And of course, no birds have ever died due to pollution from fossil fuels, oil spills etc….no bird habitats have ever been displaced in order to mine for coal/drill for gas…. 🙄

Went a few times in the late ’90s. Can’t say I’d bother now, I’m rarely bothered about the bands that play there. I went to Download last year, car got stuck in the mud, campsite was a wash-out. My lingering feeling afterwards was “eeek – I’m too old for this!”

I’d just go down the route of feeling sorry for her to be honest. If the only guys she can attract are druggies and psychos, she can’t support herself financially and has to sponge off others, it’s a sorry state of affairs indeed.

I went to a school rated outstanding by Ofsted, great GCSE and A-Level results (it was selective, but not private) and whilst I got 4 A grades at A level and all the rest, I was also bullied for the majority of the time I was there, except in the last year of sixth form when all the boys who used to bully me suddenly started asking me out, and wondered why I threatened to punch them in the face.

Ofsted isn’t everything. Just sayin’….

1 hour commute, don’t do it every day though. I am really terrible in the mornings!

I was riding a 16″ frame and it felt too small for me and I’m 5’6″. I moved to a 17.5, it was different, and at first I couldn’t do manuals at all. I found it was a matter of adjusting technique.

You might need to play around with riding position, saddle height/angle etc, as is often the case with a new bike.

People on here seem to be real unlucky with the amount of cyclist hate they encounter. Aside from the odd tw*tty driver who cuts me up/white van men who shout bottom-related comments and beep their horns at me, I rarely see any evidence of this cyclist hate that gets brought up on here a lot. Maybe I’m just lucky, or naive/oblivious to it?!

Shock horror, I’ve never had an issue with walkers either!

Mine copes fine with steep techy stuff – if anything, I feel more secure on it, and there’s certainly less reverberation on loose rocky stuff, which means physically it’s not as demanding. As I have a long standing shoulder injury, that means I can ride more demanding stuff, and for longer, without getting pain and fatigue in it.

Horses for courses though, the OH has 26″ and he’s not fussed about changing.

OK, so I think the solution is for trail centres to introduce the following:

Clear rules on where you can and cannot take dogs – my suggestion would be green cycle trails and shared pathways only, not MTB trails.
The ability to fine people who do not obey the rules and who take their dogs on trails where they are not permitted, as is the case if you take your dog into a children’s playground or other place where they are permitted for safety reasons.

Draconian? Maybe. But as a dog owner, I am responsible for the safety and wellbeing of my dog. He goes where I go, therefore I should be ensuring that the places I take him to are not a risk to his safety. I don’t let him off the lead near any traffic, for example, so why might I put him in danger of being mown down by a mountain bike? I put him on the lead near children or other dogs who are on the lead, partly out of courtesy, but partly because I know that in that situation I can’t guarantee his safety. A small child who is scared of dogs and has not been taught how to behave around them might react by lashing out and hurting him. If I see another dog on a lead in an area where dogs are allowed to roam free, I must assume that dog might be aggressive and therefore I need to be able to stop him going into a situation where he may get hurt.

A dog owner who is prepared to risk their dog’s safety just for their own convenience or to make a point about being able to go where they like with their dog is not a responsible owner IMO.

On your last point, in order to be able to claim that from the deposit, you must have proof (ie photographic evidence) of what they have done upon them leaving the property, and of your asking them to correct it prior to leaving. Written communication must be made, otherwise it is your word against theirs – they could claim that you permitted them to decorate and never asked them to sort it out before leaving.

I had an issue with a landlord when I put a mirror up (I asked first) and there was some slight damage to the paintwork – I fessed up and offered to fix it before I left, and she said no, don’t worry I’m having it redecorated anyway before letting it again. Then the sly cow tried to get it from my deposit anyway. The TDS wouldn’t give it to her, as I told them she’d said it wasn’t an issue and she couldn’t prove that she’d asked me to fix the damage before leaving.

Usually there are also so stupid posts about likening dogs to small children as well which is complele bollox as they behave differently.

They do indeed behave differently. My dog comes back when I call him.

My place is pretty flexible – people come in any time between 8-9 and finish between 4-5 in general. It’s permitted to take half an hour for lunch and leave a little earlier if you want to but a half an hour lunch break is the exception, not the rule. Some of the guys in my office play tennis at lunch, they take 1 1/2 hours for lunch but they either start or finish 1/2 hr early/late. Working from home is permitted occasionally as well.

Not had much p1ss taking that I can see, other departments are not necessarily as flexible as mine though, especially if their jobs are operational (like IT support or customer service) but then, those roles are on set shifts, and they are paid for overtime, whereas we are not, but in return for the flexibility we are expected to put the hours in when projects are implementing or it’s busy – we would get time in lieu rather than OT pay if we worked a significant amount of time over our contracted hours.

Other half’s workplace is totally rigid with their hours and if people are a minute late there you get told off. I worked there a few years ago and hated it, the whole culture was very “big brother”. Funnily enough their staff turnover is high….

Personally, wouldn’t do it at a trail centre. My dog is a bit errant, he gets a sniff of squirrel and he’s off, so it would be a nuisance for me to have to be worrying where he is all the time and not enjoying my ride – if it’s a nuisance for me, chances are it would be for others too.

I do ride with him on my local canal and in the park, but those are shared pathways, they are not places people generally go to do “proper” MTB-ing.

I’m doing it as well, staying with friends near Richmond. I’m not sure how I’m going to get there yet, and haven’t had much info about the park and ride either…it says on the website that the June email will contain this info.

My OH practically lives on it, so it never gets to 2 weeks old, but I am reliably informed that it is very good.

As a coeliac I can’t sample it for myself (cue violin) but I have acquired a recipe for a gluten free equivalent using treacle instead of barley malt – wheat munchers should not have all the fun 😀

OK….using a HRM and Strava….

57 mile road ride, moving time 4h 5min, elevation gain 1,829ft, av speed 14mph
Calories burned 1,502
Average HR 141 (which is at the top of Zone 2)

37 mile MTB ride, moving time 4h 55min, elevation gain 3,616ft av speed 7.5mph
Calories burned 1,285
Average HR 150 (towards the middle of Zone 3 – aerobic zone)

So the MTB ride was 65% of the distance of the road ride, but burned 85% of the calories.
However, the MTB ride involved more climbing and the average speed was lower (probably due to the climbing, and the fact that in the Dales, you’re stopping all the time to open and close frickin gates)

In general I’d expect to a)climb more on an offroad ride than on a road ride, as an inevitable drawback of seeking fun downhills, and b) for my average heart rate to be faster overall, because of the extra effort involved in climbing and riding on rougher terrain.

The other variable was the weather. My road ride was done in cooler conditions whereas the MTB ride was a few degrees warmer, thus making my heart work harder.

I used to be on a gnarrquest, until I fell and messed up my right shoulder, dislocated it, and ended up with a rotator cuff tear and it took ages to heal, and still gives me bother now.

A course of expensive physio plus losing pay due to time off for MTB-related injuries (was a contractor at the time) made me re-evaluate my riding ambitions somewhat. I try and enjoy the whole ride experience now rather than just finding the most gnarr bits I can – I still like steep techy stuff and drops and challenges, but I do have to weigh up the consequences if it goes wrong, and think “Is this really within my ability, and if it’s a bit outside it, how bad can it go!”

I’ve done a skills course or two, but I’ve definitely heard the bearded one does the best ones.

Gaerne Stella road shoes and a set of SPD SLs

Depends on the context/way in which he brings them up. You say you feel like you’re being compared – does he explicitly compare you to his exes, like “so and so never did that” or so and so never had a problem with it….”

There’s a difference between mentioning an ex, as in “oh yeah, I went there once with Kate” or actually comparing you, as in “Kate would never have worn that”

Michael Foot is awesome.

Does anyone else see the resemblance between Jason off the Apprentice and Ed Miliband? They’re both about as useful as each other as well.

In most European countries you get more if you’ve worked for longer, and your benefits go down the longer you are unemployed, so there is more incentive to find a job quicker.

zippykona
Just mention that your other boyfriend never talks about his ex

😀

Cinnamon, my OH is a huge footy fan *eyeroll – I’ve got used to it bought him a TV for his birthday so he can watch it upstairs

Oddly compelling car-crash TV….Jezza Kyle in suits!

The women often make me cringe, some of them are such a terrible example of what women are like in the business world. They come across bitchy, nasty and two faced, some of them, and the quieter, less mouthy types who don’t want to bash everyone else to get their point across, they get fired. I’m pretty positive Rebecca was fired last night because the animosity between Francesca and Luisa makes better television….

I’m a bit of a Neil Clough fan though….

And yoooouuuuuuuu,

You need a sense of humor. That was certified hilarious.

I found it an exact example of the reasons that I used to try and say that I was ok with porn. Because men would always say you’re a prude if you didn’t engage with it or if you voiced any sort of objection to it, as a woman, my reaction to it was always trivialised and that comment was an example of the same – subtext “if you don’t find smut hilarious it’s your problem, you’re a prude/can’t take a joke”

I don’t find an industry that specializes in and promotes the degradation of women and the reduction of women to mindless, voiceless sex objects (and men, for that matter in some cases) funny in any way shape or form, and I’m not going to apologise for my “lack of sense of humour” on the subject – I’m quite ok with it thank you. Quite happy to keep my sense of humour for other topics of conversation and debate.

I’ve worked in the NHS on a few contracts in my time – quite often covering for people who were on long term sick leave, would come back to work for the requisite amount of time to keep their job, and then go back on long term sick leave again.

In the administrative and managerial ranks there is a lot of p*** taking and very little done to address poor performance at work.

littlemisspanda » As a woman, I used to try and adopt the position

*cough*

Excellent wording, considering this is a thread about porn

Yawn. Grow up.

OK. From the trenches of youth work:

Is porn harmful to teenagers and young adults? Potentially, yes. Of course, not every young lad watching internet porn in his bedroom is going to turn into an obsessive, a perve or a sex addict, but I do think that porn CAN warp young people’s view of human relationships. The reason for that is that porn presents a view of sex that is divorced from emotion or consequences. It’s what you don’t see in porn that’s more of a problem than what you do see.

What you don’t see is unwanted pregnancy. You don’t see teenage parenthood. You don’t see visits to the STD clinic, or the physical consequences of a career as a porn actor – genital disfiguration, loss of sensitivity, and prolapse (these happen to women as well as men)and you don’t see the mental and emotional consequences of a life spent doing that. OK, for some it’s a choice, but for some it’s not, and some (men and women) feel that they have no other options.

In that respect, I think that porn does present an unrealistic view of sexual relationships that teens may be more susceptible to adopting than adults, who may have already had sex/relationships and therefore, they are aware that real life sex is messy, can involve consequences if you don’t take care of contraception, there are emotions involved etc. Teens who haven’t yet learned that are potentially more susceptible to adopting strange ideas about what sex is, or should be, and what to expect of their sexual partners. For some young lads though (and even girls) porn is just a phase, and once they get a partner, they don’t bother with it any more.

As a woman, I used to try and adopt the position that porn and stripping and all that is liberating. But it doesn’t sit well with me any more – I don’t like the hypersexualised culture we have adopted, I don’t like the pressure on young men and women to look a certain way (womens mags and lad mags have contributed to the increase in body image disorders, eating disorders etc in both sexes due to their perpetuation of certain stereotypes, IMO).

I’m not advocating banning porn, but I am saying have sensible discussions about it, and help teens to understand that porn does not represent what sex or human relationships are about and while real sexual relationships can be a great life enhancing experience, they are not consequence free.

There are some good resources on Body Dysmorphic Disorder via the MIND website, might be worth a read – there are also some online self diagnostic tools you can use – obviously not a medical diagnosis, but an indication that you might be able to go to your GP with. I’m at work at the mo, so can’t post any links, but could do when I get home.

The dog (dog walking while we’re at work, vet bills, special diet pooch food)and the car mainly!

We do go to a few gigs, a few times a year, guess those aren’t cheap either, and we always spend more than planned on holiday.

Thai – nom nom

Agree with the good coffee, bike parking, and considering evening opening in summer.

Catering for coeliacs! Lots of the bike/walkers cafes are a gluten fest, so anyone who can’t have gluten can’t eat there. Keep some gluten free bread rolls in the freezer so you can offer GF sandwiches or a roll with some soup, and get in some gluten free cakes or bars etc – if you can’t make them on the premises, there are lots of companies that will supply them in sealed packs.

Some good advice there.

I have Crohns disease and am on immune suppressants; therefore I have a compromised immune system and get sick a lot. I take a few supplements which seem to help, and if I do get sick now it doesn’t seem to last as long and I bounce back quicker.

I take Vitamin C and zinc supplements, probiotics, which are really good if you have had a gut infection, they put the good bacteria back in – if you have had a bad infection, your good bacteria and enzymes may be depleted and you may not be absorbing enough from your food – I use Optibac, sea kelp and spirulina which provide calcium and minerals, and also L-glutamine, which helps with tissue repair.

You could also consider cutting out some of the known “gut irritants” for a while – irritation and inflammation in the gut promotes malabsorption of vitamins and minerals from food. The worst culprits are gluten and dairy, but it might be worth cutting down on sugar as a sugary diet, even fruit, can feed the bad bacteria/yeasts etc in the gut. Legumes like beans and lentils also contain a starch called raffinose, which is hard for the gut to break down if it is compromised. It is not uncommon to develop intolerances or allergies to certain foods after a bad infection.

It might sound a bit “cranky” but after making some of these adjustments to my diet I experienced a massive reduction in bad gut symptoms, and get sick much less.

Here is my recipe for maple, pecan and cinnamon granola:

1 cup coconut flakes
1/2 cup dessicated coconut (unsweetened)
1/2 cup pumpkin seeds
1/2 cup flaked almonds
1/2 cup sunflower seeds
1/2 cup pecan halves, roughly chopped
pinch of salt
1 tbsp coconut oil, melted
2-4 tbsp maple syrup/agave syrup/honey (whatever taste you prefer – I usually mix maple syrup and agave)
1/2 tsp cinnamon

Toast in the oven at 150 degrees for 10 mins – 15 mins if you prefer it a bit more browned/crunchy

Keeps for weeks in a ziploc bag 🙂

You can mix dried fruit in it, have it with milk and fresh fruit on, with yoghurt and a banana….I love it for pre-ride fuel.

So I dug out my foam roller and did some ITB stretches and roller work last night as well as rolling around with my bum on a tennis ball to loosen the glutes….I also raised my saddle by a centimetre and touch wood, no pain on my ride to work this morning.

Have resolved not to neglect stretching and the roller in future – have always been a bit rubbish and only really done it in a cursory sort of way, but I think I can’t afford to do that any more now I’m training as heavily as I am, so will have to make it part of my routine.

Yep, I went there last year. There is a bike shop in Caleta de Fuste called Caleta Cycles:

They have a good range of bikes to hire, the MTBS are Fuji Nevadas with disk brakes, we went on a tour led by one of the guys there, who was English, and it was great fun, lots of rocky stuff and even got chased by a few goats!

I should probably do more stretching, will look up some ITB stretches, cheers 🙂

Found a place near me that does bike fittings as well so it might be worth looking into, considering the distance I am planning on riding. I’ve already had one lot of expensive knee surgery from previous football playing days, don’t need another lot!

St Colin have you ever heard of body dysmorphic disorder?

I just wondered because some of what you describe sounds quite similar. The symptoms tend to be focused on fixations about particular features, or aspects of appearance, self consciousness, taking measures to try and hide or get rid of the offending body part/s or flaws, feeling distress about said offending body part/s or perceived flaws, and the resulting preoccupation leading to social anxiety, depression, etc. I recognised some of that in the post you made about how you feel about your body shape and the lengths you go to to cover it up. I suffered from it myself, and would do the same, my stomach was one of the areas that bothered me, I still have issues wearing anything fitted or clingy, although I am much better than I was a few years ago.

People often think this is something that affects only teenage girls and young women, but increasingly, men are suffering from it too.

I read those articles, and have adjusted in line with the recommendations – still getting the pain on the longer rides. I don’t get it on the shorter ones.

I am increasing mileage by 10-15 miles per week now – last weekend I did 45 miles, this weekend 57.

Had it on the Yorkshire Weaver, about 5 miles from the end. Could just about pedal on the flat, but if there was even a slight incline I couldn’t manage it. Could barely walk or speak when I finished the race, thankfully I had prepared a recovery shake which was in the car, boyfriend had to open it for me and pass it to me because my hands were freezing cold and wet and I couldn’t even open the lid!