Skins compression bib tights.

I’ve got a Specialized Dolce comp triple. It’s black and light blue – not massively girly, but it’s a womens frame. The 2013 version is now called the Sport Equipped Triple, and it’s quite snazzy….

Roasting a whole chicken is much better value than buying breasts, legs etc. I get 3 meals out of a roast chicken – a roast dinner, then shred up the leftover meat and make chicken fried rice, and use the carcass to make chicken stock as a soup base.

I see a lot of stuff on facebook about how decent British folk get nothing and illegal immigrants get everything – it’s so completely inaccurate it makes my blood boil, I’ve worked with refugees and asylum seekers (who are NOT classed as illegal immigrants), and asylum seekers get less than half the benefits that citizens do – around £36 per week. Have any of these people who complain about it ever tried to live on that? Have any of these people who whinge about people seeking asylum here ever lived in a country where they might be persecuted for their political or religious beliefs, harassed, subject to threats against themselves or their family, potentially imprisoned or tortured, maybe seen members of their family harmed, murdered, or “disappeared”?

There but for the grace of God/accident of birth or whatever you believe in go any of us. I bet if civil war broke out in this country, a lot of the people who whinge about people seeking asylum here would be the first to be on a plane out of the country going cap in hand somewhere else, because they’d see it as their right.

Sedation wins, every time! I’ve had 4 colonoscopies, don’t remember any of them :-D

I use a combination of Nakd bars (made of dates, nuts and dried fruit) bananas, gels and energy drinks.

Personally, I don’t recommend anything grain based while riding, particularly anything wheat based – they can cause you to be sluggish and bloated, or induce indigestion, due to the impaired digestion whilst exercising. But then energy gels have their own issues too!

My recovery drink is made from coconut milk (I don’t tolerate dairy well) raw cocoa powder, blended with a tablespoon of almond butter, a tablespoon of honey and half a banana.

Do the Leeds-Harrogate run a couple of times a week on my road bike. Traffic is a bit hairy though, so I don’t tend to ride in when conditions are bad.

Bahahaha!

Cannock on Friday – didn’t time it as well as rocketman and got soaked, but still had fun.

Did the Yorkshire Weaver yesterday (56 miles) and got wet again. Despite grunting, hacking and swearing my way through it (so ladylike me) I’m pretty sure I’ll be doing more races!

Unfortunately, if you’re going to send your kids to school, you have to accept that the school might have rules that are different to at home. Seems the primary school overreacted to the incident, that was a bit unnecessary, but it’s unrealistic of any parent to think that their kid will a) never break the rules at school b) never be told off or c) that they will never be told off at school for something that you don’t agree with.

Had an anorexic religious girl in 1st year at uni, then in 2nd year, shared with a girl who took up with a guy who thought he was a vampire. Very odd goings on in that flat.

I agree, girls are minging – dirtiest houses have been the ones I shared with girls. 5 girls in a house means a lot of hair in the plugholes, and we definitely played “Plughole Clearing Chicken”.

My boyfriend shared a house with 2 guys last year, and one slept with the other’s girlfriend whilst he was away for work – that became quite awkward!

Pedestrians who step out into the road without looking are also a bug bear of mine – because in general, as a driver or cyclist, it is considered to be your fault if you hit them, no matter whether said pedestrian was acting dangerously/like a tool.

I was finishing a ride last weekend and there were two kids (probably aged somewhere between 10-12) chucking a mobile phone to each other from opposite sides of the street. They appeared to stop as I approached, and then just as I was about to pass, one of them let fly and narrowly missed my face with it. WTF!

I did some MTB in the canaries last year on a Fuji Nevada. It was a 2011 model, but I was very surprised to see how cheap it was, considering how well it rode. It’s Acera/Deore, but you could do worse. Only thing is the fork isn’t top end, but for £500 you wouldn’t expect it, and if your wife is doing mainly XC, I’m sure it would do the job – it coped with some pretty rocky stuff in the Canaries, and handled better than my old Kona bike which was twice the price. Personal preference I guess.

Evans Cycles do the Nevada 1.3 for £530, reduced from £670, disc brakes, Acera/Deore. I don’t love Evans by any means, I had to use them because of my work’s cyclescheme supplier restrictions on my most recent purchase, hence how I know they do that bike. I almost bought one, but went 29er instead.

Cyclists running red lights annoys the hell out of me, I see it a lot. If we want the right to use the roads and be considered and safe, then surely we have to abide by the same rules as drivers…

Cycling into work yesterday, there was a traffic jam coming up to a roundabout. The road is quite wide, so usually, a cyclist can pass cars on the left, with caution of course if there are buses/vans and other vehicles with restricted visibility. D***head in a big Merc saloon looked in his mirror, saw me coming past the traffic, and deliberately moved his car far enough to the left that it blocked me off and I had to wait behind him until he reached the front of the queue. Clearly didn’t like the fact that a bike was passing the queue he had to wait in!

Given its friday and I’m bored at work, I’ve just bought a Hilo online (on sale – carpe diem and all that). Will see how it goes….

probably got some zip ties around somewhere, I like the idea of the remote dropper.

@mattig – well worded! :-D

How faff free are they to fit?

I wonder how many dropper evangelists never dropped their saddle previously because they didn’t want to stop and mess about with QRs.

Guilty as charged. I often don’t drop when I should, because I don’t want to stop and faff. Hence my thinking I would enjoy descents more, particularly techy ones.

I didn’t have the MMR – my parents, at the time (and this was the 1980s) had worries about the vaccine, so I didn’t have it, and when I was born it was pretty new, so uptake was low. My younger brother and sister have both had it. My brother (the youngest) has autism. My Dad to this day feels guilty that he gave in to his wife and let the youngest two have the triple vaccine – he’s convinced there’s a link, despite my sister being fine, and me not having had the vaccine, but having Crohns disease!

What my dad thinks isn’t rational at all, it was most likely nothing to do with the vaccine that my brother became autistic, he was probably born that way, and it’s not always evident until the toddler stage. But all the science in the world won’t stop him wondering “what if”. Science cannot necessarily dispel all fear and emotion, and that’s what we’re dealing with.

Unfortunately it’s had such terribly bad press and the scaremongering was so great that all the reassurance in the world won’t cut it for some parents, and you’re not necessarily dealing with “rational heads” when it comes to parents and children’s health. There are strong views both for and against, but it has to come down to parent choice, and as a parent, what you can live with. And I do think parents should take into account the health of others when making that decision about whether to have their kids vaccinated, as well as their own kids.

I think it would be more enjoyment of descents that would sway me towards it, not having to stop and put the seat down etc.

Any recommendations between £100-£250?

Got a Genesis Mantle 20 in Jan, not been off it much since!

Wouldn’t call myself paleo, but I do for the most part avoid grains, refined sugar and legumes, due to stomach issues. I know some people who are strict paleo, which is fine, if you can be that controlled about your diet, and have the time to source and prepare all the food exactly to those specifications. I don’t think it’s an unhealthy diet, quite the opposite, and it doesn’t have to be low-carb either.

I think “paleo” is a bit of a misnomer really. It’s a shame people have got so hung up about what cavemen ate or didn’t eat instead of concentrating on the issues of what makes modern bodies healthy or unhealthy.

I have the same issue, but it only seems to happen in areas of poor reception. I usually do the “switch it off and on again” thing!

I’m a compact 5’5″ but I have a 29er just coz I likes it!

Reached race weight this week :)

If I thought this would actually save any money or do any good, I’d be for it. The principle is deceptively simple (hence its appeal to Daily Hate readers :-O) but the reality is far more complex. Some families could be forced out of bigger properties into smaller ones that might actually be more expensive – it doesn’t always follow that a 2-bed property is cheaper than a 3-bed, especially if people are forced into the private rented sector and their housing benefit might have to go up to compensate.

Fed up with this government making stupid gestures to appease the right wing “scrounger haters” which are meaningless to the average working person that they claim to represent.

Oh man….too many to count!

Richard Hammond – strangely, I have an irrational dislike of him, I can stand Clarkson, because he doesn’t pretend to be anything other than a total asshat, and proud of it.
Claudia Winkleman
Michael Gove
Slash
The Arctic Monkeys, with their deliberate exaggeration of South Yorkshire accented singing – ugh
Roberto Mancini – the guy is just creepy

I could go on….and on….and on….but I won’t!

BF likes the wide bar and wants it, so I can’t chop it. His is a riser bar, wouldn’t work well on my bike.

I really wanted to master them, but it honestly was a terrible experience! I wanted to enjoy my riding at the end of the day, not hate it. Bought myself a pair of Nukeproof Neutrons and they’re great.

Don’t feel a failure! Clips aren’t for everyone. I hated them, much happier on flats. For that reason I’m not wanting your mallets though! :)

I had a Garmin HRM and I thought the values were high. I tend to go by Strava values, I also now have a Polar HRM and the values from that are comparable with Strava.

I have heard that the difference is whether the calculations take into account the calories you burn just by being up and about or whether it’s purely calories burned from the effort of exercise that it measures – there’s a term for it and I can’t remember what it is. But I can’t see that would account for such a huge difference between Strava and Garmin.

Just bought a Berlingo Multispace, it’s brilliant and I love it. Takes 2 bikes with the seats folded flat without the need to take off wheels. If we do give people lifts then we can put a towbar bike rack on the back and put the seats up.

Getting up at the weekend- I like to make the most of time off, she likes a lie-in.

Same for my OH. The only thing he will get up on a weekend for is sport on TV.

I’m 30, and I don’t want kids. Partner doesn’t either.

Do I like “me time”? Yes.
Am I selfish? No, I don’t think I am. I volunteer. I am kind to my partner, friends and family. I have a rescue dog who is very well looked after. I like to do things for others. So I really don’t think selfishness comes into the decision, contrary to the knee-jerk reaction you get from some people thinking if you don’t have kids, you must be selfish.

I have other considerations such as Crohns disease which might make pregnancy, birth and breastfeeding difficult (medications, and the mechanics of it all) and a genetic tendency could be passed on to my children.

I have no doubt that parenting can be wonderful and fulfilling, but I also know some people with kids who are darn miserable with it. Especially mothers, who tend to be expected to work full time and contribute to the household income, but then also take care of the kids and housework. Men around my age don’t appear in general to want the pressure of being sole breadwinners, but they don’t really want to share the child rearing and clear up the mess either when their partner is also in work. I’m sure there are a few gooduns on here at STW who aren’t like that though :)

I’m a PM on one of the projects binners :) (I don’t work for Mastercard though – or Demos).

I don’t agree with universal credit or the ideology behind it, as you can probably tell from my posts I’m no Tory, but I do agree with the idea of empowerment of claimants to manage their finances better, given the right tools.

Certainly where I work there is a genuine wish both to protect and educate the financially vulnerable (for example putting more free ATMs in poorer areas, which tend to be populated by pay-to-use ATMS who cash in on the fact that people can’t afford to or can’t for mobility/access reasons access commercial centres easily where there are free machines. So I do actually think there are some of the right intentions there, even if it is only to help make the best of a bad job that is universal credit.

I don’t mind group rides, but I’m not much of a freerider – too many crashes!

Not afraid of wet/mud, so long as it’s not unrideable :)

I get IDS about helping them to be responsible [ its a godd idea if support is given] but some folk do actually need the state to control theis spending like a parent does witha child

True, which is why there is a project going on at the moment between DWP and several UK financial institutions to help tackle this – the idea of basic bank accounts for benefit claimants with a “jam jar” budgeting system, so they can shift money into different pots for different bills. DWP is also commissioning some work to provide basic financial education, so hopefully everything is being done to help to get most people away from needing that nannying.

However….I think that for some people (addicts for example) they should continue not to allow them to have the means to spend their housing money – an addict does not necessarily make sound reasoned financial decisions or weigh up the consequences of roof over head versus next fix.

Titus, thanks, will check that out. Not sure if I’ll be able to get there for 9:30am on the Saturday as travelling from oop north, but the Sunday one could be worth a shot.

mud tyres it is then….

Erm… that’s not the point of the welfare state at all. Its put there as a safety net for people who fall on hard times, and to care for the more disadvantaged in society.

Well said. And don’t forget, there but for the grace of God, Allah, Gaia or whatever, go all of us. People can lose everything in the blink of an eye – an accident, chronic illness, redundancy….today it’s your neighbour, but tomorrow it could be you or someone in your family. Would you not want there to be something there to look after them?

One big cut that will soon begin to hurt people is the reduction/loss of the children’s allowance.

Until this month, my now ex-wife was receiving around £1760 per annum for our two children. As she earns a few grand over £50k, she will get next to nothing. This comes at a time when she is about take out a big mortgage to buy me out of the marital home. She will also have all the bills I used to pay, so her era of austerity is going to hit her like a steam train. Means testing is so crude, not that I wish to defend my wife’s predicament – she chose that route and without any discussions about how how we might have mitigated the situation for the benefit of our kids – very upsetting, but I’ve a clear conscience

Sorry – zero sympathy. She earns over £50k – over double what I earn.

She does not have to take out a big mortgage to buy you out, you could sell and she could move somewhere cheaper. Cut your cloth, that’s what the rest of us are having to do. I resent my taxes going to give benefits to those earning that amount of money. I want them to go to those in most need – she isn’t, and neither are your kids, if she’s got that size income, plus whatever yours is, then your kids won’t be wanting for anything. There are kids growing up in serious poverty here in the UK, whose parents cannot afford to heat their homes or feed and clothe their kids properly.

This kind of middle class woe-is-me attitude bugs the hell out of me – the austerity cuts have hit the poorest and most vulnerable who already had very little far worse. Your ex wife needs to be grateful for what she already does have, and for the fact that she isn’t in danger of losing her home due to housing benefit cuts, having disability allowance taken away or having the meagre wage supplementation that is tax credits for low paid workers cut or removed.

Sorry for being harsh, but get some perspective.