inept suppliers
It is a very simple process, you submit a support e-mail requesting somebody does something for you and the supplier within a reasonable amount of time sort out your request. In this instance the support was to amened a configuration file, 2 minutes maximum, so why did it take over 7 days and that was with me chasing to get the job done!! Before anybody says do it yourself, I don’t have access to said file so I can’t do it myself, although I have asked if I can have access to it so I can do it myself. I would not so bad if it was not for the fact that we are only do things this way as the supplier requested we do it this way. Should be fun to watch over the next few days, as I have submitted a new support request tonight for the same thing again tonight (different changes), shall we start taking bets on how long they take this time??
Went out for a ride yesterday, choose to ride in the New Forest, It was shorts and tee shirt weather again. I did a loop which included 3 large inclines, one close to the start and two about two thirds of the way round, one after the other. Well the first incline a long loose gravel climb required a pit stop half way up, I was feeling I had left my climbing legs at home. The section till the next hill went pretty much as normal although I did notice it did not matter which direction I was riding the wind was always in my face?
The good bit about the second climb is that it is on tarmac and starts gently (it also the longest). The bad bit was that this section was also the final run in area for a 10k fun run so dodging runners was on the cards. Ducking under the obligatory plastic tape across the road (bare in mind this is a public road still open to traffic) I continued towards the pub where the hill kicks upwards. Now I normally stop at the pub but with all the runners and families milling around I decided to head on upwards and take a rest at the top of the hill before I ride the short down hill bit before climbing back up again.
I arrived a gasping wreck again having beaten the hill with no stops for a rest. I took a 5 minute break, the next hill was gravel, it is also one of my nemesis, I don’t think I have cleaned it to date. Having rested and determined to get as much hill out the way I shot off down the short hill, I was soon pedalling up the hill and then soon into the granny ring, I just kept pedalling away till I reached the top, again a gasping wreck. Not bad two out of the three hills cleared (and I cleared the hill yesterday I had targeted on the heath as well), maybe my hill climbing is getting better.
I carried on across the open heathland of the New Forest headed under the A31 and set my sights on Burley. Now the problem here is I have done this ride at least a half a dozen times but I don’t think I have ever ridden the same route back to the car park twice. I always seem to find myself on a different path back to the car park. Unfortunately I found myself heading in completely the wrong direction and found myself needing to climb another large incline. Unfortunately a pit stop half way up put paid to my decent hill climb average for the weekend.
While I never set a time for the ride with the intention of racing around the ride to beat my fastest time to date, I did complete the ride in the time I had expected so I was happy with that.
Going to try and get an evening ride in this week, now the evening are getting brighter and we are having an early summer
just another week at the office
A week of contrasts, I have been very busy with work, sorting a problem with a software supplier who had set-up a new test environment which was not working correctly. They failed to get it sorted so we had to tell them how we could get around their cock-up but we still had to drag them along to get them to get their software working…….and we pay for this sh*t
One day this past week (can’t remember which) one I was going from desk phone to mobile and back to desk phone answering calls with little or no time in between to actually do any thing in between.
Boss: What did you do all day?
Me: answer the phone
Boss: and?
Me: answer the phone!
I was just complete madness.
On top of this I had to travel to head office around trip of 280 miles and then the next day I was at an employees house sorting out there ADSL connection which was a round trip of 300 miles, the joy of driving.
And while this has been going on I have had the pressure of the wife’s non-employment looming over me. At least I can reveal that as of 9:30am Monday 26th she will be back in the land of employment. A phone call to see if she was interested in a job, a phone call to go to an interview (for said job), an interview (for said job) and a phone call with the offer of a job, all in the space of 6.5 hrs. There was a loud audible sigh of relief when the news broke in this household, it is such a relief.
Not sure if an evening ride is going to be possible this coming week, the wife job has a couple of late finishes and with the clocks moving to BST, will just have to see how things settles.
Went for a ride this morning this is what happen half way round my ride
Inner tube bursting out after the tyre blew off the rim
(I can’t be bothered to rewrite the story so here what I wrote about the event on the MBR Forum)
The story, with the summer weather here I took my mud tyre’s off and put the Maxxis Larsen on this morning then went for a ride over the local heath. There is a long descent with about 6 railway sleepers as step on the way down. On the second step I jumped off the step but went a bit off line and landed on the grass bank and got a big kick from the rear end as I continued on down the path. I stopped at the bottom checked the rear wheel, particuarly the spokes but everything seemed ok. I then rode about 3/4 of a mile along wide gravel path, the last 1/4 up a long steep climb. At the top I am a wheezing gasping wreck and as I rolled down the trail there a sort of a thud, the back wheel locks up and I come to an abrupt halt, the picture was what I saw when I got off the bike.
I think two things led to this, the first was I put the tyre on the wrong way round (which I noticed when I took it off after it blew off). The Larsen tyre has square tyre block threads, the middle blocks of thread have a leading edge which is champered, while the trailing edge is square 90 degree cut. Secondly while I put the same amount of pressure in the tyre that I have had in the mud tyre’s for the winter, I did feel the back end was a bit soft (while both tyres are 2.0 the Larsen is a bigger profiled tyre and a lot softer). So what I think happened was when I landed on the grass bank and it kicked the back round I think it was the square cut section of the thread that bit into the grass and as well as kicking the back round and with the low tyre pressure it dragged the tyre either off or very close to the edge of the rim. Why it took so long to come off I don’t know.
The back wheel took some getting out, the inner tube was a slime filled one and it was difficult to get enough air out of the valve without it sealing up. Tool me about 25 minute all toll. I am glad it went when it did as the next section was down hill through some tree and then down a short steep hill
It is funny really because as I was fitting the summer tyres this morning I noticed that a section of the side wall on Kenda tyre that goes on the front wheel was wearing through (which is what happened to the other Kenda tyre) so I thought I better be careful and take it easy on that tyre until I get a new one (which I have done ready for tomorrow), but it was the rear tyre that played up.
I will leave the story about getting home from the ride to find I had been locked out the house as everybody had gone shopping for another day.
one week on
It was with a bit of trepidation that I stood on the scales tonight, after lasts weeks non-mover I was hoping for better things this week, but knowing me and my body it was not a sure fire bet. I had already avoided finding out my weight yesterday when I was at the doctors as he wanted to weigh me (along with blood pressure and wee sample). I told him what weight I was last week and when I stood on the scales I looked at the ceiling so as not to see what they said and the doctor did the decent thing and by not telling me.
So as I stepped on the scales at slimming world tonight I watched the digital read out as it first flew past my last weeks weight and then came back down to rest 4lb less than last week, I think it was then that I let out a loud sigh…. I think that was very good considering I lost the plot Friday night after the bad news (I’m a stress eater). I was even more surprised by the fact that I won slimmer of the week and had a large bowl of fruit to take home.
In regards to the doctors I have have some new cream to try which will hopefully resolve my problems and stop it flaring up again. I was a bit surprised when he said it was two years since I had the last lot of cream, which was why they would not let me have a repeat prescription and had to make an appointment.
Don’t think an evening ride is going to take place this week, have a couple of ideas for the weekend but need to check what the weather is offering before I decide.
Was hoping for an early night to night as I am up early and off to head office tomorrow but that not going to happen now especially as the daughter said she might phone me to come and collect her from the concert she is gone to if she comes out too late for the bus. The last two days have been a case on answer the desk phone and the mobile rings, answer the mobile and the desk phone rings. I spend half the day answering the phone and the other half trying to catch up where everything is behind.
something different for Sunday
Tried some new trails today, started off over the local heath and then headed out towards Corfe Mullen, then from there I headed to a new areas called Stoney Down Plantation. Had an interesting climb zig-zagging through the tree, not very steep, but just covered with wet clay in places made for some interesting line choices. I did not spend a lot of time there but had fun. will certainly add it to the list of places to revisit but need to sort out a better route to the plantation. From there it was down to Upton Heath and back towards home via the Castleman Trail, out through Delph woods and then back onto the local heath, where I opted to ride up the long incline, not sure why as I had ridden quite a few hills already, certainly more than I normally do on a Sunday. A loop of 23 miles by the time I got back home. Don’t think I will be doing an evening ride this week, although I could probably do with a ride as riding takes me away form life’s problems.
no ride today
Suffering from a medical problem at the moment and when it flare’s up makes it painful to walk and riding only makes it worse. The flare-ups has been getting progressively more frequent over the last couple of months that is why I have an appointment the doctors on Monday to see what he has to say. Hopefully with no riding today to allow it to clear up a bit I can ride tomorrow.
I repaired a fence panel today that got damaged a month or so ago in that storm we had. Not sure why I was mending the fence as it is not our fence but I removed the panel during the storm after it got damaged to stop it being blown around my garden and damaging anything. Was hoping the neighbour would get it sorted but they are only renting, so either the landlord could not be arsed or they never told him. Never even got a thank you.
Have not mentioned this yet but Tuesday was weigh-in night and I was a little peeved, in fact I was totally peeved as I had not lost any weight in the previous 7 days. I thought I had had a reasonable week, not perfect but then I had not pigged out either, either way I was not happy. Now that the stress level will be rising because of our circumstances and my eating as a way of releasing stress, it is not going to be a good mix. To make it worse I can feel it starting to creep up on me, I over-indulged in a couple of foodie bits yesterday and today I am feeling pretty low. Hopefully I can hold it together to get a proper result on Tuesday.
Saw this on one of the blog,s I follow, if you need any inspiration then this has plenty. Watch this video. If only I could find Toby’s will power.
