If there’s one thing that’ll help get you fitter, it’s joining a club:
a) no need to self-motivate – it’s much more social
b) running with people faster than you means you push yourself harder
c) likely to go out running more often
d) speed training sessions likely to be available
e) learn from years of others’ experience
f) pick up good habits re training and diet

In what way do they say it’s better than more conservative designs?
One of the things I love about bikes is that despite huge amounts of £££ thrown at R&D, no-one has managed to supersede the basic diamond frame

I would get onto the management company if you think he’s being unreasonable and has previous, and make a complaint about his unreasonable demands which are not reflected by any other tenants.

I get the feeling he might be taking advantage of your good nature to be a bully…

It’ll be interesting to see where this goes. V-brakes were never that good really and for MTB, braking surfaces out of the mud and need for lots of reliable power at short notice meant discs were a solution to a problem.
But on my road bike my braking needs are very different – no need for so much power at such short notice. But weight does matter.
Not convinced about discs on road bikes being a solution to a problem that we really have.
On the other hand, it gives the MAMILs an excuse to spank even more ££ on kit…

I’m sure someone will come along soon to point out the irony of posting that on a social media forum

IMO it’s not just formal exercise – it’s daily, routine activity. e.g. how do you get to work – how can you get more walking/cycling into that routine?
When you get to work, what floor are you on and do you take the lift or the stairs?
Does your job require you to sit at your desk? If so, get up as often as you can (every hour?) and go and do a couple of flights of stairs… etc etc…
Good luck, I’m sure it’s not easy and it’s going against the cultural grain which is always a challenge!

I’m a bit worried.

Listen to your instincts – they sound good… if you weren’t worried you’d be showing poor judgement IMO.
That route is 2/3 of the Welsh 3000’s which is a serious proposition for experienced people (I’m told most people fail on their first attempt)

Tryfan doesn’t have a walking path like Snowdon – so the nav and the going underfoot are challenging for a novice, let alone with everything else to follow.

I would seriously consider a shorter route – if your training sessions (good idea) have left them battered then that’s probably given you some insight into their hill fitness. I’m a runner as well as hill walker and the fitness – both physical and mental – are quite different. Being good runners does not mean they’ll do well on the hill.

I would do something shorter, see how they enjoy it and build up to the longer route over time. Beasting them for their first big trip in the mountains may well put them off for life…

Good luck getting answers. Seems to be permanent imbargo on mapping the trails ln here hills.

1. The trails are getting mashed from overuse/riding after wet weather. So the ‘omerta’ is is part to help keep the trails rideable
2. The hard-to-find trails are often illegal and it’s winding up the landower something chronic and giving them an excuse to stop riding there at all…
3. If you know the area you know it’s virtually impossible to describe where trails are – there are three hills covered in woodland – where’s your easy reference points?
4. Just get out and ride the area like everyone else – that’s how the area’s developed. It’s not a trail centre. And there’s a lot of fun to be had discovering great trails you didn’t know were there before… <mountain biking is an adventure sport, not convenience shopping!>

– 1) I know a lot of teens who are “top set”, but there’s honestly no way they’d be anything more than “second set” at my old school. And my school wasn’t anything special. Some of them are great kids, but academically they’re really not nearly as bright or literate as I’d expect. That’s not meant to sound harsh – it’s just my observation.

Not having a pop but you might want to challenge your own observation – it’s pretty negative. Personal observation is a dangerous thing as it’s full of biases and inaccuracies and rarely gives the full picture. Better off judging the education system based on empirical data…

No kids, just godsons. But after nearly 40 years on this planet and a keen people-watcher I would say there’s just one thing your kids really need from you and that’s self-respect.

It seems to cross the divide of rich and poor, highly educated vs less educated, private vs public sector, worker vs big cheese.

The people who cause the most trouble, have the most difficult relationships, have drug, drink and sex issues, are prejudiced, aggressive/bullying or just downright angry etc etc generally have deep personal issues around self-esteem… you see it everywhere.

With self-respect you tend to like yourself, have confidence, treat people well, have self-belief and attract like-minded people.

IME self-respect comes from how your parents treat you, how they behave themselves and how they treat each other…

Firstly: left wing politics has a problem globally – the most extreme version of it – Communism – collapsed because it failed to provide the people with a standard of living they were happy with… Even in China, they’re embracing capitalism whilst claiming to be a Communist state.

Secondly: in the UK, most people alive today have seen only one outcome of a Labour government – the country being left in dire straits. This has happened once in the late 70s and again now. So it’s very hard for left wingers to persuade a voter that their lives will be better with them in power.

So the local and global direction of politics is rightwards… due to absence of anyone who’s left wing actually having any power or likely to persuade voters to vote for them.

Other countries (in Europe particularly) seem to manage well enough on coalitions. My view is this is likely to be the outcome in the next UK election too. In some ways this is what the people want – less swinging from one ideology to another every new Parliament, which will hopefully lead to more pragmatic governance. Personally I’ve never liked relying on idealists for the important stuff…

I think we need the parties to catch up with this idea… but I suspect they may take their time…

The wheel only has 27 spokes so I guess maybe more appropriate wheels are in order… they do look a bit too ‘sporty’! I’ve only been riding it 4 weeks and less than 100 miles/week and it’s already got a small wobble in it.

It’s a Tifosi CK7, an ally frame which is supposed to be ok for light touring and the back end seems pretty stiff tbh.

The lock does weigh a ton but it’s effective and part of the requirement for my insurance so a necessary evil…

As it’s my commuter, left in the street in Central London I don’t want to over-upgrade on the wheels, but any recommendations on something more appropriate? The hub will need to take a Campag cassette…

Yes. Whilst it’s well signed there are plenty of places to miss them – esp travelling at speed on a bike, and when you’re crossing the main roads and need to find where to pick the path up again.
And going the wrong way can mean a ride back up a very steep hill!

Judge’s summing up is interesting. Quite clearly it’s nothing to do with the welfare state enabling a luxurious lifestyle – a clear case of a psychopath manipulating people for his own ends, nothing more complex than that. He’d have been like that with or without a welfare state… that was just what he figured was the easiest way to get cash without working…

Shame on George Osbourne for trying to make political capital out of it, it just muddies the waters…BBC

Hmm. Looking forward to riding home from Paddington tonight!

I’ve sold my Five. It barely got ridden after I bought my Soul.
Whilst a Soul might be less comfortable through rough stuff, it’s more fun and being lighter it’s better uphill + shorter wheelbase it’s better in tight singletrack.
I ride mainly Surrey Hills but was temporarily living in the Peaks a couple of years ago and the Soul was fine for all the rocky stuff up there.
Cheaper to maintain too.

Went on holiday to Spain on my own cos none of my then-riding mates wanted to go and I had holiday that had to be used up.
There was another (English) couple there who I got on with really well. They’re now divorced but the bloke part of that couple is one of my best mates…

I was in the Glyders this weekend. It’s full winter conditions so certainly think about going out only if prepared and experienced. As per link above, Mountain Rescue have been manic…

A camping barn will be warmer and still cheap, although may be full of hairy climbers…

Cwm Idwal round by the lake is relatively accessible with proper walking boots but tbh there’s so much snow round there you’ll be very limited to what you can do…

I had a problem with my Virgin wife once. I was furious so I wrote to the MD but even he couldn’t get it operational.

There are different types of box too. It maybe one of those Chinese boxes, in which case, try the Asian ones, they’re supposed to be more accessible.

I must stop reading STW at work 😀

Had a deer run into our roadie club pack once, very close to causing a pileup.

And was once a passenger in an Addison Lee ‘taxi’ which very very nearly swiped a cyclist off, pulling a u-turn. He didn’t understand, despite an explanation from me, why the cyclist was shouting and making rude gestures 😯

There does seem to be a commonly-held attitude in this country that doing physical exercise makes you weaker.

Yet people seem to enjoy the success of our elite athletes whenever they do well, without reflecting on the inherent contradiction of holding both beliefs.

I get the feeling that elite athletes are seen as special people, rather than just faster versions of people like us…

The thing Chris Hoy and I have in common is we love to ride our bikes. The fundamental difference is he’s an awful lot faster, but that really is the only difference…

People’s Front of Judea? SPLITTERS!

The problem with The Life of Brian is it reminds us this kind of chat has been going on for ever… and the best way to deal with it is to just laugh at the powermongers and get on with living life as well as you can…

he sees to be the ‘voice of the nation’ when it comes to immigration

I fear he’s onto something. Which is scary.

An interesting article in the Economist this week came to the conclusion that the US recovery is lagging simply because there are fewer people of working age in the country, which is simply a matter of demography – lots of old people, retired and not enough young people, working and generating economic output.

Europe also has an aging population.

So unfortunately if we want growth, we will have to import the labour to deliver the economic growth.

I think the electorate need to have this spelled out to them in cold terms rather than the emotional rhetoric you get from UKIP, Tories and the right-wing press, before we knacker the country’s future…

We don’t live in democracy

Whilst I don’t think our system is perfect, I think that’s a matter of perspective & relativity. Spend some time in China, North Korea, Cuba, Russia, Myanmar and try living your life as you do in the UK, pretty much going where you want, when you want and saying pretty much what you want…

after the virtual collapse of capitalism in the last decade

I’m not sure the Chinese, much of Africa, India, ex-Eastern bloc would agree with you that capitalism has collapsed. How many pure Communist countries exist in the world, how powerful are they and what standard of living to their citizens enjoy?

To the OP, if i were a socialist I’d be pretty upset that there was no-one left for me to vote for. But at the same time I think the country has gradually moved rightwards post-war so a proper Socialist party in the UK would be highly unlikely to ever get into power, in which case, what purpose would it serve to the electorate as a whole?

Humility is not humble. Please address this and ask again.

Not sure what you mean…?

Humility (adjectival form: humble) is the quality of being modest and respectful. Humility, in various interpretations, is widely seen as a virtue in many religious and philosophical traditions, being connected with notions of egolessness.

Source: Wikipedia

Right now I’m grateful to have a job… and money coming in.
Don’t forget though, that lots of jobs aren’t advertised, there may well be options but you need to create them or find them for yourself…

No idea what to say really except that’s a terrible experience to have to go through. Can’t see you could have done any more…

I had a friend who was depressed and he just couldn’t be reached… didn’t want to in a way…it showed me that as a friend there was only so much I could do.

Def keep the dialogue open to friends and the various support networks open to you… make sure you look after yourself.

2,000 dead people every year on the roads.
Over 5 people every single day…
Don’t see the point of joining them or contributing to it by speeding…

The people of South Wales are apparently too retarded to realise why the signs are there.

This is kindof the point isn’t it?

M4 shut for 6 hours, 1 dead man

I wonder if Dave set that interview up?

BJ does not come out of that well. Evasive and not able to think on his feet and positively give his version – which doesn’t bode well if he were PM…

IME people who do bad things and are that evasive when challenged tend to find their careers come to a shuddering halt sooner or later.

there’s something that looks a bit awry about it.

A car embedded in a house tends to look a bit awry 😉

Be interesting to find out what happened – how can you get a car to flip like that if you’re keeping to the limit in a residential area?

Glad it’s worked out for you. I hate it when managers/companies are cowardly and bully people out of a job.
Although IME, karma does her job pretty well 🙂

My advice, leave with your pride intact and head held high. Say nothing unpleasant, just keep your view to yourself. Your silence will speak volumes to the bullies… and it reminds them who’s the better man

I would report it. As said above, he may genuinely not realise what he did. In which case he’s not fit to drive – esp something of that size, and for his own and other people;s safety, he needs to consider his driving more carefully (or give up his licence)

My Orange Five?

Use of the present tense when narrating something which happened ages ago.

‘So in the 10 years before he becomes champion he’s climbing through the junior ranks…’

Even the BBC do it 😯

<Do I get the prize for becoming like my Dad?>

What did the Romans ever do for us?

sanitation, the medicine, education, viniculture, public order, irrigation, roads, the fresh-water system, and public health

+ brought peace…

I would wait to see if we get a summer first 🙂

Nice one.
Shame you have to work in Staines tho 😉