Thanks for LG suggestion.

Yes, it could be a wind up, but after 5 years + of no contact, seems an odd time to bother or make the effort…. who knows. I suspect they want to bargain over the info and I would prefer to circumvent this. Item in question is of no monetary value, just one of those family objects.

Woth a try, ta. Though I dont think any of my lot lived in the capital, but who knows!

Any other suggestions folks?

Get a 2nd hand hack bike for kiddy rides and the nice carbon for herself?

You are marrying someone you have to hide your hobby from?

I dont see any reason why the directors of the tour cannot make safety statements (re crashes, dodgy street furniture etc) to teams as a whole via radios.

Just stop teams having access to tactical radio statements.

I think its worth a try stopping radios as the riders are ever becoming machines to be used, rather than living thinking people.

Most useful has been
"Either you define the moment or the moment defines you."

Tin Cup, another Costner film.

As I have said on other posts previously, I think the general publics attitude is that either most bikes cost less than £100 and are therefore "expendable" as they are percieved as dead cheap to replace. If you have spent hundereds or thousands on your bike, you are percieved as an idiot who wastes money and deserves to loose out to thefts. As sort of covered in a post further up, £3000 stolen of anything else (cars, personal items etc) would be taken nuch more seriously.

Like cycle lanes, cycle thefts often seem to be viewed as things to 'go throught the motions' with, but off the record as of no real consequence at all. I appreciate the Policeman coming on here, its a good thing and a move in a positive direction.

What we really want is a bunch of bikes with tracking devices so that the theft ring can be broken up (I realise it may not be that simple in real life)and some high profile publicity if there is a good result, as the thieves know as well as the rest of us that they are very low priority.

A few years back I heard rumours that bikes were being nicked in London, broken up and the parts sold in Bristol – it must be well worth the risks and profit to put that much effort in, if indeed the rumour was true.

Not all MS is terrible, if it turns out you have it. I know someone who has had it for at least 10 years and still goes running for fun. His running mates have not spoted it. A collegue has a relative now in her late 50’s who gets about relatively normally on her own, given she was diagnosed decades ago!

I took multivits for 2 seperate periods in my life, both only for I guess 2 or 3 weeks. They were different brands. With both I started to feel ‘not right’ somehow and then more off colour. Both times it stopped within a few days of not taking the pills. I never take them now as there is something in them I cannot tolerate, as it is the only time I have felt ‘not well’ in that sort of way.

Being told on your birthday that buying you any present at all was ‘too expensive, but I did get you a card’.

Thanks all, this is very helpful.

“saddles are shorter and wider due to marked physiological differences between the sexes in the pelvic region.”

I realise that many women prefer wider saddles – but I dont see why that effects the length of the saddle? Womens ‘bits’ are not going to hang safely off the front of a short saddle as they are too far underneath our bodies for that to happen! I use SDG and Charge spoons and I don’t keep thinking ‘this saddle is too long’.

Maybe some womenns frames are smaller, so they try to give more clearance between the bars and the saddle?

I have guys saddles fitted on my bikes, as I find a lot of womens saddles are too wide and push me forward on the saddle. Just as well I dont have one of these ‘female short’ ones as I would fall off the front in the end 🙂

Princess Di swore by colonic irrigation… Another fad.

A group local to us has set up thier own Steiner school. A group of parents have employed thier own Steiner teacher – so the parents have group control of what happens to the kids, with all the benefit of Steiner education. I think they contacted Steiner in UK to find a teacher to employ. It has been going several years and both parents, children and teacher all seem very happy.

Re above, I think that comment about not learning to read until 9 is wrong as my friends child loves reading and is only 6.

I had very bad experiences of ‘normal’ school with long term reporcussions into adulthood. From the description of how the children are viewed in a steiner school I would send children there if I had any. They seem to be treated as people instead of state statistics.

My friend says there are loads of Steiner ‘groups’ as opposed to formal schools in the UK. As his is so sucessfull for everyone, I suggest you contact Steiner and ask as the groups are not as obvious as a school building. I dont think you need to leave UK to find one.

Do a forum subject seach here for ‘para’ as someone asked a similar question about bikes and that word was in the title.

If you get the chance to see Charlie Boorman do a real life talk, go to see it. I went expecting very little as was not a fan of the programs, but he is very very funny in real life and was very popular with the audience.

So much of bike shop success is dependent on the attitude of the staff. I hope during the recession, more of the staff in certain shops realise that! Its really great when you find someone helpful and friendly.

People with seriously overweight kids should be done for child abuse if they won’t except guidance on how to help their child be healthy, I don’t think the child should be blamed. I suspect its often the result of a mental issue the parent has, as much as ignorance over diet. Its a control technique to limit the child’s freedom and independence combined with a need to feel ‘my child needs me if I provide food’.

The publicity has been rubbish, I only found it by accident and its not even covered much in Cycling Weekly (could almost be a women’s race there then!).

I dont enjoy viewing sport all that much but I have enjoyed this series. There is lots of action, lots of varied filming opportunities (fun to watch the motorbike camera person) and the towns have given an interesting background when the bike stuff is less active. I have already seen a town I want to go and visit.

All round, so very much better than the 08 Tour of Britain, which was (due to budget and liner race format?) the most boringly filmed race in the world, consisting of endless backsides wobbling through country lanes, with no decent view of what was going on at all.

I hope this town Tour Series is run again next year, hopefully with additional races.

It was on ITV4 around 7.00pm and repeated the next afternoon.

People who might be able to suggest where to look:

SJS cycles

Spa cycles

http://www.vintagebikes.co.uk/

http://www.theoldbicycleshowroom.co.uk/index.asp

http://www.back2bikes.org.uk/index.php

I can’t vouch for any of these as I have never used any of them myself, though the 2 touring shops at the top are well known.

Decent of you to sort it.

When I was very new to bikes (early 20’s), I was nearly killed as a result of faulty brake set up done by a bike shop. It certainly encourages you to learn mechanics yourself, I can tell you! Never trusted anyone else to touch it since as at least it will be my own fault if I mess up.

SJS cycles sell the ‘catch’ to stop the back dropping. Think it was around a fiver.

Have you tried asking her what she wants?

Or perhaps discussed the pros and cons with her while walking round a bike shop to see the sort of things she might be interested in, then looking for similar 2nd hand?

Personally I would not recommend a woman’s frame. The first decent bike I got, I foolishly picked the women’s version rather than the men’s in the same model. Women’s frames are less robust plus are a dead loss for carrying water bottles, locks and lock mounts etc as there is no room in the frame – don’t underestimate just how inconvenient it is not to be able to easily carry a lock. The 3 bikes after were all guys frames and a big improvement all round.

As an aside, I came across a couple in a bike shop a couple of months back and the women was very keen on a mens frame cycle. All I could hear was her bloke trotting loudly round behind her whining ‘you should get a women’s frame, so you can wear a skirt’ and her oft repeated statement ‘but I never wear skirts when cycling’. I felt really sorry for her having such a prat of a husband who thought his getting a hard on was more important than her having a decent bike!

People loose all perspective on what is a ‘normal’ level of work.

One of my relationships bit the dust, as my partner at the time thought it was normal to come home from work after 7.00 at night, get a snack and a drink and sit working for another couple of hours. By then I had to go to bed as I had to get up for work. He would stay up late after finishing his work (“its the only way I have any life”), then go in late the next morning as he was too tired to go in at a more normal time. This left us no evenings togeather at all and no shared meals. At the weekend, he was only available in the afternoons due to similar ‘work’ stuff. I tried and tried to talk to him about his obsession as did others, but he was so ‘into’ it and (the big reason) the sense of huge self importance it gave him that it was hopeless. To him it was normal behaviour and everyone else was being unreasonable about making demands for social time. The point is, if you think your work level is normal, be aware you could be very very wrong and messing up your relationship and family. Obsessive (and in his case desperate to feel very important) people have little perspective on reality.

Sounds good. I hope to go myself, but not I think, this weekend. Might try to slip in during a mid week.

How long did it take to go around the actual museum once you were in?

Do you mind killing someone?

How would you feel about receiving an order than means you have a good chance of being killed? – would you be thinking of the partner and kids moving on through life without you?

Can you give your life to support wars and actions that you don’t agree with (as in the case of the gulf, which most of the UK population didn’t agree with)?

Are you comfortable with your partner and kids being expected to move around the country/world at the government’s whim? Its for your benefit more than thiers, while while they possibly get to be rootless, your partner has no career, your kids are never really settled and might grow up having no steady friendships or associations? I worked with someone who bitterly regretted subjegating her life and that of her children to her husbands needs, which led to resentment.
How do your family feel about your possible work choice – and are they being honest with you?

Just thoughts.

I appreciate people in the military who do offer their lives and take risks and do good as well as questionable things. But its not an ‘alone’ decision when people have partners who did not buy into that regime at an early point in life, or you have kids with no control about being moved around the world. Taking the military choice is not the same as when in your teens and single. I am sure there are pluses, but there are many negative too, mostly for your family?

Good luck whatever you choose.

All of the City of Bristol museums and art gallery’s are free to anyone at all(there are lots of sites round the city). They were forced to charge for a period some years back and the place became empty of visitors (I knew one of the security staff there).

I hope the Banksy display is better than the replacement Egypt display – which went from a load of interesting artefacts to mainly a bunch of computers showing stuff you could internet at home. Very sad, that the curators seemed to view computer images as more valuable than seeing the real thing. Still, these are the people who wanted to demolish one of the few remaining historic dock buildings to build a trendy new museum 🙁 Only a massive public outcry stopped them.

Ask at any bike shop which sells the locks. They should have knowledge of the procedure. I think they have to send the plastic card away for the keys to be cut.

I’ve never seen such poor acting. I guess she is regretting resigning, as its clear the MPs and PM are going to tread water with all this until the public is bored, then carry on just as before, grabbing cash and not following political policies the public would clearly prefer.
The politicians are just killing time waiting for the public to fall back into line.

If she had hung on, nothing would have happened to her. I expect she will be back anyway… look at Mandleson… got a better job in Europe as a ‘punishment’ and is now back here pushing through the Royal Mail sell off and worse.

They just see the public as fools to be controlled, not as their bosses.

Oh, and a friend of mine and her husband did their own divorce, no problems or issues and it was very cheap. Sadly for him it was his second DIY divorce, so he knew the procedure already. It can work out OK and saves a lot of pain as it would have been a much longer and more formal procedure with solicitors deeply involved. It cost my parents a lot of money, even though there were no real complications involved as all children were adult and the house was the only financial issue.

Just in case its any help, you don’t have to live in separate buildings for 2 years to prove separation, just that you have lived ‘separate lives’ – ie not socialising together, having your own rooms in the house, not having communal food. My parents separated, divorced and continued both living in the same house for some while after the divorce was finalised.

Order one from wiggle – you do have to pay to send it back if its no good, but its only a couple of quid – much cheaper than being left with a saddle thats no use. They are very prompt with returns and customer service, so no hanging around waiting for refunds.

I use the summery most of the time. Much better than when you could only choose ‘bikes’ or ‘chat’. I think dividing the forums killed off a lot of the interaction on here (before the summery page appeared) as people went to one or the other and participation in both sections fell. Though that could just be my perception, it may not be proved by stats.

Last weeks order was here by the next morning. No complaints here.

Old enough to choose for themselves when they are in their teens. Direct them to the CTC forum, get them to read the helmet threads for info. Maybe have a discussion covering both pros and cons. After that lay off them as not wanting to be told what to do and wanting to form views of your own is a normal part of being and becoming an adult.

When they get to trail centres etc and everyone else is wearing them, it will be more desirable to them anyway.

Biggest problem my family had was that the dog slides about at every turn or bend in the road – very unpleasent and dangerous for the dog and for everyone else. We tried a fixed cover, but as it was waterproof plastic upon leather the effect was much like an ice rink.

When the person above mentions ‘in the boot’ I hope he means a hatchback and not a saloon. Apart from being cruel, there is always a risk of the dog suffering from heat stroke. There is also risk of suffocating both from confinded space and from any fume leak that may come up from the exhaust system if there is any ventilation from outside.

Best I have found for stopping in wet etc are Avids own blocks. You can also just replace the rubber bits in them, saving money. Chainreation sell them. I did try a couple of other brands in the past (reputable ones) but I did not find the stopping power as good and went back.

I just tried looking up this directive on the web. It does not seem to be the same straightforward ‘take it back within 12 months if faulty’- but extended to 2 years. It also seems very open to ‘interpretation’, so I would still at this point in time see John Lewis or other free extended offers as a useful bet.

Thats interesting, when did that rule come in as I have not heard of it and no one has mentioned it (I am frustrated, not dening this rule exists!)? I had a friend who recently returned an expensive electronic photo frame at 14 months and was told they had no cover for it at all as it was more than a year old. Also my Canon SLR broke at 13 months and was not ‘covered’.