Commuting car Free

Car free for a month....RAIN 2nd day faced with riding to work in it. Last night rode home in it and

Next Race Bike

Woooow this is a Planet X carbon fibre race bike.

Guaranteed to make me faster.

Anyone out there got one? What do you think???

http://www.planet-x-bikes.com

Spec From their web site

Ultegra SL Pro Carbon Road Bikes - £999!Our most popular offer of the year is back!Full Carbon frame and fork with Shimano Ultegra 10 Speed for just £999.The BEST value road bike money can buy.

The Full Spec :: Pro Performance for less than a grandFrame: SL Pro Carbon Road (black, blue or white)Fork: Carbon RoadChainset: Ultegra (compact or standard)Mechs: UltegraSTI's: UltegraCassette:: Ultegra (12/25)Chain: UltegraBrakes: Tektro R720Wheels: Planet-X Model-CTyres: Conti Ultrasport Kevlar - BlackBars: Planet-X 6061 AlloyStem:Planet-X SL TeamSaddle: Planet-X SL Team CroMo - BlackBar Tape: Cork - Black

The Old Mans New Office Chair

In my line of business I have a lot of dealings with a great many suppliers of office furniture. Some have been good, some have been... let's say, not so good. Last weekend my Dad, who isn't the most comfortable person with computers, asked me if I could have a look online and see if I could find him a decent office chair for his study at home. He has this fascinating collection of old newspapers he likes to spread out across a desk and look at, but lately the old office chair that's quite possibly as old as some of the newspapers he collects may have been having a negative affect on his health; he's been getting terrible back pains, and after a trip to the local GP we think the chair may have been one of the primary causes of his recent problem.

Anyway, knowing that in my line of work I know my way around the office furniture industry quite well he asked my if I wouldn't mind trying to get him a new office chair. Now I'd heard some good reviews of a company based in Hertfordshire call Inter County Office Furniture, and I'd recently been handed a copy of their brochure which has the website address on it. So I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to try them out. So I switched on my computer and after a delay of about 2 minutes waiting for my computer to finally get going I opened my browser and typed in the address. The first thing that struck me was how quickly the site loaded. My computer normally has problems with some shopping sites, but this site was on my screen in a flash. And straight away the first thing I saw was office chairs, starting at £44. For those who don't know their office chairs too well, £44 is pretty reasonable for a good chair, but what were these ones like?

Well I clicked though and was presented with a few options. Office chairs with arms, without arms etc. Now my Dad doesn't use computers so I didn't think he'd probably need arms so I just selected a basic office chair without arms. After a quick read through the description I realised I might well have found myself a bit of a steal here. 8 year guarantee, gas lift rated to 23 stone (which is enough for both my parent combined with plenty to spare!), suitable for display screen users... yes, this looked like a very, very good purchase. For a company to offer an 8-year guarantee on a product like an office chairs certainly demonstrates a great deal of confidence in their product. Picked out my colour, cobalt (which is like a deep blue colour) and put one in my shopping basket.

Went through the checkout, which was one of the less stressful shopping checkouts I've seen on the internet, and within 2 minutes I had bought the chair. The next day I even got a phone call from one of their sales guys thanking me for my order and letting me know when it would be arriving. So far, so good.

On Thursday the chair arrived, and the following day I put it in my 4x4 and headed over to my Dad's house. His back was feeling a little better as he'd stopped sitting for long periods in a chair without moving on the advice of the GP, and he put the kettle on to make me a cup of tea while I unpacked the chair and tried to assemble it. Had he put the kettle on after I'd unpacked the chair I might well have finished assembling it before the kettle had boiled! As office chairs go, this is certainly one of the easiest I've put together. Was assembled within 5 minutes or so, and my Dad gave it a try and it was perfect. Despite the low price Inter County certainly didn't scrimp on the foam; it was as good as some office chairs I've seen retailing for much more. A read of their brochure tells us that they also manufacture many of the office furniture products they sell, so this could well explain how they have such exceptional prices on items like this.

I gave my Dad a ring yesterday to see how he was doing and he mentioned the office chair I'd bought him, he thinks it is great. I hadn't used Inter County Office Furniture before, but I will certainly be using them again soon. In a couple of weeks I'm going to be buying a couple of filing cabinets, when I do these guys may well be getting another order from me, I saw some steel filing cabinets that look like a pretty good buy too.

To check out their website click here: office furniture.

Cycle Road Racing

Seemed a good idea at the time. Why not have a go at cycle racing.

2007 I did take part in several road races for cat 4 races. Best finish was 14th which I was pleased with considering I'm the wrong side of 40. with little history of exercises apart from beer drinking arm and cigarette puffing.

My aim in 2008 is to improve...

Motorbike and my GSXR 750

GSXR750K2 Gixer

The 750 revs like a banshee, has peachy handling and great looks.

I've always wanted one of these. Now I have one I wish that I had brought one sooner.

Bike history

1st bike was a CBR 600 early 90s with a steel frame. Proved to be a bit quicker than the 125 training bike I did my test on.

2nd CBR Fireblade 900 1994 Fantastic light fast exciting. The first 1 llitre bike that really handled!

3rd VFR 750 Honda. My wife's bike that I crashed at Snetterton overtaking a Fireblade at the bomb hole... Wrecked my new leathers and the bike to boot. Lesson learned dont do track days in new leathers!

4th bike GS 1150 great big comfy but heavy bike. Very hard to pick up! Always dropped it with a large audience watching!

5th bike the GSXR750K2 above.... love this bike, everyone ought to ride one of these GSXR750 at least once in their lives.

Skyranger Microlight

Flying.

What a buzz. If you want to fly why not try microlight flying.

The pic is of a three axis microlight which I built with a friend over 6 months of weekends.

We built it from a kit which arrived in 10 or so boxes, all you have to do it bolt the aluminium tubes together and cover...easy!!!!


The experience was full of highs, lows.

Building and flying this plane was an amazing experience which I would recommend to every one.

Check out their lastest planes they are a great bunch to deal with http://www.skyranger.co.uk/

ICE Q Trike

I've had this machine for nearly 2 years now and think everyone should try one!

Its a ICE recumbent trike. The only comfortable way to cycle known to man.

No need to dress in Lycra and perch on a microscopically small buttock cleaving plastic perch they laughable called a saddle.

Just lay back and take in the views as you travel.

Should you chose to stop then you have a comfortable viewing chair to boot!

Speed, wow.. down hill its an adrenaline rush, add some corners and you are un-catchable by any conventional 2 wheel bikes.

As a load carrier trikes excel, a rear rack can be fitted. Panniers or throw over panniers can be fitted. Great for a trip to the shops or a touring weekend.

One thing many peaple say is "can vans and cars see you" my answer is a resounding yes they can! I think you look so unusual on the road that people give you a wider birth that a conventional cyle.

Check out the boys at ICE http://www.ice.hpv.co.uk/index.htm great value trikes.