durbanjacques

To steal a bike here you don't need to interact with people, you just walk up to the nearest street corner with bolt cutters and you can take you pick. But what is increasing is putting spikes and barb wire on trails. Its not all tulips and cheese, but I get your point. At least it isn't violent.

I can confirm ( without eating stroopwafels ) that getting bikes stolen here is part of normal life. There was a recent article in the newspaper that said if you live in Amsterdam your chances of having a bike stolen is exactly 100%. That's why I keep my nice bikes under lock and key and I have a banger to ride around on.

When the weather is crap I brew beer. Right now I have a Belgian Blond 8%, Pale Ale 5% and a Dark Mild 3.5% in kegs, a Munch Helles ~5% in the fermenter and planning to brew an oatmeal stout on Sunday. You could say it's my creative outlet

For me it was the seatpost creaking in the frame. I put some copperslip in there and it creaked no more. But yes a creak can come from anywhere and drive you insane.

Its winter in Europe and I like a chicken on the braai so instead of breaking out the Weber we go to the local Portuguese takeaway for a flame grilled Kip (Dutch for chicken) once a week €12.00, whole fresh Kip directly from the farmer at the weekly village market €6.00

Oh how I miss SA butchers. Dutch butchers don't use English cuts and they see fat as the enemy so all meat in the butchers is lean. Anyone have a good recipe for drywors? In NL beef sausage is a rarity the locals preferring the piggy. My local butcher has agreed to make me some wors but only if I order at least 8kg so I want to get it right.

While I was driving my daughter to school 3 boys on bikes in front of me just suddenly stopped took an unnatural left and slammed into a wall. It was crazy.

Getting my parents to bring me over some Luv when they are on holiday. I go through ESI like toilet paper, and that stuff is expensive. Also I should probably learn how to ride properly.

Last week in the Hague Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Been waiting patiently for these for a month. Eccentric BB for the SS. And the installation tool Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I watched the replay on Red Bull TV. There were serious wipe outs after Greg chasing his time. His run was supremely smooth, what a pro.

Yes I don't want to fear monger but if I can spare anyone the year we had when she fell I will gladly do it. She now has a handle on the Hashimotos and no medication gets into her system without knowing exactly what can be expected. If you still feel uncomfortable with his handling of your situation I would suggest getting another opinion. This isn't a short term thing that will be treated and cured. Its a long term commitment so you have to be comfortable with your clinician. I wish I could suggest someone but she actually had 3 different specialists in 5 years and more blood tests than I can count.

A side note. You may also want to put some research into your medication. My wife was diagnosed with Hashimotos a few years ago and promptly put onto medication to get her T3 and T4 levels normalized. What the specialist didn't tell her was that some of the Hypothyroidism medications could have an adverse effect on bone density. The one she was on was one of those. After 2 years of medication she fell off a horse and broke her back because her bones were becoming brittle and couldn't take the shock. Luckily she is okay today, but it was touch and go. We bounced around from specialist to specialist in SA. I really hope you have more success.

Left for a "holiday" in March last year, but officially left at the end of May last year.

I thought I would get the bike in as well this time. Finally a warm spring day in the Netherlands Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

We are planning to do just that. It's school holidays here so the little ones need to be entertained. Fun fact about the tulips, the ones in my photos are all going into the compost. The farmers around here are all bulb farmers so they cut the flowers off just before they open so that the bulbs can multiply. I will try to get some snaps of the pretty compost heaps as well.

It stopped raining just long enough for some more tulip spotting today Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Inside the box are some new brakes, shift cables, bleeding kit and some lekker mud guards for the Dutch spring Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I just got a box of goodies Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I just bought a new brake set for my Anthem so that I have "better stopping power". I live in the flattest country in the world! Hi my name is Jacques and I am an addict.

I use a set of Bose SoundTrue wired earphones. They fit in your ear but don't block the ear canal so you can still hear the birds, crickets and car hooters.

Mt Hutt is pretty good for newbies and the last time I went the facilities were great. One tip, make sure you have snow chains on your wheels. You can normally hire them in town from one of the ski shops. I went up there once without and ended up sliding my car into a snow bank. When I eventually got up the mountain a Kea decided to eat all my wipers. Crap day driving but an amazing day snowboarding. This thread really makes me miss NZ.

I have a hard enough time keeping track of the battery on my Garmin. But I must say that never having to replace a shift cable again is quite enticing. I wonder if the next big thing after Eagle from SRAM will be an Etap Eagle.

Pricing - http://velonews.competitor.com/2016/04/bikes-and-tech/xt-di2-and-wireless-e-tube-customization_402476

I decided to go do some tulip scouting yesterday afternoon. It seems the pink ones are the only ones in bloom at the moment.