Hmm… Bit of a can of worms here.

As a former chunky person, 5’9 and over 17 stone, I can relate to where you are.

Now as a 12 stone, 45min 10k runner, my top tips are:
– diet. Eat until you’re full, not till you feel ill, don’t eat crap, have some wine and cake occasionally. Almonds are a decent snack food. A packet of crisps now makes me feel I’ll. I eat a few crisps occasionally though.
– exercise. You’ll get faster with a combination of long, slow runs and faster, shorter sessions (especially intervals). Don’t run injured. Cycling is natural interval training (hills)
– core work/yoga etc is incredibly beneficial. You’ll be running more freely if that makes sense

Hyundai Santa Fe? Pretty big inside, 7 seat version, and from 2010 it had a more powerful (and more economical 2.2l diesel engine). Looks like they’re still a little above 12k at the moment though.

Post 2010 sorted out the niggles (stupid roof bars, daft radio, not enough gears) and added an iPod socket.

Thanks for posting again, good to hear from you – just donated.

All the best
Paul

Leftover tomato and mozarella sausages from last night, heated up and put in a buttie

I have a Kindle 3G Touch, no contract. You can browse the Amazon store and download books with 3G, but not use the (very basic) browser (as you can with wifi).

I travel a fair amount so the 3G seemed important. Haven’t used it much though.

Did Langsett to the top and back on Wednesday evening, was excellent.

Spray with hose (careful around seals), bit of Muc-Off, brush, then spray off. Hang in garage, wipe chain dry and re-apply Squirt lube to chain. Maybe give the derailleurs and pedals a squirt with some (different) lube as well. Takes 10-15 minutes and I tend to do it every wet ride.

I’m offended that I didn’t receive that mail. Where do I sign up? :-)

Kids – how long before they become bug free?

Wife is a teacher, and when she started in a new school, it took about a year to get all the bugs out of the way.

Electric nit comb for the win. Little buggers are getting immune to the shampoo. Satisfying to hear the beasties getting zapped.

I bought a set of wheels this week from Merlin. Original Shimano box (very nicely packed).

Wow, campers vs caravans. Fight!

FWIW my in-laws always wanted a camper, but went back to a caravan because they tended to stay in the same place rather than touring.

My Nokia 620 Windows phone is a micro-SIM, as is the BlackBerry Z10. The adapter converts the micro-SIM to a standard SIM size. Should work with any old phone (I have a micro-SIM in an adapter in my BlackBerry Bold).

Went in the (big) shop a few months ago to buy a Gore-Tex top. They didn’t have quite what I wanted, but the guy in the shop gave some good advice based on his experience, and told me where to get what I wanted.

On that basis, I’ll be going back.

Infinite.

I issue emails from my domain unique to each organisation I have a commercial relationship with. Using a catch all I receive all addresses to my domain, but by issuing unique addresses I can filter emails more easily. I can also monitor who sells addresses to spammers and block specifically compromised addresses. It’s also more secure as bots are less likely to be able fish with a captured email on another site since the address wont be valid.

This, and I recently got an apology from a well known company for selling on my e-mail address.

Live and let live, if people want to get married (same or opposite sex), then it’s none of my business. My neighbours are gay, no idea if they are partnershipped or not. Never though to ask.

So, yes, if gay people want to get married, fine with me. I suspect the most practical benefit is the clarification of inheritance rights, which is a good thing.

I bought a 3G Kindle Touch in the US (won a US dollar pre-paid card), and it works fine in the UK. It does have some unintrusive ads on the sleep screen, which change periodically when I switch the wireless on.

EDIT: Can’t remember how I did it, but it was easy to link to my UK Amazon account.

Hmm….can of worms.

I change mine when my calves start to hurt after running, which tends to be every 500km or so (cheap compared to riding – new road wheels and tyres this week).

On the other hand, I’ve been doing stretching sessions and foam rollering, and this has lengthened my stride and helped me with speed and pains.

Just my 2p as a regular runner.

Nothing like as exotic as some on here, but I really liked the first decent car I bought. Was a 1994 Vauxhall Cavalier. Took us all over the place, and I sold it when I got a company Saab – just as the rust was starting to appear at 2 years old 8O I think the Cavalier is still the quietest car on the motorway I’ve had (much quieter than the Saab I replaced it with). Just like this one.

Also miss my Saab 95 estate. I always wanted one, and for two years I had the car I wanted. Then it started to go wrong and I sold it for something soulless. Not my car, but this is the exact model. fast and comfy with a big boot.

I also always stop (maybe slow down) and ask. Only time help has been required was at one of the Merida events, about 50km in. Someone had broken their chain, so I donated a Powerlink and fitted it for him. He was fairly relieved that he could ride back rather than walk. Just asked him to pop a pound into the next charity tin he passed.

Also stopped the other day whilst in the car and drove past a rider down. Someone else from here had already stopped to help :-)

I still think it’s a community, in this area at least.

Calais….

Currently have 48 bottles of wine plus some Belgian beer in my boot after a work trip to Belgium. Cheaper to take the car through the tunnel rather than fly.

Since the OP hasn’t said who it is, it’s probably not a great idea to make accusations.

However, since the problems a few years ago, I’ve only ever used PayPal with online bike stores.

On the Focus theme, we had a 1.8l petrol C-Max for a few years, and it was great. Only issues were the alternator and the boot opener failing.

Comfy to be in and was nice to drive.

Some of those Omegas look just like the one my Dad wears. He bought it in 1964, and it’s been working well since (without a service – not advised). One of the reasons I bought a Seamaster a couple of years ago. Hopefully, it’ll last the same length of time as my Dad’s – and the pattern on the back and the fonts haven’t changed in nearly 50 years.

When Dad dies, it’s the one thing I’m bothered about. Rest of family can have everything else.

Edit: OP, nice looking watch.

11887 with no Googling. All answers in the right country :-)

Did help that one location included the Golden Gate Bridge!

Wasn’t me, I think I just saw the aftermath. Rare to see Willaston mentioned on this forum. Nice village, but little in the way of mountain biking beyond a few bridleways.

Wondered what was happening when I came past around 3:30pm. I was the bloke in the dark grey Hyundai with 4 bike racks on the roof who turned around and checked with the older couple that all was OK (just as a couple of cars were collecting the bikes I guess).

Hope all concerned are OK.

Good luck Mrs and Mr Scholarsgate. Lots of people around me involved with various similar ailments at the moment. Nice to hear a small ray of sunshine.

My 2 pence. I put up a thread on road bikes on here a few years ago, and ended up being offered a thousand pound bike (ridden a few times) for 500 pounds. Full Ultegra groupset.

Many years later, I’m still riding it (rode it to town and back today) with different wheels, but mostly still stock.

Worth a try?

EDIT: Seller had the receipt from JE James, with their address on it, so totally legit.

If you have a Garmin with a micro SD card slot (no experience of TomTom), then North America maps were around 40 pounds from Amazon a couple of years ago (it seems they’re now around 50 pounds – still seems good value).

And I’ve been asked for the paper section of my licence a couple of times. You should take it just in case.

And Collision Damage Waiver Insurance[/url]

EDIT: And Stop signs really do mean stop. 4 way stops are easy, you just need to understand the rules – first to arrive, first to go.

Track pump – check (goes on holiday with us (by car rather than plane))
Work stand – check
Nitrile gloves – check (only recent)

Most recent essential is a brake bleed kit. Cheaper than one brake bleed at the lbs, and really easy.

Easiest speech you’ll ever do, everyone is behind you as others have said. Follow the formula above from peter1979 and you’ll be fine. I was stone cold sober and had a great time.

Entertainment is for the best man. You’re just there to thank people.

Wish I could get married again (had a great day), but the wife won’t let me.

Done

Another vote for Epic. Ordered the kit for my Shimano brakes (bit older than the OP’s), plus an extra bottle of fluid. Kit arrived the next day with good instructions. Four sets of brakes now bled.

UST tyres and UST rims – Tape!

Didn’t need any tape in my Mavic UST rims. No valve holes.

Road bike is 10 years old, MTB is 7 years old. Road bike pretty original, but the MTB has had pretty much every part changed apart from the cranks and handlebars. Everything works perfectly though, I’m slightly obsessive like that.

My diesel engine is a whopping 20k service intervals. Still under warranty (and will be for some time), but thinking I might get an oil and filter change every 10k miles.

putting the awning up took all of 2 hours and could easily have led to divorce.

We have a rule that any insults traded during awning erection stay in the awning.

Another Brodit user here – mount for satnav (hate windscreen mounts). Works well.

I regularly have 4 bikes on the roof, and it’s a fairly big car. The bars are Thule aero bars, so T tracks (can be loaded right up to the edge). I reckon I could squeeze another rack on there if I turned the bars sideways.

However, the limit on my roof is 100kgs (yours may be different), and I reckon 5 bikes with racks and bars would be pretty close to that. I’d be reluctant to load it that heavily, especially with 5 people and luggage.

Around 3 inches here in NW Cheshire. Home office, so a full day of work :(