Helitech

Every two years the world's biggest helicopter exhibition comes to the UK.  J and I went to Helitech at Duxford today and saw some very nice (expensive) machines.  Best bit was a short display by an Army Apache.  After the exhibition we wondered around the museum which was free of charge.

Insomnia Bedgebury

We did it - 12 hours of night trace around Bedgebury's single tracks.  It was exhausting.  The team covered around 180miles (YES!) between the four of us.  I did around 50 and stayed up the entire 12 hours to do so.  Most of Sunday was pain :)

Highlights include A having to get his chain and rear gears replaced half way through (thankfully the on-site bike shop was open 24hrs), J falling off so may times I lost count, K in the way she turned her tent into an extension of our house (double duvets, pillows, inflatable mattress, etc etc) and the staff running the coffee-shop (also open 24hrs) who we caught sleeping around 04:30.

In the end we raised over £1,000 for charity at http://original.justgiving.com/knebworthnights.
More photos linked in title.

Bike - rear shock bearings...

The bike was back in the shop today for one last operation before the night race tomorrow.  This time it was full on open-heart surgery to replace worn shock bearings at the centre of the rear suspension setup.  It took somewhat longer than expected (1 hr vs 5 mins) due to the tightness of the shock in the frame.  Nevertheless, the guys at Marshalls got it all done and it feels all the better for it.  Fingers crossed this is the last set of bearings I'll need to replace for the near future - in 3 weeks I've had the bottom bracket, rear hub and rear suspension go :(

MRP XCG Bashguard

Went out yesterday for a ride to get J's new Trek setup.  My new maxle is working well - but there was another noise.  The bike shop confirmed it is the bottom bracket bearings :(  So, it is booked in getting those replaced before the weekend.  Whilst they are there I've also ordered a MRP XCG Triple Bashguard.  This simple, yet effective device hangs just below the large ring, keeping it safe from trees/rocks.

50MB/s

Virgin installed their 50MB/s service today - equally nice was the 1.5MB/s uplink :)

Only problem now is getting my Axis 207W to talk to the new Netgear WNR2000 using WPA2...

Marin Maxle Conversion

I've just dropped the bike at the store to have this fitted - a maxle conversion kit to stiffen up the rear.  The forged dropouts look awesome, so much so I had to get the matching lock-on grip kit :)
Hopefully I'll get it back Fri.
UPDATE: Had to get a Hope conversion kit for the rear hub too, should be here today....

Peacefest

Had a great weekend - we went to S&S's on Sat night for their first (hopefully now annual) 'Peacefest'.  They have a two-part back garden.  The lower field is perfect for camping (about 8 of us set up tents) and the main garden ideal for a stage area, using their walled patio.  We set up a PA, several guitars, keyboards and mics.  Spent the evening entertaining and being entertained.  Bringing guitar-hero and the XBox proved a wise move :)

White Kitchen

We finished painting the doors and cupboards white this weekend - makes a nice change from the blue they used to be :)

Extension - Building Regs

We got the building reg plans through from out architect.  Seems like all is in order - now we have to submit them, pay some money and wait for approval.  At least we can start shopping around for quotes now.

Guitars Re-Strung

I restrung my guitars this weekend, also took the oppertunity to de-funk them and lemon-wax the fret-boards.  New strings play sooo nicely - I always wonder why I leave it so long each time.  I also played around a lot with the Kelly's action to get it lower.

50MB Broadband

There have been some price cuts on the top end Broadband services today. As such I've upgraded to the 50MB/s tier. It actually saved me £3 as I pay £5 a month for cloud storage which is included free with this top-end service. Install date is next Thu :)