Hey! You lot! I know that you’re still using Outlook or Outlook Express to read your email. That makes your computer ridiculously susceptible to email-borne virii.

The answer to this problem is simple. So simple that even my mum has done it.

Get Thunderbird 1.0.

It’ll even import all of your emails, server details and so on from Outlook for you. It’ll help filter out all of the junk mail you get. If you’re geeky enough it’ll even help you with RSS feeds and Newsgroups. So go do it.

Update

Daniel Wang has written a guide to help users migrate to Thunderbird 1.0, with useful information for users of Outlook, Outlook Express, Mozilla, Eudora, AOL, and other mail clients .

Its only a short blast through town, but I always seem to turn it into a balls out rampage from A to B.

The Cove is set up as a 32:16 singespeed. I tend to go everywhere at the fastest possible speed, so I always find myself spinning out on the long straight bits.

The flip-side of that is that I can accelerate out of junctions like an ICBM. If there’s any moisture or ice on the ground I find myself spinning out the back wheel as I try to force the full power of my legs through the balding rear tyre.

If there’s any traffic that I have a cat in hells chance of keeping up with, I’ll play the part of that cat and stick to their bumper like a limpet. I’m learning to trackstand for longer and longer at traffic lights, and on the narrow roads, waiting for cars to come the other way. If there’s a kerb in my way I’ll try to hop up it. If there’s a fast sweeping corner I won’t brake if I can get away with it. I’m even starting to dart through gaps in the traffic only slightly wider than my handlebars. Every morning and evening bring me a new challenge.

Its just pure unadulterated fun!

I had meant to ride my bike up Leckhampton today, but Brett saw to it that I didn’t. By the time I got myself together, he’d put my bike on the back of the car and was waiting impatiently for me.

So I skipped breakfast. Bad move. Instead, I bought a load of custard doughnuts from the local co-op and wolfed them down. JABBBA!

We got up there and I was immediately hit by just how unfit I was feeling. Its about three weeks since my last proper bike ride (barring the five-minute commute I’ve started doing again recently). That’s far too long. I’ve also had my perpetual winter cold, and have been going to bed far too late. Its added up to a catastrophic effect on my fitness.

I was immediately hit by just how unfit I was feeling.

If it was my lack of fitness that nearly killed me on the way up, coming down the hill was an entirely different story — this time it was my lack of confidence that saw to me. I just wasn’t willing to commit to anything at all for the first couple of runs. The sticky mud wasn’t helping my mindset either (even if it wasn’t actually affecting the handling of the bike a great deal). I was making stupid mistakes everywhere. Washing out in the mud and landing my hip on a big tree-root didn’t help matters.

It wasn’t all bad. I was flowing beautifully through some of the trails – from the chute down to the new rock garden was working beautifully for me, as was the last section down to the car park. That last section flows beautifully. Its just a pity that none of the rest really came together for me. I’m never the fastest rider of the bunch, but today was especially bad.

I guess I’ll just have to keep on riding, keep on building the confidence back up. It’ll come back, it always does.

One day I’ll nail that trail top to bottom. One day.

I’m slowly but surely going through my CD collection and sucking it all into iTunes. Its one of those things I’ve wanted to do for ages, but just haven’t been able to until recently — I’ve only just got a PC with enough hard disk space and processing power to cope with the job.

Its having a nice side effect — waking me up to old albums that I’d almost forgotten

So far I’ve only decided against importing one CD, an old Smash Hits compilation that I was given for Christmas in 1998 — largely because its a steaming pile of doo-doo. Put it this way: its got Kavana, Boyzone, Aaron Carter and 911 on there (I look forward to the backlash from their fans).

This process may be a bit boring and laborious, but its having a nice side effect. Its waking me up to old albums and EPs that I’d almost forgotten that I ever had. I stick iTunes on random play and find myself listening to things that hadn’t even left their CD cases for years. Things like Orbital’s In Sides (I had the poster years before I eventually bought the album) and Everything But The Girl’s Walking Wounded, which I was so re-enamoured with that I’ve listened to it all week at work!

Even if you can’t be arsed to plug them all into your PC, I reccommend that you go through all of your old CDs and pick out some classics you’d forgotten about. Put them on, turn them up loud and enjoy them all over again. You know it makes sense!

I’ve got this mahoosive bag of Pick-and-mix sat in front of me.

I’m feeling ever so slightly ill.

But I can’t seem to stop eating them.

I R FAT BLOATER!

You may remember that a while back I was on about how it’d be a good idea to get myself some lights for my bike.

Well, I’ve started down that path, with a set of commuter lights, which should see me getting to and from work a little bit quicker (in as much as I’ll be able to use my bike again now). I’ve had one of those rear lights before — they’re very bright and offer a cool “Knight Rider” mode. The LED headlight seems to be very bright too, though obviously its not good enough for any serious off-roading. It ought to get me to and from work in relative safety though.

What price security? About £56.99

Whilst my bike’s there, it’ll be pretty securely locked to the railings, thanks to a slightly OTT Kryptonite New York Lock, along with the Kryptoflex that I’ve already got. It weighs a ton and seems to be one hell of a lot more secure than the cheap and nasty lock it replaces, though to be fair, that wouldnt take much. Its also one of the newer ones that can’t be broken into with an old Bic biro, which is nice. The key has a car-style light on it so that you can see the keyhole in the dark, which is a totally ace feature to have on a bike lock!

I am slightly worried that I’ll be laying down a challenge to potential thieves rather than deterring them though ;-)

Oh my word. I’m ten years old all over again. I’ve found Digger.

Of course our old Amstrad PC1512 didn’t have a colour monitor, so we didn’t get it in glorious technicolour, but it was still fiendishly addictive and ace fun. Me and my mum would spend hours trying to get past those evil nobbins and hobbins.

Its really bizarre but within a few minutes of starting it up, I’m remembering all of the old tactics I’d use to get through level one unscathed, whilst maximising the amount of gold I got and even killing enough baddies to earn a cherry. Its still frustatingly difficult to get away from the hobbins, even with years of experience playing much more grown up games.

within a few minutes I’m remembering all the old tactics

And the music! Popcorn, the William Tell Overture (I think) and all the others. Its so cool to be able to play it again.

The mad thing is that these days it requires a relatively decent PC to work properly, and even then the sound gets all messed up. Back then it ran on a humble 8mhz 8086 (thats about a squillion generations of processor ago).

There’s DOS, Windows, Unix/SDL and Java versions for you to play with over at Digger.org, so you’ve got almost no excuse for not being able to run it. Go have fun, NOW!

Its a long long time ago. So long that my old GT LTS was my regular bike. We’re talking more than seven years here.

I’ve gone over to my cousin Tom’s house, somewhere near Hindhead in Surrey, and we’ve gone out for a play on our bikes. We having an ace time, blatting down hills, darting up singletrack, generally having a good time. We’re buzzing!

We’re bombing along this bit of track, no wider than my handlebars. There’s trees along one side, and a small rancid ditch on the other, full of thick, dark, gloopy “water”. There’s roots growing straight across the track. You can see what’s coming can’t you?

All of a sudden my front wheel makes a sideways dash for the stream. There isn’t a single little thing I can do to stop it. Before I know it, I’m lying on my back in the steam, looking back at my bike, which is stood upright with the front wheel wedged into the ditch. I’ve somehow managed to complete a 180° somersault into the stream. Pure genius.

Just thought I’d share that with you.