I've a whole list of skills stuff I want to work thru when the weather's better, Glen P

Are we talking weekend of 13/14 Feb now then? My road bike is only 3 rides old and bottom bracket is creaking like a creaky thing. Just needs a nip up I think but needs a specific Campy tool which I ain't got

how about next Sunday then? Assuming I've been able to fix my bottom bracket? Just need to find a shop that can post me the adaptor in time.

Anyone else?

cool. will prob wait a few weeks while the weather sorts itself out and get a post up on here.

my '04 Five is running with 140mm Pikes and it's ace. Wind the forks down for the climbs and it's cool

STW poster avoids argument shocker! :-)

While you mention road riding around Surrey Hills, I'd be well up for an STW darkside ride round there when conditions are better. Anyone?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8472664.stm

I have one. He's despised by everyone who works with him. Small man with a huge streak of narcissism. Control freak bosses are hell.

Be assertive about how you want to be briefed and treated. Take control. If you can, get your own projects that you decide how to run and work on your own and make your own decisions.

If it's undermining your ability to do your job or be efficient (ie having to do everything twice) consider making a diary and taking it to HR to show them the impact it has. Always worth finding out how other people feel too – unlikely you're the only one who finds this difficult. Will help you feel better + won't look like you're the one with the problem if you want to make anything of it.

Good luck!

Banks are businesses that sell money. They sell that money at a profit to pay their shareholders (in many cases, now the taxpayer ie: us) and to invest in the future of the business. They're also concerned about survival right now and keen to build up their balance sheets to get them through the near-future which remains very uncertain. They're also under a lot of government pressure to strengthen their balance sheets so they don't need a taxpayer rescue again.

Credit don't come as a favour so we can buy shiny stuff! And interest rates have been historically low for the last decade and they're being held artificially low to help stimulate the economy. They ain't going to go anywhere but up for the forseeable future.

Well enough to know that riding a bike is more deserving of my time and effort than trying to climb the greasy corporate pole in an attempt to gain status :-)

607 without cheating :-)

13 complaints? I wonder how many were Germans and how many were your workaday politically correct types 'defending the minorities/downtrodden etc wherever we find an excuse to do so'

TBH it doesn't reflect well on the UK really does it? – WW2 was over 60+ years ago and wasn't actually a terribly funny thing. Time we moved on

Nothing obvious on the Hurtwood site. My guess is it's not the ranger as he is taking new trails out of service and if these are the ones I'm thinking of then they've all been in use for yonks. Anyhow doesn't sound too promising :-(

Comes with free snow this time of year :-)

On the 'what bike' question, my hardtail will possibly still be in bits next weekend and full suss feels like overkill. But my s/s Roadrat is in full working order. Reckon that'll be good for the route you're planning?

I got the feeling from the wording that the 'reprimand' was tongue in cheek, for the media or those sad people in life who could find a problem with a few coppers sledging.

I'm v happy with my 05 (mk2) 1.6 Zetec. Huge boot for bikes and other stuff and dead nice to drive. They come out way cheaper than Golfs too

count me in. will be coming in from SE London

Got a mate who I do a lot of walking/mountaineering with who's diabetic. Not sure if Type 1 or 2 but he injects. It hasn't stopped him doing anything sporty – he's a super strong lad – rowed the Atlantic a couple of years ago, crossing Greenland on foot in a few months time – you get the picture. And he wasn't slow marching up and down big Scottish Munroes at the weekend either! Basically he just manages it carefully, keeps an eye on things and tops up his blood sugar when he needs to. I've asked him if I need to know anything in case anything happens when we're out in the wilds and he said no – he manages it so it wouldn't get to that, so it all seems pretty under control and life goes on…

I ride. And drive in London. I see more shocking, illegal, unsafe and downright stupid riding than I do driving. Honestly, some people have a) no knowledge of the rules of the road b) no knowledge of the techniques for riding in traffic c) no sense of their own vulnerability or d)ability to assess risk.

Sadly I'm with the OP. When I ride to work I'm usually the only cyclist sitting at the ASL, all the others have gone through. And they all filter on the left, clearly not knowing that the driver has no chance of seeing them. Woefully poor observation, signalling and lighting.

Problem is, I think, that so many are new or don't classify themselves as cyclists. So they don't understand how to ride, don't feel enough of a responsibility to the cycling community to ride legally and don't drive and so have no understanding of the drivers' challenge in spotting them.

There's a lot of work to be done IMHO

More important in this life to be true to yourself

As Teetosugars says. Just dead comfy

Rudeness. Seems to be a lot of it around at the moment.

Not sleeping ain't healthy. As TJ says, poss something you need to discuss with your Dr.
2nd the bike thing – you probably know this already tho
2nd the 'your boss' thing. There seems to be very little focus on bosses' responsibilities to their direct reports, which leads to a lot of people believing less in themselves at work than they deserve to.

Write down a list of the things that make you feel good. Do as many things on that list as often as you can. It'll help stop the negative thoughts dominating your life
Write down a list of things – at work and outside work that you KNOW you're good at. Do them as much as possible. Again, it'll counteract the dominance the negative stuff is happening at the moment.

And most importantly, look around you. I read reports a year ago from the British Psychological Society saying they were expecting the downturn to have a significant effect on the mental health of the nation. So many people were living unsustainable lives and had no mechanisms for coping with the impact of the downturn that the result is an increase in overall stress, and worse. Their followup report a few weeks ago confirmed this anecdotally ie: it's not just you, loads of people are in the same place but being British it's not being discussed openly

Whaever the debate about using cycle lanes and their adequacy, there's no justification for trying to run a cyclist off the road. EVER

Cycleactive[/url]

These guys are ace. Very friendly, very encouraging. They focus on you getting the best out of the session. You'll be amazed at the stuff they can get you doing after a day's session. Huge confidence booster.

But £300 for an hour? You could get a decent pair of forks for that ;-)

I've a singlespeed one. Flat bars. Added my own disc brakes. Ran it with bar ends for a while and didn't like it – too twitchy cos bars too narrow. Took bar ends off and had an epiphany. My commute home is 4 miles. A few times I've extended it to 20 just because I want to carry on riding. It just handles beautifully. Looks nice too. For me the best thing about it, is it's a road bike designed for people who ride mountain bikes so the handling just 'works' if you mainly ride a mountain bike. It really is a lovely bike to ride. And being so flexible you can turn it in to a geared tourer/CX etc bike too if you want…

As mentioned above. It's customisable. So if it's a mess, it's your own fault ;-)

Benji, can I recommend you email all print subscribers (for whom you hold an email address) to let them know about their free online content? It's in small print on the main screen and I missed this completely until I read this post and nearly missed out on the benefit. People like to be given stuff for free but you need to let them know you're giving it if you want them to be happy. And use it.

2 drums and a cymbal fell off a cliff.

Ba-dum
Tssssch

This thread is rubbish. All the links keep going back to the same thread I started reading!

I like the way a serious topic has been reduced to the lowest common demoninator :-)

It's easy to be respectful and dignified about the subject until someone says untamed growler like a badly packed kebab. Then you just realise how funny it all is.

LOL. Luckily no-one's asked me to explain why I'm crying with laughter at my desk

I HAEV 2 MUCH TIEM ON MAH HANDS SO IMM DIKNG ABOUT WIT RILLY DAFT THNGS ON TEH INT3RN3T WHEN I RILLY SHUD B DONG DA JOB MAH 3MPLOY3R PAYS M3 FOR

you dont hear planes complaining that their flaps are too big do you?

PMSL

I'd vote for it. Especially if I got to be in it :-)

Retro83 has it. 4chan is involved. Look it up on wikipedia. But under NO CIRCUMSTANCES look 4chan up whilst at work!

The guy who headed up a company I worked for used to play bass when he was younger. His amp was way too powerful for him so he lent it to a mate, John Burnel. Who in time changed his name to Jean-Jacques Burnel and created probably the best bass sound ever…

Some classics here :-)

My longest post ever, by far. Send it to 200!

My God. What have I created?