On the way. It’ll be sunny when we get over the hill to Lancashire, won’t it?

We’re in. As long as this train home isn’t delayed by anymore minutes.
:evil:

Believe me, you’ll know it when you see it.

Yes, you can go Walshaw Dean, interminable hill of doom, house of shit, Haworth Old Road, drainage ditch, Cockhill, tarmac down to Pecket. Back half of this route.

People lie to themselves – anything from ‘I’m not harming anyone’ upwards. And once they’ve successfully lied to themselves it’s a lot easier to lie to everyone else. And they can totally compartmentalise their lives.

I’ve never spotted anyone who messed with kids or was criminal in that way. But I lived with someone who was like two people. He had a level of self-delusion and self-justification that was difficult to comprehend. He would outright deny that he’d done stuff to me to the extent I even questioned myself. And on the outside he was charming and charismatic, kind and generous to everyone he knew.

It took me absolutely ages to come to the conclusion that he lived in a state of denial, he wouldn’t own the nasty side at all. He was basically a contradiction. But now stories of people who live ‘double lives’ don’t surprise me.

I won* a BMC Granfondo with Di2. Was very skeptical but am now a starry eyed convert. I have had it a year and it’s not needed anything. I charge the battery every now and again. It’s very tolerant of my gear mangling ways and has improved them no end. I even wrote a blog about them: http://beatesthreepeakschallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2014_04_01_archive.html

*five photos and 150 words… nothing to do with being fast.

I’m with the making cyclists visible, giving them infrastructure and doing something even if it’s not perfect. And countering the ‘it’s all their own fault’ nonsense at every juncture. We shouldn’t be expecting city centre cyclists to be experts.

The better it looks to cycle, the more cyclists. More cyclists = more drivers that understand what it’s like to be a cyclist (I think it’s a fair assumption that many cyclists also drive at some point).

I think that’s part of the Dutch/Belgian success. That and the infrastructure. Or maybe they’re just more polite…

Thing is, it should be safe to cycle. End of.

When you go to Holland or Belgium you see people tottering along with handlebars piled with boxes and all ages and levels of fitness and ropey bikes weaving around. But it’s safe. That’s how it should be.

They have a combination of lanes, segregated lanes, cycle crossings and drivers who drive around as though hitting a cyclist is a capital offence. I have never ever seen someone reverse off a cycle zebra crossing to let me past before. Or a Porsche scream to a halt because I’m moseying up to a junction. We need a bit of that here.

That’s so hard… hoping for the best for you and your son. Take care and look after yourself.

Fantastic ride! Chips and no mud… still can’t quite believe it :-)

Three of us for chip buttes. Plus the knee squirrel :D

Of those, Manchester. If you live in north Manchester there’s riding from the door – as the Monday Night Pub Rides attest – and if you were prepared to live further east in somewhere smaller there’s brilliant riding from the door (we live in Todmorden which is 30 minutes on the train from central Manchester). It’s also an easy drive to the Lakes, north Wales, north Yorks… like the centre of the universe. Really.

Colds have definitely been the kicker this year.

And the dark. I don’t mind riding in the dark, but being organised enough to have fully charged light batteries at all times is an issue.

Due to unforeseen absolute feeling of sinking knackeredness, I’m out :-(

Well done Daz! :-)

[/url]IMG_4034 by BeateKubitz[/url], on Flickr[/img]

A carbon fat bike you say? You mean one like this? :lol:

We rode right up to the border today (possibly slightly over it, but don’t tell anyone ‘cos I forgot my passport) and could definitely see that there is also snow in that there Lancashire. Does it go all the way to Turton?

Just been doing tax return spreadsheets and getting regular updates on Jase, Dez, Guy and Minipips to cheer me up.

Beginning to think that the ‘puffer is infinitely preferable to the tax returns.

For once, I agree with Hora too. Get GAP insurance. It’s generally a non-policy except where you’re leasing and they expect you to hand back the car in great condition / keep paying even if it’s been written off.

But for heavens’ sake do not buy it from the dealer.

There are plenty of online providers who are much more competitive (I have a sideline doing the FB page for Direct GAP so declare an interest now) and it’s for mainly for excessive worriers and people who have shiny cars. Apart from if you’re leasing/any form of HP… then it’s very sensible. The price differences between online providers and dealers are quite ‘interesting’. Have a look…

Oh no! Get well soon…

It was hosing it down and pretty soggy as I stumbled my way down to the station this morning. Not going to be dusty tonight…

Once a year down Ingleborough, Whernside and Pen y Ghent :-)

Other times, I’ve done pretty much everything I ride in Calderdale on the CX – not quite at the speed of a full suss but all doable with a bit of careful line choice.

NB Chipps ran a dropper for the 2013 Three Peaks… just sayin’

Just ask them about random things the EU gets completely right… like… if we leave the EU would UKIP ban neonicotinoids? What would be the legal working time employers could wring out of workers if we leave the EU? How would they stop truck drivers falling asleep at the wheel? Wouldn’t it be dangerous to remove the capital requirements on banks and the stress testing?

I think that UKIP like EU bashing because it’s something to blame… and haven’t much of a clue about the actual implications of the EU and how we’d have to replicate practically all of it to maintain safety standards if we left or if we want to keep our economic links with our biggest trading partner.

Or you could just ask them how they plan to reverse the Jewish conspiracy which shackles the Reich and is preventing its thousand year rule. [may be too subtle]

I always buy Yeo Valley organic milk – they seem to have organised smaller organic farms into one brand for which I’m prepared to pay more. With really cheap milk I can’t believe that corners aren’t being cut and I just don’t want to drink it.

In a similar vein Able and Cole veg boxes seem to be really well organised, but also organic and supplied by smaller producers. So far they’ve worked for me – I used to use a local one but it couldn’t get its act together and folded. So far the Able and Cole version has worked better and offers more stuff I want to buy and their website is really easy to use).

Sounds good to me :-)

Good article, Malvern Rider. Thanks for that.

I think keeping what happened in the thirties in mind at the moment is a good idea. If you don’t remember history, you’re doomed to repeat it or something.

The economic depression, ugly tentacles of the right wing, ugly extremists and population looking for someone to blame is a potent combination.

Snored gently all the way from Todmorden to Leeds. I love trains…

Will be back on the bike once it gets a bit lighter, I just don’t trust rush hour drivers in the dark.

A few of the Scott MTB marathons are northerly: Scott

Also the Evans rides were good – I did the Grizedale Grizzly on a cx bike. Excellent.

Yey! First day back at work so it’s a must.

I forgot, my favourite cold prevention. I read an article about athletes apparently being more vulnerable to colds and as an aside it said that very little in the way of preventative measures appeared to work. The only thing that had a statistically significant correlation with fewer colds was quercetin. Which I googled. Turns out it’s a bioflavonoid present in red wine. Well, that’s my excuse anyway. Cheers 8)

I managed to duck the office cold from September right until the week before Christmas. Lots of veg, quite a bit of riding and the virus killing strepsils whenever people started breathing over me. I think that our central heating really helps spread everything round the office. Drives me mad but I was determined not to join the office splutterers.

Of course, in the run up to Christmas it finally got me (why is that, you relax your guard and immediately start to go downhill?) and I spent Christmas day dosing up on Lemsip cold and flu.

Brilliant fun! I think I am now addicted :oops:
Thanks Gaz for organising. I will get my wheels off the ground properly next time :-)

Mmm, anything made that involves soaking fruit in alcohol gets my vote. Mince pies. Christmas pudding. Christmas cake. Moist, fruity goodness. Delicious pastry. What can possibly go wrong? Unless you buy them from a shop, that’s a proper lottery and best avoided.

Thank goodness they’re not available year round otherwise I would be the size of a house.

Nice :-)

Ugh. Sorry :-(
I was going to say ‘keep an eye on Ebay’ but I guess that you posted that stolen Yeti post on there, so I don’t expect it will turn up there now.

T shirts are fab, thanks Binners! The wind turbines do come out particularly well on the black :-)

PS please can you bring our T shirts Binners :-)

Great. See you there. Thanks :-)

That sounds perfect. What time are you setting off? We could get down to the railway arches by the Masons and meet you there.

Daz, we could be keen on a ride over for the pair of us. I take it you’re not planning on sinking pints all evening…

Right foot forward. And right handed. Which is lucky as the OH is also right foot forward (but left handed) so there is harmony on the tandem.

Noooo….. at least my EE contract is up. I will hold off renewing…