A rider cheating on the bike is taking food off the table of the rider riding clean.

Not disagreeing with you there.

However, even clean riders have to take the opportunities coming their way. Gift horse and all that.

Yes, you will most likely have different HR rates for different activities. I’ve read that pace is a better guideline for training by zone than HR for running. Comparable to using power for zones if cycling.

I can go for an easy ride and have my average bpm sit around 150-160. An easy run at 6:00/km pace will have my bpm sit between 170-185.

I think it can be down to various factors. Like cardiovascular fitness for running not being developed as well as for cycling, training loads and so on.

Stacked with mystery money for me yesterday.

I think it’s right to expect a gold standard, whiter than white. It certainly won’t happen if we don’t expect it. (It might not if we do, but there’s a chance!)

Spectators can demand it, but the guy riding the bike has to put food on the table.

If it were a choice between keeping my principles intact versus riding with a team that would offer me the best chance at winning (or better pay) with slightly compromised morals then I know which one I’d take.

Changes are not going to happen overnight and until they do the riders still have to make a living.

I do have to ask myself why, if a rider was clean and proud to be seen to be clean, why Astana would be their choice of team, considering the associations with Armstrong, Contador and Vinokourov?

The contracts these guys get seem to be laughable compared to footballers, or even the cricketers! Perhaps he needs to be pragmatic and needs to make money while the sun is shining? Team sponsors seem to be drying up at an alarming rate.

I’d be really interested in seeing what the contract pays. Not endorsements and add-ons, but just what a team like maybe Belkin or IAM pay their riders.

People go on about Wiggins making a few million in his TdF winning year. A top 10 tennis player will bank that in a year in just prize money, with some of the guys banking 10s of millions in a year with endorsements. Perhaps we need to consider this before making statements that cyclists need to be whiter than white.

I thought this was what buildings insurance was for?

3rd week of August.

This year?

I got the Wiggle ones in the original PSA. They are perfect on my SS! Lovely fetching shade of orange 🙂

711mm?

Do you even shred brah?

Brant, why did you make the rear brake mount of the Whippet such a perfidious thing?

It is my perfect single speed/XC race/”light trail” bike otherwise.

I just want a lighter bike that looks good. If it’s aero then great!

If your price range is high enough to consider an aero bike then you’d struggle to buy a bad bike I reckon.

How wide are those bars!

When I was there I saw a few guys on road bikes. No idea about MTB.

Quite well. Rode with a mate and a new acquaintance so nice to have some company on the ride as I’m usually solo. Having some company meant I could push a bit harder. Downside is I’m a bit knackered today and am putting off today’s road ride as the day stretches on!

Using them for a build at the moment. Been very competitive on prices and good service. Will let you know once I collect my bike.

Not buying a Shan are you? 🙂

Have you considered any non-UK boarding schools?

Don’t know about you, but I’m a lot more careful spending money I’ve earned than money I’ve been given.

@ransos

The only things I can gather from what you’ve said so far is that you’re saving all your child benefit money for your kids, you don’t want them to do “menial” jobs at university, you wouldn’t have been able to get a 2:1 if you had to work during term time and your definition of “taking care of yourself” is very different to mine.

@ransos
Some excellent cherry picking from you there! Bravo!

I’d argue a student reading for a low hours degree they’re not engaging with has very little responsibility. Living away from home is not always a burden. I found the freedom exhilarating.

I’ve never said anywhere that managing a budget was easy. It becomes a lot easier if all of that budget is provided by Mum and Dad though.

My bike analogy was an attempt to illustrate that being fully provided for in a material sense doesn’t always yield the best outcome. Some people do better once the safety net has been taken away and they have to look after themselves.

If you feel giving your kids a full ride through uni works best for them then go for it. They’re your kids and you should know what’s best for them.

Past first year on most courses everything counts towards your final mark

Maybe, but graduate placements are applied for in your 3rd year. Job offers rely on your predicted grade based on your first 2 years so you’d do well to not neglect your 1st year.

Your average over the first two years is a good indicator of what you’ll wind up with degree classification wise.

I am not saying there’s anything wrong with learning for learning’s sake! However, I’d want to set expectations. If my child went to university to study anthropology, or a degree that didn’t have good employment prospects at the end of it then I’d discuss those before they went to uni.

I disagree that university is meant to be “some of the happiest times in their kids lives”.

It is a stage in your life which depending on what you’re doing, who’s around you and various other factors can be a good or a bad time, just like the other times. I am happier now than I was at university in several respects.

Of course I can see how that is the case for some people on a full ride cruising through their degree. Mum and Dad pay for everything, you have 3 hours of lectures a week that don’t challenge you, or you choose not to engage with, and have no exams (this was true for my neighbour in halls in his first year reading English Literature. He had to go in and have a discussion with his professor as to whether he felt he’d done enough to pass). No slight to people on such degrees intended.

I’d be pretty happy for a while if I had no responsibilities and no expenses.

Stuff costs money. Yes, I know that. But you don’t need stuff to make you happy. My latest bike is specced with an SLX/XT/Zee drivetrain, when once I thought I had to have XTR to be happy so I know this for a fact!

If your kids’ happiness is what’s important to you then you can do a lot better than just throw money at them for 3-4 years and hope they’ll deal with the shock of looking after themselves once it runs out. You can only protect them for so long right?

expecting students to work during term time to support themselves. It should not be expected

And students would also ideally take their degrees seriously and not see university as a 3 year vacation. We don’t live in an ideal world.

Economic realities meant I had to work. No question that I’d have done better academically if I’d had to work less in my final year.

At the same time, I did better than a lot of folk who had a full ride. They may have been better off academically if they’d been made to pay some of their way. It would have taught them the value of what they were getting and whether university really was for them.

When I’m old and grey and the kids have flown the nest then I would love to go back for a Masters in a maths or physics related subject. But that would just be learning for learning’s sake.

Finding the responses stating people don’t want their children to do “menial work” laughable. My first pay packet from my “menial job” was one of the best experiences of my life. I’m sure your daughter/son will be parachuted straight into a CTO/CFO/C-level job into a blue chip company that is working towards world peace instantly upon graduation!

Yeah, cos it’s not like they’ll spend the next forty fifty years working, is it?

Nobody puts a gun to our heads and forces us to do it. You could be accused of making your children accept the status quo. “Here you go son. I worked every day for 40 years till I retired and so will you. However, I love you so much that my largesse will extend to you having a few years postponing the real world while saddling yourself with debt and no guarantee of being able to pay it off.” Sounds joyous doesn’t it?

Why not give your kids 40k and tell them to start a business instead?

I am not sure why offense is being taken to asking an 18/19 year old to take a good hard look at why they want to go to university. Is a decision requiring such an enormous investment of time and money not worth some reflection?

@convert

To a degree we are talking about the same thing.

The pursuit of knowledge for its own sake is a noble thing, but university is not the only place that can be achieved. There are people on OU and distance learning courses who get more out of it than most people at Oxbridge or a Russell Group university studying the same thing.

University today to me is a place you go to in order to maximise your earning potential. You need to get out with a 2:1 minimum, preferably a year in industry, or some internships relevant to the field you want to enter post-graduation and a job offer lined up once you graduate.

If my child expressed a desire to go then I’d suggest they formulated a clear idea of what they wanted from university first.

when my son goes I want him to experience it properly not spend all his time working.

When did university become “an experience”?

I went because I wanted to learn and because my university was decent at a sport I played and offered me a great opportunity to do both. I’d also argue it made me who I am today by teaching me how to juggle responsibilities and by offering me a good look at what life would look like. Of course I had fun, but I don’t think university should be lumped into “an experience” to be had in your late teens/early twenties. It is far more valuable than that.

That’s Durham university for you…

(Was it?)

Russell Group, but not Durham. 🙂

Probably the same experience at any of those to be honest!

but he really isn’t interested in the whole ‘going out getting pissed’ thing.

If he’s not a complete hermit then he will be peer pressured, or not want to be the odd one out when people make plans to go out.

Oh, and remember there are the, ummm, romantic considerations.

Depends on his degree as to whether he can work or not.

I was an engineering student with 37 hours a week of lectures (including labs) in the first year.It dropped off to about 20-25 hours a week in year 2 and 3, but there was still a lot of time outside uni taken up in projects, assignments, coursework and revision in all 3 years. I also played sport for university at BUSA Div I level and a bit for my club/county so there were practices for those things and matches on top of that. He may have to make a decision if he plays any sport about how seriously he wants to take it.

I didn’t work part time in my first year at term-time, but I worked two jobs, sometimes 3 during the holidays in my final year. My parents paid my first term’s accommodation and that was it. I was not eligible for a loan either, so it was pretty hard going.

My relatives would see me once or twice a term and give me a few quid here and there, and take me out for dinner and so on. It really helped that I was in a catered hall too. I don’t know if I could have managed it self catered in the first year.

I’d like to think I’d have done better academically and sports wise in my first year if I’d been better funded. It was gutting to see other students in my halls and on the team spend money like it was going out of fashion. They were good folk, but it’s hard to stomach when you’re taking a fiver out of your overdraft for a night out and some kids are planning skiing weekends and holidays. Dropout rate in engineering after the first year was crazy as well. The effort I had to put in meant I saw my degree through to the end too.

I’d suggest a compromise. Instead of cash, say you pay for a fortnightly supermarket shop. If he rides, or plays sport, say you pay for consumables, or kit.

Of course, this all depends on how good your child already is at managing money and self control on the booze.

Rapha when I can get hold of the discounts.

Sportful too.

My DHB kit gets used for commuting and shorter MTB rides. The higher end race stuff is ok too. Decent pad, but not on par with the Sportful race pads.

It’s clipless pedals’ fault.

I have to wear special shoes to pedal my bike. So I get those out.

Once I have those, I have to wear my special cycling socks.

Once those are out, I may as well get my cycling specific shorts.

But those feel so much comfier with a bib.

The bib feels comfier if you have a base layer on. Reduces any chafing you see.

Seems stupid to have a base layer on and wear a cotton t-shirt with it. Where’s my cycling jersey made out of that amazing technical fabric?

By this time I realise I’ve forgotten my HR monitor and have to take off everything anyway.

But it’s the clipless pedals’ fault. It really is.

Well, I tried this today.

I’m quicker uphill. Certainly makes your heart rate spike once you give it the gas unlike seated climbing does!

Don’t they only have a certain range before they run out of juice?

No idea what his BMI has to do with how he climbs. And a bit ironic some vegan dude is using Contador as an example. Steak anyone?

Quite reassuring to know AC uses a compact though!

Dude on a dual crown monstrosity is in front of me, I pull up alongside at 35kmph. He looks left at me, and accelerates away. My jaw drops and I am destroyed. Then I realise as he’s pulling away that he is not even pedalling!

Seen him around the area a couple of times after that. It’s bizarre how it scoots away even when he’s not pedalling!

Patron, the brown stuff. You drink it like whiskey.

Those were the days. Now a single beer goes straight to my head.

Great video using Armstrong, Pantani and Ulrich to give climbing tips.

In that vein, I too have a tip: keep you haematocrit levels high!

The keep your body still while moving the bike around sort of makes sense.

I ride my SS. But I don’t throw it around all over the place! I stand up, I gurn and the pedals turn over.

With the longer climbs, I swear some people just do it for show. These are hills I can climb, at the same pace as them, but seated. Who do these guys think they are? Coming along and doing their “snake riding a bike” impressions. Making me look like a seated fuddy-duddy.

Why do some people insist of having a capital letter on every word in thread titles?

It’s one of the accepted conventions when writing a title isn’t it?

Anyway, I’ll try the side to side thing this weekend. I still think it’s one of those last resort things where you’ve got into the last gear available, stood up and then still need a bit more power.

Maybe someone with a power meter can test it out 🙂

He only does it for show. Honestly.

But he looks so cool!

Whatever you do, do not try a last minute cassette change the night before you have to pack your bike away. Take some wet weather gear just in case the weather turns.

If you’re going to change your cassette (or any other kit) then do it now and get a ride in on it to make sure there are no surprises.

There’s a hard techy climb with 2 or 3 very large square edge rocks that I use as my ‘test’ ground.

Sod the tyre pressures. How did you get the wife to let you build that in the garden?