I’m sort of going through this with my nephew. His parents don’t really ride bikes much, but I’ve managed to persuade him that cycling is a really fun thing to do and he always gets his balance bike out to play on when I go round (his Christmas present from me). The thing is that much as he loves walking round on it, he doesn’t really balance. His parents don’t really know what he’s meant to be doing and were surprised when one of his friends was much, much, better on it than he is.

This triggered competitive dad syndrome and apparently he’s having a balance bike lesson when they go to Center Parcs next week 🙂

At the moment he’s desperate for a bike with pedals, because he doesn’t really understand why mine has pedals but his doesn’t and why he needs to learn to ride the balance bike first. He will be getting a proper bike for his 4th birthday (March) but I’d quite like to have him balancing on what he’s got before then or I can see the stabilisers coming out.

(on that subject, should I just go for an Islabike or is there anything else that’s worth a look for that sort of age?)

Road cycling in Normandy

I broke mine nearly 10 years ago. It’s still visibly swollen and I don’t have full mobility, but it’s good enough. I sometimes get aches in it too, mainly when I’m sitting with it in an uncomfortable position – it’s happier when moving.

I’ve never had issues with the pins rubbing thankfully. And I’ve run marathons on it so it doesn’t stop me doing stuff, But I’m nearly always aware of it.

Sods law has hit. Not on the bike but I managed to trip myself up and go flying while running and now have some impressive pavement rash down my leg, cut knee and palms…

Twice in a week on my road bike in late feb/early march. The first I hit a sticky out bit of kerb and went over the bars, the second a car took me out. The lack of falls since then is possibly in part due to the fact that I’ve not dared attempt anything tricky as I rebuild my confidence! Getting there though, and I almost fell off last week when I couldn’t quite make it up a steep muddy slope and started sliding back down as I desperately tried to unclip before I toppled.

We smuggled mountain bikes into a mercure (in the uk) for two nights the other week, no-one looked bothered. A ground floor room helped. Taking the road bikes to France over the bank holiday so will be trying similar – fingers crossed!

I have to say I don’t like this idea of assuming consent if it’s been given once. As far as I’m concerned I have the right to say no to sex on any given occasion, and whoever I’m with should respect that. I might be tired (or asleep…), or have a headache, or just not fancy it. Just because I’ve had sex with him in the past, and will do again in the future, does not give him the right to disregard my wishes and force it on me. Or indeed if I change my mind as once happened during a drunken night as a student when I sobered up just in time to realise that I would regret what I was about to do in the morning. In particular, the idea that you’re fair game if you’re asleep and have previously consented worries me.

OK, in the context of a longer term relationship it’s probably more about saying no on occasion than expressly saying yes every time, and it would probably turn into a row rather than me running to the police crying rape, but that doesn’t make it “right”.

And anyway, this whole thing isn’t *just* about rape anyway, but Galloway has done himself no favours wading in with that.

It depends what you include. The core stable is:

Road bike
Cross/commute bike
Hardtail
Hybrid (old commute bike, might make it to a pub occasionally)

Added to that, OH’s hardtail also lives in the garage and one of his other bikes is often floating around too. There’s also my old road bike which is unrideable after a crash but still in the garage because I intend to salvage bits from it but never get round to it, and my sister’s old bike which lives with at my house too.

I’m about to buy another road bike to live at my parents house in Spain (second hand, but it will save me renting when I go out there).

What do you want to do there? My parents live in GC and love it, my sister and brother in law used to but came home to get “proper” jobs and start a family.

I use a pompetamine with alfine as my commuter and love it for the job (although less so as I’m hauling it up the hill on the way home). I only live about 5 miles from work but tend to do a more scenic route in one direction so maybe 15 + 5 including various gentle off road bits.

A lot of English consumer law is based on eu law and *should* have been implemented in othe countries but although it should be there, it’s dependent on how/whether the country in question has done it. But the basic thinking behind it is giving consumers the confidence to make the most of the free market by having similar protection Europe wide.

I paid £45 (x2) and to be honest I don’t regret it, refund or no refund. It was in one of the later rounds of tickets and I was just grateful to get something finally. I can write it off as being more like the Ryanair pricing model of “we’ll sell some seats cheap and some identical ones will be more expensive once those have gone”. But I’ll be keeping an eye on it and may claim a refund if it looks like a simple process.

Driving south tonight, heading to the MTB at hadleigh tomorrow, London for the men’s marathon on Sunday, drive back home.

I’ve been to see the Alistair Brownlee one and we should be getting another one in Leeds for Nicola Adams 🙂

I’ve jumped in a puddle on the moors to get out of the way of the brownlees and I’m above alistair in the Leeds parkrun most wins table.

Womens for me, planning to drive to within a sensible distance and cycle in from there, taking the cheapest bike.

Now I need to work out a plan that’s a bit more specific than that!

I like sustrans style routes. I like to think of myself a relatively confident and competent road cyclist. I’ll happily go out on the road bike and mix it with traffic. But after I was knocked off my bike commuting to work in March I started using off road routes to get my confidence back, and it’s just so much nicer to commute along them than it is to mix it with rush hour traffic. I have to go a bit out of my way and I end up going a bit slower, but I’ll happily do that for the much more pleasant experience it gives me, particularly in summer. It’s so much nicer to commute along a canal towpath or on a signed cycle path that cuts through parks and woodland, and actually get to see some greenery rather than just exhaust fumes. I used to commute on a road bike. I now have a cross bike and I’ve even fitted a bell to it.

I do think that cycle paths would help to get new people into cycling and build up their confidence to attempt the roads. Existing cyclists will cycle anyway, it’s the new people who need encouragement. It doesn’t have to be one or the other (indeed most people will have to do at least short distances on the road to link up off road routes and get to them in the first place). And the cycle paths I use are *far* better than most of the on road cycle provision round here.

It’s not the answer everywhere, but as far as I can see it’s more likely to get beginners on a bike than the other alternatives.

I *am* the mrs and to his disappointment I have more disposable income (and thus more shiny new bikes) than he does :p

It’s his own fault, I was happy pootling round on my hybrid when we got together…

I love it. During the tour I acquired instant status at work when I was one of the few people who understood what was going on and had gone to see it in person. My presence in front of the tv in reception during the time trial was permitted because I could explain it to the other skivers. And people no longer think I’m quite so mad for spending chunks of money on bikes.

I’m glad I don’t need to explain the Madison though…

Under the dpa you don’t need to know exactly what you want – ask for everything they have on you with enough detail to let them identify you. You don’t need to know the exact name of the document you’re looking for – and you may get additional info about you rather than just the charge sheet.

That’s the sprint not the pursuit? The only sport where the sprinters go as slow as they can at first!

I like track cycling and I Still don’t understand the Madison…

Shivers down the spine!

Park and cycle exists in York. Parking at the park and ride sites is free if you continue your journey by bus, foot or bike. I actually checked last time I parked there (not a regular York commuter but took my bike over one day).

I hate to admit it given that I’m mainly a roadie, but in towns my favoured solution is off road segregated cycle paths – not pavement ones but the type that cuts across parks, along canal towpaths, disused railway lines and so on. There is space away from the road network that doesn’t involve squeezing everyone into the same space. For me urban cycling is about safety not speed (or strava ;)). I’ll happily ride a bit slower and deal with pedestrians if it means greenery and trees rather than traffic fumes and left hooks.

I think that the timing was wrong, and as a response to a question about someone being killed by a bus it probably wasn’t the best thing he could have said. I suspect that if he’d known that particular question was coming he might have come up with a better response, but it’s probably not the question you expect in a press conference after winning a gold medal – I don’t know timing wise whether it would have been the first he even heard about the accident (I was at a work thing yesterday evening so didn’t see it unfold live).

It also seems to have been twisted by the media, but underlying what he said I do think that there’s an element of truth. Badly expressed and badly timed truth possibly, but he still has a point. With rights come responsibilities. We may have a right to use the roads, but we still have the responsibility to do so sensibly and to take care of our own safety rather than relying on other people to do it for us. If we want to be given the same respect as other traffic then we have to behave like traffic and play to largely the same rules as cars. And if we want other people to take our safety seriously we have to take it seriously ourselves. It’s not just about helmets, however good that is as a headline.

If that means having clearer standards about what we should and shouldn’t be doing then I can live with that. I’m not in favour of mandatory absolutes and I’m not sure that legislation is the way to do it, (although I do wear a helmet pretty much all of the time), but I agree with the principle that you should at least *think* about what level of safety equipment or other precautions are appropriate for the ride or manoeuvre you’re doing. Some of the people I see on bikes seem to have bypassed that step altogether. If I get hit by a car then regardless of the degree of culpability on the driver’s side I want to know that there’s nothing *I* could reasonably have done to make myself safer or to reduce the extent of my injuries. (speaking as someone who *has* been hit by a car a mile or so away from her house and was rather pleased she was wearing a helmet – short journey or not)

As I said, there were probably better times and places to make that point, in a way that couldn’t be distorted by the media. But in all the emotion about yesterday I’m not going to crucify him for it.

Riding my own bikes – no. I always wear a helmet anyway.

Riding Boris Bikes – yes. I wouldn’t cart a helmet into London on the off chance I wanted to use a bike.

I do both, and don’t see the conflict. There are very few paid for 5ks round here anyway and if I want to race any other distance (which I do!) then I’ll do a paid for race. Loads of people have got into running through parkrun and my view is that it increases the pool of people who might do club races in the future. Win win.

It struck me that anyone with any knowledge of cycling would have known that a cav win was entirely dependent on the tactics of the other teams, not just how strong gb are and how they rode. But the BBC seemed to be treating it as te biggest upset in the world ever at times which did start to wind me up.

Still, plenty more Brits to cheer on

The most successful thing I’ve seen to reduce speed limits in towns is where my parents live in Spain. The town is sort of on a grid pattern (mainly) and other than the main street there aren’t really any through roads – at each junction the roads alternate between having right of way and a stop line (although in reality few people stop completely – it’s more of a give way). It keeps speeds down really well because there isn’t enough distance between stop lines to build up any real speed, and you’ve got to be constantly vigilant about something with right of way flying out of a side street.

As a driver it’s a bit frustrating sometimes, but on a bike it makes a huge difference – you’re travelling at pretty much the same speed as the traffic sometimes and they seem in far less of a hurry to get past you (or at least until they’re out of the residential area onto a clearer road).

Joining Jack[/url], as supported by Bradley Wiggins

The more developed version of my earlier thoughts (not that I’ve spent the afternoon pondering this, of course) If it was enough to give up work and not need to worry about working again…

Buy a nice big house somewhere nice with a couple of units that could be rented out as holiday cottages and/or used for visiting friends and family. I’d manage the bookings side myself but employ a cleaner and gardener to keep it all nice and tidy (as much to look after my bit as the rented out bit!). I wouldn’t be looking to make a huge profit, but if I already had the property I may as well get some income from it when I wasn’t using it for something else.

Spend my days doing outdoor stuff (in nice weather) and reading/learning new stuff in bad weather. I’d create a well stocked library with a comfy chair, a cracking view from the window and a good sound system, and I’d probably do OU courses (I’ve considered going back to university properly but I’m not sure I could cope with the 18 year old students). Languages and humanities mainly I suspect. I might keep up with the more academic side of what I currently do and see if I could get into freelance journal writing/seminar presenting as it’s actually quite interesting when you don’t have clients nagging you for stuff and billing targets. But generally I suspect I’d become a bit of a reclusive academic type and spend days and weeks at a time particularly in winter losing myself in books or going out to get some peace and quiet in the hills.

I’d get a smallish flat in Leeds or (possibly) London as a base to use when I wanted to be a bit closer to civilisation or had jobs to do.

I’d also go on long holidays – in winter I’d spend time in the Canaries (where I have family), in summer I’d go on bike tours (probably credit card touring staying in hotels rather then camping), and spend three weeks travelling round France in a motorhome to follow the tour. Depending on just how big the win was I might buy somewhere in the Canaries too – this would also be rented out when I’m not there (my parents would manage this as they already do this for a couple of other people).

I’d get a bigger car, but nothing too flash. Just something that can actually fit bikes in it would be a start. I might also be tempted by a camper van.

I’d take time to cook properly with seasonal produce and I’d try to shop much more locally than I do at the moment.

I’d set up funds for my two nephews to cover their university fees (they are currently 3 and 9 weeks so this would be a longish term investment) and money dependent pay off some/all of my sister’s and parents’ mortgages.

I’ve thought about this far too much.

Travelling and education. The travelling would involve cycling mainly, but maybe a bit more luxurious than full on touring.

Education wise – learning languages (ties in with the travelling) and doing courses that interest me with no thought for how “useful” they are. Esoteric but interesting stuff to keep me stimulated.

A nice house in the middle of nowhere and a flat somewhere closer to civilisation.

And I have various plans to piss off my employer after I’ve left as long as I’m safe burning those bridges…

I’ve been out this morning (running race) so now I’m free to enjoy the champagne on the sofa

Mine’s in the fridge and I’ve got the glasses ready for tomorrow…

I was pleasantly surprised – hit on 1 march and I already have £2800 in my bank account. The insurers admitted liability quickly and paid up for everything we asked for without quibbling 😮 got a quote from a bike shop for a new replacement and expected them to negotiate me down or query some of the accessories (upgraded saddle etc) or things that only had cosmetic damage but they didn’t. I was expecting it to be far more painful than that!

When the translator began to render his words into French, Wiggins broke in with a final thought. “I don’t think Frank Schleck was in the race when he went positive,” he said.

I’m clearly being a bit of a ‘tard, but what does this actually mean?

“Not in the race” as in he had already dropped too much time to be a GC contender by the time he withdrew.

It is quite frightening the number of people who actually don’t see you. This morning riding along a straight road with good visibility, a woman coming the other way turned right, completely oblivious to me being there

Almost exactly what happened to me.

As above – police investigation and compensation claim are two separate things although any police action may persuade the insurers to accept liability fairly quickly. In my experience that happened almost instantly when the solicitors contacted them, I think they have 14 or 21 days to either accept liability or dispute it once they are put on notice.

At that stage it moves to the long drawn out process of valuing everything. The police investigation has sod all to do with that really – the only thing I can think of is that if you’ve given inconsistent stories about how injured you are. You should be able to claim for the holiday – I’ve certainly added the entry fees for a couple of missed events onto my claim.

My medical examination happened quite quickly, although I took photos of bruising etc that would fade. I then had the choice of submitting it or waiting to see if my injuries cleared up in the time the doctor predicted – if they didn’t I could have it redone but I want to get stuff sorted so just went with what he said.

I’d recommend cycling specialists. I work for a law firm and spoke to someone here first but it was clear that the people who did lower value RTA claims only really did car on car accidents. Low value claims here tend to involve junior fee earners working through questionnaires and processes and because I was giving the wrong answers to questions like “were you wearing a seatbelt” on their standard questionnaires it seemed to throw them a bit. When I spoke to specialists it felt much more like they understood, their questionnaires were very much set up for bike accidents and they understood the sort of things I wanted to claim for a lot better.

You don’t need to be a member of any cycling organisation to have access to legal advice (and equally if you are, you can choose to go to someone other than the partner firm if you prefer). Firms will almost certainly be happy for you to contact them directly because they won’t have to pay a referral fee! As long as your claim has enough prospects of success that their fees aren’t at substantial risk (ie you’ve got a good case on liability and the damages are likely to exceed the level at which they can claim costs which I think is about £1000) you don’t need a membership card to be able to speak to them. If there is risk you may be able to cover it with ATE insurance (after the event) (I have joined CTC since the accident but not for the access to legal advice)

We were out there last week. I’m not sure how flat stages compare to the mountains though.

One day we watched from a village mid way along the stage (near the feed station). No problems riding along the route, no barriers and the police seemed fairly relaxed. Obviously not while the caravan came through or just before the race but there were cyclists going through quite happily the rest of the time.

Another day we cycled the last 22k of the stage into St Quentin. One fast bloke shot off and got to within 250m of the finish before being pulled off the route, we went slower and made it to about 4k out. I suspect that we were all pulled off the route about an hour before the caravan came through it’s just that he was further along the road than us by that stage. We then got contradictory instructions from the police – first we were told we could walk our bikes along the route, then a policeman looked at our shoes said we shouldn’t be walking in cleats and we could ride on the pavement. Then we were told not to cycle on the pavement and were sent back onto the road for a bit, and finally we were told to get off the road and cycled the rest of it slowly on the pavement on the other side of the barriers.

Great fun having everyone cheering us as we rode along, and we’re already having thoughts about going back next year.

Meeeee.

Our mountain bikes are actually identical but he hates the fact that I bought myself a cx bike and he couldn’t afford one. Our road bikes are probably similar although mine is newer and nicer looking 🙂

I’ve spent significantly more than him on bikes in the last year or so 😮 (over £3k to his £650 although in my defence one of those is an insurance replacement)

I really must watch this – I vaguely knew Chloe Smith when I went to university (we weren’t at the same university, but we had a mutual acquaintance and one weekend she ended up sleeping on my floor). I think I’m going to enjoy watching her get a grilling.