Just booked up for four of us. Hope to drink a lot of beer.

I’ve done it in a day twice, both with BHF and took 12 hours and ten hours. But conditions very good on both occasions and its still a slog, head down, painful in extremis, really shagged on the last 30 miles. Great sense of achievement but not really fun.

Last year did it in 2 days with mates, plenty of beer in the evenings and enjoyed the scenery more.

Good question and i think the answer is that a govt needs to make the decision to reflate the economy early enough and not at the last minute.

It also varies for different countries. So the markets will keep the faith with a much lager, relative, deficit in US that is still world’s main reserve currency in a way that the markets would not tolerate such profligacy from a smaller economy such as UK or Portugal.

Spending on investment (such as R&D or infrastructure) is obviously much better than spending on er general spending such as welfare or even the health service that does not create a direct return.

Guess where we have gone wrong?

otherwise we’d all be riding arround on Carrera’s that cost less than a pair of hope hoops and are perfectly adequate 90% of the time!

NNNOOOOOO!!! Thats all wrong. I like my Turner with DT Swiss hubs, carbon that and Titanium the other. Just stop it.

Could you not skirt south of London and then up through Surrey / Berks, Oxon / Cotswolds? Most of the ‘Midlands’ are well to the west of London so no need to get too far east and have to ride through the hell that is Herts / Beds / Milton Keynes.

I’m not sure that being above ground is the defining factor its just that root veg are all starch / carbs / sugar and above ground are all leafy / vitamins / minerals and for most people its the latter that they are lacking and the former that is easier to substitute with other stuff.

There must be a million and one articles saying that leafy green veg (cabbage, kale, spinach, broccoli, sprouts etc) are the thing we need to eat most / more of. Trouble is most of the time its not what we fancy plus unlike salad stuff it needs a bit of cooking.

I’m struggling to see why wind turbines should interfere with bile tracks, other than during construction that is fairly short term. Elsewhere in Wales I have ridden on bridleways within a 30 metres of working turbines, no fencing off, warning signs, disturbance or anything else ‘untoward’. The Trans Wales made a bit of a feature of riding through a massive wind farm up north of Rhayader and sure enough most people enjoyed it, all a bit surreal in a pleasant way. South Wales is the perfect place for them really – close to big towns and cities but not an overly sensitive landscape and its er windy. Bring ’em on.

So, apart from the homeoquackery, where are the “loony beliefs”?

Recommending that people talk to their flowers to encourage them to grow?

I’m quite sympathetic to a lot of homeopathy if people are paying for it themselves. Tiger’s c0ck soup is clearly wrong (IMO!) but acupuncture, osteopathy and loads of others seem to work well.

Looks like someone at Diageo who was at the ceremony got a bit carried away. It was a fairly unequivocal apology from head office. Brewdog is good but a bit up itself IMO. I still prefer Black Sheep and Summer Lightening and loads of other less aggressively marketed ales.

I always cringe at the post industrial awfulness of Glycorreg – pebbledashed terraces, self evident poverty with grassed over slag heaps for neighbours, dead end valley, clearly sod all jobs, best thing is road down the valley to the outside world. It needs wealth creating jobs period and whilst I doubt a wind farm will create many jobs it will hardly ruin unspoilt countryside.

180k-200k a year visit Afan

Sounds somewhat optimistic to me. 75,000 to 100,000 would be my guess.

20-30 cars in car park, less on week days, a few more parked at hotels and B&B etc. I hope the FC is getting a decent return on its investment (probably more feel good than financial) but somehow I suspect it wouldn’t work without a lump of cash from EU / central government / lottery or whatever.

OP, I’m curious, where do you live? How far were you from them when attempted theft happened?

Surely there is nothing new in the press attacking their own side? The Guardian was pretty critical of Blair and Brown. I’m not sure whether it is intellectual honesty, an annoyance that your own chosen party don’t do precisely as you wish / expect or just or just short attention spans by the media who are only interested in the next thing.

A lot of the things in that article were pish i thought. Pastygate was a nothing, the fuel debarcle was a cock up but hardly serious, the charity tax write off was a good idea (The Guardian thought so at least) and the pensioner tax thing was also another loophole / anomaly that needed closing. All done fairly ineptly it is true but compared to the real issues (like how to get the economy going, see other threads!) it was just so much Westminster / media bubble and no more.

I honestly don’t see why we should have hosepipe bans and not have these linked to reduced bills, after all the water companies are not providing the service we are paying for…

Well if you have a meter like most people (I understand) then less use will give you a lower bill. That said I agree the water cos are guilty of underinvestment, OFWAT is guilty of being too weak, successive govts are guilty of not modifying building and planning regs to reduce hard surfacing and so on.

All I wanted to do this weekend was to go for a nice ride in the Chilterns and admire some bluebells and now I am going to have to get the dreaded turbo out!

Wealthy professional Londoners, dwelling in the heart of a city criss-crossed with public transport (and with bicycle lanes for the fashionable), have little idea how dependent millions of British families are on their car

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-2123287/The-perils-Government-chums.html#ixzz1tR066VB5

The Daily Mail’s contempt for cyclists is laughable. So everyone that cycles to keep fit, save money, save time, (even save the planet) is doing it for ‘fashion’. What ****ts, no wonder I don’t read it.

The rest of the article is pretty pi$$ as well IMO but that bit was the worst.

Will Hutton was hardly in the wilderness in the mid to late 90s – his book was very much part of the zeitgeist, no?

Well he is much better regarded now I think. The trouble with this government is they say “we want to encourage the march of the makers” (G Osborne, June 22nd 2010, Emergency Budget) and then award the next big train contract to Siemens without any guarantees over the UK made content. And other examples almost weekly. No other country would do this, even USA, that actually has a very assertive and pro active industrial policy.

i think it requires cash!

If you are looking for boring ‘City’ type suits there are some mid market places that are sometimes affordable if you catch the sales, Austin Reed, Lewins, some of the stuff in John Lewis etc.

Something trendier try Paul Smith, Reiss???

I had one aged about 32, took up cycling, changed my life, never looked back. 12 yrs ago. its helped everything, work, friends, family, perspective on life.

I’d start by banning all that shite on TV for a start.

You’re not going to get rich quick by being a great singer or a model or by winning the lottery, you’ll get rich by working hard and making something of yourself. Build a business, rely on yourself, help your staff, grow, make stuff.

It’s actually insanely easy to rebuild the economy, trouble is, there’s too many people who think they’re smart, but are stupid, in charge.

On this matter Samuri, you are quite correct!

It will take a long time to make good the damage done by 30 years of Thetcherite / Blairite “the free market is always right”. There is a national groundswell for more manufacturing and less short termism and less flogging off of assets to foreign corporates but not much yet being done to make it happen. Will Hutton’s ‘The State We’re In’ covered it all off perfectly 15 years ago and whilst he was in the wilderness then he has been proved so right.

I do fear for today’s kids. They all need to have one eye on moving abroad.

Great thread and for once nearly everyone is talking sense! :-)

As TJ alluded, what has happened abroad?

Have you all signed the Addison Lee petition on Government website? He really does need to be brought round to seeing sense.

I know cameras flatten stuff out horribly and I have never been to Mabie but really what was the problem? The N Shore ramp fair enough but the topples towards the end??

Good vid though and the music was right choice.

My mate was told after buying a pair of carbon framed mountain bikes for him and GF that on no account should carbon frames ever be put on a Thule style roof rack as the arm that grips the down tube will cause it to crack. No idea if this is true but somewhat pi$$ed off my mate who had always been v prissy about the inside of his car!

Not sure if this applies to boot racks.

Racks also lead to bike getting covered in flies. Mud is Ok but not flies!

Bike shop by Lake in Riva del Garda, at the northern tip of the lake hires Cannondale Prophets (in 2008 at any rate) and connected to someone doing uplifts and guiding. Probably Carpentari judging from description above. Didn’t speak a lot of English (Austro – Italian) but well equipped, business like sort of place. Obsessed with having the tyres at 50 psi!

Boris.

Ex Dorset, now Hackney – not as bad for riding as you may think but it helps to leave home early to avoid traffic and then make a day of it. Surrey Hill, Thetford for racing, Chilterns, Swinley for racing, Beastway races in summer. Plus weekdays I can ride to work and not get involved in the nightmare that is driving or trains and tubes to work so a 90 min drive at weekend is worth it generally.

I must have done HONC 6 times and never wet. It was pretty much bone dry today despite rain earlier in the week. Didn’t like the cold wind though.

Why do they bother with check points if its not a race and they wont publish times? As long as you have paid (as evidenced by the sticker on helmet) what is the problem. And as 99% is Public RoW what is there to worry about. Very odd.

I also made it 1,820 metres of climbing and took 5:30.

Dido.

This was major arson and not just common and garden rioting hence the much bigger punishment. He hasn’t much to complain about in my view. Apart from damage and economic costs a fire like that could have easily killed some people. Just for creating that risk he deserves a long stretch.

time not distance!! 478 hours last year but that was too many. around 400 seems to result in the best results, most enjoyment and finest memories. Last year I was a knackered old diesel engine from July onward.

I think you are under rating improvements in suspension design around 2004-2006 when pro pedal and vpp came in. Suddenly 5-6″ bikes could be peddled uphill. The Spesh Enduro was billed (by Spesh and MBR) as that but surely a much more cumbersome beast than all the light (25-27 pound) 5-6″ bikes about now.

I think modern geometry is a big advance. I hated those steep head angles when I started in 2000.

As OP says, tyres have improved a lot, but arguably thats by evolution as well.

Wheels are loads better – there was nothing like Stans Crests and Alpines then was there?

In 2000 hydraulic discs were pretty rare and now almost mandatory.

What has changed in leaps and bounds is the price – so many new bikes now cost £4,000 plus. Low end bikes are better value than ever but top end?? I’m not sure, lots of frames are £2,000 plus today that would have bought you a full, top quartile bike ten years ago.

As mboy says.

Micro leaks around spoke nipples is normal surely and exactly why sealant is needed. I often get leaks around the valve as well that soon bung up with sealant. Use plenty, it doesn’t weigh much and its sealant that deals with all the thorns that will no longer be bothering you once you are tubeless.

‘Fellatio, masochism, politics and love’ by Leo Abse, a former Labour MP and social reformer behind most of the 1960s and 1970’s social revolution legislation. Quite heavy going and not p0rn at all but surprisingly interesting. All about Freudian analysis and how various politicians behaviour is explained by their upbringing, breast feeding (or not) and how their masochistic traits cause us all to suffer.

I commute in London on a heavy ish mtb with 2″ knobblies. I stop at lights and so my riding is a constant process of stop, wait, accelerate to max speed, about 20-25 mph, hold for 100 to 300 metres until next lights, slow, stop, repeat. Due to traffic and obstacles I couldn’t go any or much faster so a lighter bike would simply make it lesser exercise. Surely?

On the open road or trail is different.

1-10 deg full winter kit
10-15 base, long sleeve top and long sleeve Jersey over that with shorts or tights depending on which end of the scale the temp is at.
15+ shorts, base and short sleeve Jersey.

so what do you wear when it is below zero?

I find i tend to stay quite warm on my road bike as the effort is more constant whereas on mtb always stopping to chat, open gates and chat etc etc.

I am always amazed at how much kit a lot of cycle commuters wear. I can be in shorts and base layer and they are still bimbling about in waterproof trousers and jacket. We get something like 10 wet commutes a year in this London so very little need for the sweaty misery of Altura’s finest.

That said its a free world!

“you must hate it when it snows”; – how wrong can you be!

“Isn’t it dangerous?”; – er probably but its worth it

“But you don’t ride uphill surely?” – for me that is the best bit. Sorry.

Try riding in a group as road riding is quite good for chatting whilst on the move or even better ride through and off and really build up some speed and er lactic acid burn. Thats how to get fit. That mixed in with mtbing should keep you interested and fit.

Well until recently there was lots of big yellow earth moving equipment chugging away, even on a Sunday. Never tire of watching some of Caterpillar’s finest in action. Some very good earth moving going behind Kings Cross at the moment but big hydraulic shovels and dump trucks. Great.

I’m all for places being put back into their pre WW2 / modern agriculture phase that is way back far enough. The downs were cleared of trees thousands of years ago surely so for all intents and purposes being grass is their natural state, not trees? Heathland supports more wildlife than coniferous plantations and that seals it for me.

One good thing about plantations is that they soak up people and being so close to London and lots of toens that is what the Surrey Hills are so good at. If its open heathland it would be much harder feel away from the madding crowd.

Mixed deciduous woodland is what is best IMO. Giant oaks, bluebells beneath beech trees etc. Unbeatable.

There is a public path that traverses the site and passes 50 metres south of the main athletics stadium. Access from Stratfotd or Hackney sides. you can ride it or walk it.

There is a cafe half way along called IIRC Olympic Tube and some display boards pointing out what is what etc. V popular unsurprisingly. Not everyone is a miserabilist northerner. Lots of visitors and Londoners are interested and positive.

It is indeed pretty shameful and embarrassing but not half as bad as cash for honours. That was really the pits I thought but New Labour had the press so well covered and the Tories were so engaged in naval gazing that Labour got away with it.

Even with public funding lobbying is still permitted for the rich and corporates who get direct access and all we can do is write emails and do the odd e-petition.