Quote from: Thenop on April 14, 2024, 12:38:38 PMSounds like a great plan. I always found the Who to be band that made the 60s to 70s transition the best.

Let's find out!

Yes! They'd morphed seamlessly from mods to rockers by 1968, with a cursory nod to psychedelia along the way.

Quote from: captainkurtz on April 13, 2024, 11:04:06 PMWho's next

Never ceases to amaze.  For me, The Who only have 3 essential records...but they're so essential, it elevates time to one of the all time greats...

I was going to work my way through the studio discography earlier this year but decided to do Kiss instead. I think I'll start it now. I've just bought Pete Townsend's autobiography last week so it'll tie in nicely.

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Brutal. About 40 minutes.

A pretty nice cycling day today, but I'm on call. Also, I was keen to try out my Planet X following its maintenance yesterday, which involved furnishing it with a new rear mech, hanger, gear cable and chain. Not wise to stray too far from home in those circumstances but I was keen to clock up a decent distance, so last night I planned a route that would take me down south-east to Kirby Muxloe, then west right across to Warton, taking in Fenn Lanes, then north-east back homeward. A decently interesting ride, without straying too far from base. I hoped.

I didn't actually plot it out on a route planner, so I didn't know the exact distance. I was going to improvise a bit, anyway.

I set off at about 0845. Yesterday's forecast had threatened rain in the late afternoon, but I was pleased to see this morning that the meteorologists had changed their mind about that. Just as I set off, a gentleman with a striking resemblance to Boris Johnson strolled past and wished me a good morning. Surely a good omen.

Very happy to find that the bike was running very nicely - I'd half-expected the chain to skip for the first few miles, where I'd joined two lengths of chain. But all the gear changes were nice and smooth. I didn't try any of the stupid combinations, smaller ring at the front and smallest cog at the back for example. But I try to avoid those anyway. I'm sure they wouldn't have caused a disaster. I did regret choosing a route with a few steep climbs, not really what you want with an untested chain. But everything was fine.



The ride didn't go exactly as I'd mentally sketched out, but I did roughly what I'd intended. I found myself at Ratby at one point which wasn't part of the plan, but I visited the Co-op there and acquired a sandwich and some freshly baked cheese & onion rolls. Nice.

After Kirkby Mallory I took the wrong turn on the A444 and ended up at Stapleton instead of Sutton Cheney. But I followed a sign to Dadlington. I knew I'd find Fenn Lanes from there. This took me along a country lane that was a bit stony and ill-maintained, but it wasn't too bad. I took the pic at Dadlington.

From Fenn Lanes I did a sort of reverse Bypasser with some deliberate meandering to clock up some extra miles. I was determined to do a fondo by this time. This involved coming along the fast road from Ashby for a couple of miles which was a bit hairy, but at least it was mostly downhill.

Back on 62.84 miles.

Mostly nice weather, cloudy in the morning but sunny later. I removed my new cycling tights at about 1100 and a fleece about 90 minutes later. My legs were a bit hairy and I was slightly embarrassed every time I glanced down, but I've given them a good seeing to with a razor in the bath since I got back.

Listened mostly to 5 Live which annoyingly was largely devoted to golf coverage, but there was a very good interview with Mark Knopfler on Patrick Kielty's show. And I listened to the Prefab Sprout album From Langley Park to Memphis.

That was a really nice run out. Very happy to have the green bike available for use again.

https://www.strava.com/activities/11173148147

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About 80 seconds I think.

No cycling today, but: I did finally get round to sorting out the Planet X. New hanger, rear mech, chain and gear cable fitted. Only took about half an hour.

Annoyingly, the KMC 11 speed chain I'd bought was too short! So I made up the length with an unused bit of chain from the last KMC 11 speed chain I bought. They aren't actually exactly the same - the new chain is shiny metal with black centre links, whereas the spare links are uniformly dull steel coloured.

I only had one quick link so I had to join them using a chain tool. I knew hoarding spare bits of chain would come in handy one day.

I was going to leave setting it up for another day but I went ahead and finished the job. The chain seems to be going round smoothly enough and doing all the changes properly on the stand, but I dare say it'll need tweaking after a ride.

I hate those old Antigua finishes. In and of themselves they look gross but there's also an indelible association with Fender's nastiest era - ungainly, heavy, three bolt neck instruments and shoddy quality control. I assume they're being reissued for Fender's 70th anniversary.

Quote from: David L on April 12, 2024, 12:45:12 AMOmega Seamaster. My engagement gift from the wife. Bought from a shop in Place Vendome in Paris ❤️

Very nice, I have a closely related model, commonly known as the '007' Seamaster because it featured in Goldeneye.



This particular model is the midsize (36mm) quartz. Very handy for travelling because the hour hand is independently adjustable while the minute and second hands are running.

Unlike Bond's model, it doesn't have a laser or remote detonator built in.

I hadn't heard of Bloodrock so I looked them up: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloodrock

They'd released their sixth album two months earlier but had just been dropped by their record label. They played their last gig two nights later in Michigan.

This was their biggest hit, more than a faint smell of Spinal Tap about this one:

And fifty years ago this evening, the band are playing the Victory Theatre in Toronto - possibly as a support act?

https://www.rush.com/tour/rush/

They'd supported the New York Dolls there the previous October as Alex wrote for a newspaper article, later transcribed in My Effin' Life.



The building is now a "drugstore" and visible here on Google Street View.

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A minute.

Just watched the first couple of minutes of this video, published 45 minutes ago. Nirvana, a band that ceased to exist 30 years ago last week, get over 30 million monthly listeners on Spotify. The Police, who put out their last record 41 years ago, get 29 million listeners a month. Queen's last record came out in 1995, Freddie had already been dead a few years of course. They get more than 50 million monthly listeners.

This might come across as a bit of an odd reflection but - in an odd way I think this strange permanence of the music and other cultural elements that I grew up with is helping to prevent me from realising how old I am. Sometimes I entertain thought experiments to contemplate my age. I imagine, for example, that on the day I first saw Rush, a man my present age was strolling past Newcastle City Hall. He'd have been born in the later part of 1913. Might have served during the Second World War. Wouldn't have had an interest in pop music or rock music at all, I suspect. Would have been alienated by Elvis Presley and Little Richard in the '50s. I think he'd have seemed very old to me, but that's who I am.

Quote from: Thenop on April 11, 2024, 09:07:11 PMEveryday, an automatic Hamilton Khaki Aviation Pilot Day Date.
https://www.hamiltonwatch.com/nl-nl/h64615135-khaki-aviation-pilot-day-date-auto.html

Nice, I wear a Hamilton sometimes myself, a handwound field watch with a handy 50 hrs power reserve.

The warmest day so far this year I think, and dry as well for a change (mostly). Once again immoderately windy. Wish I could have got out of work earlier, but for my sins I had to give a Teams presentation at 1530. But I was off and away on a bike 53 minutes later.

I wanted to do more than 35, but didn't have time for 40. My first idea was to go down the Lower Westbound but just as I was approaching Measham I decided to take the left turn down to Snarestone and do a Bypasser. I augmented it with an excursion down toward Old Grendon, then another one down to explore suburban Atherstone briefly. Not very interesting.



Just for laughs I parked the bike against a wrecked car near Warton rather than the usual farm gate or telegraph pole, for the photo. The rear window was completely smashed in and one of the front wheels was splayed out at a near 90 degree angle. Nasty.

First legs-out day of the year. I did take tights just in case but didn't put them on. Picked up a few splashes of rain but only briefly. Back about a minute after sunset on 38.99 miles. Nice run out, wish I'd been able to set off an hour or two sooner.

136 this month which I'm not really happy with, hope the weather improves for the remaining 19 days.

https://www.strava.com/activities/11160160718

Useful signing, that. Not to be sniffed at.