Articles and advice on cycling, technology, home efficiency and more - 2021

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These pages are written and managed by John & Julii Swindells, and we take every effort to ensure their accuracy, relevance and engagement. If you don't think this is the case at any point, please contact us and explain where you think that we're going wrong. Otherwise, happy browsing!

2021 Programme and Diary

Cycling Performance Programme 31 Dec 2021

With the exception of the start of the year (in COVID lockdown until mid-February), 2021 was about long-distance rides throughout the year ...

My New-Distance Eddington Number

Free-to-use Strava Tools 31 Dec 2021

The New-Distance Eddington Number is the greatest number of days that you've travelled that far on new roads/trails. So, if you've managed ...

Eastern Region Championships (round 8)

Cyclocross

Round 8 of the Eastern CX League was hosted by Ipswich BC at Trinity Park, and incorporated the regional championships. Despite a storm racing ...

Diss CC Suffolk Supercross (ECXL round 7)

Cyclocross

Diss CC managed once again to lay out a challenging course around the edge of a very flat playing field. Contrary to most previous years here ...

Neil Pears Memorial Cross (ECXL round 6)

Cyclocross

Excellent event hosted by Colchester Rovers CC. Recent rain had made the grassy sections of Hilly Fields quite slippery, whilst the surface ...

West Suffolk Cross (ECXL round 5)

Cyclocross

Fun event hosted by Giles Prime and the West Suffolk Wheelers at the West Stow saxon village. Barry Denny gave excellent commentary. Under ...

Live Script Run Times for Swinny.net

Web Hosting 04 Nov 2021

Here is a summary of the time it takes the Swinny.net server to run a PHP script to deliver a web page, over the last few weeks. The site was ...

Exploring the back garden

Cats 30 Oct 2021

This is Tess and Elsa's first time outside. Tess is happy to explore (a bit), but Elsa really isn't sure about it.

Car Performance Readings for Vauxhall Combo Life

My Car Costs 27 Oct 2021

New miles in Cambridgeshire and Bedfordshire

Cycling 26 Oct 2021

I drove out to the west of Cambridge to get a big ride in on some different roads. I used Strava's route planner and relied on their "popularity ...

Cycling UK's summary of NE Norfolk trails

Norfolk 23 Oct 2021

Sophie Gordon has put together a nice summary of loops that can be ridden on gravel trails and quiet lanes in north-east Norfolk. The longest ...

Collars on!

Cats 22 Oct 2021

Elsa and Tess had "the op" yesterday, and are struggling to cope with their collars. If they're not trying to get them off, they're just moping ...

Hanging out in the lounge

Cats 20 Oct 2021

Here are Tess and Elsa, having a bit of fun in the lounge!

Blickling Half Marathon

Recreation

The Blickling Half Marathon took place in fairly normal conditions, with a mass start and sensible anti-covid precautions in place.

Elsa with a mouse

Cats 11 Oct 2021

We gave Elsa a dead mouse today (from an electrocuter mouse trap) and she absolutely loved playing with it! She would grab it, toss it around ...

VC Revolution Cross (ECXL round 3)

Cyclocross

Under-10's race Photos from the under-10's race Youth race Photos from the youth race Vet50 race Photos from the vet50 race event ...

Women's Tour comes to Clacton

Cycling 08 Oct 2021

The penultimate stage of the 2021 Women's Tour started at the new sports park in Colchester and did two laps of the Tendring peninsula, finishing ...

Setting up a LAMP stack on CentOS 8

Technology 05 Oct 2021

Here are the command-line steps needed to get a bare CentOS 8.0 distro ready for full LAMP (Apache-MySQL-PHP) hosting: (Note - replace mysite ...

CC Ashwell Cross (ECXL round 2)

Cyclocross

Photos from the under-12s race Photos from the youth race event info Second round of the Eastern Cross League, in Milton (Cambridgeshire ...

Panic buying at petrol stations

Energy 01 Oct 2021

There's panic at the pumps! Due to a bit of a supply issue, everyone now seems determined to fill their tank. Demand is huge, and supplies ...

Springfield Cross (ECXL round 1)

Cyclocross

Photos from the youth race Photos from the womens race Photos from the vet50 race event info First round of the Eastern Cross League ...

A couple of new kittens

Cats 23 Sep 2021

New arrivals Say hello to our two new female kittens! They are 13 weeks old, and are utterly adorable. We expect our old boy Nero (now nine ...

2021 Autumn Equinox

Norfolk 22 Sep 2021

On Wednesday, September 22nd, I worked a cycle ride into my working day that included sunrise and sunset on this Autumn Equinox.

Blickling Parkrun, in memory of Cat Cartwright

Recreation

Today's parkrun was a yellow one, in memory of Aylsham High School teacher Cat Cartwright.

Blickling Parkrun, September 4 2021

Recreation

I usually help with timekeeping at the parkrun, but today I was given a marshalling job - so took the opportunity to take a few snaps and record ...

2021 Norfolk Tour de Broads

Norfolk

There was a wide variety of distance options for the event, and I opted for the longest one (150 miles).

National 12-hour time trial championship

Time Trialling

The event has now finished. Weather conditions were good, with light winds and temperatures of 14 - 17 degrees C. I was marshalling at ...

East District Championship 100-mile time trial

Time Trialling

Event cancelled due to a rider being seriously hurt after a collision at the exit of the Snetterton junction, and subsequent closure of the ...

Norwich ABC 10-mile time trial (inc youth champs)

Time Trialling

Scattered showers across the region didn't materialise during the event in the Waveney Valley, giving riders warm, overcast weather with just ...

Helping youngsters learn numeracy

Fun Stuff 21 Mar 2021

Play the "dartboard game" on the BBC website! For help with counting up the right money, try the money payer game! "Castle 2d and ...

Don't let someone else use your broadband DSL login!

Internet Access: UK Broadband 18 Mar 2021

We had a bizarre situation recently where our internet access went highly unstable. It was very patchy, with some website access being fine ...

Getting the Broccoli in early

Gardening 14 Mar 2021

The broccoli grew very well for us last year, although we did suffer a glut as we had sown the seeds to closely in time to each other. This ...

Upgrading to the Garmin Edge 1030

Sports Gear: Under Test 10 Feb 2021

My previous on-bike device is a Garmin Edge 820, so that is what I'll be comparing my new computer to. First impressions On the surface ...