StreetCowboy

5 hours ago, henrik2000 said:

Luckyman, Streetcowboy and Bobfish, thanks for more detailed advice!

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

As you know from the other thread, I am seriously behind with my preparations for Pubcycle 2023; yesterday we took a spin past GravyBaby to confirm their support (they were not unequivocal) but that’s not far enough from home to mile a good mileage. I did my best, though.

”So we’ll come up here, straight across at the coffee van, and down to Parlimen roundabout”

”So we’re coming up this hill just to go straight back into town?”

”The way you say that, it sounds like you don’t think this is a good short cut…”

and he did a sign language that might have been comparing big fishes to little fishes.  Anyway, they sell cider in GravyBaby, so the long and short of it is that so long as you get to where you’re going, that’s better than the alternatives.  
I was slightly surprised that we set personal bests on the way home through Federal Hill - maybe they’re watering down their cider…

Maybe it was the weather; when we got back to our regular local, neither of us had touched our water bottles, and the barman’s iced water did not disappear as gratefully as it normally did.

1 hour ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

 

Agreed... But you only have to worry about ones who are pushing suitcases that have dismembered body parts inside!  ????

 

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...

12 hours ago, sambum said:

Haven't seen any reports of Swedes misbehaving in the last few days?

And why should it matter whether your Thai missus agrees with you or not?

Scissors

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

On 10/1/2023 at 5:43 PM, ravip said:

Wish you a speedy recovery. 

I’m feeling well enough to try and make up some of the mileage that I’ve missed, but I might not feel the same by tomorrow afternoon.

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.

1 minute ago, bignok said:

What was his name?

Don’t tell him, Spike

7 minutes ago, billd766 said:

I was brought up as a protestant as were my parents for generations before, but when you are a child you know no better. I left home at 15 and joined the RAF and went to church parade every Sunday.

 

That is where I found that there were far more religions and I also found that whilst we British believed in god, so did the Germans, the French and other countries when they were fighting on our side or against us.

 

I thought about that, and could not understand how any god could be on more sides at the same time. I still cant.

 

Both Prussia and Germany had ' gott mit uns' on their belts. 

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gott_mit_uns

 

Then I realised that the christians were killing muslims simply because each believed that THEIR god was the only true god and all other worshipers were heretics and had to convert or be killed.

 

I looked at the christian god who is compassionate, kind and loving, yet let men, women and children of all ages, races and religions die of cold, hunger, thirst and disease by doing nothing. Prayers were no help, religion was no help. Donations to churches were no help. The belief of everlasting life after death means nothing means nothing as nobody has ever come back again after death to prove it.

 

I have come to the conclusion that religion is simply a belief. You either believe in something or you don't, and in the end it doesn't really matter.

 

I am sorry for rambling on.

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.

1 minute ago, fredwiggy said:

God hasn't changed anything since he made his laws. The vanished civilizations you speak about are all of us now. We aren't under Roman law because Rome was built by a group of narcissists, that fell because of decadence and a false sense of security of power. Spartacus was one who proved them wrong. Corruption, division of it's leaders, and others who weren't going to be controlled any longer. Evil never wins in the end. There's a reason evil loses world wars. You can't beat those with God on their side. God is way ahead of any man's thinking. What man has created the earth or anything living? You can say a man and a woman creates a child, or a male and female of any species creates their offspring, but that was because God made it happen by design.

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 suffered a mishap that I can fairly ascribe to drinking, despite a lack of recollection, but cannot blame on cycling , due to an absence of cuts and grazes, and lack of damage to the bike.  It failed to get better within a few days, the orthopaedic hospital was closed on the Thursday what with it being a public holiday, so I went to my usual doctor, who recommended I go to the Orthopaedic hospital.  So I booked an appointment for the Monday afternoon, and struggled on through my weekend rides, suffering from not being willing to put weight on the affected arm.

”Yes, there’s a fracture there,  wear a sling, don’t put weight on it, and no cycling.  How did you get here?”

”Its ok - I’ll wear the sling cycling home”

So I’ve been off the bike a few weeks, but after seeing the doctor on Monday, felt relaxed about cycling out to listen to trains on Saturday, and then today rode a route check for Pubcycle 2023 - Pubcycle X, as the classical scholars amongst us would say.

I have lost a lot of fitness with three weeks off the bike - I might have suffered less if my drinking arm had been afflicted.

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.

17 hours ago, Mark Nothing said:

By definition God is all powerful, all knowing and ever present.  Trustworthiness is a biproduct of this power.

 

I pray daily for God's blessings on my body and soul.  The results reinforce the power.  The false idols fall like dominos of insignificance.

 

A funny aspect to this question is both the believers and nonbelievers get to be right.  The believer reap the benefits and the nonbelievers don't.

 

It is profound watching the ramblings of those under the influence of false idols stuck in the mud fighting to retain their ignorance of this omnipotent power. 

 

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.

4 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

God isn't a human so isn't a "him", and God can do anything, including exterminating a pesky species that behaves badly. The next big asteroid might not miss.

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.

11 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

Are you trying too hard to be controversial?

Think about it- God created the entire universe, and everything in it down to the most minute particles, then created the universal laws that dictate life.

Do you think God is a human like being to be labeled with human emotions?

 

When you can create a universe get back to us.

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.

4 hours ago, Crossy said:

My cornflakes say "contents may settle in transit", is beer the same??

 

Fetching my coat 

Corn flakes are expats?

8 hours ago, GammaGlobulin said:

If I did "check it out", as you seem to be suggesting, and, as usual, in your lowbrow idiomatic way, do you really believe there might be anything of redeeming value in the experience?

 

Also, must you continually pack all your utterances full of slang?

 

Have you never thought to put a bit of effort into your writing in order to feel more pride in the writing of your comments?

 

I can understand that today is a rainy one, which might cause some to feel more relaxed.

But do you also need to relax the quality of your writing on this Friday?

 

When you write, try to write while holding your shoulders back, figuratively speaking.

Write with clarity.

And use a few well-chosen words, too.

But please direct your well-chosen words not at me.

 

Thank you.

 

 

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.

1 hour ago, Neeranam said:

Where is home?

 

Indeed!

16 hours ago, soi3eddie said:

What will be consumed at the pubs? Just soda water? If alcohol (as is customary at pubs) then recipe for disaster.

 

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.

10 hours ago, KhunLA said:

Is there one in TH, or just MY?

Only MY.

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!

15 hours ago, bob smith said:

Is it just me or is the average expat that lives in Thailand a loser?

most of them seem to have severe mental problems,

alcoholism/drug abuse is rampant.

 

Now I am no angel. I like a drink and have been known to dabble in substances in the past

but these guys are on another level.

 

I feel quite uneasy when I chat to a fellow expat, especially in a bar setting.

They always have a story.

most of them come off as con men/wrong uns,

 

maybe its the places that I frequent, i dont know.

but Thailand is full of farang losers.

People who western women wouldnt look twice at but here they think they are james bond.

 

What a sorry state of affairs. 

It's a shyte state of affairs, and all the fresh air in the world won't make any bluddy difference.