2010 Soul – loved it when I first got it, still a beautiful bike to ride

I’m about to sell one of these if you’re interested?

Tifosi CK7

Email in profile. Thinking c £700. Only been ridden from Feb this year, twice a week so pretty much as new.

I’ll be cleaning it up over the weekend and can take some photos then

It’s the hill from Sydenham – on the eastern side of the park, luckily.
About a mile I’m guessing.
But still – not fun straight out of the house!

The cost of a bike set up is a hell of a lot cheaper than the physio sessions needed to straighten you back out if you get it wrong.

Surely it’s up to people to pay for this stuff if they want?

There’s no commonality between leadership and bullying at all…

Leadership IME is about setting a vision, showing what behaviour you desire from your team by behaving that way yourself, delegation and empowering people to do their jobs to the best of their ability, and supporting them in their own ideas and potential. It’s focussed on thinking about what others need from you, and putting your own needs second.

Bullying is about a weak person’s ego and a failure to deal with their own fears and issues. Typical behaviours are control, manipulation, dishonesty.

You know when you’ve been well-led – you feel great about yourself and you achieve more than you thought you could.
You know when you’ve been bullied – you feel depressed, disheartened and angry.

Much of what is put up as leadership by programmes like the Apprentice, Dragon’s Den etc is pretty much the exact opposite.

Exercise…

The OP and others pushing 650B should read the post from coursemyhorse – some very sensible insight there…
We’re all watching the pennies more than we used to, and far far better at educating ourselves. Not just about bikes, but allsorts.

I think the OP and bike industry have misjudged this one badly.
Not the introduction of a new wheelsize, I think the argument about choice and diff wheels for different sizes of rider is fair enough… but the threat of refusing to support the massive installed base will, I think turn out to be a New Coke/DCC/Minidisc scenario.

Any idiot can protest and be idealistic and misunderstand the intricacies of energy production and geo-political power…

I’d like to do a poll about how they got themselves to Balcombe, and what their personal energy use levels are…

I’d like to see bullying properly dealt with at work, it’s much more than a childhood thing. I see it every day.
Clients routinely bully their agencies and suppliers – poor/changing briefs, inadequate timescales + budgets, not delivering on their own actions, yet always blaming the supplier.

Same with driving.

I don’t know if my awareness has increased as I’ve got older but bullying seems to be routine behaviour at the moment…

stated that 26″ is dead

Not if we don’t want it to be. Remember, there’s no money in it if customers don’t want to buy it. And we’re all feeling a bit skint right now in case you hadn’t noticed?

The whole 650B thing stinks of bullying, and that’s what I think is riling so many people. You should take account of that if you want your business to survive…

there’s a whole lot of companies over the years that have failed because they forgot the fundamental rule that the money comes in from giving customers want they want to buy… you’re heading for a Ratners moment if you carry on with such an arrogant attitude

Pulled my Five apart and sold all the bits this year. A well-used and well-loved bike but slow uphill and more bike than I need for Surrey Hills – my Soul often felt more fun and faster in the twisty stuff.

The Five was great for the Lakes but I barely go up there now. Down South it just anaesthesises the trail.

My brother doesn’t even reply to texts/facebook messages etc etc – if it wasn’t for his wife I don’t think there’d be any dialogue between us at all. I didn’t get any recognition from him at birthdays or Xmas for 20+ years…

He always been rubbish like this, he has few friends as a result and we’re not close at all. I don’t think he means it, he just doesn’t function very well socially – to the point I think he’s on the autistic spectrum. Although funnily enough, he’s very good with his kids – I think he finds them easier to deal with than adults.

But life’s too short to be angry with him about it, I just keep sending messages and accept I’ll get no reply. Yes it’s crap but I don’t think it’s worth estranging myself over it…

My advice OP, as much as it feels crap that you have to do it, offer the olive branch, tell them how you feel and try and get a dialogue going

I wouldn’t mind particularly – but it wouldn’t do a thing to resolve the bullying, harrassment and prejudice that cyclists face… that’s an emotional reaction to a minority group who are different from the accepted social norm.

A rational response like us paying a nominal tax would make no difference. Proper enforcement of the existing rules and irresponsible driving being socially unacceptable would be more effective IMO

Governments will get it shut down by fair means or foul.
Partly it undermines fiat currencies which underpin the current system, partly it’s great for organised crime.

A friend of mine who works in the City got chatting to a guy at Glastonbury this year who claimed to be one of the guys who’s a main mover in the UK (and was featured in the FT Weekend Magazine in June).

My mate said he didn’t understand the first thing about currencies – and came across as a just a young guy who thought he could get rich quick by hyping this thing up…

At least one of the guys in the FT article was an ex-nightclub promotor. Anyone else remember the heady days of 1999/2000 and all the hype around e-comm/internet stocks and what happened?

Currencies only work if enough people accept them as a form of exchange and they need a level of legitimacy for that…

huge amount of publicity highlighting that drivers bullying cyclists is far too common, and it makes you look like an idiot in the eyes of your peers…

So huge public embarrassment will do me 🙂

Putting big drops and jumps into Surrey Hills ain’t the brightest thing to do IMHO – it’s very popular and attracts a lot of inexperienced riders who are unlikely to have the skills and experience to handle stuff like that…

In particular, putting a feature needing well-above-average skills into one of the easiest to find and therefore well-used trails is poor judgement – a massive mismatch between the trail and the riders likely to be riding it.

I wish trail builders thought of the mass of riders and not just their own preferences.

Glad OP is ok and thanks for the heads up!

My parents have it – been in place since the late 60’s and rarely had a problem.
My Dad’s a scientist (so he understands convection and other relevant physics), doesn’t spend money if he doesn’t have to and is a bit of a perfectionist. If he’s happy with its efficiency and cost then it’s probably alright 🙂
More freedom to place furniture where you want it is a win too.

I wouldn’t believe anything written in The Telegraph about immigrants & immigration!

son turns out to be a pyscho con man, neighbours who have been great for 7 years and even told us they hope we never move and how happy they are having us next door, suddenly turn on us too with verbal and personal insults. It’s just bizarre, the son is trying to con us out of 1000’s and I think the neighbours support what he’s doing!

IME the problem with psychos is they’re very, very manipulative. A lot of people understand very little about how they operate and fall for it without any idea what’s going on…

Read Without Conscience by Robert Hare – it’ll open your eyes…

I think what’s upsetting people (and certainly upsetting me) isn’t the introduction of a new wheelsize (which may or may not be better), it’s the message coming out that the existing installed base of 26ers will no longer be supported – capitalism works by companies meeting people’s needs, not manipulating us into buying new stuff we don’t want.

I think the industry has mis-judged this one quite spectacularly:

a) I’ve seen all the new innovations since mid-nineties (full suss, riser bars, disc brakes etc etc) and by and large there’s been a clear benefit and so we’ve accepted it happily. 650B just comes across as meaningless in terms of a technological advance – it’s marginal and also it’s not new, it’s an ancient wheelsize.
b) we’re all feeling a bit skint right now. By threatening to drop support for the installed base we’re basically being blackmailed into buying complete new bikes, which we neither want nor have the spare cash for… (most previous innovations we’ve been able to upgrade to bit by bit which makes it more affordable, and feel more like a personal choice).
c) In nearly 20 years of mountain biking I’ve not seen such resistance to a new innovation – maybe social media has supported this but it does seem to me that a lot of us are genuinely resistant in way we’ve not been in the past.

As I don’t like dishonesty and bullying, I hope 650B fails, which it can do if we simply refuse to buy it.

It’s getting beyond a joke this hating people because they’re on a bike, thing.
Am interested to see the result of Emma Way and last Friday’s Critical Mass…
Glad you’re ok OP

I don’t understand how we’ve got to a situation where people appear to be happy to make themselves ill en-masse…

Is being healthy really such an unattractive idea to so many people?

commuting is a good way to get the miles in to up your weekly total – that will help.
But generally if you want to ride further, then ride further! You can always ride a little further than you just have done… just do this from one week to another and you’ll incrementally get better and better…

Hurtwood[/url]

You should check with the Hurtwood first. It’s private land, with access granted to the public to enjoy the open air.
I suspect they’ll take a dim view of their land being used for commercial purposes, but you never know.

We need a psychological assessment as part of the driving test… to think that’s the best course of action they could take, that driver is not fit to be in charge of a tonne of metal when other people are around…

I discussed this point with someone some time ago, they pointed out that I liked to ride bikes, surf, snowboard and do other risky things that others may not do day to day. So where do you draw the line at negligence?

tbh I think that’s an attempt at diversion. There’s no known medical benefit to smoking. Government guidelines for eating and drinking are in place and people choose to ignore them.

On the other hand there’s plenty of documented evidence of the (mental and physical) health benefits of participating in sports. At least you’re making an attempt at looking after yourself if you come off and break a bone…

If we threw out people who neglect their health there’d be hardly anyone left!

<That’s not attacking the NZ government decision, more a shocking revelation>

As we try to plot a course through significantly lower economic growth over the next 20 years I suspect the costs of people neglecting their own health are going to become a more and more important issue as the scale and costs of the problem become evident… especially as the NHS is funded from the general tax pot rather than those that use it most, pay the most…

IMO the problem is not so much the law, it’s lack of enforcement combined with social acceptance…

‘Minor’ infringement of the law is an accepted social norm and there’s few examples of people being prosecuted, so the majority believe it’s acceptable. Only those who hold themselves to a higher standard will behave legally…

The public at large only tend to keep to those traffic laws they think they’ll get caught for.

Right now there seem to be so few visible police on the road, the average Joe Public doesn’t believe they’ll get caught for what they frame as minor misdemeanours e.g. speeding, accelerating through an amber, overtaking into oncoming or across a solid white line, using a mobile.

Some of these things are illegal so if you carry them out, you’re a criminal. But as they’re believed to be so common (borne out by watching other drivers and media releasing figures showing that the majority of drivers speed, use mobile phones etc) then most drivers would frame themselves as ‘a normal citizen’ rather than a criminal.

So the solution IMO is a) more police arresting or at least having a stiff word with drivers who break the law, however minor (or compulsory black boxes in cars which send a signal when laws are broken) and b) making minor infringements socially unacceptable (worked for drink driving)…

Then maybe UK drivers at large would grow up…

😯
😀

An STW-classic

At 40 and having had a girlfriend-free life for the last 10 years, loads of my friends are pushing me to not be single.
The main difference between me and them is there’s loads of stuff I love doing: riding, running, mountaineering which I need time and money to do.
I’d love to be in a good relationship but there’s loads and loads of benefits to being single that I don’t want to lose. Namely doing those things I love as often as I want and take the very best of any opportunity to do any fun stuff that comes along.
I’m fitter now than I’ve ever been- training 6 days a week, in part because I can
If I find a girl who wants to do all this stuff with me, awesome, but there are few really active girls IME

I spent the first half of my 20’s wasting my life cos I was in a crap relationship with a miserable girl. I learnt my lesson there…

Plus I’m always in good company 🙂

I really wish managers and companies were properly held to account when they push people so far they get ill.
I’ve got a history of getting way too stressed about work, to the point of getting signed off in late 2006 which was a useful wakeup call.
From that experience I’d make a few comments:
1. My GP said to me, very bluntly, ‘it’s just a job’. That was good advice, by that point I’d lost that basic perspective
2. My stress was largely down to my own response to a nasty situation. When I realised I could avoid the stress by adapting my own response it helped a huge amount. Whilst other people in the company were under pressure and extremely unhappy, I was the only one who let it get to me so much that a Dr had to sign me off…
3. You may or may not be acting like a victim – you’re likely more in control of the situation than you realise – certainly your response to the situation is 100% in your control.
4. Whilst you can change your response, you should also push back at the source of the problem – your boss, your bosses boss, whatever. Make them take responsibility. Reading a book on assertiveness may help here
5. Getting stressed is a family trait which I’ve inherited – I’ve done a lot of work to unlearn that trait which has helped a lot
6. If this is a long run thing, change your job/career. I’ve moved into contracting, it really helps me detach from the unpleasant stuff (I just think of the money I’m earning by turning up each day!)
7. Exercise, yoga, meditation – something physical and spiritual to make sure you spend at least some of the day in a positive place. I find the physical release of tension a great antidote too.
8. Life’s too short to worry about stuff so much that it makes you ill!

Good luck…

Yet again I’m amazed at the number of cyclists who willingly peddle the motorists mantra.

Well, the law’s mantra, actually…

The law says you have free choice.

I wear one simply because it might one day save my life if I land on my head.
Although the last time I fell off on the road I landed on my chin so the helmet made no difference at all!

Whatever the reasons people give for running red lights when they’re riding, does it never occur to them that if they cause an accident then because they broke the law, they’ll struggle to make a defence and likely find themselves fully liable for the damages to the other parties…?
Or that one day they’ll get their judgement wrong, not spot the car/lorry/another RLJing rider and leave the scene in an ambulance…

Running a red light to save 30 seconds vs bankruptcy/prison/hospital… I really don’t see the risk/reward benefit here.

Just seems an obvious exercise in risk assessment….

Smell_it

You’re right, there is a degree of hysteria but it doesn’t diminish the observation that there’s some seriously anti-cycling sentiment out there:

The Times

This is scary stuff…

Apparent acts of aggression are recorded every day on the internet. One cyclist tweeted: “This morning I witness a man lean out of a van and push a (female) cyclist off her bike. 10 secs later was dragged out of van by a policeman.”

The Twitter feed identified by Mr King records daily threats. Stuart Burge tweeted: “Cyclists do my head In when they stick out in the road. I WILL run you over if you don’t move.”

Another, Joe Cross, wrote: “Cyclist should not be allowed on the road #iwillrunyoudown”

Lora Davis tweeted: “Cyclists are w***ers! Unless you have a death wish get off the f***ing road at rush hour #muppets”

This is not hysteria:

Official figures published in the summer showed the first increase in the number of deaths on the roads for eight years in 2011 and sharp increases in the numbers of pedestrians killed and cyclists seriously injured in Britain.

And thanks for giving the haters the ammunition to justify their prejudices. Yes, thanks very much for that one… makes my riding just that little more likely to end in an ambulance

.

What a load of shite.

I don’t mind you disagreeing can you be a little more constructive? Are you saying there’s no harm coming to cyclists in the UK, cos I can send you a fair few links which show otherwise…

The law isn’t an option you know? And who’s to guarantee that every time you run a red light, you’ve spotted all the hazards? In the last 3 weeks I’ve seen 2 cyclist run red lights and nearly get killed by traffic coming through on a green and not expecting anyone to be there.

How do you think your friends and family will feel standing around at your funeral or hospital bedside, either getting yourself killed or nearly killed for the sake of a few seconds.

Or the legal bill if you cause an accident…

And thanks for giving the haters the ammunition to justify their prejudices. Yes, thanks very much for that one… makes my riding just that little more likely to end in an ambulance

1. It’s very dusty
2. Barry’s is a lot wider than it used to be
3. YP has lots of new berms and is very smooth and fast. You may want to do it twice 🙂
4. Pitch and Winterfold have loads of new stuff – follow your nose. Just watch for unexpected drops
5. It’s hot

I WON the climb onto Westminster Bridge yesterday morning. These things MATTER…
I’m not sure anyone else was actually trying to race, but a win is a win, surely? 🙂

I would like to see more riders help maintain the trails. It keeps the trails running well and helps to reduce the level of environmental damage we make.
But after a couple of years on my local volunteer team I’ve come to understand there are all kinds of techniques, dos and don’ts, unintended consequences etc etc.
So doing maintenance on your own may or may not be helpful – depending on whether you have the right knowledge and experience. IMBA is very helpful here.
I’ve had a call from the head of our team politely pointing out that what I thought I’d done correctly was in fact a very poor job…

We also have a maverick local trailbuilder whose work is great in someways but after rain his trails are an unrideable mess as he’s not using the known techniques…

So DIY is all very well but be aware you might be making things worse and better to join the local volunteer team IMO, and be willing to be properly taught