Oh, you’re a tourist… I see.

I’m a cyclist. 🙂

Its a Gran Fondo bike, whatever the bloody hell that means!

It means ‘big cake’ in Esperanto.

What time are you expecting to hit Burnley on Saturday btw?
I finish work at 10ish in the morning.
Drop me an email if you want cake and we’ll meet you for a spin.
There’s a very nice caff on the canal just as you’re going through Burnley.

picnic blanket, paperback, camera, tripod, flask and binoculars

Sounds more like dogging than cycling, but each to their own. 🙂

I like the saddlebag for loose change, keys and things that rattle around. If anything it’s easier than putting stuff in your pocket, 2 Velcro straps and it’s on another bike. It can all stay there between rides and things.

Didn’t need cash today as it was a quick ride, so didn’t take the bag. Gorilla taped my back door key to my phone :/

2 Velcro straps is easier than a pocket?

Did you miss the ‘How to use pockets’ lesson at school?

Crikey, I just think it’s a bit sad that lots of people seem to have forgotten the words of a very great man:

Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.

So many of the ‘new breed’ of roadies seem to have bought into the whole TdF fantasist culture:
They have a race bike.
They have race kit.
They go on pretend, make believe races.
They do not race.
They often don’t look like they are enjoying themselves, which is a hell of a shame considering all the money they’ve spent.

If they took a nice paperback and a picnic, their partner, had a nice chat and visited a couple of owl sanctuaries on the way, then maybe they wouldn’t sell their bikes after a year because riding hurts all the time, they can’t get up the hills, they get covered in crap in winter because their bike won’t take mudguards and they feel like a failure.

I had a small topeak saddle bag purely because I kept forgetting to put things in my pockets. Always fun getting a puncture miles from home, and realising you never put your pump, tube, repair kit etc in ones jersey pocket. With them all in a pack, that lives on the bike, problem solved.

crikey – Member

2 Velcro straps is easier than a pocket?

Did you miss the ‘How to use pockets’ lesson at school?

Some of the time, I don’t wear a ‘cycling’ jersey;
I use my bike to go shopping, pop out to see friends, go to the cinema, pop to the pub etc.
You know, as transport, rather than as a toy. 😉

2 Velcro straps is easier than a pocket?

Yeah, you read the rest right? I put everything in my bag, ride all week. Sadly I’m one of those modern hipsters that washes clothes after wearing them, so there’s more faffing if I rely on pockets.

Just seems like a really irrational thing to dislike.

Some of the time, I don’t wear a ‘cycling’ jersey

Good point, grabbed a mtb jersey first tonight (a mint sauce one!), only to realise it had no pockets. It was probably offensively flappy anyway, can’t see it matters much on slow rides.

So many of the ‘new breed’ of roadies seem to have bought into the whole TdF fantasist culture:
They have a race bike.
They have race kit.
They go on pretend, make believe races.
They do not race.
They often don’t look like they are enjoying themselves, which is a hell of a shame considering all the money they’ve spent.

If they took a nice paperback and a picnic, their partner, had a nice chat and visited a couple of owl sanctuaries on the way, then maybe they wouldn’t sell their bikes after a year because riding hurts all the time, they can’t get up the hills, they get covered in crap in winter because their bike won’t take mudguards and they feel like a
failure.

Yup.

That’s why old roadies rule. We were doing it before all these monkeys turned up, and we’ve been doing it ever since.
We know you don’t need ten litres of fluid to ride ten miles to the café, we know you don’t need the latest and greatest technical jersey, we know that it’s about the ride not the bike. We know that steel isn’t real because when we started that was all there was. We know how to use toe clips and straps because when we started there was no alternative. We know that you can actually leave the house without a mobile phone. We know that helmets ain’t all that.

We know this stuff because we lived it, and you don’t know because you weren’t there man.

We know this stuff because we lived it, and you don’t know because you weren’t there man.

I’m 44. 🙂

In the old days anyone you saw riding a roadbike was a club rider or a tourer. Now they might be a mountain biker, or even someone who works in IT.

The good old days are gone.

Just don’t say “it were all fields when I were a lad” – unless you also rode Cyclocross 😀

I was 20 when I saw my first MTB – yellow it was.

They’re alright, but they’ll never catch on.

“it were all fields when I were a lad”, ha, I remember when it were all factories…

saw one of these the other day in roof rack shop was tempted as a useful solution to the café stop / nip into shop / can’t see bike problem but seems a bit bulky

catch 22 though

http://www.designboom.com/design/water-bottle-bike-lock/

personally I rarely carry two bottles especially if know getting a café stop
in winter use a screw cap “bottle” to carry a packdown rainjacket and flurovest in case weather changes

Petrol stations are good if run out of supplies you can usually just park bike against the window and see it whilst stocking up

Rusty Spanner – Member
I was 20 when I saw my first MTB – yellow it was.
They’re alright, but they’ll never catch on.

think that’s because no one can decide on a wheel size that will actually work

To the OP take a camel back if your worried.

Oh and to the bloke who suggested you sweat less when you get fitter I call bollocks.

Surely as you get fitter you just go faster. I don’t notice these pro riders doing a TdF stage on two bottles 😉

If I run out of water I’ve been known to knock on doors (usually farms) to get a refill if I’m not sure where I could get water next. In the mountains last year in France I ran out miles from anywhere and a kind farm lady not only filled the bottles but told me where the next two springs were on my route so I could refill from those.

As for leaving my bike outside, in Luxembourg outside the big towns it’s safe enough but I still have the London mentality so it goes inside with me.

Oh and to the bloke who suggested you sweat less when you get fitter I call bollocks

I always understood you sweated MORE as you got fitter – your body gets more efficent at cooling itself. That might be bollocks though.

Short rides i take one bottle but rarely drink much. Its there just in case of an impromptu detour. Longer than that i have a second bottle with milk and a few ice cubes (to go with the biscuits).

We know this stuff because we lived it, and you don’t know because you weren’t there man.

Adopts thousand yard stare …

100 mile club runs with a pub lunch and a cream tea on the way home
27 inch wheels
Oilskin capes
Alloy water bottles
Barts maps
Greenspot Nomad jackets

I was in the SAS CTC you know.

Aaaaah nostalgia, it ain’t what it used to be.

I’ve still got some 27″ under my bench somewhere, praps they’ll come back and I’ll be uber niche (or something). I do ride a 96er, does that count?

Sorry, off topic.

I go by the Sky advice, drink when your thirsty, drink when your not thirsty and drink when your not sure if your thirsty or not.

I suggest you google Hyponatremia

Oh and to the bloke who suggested you sweat less when you get fitter I call bollocks.

+1 I sweated loads when I was a fat bastard, now I’m (comparatively) very fit I still sweat loads.

“Waterlogged” by Noakes is an interesting read on the subject of endurance sport hydration, although it’s a bit long winded and a google will probably provide you with the gist of it.

Reminds me of the time some years ago when Mrs gti and I were sitting by the road one hot day having a drink and an elderly couple on tourers with big saddlebags pootled past. They were dressed in tweed britches, wool socks and leather shoes and as they passed the elderly lady said to my wife in a quavering voice: “I don’t know why you’re drinking all that water; you’ll only have to stop and get rid of it!”

Rusty Spanner – Seems we are scheduled to hit the burnley area between 10 and 11 am tomorrow if you’d like to meet us? 😀

Si, will give you a bell later to arrange, ok?

I’m working ’till 9 in the morning, but should have time to meet you for a spin before you depart sunny Burnley.
There will be cake.