rabbitstew

Yep, its pretty much my regular commute. Im out in Rushden, so have a blast down the lovely B645 every day, then have the wonderful choice between either A14 Huntingdon to Cambridge or carry on on the B645 down to St Neots and risk the A428. Both are pretty much as bad as each other, although this last week ive been going the A428 route as its been slightly better.

Sounds very similar to what happened to my wifes hot hatch. Was repaired by the insurance companies "approved" repairer and we sent that back 3 times. The first time it came back, the colour was completely the wrong colour, and there was a check list of about 30 items which I wasnt happy with. Including that they hadnt actually replaced the damaged radiator & grill etc.. Really obvious things. Also, more seriously, the engine management light was on after the repair when it wasnt before. Firstly they diagnosed it as the coil pack and the insurance company wouldnt cover that. They said it was a consumable and it was a co-incidence that it had gone at the same time as the accident. Then after we forked out & replaced that, the light was still on and it transpired that the head gasket had actually gone whilst it was at the bodyshop. Quite how I dont know. Likewise, the insurance company wouldnt cover that as they said that was also classed as a consumable and it was another co-incidence that it had gone whilst it was with the bodyshop. In the end we never got anywhere so we sold the car as spares or repair as the estimates we were getting to replace the headgasket were about £1400 and the car was only worth about £1750.

Followed me for ages last night on the A14, from Cambridge all the way up to the A1M, nice shiny standard looking Azure Blue. On a 07 plate but not an HR model. Plate was something like PJ07 *XZ. Couple of blokes in the car.

Spotted @MDMetal again this morning, a428 heading towards St Neots. Looked like your undertray was hanging off on the front passengers side - so worth checking before you loose it!!!!

Driving along today, nice open road and I find myself stuck in a queue behind about 15 cars all doing 20mph in a 60mph zone. After a bit I realise what the hold up is. This is a 60mph road, 1 lane each way. With a 2.5m wide dedicated cycle path at the side. The cycle path is completely empty and yet the hold up is a wannabe Bradley Wiggans peddling away in the middle of the road. I can see why some motorists would feel the need to pull over and ask him what it was playing at and risk a torrent of abuse from the cyclist. I didnt see if he had a helmet cam on, but maybe he was deliberately doing this in hope of a confrontation. Why else would a cyclists ignore a dedicated cycle lane and use the road. Really makes me quite angry, as at the moment, my commute into work is faced with dozens of holdups and road works as the local council are putting in place another dedicated cycle lane at a cost of something like £100k for a 2 mile stretch, so cyclists can "feel safer" on their way into work. Once the lane is finished it means bus`s will have nowhere to pull over, which means cars will be forced to stop/start behind every bus over the 2 mile stretch. But it allows cyclists a smooth flow into the city centre. Thousands of cars use the stretch of road every day, but only a handful of cyclists and yet the council has still decided to go ahead. I do wonder whats the point of 12 months of mental hold ups and queues and problems if once the £100k cycle lane is built, cyclists will just refuse to use it, preferring the road? I guess the council will be seen as being "green" even though with all that stop/start traffic and newly created congestion the opposite may be true.

When was yours last serviced. Stuff like new air filters & plugs can help make the car feel a bit more responsive if they havent been changed in a long time.

As above really, although depends on how trusting you are. When I bought my Ducati 996 the other year, the seller happily let me take it out for a test ride without even looking at my license or me leaving him any cash as security. Maybe I looked the "trustworthy" type. As it was I ended up buying the bike for cash there & then after the ride. From my side though, for me if I was selling, the buyer would have to leave me full amount in cash, and id want to see drivers license & proof he was insured to ride it. Id make it clear if he dropped it or damaged it, he wouldnt be getting his cash back. The story about the bloke who didnt cancel his bike insurance policy, then the new buyer didnt insure it and stacked it killing someone I read about before and amazing as it seems the court ruled that the seller was liable as he still had insurance on the bike - even though it was no longer his bike. Made me think twice, as like most people, id probably sell the bike, then use that cash to buy another and then have the insurance swapped over - rather than cancel the insurance, loose out on that years ncb and incur admin fees, only then to have to setup a new policy a few weeks later. Something to think about.

I do all my servicing myself and even do my friends & familys cars to save them money. Only time ive ever had a garage service a car was my bmw 123d and that was purely because it was still under warranty. As soon as the warranty ran out I moved to service it myself. I just dont trust garages full stop. Why pay a garage £400 to do a service you can do for £100 of bits yourself. They nearly always get the YTS lad on minimal wage to do it anyway. If you take your time & read up on it you can do most things yourself. Ive had engines out, clutches changed, head gaskets, brakes, exhausts, cam belts, wheel bearings, ive done pretty much everything really. I also have a welder so can weld up rusty cars too. Only thing is, the first time you do the job you may need to buy some new tools, but once you have them thats it. I even went out & bought tyre changing & tyre balancing gear last year so I can do all my motorbike tyre changes myself.

very true. Admiral are strange though. I added my parents to the insurance about 4 years back as it reduced the premium. However this year Admiral actually suggested I take them off the insurance as it would REDUCE the premium!

Jesus, maybe they are hoping the good weather will get people forking out their cash.

Ive got HEL lines on both my R1 and Ducati 996. Not inspiring me with confidence now!

This.. and... Is why I ended up stopping working out. I moved house back in 2010 and ended up having to gut it and redo the whole thing. So working out stopped and every spare minute went on fitting kitchen/bathrooms/plastering/painting/wiring/plumbing/tiling/flooring etc. etc. I did the whole thing myself. Saved loads on what id have ended up paying trade to do, but meant I had zero free time for about 3 years. I ended up loosing 2 stone in weight just running up & down the stairs all the time. Id find that once I got stuck into something id end up forgetting about lunch or dinner and so whilst I was burning loads of calories I just wasnt eating enough. Then in 2013 had a baby, and so your up all night feeding, no sleep, still working 8 hours a day with a 3 hour round trip commute and doing all the house work, so your like a zombie with no time to do any working out. So its only been since 1st July this year that ive managed to be able to get back in it. Normally after ive had some sort of lay off (usually due to injury), it can be really de-motivating when you realise that the weight you used to use to warm up with, you can barely even pick up. I found the weights I was using this time around were easily 1/3rd of what I used to throw around. But, after the first week or so, you soon get back into the swing of things.

Glutamine is supposed to be great for immune system etc. and recovery so I was quite surprised at how it affected me. Found a couple of people online who had the same experience, but the majority dont! Still some people dont get on with creatine, but im okay with it! Might have to order some stuff from muscle foods, keep seeing them recommended. Are they good price wise compared to supermarkets etc? I think they're very good value for money - especially when you buy in bulk (I usually spend around £100 or so) and it works out anything between £2.50-£3 a meal and they have quite a variety of options. I've got a referral code you can use as well which will give you some free goodies on your first order CP5701 Also - I LOVE PEANUT BUTTER Cool, cheers for the code. +1 on peanut butter, i love that stuff! Spoon load of it down as a snack whilst wife is knocking back the old chocolate cakes!

Glutamine is supposed to be great for immune system etc. and recovery so I was quite surprised at how it affected me. Found a couple of people online who had the same experience, but the majority dont! Still some people dont get on with creatine, but im okay with it! Might have to order some stuff from muscle foods, keep seeing them recommended. Are they good price wise compared to supermarkets etc?

Good call on the amino acids, i will hit up holland & barrets in the week. Stallone is awesome for his age, but then again he openly admits to using HGH and testosterone and has done for years. But mind you, thats pretty much the same as most of the "stars" like rock / hogan / etc... if you have an image you need to keep you do anything. I think Arnies probably natural these days from how his physique looks now. Yeah my 10 seconds rest does make it a more intense workout and like you say, if i rested more i could probably increase the weights a bit. My problem is that i have a 1 hour window and the only way I can fit my routine in is to proper whizz about like a looney. Im also not increasing my calories atm, to compensate, so should hit that 10% sooner than later. Once I do I will up the calories & weights and try and gain more muscle. I really need to get the tape measure out & get some stats down, but ive been shying away from that as if the measurements arnt as good as you think then it saps your motivation a bit. Some good pix on this thread. Good work guys! Legs are especially looking good! Chirag has it spot on. However, maybe its just me, but when I tried L-Glutamine earlier in the year it just didnt agree with me at all. Bit graphic but I spent about 3 days on the toilet. Proper wasnt nice. Was only taking about 5g twice a day. Stopped taking it and hey presto back to normal.

I try to lower the weights slowly whilst muscle is under tension and really concentrate on the feel of the muscle. That way I can make sure my form is correct and im hitting the muscle I want. A lot of people really squeeeeeeeeeeze the muscle also. I find creatine does help me. It does pump you up a bit and so I find I look better when I look in the mirror which motivates me more. Im not sure I actually notice much difference whilst working out tho. Protien shakes etc... I just buy non flavoured protein powder in bulk. Big sack of the stuff. Then I can mix up exactly what I want. If I just want some protein I can have maybe 50g of it mixed with water. Or, if I want something more like a weight gain drink I can add some maltodextrin powder (Again, buy in sacks as cheaper). That way I know exactly whats in my shake rather than buying some pre-made tub of stuff which might be just full of sugar.

All good stuff and good to compare notes with other people! Im in my 40`s, so figure I need to get the look I want before things start going down hill in your 50`s. I already find now that I just dont have the same energy/strength as I had when I was 30. Must be because of the testosterone levels dropping. Push & pull days seem to work well for me, because as im sure you know, when you do something like a bench press, your also using your shoulders & triceps, so it makes sense to also work them out on the same day if you can. I find if I was to try and workout shoulders or triceps the following day after doing a chest day then id really struggle. I actually did chest 2 days ago and the doms are still killing me today. Thats another thing im noticing now im in my 40`s. recovery seems to be taking longer for me now. Also, food wise, I used to be able to eat like a horse and have no problem, but now im eating a lot less. I remember when I was 30, id have 12 eggs and a couple of cans of tuna in an omlette for breakfast! Now im just having 3 scrambled eggs on a bit of toast! Set/Rep wise, Im currently aiming for between 10->12 reps each set. If I can hit that then I increase the weight until I can only hit about 8 reps. I sometimes jack the weight up for a couple of max reps if I feel strong just for a challenge!. I typically do a couple of warm up sets, then aim to do about 4 sets of heavy ones finished up with a final set of light weight. I have maybe just 10 seconds rest max between sets although because im doing the abs in between each set, the main muscle im working on get a little bit of rest whilst im doing my abs set. 6am strength training is a new thing for me this time around. Id always used to get in from work at 6pm and workout then. All that frustration from a bad day at work was perfect motivation. However now I dont get in from work until 7pm and by the time ive sorted the little lad out, tidied the house, cooked tea etc.. its 9pm and im too shattered. So the only way I can fit things in is to get up early and do them before work. I used to be a big fan of early morning running and always found that worked best for me to burn the fat off, and I seem to be noticing the same sort of thing atm with the early morning workouts. Im trying a few new things this time around besides the 6am workouts! I have a pre-workout shake rather than a post workout shake. So I have carbs/protien/pre-workout caffine mix/creatine about 15mins before my workout and I find when that kicks in, wow, it powers me for a pretty intense 1 hour. I dont bother with post workout shake, as i just get showered than have my eggs. Im also using something call fat gripz on my dumbells atm... they seem to really be giving the forearms a good workout and improving my grip. Would recommend you have a go with some of them if you havent already. Certainly does feel really good to be making progress, although the wifes not noticed at all!!!! How old are you?

Wow thats a pretty intense workout plan there I would definitely not have the energy for that at my age. I do a sort of 4 day split. A pull day on Monday (pull downs, pull ups, rows, biceps/forearms.), have a day off, then a push day (flat or inclined bench, dips, rope push downs, tricep extentions), then a day off, then a shoulder day (seated shoulder press, then side raises, then side raises leaning forward to target the back shoulder muscle), then a day off, then a leg day (mainly squats & calf raises), day off, then repeat. I superset with doing abs (leg raises & crunches) in every workout also. Each workout lasts an hour and I workout at about 6am so its first thing before work. Ive got my own powercage and about 750lb of olympic weights in my garage, so I wake up at about 5.20am and can get straight on it before my brain tells me I should stay in bed. Ive lifted weights since I was about 13, and like you, been on/off over the years. About 12 years back I was really into it and made some good progress before I ended up tearing a lower back muscle badly deadlifting. Im about 2 1/2 stone lighter now. Ive got back into it over the last 8 weeks quite seriously and am also seeing some good progress. For the first time in my life im actually listening to my body more, and not writing all all the weights down - im doing it by feel. Ive also been keeping the calories pretty low and from looking in the mirror am seeing the fat come off and the definition improve. My bodyweight has stayed the same now for the last 4 weeks, so im managing to gain muscle whilst burning the fat off. My goal is same as yours really - to get down to about 10% and aim to keep it around that level whilst getting as big as I can. For me its kind of a last chance to look how ive always wanted to look before I end up being too old to achieve it. Quite enjoying it all atm, it really sets me up for the day and as you see the results they help motivate me. EDIT: bad side is that ive not been able to update my pie blog in ages as im only eating healthy stuff atm.

Excellent. Glad that they have caught the guy. Be interesting to see what "penalty" he gets for doing this. Im not saying he is, but if he`s on benefits or something it will likely be next to nothing I expect. But we live in hope.

at the granny in her 1.0 Fiesta. It is true though.I remember when I first got my HR model, I was also a bit underwhelmed with the performance. I think in my case it was because most of my previous "quick" car experience was in turbo`d cars, where you`d floor it... nothing would happen, then you would get thrown back in your seat as if a truck had just piled into the back of you at 100mph. Whereas on the zed, the power delivery is completely different so it doesnt "feel" as quick. However, once I got the hang of driving it and learnt which gears to be in, when to change etc it actually did feel a lot quicker and was much more satisfying to drive.

As above. Without the protected no claims bonus, they usually knock a few years off for a claim, but you still get to keep some NCB. I had a claim once when someone knocked me off my motorbike. Due to the insurance companies incompetence it was settled as a 50/50 liability. My non protected NCB dropped from 6 years to 3 years as a result. I cant remember the exact increase in premium due to the claim but I seem to recall it wasnt as much as I expected. My wife on the other hand, she had a claim the other year for crashing into the back of someone else. She lost 2 years NCB. That and the accident loading caused her premium went from 270quid up to 650quid on her hot hatch. So much in fact she couldnt afford to keep it and had to sell it and buy an old diesel instead. Each company is different though, so as Ekona said, just do some quotes on the comparison sites and see what they come back as. Its also worth re-submitting the same searches several times over a week. I did this last months for the wifes car insurance and the same company who was quoting £330 on the Monday came back with £270 on the Wednesday. Exactly the same car & details - I just clicked "resubmit search".

but if I already have a go pro I may aswel just use that... right? Depends on if you want to leave your gopro in your car permanently? Or, have the hassle of keep taking it in/out and changing the settings etc. For 30quid id rather get one of these and permanently leave it in the car. You can just set it up as a dash cam and forget about it. That way you can use your go pro for other stuff.

I remember being in National Tyres once to have some tyres id bought online fitted to my car. Whilst I was there they had a delivery of dozens and dozens of brake pads & discs. I remember wondering what was going on, until the tyre fitter casually mentioned to me "your pads are getting a bit low mate, do you want to book in to have us change them". What he didnt realise was that id actually fitted brand new pads 2 weeks earlier myself, so there was no way on earth they were low. I dread to think how many non-car-savvy people they con with that line. "Brakes??? omg... really! Id best have them done asap then"

I just bought another "go pro" style action camera for my motorbike - i already have a contour HD helmet cam. I went for the SJ4000 (quick search on ebay..) which apparently is a copy of one of the gopro`s, but for £30 I figured it was worth a punt. Having tried it out on my bike at the weekend I have to say its really good. The quality of the recordings seems suburb and it coped with all the vibrations of being mounted to my Ducati without any problems. The actual camera is really small, but it fits into a gopro style waterproof housing etc and comes with loads of mounts. I am actually thinking of buying another one to stick in my car as a dash cam. Without the clear housing the actual camera would be quite subtle in the car. It takes 32gb cards and you can set it to record as soon as it gets power. Only thing I think it hasnt got is motion detection if you wanted it connected to a perminant live & record as soon as someone gets near your car.

You can just fill out on the log book the "correct" colour and send it off if you want, but then it will be flagged as having had a colour change which may cause any future buyers to question why it had changed colours.