Xes - Message Board



EoinC said:
Good work, Lim, and it's good to see Hospices benefitting from it.
I hope that all of you XES have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. I also hope that 2006 works out to be a good year for you all.
Regards,
Eoin

Hey and a Happy Christmas to you too, Eoin.
And all the best for 2006 !

Glad to see you got back from East Africa in one piece and you survived Paris
too !
 
limerickman said:
Hey and a Happy Christmas to you too, Eoin.
And all the best for 2006 !

Glad to see you got back from East Africa in one piece and you survived Paris
too !
G'day, Lim.
I left 33 Deg C Borneo for -4 Deg C Paris. First time I've been cold in 12 years. Now I remember why I like living in the tropics - weak man that I am. I was only there for 1 day on the way throught to Equatorial Guinea, but it was a nice kind of culture shock, which I tempered with several Leffe Blond beers. I'd forgotten what it was like to have cold ears - wearing a short-sleeved cotton shirt probably didn't help.
On the train in from CDG Airport, I met an Angolan who was as lost as I was. This poor bugger was working for ExxonMobil in Luanda (where I used to work) and he was returning from having been sent on an exchange programme to Sakhalin Island off the coast of Siberia. He had no idea of geography and ExxonMobil had forgotten to tell him that Siberia can get a little nippy this time of year. I think he was still in shock.
EG was very interesting - I don't know that the old fixie is going to make it there. A mountain bike is probably a lot more practical.
I hope you all have a good time over the weekend.
Regards,
Eoin
 
EoinC said:
G'day, Lim.
I left 33 Deg C Borneo for -4 Deg C Paris. First time I've been cold in 12 years. Now I remember why I like living in the tropics - weak man that I am. I was only there for 1 day on the way throught to Equatorial Guinea, but it was a nice kind of culture shock, which I tempered with several Leffe Blond beers. I'd forgotten what it was like to have cold ears - wearing a short-sleeved cotton shirt probably didn't help.
On the train in from CDG Airport, I met an Angolan who was as lost as I was. This poor bugger was working for ExxonMobil in Luanda (where I used to work) and he was returning from having been sent on an exchange programme to Sakhalin Island off the coast of Siberia. He had no idea of geography and ExxonMobil had forgotten to tell him that Siberia can get a little nippy this time of year. I think he was still in shock.
EG was very interesting - I don't know that the old fixie is going to make it there. A mountain bike is probably a lot more practical.
I hope you all have a good time over the weekend.
Regards,
Eoin


Hey Eoin : now you're rubbing it in with "first time I've been cold in 12 yrs!"

That poor bugger with Exxon : Luanda to Siberia, that is some change in
temp !
I am not familiar enough with EG to even suggest what typoe of bike to use.
But as you say it could be an interesting assignment for you.
Go on bring the fixie to EG : you couldn't leave the fixie in Asia now could
you ?

Hope your Christmas goes well - from a very unseasonally mild Ireland (6-10c).
Nollaig Shona (Gaelic for Happy Christmas)
 
Over the Hill said:
Bures is only 8k away

Be good to get that old git Fred to come along too :p

Any chance that you might cut and paste, and post on here your 'Worlds fastest on bike' account.from VR, it's fascinating.
Thanks for the e card, much better than the snowy **** sort.
So I would like to wish to you and the proper Mrs OTH, as well as that burd on the side, and also to Carol. Festive greetings to all except Swans, ducks, and geese. May they all have a short but hot winter.
And **** me with a big stick Brian wants a dedicated thread about coaches and coaching. Reckon we should leave it while Jan. Jeez, he's taking it serious at last.
Well I know I can count on you, Gary K, and Guy for a start. This is a national issue that needs airing, and not a Stuart St Lubianka and Kremlin job.
See you on the ice says Fred.
 
Hello Lim,
Just a thought that I meant to ask you before. When's your annual ICF scuffle where your pal Pat the Woffler has to turn up. I've got a good one for you to deal him. I'll let the teefing git off the hook about him nicking our bottle of Pernod until I can get a grip of him. You did a good job on him last year.
42x20 doing well at last, the message is getting through. How's it progressing over the water with you?
 
Hi Folks,

Fred C has asked me to post a story which was written by a Worthing Excelsior member, **** Long. This appeared in our local paper just before Christmas 1905, in ****'s cycling column, The Wheeling World. **** is on the extreme of the attached photograph.

The Washington Bostal still exists, as does the bend **** describes. Now, turn the lights down, throw another log on the first, and drift back to the days of the Ordinary........

THE GHOST OF WASHINGTON BOSTEL
I shall never forget my first Christmas at Worthing, nearly thirty years ago. My chum, Jack Fenton, a fledgling doctor in Town, and I cycled down to the little place it then was in order to spend the Christmas under the hospitable roof of Colonel Denman, of Westring Grange. I am sure that Sussex never looked better than when we viewed it from the saddles of our old fashioned high bicycles as we romped along the frost-bound roads through Crawley, Horsham, and Ashington on that eventful Christmas Eve.

The keen, health-giving air was to us as champagne after the very indifferent beer to which the

London air we had lately breathed might have been likened. How we admired the hedgerows, which sparkled as the December sunlight played timidly in the heavy layer of white frost, which, as Jack remarked, made the country look like a vast Christmas card.

I had made Colonel Denman's acquaintance some ten years previously, when, as a budding private detective I had endeavoured to track down the author of a wholesale robbery at the grange. The crime, now almost forgotten, still remained an unravelled mystery; it has seriously affected the Colonel financially, as, at the time he had a large sum of money in the house, a fact of which the thief or thieves probably had some knowledge, as the whole of it was stolen.

Pulling up at the Frankland Arms for tea, Jack got into conversation with the natives, and we learnt for the first time that Washington Bostel, the hill we were approaching, rejoiced - or otherwise! - in the possession of a ghost. All we could gather was that during recent years a phantom of some description had regularly appeared at midnight on Christmas Eve; no one could give us detailed particulars, as none of the rustics had braved the perils of the hill when the ghost was expected.

Jack was fond of adventure; I, too, felt that a little dabbling in the supernatural would be a pleasing accessory to a Christmas holiday after the unromantic round of life in London especially as we naturally looked for a simple and perhaps a humorous explanation of the seeming mystery.

So after arriving at Westring Grange and exchanging greetings with our jovial host and his daughter Grace, a charming type of rural beauty, whose auburn hair and hazel eyes were the theme of half Jack's conversations all the year round, we broached the subject of the ghost to the Colonel. Service in India had made him a confirmed sceptic of any tale which approached the improbable, and his ridicule went a long way towards shaking my resolution to spend the night of Christmas Eve in a cold and lonely roadside watch.Grace Denman had a feminine horror of the uncanny which was sweetly pretty, and her persuasive eloquence was almost too much for Jack's manly but tender heart.

However after a dinner delightfully free from ceremony, and an hour or two spent in chatting around a blazing fire, Jack gave me a nudge; I took the hint, and led gently up to the subject of our quest.The Colonel, seeing we were resolved, forebore to press his objections, but, somehow, as I accepted a flask of his special whiskey and some cigars from him, my joke about "spirits to keep up the spirits of spirit hunters" sounded very much hollow and mirthless. And it was with much reluctance that I cut short Jack's farewell with Grace as we vaulted into the saddles of our trusty bicycles and pedalled Northward, over the frosty roads, with a clear starlit sky overhead.

Findon was nearly asleep as we passed through, and we saw nobody as we climbed steadily to the top of Washington Bostel. A hushed silence had fallen over us, and we both seemed afraid to break it.

After seeing that it wanted less than half an hour to midnight we extinguished our lamps and walked some yards down the hill, where, after an exchange of whispers, we decided to sit on the bank and await events.

Slowly the minutes crept by as we shivered in the strained silence. An age seemed to have passed when in the distance a church clock drowsily droned out the hour of midnight. Then with our hearts madly thumping we heard the coming swish of another cyclist. Together we opened our mouths to shout a warning to the wheelman, who might be unaware of the sharp bend in the road awaiting him lower down the hill.

But the words froze on our lips, for at that instant he flashed into sight - a mysterious looking figure tearing madly down the hill on a quaint, old fashioned bicycle, the like of which I had not seen for years! Never since that night have I ridden the Bostel without recalling most vividly the awful look of terror I then saw as that weird, uncanny shadow of the cyclist sped furiously past; never shall I forget that long-drawn-out shrieking cry which rang out clear and sharp in the still night as we stood rooted to the ground and watched him disappear into the darkness!

Suddenly came the sound of an awful crash, and slowly the cry died away, leaving us trembling with "nerves" as silence again reigned over the scene. Minutes passed before we could discuss our next move, but ultimately we resolved to follow the phantom wheelman, for such he undoubtedly was. It seemed to us the apparition had failed to turn at the corner, as many a wheelman had done since, and we accordingly left the road at this point and climbed down the steep side of the hill.

Undergrowth and rank weeds grew there unchecked in those days, and our search for any clue to the solution of the mystery seemed unpromising. But in the darkness Jack presently kicked against a piece of iron, which aroused our curiosity, and we cleared away the weeds and nettles from the spot.

A hoarse cry went up from both of us as our lamps illuminated the cleared patch, and we saw a ghastly skeleton with rotten and tattered rags of clothing hanging to it, whilst beneath this horrid object lay the old bicycle we had seen speed recklessly down the hill! A couple of yards away lay a capacious leather bag, which we thought might afford some clue to the identity of the mysterious corpse which had lain so long unheeded.

But on lifting the bag, which was rotten with damp, it burst apart, and the contents scattered at our feet. Imagine our amazement when we gazed upon a profusion of jewellery, and a considerable sum in gold amid such gruesome surroundings!

Greater still was my surprise when I discovered that much of the former tallied exactly with the descriptions Colonel Denman had given me of the property lost by him, in the almost forgotten burglary at Westring Grange. My bewildered brain could hardly keep pace with events, and even as I stared in mute wonder at the scattered valuables, the grinning skeleton rose, and walking up to me, gripped my arm in his bony fingers!

Then with a superhuman strength he shook me as a terrier might shake a rat. Next the awful skull bent nearer to my face, I gaped in terror into his eyeless sockets, which looked like dark caverns; his jawbone moved slightly, and an awful voice, which seemed to come from far away, said in low and thrilling tones:"Wake up, Tom old boy, it's one o'clock!" With a start I came to, and found myself rubbing my eyes and shivering at the spot on the bank where we had originally sat down to await our spectral visitor.

Jack and I had both dozed off, and my fevered imagination, aided by the Colonel's cigars, had concocted a dream which more than satisfied my desire for ghost-hunting that night. Jack and I were soon making our way back to Worthing, I need hardly say at a very fair pace - ostensibly on the plea of getting warm, but, for my part at least, shaking limbs and chattering teeth were not altogether due to the cold night air. At breakfast on Christmas morning we told our tale, and, whilst Grace's anxiety on the score of colds was put at rest by Jack, I was alternately laughed at and sympathised with by the Colonel. Our experience provided him with a fund of humour which lasted throughout our holiday at the Grange.

Indeed, the hospitable old soldier lightly chaffs us about our vigil even now. I often spend the week-end at Worthing with him, on which occasions Jack - a successful country practitioner living within easy cycling distance - will frequently run over in company with his wife, who looks scarcely older than she did on that memorable Christmas of long ago. Jack's two sons run down from Town on their road-racing bicycles, and complete a little party which loves to sit around the old fireside and laugh over the ghost of Washington Bostel.

**** TURPIN
 
John Knees said:
Hi Folks,

Fred C has asked me to post a story...

Thanks for that, John - an excellent tale that has brightened my morning. Have a Merry Christmas.
Regards,
Eoin
 
EoinC said:
Thanks for that, John - an excellent tale that has brightened my morning. Have a Merry Christmas.
Regards,
Eoin
And greetings to you Eoin. But most of all to John for publishing the story again. Which just goes to prove that we can sniff out a wrong 'un in two minutes flat.
People like John are the cycling salt of the earth, and without them I doubt how much structure there would have been. The roughly estimated total of 1600 victories from our lot, has no significance in the issue at all compared with people like John who weren't that talented in physical terms, yet to us they are equals.
Says Fred.
 
FredC said:
Hello Lim,
Just a thought that I meant to ask you before. When's your annual ICF scuffle where your pal Pat the Woffler has to turn up. I've got a good one for you to deal him. I'll let the teefing git off the hook about him nicking our bottle of Pernod until I can get a grip of him. You did a good job on him last year.
42x20 doing well at last, the message is getting through. How's it progressing over the water with you?

FC : the AGM for Cycling Ireland (used to be called ICF) is held every October.

Pat didn't make it to the 2005 meeting but I'll wait in the undergrowth for his to appear at the 2006 version and then we can spring a surprise!
 
FredC said:
Hey, hey, that's enough bloody cheek from you. I hope you know that Phil Thomas, Joey Mc Loughlin, and Mark Bell (that's 3 Pro Champions) were all tutored on the weights by an excellent lifter on Merseyside called Bob Memery, who also trained Terry Phillips up to be Mr Universe. There is a method in it, but it seems, like lots of things, that riders won't put their backs and time into it. Should I do the circuit training regime. Our tutor (slavedriver) down at the YMCA was an ex Royal Marine Commando PTI. He could sort the shirkers out.

Fabulous Bloke that Bob.

I remember seeing him deadlift 400lb for 10 reps by 10 sets and he was in his early 50's then.

That was great gym Vic had at that time. :) :)
 
FredC said:
You're fired. You haven't done a thing, you promised to let us know things a month ago. So I reckon that you are in the same state now as you were 12 months ago. BRF was right that you are a tosspot, and I gave you too much leeway altogether. So go and enjoy your tea and sticky buns with ******** Jeff Wade.
Bye bye.
You get visited by three spirits last night?
 
FredC said:
Well I wish you and yours a Happy and Holy Christmas. And as is it the season of goodwill to all mankind, any chance of Zapper coming back into the stable? We all miss his obliqueness tremendously, and he genuinely likes you. Did you know that?
Best wishes from Fred C
Unless you know it ain't so, Zapper is still posting but calling himself various other things.
As one does.
 
2006 said:
Fabulous Bloke that Bob.

I remember seeing him deadlift 400lb for 10 reps by 10 sets and he was in his early 50's then.

That was great gym Vic had at that time. :) :)
Out of curiosity were you a rider, a builder, or a lifter?
 
Don Shipp said:
Unless you know it ain't so, Zapper is still posting but calling himself various other things.
As one does.
Whatever Don, we need Zapper back in full flow, he's a traffic mover on a board. Happy Christmas to you and yours. The name Zapper is required as a handle.
 
Fred, I'm very sorry that I havnt' posted in 4-ever but I can't seem to acess this website from my compuer at home. Our internet sucks & I've been beging my mum' to get DLS b/c it's not that much more than what we're paying as of now. I'm having trouble acessing certain websites and it's pissing me off. [I'm at my grandparents at the moment]. Anyway my coach has me on my indoor trainer & he has a program for me. But b/f you say anything fred, my coach is a good man. he is doing w/ three of the other young fellows on my team, one in particular; [He's sixteen & this last year he has won the state championship for the cat 4's/5's, and many other wins]. We have been doing 35-80 mile organized rides on the weekends, slow paced. And it's cristmas day! For cycling this year I got some new soe's, [sidi]. I don't know what to say at the moment & I'm sure you've got some questions for me.


merry fekin' g*damn cristmas!:p

-Ryan
 
ryan_velo. said:
Fred, I'm very sorry that I havnt' posted in 4-ever but I can't seem to acess this website from my compuer at home. Our internet sucks & I've been beging my mum' to get DLS b/c it's not that much more than what we're paying as of now. I'm having trouble acessing certain websites and it's pissing me off. [I'm at my grandparents at the moment]. Anyway my coach has me on my indoor trainer & he has a program for me. But b/f you say anything fred, my coach is a good man. he is doing w/ three of the other young fellows on my team, one in particular; [He's sixteen & this last year he has won the state championship for the cat 4's/5's, and many other wins]. We have been doing 35-80 mile organized rides on the weekends, slow paced. And it's cristmas day! For cycling this year I got some new soe's, [sidi]. I don't know what to say at the moment & I'm sure you've got some questions for me.


merry fekin' g*damn cristmas!:p

-Ryan
Hello Ryan, Nice to hear from you again. Pity that your PC is causing trouble with speed access. I'm not sure about these American coaches, I'll be honest about that. On here we've got the best brains in the world, with about 1600 wins in the bag.
I reckon now that you should be doing 100 miles every Sunday on 42x18 ( or equivalent gearing in your case) of course have a cafe stop. As I mentioned before I don't know the vagaries of the winter weather in Kentucky. The new training season is about to start in earnest here. Of course as I have mentioned before you must not weight train until you are 18.
I trust you implicitly, but as the song goes ' I've got more questions than answers'. So perhaps you might tell us what the coach is telling you lot to do, and what's his programme for the next two months.
That'll do for a start.
So you just have a break Ryan, for a few days. Any further problems with those ****'s at college since?
 
FredC said:
Hello Ryan, Nice to hear from you again. Pity that your PC is causing trouble with speed access. I'm not sure about these American coaches, I'll be honest about that. On here we've got the best brains in the world, with about 1600 wins in the bag.
I reckon now that you should be doing 100 miles every Sunday on 42x18 ( or equivalent gearing in your case) of course have a cafe stop. As I mentioned before I don't know the vagaries of the winter weather in Kentucky. The new training season is about to start in earnest here. Of course as I have mentioned before you must not weight train until you are 18.
I trust you implicitly, but as the song goes ' I've got more questions than answers'. So perhaps you might tell us what the coach is telling you lot to do, and what's his programme for the next two months.
That'll do for a start.
So you just have a break Ryan, for a few days. Any further problems with those ****'s at college since?
My coach has done my training program typed up in microsoft exel. I don't have it w/ me but i have it on my laptop & I may be able to e-mail it to you? I will see but I will have to wait to get internet acess at school & that's been down too. They gave all the freshman student's at my highschool laptops, [which is hard to believe!] as "educational tools", and I have acess to the internet, even though that is really ****ing slow also. I have to say, that highschool is a bit better. Still lots of assholes. A few of my teachers are assholes, but I've managed to maintain good grades. I've met alot of people that are into the same music I'm into, [such people were non-existant in eight grade:( ]. BTW fred I've been wondering if you've seen the new Dylan documentary:confused:
 
And as for the weather here in ky., the average temp. is usually some where around 35-40. It all depends. We usually never ride in the 20's, sometimes it rains but mostly it's what you would expect. It's usually acceptable for riding. It get's dark at around 5 though. I havn't been riding as much in the mornnings.
 
ryan_velo. said:
My coach has done my training program typed up in microsoft exel. I don't have it w/ me but i have it on my laptop & I may be able to e-mail it to you? I will see but I will have to wait to get internet acess at school & that's been down too. They gave all the freshman student's at my highschool laptops, [which is hard to believe!] as "educational tools", and I have acess to the internet, even though that is really ****ing slow also. I have to say, that highschool is a bit better. Still lots of assholes. A few of my teachers are assholes, but I've managed to maintain good grades. I've met alot of people that are into the same music I'm into, [such people were non-existant in eight grade:( ]. BTW fred I've been wondering if you've seen the new Dylan documentary:confused:

Just picking up on Fred C's point : I help out with the local club training each Tues and Thurs :
Modern "coaches" are telling guys to use big gears (50+ chainring, and 13-17
rear casette).
Instead, I have told the youngster to ignore this and to cycle lighter gears
and try to speed up their cadence.

We used this in the old days when I was a youngster and judging from the improvement in results at the local club, that methodology works.
At your age, you need to be improving fitness and stamina : low gears, high cadence (90+ revs per minute).
 
ryan_velo. said:
My coach has done my training program typed up in microsoft exel. I don't have it w/ me but i have it on my laptop & I may be able to e-mail it to you? I will see but I will have to wait to get internet acess at school & that's been down too. They gave all the freshman student's at my highschool laptops, [which is hard to believe!] as "educational tools", and I have acess to the internet, even though that is really ****ing slow also. I have to say, that highschool is a bit better. Still lots of assholes. A few of my teachers are assholes, but I've managed to maintain good grades. I've met alot of people that are into the same music I'm into, [such people were non-existant in eight grade:( ]. BTW fred I've been wondering if you've seen the new Dylan documentary:confused:
I saw a load of Dylan stuff not too long ago on TV. Of course most of it passed me by because I was in France for years, but I caught up with it all. Woody Guthrie, and the boxer, all that stuff. Jesus Ryan the man was a genius, and I'm a big fan now. OK keep in touch now and I'll PM you with my e- address when you get sorted.