In my experience 90% of cyclists, including roadies say “hi” and give some form of minor acknowledgement and this is in Dorset / Wilts area on both road and mountain bikes. As do walkers. And horse riders although horse riders are probably the least sociable. Probably cos they’re arrogant, bike hating tossers and jealous that we don’t have huge at$ES like what they do.

depending on how hot your house is you should be fine. lots of stuff most of us keep in the fridge is fine out and if you have shops nearby then just buy stuff more often. In a large town there will be grocers and green grocers open thoughout the weekend and bank holidays.

Make dhall – fry spices on big heat, reduce heat and fry onion, add garlic, then add red lentils and cover in water and simmmer for 25-30 mins, adding water if need be. I add carrots and courgettes etc sometimes to bulk it up a bit. serve with a squeeze of lemon juice. go to bed and peg down the duvet.

My 5th HONC and all of them bone dry – seems April has better weather than most of May and June. Tarmac content about standard I think but not measured!

Got around the 100 on mtb in 4hr 59 so respectable but not a pb.

The hill was indeen a mutha but I rode it all in one go. Last year avoided granny ring altogether but when I saw that I just dropped straight into Granny no 1!!

I’ve used very dilute washing up liquid for ages only to be told “Don’t ever use that on a bike or a car where you value the paint”! The glossy paint on my Soul has dulled v quickly and my Turner as well but over much longer period. Also noticeable on a new Golf that where I had missed half the roof the water still beeded but not on the rest of the roof. I had always assumed car shamppoo was a marketing rip off but now I am not so sure. Used plain water this weekend!

That said it never noticeably affected the braking.

3 weeks ago they had the 5th larget quake in 100 years and not v far from Tokyo and nothing fell down. The whole nuclear problem was caused by the tidal wave not the ground shaking and they invest more in quake proof designs than any other country (quite logically of course) so I would go.

My mate Paul was there a week ago and said Tokyo was carrying on unaffected, no damage, no nuclear worries, no hassle. I appreciate that doesn’t mean a big one won’t hit when YOU are there.

I thought offensive ones weren’t allowed?

I did see W0NGA on a black BMW M3 a few years ago and thought briefly about whether this was ironic but as it was in Essex I doubted it.

How do you know the film wasn’t made in the 90’s? He looked out of shape in late 80’s if i recall correctly. Except in the c0ck dept obviously. :wink:

Mens MTb and two sessions on Velodrome. Max outlay (3 tickets for each) is £500 or £167 each for c 9 hours entertainment, once in a lifetime etc. I’ll also ride down to Surrey to watch the roadies for free.

Someone I know has applied for £9,000’s worth but he is a bit sport mad. He goes to every England footie game and went to SA for a month to watch last footie world cup. I live 2 miles from the Olympic Park, love cycling and have never been in a velodrome. I can watch stuff on telly any time.

some people here do have a miserable attitude but then we know that already.

The trouble with intervals is they really hurt so need lots of motivation! I think you need different lengths, say a 30 second and a 2-3 minutes and definitely on a gentle uphill. Not so steep you are wrenching off the bars but just enough gradient to make 2 minutes enough to vomit (almost, the acids in vomit will scar your paintwork). 30 secs is good for sprints and having the power for short steep bits and the 2 minutes ones will build real power for the long haul.

If you are into road bikes then find some others and chain gang it for 3 hours. Through and off every 20-40 seconds and never stopping. Thats why roadies are fit.

One of the many joys of living in Turkish / Kurdish north London is the fantastic range of beans and pulses that are available dry in lots of local shops. Just bought a kilo of white beans (similiar in size and shape to baked beans) for £2.50 and when soaked overnight and then boiled for an hour or two they will feed the 5,000. Cheap, tasty and nutritious.

Ride!!!!!!!!!! I’m taking the 11 days from Goood Friday to Spring bank holiday off; 11 days for 3 days holiday)and intend to ride every day.

Take the money. Couldn’t face the stress of getting a career going again and being skint through my 20’s. It would be nice to have ridden in my 20s (and never have smoked) but on balence I’d take the money.

I don’t believe that anyone can say for sure how best to deal with TB issue. never made clear why vaccination won’t work. I do think most people have missed the point however. Last year 40,000 cows were culled due to TB. Are they really less valuable than 1,000, or even 40,000 badgers? If so how? Badgers are protected so highly due to badger baiting in the 1970s but this barbaric sport would not come back even if badgers were less protected as its a demographic trend past its day. Why are badgers as protected as Golden Eagles, Ospreys or Otters? Bonkers.

he has the carbon footprint of a billion billion billion billion million thousand and three protons from the supernova of betelgeuse since the dawn of time

I was thinking exactly this as i watched it. Also wondering if they had to double back ever when in part five or whatever they remembered they wanted him blowing bubbles with a big desert behind him or whatever. Brilliant programme though. Great that not everything on telly is dumbed down guff.

Overall its a good thing and long overdue but it does seem logical that wages will have to rise to reflect loss of such a valuable benefit.

I don’t think the ‘race to bottom’ argument works becuase most firms in the private sector can’t see far enough into the future to take on the 40-60 year liability that a final salary pension is.

You also end up with the silly situation that some companies’ pension funds are bigger / worth more than the company itself (British Steel, BT, GPO etc).

takes roughly the same time as the walk and train and is loads more fun, not to mention putting me in a good mood for the day !

+1. Cycling to work is simply the best thing you can do IME; fitness, wakes you up, de-stresses you after work, enables you to eat more, its quicker, helps to justify even more kit, baffles colleagues, increases awareness of the seasons (birdsong this morning was nice) and makes me somewhat smug.

Parasites is a good word for these people. Investment banking contributes sod all to the real world, it just sucks in talent, skims off money and makes a few people very rich. Justice will catch up eventually.

Thats really bad (luck), I feel for you. hope you get it all fixed without too much cost.

My ‘hedging bets self’ would say nothing to be lost from going to the interview – it’s only a choice if you are offered the job, and if you think it’s not for you then you can turn it down.

By train its ok, read, watch i player etc. Thinking time has its own value.

I have seen a few people ignore job opportunities thinking something better will turn up and guess what – in a recession better things don’t always turn up, meanwhile you are a wasting asset so quit the navel gazing and at least use the interview to hone your technique and as bloke above says its only a tricky choice when you are offered it.

If you were in a sector with known troubles then be positive and as someone said have a decent one liner (not too flippant) then move on. I was made redundent in 1992 in what was the low point of a very bad recession and most people were very supportive / sympathetic. Losing it in late 2006 would not have got you much sympathy. You def must not not feel bad about yourself or it will come out in interviews – its hard but you must stay positive. More riding time, the next job may be better in lots of different ways, whatevr – just stay cheerful.

I’ve spectated twice in the Pyranees and really enjoyed it. Like most live sport you don’tget the best views or most up to date info but the atmosphere and sheer close proximity to the riders makes up for it (as it does at football). We stood half way up the Aspin just outside Arreau, watched the blue train ride past at extraordinairy speed, (gratifyingly they were in close to bottom gear but very aggressive cassette by my standards), Robbie McKeown at the back pull a wheelie etc etc then scooted back down the hill into a bar to watch the final climb (up the Tourmalet?? it was 2005) that Armstrong won quite easily.

Next year we were 70 metres from the finish at a Pyraneean ski resort and watched wheelsucker Hincapie outsprint some poor bloke for a stage victory – his first and only in the Tour if I remember correctly. The riders were so close you could have touched them and you see into their eyes and imagine the pain, the tiredness, the desperation.

We also watched sign on Lannemazen in 2004, all very informal, unpretentious, close up etc. Then rode off to watch then 50 km down the road.

Do it, its great.

I hate litter with a passion but 5 weeks ago at Afan I did not notice that much at all. Whereas the verges of the M11 , A14 and A11 between London and Thetford today were awash with plastic junk. Really depresses me how people can be so uncaring about this. Its the perfect job for community service I think or would people drop even more if they thought cons were going to have to pick it up?

Estate agents simply look at what the houses next door sold for when it comes to pricing.

How else are they supposed to value houses? How are shares, second hand cars or other stuff on ebay valued? Find some comparables and go from there.

Personally I think houses are wildly overvalued and that this is the elephant in the room that politicians don’t want to discuss because it it is too painfiul and contentious. The supply of houses is just way too low for the population / demand but unless we are prepared (personally I am not) to build all over what is left of our countryside, esp in the south, then the undersupply relative to demand will continue and prices will remain silly.

Governments could try restricting second homes and buy to lets and making councils and other statutory bodies allow use of their housing stock but very contentious and quite a blunt instrument. No government I have heard of has the balls for it.

A real shame and a waste of money. I know the Gap is not everyone’s cup of tea but it is a relatively wild part of Britain, especially the south, its a national park and close to the highest point in south Wales so why the f*** does it need road so smooth my mum could drive her Micra up it? How suburban does this country have to be? It is so exasperating.

And one of the worst things has been hydroformed tubes. Looks cack IMO.

For me one of the best things in recent years has been slacker head angles. Even in 2002 a 4″ xc trail bike like a stumpjumper had 70-71 degrees that was way to nervy on steep stuff.

snowdrops and crocuses / croci (?) in London. daffs not quite in flower but then my garden faces north and all shade at this time of year.

there used to be a US inspired place adjacent to the cricket ground. check first as was 6 yrs ago. was well run and family friendly. big portions.

As a Londoner I don’t stay in nearby hotels but there are loads of branded budget hotels around Victoria, Kings Cross (not as seedy and rough as a few years ago, quite family friendly), Euston, Old Street, Waterloo. Mainly modern purpose built and advertising from £40 (say) so must be able to find sub £120.

I have no issues with the ingredients. Have you ever tried drinking Youngs? Brewed with London tap water and tastes like it. What’s odd is how Fullers can make ten times better beer from Chiswick water than Youngs can from Wandle water. Possibly less Sloaney piss in it?

are you mad? Youngs ordinary is everything but. Fantastic, refreshing, tasty, not too strong. Its not an IPA so not strictly relevant to OP but you started this sub argument. London Pride is sweet muck IMO. Fullers ‘Bengal Lancer’ is a good IPA.

I finally got around to it in December after there was an appeal on the radio. very easy and efficient and free bourbons afterwards so well worth it plus i did if in office hours. i did feel weak on the bike for 3-4 days though. In sprinting between lights and generally chasing (catching) roadies etc, i.e. a typical urban commute, I just ran out of power after say 200 metres rather than the 400 i might usually manage before collapsing over the bars.

i seem to remember the worst thing was no being able to laugh or sneeze for about 3 weeks afterwards. personally i quite like the scar but i expect they have got smaller since 1982, like most chocolate bars.

Good on you. We have had five rescue dogs over last 30 years and four were / are fab. The 5th was 2 yrs old and could not be stopped from chasing the cats so had to go back. The other four have all been mongrels, very healthy, intelligent, long lived, well behaved with children, farm animals, cats, hens etc. Why people pi$$ away money on inbred pedigrees is a source of dismay and confusion to me.

In our experience being rescue doesn’t particularly limit your choice in terms of size, hair length, age, colour or sex. ours have come from RSPCA and a local Somerset rescue outfit.

I don’t like trail centres much but two weeks ago Afan was fairly dry and good fun whereas today in Surrey Hills it was muddy as hell and I felt bad from start to finish for adding further to the erosion and general cutting up of the trails and landscape. That said the Peaslake shop is a lot better than the now closed Glyncorryg cafe.

I’m getting more left wing as the harsh realisties of life (other peoples rather than mine) become more evident. Growing up in the south west in the 1980s there was no real debate or doubt over Tory policies like privatisation, selling council houses, closing down any industry that lost money for a two consecutive weeks, sucking up to America, watching millions of jobs go abroad and so on and now having lived in London for 20 years and met a few more people and witnessed the recession of the last three years and unwinding of the globalisation / financial services trick unwind, I think differently on all those issues.

For 2 yrs I had a UST Nevegal 2.1 and it was fantastic, really grippy on most stuff, not too heavy or overtly slow / draggy and no issues with longevity but maybe being UST it had bertter sidewalls. lasy year i ordered two non UST ones for a new bike and both tyres had staple holes in side walls so not great runtubeless and replacements were the same so i put on a pair of 2.35 NN and they have performed great too but they do have weak side walls I think but riding mainly in the south that is less of an issue. I’d be nervous of them if I rode rough rocks alot and HRs do seem to have fleshier sidewalls..

I have a 2.35 HR on another wheel and its pretty good but not as grippy in Moab as I thought it would be. Somewhat surprisingly it has been really good in mud on various occasions this winter (Salisbury Plain challennge for example). I have a 2.1 HR on the front sometimes and thats not good at all in loose stuff like say Thetford.

I find Shwalbe tyes are best for inflating on Stans rims FWIW.

away.

who or what is Shane Ritchie?

Ditto. who is he, heard the name but no idea what he does or where he does it. Sounds like someone from Neighbours.

my sis and bro in law moved there about ten yrs ago and now live about 70 k north of Auckland. no kids, just turning 50, like it alot, got citizenship and no plans to move back. clearly not all great, its not that hot and sunny (although it varies around the place obviously), its not crime free, drivers are cack, RoW are limited, there is not much history or culture – compared to western Europe anyway. but it is value for money, friendly, good social set up, decent room to live and move about, great walking, riding, some skiing, good diving, good sailing and so on.

No debt, no mortgage, credit card paid in full by DD every month.
In terms of disposable income, as opposed to gross income, I reckon I’m better off than almost anyone I know.
Living in a shed, dressing like a tramp and having simpletastes does have some advantages

Likewise. Mortgage paid off in 2-3 yrs and savings on the side to setle now if i felt like it. I’m sat here on a free lap top, free phone bill, wearing patched jeans that are 6 years old, in a house barely decorated in 8 yrs. I ran my last car to 130,000 miles despite much mocking at work and paid cash for a new one last year. My brother in law retired at 50 last year with a massive savings pot and not because he earnt mega bucks but because they lived modestly. Most consumerism is just a load of bobbins.

I do feel very sorry for todays grads though with a $hit jobs market and bonkers house prices. The class of 1986 were lucky in those respects.