I agree with most of that but Push is v close to me and its pretty cack I reckon – proper old school condescending and unwelcoming if you dont have some $hit retro fixie and its the size of my kitchen so v little stock. Mosquito is good and they survive by offering stuff noone else does so some interesting kit (Solo etc) and steel bikes.

Condor is good esp for clothes and stuff but closed on sundays. Good books / mags.

The biggest Cyclesurgery is Holborn or Spitalfields I think and there is a big Evans near both.

Bikefix in Lambs Conduit St WC1 caters for minority tastes so may be ‘interesting. Its a 5 min walk to Condor, Evans, Cyclesurgery and best of all the The Lamb pub 50 metres north of Bikefix. I would just go The Lamb and be done with it.

No but I’d like to.

two comments –

1) – the filming guy said “holy cow” and

2) – he called him “dude”.

Survey done. Its quite good to see that other people despair at littering as much as I do. I shall never buy another Clif bar – C***s.

It would be nice if the Knox family members would express their regret that their daughter’s room mate died every so often.

Her parents are continuously saying how sorry they are for the Kercher family and the death of Meredith. Long ago I read some pretty poor stuff about police blunders etc that made me suspect she was innocent. Hopefully she proves her innocence and gets let off. The Kerchers need to appreciate that two wrongs dont make a right etc etc.

Is there not some daft plot device whereby he only drives his customers for five minutes ? How likely is that ? Surely that is down there with the famous “it was all a dream I had in the shower”. I’m out already on that count, suspend disbelief yes, but rub our faces in ludicrous plotting as you have no better ideas, no.

This is a minor point so dont be put off by it. Its a great film, well shot and along way from some boggo standard action film. The violence is a bit nasty but its over quickly enough. First film I’ve seen in 4 years and well worth it.

I hate those machines!! Cant you just wait until they are all down, say mid December then rake them up. Why the need for a machine, for so much noise and extra wasted energy? As a STW user you must by definition be half decent but in my book the users of leaf blowers are complete *****s.

Tesco – too powerful, screw locals and suppliers.
Asda = favour imports, screw locals
anything Israeli – obviously. the real terror state
Volvo – a bit irrational but so what.
Nike – sweat shops, too American, omnipresent.

Generally I favour British, local, independent, non air freighted etc

I do 20 – 30 on a normal week and 30 – 50 on holiday. I record my units daily along with my weight and hours of riding. Obviously if this wasn’t anonymous I wouldn’t admit to that. I have an appalling weakness for beer.

Thank you pdw. That does seem fairly crystal as well as common sense.

Undertaking is mildly risky but not wrong / illegal / against Highway Code. I really don’t see how the rider can be at fault. The door opener probably just did not think so not malicious but it is their fault FWIW. Hopefully no-one hurt.

Officially (Met Service) say its been unusually cool and dry, referring to the southern half of England. Spring was nice and dry and good but July and August where a washout with my local woods in Wilts / Dorset a total mudfest in August – as bad as mid winter whereas in August 2010 they were dusty dry.

regarding the temperature there have been fewer than normal chances to eat outside, sun bathe and so on. my bro is a dairy farmer and hes been chuffed to bits with all the grass and thats a clear sign of damper conditions. Plus neighbouring arable farmers had a late, wet, messy harvest so hard to argue really re Dorset / Wilts.

That has to be the passenger or the driver (its the driver’s overall responsibility). I must say this is one of the many things I am paranoid about when riding. I try to avoid going within a door’s width of a parked car and always pass stationary stuff slowly to reduce impact should the door be opened.

I expect insurance is less of an issue than pain, injury and time off work for the poor cyclist.

No.

And I see the PC people have arrived too.

Living in a land where fear of every driver ‘mowing’ you down – it’s fine, if you want to let drivers cut in too close to you, cut you up, or knock you off – and your only response will be once of “oh dear chap, please don’t do that again”. That may be the fluffy little world you want to live in – but I’d rather let them know they’re idiots – because with your response, they really won’t give a sh*t.

In 20 yrs riding around London noone has ever got out of their car to confront me and I am the archtypal 10 stone, specky weed! Ride in an assertive but defensive way, use hand signals, decent lights when gloomy or dark and show some common courtesy to other raod users and pedestrians and you should be fine. Everyone i know that gets into arguments is an overly aggressive and often not very experienced rider. If I was confronted whether I scarpered or faced up to them would depend on their size, winesses and any obvious weaponary but I expect I would scarper.

Ride the Alps – very good for non uplift, cross country holidays especially if you have a ready made group.

That is seriously quick – well done mate. I seem to recall you were pretty quick at the TransWales in 2009.

Isn’t it a bit odd how the record has fallen so far and so fast in only 3 – 4 years since Rob Lee and Mike Cotty first went under the 24 hour mark? Bikes haven’t got noticeably better, knowledge of diet and training has hardly increased. So how come the massive improvements?

Of course Palestine should have statehood and the US and UK should be ashamed of themselves for falling for the old Israeli lines. Israel is THE terror state in the world, not Iraq, Afghanistan, N Korea or Iran. How someone as decent as Obama can fall for it is so depressing. Israel is the nastiest, meanest country on the planet, or at least alot of its inhabitants are.

one day I’m going to properly lose it BIG TIME with dickheads who overtake me in cars and then immediately turn left.

I quite agree but 350 metres probably doesn’t correspond to ‘cutting up’ (depending on speed and so on).

As everyone is picking on OP I will just add that alot of cyclists on the road (I’m think London commuters rather than hardened roadies) do ride like total idiots with no sense of their own self preservation, respect for other riders, pedestrians or motorists. Give us all a bad reputation and endanger themselves.

Obviously Ii hate it but then as OP says wet rides give immense satisfaction and often the trail conditions in rain aren’t too bad. the worst things are heavy rain, wearing glasses and when cold gets added to the mix. You just need to get out and moving.

You do get Peregrines in Wilts. For example there are some nesting in the quarry just eat of Mere (apparently) and people I know who claim to be able to recognise such things claim to have seem them passing over the plain. Very rare but not impossible.

Wonderbras.

Padded bras

I thought this was going to be an interesting thread..

Does anyone else think it’s a load of old todgers?

I agree.

Energy is not a limiting factor in growth albeit in the past oil price spikes have contributed to recessions, most notably in the 1970s. Not the case now however.

As for the Japan analogy I agree we may be facing a lost decade but both will have been caused by the collapse of asset bubbles caused by financial silliness, too much cheap money. For reasons I cannot recall such finance induced recessions take much longer to resolve than ones caused by inflation / interest rates or indeed oil prices.

I really don’t think the media has anything to do with it.

Hereford to Ross on Wye was vey calm and shallow back in June. No rapids or rocks.

Its good fun, I’ve done it twice but I have never done it in the rain. I guess the key things for any long ride are eat plenty, wear decent comfy kit, and yes, take a tent so you can have a rest at the end. Fast tyres are in order on SDW so nothing too heavy. Its nothing to get nervous about.

not very likely, they are all too busy harrassing innocent cyclists – gits.

I know that after the riots we are all supposed to feel sorry for the boys in blue but its pretty hard for me until they take the same attitude to motorists breaches as they do to a cyclists.

One of the best overtime deals going, great pensions and you can retire at about 45 so for a career it maybe has somethings going for it.

Chubby baggy suited clowns, porting huge camelbaks around, filled with sports drinks, first aid kits, energy bars, wearing the latest colours, sporting this seasons helmet du jour, with gps tracking in case we get lost, out for 5 hours, actually riding for 2, as we stop every 10minutes because Jason and Amanda are new to this…
It’s not a sport, its a jeffing mobile dinner party.

Nice. And often true.

XC racing is painful and you dont get many hours of riding for your cash plus chance of being shouted at by someone, nasty pile ups at first narrow point, having descents ruined by numpties and so on all put people off. To feel vaguely competitive you need a light bike that somewhat contradicts trends in general trail bikes where 120-160 mm travel and 27-30 lbs weight is now the norm.

That said Thetford and Gorrick pretty much sell out all winter and Beastway does quite well despite being in a hopeless location.

I cant do the graphics but how about:

fit,
skillful,
mechanical skills,
first aid.

I would score 8, 6, 2, 1.

I think it is true that far too many people in this country don’t work hard enough and spend too much time interfering in other peoples’ business. I have thought this for a long time and thought the Localism agenda would make it worse but too early to tell. However, asking about tyres or some other bike componant is hardly excessive nosiness or interference simply an effective way of learning or harmless curiosity. The point is noone is trying to stop you doing what you want, they are just curious.

I cannot imagine shopping in Halfords, I would feel ashamed but obviously some people feel differently. I cannot imagine not putting some thought into componant choice as it affects something I spend most of my leisure time doing.

Noone is interfering, noone is dictating – we arre still free(ish) and that is what counts.

Tyres are one of the biggest things you can do to change how the bike handles, so why wouldn’t you try a few out?

For the money, one of the best things you can buy for a bike.

I quite agree but to save changing tubeless I have three wheelsets for two bikes:-

Mavic 819s with 2.35 UST Nobby Nic and some old Conti thing for the Alps and northern rocks;

Stans Olympics with 2.1 Racing Ralphs for racing in dryish or dry conditions;

Stans Crests with 2.25 N Nics for damper conditions.

I think they are German so should, in theory at least be well dsigned and made but i did see one with a very odd looking rear suspension design.

Surely if its really muddy then you need a mud tyre on the front so you can steer?? The back is more likely to manage without a mud tyre surely? Last winter I ran a trailraker on the front and a 2.35 HR on the back (bought originally for Moab) that was surprisingly good. I was able to keep going uphill on the Salisbury Plain challenge long after most had quit and were pushing.

my nephew got married back in June. WGAF, I’m still more fit and able than loads of people half my age!

Cheers everyone – some good ideas there.

I don’t want to make light of this thread given tyredbiker’s posts, but it’s also one of the reasons I love STW despite the near constant bickering – in this case hh45’s post right in the middle of the other ones. Proper spat my coffee out.

Apologies, in typical impatient style I read five posts then went straight to the end and posted. My condolences to all those with real losses to cry over.

In Ikea, about ten years ago. Awful sodding place.

all quiet in Stokie (part of Hackney for those not from these parts) at the minute. I was about to have new windows and now if I wait I may get it done on the insurance!!

Eg a pregnant woman or woman with a young child is obviously “in her prime” and thus the depths of your brain thinks she would be a good choice.

er no!!

Nothing more terrifying than seeing a woman with a young child. there are dozens of reasons why she may have a child but none make her attractive to me. This probably works equally well for her so thats OK.

IMO – Yes. This last week has felt like October 2008 that is quite scary. Sadly I think we have all been suspending disbelief these last ten years. How did we kid ourselves the economy could be so good and that if if it went wrong then a Keynsian dollop of taxpayer money would right it? Debt is debt and has to be paid back. It’s going to be a long and slow few years I expect.

Is it limited access to Richmond Park as well? Thats jam packed on a normal sunday.