CitroJim's AX, C3 Picasso, Cycling and Running Tales

[CitroJim]

Steve, love the owl Thanks for that. immensely enjoyed!

seeing those cyclists toiling up the 1 in 4 (sorry, 25%) hills on Dartmoor will never be the same again.

Van, hills are what sportive cycling is all about and I love hills - I search them out.. Cyclists are very much divided into roles depending upon their build and particular skill/preference... Big cyclists tend to be sprinters and little, lean gazelles like me are generally climbers... I'm the latter and have a climbing bike - very light and agile... I'm also a good endurance cyclist too... Not tremendously fast but I can keep going and going and going... I'm the same when running and swimming... Hare and tortoise stuff

Ratios are the only way to measure hills and all these newfangled percentages are meaningless!

1 in 4 is a good challenge but take it from me, any cyclist you see on such a hill is loving every minute of it! It's painful but incredibly pleasurable at the same time!

I'm doing a sportive in Cambridgeshire in August - the Wiggle Steeple Chase - goodness knows where they'll find decent hills for that one

I'm sure they'll do their best!

[elma]

Theres 2 hills in Cambridge, both are rail bridges. I lived there for 2 years and they were all I found.

[CitroJim]

Theres 2 hills in Cambridge, both are rail bridges. I lived there for 2 years and they were all I found.

That does not bode well for my favourite discipline then James!

[Stickyfinger]

Haa !....you will have top come down here again for your "Fix" then Jim. You now know you can relax and eat without me killing you

[CitroJim]

You now know you can relax and eat without me killing you

Absolutely It really was a fantastic Friday Alasdair and that meal was beyond awesome... Again, I cannot thank you enough

If OK with you I somehow get the feeling it won't be my last visit down that way despite my assurances that it was

I also get the feeling that my bond, however much I try to deny it, to Somerset is just too strong to break...

I may not go anywhere else but Somerset - maybe

I did the bike ride in memory of dad and having enjoyed it so much I can't see how I'll be able to resist doing it next year...

I meant to say, on Friday Gabriel's fuel gauge started to play up and was reading very low at one point, saying my tank was only half full not long after brimming it! I was worried I had a big leak but all was dry and good...

Since then the gauge has been behaving itself perfectly again. In fact after the trip home I still have three-quarters of a tank of diesel left...

Gabriel is wonderfully frugal... She just sips her diesel

[Stickyfinger]

Well I will keep nagging you

[CitroJim]

Well I will keep nagging you

Excellent! I need nagging regularly

[elma]

Cambridgeshire on the other hand has a few gentle rolling hills and it's beauty is worth the ride. I used to escape on a borrowed MTB every weekend when I lived down there for college. I found some really amazing places that would have been missed without 2 wheeled transport.

[CitroJim]

This sportive is called the Wiggle Steeple Chase James..

Have a look at the map in the link and see if you recognise any of it.. It looks like it's going to be very scenic... I'll be doing the 60 mile standard route...

Meanwhile, just waiting for Sian to arrive so that I can give her Pixo a pre-MOT... Just before that I'll be checking over my own cars and then we're both off out for a run and a Costa and a Tiffin as a reward at the end

I'm also working on a vintage Roberts wireless.. Just opened up the sealed IF module to swap the duff transistors in it. The AF116 is well known to fail after 40 years... They suffer from 'tin whiskers' that cause internal short circuits. I will replace them with AF126 types which are immune. It's a tricky job though...

[elma]

Couldn't say exactly Jim, it was half my lifetime ago. It focuses on the areas around Huntingdon though which is a good sign. A lot of my Scenic countryside rides did the same around Cambridge.

[demag]

Ooh Pixo, heard mixed reports about them Jim. What's it like?

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[CitroJim]

Ooh Pixo, heard mixed reports about them Jim. What's it like?

Basically it's a Suzuki Alto Dave...

Drives like a wet sponge, very spartan and is about as entertaining as a wet weekend in Bognor but it's well screwed together and reliable...

Sian's was her grandad's car he had from new. It's now 8 years old and still very good...

I've juts pre-MOT'd it and no problems found...

A perfect car for a youngster and whilst not a C1 by any means it does the job admirably...

[daviemck2006]

For a lot of people well screwed together and reliable is all they want in a car and they do not care about the entertainment being that wet weekend in Bognor as long as its not outdoors [emoji12] [emoji23]

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[CitroJim]

That, Davie, is very true and it ticks all the right boxes for that and as a bonus, it is dead easy to service and look after...

I checked over all my cars today - nothing to report or do on any of them so I went for a bike ride...

Gabriel continues to be a wonderful car, the Activa has not moved since the X-Rally but has been started and run regularly and the Pug is just a Pug and filling the same sort of niche as Sian's Pixo does...

[DHallworth]

Is the 207 proving to be reliable now, Jim?

David.