I knew why I was there – because I’d been driving too fast through a 30 limit. (I had a lot of work stress at the time and hadn’t realised the industrial estate I was driving through was a 30 limit). I knew driving too fast was dangerous so didn’t think I’d learn much… (not to be arrogant, I just knew speeding was breaking the law)

In fact I learned loads about how to drive more safely. Things like everyone’s reaction time is about the same (7 hundreds of a second apparently). Or that people who tailgate are just lonely 🙂

I’m more conscious about my driving these days. Causes plenty of problems when I insist on doing 30 in a 30 limit, seems to upset the people behind me!

Yes you’re right, altitude training is just like taking EPO. In the same way going to bed with your wife is just like seeing a prostitute.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not in favour at all – just wondering where the line should be drawn… surely that has to be done to sort out the whole sorry mess.

My understanding is that EPO was used in part to help riders train harder, not just during races, same as people use altitude training

GT85 seems to do the trick for me. No cable changes for 2 years…

Saw this happen 3 times in one ride yesterday –
2x cars overtaking me round blind bends and having to pull in sharply as the inevitable happened and a car came the other way
One guy overtaking in a residential area forcing oncoming traffic into an emergency stop.
Some of the roads I ride are narrow, windy and hedgelined. Being higher up on a bike I can often see oncoming traffic and if I can hear a car behind trying to overtake I’ll wave them back (for everyone’s safety).
Only rarely do they pull back in. One day I suspect I’ll be chatting to a policeman as a witness to a head on collision 🙁
Bring on self-driving cars, I think too few people have the skills and maturity to be in charge of cars

Ask yourself how you’d feel if he takes someone else out with poor driving next week…
You could have prevented it.

Agree you don’t want a conflict with a neighbour but you nearly didn’t come home tonight… he needs to understand that.

It’s a toughie and IME people are very defensive when their driving is concerned but there are too many cyclists dying out there because so many drivers care so little about driving round us…

And if ever there was a good advert for the ‘lifesaver’, this thread goes a long way towards it…

driving that close to a cyclist is dangerous. No debate here is there?

I’m there 🙂 just got confirmation email thru.
Party in a field time!

😯 Report the copper for dangerous driving. I ride that route on my commute – just south of Waterloo – it’s a wide road and plenty of space for him to have undertaken and keeping well clear of the cyclist
If policemen drive like that and behave so defensively when challenged then we have no hope surviving on the roads do we?
I can understand why so few near misses get investigated – clearly the police are as anti-cyclist as the general population, despite it being their job not to be

5 crashes and not making good?
Has he been asked to make good?
I’d be thinking about stern words about being removed from the club. He sounds neither safe nor responsible

nice one, thanks

Thanks Lucien
It flashes when I first plug it in – not sure what the difference is between that and a double flash… I’m sure it’s not that easy to describe on t;internet but any clues?

NOOB!

If buying your first MTB in 1994 and nearly 20 years’ experience counts as noob then so be it 😯

This is just riding a bike.

For some people, yes. But many don’t IME

Estate agents of the job world IME

To be fair, it was just on TV! And is on BBC
But apologies if it’s spoiled anyone’s day…

I don’t write on my forehead. What you on about? 🙂

When I ride road aggressively, I’m riding fast and attacking the corners and the climbs rather than taking it easy
When I ride MTB aggressively I’m riding fast, with flow, pumping, manualling, generally being very active rather than just holding on/riding slowly

Aggressive riding is more fun IMHO 🙂

I guess dropping the saddle becomes less necessary if you’re riding low-tech XC. But for general trail or mountain biking it’s a necessary part of good bike handling. Ok maybe it wasn’t done 20 years ago but riding technique is far better understood these days.
I was taught it on a skills day by a professional coach.

If you just want to ride low-tech, then saddle up is ok but if you want to:
Pump
Manual
Front-wheel lift
Bunnyhop
Drop heels
Jump
Stand on the outside pedal in corners
Nail berms
Steep techy descents

Then saddle down is essential to get the technique right.

Riding actively, moving your bike around/moving yourself around the bike, you need saddle down and out of the way.

Obviously, back up again for the climbs

Don’t have a dropper post, just old fashioned QR
Would never ride without dropping my seat for descents – particularly techy ones. Allows me to get my weight back/let the bike move around. Can’t imagine riding downhill properly with the saddle up anymore

White plastic roadbike tomorrow from SE London to Guildford to watch ToB hopefully
Chilling today after a 10k race

Main problem with a nice sports car in the UK is zero op to be able to make any proper use of it except on track days. Just very expensive way to travel…
I’d love a 911 but totally impractical for the MTB and imagine I’d just spend my days frustrated at having such a beautiful machine but never taking it beyond 50% of its potential.
and tbh given a lot of people’s attitude to success I imagine I’d spend my days getting abuse and the car keyed

Can’t believe it’s only 9 points.
Pretty poor show given the situation!

Surrey Hills and it was ace.
Dusty trails, not too busy and found some ace new stuff which came with added extra free grins 🙂

Our family was always a bit disfunctional – too much stiff upper lip, but we did have a secure upbringing. My parents were far too controlling and my Dad didn’t deal with his own issues too well and we took the brunt.
So leaving home to go to Uni was a relief but my anger stayed for years. But then a few months of counselling when I got signed off with stress was the best thing I ever did – it helped me realise my Dad had his own issues and had tried to be a good father, but hadn’t really done as well as he wanted – and was probably beating himself up about it.
So I took this knowledge and took the lead in changing my behaviour towards them and quit being angry. In a way which they were comfortable with, showed my parents I forgave them for the mistakes which I thought they’d made.
My relationship with them is now one of the best I have – open and honest and adult to adult. My relationship with my brother improved too…
Life’s too short IMO to let childhood experience rule relationships for the whole of your life, although a lot of people do

kindof overdid MTB over last 7 years. Road riding is easier to do straight from the house, less fettling and cleaning, no petrol costs and easier to do with such a wet summer.
But when I do go out on the MTB I get a glow that last for days 🙂

I love all riding and doubt I’ll ever give up fully on either type tbh. It’s all good

I think modern society is so safe that a lot of people have lost their ability to assess risk…
Personally, I think walking behind a reversing car is stupid. Yes Highway Code may suggest drivers reverse park but if you walk around a carpark without looking for reversing cars, you’re likely to get hit one day… and that’ll be too late to be self-righteous about it
so I think bloke was a bit daft for just hitting the car and suggesting it was your fault – he’s missed the the opportunity to learn something for himself IMO…

That said I didn’t know Highway Code recommended reverse parking… so I’ve learnt something too!

used to. It’s great. Made me realise how tight hamstrings get if you ride a lot.
Def worth getting yourself a regular stretching routine – do it immediately after every ride tho.

Yoga gives you core strength which is great for power and hill climbing too

I know how much this stuff grates. My ex-boss who’s just been demoted plays a similar game with Head of Dept. Luckily he appears not to be as much of a fool as we thought and hence he’s demoted her…

It’s possible her games aren’t getting her anywhere and that the recipient actually spots exactly what she’s doing and it has no impact, or he/she just thinks she’s a fool.

IME people who play games at work do it because they lack the confidence to believe they can progress by doing a decent job.

My advice, pity her, watch her carefully and stop letting it bother you… (too many people like that around, you’ll spend all day getting bothered!)

+1 for 3M reflective tape all over the bike and a helmet lamp

+ riding even more carefully than usual!

Ride as carefully around taxis as you would lorries, vans etc would be my advice.
IME hardly any drivers understand/care about the needs of cyclists or even the law so I ride accordingly. Make no assumptions about a car’s likelihood of driving sensibly and legally…
So if I see a taxi doing anything but making progress, it’s wide-berth time…

On a related matter my Mum’s driving instructor gave her the advice to assume everyone else on the road is an idiot. She’s 73 so we’re going back 50 years here… yr average joe has clearly never been a competent driver…

Good point. Maybe it’s staying in?
Or maybe the MAMILs have been causing chaos ragging it down there so they’ve stuck them in to stop an accident?

I used to ride with them a fair bit a few years ago but since becoming mainly a roadie not been out for a while.
Very friendly, mature and open to all kinds of riders. Not too fast and not too pootly.
Best thing is they know Surrey Hills and surrounding areas very well – so you get to know far more than the obvious honeypots of Leith, Holmbury and Pitch – stuff up towards Epsom and Leatherhead too.

If trials was an Olympic sport we’d have medals in that too 🙂

a ‘Probike’ bought for £125.
Not a good bike at all. But made me swear to buy a decent one as soon as I had the cash!

Scream, then leap

other way about, surely?

Carefully

I think Lemmy’s description of dying is about right: Killed by Death

big yay from me

Max Clifford on R4 ‘of course there will people who have a problem with it, people with bad sex lives’ 🙂

not sure what it would add tbh. Anything subjective labelling is just likely to cause upset IMO.
Over time you generally get to work out people’s nature and ignore those who argue or get abusive
Sellers can be spotted just by looking at their posting history or a quick google search