Author Archives: Phill

Argos Recovery

By 5 commentsReviews,

Last night.

I took advantage of an evening on my own and did some online shopping.  I found myself at the fabled virtual gates of the Hallowed Halls Of Argos.

Now I have to be careful: the .. ahem.. thing I wanted is a gift.  A gift I won’t be presenting until this weekend.  A gift that could be guessed by a certain someone if he or she were to visit this blog.  Which is unlikely, but nonetheless possible.

So, the (ahem) gift was on offer.  If I clicked on the right part of the page, added a certain item to my basket and reserved both items, I would only need to pay for one.  “Right, ” I said to myself, “That’s my business won.  I’m having that. And that free thing too.”

No problem. You’d think.  I got my reservation number texted to my phone and went to bed happy.

Today.

At lunch I drove to the nearest actual (not virtual) Argos store with my phone in hand, reservation number at the ready.  I walked purposefully up to the little touchscreen booth and punched in my number.  No free thing.  The gift and the thing both popped up on screen…. at full price.  Full price.  Balls.

Slightly irked, but still purposefully, I then walked to the Customer Service desk.  The pleasant assistant punched my reservation number into her terminal, which told her the same as my terminal had – as you’d expect.  She looked at me.  I looked at her.  She told me it “wasn’t coming up”.  She asked me to wait.

I waited.  I sent a text.  I looked at the virtual Hallowed Halls Of Argos on my phone. I waited a little bit more.  I realise this is all me me me, but I was getting a bit frustrated.

Then the pleasant assistant came back. She’d called Shop Support (whoever they are. Lunchtime cover in Milton Keynes HQ no doubt) who explained that the offer was available Last Night, but not Today.  But since I’d ordered it Last Night, I could have it Today. But nobody else can.

Nice one.  Thanks Argos.  I now have my gift for a certain someone, and a free thing too.

So if you ever go to Argos, it’s unlikely to be true but tell ’em Phill sent ya 🙂

On Target For Goal Number One – Almost

By Tat, , ,

Yesterday I got the Good News that I’ve been selected in the ballot to run in the Great Manchester Run in May. That’ll be my first 10k in about 5 years.

However, my other half didn’t get selected: Bad News.  So, do any of you have a spare ticket already?  If you know anyone who’s planning to pick up an injury or bottle out, let me know.  We’ll both continue training so hopefully we’ll both do the run on the 16th of May.

So, this morning I’ve done another 15 minutes easy running on Week 3 of my training plan and I feel good.  I had been starting to get bored whilst running though, so a little eBay shopping last week delivered a new charging cable for my Samsung mp3 player from the land of the rising sun (£1.99 delivered, woohoo) and now I have Tunage On The Treadmill.

Don’t forget: if you know anyone who has a spare registration for the Great Manchester Run, let me know, please 🙂 Thanks!

First Fat Boy Ride

By 14 commentsRides,

Wow.

To quote a friend, it felt like someone had stuck a motor to my back wheel!

I arrived home on Tuesday, excited, after having left my new bike in the front room on my lunch break.  We’d had a slight interruption since my Other Half’s car had shorted itself and broken down on the way home, but thankfully her Dad had resurrected the beast and got it home, whilst I was stuck at a Golf Club setting up seminar gear.  Thank goodness for Dads.

Fitting the pedals and checking the relevant buts & bolts were all tightened up didn’t take long.  Neither did fitting the front & back blinkyflashy lights, and the front headlight torch.  At 8.45pm I was ready to go:

All dressed up and somewhere to go

All dressed up and everywhere to go!

I set off for a quick loop to test him out.  Into Milnrow the  road’s pretty flat, even slightly downhill, so that part was easy.  My quads burned a little so I pulled the seat up an inch: sorted.

I would never, ever, have thought about climbing Kiln Lane on my old Haro.  The foolhardy part of me said “go on son, you can do it” so I turned left and went for it.  Foolhardy is the word!  There’s no way on God’s good Earth that I’m climbing that hill at the moment, but I did get a lot higher than I ever have before!  What a bike.  It felt wonderful going up that steep hill.

Along Wildhouse Lane I played with the gears, which had been set up perfectly by either Focus or the people at Wiggle.  Whoever it was, thank you.  A quick burst alongside Hollingworth Lake admiring the light playing along the water, before descending down to the canal and I was a happy chappy.

Back along the canalside was, erm, interesting.  It was pitch black and although the new front light meant I could see ahead, I couldn’t quite pick out the half-completed surface that I’m paying for through my Sustrans subscription!  Some was finished (which was lovely to ride on); some was untouched (which was ok but muddy); some was partially done (which was like riding through treacle).  After a mile of alternating mud, smooth and treacle, the surface got a bit more predictable.  The canal was freezing over and the sound of my new Schwalbe Racing Ralphs crunching through ice-covered puddles was music to my ears.

What a ride.  I love my new bike!

View First Ride New Bike Feb 2010 in a larger map

Here He Is! Focus Fat Boy 2010

By 11 commentsReviews, Rides,

My new bike was delivered this morning.  I was in a meeting, talking about Terms & Conditions at the time.  I came downstairs to be greeted by the curious smiles of my colleagues and a huge cardboard box with “wiggle” written on it.

I’m going to have to refer to this bike as a “he”, because he’s called Fat Boy.  So, here he is:

My shiny new Fat Boy

My Shiny New Fat Boy

The wow factor for me was noticing that I have a remote lock-out on the forks, which I can activate from the handlebars.  That little extra has made me a very happy man!  I’m so easily excited 🙂

Unfortunately, I’m taking a load of seminar gear to a Golf Club this afternoon, for a seminar we’re delivering tomorrow morning.  This means that I have to rush my new friend home in the car, get back and start packing our stuff.

Tonight’s job will be to stick the handlebars & pedals on and get out there in the rain to test him out.  I’ll let you know how we do.

What do you think of him so far?

Sad Loss, Happy Beginnings? New Bike Bought

By 9 commentsReviews, Rides, ,

A Sad Loss…

I’ve been agonising for a while about my lovely old Haro.  She’s been complaining and displaying all the signs of her old age.  A couple of months ago I took her wheels in to be trued and they couldn’t do it.  At that point I began to accept that her days were drawing to a close.

So, it is with a heavy heart and a much lighter wallet that I have to tell you I’ve ordered a new companion.  This weekend’s ride will be my last on my trusty Haro.

Haro Escape 7.0, My companion for the last 10 years.

RIP My Faithful Haro Friend, Out To Pasture After 10 Years

The frame’s still bombproof, but the wheels, brakes and bottom bracket are knackered.  I’ll pass it on to some deserving soul or put it on Freecycle, unless anyone has any better ideas…?

…A Happy Beginning?

I’m a bit scared.

I’m a bit scared of how easy it was to spend my money with Wiggle.   I simply used the affiliate link from Fight Bad Driving and was logged into my Wiggle account automatically.  The bike I’ve chosen was already on my wish list so, what seemed like 4 nanoseconds later, I was looking at the “Thank You From Wiggle” screen and experiencing early-onset-post-purchase-dissonance.

Here’s the beast:

My new pearly-white steed.

Focus Fat Boy 2010, My New Steed

Why A Mountain Bike?

I thought long and hard about getting a road bike, but I need a family-friendly ride.  We live alongside a canal so we ride as a family along the towpath, regularly.  Everyone else has an offroad-style bike: even the young girls have fat tyres.

The roadie option was to buy a decent road bike, then get my Haro updated with some inexpensive new wheels and a new bottom bracket for the family rides.  This would’ve cost the wrong side of £100 on top of a new roadie for sure.  Shed room would also have been an issue.

So, the MTB won the day this time.

Why The Focus?

I’ve read reviews on Focus’ road bikes and MTBs, from last year and this year.  Focus bikes are German, and those Germans are pretty good at engineering, whatever you say about their sense of humour.  Wiggle are selling a lot of their bikes (which must be a good sign, surely) and the more recent reviews have been very good.  On the 2009 models, it seemed that they were trying to cut costs by providing lower-priced components.  OK, this year’s Fat Boy is £100 more than last year’s, but the components are good.

Oh, and I loved the paint job.  How cool is it? Really? I mean, How Cool is THAT?  I’m a sucker for a nice white frame, me. 🙂

Let me know what you think … and if you know any good cause that’d benefit from a Haro Escape 7.0 which squeaks a bit, let me know.

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