Sorry but reading a plea from the BMC not to do it and then say I’m doing it anyway whilst being aware of the issues still means you’ll be part of the problem, consciously or otherwise..
I think people were hoping you’d day ‘if the 3 peaks is causing that much of an issue then I’ll have nothing to do with it’

You could work out what the petrol would cost and just give that amount to your chosen charity and go out and do a century ride on your own… win win win surely?

Or the Welsh 3000’s. That’s proper.

Take a look at the link…

I saw an AA driving instructor using his mobile whilst driving across a zebra crossing, approaching a roundabout in an urban area 😯
I realised then that we have a very big problem…

Have you thought about locking them in a cellar?

The relatives, the kids or the chocolates?

This is the nub of why c 69% of men and 59% of women are overweight and obese in the UK.
Eating too much and poorly has become normalised. Sod the fact that your position is EXACTLY what the government and doctors are saying is essential i.e. you’re not taking an extreme position…
Being of sensible weight, taking a decent amount of exercise and having a good diet mean you’re in a minority. And minorities are always seen as ‘wrong’, and the majority ‘right’.
EAsy to say from behind a computer screen but I think you need to get clear agreement with your wife about the rules you’re going to set and how you’re going to influence the kids to look after themselves rather than following the herd into a lifetime of poor health…
Maybe you need to get your wife down to the GP with you and discuss it with them (neutral party, expert)
Good luck! This country has a hell of a fight on with this now

Re staying. Given you’ve now seen the reality of the company culture, why would you want to?
Clearly unhealthy and dishonest, employing incompetent senior managers, which’ll be one of the reasons they’re not very successful!
If you stay, you’ll still be working in a failing company…

I suspect you’re still there because their prep and strategy were incompetent, not because they want you there…

IME incompetent people hate competent and honest people so you’re now even more unattractive to them having proven to be cleverer than them in political matters too! Watch your back…

Remind me again why I don’t read newspapers? 😯

Time to sell my Cotic and buy a Ridgeback Honey, clearly…

Nice one.
I hate it when bad managers try and get away with it and blame other people. Happens far too often.
From your summary it strikes me they’re not very intelligent as the ‘issues’ were so easily batted back at them. Anyone worth their salt would have realised that would happen and have not even tried it in the first place.
Glad you were able to rise above their games.
Good luck with the job hunt 🙂

You can have my Wharfdale Diamond V speakers and Atacama speaker stands if you want (for cash, obviously!) C 1992 vintage but still working fine, as quality old hi-fi does.
Email in profile if you’re interested and I can send you pics.
If you’re anywhere near London I can drop them off. If not then please bear in mind postage costs won’t be cheap!

I’ve had almost exactly the same happen to me – nearly 2 years ago now. A VERY well known insurance company. Boss was utterly out of his depth (I think deliberately, to get him out) and the company was an utter mess. I would never had taken the job if I’d known. (I’m guessing you wouldn’t either.)
As I hadn’t actually messed anything up a load of half-truths were used to ‘prove’ I had to be ‘managed out’.
Luckily I have a mate who’s an HR Director who’s seen this kind of game many many times and he said just get out and get on with your life.
That was excellent advice. I’m now far better paid and in a much less stressful role elsewhere. Working for an incompetent boss in a struggling company who aren’t willing to listen to you is incredibly unhealthy and you are far, far better off out.
Don’t forget, you told them the targets were impossible and you’ve been proved right. It doesn’t sound like your judgement or ability are the issue here, simply their level of maturity to take your views on board and cowardlyness in dealing with the situation you predicted…

So overall, sounds like you’re best off out of an unhealthy organisation. I would give your old company a call if you left on good terms and liked it there…

Good luck tomorrow and don’t let the gits grind you down. Karma comes round (my boss lost his job a few months after me…) 🙂

A useful insight into the thoughts and opinions of other people

What Rocketman said.
Always thought-provoking perspectives I wouldn’t have thought of myself.
Also a huge amount of knowledge and experience in the collective STW hive mind that I couldn’t possible amass on my own.

Oh and the sense of humour on here is better than anything I’ve found in real life… Picolax remains one of the funniest pieces of comedy I’ve ever known 🙂

My DC-19s seem fine with Hope Mini 160mm, never noticed anything

Nearly 40 and single and my love of the outdoors and exercise is definitely part of the problem as I want to find someone with a similar passion and that’s not easy in London, which tends to attract the more urban laydee.
Yes they’re great to look at 😀 but mountains, outdoor exercise and adventure tend not to be in their list of interests…
Problem is, my health is very important to me and as I see the country get fatter and fatter and as I get older I’m more determined to keep myself in good health, which means keeping it a priority.
I’m also a pretty decent runner and I don’t want that to go to waste.
I really don’t think I’d be happy in a relationship if my health had to be compromised so I want someone with the same outlook…

Another one driving round Surrey Hills today – and surprised at how many riders out on the road. A25 was packed with groups.
And visibility was appalling – a right pea souper of a fog along most of the A25. Not easy to see ahead at all.

I support the OP that it shows poor judgement to ride in such poor visibility without lights – the A25 is 50mph road so most of the traffic is going at speed. As a cyclist you’re bloody vulnerable – give the drivers a chance to see you if you want to stay safe. No point being legally right and dead!
That said I eased up on the speed when I realised how many people were out riding in such poor visibility – seemed the sensible thing to do…

I don’t think the cyclists riding without lights realised how hard they were to see. I would have thought it’s commonsense tbh but we all know it’s not that common!

The solution to your problem depends entirely on what your problem is. You may need exercises, but exercises may be the last thing you need.

This. You don’t want to be self-diagnosing from t’interweb on something as complex and vital as your back.

Get thee to a GP or physio, get a proper diagnosis from someone who’s actually got to check you out and see what they recommend.

My experience is core strength makes a massive difference to cycling – strength, speed, ability to move around the bike

No deep section coloured rims
Wouldn’t go down well in Shoreditch

2 thoughts:
1. That’s a lot of seatpost showing – maybe drop it a little so there’s a little more of a gap between you and the saddle – which will relieve the pressure. TBH though the front end does look very low so maybe the frame’s a little on the small side?
2. Get an inline post? The clamp is then much closer to horizontal. You could knock the saddle back on the rails to maintain cockpit length

The three date what?! What rule? What am I missing?

Possibly a lot, possibly nothing! That’s the problem. It seems to be one of those unwritten rules that some ladies believe but others are unaware of. And you don’t know whether the lady you’re dating is a believer or not.
It’s a minefield!
I got told in no uncertain terms by one lady that I must be gay if I didn’t want ‘fun’ by the end of the third date. In fact, the issue was that she appeared to be funding the black economy of Columbia all on her very own 😯
She worked for the FSA too… so the reason the economy’s in a pickle is the regulators were in the toilets supporting the South American criminal economy instead of keeping an eye on our own!

Holiday will be over in a week
Skills will be cheaper and last you a lifetime

I found out by accident that there is, apparently, among some members of the fairer sex, a three date rule…
IME the ladies on MySingleFriend seemed more keen on this than the ladies of Guardian Soulmates
It doesn’t seem to be a hallmark of quality or sanity however

Sony Experia Ray is same size as your average feature phone.
Generally very happy with mine but you do need small fingers to type so the outcome makes any sense…

If you run your fingernail from the spines to the braking surface you might find the braking surface is more worn.
At that point I change mine but it takes a lot of use

Do you find that you over think lots of things in your life?

Yes.

You’re funny

At last, my comedy genius has been recognised 🙂

Anything helpful to say?

Sabbath for starting it all
AC/DC for doing it properly
Motorhead for keeping it real
Iron Maiden for sheer panache
Metallica – for keeping it going after 30 years
GnR – for style if not consistency

Oh and slight wild card, Queen’s early stuff was pretty heavy but they dominated 80’s chart rock and Freddie is irreplaceable

Double post

It’s a good story. But I still stay clear of their kit because as a Marketing professional I know how premium pricing and branding can be used to create desire for a brand.
And why did they choose the FT? Bang on the target market if you ask me…
As a cyclist who uses his kit every week I don’t think I need to spend that much to get kit that works and lasts… it’s premium stuff for people who like the brand image. I don’t have a problem with that really but I think there’s a degree of telling a story to justify massive margins…

IME diff groups can follow different versions of the rules so go and have a chat with whoever’s leading before you leave and take their steer.
Once you know the basics, experience is all you need

If you’re NW and Cheshire, try Altrincham Bike Shak – very friendly in there and a great mechanic.
At a time like this a good LBS is worth paying a little more for. The key thing about a road bike is you get on it and stay on it for several hours with much less moving about and much less stopping for a chat than you do on an MTB – so fit is crucial. This includes height and cleat position as you put a lot through your knees with 4 hours constant pedalling.

Enjoy. I was amazed how much fitter I got when I first got a road bike

Beautiful shots. Nature is amazing. One of the great things about MTB is getting in amongst it

They’re scramblin’ to delete the thread but they’re not sure eggsactly how to do it. I thought you could just hit the ‘delete thread’ button, but maybe a meringue about that?

A worryingly large number of road bikes there!

Possibly the best First World Problem ever 🙂
<Sorry, I have nothing constructive to say which might help!>

In a time of recession, if it was your business, would you sell stuff at less than 2% of what you wanted to?
As well as significant loss of expected profit, it’s also at significant actual cost.
I know there’s legal ins and outs but it seems to me pretty unreasonable for customers to expect businesses to honour what is clearly an error…

Sometimes I wonder if we’d all better off not treating Xmas as a family occasion at all and just spending it on our own 🙂

Many years ago I spent New Year with my then girlfriend. By 10pm or thereabouts I was sitting in their lounge watching TV effectively on my own. They were all asleep. Given how mad the whole family was that may not have been a bad thing!

Not coming from a POV of knowing a lot about the specifics of HIT but interval training/speedwork/fartlek etc are well known principles for improving aren’t they?

However, my understanding is that any good training plan for improving cardiovascular performance is a combination of ‘long easy stuff’ + ‘push till you puke’

My experience using my commute as sprint work – from red light to red light – made me faster on my commute but didn’t make as much of a difference to weekend club rides as, well, lots of weekend club rides… so a combination of endurance and speedwork needed to get faster over a long distance… A few high intensity sessions will only improve your high intensity fitness, not your base endurance

First up, well done. Winning in sport IMO gets defined as coming first, when actually the triumph is in beating yourself and your own expectations. So next step is a sub 50 🙂

I run and cycle a lot. A few things I’ve learnt/would recommend
1. Cycling shortens your hamstrings. For running you need the opposite so you need to work on that. I would imagine this is the main issue you have
2. Cycling is low impact on joints, running is high impact. So you may get some pain whilst you build up the strength
3. Stretch after EVERY bike ride and EVERY run to keep yourself supple and injury at bay
4. Core strength (stomach, back, lats) will pay dividends for your strength and speed for running and cycling
5. Yoga helps a lot in respect of all the above
6. The best thing to do IMO is get a few sessions with a physio or personal trainer to assess your areas of weakness and a programme for fixing them. This will keep injury at bay and help make you faster.
7. Joining a running club and doing some speedwork/track sessions will speed you up more effectively than just running a lot.
8. I don’t find running a whole lot of fun but it is a much more time and cost-efficient way of keeping fit than cycling

Enjoy 🙂

LOL that South London is listed separately from ‘London’ and will be flooded earlier… good to see old prejudices dying hard 🙂

tbh tho if we carry on getting summers like this year I imagine a lot of trails will become impassable. Not great for MTB overall if more extreme weather limits the trail network/opportunities to get out

Yes.
They’re not really about keeping your trousers clean. They’re about keeping stopping the water/snow going into the top of your boot and soaking/freezing your feet.
Not all mountains have nicely laid paths and for those times when you have no choice but to bimble on through a bog they are worth their weight in gold

I predict:
Optimists will carry on being optimistic + happy
By the end of the year, pessimists will have had a worse year than they even predicted themselves
The same events will have occurred to both groups of course

Happy New Year! 🙂

ok, thanks. my 40th birthday present to myself will be a 10k PB 🙂