Perhaps not the best material for building with, certainly not for longevity

WRONG!

I do plenty of work with the restoration of 400 year old barns like this:

is it because their bodies have adapted to training so much?

this^^ though I would substitute racing for training.

I was at the sharp end of second cat races a couple of years ago and I don’t do base miles or specific training but once the racing season kicks off I race 2 or 3 times a week. I’ve had a couple of years out due to injury and i’m now hanging on to the coat-tails of a 2/3 bunch which is a bit demoralising but I know that if I’m patient the form will come back.
I think big base miles are probably more necessary at E/1 level.

excuse my ignorance, but what on earth is an e-cheque?

Cows and sheep males are massively outnumbered, but I’m sure that’s because humans slaughter males earlier for economic reasons.

I’m just about to rent out a room in my house in East Croydon. Got many roadie friends who live in Dulwich but you can’t beat being 2 mins from the trails!

Tikoloshe!

ratty = ratboy? je ne comprends pas

It’s in souf London somewhere but only Father Christmas could knock on that many houses between now and then to find out which one.

He has many many bikes too.

2/3 surrey league road race tomorrow morning. Not expecting a result but would like the 65miles in my legs!

This is really sad news. I’ve known Rob for almost 20 years and he really was one of the nicest, kindest people I’ve met and his track knowledge was immense. Many of my best track memories involve Rob.
I work with George, and Rob was more than just a step-dad to him, he was one of his best friends. Big Rob will be sorely missed by many.

fadda, you’ll be fine.

I played around on the DH tracks there on my HT after SSEC last year and had a blast.

I’m temporarily jealous of Northern folk. I hope you get to see it!

Ernie’s point is perfectly valid.

I have to disagree with Molgrips there. Am Classic’s 58 front road hub has possibly the smallest bearings in the world and they really don’t last long. Get the shimanos, no point having lighter wheels if they feel hexagonal shaped whilst you’re riding!

Eskars have a good rep too.

if your name is Torvill or Dean!

Of course the big issue with me is spending £200 on a top and crashing in it the next day, there has to be a line drawn with me

Yup. My Mortirolo top and full finger gloves were given to me to do the national madison championships in 2006. Needless to say as it was a madison there was a crash (involving Alex Dowsett, how’s that for a name drop) which led to me sliding along the boards at 50+ kph. The kit held up reasonably well but I’ll only wear the top on MTB rides now, luckily I didn’t pay for it…

I on the other hand didn’t fare as well. I will probably never reach those dizzying heights again too 😥

You cooduv posted pics of some of Croydon’s lovely brick buildings

yeah, clocktower etc is nice, if a bit fussy:

Rapha egaliatrian? No chance. Their “club” charges you more than any other for membership and their race entries (Smithfield nocturne) are a joke! Not saying their stuff isn’t nice but there’s no way I would buy into their brand ethos.

NorthernStar, I think you’ll find most phobias aren’t logical and so I’m afraid saying “just….” won’t work.

not the best pic but I really like the vaults at London Bridge

When I’m rich I’m gonna have a brick vault basement for a swimming pool and wine cellar 🙂

if I wanted a 29er I’d have bought a ‘cross bike

Me got cups, me got sugar, me got coffee but ain’t got no clothes!

Praise the Lord Jesus!

gears make baby jesus cry

ain’t a structural engineer but the large plate on the top of the beam probably will not be adding a lot of strength and the side and bottom plates seem an afterthought

I think there’s a reason you’re not a structural engineer….

That’s a splice detail to enable the beam to be lifted in more than one length.

[pedant mode] S500 is a V8 [/pedant mode]

I love cars! and bikes 🙂

I like the gerneral attempt to be dismissive of folk who are not overly impressed by your car choice which apparently says nothing about you.

Is that directed at me? I don’t think anyone is impressed by my beat up S reg Colt.

BMW can cost the same as Volvo for example so why have the flash one rather than the boring safe one?

Because a BMW will be loads more fun to drive.

some people like cars fine no issue with this but you cannot get upset that you buy a flash one and someone forms an opinion of you

yes I could. Why do people have to judge a book by it’s cover?

Perhaps some people just like their cars Joao.
I like nice cars and I know people with cars that could be considered flash by jealous types. However, most of them bought the car because they wanted that car for the way it handles, accelerates, looks or whatever and don’t give a monkey’s what other people think.

Hove Park crits tonight. Rare to get a 2/3 criterium so nice to support it even if I am back to 3rd at the mo.

Turner guy, that could be said for road riding too!

THM carbones cranks, fibrelyte carbon rings, KMC X-10sl ti-N chain, nokon carbon outer cables, good selection selection of FMB tubs, schmolke bars and if you must stick to shitmano, surely Di2?

surely its the rules that anything SSXX is singlespeed related?

SSCW? Single Speed Cycling Weekly?
Single Speed Championships of Wales?

no, just showing off as I was doing rubbish in the race.

that is better than my spiderman cycling outfit!

crap for commuting though…

In that respect, you are preaching to the converted good sir!

than spend money on some needless “lifestyle” purchase

I forgot that you are a bare-minimum kind if guy who spurns all comforts and luxuries CFH 😀

my sister’s[/url] product line is very small at the mo (just female gloves for this summer season) but for autumn winter she is increasing the range to include tops and jackets.
Ana Nichoola

She started off getting jackets made for commuting as she couldn’t find any clothing that she liked the look of but was also fit for purpose.

I hope this isn’t considered spam, I’m well proud of her, she’s done it all by herself!

I understand embodied energy perfectly, but the initial build is only part of the lifecycle energy use of a building. Concrete also absorbs significant amounts ofCO2 as it cures and that link was cradle to gate. BTW, you’re the one who mentioned houses….

I’m no RC fanatic, I design buildings using most materials and (like most engineers) try to be as efficient as possible. However, often concrete is the best option.

I’ll bite TooTall. Very few private houses in this country are made from concrete. Also, modern concrete framed buildings are have to pass stringent Building Regs for energy efficiency that are getting tighter all the time.

Spinnaker Tower:

the Shard:

Concrete is awesome. I’ve just come back from a meeting for an RC building that I’m designing which is cantilevering out over a mainline railway tunnel in Camden.

I doubt you’d work harden an aluminium frame! As for fatigue, my alloy cross frames are 12 seasons old and only just started getting a bit whippy. Forks should be fine under normal use