I'm doing the Brighton half-marathon end of Feb and I'm not that fazed. Its part of my training for the full Brighton Marathon in April.

I've lost about 2 weeks training due to the weather so I just figure it might take me a bit longer and hurt a bit more than I would have liked.

Really looking forward to it in a weird kind of way cos when I started running about 3 months ago it hurt like hell but I'm over that now.

Defo go for it.

Regarding training tips I think the Runners World website is pretty good. I'm also using the New York Marathon Training Guide which is excellent.

Bottom line is you need to be running at least 3 times a week, plus some cycling. Start slowly and build progressively to avoid injuries and include some interval and fast pace stuff. Do as much off road training as you can to preserve your joints.

I run Maxxis Ardents and can highly recommend them.

I would suggest Bonty Mud X for when things get wet.

The mighty Prince Albert. Its had 2 previous owners and I've been broken more times than it has:

My Gary Fisher Ferrous 29er:

Dont forget to stipulate to your insurer that you want the bike replaced by your LBS otherwise your insurer may use a mailorder firm which means your LBS loses out.

A blend of experience and passion combined with an ability to communicate with customers and a Cytech qualification is the ideal package.

It would appear that Yul Brynner and Telly Savalas are trapped inside her dress.

I lost my virginity when I was 16. Found it again when I got married.

You should look at the work done by Jay Townley in the US. The ACT used to sell his e-book on how to develop your bike shop. Check with them.

Brighton Big Dog – 6 hrs – was ace last year and I reckon will be even better this year. Probably August at Stanmer Park.

Be a man: 52-12

Afan would be my choice. More variety and more fun for your miles.

Brechfa is good but loads of fireroad and lots of climbing and I never really felt the descents paid off for all that climbing.

Go to Afan and do W2 trail which combines The Wall and Whites.

Here's video we took at Brechfa on The Raven Trail:
http://www.vimeo.com/6783866

Nice, that bassline liquified my bowels!

Just saw this on O2's Twitter feed:

We apologise to customers who cannot use data at the moment. We have a fault with the allocation of IP addresses which we are fixing.

Cycling won't have changed much. Probably loads more electric bikes on the roads.

What will change is the perception of cycling will be more positive as lots more people will be doing it. Cycling infrastructure will be better, which will include cycle lanes and cycle parking / storage.

glenp – i probably didn't explain myself very well but the covering of the face was different to the standard shielding the eyes. Hard to explain but felt weird. Seen plenty of walkers cover their eyes but this was different. Spooked me anyway.

Plus of course you're miles from anywhere at 11pm at night in total darkness.

I regularly ride solo at night and it sh*ts me up almost everytime. Sometimes it might be for a minute or so if I see or hear something strange, other times I could spend the entire ride – 1 or 2 hours – bricking it. But its all good fun and when you get in to work next day and sit in front of that computer you know why you do it.

Definitely take back-up lights, phone and let someone know where you are going.

Weirdest thing I've seen is being on the south downs at around 11pm and seeing a silhouette of a man coming up the trail towards me. As I got near him he turned away and hid his face. I have never ridden so fast in my life.

The strangest thing I heard from some mates is when they were in Stanmer Park and came round a corner to find a guy in a ninja outfit standing in the middle of the trail. He jumped out the way and then ran next to them down the trail and then disappeared.

Would the Steve McQueen motorcycle sequence from Great Escape count?

The big fight scene in Bravehart – "they shall never take our freedom!"

Just remembered Leon.

There's the bit where they raid his apartment (Gary Oldman is genius) and then the final epic sequence culminating when Leon blows himself up.

Fizik Gobi. Best saddle I've ever had.

Damn, forgot about that lobby scene from The Matrix!

The car chase in Ronin is good.

I would agree with that shootout scene from Heat. It was choreographed by ex SAS guys.

Others I like:

1. The beach landing in Saving Private Ryan
2. The casino fight in District 13
3. The marketplace chase in Bourne Ultimatum
4. The forest shootout in Public Enemies (similar to Heat)
5. The long un-edited sequence (Hastings I think) from Children of Men
6. Opening sequence from Wild Bunch

Many aspects and disciplines of cycling are geeky / nerdy. Its part of being in the tribe. It is also what deters (sometimes offends) others from getting into cycling. Cycling is primarily driven by the sport / enthusiast base.

In my view this is one of the biggest barriers to more people cycling.

The documentary "Home" by Yann Arthus-Bertrand is an excellent and fantastically filmed insight into how Planet Earth is changing.

Take a look here

The "Fetch" accident support service for cyclists is good[/url]

Guys, you appear to have forgotten one thing. The scheme is not designed to help you "buy" a bike. It is a loan or hire scheme.

The older i get the more violent i am becoming. But right now i could murder a sarnie.

Surprised that neither Gorillaz or Kasabian feature in top 10.

We have one of those in our local park. Right near the kids play area!

At the back of our house we also have something similar. Its a footpath named locally as "Dog Sh*T Alley" cos the fazy luckers don't bother to clear up after their mutts.

We're thinking of getting some too. Are they noisy?

Why don't you get a £1 bucket from B&Q and then prove to us that it can in fact be made into a suitable bike storage device, that both works and looks good like the Cycloc?

There are other Cytech courses, check out the web link I gave you and look top left on the website.

If you really want to get into the bike trade (and improve your home skills) then look at either Cytech 1 or 2. I was suggesting Home Mechanic because its really popular at the moment.

Cytech is the industry standard. Over 500 bike shops put staff thru it and over 1400 people qualified in the trade and growing.

Might be worth checking our Cytech which is the cycle industry's recognised training scheme. The "home mechanics" course is very popular and considerably cheaper than Cycle Systems

http://www.thecyclingexperts.co.uk/cytech/cytech-home-mechanic/%5B/url%5D

Sam, sounds good. Are they 2.0?

Sam, what's the deal with the spares then?

Mr Smith: yes Madison have spent alot but not nearly as much as if they had to start totally from scratch. My point is that they want Saracen to be bigger and more mainstream than their other bike brands hence the investment.

Genesis is being directed to the more niche steel / Ti mtb / fixie user and Ridgeback is essentially a commuter staple. Saracen is going into the lions den if you like, competing with established big guns hence buying the brand – rather than creating – and putting cash behind it.

Check this[/url]

Be careful you don't buy yourself a job which is something I see in the bike trade all the time.

Plus, has anyone mentioned currency fluctuations? If you're building overseas you are at the mercy of the strength or weakeness of the £ versus dollar / yen / euro etc and this is something forecast to run for a few more years yet. This will play havoc with your costs and price points.

UK bike imports are down this year but the cost of the bikes /frames is significantly up.