I would say these 40mph+ winds are too strong for riding in the road on – you know how lousy UK drivers are anyway, there’s no way enough people have the wisdom or skill or even the expectation, to deal with a cyclist getting shoved sideways by the wind. No doubt if you get a close pass and the wind takes you into the car, they’ll start shouting at you rather than actually understanding the situation.

Mind you, I rode to work last week in 40mph + winds and it was fine – but I live in Milton Keynes and the cycle network here is a) largely sheltered and b) often below road level, so it really wasn’t that bad. Especially the last half mile when I was coasting at 20mph with the wind behind me :-). Less fun on the way home, mind!

Glad you’re (relatively ok OP) I’d be badly shook up if something like that happened to me. Glad driver is doing the legal and honest thing. Too many tales of hit and run and backsliding…

However, not sure why you think

Claire admitted it was her fault – to me at least – I was pretty tight to the curb so def not mine.

has anything to do with your fault – arguably being out in the lane makes you more visible…

Tell that to all the Millar lovers on here

Respect for Millar is more nuanced than ‘forgive him for doping’ and not as morally simplistic as you’d like.

For me at least, it’s that he’s explained in great detail how the culture and practice ingrained in the sport took him from being someone who didn’t want to dope, but ended up doing it. That revealing and the spotlight he’s put on it has gone a long way in helping people understand how it works, and therefore how to fight it.

Of course he sounds like a hypocrite but his actions in the past and his actions now are different – he’s now helping a lot to end that era.

I don’t support his doping but I do support his current stance. I do also support the ‘cheat once’ and get banned for life approach…

I didn’t mention enforcement but did repeatedly include in the comments that the penalties were nothing like enough considering the implications of the crime could equal death or serious injury.

Interesting to see where this one goes… as with falling government spending not looking likely to reverse for some time now, we might find that technology-based solutions rather than policemen on the streets are the only things we can afford to put in place now…

I used Hiscox for Indemnity Insurance but it was for marketing consultancy, so pretty standard stuff, but I found their customer service pretty good on the whole

taking on as little extra debt as possible

That’s a joke isn’t it? We’re putting ourselves in insane amount of debt, to the point BoE daren’t take us out of emergency interest rates which were set when we thought the whole economy was going to crash! That was seven years ago…

Anyone else remember how 2008 came about? It’s like some kind of nation-level delusion this idea we have about house prices being real wealth that can actually be used to spend or invest… and produce economic growth, jobs etc.

It’s called the ‘wealth effect’ for a reason – it’s an effect rather than actual wealth… It’s quite interesting getting a foreigner’s view on the British and our house prices…

Expect people to see their house as a licence to make themselves wealthy rather than thinking about simply getting a fair price so they can sell it and get on with moving and getting on with life.

A friend of mine derided offers he received on his dead sister’s flat last year as ‘insulting’. It’s still on the market. As is the flat I tried to rent before Xmas, where my offers elicited ’emotion’ rather than being accepted as a commercial transaction.

My friend is usually a very generous and giving kind of person – he works in healthcare helping addicts get access to treatment for e.g. but when it comes to selling houses, he like so many of us, loses the plot…

Buyer beware I say…

I had 2 pairs of these. Sound is good but they both gave up the ghost after a couple of years use. Replaced with a cheapo pair of Sony’s which don’t sound much worse and have lasted 4 years+ already.
My guess is these are contracted out to someone else rather than being old-school Sennheiser quality

I’ve also dropped from 1 hour+ commutes to 30 mins and trying to work out what to do with all the extra time.
So far, it’s more exercise, wasting time surfing and STW and generally enjoying having more time to get things done whilst still being able to get a full night’s sleep by going to bed at a decent time instead of still rushing around at 11pm trying to get my to-do list finished…

I bought the Behringer thing and it’s great – for less than the price of a couple of CDs I can hear all kinds of detail I couldn’t hear on my CD player on music I’ve been listening to for years!

Just remember that once you’re private, you’re private and that private healthcare in the UK is an insurance product ie: premiums are kept low by managing claims ie: you may well find yourself with a massive bill just at a time when you’re ill.

Bupa have in recent years had real difficulty making the business work – medical costs are increasing, the population is getting older and not dying off so their costs are going through the roof – to the point where no-one can afford the premiums they need to keep the business profitable… in that environment you expect lack of generosity in paying claims!

So def do your research into EXACTLY what is and isn’t covered and the implications if you find yourself in treatment and cover running out…

We didn’t stop people drink driving by changing the infrastructure did we?

Speed cameras/speed bumps etc were put in because we (the people) have refused point blank to drive carefully as per the law and the terms of our licence.

The problem is one of deliberate and conscious behaviour driven, IMO by the feeling of power and safety when in a modern car. People simply do not behave so badly when their cycling or on public transport.

IIRC drink driving was changed through proper enforcement of existing laws and by making it socially unacceptable. We wouldn’t need physical infrastructure to the same extent if these policy levers were applied to the same extent to speeding and dangerous driving

2 things:
1. It doesn’t seem clear from your description why the driver stopped – was he really brake checking you or did he stop for some other reason
2. From what you’d seen of his driving style, he wasn’t a sensible driver

It can be hard sometimes but I’ve learnt over the years that if someone’s driving like an idiot, they’re probably an idiot, and for as long as they’re driving their a great danger to you so best to put as much clear space between you and them as possible. Stay behind them where you can see them, and you’re in control of how much you expose yourself to the risk they present.

Same goes for driving – if someone’s tailgating you, pull over and let them go – then they no longer present stress or a danger to you. I learnt that from the instructor on my speed awareness course…

+1 for Condor. They might cost a bit to buy but the quality is great and as you spec the bike you want, you don’t have to spend anything else on it except new brake blocks. You can put one together for £1300

I have a Tempo – which is the same geo as the Fratello, their all-rounder. Steel but very smooth ride, really rolls along and corners very well. I love it to bits, it’s a real keeper.. takes full mudguards, has a flipflop hub and forward facing dropouts and a carbon fork.

There’s also the Pista but the angles on that are steeper – less good for traffic and doesn’t take full mudguards, only the clip on ones..

If I was working to a lower budget I’d def be looking at the new Flyer with the forward-facing dropouts – cheaper parts than Condor but I gather it’s a good ride

Not surprising as such but artists I’ve seen a few times who are consistently excellent:
1. Metallica
2. Cardiacs
3. Duke Special

a special mention for Emiliana Torrini at Shepherds Bush c 2007 – something really magical about that gig, Bowie at Glasto 2000 just with his sheer presence and ability to hold the attention of such a massive crowd, and My Bloody Valentine at their reformation gig at the Roundhouse c 2007 – a spectacular racket :-) And Iggy Pop – proper rock with attitude.

Johnny Marr was excellent at Glasto a couple of years ago – 2013? But only really when he played Smiths songs – I thought grown men were going to cry

+1 for Chilli Peppers – Reading 1996 – arrogant, little interaction. BSSM was such a great album too.
REM – their songwriting is great but it doesn’t quite carry through live. Glastonbury 2003 I think was the last time I saw them, really not enough engagement with the crowd. Shame as I still love their music.

Both times I’ve seen the Rolling Stones it felt like I was watching a Rolling Stones cover band trying to be like the Rolling Stones. Last time was when they headlined Glasto a few years ago and I wandered off to see Bootleg Beatles and they were amazing – having obviously never seen the Beatles live it was great to hear it…

On the other hand Seasick Steve is amazing live – a massive racket of proper blues, his random homemade guitars are an added bonus. But his character and performance never quite come through when you’re listening at home.

I bet it’ll be cheaper than a 2 bed basement flat in a not hugely desirable part of SE London :-)

2-bed basement flat

as people just dont want to spend any cash or actually dont have it.

Best to cancel all non required spending now its going to get worse.

Already happening:

Xmas spending fell

At some point it will all swing back the other way and oil will be back over $100/barrel and they’ll be scrabbling round for contractors to try and bring back projects online. Like all things to do with human nature it massively over swings one way and then goes back the other…

Which would show as massive inflation, no? Which would lead to interest rates going up which would kill any economic growth as consumers would see so much of their post-tax income going in debt repayments?

Or am I being too negative about the outcome here?

What happens when the storage tanks are full? Do the Saudis stop pumping (unlikely) or does it get sold at silly low prices? But how much demand is there even at superlow prices?

What’s the endgame here?

From The Economist this morning

More trouble in store: the oil market
When will storage tanks overflow? This question is increasingly vexing oil markets, after yesterday’s news that American petroleum stocks rose by 4m barrels last week, to an 80-year seasonal high. Over-production is the main culprit for oil prices’ tumble earlier this week to below $27 a barrel, compounded by an anticipated surge of Iranian exports now that nuclear-related sanctions have been lifted. But the storage shortage is also menacing. The International Energy Agency, a forecaster, says global stocks soared in the fourth quarter of 2015 by a record 1.8m barrels a day; they usually decline in the northern-hemisphere winter. It expects them to rise by 385m barrels in 2016. Space on land will be limited; it reckons America can cram in only another another 100m barrels, and the world is adding only 230m barrels’ worth of capacity this year. Any excess will go onto seaborne tankers. After that, who knows?

You must have been riding VERY slowly :-)

Farnborough Village

Most club runs also go through Downe village. Which is fun if you like trying to speak to Nigel Farage (he lives there). He ran away when we tried to speak to him :-)

Some good advice up there but really, I wouldn’t assume getting hit is a certainty – it isn’t. You’ve far more influence over driver behaviour than you realise, and 100% control over your own observations, anticipation and actions…

My tips:
1. Bikeability and Cycle Craft by John Franklin, do the Bikeability and read the book – you’ll learn lots about road position, observation and managing traffic
2. Remember you’re not a second class citizen when you’re riding. Those who think you should ride in the gutter or always let traffic past are flat wrong – they’ve not read the highway code.
3. Always assume the drivers around you are about to do the stupidest thing possible and have a plan ready in case they do
4. Eye contact with drivers – over your shoulder, to those at the side and all around – it humanises you and you get a better idea of how well they’re watching you and what they’re about to do
5. Pick a route down quiet side streets and avoid roundabouts and right turns where possible
6. You’ll find there are certain road/infrastucture designs which seem to have conflict designed into them e.g. pedestrian refuges. Find a route away from these places.

Life is not without risk. Riding a bike is not any more risky than lots of other things in life so expecting to be able to eliminate it is daft. But you can expect it and mitigate against it.

I’ve been riding in London for 5 years c 80-100 miles/week and whilst I’ve had plenty of harassment and abuse, I’ve not once been hit. However, I’ve been to hospital 3 times in 8 years with broken bones – every time was me falling off my MTB in Surrey Hills…

Brixton Cycles are the most fun club in SE London :-)

Good riders, lots of great routes out into Kent and North Downs, and not averse to beer either…

Cafe St German in Crystal Palace, 8:30 Sundays for the regular club run. Take a look at their website an email the club secretary for more info

Markets ceased to be markets a while back and are now a reflection of unorthodox policy options

My ex-fund manager friend reckoned that the US markets were being rigged by the Federal Reserve running algorithmic trading to buy shares when bad news was coming out and the natural momentum would be for prices to be falling. Much harder to know the source of a trade when being done by a computer rather than a human trader apparently.

I also wonder if the sheer volume of share buybacks going on, being used to boost earnings per share rations will, in time, be considered massive fraud…

I think about miles ridden rather than number of rides. I’ll happily ride 50 miles on a club run in one set of kit. So a couple of days commuting at 10-12 miles a day doesn’t seem out of order. I don’t put out any more sweat per mile when I’m commuting.

The smell test is also a useful rule of thumb imo. Worth thinking about your work colleagues, who may not enjoy the smell of my sweat as I do :-)

I wonder how long the new relationship with Iran will last. There must be those who would prefer that additional oil wasn’t available on the open market.

Interesting that the deal was brokered at around the same time fracking released massive increase of supply onto the market… one could be forgiven in thinking the Yanks are trying to break the House of Saud after one of their lot pulled off the biggest attack ever seen on American soil. You could also be forgiven in thinking the Saudis are trying to break the US banks again, knowing how much of the banks assets are loans to fracking companies…

I don’t think the causality is quite as direct and as simple as oil and markets.

Oil is falling partly because we have massive oversupply (deliberate political move from USA and Saudi) and also because demand for all commodities has fallen through the floor as China’s economy turns out to be not growing anything like as fast as the 7% their government say it is… and Western consumers are all skint and already own about as much stuff as we can reasonably use – so not buying much new stuff – certainly not at the rate we were before 2008.

I spent a lot of summer reading FT and Economist and in particular reading the comments to the stories, and also got to know my neighbour who was an ex-fund manager in the City. She said the markets were being fixed for a lot of last year.

What’s happening now has been expected by many for many months, it’s not new news – but only by those who read the data and have a real understanding of how economies work… UK consumer has had the wool deliberately pulled over our eyes – it’s been necessary to get us to keep borrowing and keep spending in order to try and keep some growth coming through. Whilst I hate being lied to, this does make sense when the situation is as dire as it is…

Put simply, the ‘recovery’ across the world is largely a mirage. No-one has fixed the problems which 2008 made clear existed (excessive debt and ageing populations) and many economies are in even worse shape now than then – Russia and Brazil in recession, UK in more debt and with a housing bubble in SE/London to boot, Manufacturing is in recession (mainstream media and government have noticeably failed to report this), Emerging Markets in more debt, US not going anywhere fast, China slowing up fast…

I think the markets are falling now because the professional investors have been hoping central banks would be able to steer us through but it’s becoming increasingly clear now that the central banks are running out of ideas – so now the markets are responding to that.

For Carney to say he can’t see any reason to raise rates for the foreseeable is actually pretty scary – it suggests he really doesn’t know what to do next – it’s a complete reversal of what he said a couple of years ago. Markets are reacting to this lack of clear leadership – they’re losing confidence in central banks’ abilities. It’s also a dire sign for UK – these are emergency rates we’re at, designed to help us through the 2008 crisis. If we’re still at those rates 7 years later, then presumably we’re still in crisis, no?

One of the big consultancies did a piece of work on which industries would be impacted the most by automation. Real Estate Agents was scored something like 96% likely to disappear.
Given how many industries which are essentially middlemen are being replaced by mobile apps and online it’s surely only a matter of time before human estate agents are gone. After all, they’re generally hated by both sellers and buyers so as soon as someone comes up with a half-decent automated proposition we’ll be heading there in droves

If all drivers knew that this is what potentially awaits them if they knock someone off then cars might be driven more considerately! Not everyone’s in a position to dish it out though. Sadly.

I don’t advocate violence but this is exactly why drivers will often be quite happy putting a cyclist in danger, be aggressive or create conflict – they know there’s no way they’ll get hurt. If there was instant retribution you can bet drivers would be much better behaved.

Next week I will be commuting almost entirely on purpose built cycle paths instead of having to deal with traffic. I’m so looking forward to being able to relax and enjoy the view and cruise to work…

2 bed flats in Sydenham, a tatty part of south east London were c£250k up until 2012, early 2013. By the end of 2013 they were selling for £300k+
One down the road from where I used to live (a basement flat on a rat run residential road and bus route, with trains the other side of the building) has now gone on the market at £425. I doubt it’ll sell at that price though, that’s 70% increase in prices from early 2013 to 2015. If that happened to fuel or food we’d be rioting.

I know of 3 flats around the corner which have been on the market at higher prices for up to 18 months and haven’t shifted.

I really don’t understand the argument for prices to go ever-higher beyond fooling existing owners into thinking they’re rich. For a young couple to try and raise close to half a mill for a small, low quality flat in an undesirable area is a) poor quality of life b) leaves them too short of cash for savings, pension, general spending and therefore leaves us looking at zero growth/recession and stagnation due to lack of real consumer spending as well as an unaffordable benefits bill for all those who rent till retirement and are then dependent on housing benefit to pay for their retirement homes

If you think of the economy as a whole and of the macro effects the hyper inflation in London and SE prices is a total disaster. I really don’t understand how anyone can defend it outside their own personal interest… by boosting the housing market we’ve created moral hazard for three generations of homeowners – it’s very hard to convince anyone under the age of 80 that housing is not a one-way bet, which has done and will continue to cause massive damage. The sooner we have a proper crash to disabuse us of this notion the better.

Either way, the bears are out in force at the moment. UK housing is not a self-contained domestic market – London market especially is internationally-connected and will not be immune to whatever happens in China and the emerging markets this year.

48:18 here for London commuting. This leaves me c 18-20mph cruising speed.

I do think it depends slightly on the set up of your bike as well as your strength and terrain. To accelerate from the lights at 48:18 means being reasonably aggressive so maybe something like the Escapade with it’s tall headtube may require a gear that’s not so difficult to get on top of.

You’ll love ss for commuting – no worries about changing down gear before the lights and junctions and you can keep an eye fully on where you’re going instead of having to think about what gear you’re in.

There’s a few jobs I would have turned down if the employer had been in the slightest bit honest about the job…

I haven’t watched it but are you sure he made people commit a murder?
that kind of stuff tends to be somewhat frowned upon by the Law.
Illusions for entertainment are legal, however…

Never got into a full argument – the beauty of being on a bike is that you can get away from idiots faster than they can run :-)

Recent ones: full on tantrum whilst sitting at the lights from a lady who didn’t like me waving her back whilst she’d tailgated me at 30mph down a steep hill. I just stared at her till she ran out of screaming power and just sulked instead. Quite amusing really…

A guy in a transit tried to run me off the road from behind by Peckham Rye. I had to jump on the pavement to keep him from running over me, and made a comment about his personality as I did so. It seem a perfectly justified comment to me given he came close to killing me. Unfortunately I was right about his character. But he was also stupid so when he stopped to come and give me a beating, he slammed his door shut, which means I heard him and just rode off across Peckham Rye common whilst he carried on shouting abuse. I guess he’s still fat and angry even now..

A guy in a Range Rover hurled abuse at me for stopping at an amber light. I think he was unhappy that he’d come very very close to running me over from behind. I’d rather he’d said sorry tbh. Either way I figured he wasn’t adult enough for that and just rode off down the pavement in case he had another go at running me over when the lights changed.

Happily I’ve moved to a town with full cycle lanes and that kind of idiot will be dim and distant memory

I’d quite like labour to stop falling apart and offer some proper opposition and a proper choice to the electorate and a positive vision for the future.
If the tories also self destruct over Europe then we’re properly screwed. We’re in a major debt crisis which needs expertise and attention to get out of. Self indulgent infighting is not what we need right now

Cycling and cyclists do seem to bring out the absolute worst in angry and irrational people…

I daren’t read any of the comments in newspaper articles that appear about this story – it’s depressing.

The only time I’m abused and have total strangers deliberately try and harm me is when I’m on my bike.

As someone in the comments of a cycling story in the Guardian said last week, cyclists have become the general dumping ground for all kinds of general resentments and hatreds that people have… hence the utter irrationality and bonkersness of the anti-cycling arguments like the one up there ^^

My experience in recent months is that the great British public are, overall, beginning to get there and basically be a bit more grown up about it, but I really am looking forward to the day when I can go for a bike ride without someone at some point either shouting abuse or coming close to putting me in hospital

His book is well worth a read too – it gives a really interesting perspective away from the judgementalism that doping tends to attract. I read William Fotheringham’s book on Tom Simpson over Xmas and it paints a similar story of doping coming less from immorality on the part of the rider and more from extreme pressure to succeed, from both the rider and the cycling world, coupled with an ‘anything necessary is acceptable’ culture.

That doesn’t let Armstrong off the hook though, he’s a very different case IMO.

I didn’t hear the beginning of the interview, and didn’t know who I was listening to at first and just thought this guy has balls being willing to talk so honestly on the radio and then I worked out who it was. Millar deserves praise for his stance now – especially given there are some who’ll always judge him for what he did.

Very interesting blunt comments about other sports refusing to deal with the problem. FA obviously already being dealt with but there’s some massive scandals clearly still to come out elsewhere…

In London I was spending just under 50% but I’ve left and moved further North and now it’s less than 30%.

If we want UK economy to get itself straight again then spending less on loans to the bank in the form of paying your landlord’s debt off for him would be a pretty good start…