The thing about motorists is they are less likely to have a go at cyclists if they are wearing a helmet as its a good headbutting weapon and in a fight you have extra protection.

Ahh so thats why TJ isnt a fighter! :lol:

We had rain up north :cry:

Haha wishful thinking with a few grands worth of bike!

http://www.endomondo.com/workouts/24320017

My thursday evening ride around Darwen Tower.

M&S two dine in for a tennner here!

Those woods behind the natwest in swindon are AWESOME.

Thanks all, some good ideas there! Will do some research on all the places mentioned. Looks like we will have plenty to do.

Just as an aside has any one been specifically in december? Is there much christmas stuff going on and is it busier than usual?

Cheers

The first time I ever remember crying at a football match so for that reason its lodged in history for me.

The girlfriends dad has their house rigged up with one of these systems. It is fantastic that you can either have seperate music playing in each room or have it all playing the same simultaneously (like if youre having a party). I have been impressed with the control and the fact you can use an app on your phone to control it too. They use it so they have all the music on a desktop computer and it all just feeds from there.

Im very impressed, however it is not cheap. I dont thnik id be bale to afford the full set up for a few years yet :cry:

Come on DS, its only 50miles round journey from Chester to Liverpool :lol:! But with parking and tolls £6.95 is a bit of a billy bargain!

As above, you can work as hard as you want. I am usually a sweaty mess by then end and it feels brilliant. Also as mentioned very much down to instructor, a good one with a mix of hills and sprints kept interesting can do you a really good 45min workout.

Make sure you take a drink, on the occasion ive forgotten mine I really suffer.

Its got to be St Anton really! The Moosewirt is the ultimate in Apres!

Another option though is Saalbach-Hinterglemm. Some really good apres places there and a good mix of terrain. A little quieter and probably cheaper than St Anton too.

We went Blu-ray when our old DVD player died. They have come down in price alot now (we bought our last year and got a good samsung one with 5 Blu-rays for £90) and they upscale DVDs to better quality too.

However it depends if you have a HD telly too.

Loads of good ideas in Jamies book. We do them quite often for weeknight teas.
I find that if you want to be done in 30 minutes then usually just the main dish is do-able. If you wannt to do all the trimmings that go with it then youre looking at quite a bit longer!

How about Fajitas, thats always a good friday night tea, only needs a hob and goes awesome with a couple of bottles of Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, a regular friday night favourite here!

Im a member at DL Chorley too.

When we looked at it we decided to go for at based on the fact it is less than 5 minutes from our house. We figured that even though its more expensive it works out price/visit cheaper as we use it so much.

If you go just to use the weights/treadmill it is a lot for that but when you take into account all the classes, the pool stuff and the way the gym staff personalise your workout to what you want to get out and will refresh it whenever you want it isnt too bad.

Plus when its proper minging weather in the winter spinning keeps me ticking over nicely! Guess what im saying is that im happy to spend what effectively the price of a couple nights out a month for that…..

Yep, used to hear it a lot ski racing.

It says:

London Olympics if, as expected, the two are united under the Team Sky banner in 2012.

So guess its still not totally official

I dont know about the differences but I have the 561 and its been brilliant. Feels really secure with my bike on (no wobble or anything)and really easy to load onto the roof bars and load the bike on too.

I’ve got an Altura Attack jacket. Its nice and waterproof and stops the wind coming through. In winter months I simply wear a long sleeved base layer underneath and find it is up to the trick (it served me throguh the snow and frozen months up in lancashire last winter). Theyre £120 at merlin but additional 10% off too so just over £100!

If your reasoning for wanting a DAB radio function is just so you can listen to the radio a better bet (and possibly offer better value for money) would be just to get a ipod dock and then download an app for your ipod/iphone.

We have a gear4 dock in the kitchen which is cracking for the price and then tunein radio on our ipod, which was less than £2 I think. Works really well, as long as your WIFI is ok.

:roll:

Im meant to be out but Lancashire is looking particularly bleak today!

Was out on Sunday and most of it was already a bog so not sure how much of a good idea it is. :?

Really need a low maintenanace winter bike…..

My biking highlights of the year have to be taking part in my first ever race (gisburn dirty dozen) and our lads weekend to the peak district just last weekend. W
e rode from Castleton around Ladybower the first day and then over to Hayfield and back taking in Jacobs Ladder on the second. The last descent of the day was from Hollins cross down to Castleton and was the highlight. Lovely sunny evening with a crazy (for me) downhill!

Good times…..

Dino +1

All of the matchstick ones are brilliant, and they tend to have a pretty awesome soundtrack too!

Ive got it and its PIMP :lol:

I’d say it was yellowy green though.

Was around there at the weekend. Rode Ladybower on Saturday and Jacobs on Sunday.

Whinstone Lee Tor was riding brilliantly on Saturday, seems that last weeks rain has done very little harm.

build your house out of wood instead…….oh wait :lol:

cheers ratswithwings, just setting off for there now!

+1 for the drunken duck.

Fantastic food, we had afternoon tea, dinner and breakfast all of which were amazing. Use of the nearby spa and some brilliant views and walks from the door.

Oh it has its own brewery too which is always good.

I drive a BMW too, but im not a sales person and dont feel like a drive like a cock, but yet because I drive a BMW I am a cock according to a fair few people on this thread!

Haterz gonna hate I guess…….

I thought it was really good. My favourite bit was when they went to see they guy about faking the voices of the phone conversation from flight 93. The guy who was one of the world leaders in the field showed it could be done however to have a full conversation would be impossible due to the time frames.

To which rodney responded with he could do it on his sound board!! 8O

Just thought Id share this video with you all…….its carnage and worth a little look!

http://vimeo.com/28726671

Going to watch the might PNE this evening and then picking up the girlfriend from the train station, she has been away on work all week.

Then im heading off to the Peaks tomorrow for a weekend of biking with the lads :lol:

Well apparently BMW car sales only account for about 6% of all car sales so surely by that reasoning it doesnt mean everyone on average salaries buys them.

http://www.am-online.com/new-car-sales-figures/%5B/url%5D

Here’s a few from our trip in January this year.

Ian – have you managed to get your IEng before you leave or will you be coming back and apply for grad positions again, or is Civils not really for you?

I wanted to build skyscrapers……..im resurfacing motorways!

But at least im with a company now that are giving me oppurtunities to develop and get all the relevant experience to start working towards becoming accredited with the ICE!

I did notice there was very few summer placement when I was looking for jobs. In the end I worked 6 weeks for nothing just to get some experience. I know people say it but i really think that the recession dried up alot of construction work and therfore companies werent as keen to hand out paid summer placments and as many graduate training jobs.

I graduated with a BEng in Civil Engineering from Newcastle last year and I was the only one who went straight into a job in Engineeering. I applied to loads and loads of jobs too so I know from first hand experience how hard it is to get a job in engineering at the moment.

If you decide to do anything round Castleton/Edale kind of way instead would you post up here how it is. Heading there at the weekend so looking which bits to ride/avoid! Cheers

Ive got a weekend biking in the Peak District booked in. Looks like weve got the weather for it! Anyone know how the routes around ladybower and jacobs ladder will be holding up in this weather?