being particular unsuccessful at “pulling” in a nightclub i would regularly seek out the prettiest female there and ruin her chances by dropping my guts next to her.

The tribal wisdom of the Dakota Indians,passed on from generation to generation, says that,”When you discover that you are riding a dead horse, the best strategy is to dismount.”
However, in our more advanced societies our governments developed alternative strategies that are often employed, such as:
1. Buying a stronger whip.
2. Changing riders.
3. Appointing a committee to study the horse.
4. Arranging to visit other countries to see how other cultures ride dead horses.
5. Lowering the standards so that dead horses can be included.
6. Reclassifying the dead horse as living-impaired.
7. Hiring outside contractors to ride the dead horse.
8. Harnessing several dead horses together to increase speed.
9. Providing additional funding and/or training to increase dead horse’s performance.
10. Doing a productivity study to see if lighter riders would improve the dead horse’s performance.
11. Declaring that as the dead horse does not have to be fed, it is less costly,carries lower overhead and therefore contributes substantially more to the bottom line of the economy than do some other horses.
12. Rewriting the expected performance requirements for all horses.
And of course…
13. Promoting the dead horse to a supervisory position.

this thread of discussing national economics on stw reminded me of a dead horse.

i’ve got a toppeak seat on the back of my ’96 heihei and i’ve only used it 4 times, because the weight of junior in the seat means that i have to lean forward as counter balance and consequently get numb plums after 20 mins of riding. junior is now 2 years old and i got a bellini trailer from halfords and i can ride for longer (although i think he preferred the rear seat).

in summary – i wouldn’t put a child seat on a xc race bike

for all you knackered riders:
there were 3 riders aged just 9 years old doing the 50k

twas me who was signing some of you happy lot in and out at the start/finish.
did hear several comments about people getting lost on Cleeve and several missing the food stop, too; and we do listen to constructive criticism.

the event has evolved over the 20+ years of running it (i’ve been involved since 1989).
the route is deliberately run clockwise/anti-clockwise alternate years and changed so repeat riders don’t look to beat personal bests for the same route; as we cannot have it as a race on public roads.

as a marshall, stood out in the cold from 7am till gone 5pm it is nice to hear thank yous and comments on these forums, and we find that 99% of entrants are positive, happy, friendly and up for a bit of banter. There is always the 1% that grab the starter packs and just grunt, but i know karma will even things out 🙂

hora – nothing wrong with that – is she fit? there are a couple of rather attractive ladies at the nursery that keep saying my boy is soooo cute and doesn’t he look like his father! (they don’t cuddle me though) 🙁

my boy doesn’t mind noise at night (can mow the lawn 30 mins after he goes to sleep), but when he wakes up – he wakes up. on a bad night that is 1am, 3pm and 5pm!

is yours sleeping through?

hide-e-ho strangers.
my boy is the same age as hora’s.

happy lad, always gabbling on but can only really say tractor and daddy -bless
but only sleeps til 4-5am and gets stroppy 50% of nappy time; and when he has finished his food and still sat in the high chair.
he still occasionally bits mummy but rarely me.
he is at nursery 2 days a week and one of the ladies seams pleased to tell me and mrs fg what went wrong that day. this never bothers me but mrs fg then gets paranoid the we are raising junior badly.
to the op. – your lad is fine, don’t worry, but more importantlykeep reassuring your wife that she is doing a brilliant job – trust me if she goes down that spiral then you are in for some hard work; hence my absence from here and only 5 rides in 5 months

davieg – i bought a topeak one and fitted to my 1996 kona hei hei. my 15 month old son is the coolest retrobike baby ever – fact!
but on a more serious note i can only manage to ride 4 miles with him on the back. the raised centre of gravity is horrible. you end up constantly leaning forward to compensate for the rear weight (approx 20kg) that your hands and nuts go numb.

i wish i had spent my money on a trailer baby carrier.

one the plus side my son loves it!

hth

Oi! lets have a bit more solidarity from the Mendip locals there!

should that read a bit more solidarity from the Mencap locals – judging the picture? 😉

my dad got diagnosed with prostrate cancer in the summer of 2009. Because he had medical insurance at work he got treated at a specialist clinic in london in october of that year and even had his first 3 month check up before the nhs letter came through refering him to a specialist!
18 months on he has repeated “all clear” check ups and has lived to see my new son.

keep strong and enjoy true family and friends.

just keep repeating “why?” to your child – see how they like it!

i have been informed that headlocks are not the correct way to control a 2 year old. similarly chinese burns should not be used by child or parent. FACT

hi hora,
11 month old mini FG has had a second ear infection since xmas; although the first one cleared up with the pescribed penicillin within 5 days.
this time he has had a raging temperature that we have been controlling with alternating cowpol and neurofen; and standing outside at 3am with mini fg just in his nappy.
i’ve had a total of 10 hours sleep since thursday morning. Why does sleep depravation give you a headache

how much would you value a 1996 17″ kona hei hei with full xt f80 fork and mavic sunset xt/hope wheelset?

to the right person it could be £….

worcester sauce – peps up anything (except lady front bottom)

thanks for all your replies. i have forwarded this thread so he can see what a good bunch of folks lurk in these parts.

he test rode a cannondale and thought it was too stretched out (in the top tube), i didn’t think ‘dales were especially long?
i think someone has got him to ride a large bike instead of medium.
he didn’t like the ride of the trek or marin either?
he has got girlie leg to torso measurement ratio, so that might explain a lot

i believe he lives in settle and works in lancaster.
mtb friendly shop recommendations in the area could also help.
funcydunc – he is an uphill stomper rather than a sit and spin type rider, so i agree 100 – 120 max upfront unless everyone says its nothing but rock gardens out there.

isn’t strange how we assume what the terrain is like away from our own patch – simply by magazine articles and tv?

i assume the ground round there is granite grit and that mud clearance shouldn’t be a major consideration?

please flame me if i am wrong 😉

don’t listen to goz – he’s been sniffing the gt85 again 🙂

buy yourself a new land rover and spend all your free time mending it 😯

freelander 2
-loads of torque
-comfortable ride
-35 mpg

against
-price might be high, don’t know about second hand cost of them
-reliability in Oz (reasonable in uk)

if it was my money i would have a land cruiser out there (or a LR defender) but judging you by your post you really won’t put up with one of those 🙂

ghost town – by the specials reminds me of my primary school days when everyone wore dr martens boots in 1981?
real gone kid – by deacon blue being played at by local radio at the end of a stage of the milk race in malvern in about 1990
for an angel – by paul van dyke being played by pvd at bournmouth convention centre at a xmas opera house special 1998
pretty fly for a white guy – offspring played on a dive boat north of Cairns in 1999

happy dayz

me n mrs fg got group mugged when doing a guided tour around a spice farm; 4 blokes with machetes and a pistol! 😯
spent 3 days in zanzibar including 1 night in stonetown and the other 2 up north at a beach resort.
prefered kenya to be honest

the singing kettle around colwall side is always my favourite malvern bike cafe

chicks dig scars!

get well soon

what’s a server?

thought all this lot was all done by electrickery?

best get back to ploughing my field

we’ve got a miele washer dryer (condenser) – but not built in and that has lasted 10 faultless years (kiss of death) in the lovely cotswold hard water area.
hth

i would love to be a river keeper/ghillee on a hampshire estate, or a road train driver in australia.

random, i know.

spooky – my 8 month old had a temp of 39.5 yesterday evening; his bedroom temp was 20 degres so we took him out of his grobag,checked for rashes, put a cool damp flannel in his forehead and gave him 2.5ml ibroprofen and 2.5ml of calpol. Within 30 mins his temp was down to 37.7; and it was the same this morning, too.
we have put this down to teething but will be watching him closely.

i now know the anxiety of a sick child 😐

i started subscribing on issue 3 or 4; but have copies from issue 2.
my old mate pete showed me the first issue and i really enjoyed it.
i stopped my subscription on issue 51 as i found the magazine getting more “140mm hardtaily” instead of the “100mm just bimbling along with the occasional blast” type of riding that i tend to do.

hope that makes sense?

no you can’t just watch, you perv.
there are several pensioners that join in at a low level and two recently new mums that work out so you can go at your own pace.
sleep depravation caused by my 8 month old son is preventing me from going for the last few months but i shall be back (i’ve been going there for the past 8 years or so and during crappy weather periods it has helped me keep my base fitness)

i can recommend a step aerobics class in tewkesbury with lots of very nice ladies in it that can help you regain fitness and motivate your mojo?

monkeyfudger – low second, engine brake all the way to the bottom, feet clear of all pedals and blip the throttle when the front wheels touched the horizontal.

i wouldnt take a 90 or 110 up it unless i had a roll cage though; not worth the risk in my book

i thought the vote was for sports PERSONALITY of the year.
that rules cav out straight away.
Bradley wiggens is the best cycling personality in my opionion

give it to me to wash.
i can shrink the unshrinkable with my cack handed washing ability

“think of the defender as a comfortable and nippy tractor”

lol

jcb have the fast trac; land rover has the defender

0% here; same as last 3 years;
The building industry is not a fun place to be in at the moment

check the rear cross member (usually the first to go of the chassis members); then check the bulkhead usually around the top door hinge/vent flap area; then have a look at the footwell as they are very prone to rotting.
the 2.5 turbo diesel was the old 2.5 naturally aspirated diesel with a turbo bolted on, and some then blew up!
i have seen 200tdis with a galvanised chassis for £3500. it was a pick up, but this can be changed for a hardtop for about £300.
remember if your buying ex military that they don’t have power steering; i think some civvy version didn’t have it either.

land rovers

on my old series 3 land rover i had been known to stand on the bonnet and use a bodily function to clear the split screen of ice; i’m suprised that nobody else uses that trick?

that

black friday was always the crappest clubbing night of the year when the place would fill up with pissed up blokes and really ruff women and i would guenuinely be more worried about being lamped by a “woman” than a bloke.
bother in law used to work the door at flairs in southampton so that would sound like a typical night for him