StreetCowboy

If you fly Economy you can reduce the amount of rubbish that you take. Anything useful - dump it, and buy better in the new country. Anything of sentimental value - bin it, and remember it. The rest - just bin, with the exception of your passport, birth certificate, and if you are still working, educational and professional certificates, badges and stickers. Maybe take your phone book, if you have more than a few friends or come from a large family.

Anything for a bit of peace and quiet. I’ve never had a figurative shed.

That’s unfair - she’s too busy to cope with references to old comic films. To digress back on topic: - I doubt I would trust anyone to accurately self-identify; how can you tell, with flies in your eyes? - I don’t enumerate my thoughts, but I have an idea that I do not want to discuss

Whether dying fashion or growing trend, we should contribute to that which we support. There’s a lot of people on this forum that should spend more time out in the fresh air on their bicycles, thinking before they post.

Let us know how you get on - it’s always a pleasure to read about other people’s adventures

No - it’s the ones with empty suitcases you have to worry about. Let the detectives worry about the full suitcases.

If you buy a bike with Schroder valves, and you want to fit Presta tubes, put a valve nut on the valve stem (inside the wheel rim) before you fit the tube on the wheel, so that the edge of the larger Presta valve hole is not pressing on the rubber of the tyre. I think it took me two tubes before someone in the bike shop explained that to me. I agree with Bobfish. Rim brakes are OK Cable pull disc brakes are fine Hydraulic disc brakes are better. Use a sharp knife to separate the pads if you forget to put in a piece of cardboard when moving the bike with the wheel removed. If you are buying a cheap mountain bike, you will hopefully not be needing the suspension. If you can find a hybrid (no suspension) for the same price, the money saved on the suspension will probably be spent on more useful better components elsewhere. I have never been less than delighted with my Shimano gears, at the high level and the budget level, although the SRAM gears on my mountain bike are the best of them all. Back in the day, I paid much more for my first bike here than I had planned, so I had to ride it much more to get the value out of it, and that was the best decision I ever made. But I can see it might be different if you are committed to a short-time ownership...

Scissors

I’m having trouble drumming up more than tepid enthusiasm for the ride this year. Maybe I should consult a doctor…

I don’t trust traffic lights. Sometimes, they suffer failures, and give confusing and conflicting indication, and sometimes, motorcycles and cars run through them at speed. I’d rather put my faith in observing the traffic. That doesn’t stop me following the religious directives, and stoping on red, but if there’s no traffic moving, I’ll put safety above legal piety and cross when it’s safe. I trust God to take a more beneficent view on this than I trust the police, whom I know for sure exist.

Don’t tell him, Spike

I don’t think that religions are relevant to God any more than Atlases are relevant to mountains. The mountain was there before the Atlas, and however it is drawn in the Atlas has no effect on what you find when you get there. You can always change your Atlas, regardless of what its author might say.

I don’t think God is bound by the laws that monotheists interpret, but rather he may be bound - or may respect - the laws that scientists observe and deduce; not because their observation, but because those are His laws that he defined as part of creation. I don’t think that God interferes in my daily affairs, and my own misfortunes are my own fault. Others might believe in the omnipresent omnipotence of God, but I am sceptical that my misdeeds could sway his maintenance of the laws of physics or the progress of life on Earth - for me or for others.

I went out on a route check this morning, and it was shorter and much harder than I expected. I certainly struggled through the heat of the mid day sun. You might want to apply a coat of Hammerite if you suffer from male pattern baldness.

Is God Woke? Are we judged by different criteria than our forebears of centuries and millennia past? How can you trust a God with changing values? How can you trust a God with value systems of vanished civilisations? Maybe that’s why they vanished, and if they’d been Woke, we might still be living under Roman rule.

I trust that if they could, they would not. Furthermore, it seems pointless to create laws of physics, and then tinker with them for your own satisfaction, out of spite towards the disobedience of your creations whom you have given free will. I don’t believe in a childish God, and will continue to believe that my misfortunes are the result of my own carelessness, and not vengeful judgement from On High.

I think his question was more about how we treat God, or rely on him - or otherwise, rather than any questioning of the abilities or opinions of God.

Corn flakes are expats?

Brevity - the soul of wit. I trust God not to consider my belief or otherwise as important. I have no confidence in a narcissist God who needs me to believe in them.

Indeed!

The road is for bicycles. If car drivers can’t share the road without killing people, maybe we should ban the killers, not the victims.

Generally, the landlords provide a small cider at each of the pubs, while the riders pay a comparable amount to Agathians’. A couple of years ago, we were delayed by slightly slow drinking, and I remarked “I’m anxious to get to the last pub, where I can have a proper drink”. This year, we’re planning on finishing in Bangsar, so I’ll need to take it easy at the end, because there’s at least one stop on the way home from there.

Only MY.

We have never encountered any dangerous cycling, though I can think of one or two occasions when we have encountered dangerous driving. If I was wanting to improve road safety, I would eliminate the killers, not the victims.

Pubcycle 2023, our tenth excursion, is scheduled for 26th November. We will be raising funds for Agathian’s Shelter, and if you can’t join, just send the money. My first task is to confirm the participating pubs; then the posters, check the route in detail, confirm the riders, start collecting sponsorship… Thanks in advance for your support - the kids appreciate it!