the first article i rememmber was about riding in the shadow of three different nuclear power stations (Quantocks, Snowdon and Lake District I recall) that was in an issue given out free at the Schwinn 100 in September 2001. Was that Issue 2?

amazing how pessimisticly wrong MB turned out to be.

Really embarrassing to the majority of farmers. Being clean and tidy is meant to be a key test of various environmental payments (I think) but its amazing how some places get away with being such a state, crap on the road, mountains of stinking black plastic, machinery rusting into the ground and so on. That said my neighbours back garden (here in London) is full of old fridges and prams etc gently rotting away and looking like crap. Even the back of my local Waitrose is full of junk so its defo not just farmers.

New build tends to achieve a premium that will not be there when you come to sell. Even in this weak market I expect the new build premium exists. In steady market reackoned to be about 10% so beware.

NHBC is just insurance not a real guarantee; i.e. Redrow won’t come round and fix a problem, it’ll be all forms and disclaimers.

Alot of new build is badly built even if insulation will tend to be better (obviously).

How do you know the new estate won’t be bought up by BTL investors, rented out to students and others who have no tie to the area, no community, no pride in keeping it clean and tidy etc?? (I don’t know the area so could be well off beam here.)

Victorian can be made well enough insulated, tend to have good room sizes, classic proportions, nice stuff like bay windows, high ceilings, decorative plaster work, fire places, established community and pretty much timeless market appeal.

If a flat then purpose built flats do have the massive advantage over conversions of solid floors with better leak and sound proofing.

Sadly your lawyers may be right, even in Leeds. Chancel has become an issue in recent yeas and some people have been badly caught out. Chances of being caught are slim (I don’t have any figures) but a £10,000 bill is not unheard of so for £25 I would commission the search. Sorry to be a misery!

blood sugar baby, sex magic, repeat until you finish the ride / race.

Personally I don’t like jumping lights but in the scenario you describe it seems silly not to jump. IME lights do not sit on red for ever even if it feels like it.

Good luck but please don’t commit yourself personally to a long term lease that could sink you if the business does not work out.

For some reason this issue seems to wind up motorists more than almost anything. Quite odd really as in most cases I can think of the roads are wide enough for themm to whiz by without having to slow down much at all. The fact is that road bikes just are not safe or reliable on lots of bike paths due to glass, pot holes / drain covers, moss, leaf lould / muck generally and that is before one adds in dumb ar$e walkers with ipods etc. For your sake I wish you had an alternative route.

I have a pair of 2.25 NN evo running tubless on Crests. A really all round grippy and lightish tyre that I love using but one side wall split on second ride and fixed with a patch but after 6 months was gettting worse so replaced. The other is fine after 9 months. I think that if I rode in very slate / rough rocks type of area I would go for something a bit more hefty.

Jads photo is hilarious. Pure unadulterated pleasure in that little boat……

My fave’s are:-

Black Sheep Ale

Tim Taylors Landlord

Youngs Ordinary

Harveys Best

Hopback Summer Lightning

Rumnners Up – too many to name but most IPAs, best bitters and even the odd winter ale when the weather is appropriate. As a southerner I have to admit that Yorkshire makes the best beer. Sadly my home brewery (Badger) is really poor but other Southern brewers make up for it.

You people all sound much worse than me. I hurt mine 4-5 times over 4-5 years, nasty pain on impact but always able to ride away even if driving home was a bit tricky as couldn’t get arm over top of steering wheel! Then one day I toppled over and it semi dislocated (“sub luxed”??) but slipped back in easily and pain stopped then a few months later it did it again in really pathetic circumstances so I went to GP, told him I had insurance, specialist said “if you must mtb then you ought to fix it”, so i did, 18 hours in hospital, 4 wks in full sling, 4 more weeks in half sling, nearly three months in total off the bike and now a year later hopefully its fixed. I have fallen off several times since but never in such a way as to wrench my arm backwards and it was that that hurt it. Hopefully was not a false diagnosis and it has worked but cannot be 100% until I have the right sort of crash.

Whilst soaking my camelbak bladder and some bottles I discovered that Miltons tabs do a great job but obviously only as high as you fill the sink. No scrubbing needed – just leave overnight. 2 tabs for one medium size Belfast sink.

I am another satisfied Henry user and also ex Dyson owner. Shame in some ways because Dyson does seem to have a good attitude to British R&D even if now made in Far East.

i was in a house recently where the bathroom was directly off the kitchen; i.e. one door only between the cooker and the WC. Seems wrong and presumably is but noone had died so far as I know.

Door from kitchen to garage – does it really matter? How down is the downside?

good question. really depends whether you are able to cook or not. Basic ingredients are v cheap, veg, pasta, rice, a bit of cheese/eggs/meat/fish and some bread and away you go – £25 per head per week max. If you are can’t cook and insist on buying M&S ready meals and loads of air freighted and out of season stuff (and you have a decent appetite) then I expect you are in for about 4x as much (and it will be much less healthy). you takes your choice…..

not quite, 9 times out of 10 I’ll be whacking off

is true but then so is this……

What really gets me is when out for a walk I eye up riding lines all the time

I have discovered some of my best stuff when out walking. I also work a fair bit, fanny about on certain forums and occasionally read the paper. And sleep and eat. I’m good at drinking as well.

I count hours not miles as my riding is split between mtb, road and commuting on road on a mtb (with fat, soft tyres)! 2010 was 392 hours but off the bike with arm in a sling until March 6th so not too bad. Best was 459 hours in 2006. I know an hour slogging through gloop is harder than an hour of cruising on flat tarmac on a 15lb road bike but counting distance would be more misleading I think.

I’m hoping to do four laps of Regents Park on my way into work in the morning. Is that what you had in mind?

as some people here say and numerous other threads and articles have already said you need to eat less rather than exercise more. You definitely need to cut out your mid morning and mid afternoon snacks. If you aren’t feeling hungry for 60-90 minutes leading up to each proper meal you aren’t trying hard enough. All day grazing is great for carbo loading but not losing weight!!

either way mine looks great in black.

As predicted public sector spending is rising as the cuts cause increased unemployment benefits and decreased revenues.

The reason spending is not going down (and quite worrying point) is that the cuts have barely started yet. Unemployment etc has not gone up much since the election. Most cuts begin in April and are then phased in (ramped up) over the four years to 2014/15.

I haven’t voted Tory in any of the six GEs I’ve been elegible to vote in but I think its wrong to describe him as a lightweight. By many accounts he is the ‘brains’ behind the Tories and Cameron is just the more presentable front man. Rather like Brown and Blair. Osborne appreciates he is cack at presentation, looks and sounds awful and comes accross as smug and aloof.

FWIW I reckon the next year and probably 3 years are going to be tough for most people but there won’t be a double dip recession – just a verly slow and prolonged recovery that feels like a recession. There is too much crap that needs sorting out before the economy can grow properly again. Personal and corporate debt, bad but hidden bad bank loans and so on are the main issues still to be resolved.

That russian website is amazing – talk about reducing dating to a transaction. I love the way they all say they only drink ‘on holidays’!! Liars surely. Detailed height and weight stats and nothing on character or personality. To hawk themselves around a site like that they must be desperate poor things.

I have heard from some people that alot of tarmaccing is going on and some companies are not updating their routes so alot of disappointment. I think it was either Exodus or Explore??? (sorry if being libellous – I’m just trying to help).

KE Adventure do a fairly hard core trip there and they tend to run good trips IME although not done Morocco with them.

stem length must be an issue here as well? Personally I find shorter bikes quite comfy, especially for longer rides even if you don’t look as good. I don’t find that a less racey position makes me any slower, I just get less stiffness and pain in my back on longer rides and steep descents are less scarey.

Seems to depend on the staff on the day. IME they are the pits and gave me some of the worst retail service I have ever had from any shop in any sector. In that sense that could hardly have got any worse but why risk it? I’d rather give my hard earned to anyone else.

I like using the C word as a verb.

and ‘mutha’;

‘flange’ is a good one;

and just bundling together lots of rude words into a big, nonsensical but imagination stoking mess. Childish I know.

I thought it was good, well organised, friendly and a perfect new year wake up. it did seem a bit easier than other years and another 5-10 KM and a bit less tarmac in the middle section would have made it even better but I don’t want to split hairs – I’m sure we’ll be back next year. Surprisingly it wasn’t that muddy and my 2.35 High Roller at the back and 2.25 Nobby Nic up front worked just fine.

It was also the biggest and best cake selection I have ever seen.

I must admit that fitting Nobby Nics to my Crests back in the spring I had to use a compressor to get them on.

I’m pretty sure that a coffee shop is A1 in planning terms, the same as the bakers it is now / was last so planning consent shouldn’t be necessary. That is one reason why corporate coffee shops / sandwich bars have spread so quickly.

Env Health will have a view on matters however but probably common sense – you don’t want to poison anyone do you?

I have sorted out alot of these places after they have gone bust and I have to say a population of 3-4,000 is on the small side and will make it a lifestyle business; i.e. you work bleeding hard for little return. Not necessarily a bad thing but don’t expect to pay off your mortgage with it. In a small town near me there is a Waitrose whose cafe is permantently jammed and a really decent independent coffee shop 250metres away that is empty and must be due to close soon. Totally unfair but somewhat predictable.

Gross profit should be 65-70% of turnover, net of VAT. Wages will be your big cost but hopefully under 35% of turnover (although this will depend on whether you many employ people or do it all yourself, taking your income from the profit). Ideally rent will be <12% of turnover. If you make 20-25% net profit you will have done well.

My biggest advice is don’t sign up for a long lease in your personal name or give a personal guarantee (PG) to anyone. Just don’t, I beg you.

Don’t be put off but don’t expect easy money.

Learn a language. In fact I may have a go myself but unsure whether to go for French that I know the most of already, Spanish that is easiest or Italian because I love the country so much.

my brother got wine from me, wine from my parents, beer from other brother and good pub guide from someone else. like you he will no doubt properly enjoy his presents.

this topic crops up alot and my theory is that jobs that sound crap are actually pretty good and vice versa. For me being a MTB guide would be terrible, going to the airport every week, fixing lazy sods’ bikes, having to ride slowly for some fat git, etc etc. Riding with a bunch of guests is hardly like riding with your mates is it?

Being an accountant say sounds boring but you earn loads (so you can afford to go skiing and riding and live in a house and own a decent bike or five etc), the job is transportable all over the world. So its all spreadsheets and email and conference calls and some of your colleagues are quite dull but not every courier / guide / musician etc is the life and soul.

I’m not an accountant BTW but I think the argument holds true.

Assuming you can’t cycle to work then I suggest you enter some local races. The thought of getting your ar$e whipped might shake you out of your lethargy and the races themselves will help alot. If you are in the south east you have got a huge choice between now and April – Thetfords, Gorricks, Salisbury Plain Winter Challenge etc. There are then all the non competitive events such as Evans rides and Southern Trail Rides that because they are organised tend to force you into actually doing something as opposed to thinking about it. If you live up north i can’t help you!

The number of miles is simple – the shorter of office-client or home-client. Use Multimap or whatever to give the mileage, not what the mileometer says.

This is what we make our staff do and as people say many people live along way from office but close to the client. Yes, it means invoices can be inconsistent but we can say that we are charging no more than we need to and not subsidising peoples commutes. Personally I hate the idea of people profitting from driving so am a bit of a pedant about the subject.

I live in N16 and had some done 2-3 years ago by (I think) London Sash Window Company based up in Barnet i think. Google will help i’m sure. £1,800 per sash and £4,500 per three sided bay and i think VAT was on top so appallingly pricey but i justified it by thinking that the cost probably increased the house value by the same amount as these open properly, have double glazing and obviously aren’t 110 yrs old with bits of rot and so on. House has been warmer and quieter for it so if you have a nice period house i would do it. Post war will probably look OK with UPVC. IMO.

Nothing wrong with the post here (that there London) but still no mag

ditto. (north London). but then i only finished reading last months this morning. and i have most of The Ride issue 4 to read as well so mustn’t complain.

I think ‘commuting’ was the operative word. And as someone with a flattish, shortish commute I can see their point because the biggest single determinant in London is red lights and junctions. Racing whether short Gorrick stuff or enduros or spotives then a lighter bike is definitely faster in my experience. Really flimsy or twitchy mtbs may slow you down on descents but that is only at the extreme.

Crests on Hope hubs, Olympics on DT 240s. I have a pair of each and both perfectly fine but 240s are much pricier than Hope hubs and not amazinglky lighter or more reliable.

Surely all that matters is that people are free to come and go or to stay as they please? The shame is that there aren’t more decent jobs going full stop. Personally I have done 17 years (out of 20)and hopefully will not move again. One guy clocked up 40 years last month. For me the grass is not always greener but it should be a free choice not diktat.