It was a nice ride in this morning: fine and warm. so I took the Mercian. it was a fun ride in. That old bike just rides so nicely.

Hopefully it won't be too hot for the ride home. It is forecast to be a nice tailwind as well.

:bday:

I knew it was all PCAD's fault. This whole stupid thread is his doing. And, maybe, his undoing.

Hey gnome, I get letters in the mail asking me to come and work in NZ...how's life there??

I'm tempted by this Mercian but the stoker seat tube is too long. :(

http://i.ebayimg.com/t/Mercian-Tande...P5g~~60_35.JPG

Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.

And since when can't you call people idiots in the 41? Suddenly they decide they're going to enforce the rules to the letter? Even if they do, I should get Papal Dispensation to call a spade a spade, particularly when it comes to blatant stupidity.

Well, today it was 11.4 mph, but I was just out for a spin. ;)

http://app.strava.com/activities/39201058

Unless you swam as a kid, you need a coach. That and running six days a week. Do those, and you'll wind up beating most of the field. The bulk of triathletes are unmitigated wusses.

See my tagline.

That said, I don't think I have ever called anyone an idiot or other epithet. At least I try to be kind. It's not easy, especially in this place!

:beer:

:beer:

I got 60° weather for my bday. It was very nice, even though there was a bit of rain.

Surely this bit of P&R is legal here. ;)

http://24ahead.com/images/john-kerry-riding-bike.jpg

This. ;)

I'm with you on this one SA, taking care of a couple hundred or so people dying from ETOH related events is a sobering experience and one that is quite ugly. 80,000 US deaths a year, 10 % of all young adult deaths, 3.2 million deaths per year world wide. And yet we persist in chasing down pot users. Crazy.
The thing is if you have the disease of alcoholism it is the first drink that kills you...in time. Trouble is many do not know they have the disease until it is too late.

very tempting indeed.

In my defense I have pretty much always been here wasting my time.

Trainer's suck!!!! That is all.

Trainers are AWESOME.

not bad. we pay up to 33% income tax and also pay 15% GST (value added comsumption tax on goods & services) and the local body property taxes seem to keep rising. but on the plus side there is a reasonable social safety net, most healthcare (except dentistry) is paid or heavily subsidised by the Govt and there is a govt scheme called ACC which will pay out an income replacement in the event you are unable to work due to an injury/accident.

property in Auckland (the largest city) is overpriced but the rest of the country isn't to bad. Stuff is a bit more expensive to buy here by and large.

The weather is fairly temperate: lows in the south of the South Island can reach about -10°C in the middle of winter. We are currently in the middle of summer and sizzling with temperatures reaching about 32°C at the moment. In the western sides of the country it rains a lot.

Most of the roads outside of the main metropolitan centres are surfaced in chip-seal.

Likewise. As was Billy. We cut our teeth in the ancient 'poor snowbound roadies' thread.

If you do this, keep us posted. I've been hankering to become an expat for a while now.

I bet he could drop this guy.
http://blogs.lctmag.com/images/blogs...es_bicycle.jpg

Probably a pipe dream for now. My kids are 11 and 12, so unlikely for me to relocate until they graduate high school.

But I can dream...

What the what now? Why is he wearing a UW Milwaukee Panthers t-shirt?

Hey I remember that..."thread about nothing," right??