I ordered two laptop for work back at the start of January, at no time was I made aware of the fact that the said laptops were out of stock, I was even given a delivery date, when the delivery date came and went with no laptops, I phoned to find out where they were. Apparently they were out of stock, the story has progressed with broken promises, e-mail sent with no replies, phone calls not returned and promised not honoured. This is not a large multi national, this a major local company who could of got all our business, it now looks like that possibility has gone the same way as their delivery dates.

Well that is it till the weekend, bye

The wife has been told her last day will be the 31st Jan, not what we really wanted to hear but we needed to know so that we can start to sort a few things out. She had an interview last week and was told that she was second pick if the first girl declined the offer. For some reason I would prefer not to know, knowing you were second just make you feel worse.

A quick check around the Internet and TFTuned seemed to be the people to service my Rockshox Forks . To be honest I did try another company but after four attempts during the day they failed to pick up the phone (and still have not returned my answer phone message I left). So a quick call to TFTuned so see if there were any inherent faults or any other sort of gotcha with these forks to which they said there was not. So Monday night I filled in the online service request form and parcelled up the forks for their trip to TFTuned on Tuesday.

This morning just after 11am I got a phone call from TFTuned saying the forks were ready, a complete service, all new seals throughout the forks and a bill for £89. On the one hand it is an expense I could do with out, on the other it is cheaper than a new pair of forks and now I will be able to ride over the Xmas and New year break, so it is win win for me…………….what do you mean how? I now can’t afford an xmas booze so I won’t ruin my dieting by drinking and I can carry on riding to help with my weight loss, well that is my story and I am sticking to it.

Hopefully I will be doing my traditional Christmas eve ride, done it for the last couple of years, weather is looking OK. Then hopefully I will be out for a early Boxing day ride.

As for the rest of life it is a right pain in the rear, work is nothing but a nightmare at the moment, I think somebody has tied a target on my back as most of the agro seems to be directed in my direction at the moment. My other problem, or rather the other half problem of being made redundant on Jan 31st is not really helping matters, neither was a decline after what she thought was a successful job interview today. Seem to remember being in a similar position this time last year.

Now for the not very regularly ABS (Arse Behind a Steeringwheel) Award goes to a driver on the M3 this morning just south of J9 A34. I was on the inside lane which becomes the slip road while the middle and outside lane continue on as the M3, I was going a bit faster than the car in the middle lane and the lane marking between lane 1 (sliproad) and lane 2 (now lane 1) had changed to show that I was clearly now on the slip road, so what does the ABS do, move and indicate (in that order) onto the now slip road narrowly missing my front bumper because he did not like me undertaking him. He then realises that he is now on the slip road for the A34 and promptly moves back into the now inside lane of the M3 and accelerates away.

Yesterday ABS Award goes to the little old lady in her silver Micra who waited until the lorry was about 50yds from the junction before pulling out in front of him, thankfully there was nothing coming in the other direction and the lorry was able to swerve onto the other side of the road to avoid her whilst locking everything up in a clouds of blue tyre smoke. I was speechless at her stupidity, I not sure what the lorry driver said but I some how don’t think it was printable judging by the hand gesticulation I could see in his cab mirror.

As expected it was quite muddy in places, I tried some trails I had not ridden for a while and found one that I don’t think I have ever ridden. It did not take log for my legs to start complaining, not sure if it was the lack of riding or the amount of mud I was trying to get through. I should of taken a picture of the bike when I got back it was covered in mud.

I had intended to go for a ride tonight, well one night this week. It won’t be Wednesday as I am up to early and knackered by the time I get back and Thursday they forecast gales and heavy rain, Friday night is shopping night so that only leaves Tuesdays, it never happened. Not sure why just did not have the get up and go (I think it got up and went…)

If you have wondered how the weight loss is going then don’t, it just not happening at the moment, my mined is else where at the moment and times like this I eat, not a good combination.

The Internet, why is that the one thing communication companies can’t do, is communicate, I mean I have been promised call backs by Virgin media regarding my Internet access (which has got better but not what it should be) and I get nothing. Yesterday at work I call BT because we had a problem with a phone system, they will call you back within 4 hours sir I was told, so why was it this morning (20 hours later) that I got a call from BT far east support centre asking me what the problem was, are they as bad at reading English as they are speaking or listening to it that they could not understand the notes they had been given . So 4 hours after fixing the problem the problem reoccurred, oh hum. But why are they so bad, BT are honestly the worst company I have to deal with, they are so incompetent and stuck so far up their own rear, it does not bear thinking about. They have a monopoly on telecoms in this country (ok the monopoly is not as bad as it was) they just think they can do what they like and please don’t mention Ofcom, they are a toothless tiger. Complained to Ofcom once about BT complaints department, what did they do, pass it onto BT Complaints!!

Right I am stopping, I am starting to rant, peace and love, peace and love…….

In my case “my tomorrow” is a couple of months away, yet the time will no doubt fly by. I have no control over what is going to happen, I only have control over preparing for when it does happen. It is sometime very difficult to remember that and it is not helped by the fact that some of the preparation can be a bit unpalatable but has to be done. It is also not helped by the fact that it is the season of goodwill when everybody is supposed to be happy. Well I am trying to be but it is not easy.

Yes I am being cryptic about what is going on suffice to say I tell you when I have it settled in my mind…….

While I am having a moan, Things I hate about other drivers………………, the driver that slowly overtakes you on a dual carriageway and then cuts back in front of you narrowly missing your front bumper and then brakes, why overtake me if you are going to slow down? I have had this happen to me twice in the last three days.

Sorry if I am being cryptic and not making a lot of sense as I can’t say what the problem is at the moment, all I can say is I have been there before, it was tough and I did not enjoy it, this time it going to be tougher.

My mind been else where last couple of days, I was intending to do some work on the bike this morning to help find the creak and ride later in the day but I just did not have the interest to even get the bike out the shed. Not sure if I am going for a ride tomorrow, at the moment I am pushing myself to do anything and I don’t want to be faced with problems, I think going for a ride and hearing that creak will not be good for me.

Their is nothing exciting to look forward to next week, work, dentist (for root canal work) and parents evening at the school where we can discuss our son being bullied and of course the problem, all exciting things to look forward to, oh the joy.

Well I not in the mood for any more talking and as you may of gathered I am not making great conservationist at the moment so I shall call it quits until the next time, when maybe, just maybe I might be in a slightly better mood.

I am currently sat on the sofa watching Pendulum at Glastonbury on BBC3 and typing on the Laptop, mind you I can’t use the PC as it is in the middle of backing up 235gb of data.

Came a cross this blog site earlier Coastrider 2011, the basics are Bobs has retired and is doing a coastal ride around the UK, 6000 miles in total. More info on the trip can be found here Follow Bob. Have already put a note in my diary for when he goes through Poole.

Only other news is the Bournemouth Cycle Track has opened. Went a long with my camera yesterday which failed to work due to memory card issues and the pictures I took with my phone look like a 3 year old had taken the picture. It was a dull damp day but it was interesting watching the bike goes round and that banking is steeper than you think.

For the past week or so I have been suffering with my right ear, I am prone to getting the small tube that runs between my nose and ear blocked, normally with snot when I have a bit of a head\nose cold. When it is blocked (like now) everything is muffled in my right ear along with a popping sound, particularly if I cough, sneeze or burp. Well today it got worse, I now have a dull ache in my ear and being a bank holiday weekend I can’t get to the doctors till Tuesday and it will have to be Tuesday evening as I have an important meeting to go to first thing Tuesday morning which I arranged and I can’t tell those attending not to turn up.

With the second of the four day bank holiday weekend upon us I was intending to ride the same as I did last week, 3 out of the 4 days. So wanting to avoid the media frenzy over the wedding yesterday I set off before 9am for the New Forest, judging by the amount of cyclist I past on the way (and counted while riding), I was not the only one avoiding the wedding. I had decided to ride from Burley out to Linwood and back in a round about way. It is a ride that I have done several times but I have never been happy with the end of the route so I have been looking for some alternative ending. Well yesterday final section was the best I found to date and I also cleared two of the hills for the first time and reasonably comfortably at that (for me). I was even happier when I got back to the car and realised I had done the 19.8 mile ride in 2hrs 14min, OK not fast by many peoples standards but fast by mine, I am a slow rider.

Today I decided to ride with the local mountain bike club Dorset Rough Riders, it was only a easy ride but I did this for two reason, first I wanted to find some new local trails that I had missed and secondly to see how I got on riding in a group (mainly keeping up, see above). Unfortunately thing did not start to well, last night I fitted a set on new disc pads on the Cannondale rear brake and they were a mare to fit, don’t know why as I have fitted them before without a problem. Well this morning as I rode to the meeting point I could not get any speed up. When I arrived at the meeting point I found the back brake was dragging and no amount of adjusting the calliper resolved the issue (it was alright when I went I put the bike way), not only that but I noticed some liquid on the reservoir. The brake was working, a bit sharp but I decided to carry on with the ride. At the end of the day all I can say is, “it was not worth it”. I was having to use double the effort to keep up and just not enjoying the ride (despite going over new routes). I did a paltry 10 miles before leaving the group and heading for home, to be fair they were about to head back to the start point and I would only of had to ride all the way back again to get home (about 6 miles from where I left). So now I have to get the brake sorted out on the bike which is going to cost, so all in all I am not a happy bunny………..

Last night was weigh in night and I managed to get a small loss, all of half a pound, but a loss is a loss. I think the low loss of the past couple of weeks is down to eating to much bread. I normally only have bread at lunch times, normally only a couple of slices one or two times a week. But last few weeks it has been more like 5 or 6 times a week. So going to watch how much bread I eat this week and see how it goes.

After the weekends credit card scam attempt I phoned the company concerned and asked them about the comments I had been reading about the problems on bike forums. They were well aware of what had been written and while not admitting there was a problem they did say their systems were being checked by independent security consultants. Now I am not saying that there is a problem with this companies security but there is to much smoke for there not to be a fire, so if you have purchased items on-line from Chain Reaction Cycles, then keep an eye on your credit or debit card accounts or better still cancel them and get new cards issued.

Not a lot else planned for this week, was thinking about going for a ride tonight but lack of planning (read not putting the battery pack for the light on charge) and not feeling great killed that idea, so it look like only two rides at the weekend. Saturday’s ride will be an out early affair so that I am back in time to sort the bike out and then make myself comfortable for the 6 nations rugby climax on Saturday afternoon

I went to bed last night unsure if I was going to go for a ride today, forecast was rainy showers. When I got up this morning it was raining so I had breakfast. As the rest of the house started to rise at 9am I noticed sunshine, a quick check outside revealed no rain, sunshine but a bit cooler than yesterday.

Quickly changing into my cycle gear I was soon off down the road, decided to ride the Throop loop but in reverse today as this would give me the option to explore Parley Common and find a new route (which I did). The overnight rain had made the trails all slippery again after they had dried out from the sunshine and wind of the past week. I must have enjoyed myself as I soon found myself heading for home.

Suitably covered in mud (I had forgotten how dirty naked legs get when riding through mud), a bath was the first task when I got in. The wife kindly offered to run the bath for me so while the bath filled with water I took the opportunity to check my e-mails. I had an e-mail from my credit card company thanking me for changing my password, er I had not changed anything. A quick phone call revealed that somebody had tried to scam my credit card for £699 about 20 minutes after I left for my ride this morning, fortunately it was blocked. In short my card has now been blocked and I have to wait 7 to 10 days for a new one. Tomorrow I have to phone several parties to inform they should not try and charge anything to credit card until I get the new card and can give them the new card details. I then need to speak to the credit card company to find out how there added level of security that they insist I use was so easily breached and why I was not informed (other than an auto generated e-mail).

I will be posting more about this in the coming days including where I think they may have got hold of my credit details from, I need to ask some question first.

After sitting down to watch England struggle to a win over Scotland in the rugby this afternoon, I then had to continue working on sorting out why the wife could not login into her blog, started this Friday night and eventually resolved it about 20 minutes ago. Now I have a computer to rebuild (unrelated to the above) just another job on my to do list!!

It is very easy for us to sit back and say it happens but after mother nature wreaked her havoc in Japan on Friday it can be difficult for us to comprehend the damage done. Have a look at the link from the BBC News site, it show aerial pictures of before and now of areas of devastation, I think the first couple show the devastation the most, you can see the before where all the house are, then look at the after and there is nothing.

Went for a couple of rides at the weekend, the ride on Saturday was not until late afternoon as I had to replace the bearings in the headset which a local bike shop had cocked up. Not impressed when I found out what the cause of the problem was. I should of gone back to the shop but I just don’t have the enthusiasm to argue with them, better of sorting out the problem myself, avoiding the shop and getting on with life.

The ride was a bit of a disaster as I started to suffer from chain suck, not the best thing to happen in the middle of the forest in the pitch black, so I cut the ride short and headed for home, still managed around 16 miles. That is the last ride on the Canondale now until the bottom bracket and crank are replaced. Sundays ride was out in the New Forest, my legs were feeling a bit heavy from the ride the night before, added to that the mud I found in places, it was hard work. Did not help when I took a wrong turn and ended up having to walk through a bog, still managed 17.6 miles.

Tuesday dawned and I was needed at head office to install the server which had been returned from repair, well I would of install it done had the carrier got there finger out and delivered as requested by 9am. Maybe being located 10 miles from the centre of Southampton is a different time zone which allows the carrier to deliver items an hour late. I got back home early afternoon to find the wife virtually dead on her feet with some bug which is doing the rounds so I pointed her in the direction of her bed where she stayed until 7:30am this morning.

Wednesday I had the afternoon off, my son had an appointment at the hospital for an MRI scan, everything went well. I thought he might of freaked out by the noise the scanner makes (he dislikes loud noises) but he was quite calm. Now we have to wait and see what the consultant say.

Not only was our son at the hospital today, it was the day we found out what secondary school he would be going to in September (like many other parents around the UK). We found out just before we went to the hospital, he got his second choice (which was out of the area), first choice being the grammar school which we think he did not pass the entrance exams (mind you it oversubscribed by 296).

Tomorrow, working in the morning and off in the afternoon for a funeral. It is being held in the same church we got married in. But before that the wife is going for a 2nd job interview with a company she had an interview with last week, it is down to a choice between her or another person. Really hoping it goes the wife way as that would certainly turn the light back-on at the end of the tunnel for us, it is getting a little dark and grim around here at the moment.

We had only been back from the hospital about 10 minutes this afternoon when the phone rang, the local community dental service having just realised our son had been referred to them some 14 months ago but had not had the appointment, so he is off to see them on Friday afternoon.

Finally, here the video I mention on Sunday, unfortunately I set the camera a little to high so there are a few skyward shots but you get a nice feel for weaving in and out of the trees.

Monday night was a good weigh-in, lost 3lb, I had my doubts after a bit of major troughing earlier last week, but I lost the weight so I will accept it, just as I have accept it when the scales say I have put on weight.

Went out for a ride last night, first evening ride since my “night time face plant in the snow ride” at the start of the year. Working from home yesterday so had the ideal opportunity, waited until five o’clock and then got myself ready and out the door in double quick time while there was still daylight available, although it was fading fast. I decided to ride over Canford Heath, first time I have done a night ride over there in the dark. Very strange riding over there in the dark especially when I rode one tracks in the opposite direction to the way I normally ride it. My legs (thighs) felt heavy at the start but at the end I powered up (for me anyway) a long slope, I was still the wheezing gasping wreck when I got to the top, I just got there faster.

All four of us left home at 9.45 (the wife as she was escorting the daughter, me as I was the driver and the son as he was to young to be left at home). We spent about 20 minutes in the out of hours surgery before they send us to A&E (which was next door), where because the out of hours doctor had not referred the daughter correctly she would have to wait to be seen like all the other walk in’s rather than being seen as a urgent case, the current wait was…………………………………..2.5hrs!!

A friend of the daughters turned up with her boyfriend to offer morale support, at least it kept our son entertained. A couple of minutes before 3am we arrived back home the daughter being told she probably had a urine infection. We all had a bit of a lie in this morning.

I was sat at the computer earlier this morning trying to get going and plan where I was going for a ride when my brother phoned, his laptop had died can I come and have a look at it. So it was in the cars and over to see him and his dead laptop. Unfortunately there was not a lot I could do, the power supply was working, the hard disk was working but there was no sign of live in the laptop so it look like it is a repair shop job.

Wife says she wants to go into town shopping again so I dropped them of at the bottom of town and headed for home intending to go out for a ride. By the time I got in and had some lunch it is three o’clock and all willingness to go for a ride left……………

Now add the lack of riding to the willingness to eat chocolate (and other non diet friendly foods), it is not going well. The good news is I have a ride targeted for tomorrow and Monday and will do my normal Saturday and Sunday rides. Hopefully those four rides will burn some of that chocolate away

At the end of the day I am the one in control and I have let go of the controls, not happy

I had planned to go for a ride tonight to test my new light, I had spent the day on a shed roof, laying new felt on it. Then it was of to do the weekly shopping which meant were were home by early evening, ideal timing to get ready for my first night ride. Unfortunately mother nature decide to rain on my parade (literally), it is unnerving enough going for your first night ride without having to do it in the rain.

I can’t vouch for others but it is strange that two other (cycling based) blog’s I read are also writing about the dark clouds in there mind. Maybe we are all just SAD, all I know is I have felt better and I am not looking forward to the coming weeks.

I went for a ride this morning, but it was a late ride for me. I normally leave at 7:30am-ish but I got up late and found the F1 Grand Prix was late starting due to the weather so I sat and watched that till the end, an interesting race which swung the championship in another direction. I did not ride my normal Throop loop instead I went over Canford Heath and Delph Woods, managed not to get lost this time…

When I got back I reduced my Whyte to a pile of bits, I have removed all the linkage from the rear suspension. Not happy that I found several of the bearing a bit lumpy and gritty feeling, going to remove them from the linkage tomorrow (got to knock up a bearing press!!) and clean them but it looks as though I need to replace all the suspension bearings (8 of them).

My routes page (I mentioned last night) is up and running, let me know if you try any of my routes

Because I am so wound up the diet has gone down the pan this week, it is not looking good

Last weekend I found two small cracks in our 2 year old front door, contacted the company that supplied and fitted it (life time guarantee for as long as we live in the property) and they said they would come and check it. Thursday morning daughter could not lock the front door from the outside, noticed a large crack about 1/8″ wide running from the corner of the windows toward the letter box. Contacted the supplier again to get an engineer out on Friday to adjust the door so we could lock it and get the door inspected. He found two more cracks in the front panel of the door, now waiting to hear what they are going to do about the front door.

Never went out for a ride this morning, as the weather was pants, forecast is for better weather tomorrow so hopefully I will go out then. After tomorrows ride the Whyte is having a bit of a major service, the bike has an annoying creak and click and as I am holiday now till 1st November (half term) I have decided to get the bike sorted. I have gathered a range of exotic lubricants required for the job so it should be fun (like I am not stressed out enough already). Once sorted I will do a couple of rides during the week, not sure where yet weather dependant.

Going to add a new section to the web site, for the routes I ride, been on my mind to do for a while and as somebody else has added one to their blog (sorry Pete), I said what the hell I will add a routes page as well, so keep watching over the next couple of days for it to appear.

We went out to Moor Valley and had a little play on some of the single tracks they have out there. Had an enjoyable morning until I hit a large tree root (at least I think it was a tree root, it was buried in long grass) after running wide on a corner. I was only 50mtr from the car so I carried on back to the car. Inspecting the rear wheel back at the car I noticed that the sidewall covering of the rear tyre was peeling off. I don’t know if this was a consequence of the tree root or not but it meant I needed a new tyre. I had already decided to fit the new rear wheel this weekend as the play in the freehub on the existing wheel was relating to 3/16″ off side to side movement at the top of the wheel. Now I just needed to buy a new tyre, not the best way to end an enjoyable 13 mile ride (maybe 13 miles is unlucky??)

We shot off home, dropped all the bike gear off, had a wash and brush up, grabbed a bite to eat and then off to collect our son from the daughter who had gone for a hair cut and to do some shopping (as teenage girls do) so she could go to work. Well since we had left Moor Valley there had been text message bouncing back between the wife and daughter about when and where we were going to meet to collect the son. We eventually meet her outside work (Sainsbury Local) at 1:00pm and her comment was “now your early I will have to start work early!!” she only been going on about how we must be back early so she can go to work……………………once the boy was in the car I just drove off otherwise there would of been an unpleasant exchange of words.

We visited the LBS and bought a Maxi Larsen TT tyre, as this is only the second tyre I have bought (the first being a set of mud tyres) I am not to sure how these will perform so we will have to see. After a bit more shopping it was home to fit the new wheel. An hour later the bike is sporting a new rear wheel, tyre, cassette and chain, a quick spin up and down the road confirmed that the gears are working OK. Will have to wait until tomorrow to see how it all performs.

On the home front the light at the end of the tunnel is still on and the door is still open but there is still a little way to go before life can return to normal but at least all the signs are looking positive. Work is going to be a little hectic over the next couple of weeks with new data links going live and PC and laptops to prepare before a certain date, I have to fit a weeks holiday in before the school holidays at the end of July. I took the car to the tyre centre yesterday as it had a slow leak in the rear near side tyre and came out with two new tyres on the rear. The car still has to go to the paint shop to repair the bump it had a couple of weeks ago (if the insurance company ever come back to me) and I need to get the brakes sorted and an MOT organised for the car before the end of July.

I will leave you with this little film clip Click here if it does not play , right click on the link and select save as and once downloaded play it from your PC. Hope you enjoy it.

Last Monday weigh in did not go well a small gain and still stagnated around the same weight now for the past couple of months. Not two sure how tomorrow is going to go as I have had a mixed week, had an Indian on Friday night (wife birthday).

Having got the wheel to the Cyclefix on Monday for two new spokes and got the wheel back later that day I was hoping to get a couple of rides in during the week. But due to one thing or another It never happened until I took the day off on Friday. I went for a ride around Moors Valley, found a couple of nice short single track runs and some stroppy workmen laying a water main……….”can’t cross here mate”. I will need to sit down at some point and work all those little single track runs into a nice long ride and hopefully Mr Stroppy will have gone. I also had a visit from the puncture fairy which arrived at exactly the same point I was going to take a break so that was handy, it was also very close to the same area I had a previous puncture again in the rear wheel, never found what caused the puncture. I ended the day with 17.4 miles on the clock.

For Saturday it was a ride with the wife and I had decided to stay local and try some new areas which I thought I might be able to add to existing routes to make them longer. Basically it turned out to be a waste of time, we found one path that had recently been cleared as it must have been fully overgrown judging but the roots and stems (which were still growing in the middle of the track). Give it another couple of weeks and nature will have reclaimed the path again. Other paths I wanted to try just seemed not to exist so pretty much rode 10 miles of tarmac for a 14.5 mile ride.

Sunday morning dawned and as I ventured into the shed to get the bike out I noticed that I had had another visit from the puncture fairy and it was the rear wheel again. This time I found the cause, a large thorn stuck in the tyre. Once fixed I was on my way to do my normal Sunday loop. Only thing to report is I can’t wait to get my new knee pads (see below) to arrive, not to protect my knees if I fall off but they do a good job of protecting my legs from the stinging nettles and brambles that are encroaching onto some of the narrow paths I ride, my shins are still stinging now. Apart from my stinging shins, my knee are aching a bit which I guess is to do with the 26 miles I did today for a total 58 miles over the last three days.

In regards to my knee pads I mentioned above I bought some a couple of months ago and they had like a nylon backed foam with hole in to aid breathing\ventilation around the sides and front. Well in the pair I had these areas had started to tear so I sent them back and got a full refund. I have ordered another style of knee pads but I am still waiting for them to arrive.

Got the enjoyable job of driving up to head office tomorrow so it an early night and an early morning, oh joy………………..