I was 51 in October. I’ve cycled 9,000km so far this year but still managed to hit my heaviest ever (14st at 6’2″) a few weeks ago.

I decided to go on a carb-free diet and lost a stone in two weeks. Still riding the same, circa 220km per week commuting and it’s hard to ride with no carbs/energy but the weight drops off.

Screw the sportive in March, go out and ride it now on your own, the weather is no different to what it will be in March.

When I hit 13 stone I had three rashers of bacon, mushrooms and a cheese omelette to celebrate; carb-free!

Even simpler, why didn’t the car driver just speed the **** up?

57mph should have put him infront of the lorry (limited to 56mph) and out of harms way. Plus he wouldn’t be holding traffic up in the process?

Which as all keen amateur detectives know takes us back to what his motives were…

GrahamS – Member

BUT… regardless of how irritating his driving might have been, ramming him with a trailer is bang out of order. Someone could have been killed.

Absolutely, no argument there. However it seems that dashcam business owners seem to have the same ability to get themselves into ‘situations’ that make for good footage in the same way that helmet-cam warriors do…

more details here including Mr Stockdale who runs a dashcam company

Hmmmm….

EDIT – well done Dicky, beat me to it

as already stated, if you can do 50 you can do 100.

you just need to:
– eat and drink regularly
– not go faster than you feel comfortable with
– get some training for the climbs (although it’s not that much climbing)

on your current rides you should have some idea of your average speed. Use a speedo/garmin or whatever that you can stick on your bars and keep an eye on your average speed to make sure you are not going over it

if you have an HRM you can do similar e.g. you can ride all day irrespective of distance at say 75% of max HR but if you try to do 80% of max HR then you will blow up within an hour (the figures may vary, i just made em up but the principal is the same).

For what it’s worth I’ve done London to Paris in less than 24 hours and a circuit of the M25 (245km) in 12 hours both earlier this year. I’ve also climbed Col de Madeleine which has 1500 metres of ascent in one climb. Not trying to willy wave just indicating that it’s possible.

I’m no superstar cyclist, just a 51 year old bloke who loves cycling.

Keep a steady 15mph pace and keep eating and drinking and bob’s yer mother’s brother

usually my principle would be always to test ride what you are buying. However I splashed out £2k on a YT Capra AL1 back in March without even sitting on one and haven’t regretted it.

YMMV

You know that funny thing they do when they look at the note and hold it up to the light?

Well I do that back to them when they give me the change. freaks ’em out!

zippykona – Member
Anyway…back on topic. To vent or not?

I think we have already.

Thanks very much, I’m here all week.

Try the fish

Zippy, you worry too much. Just stick it on charge in your kitchen or in the back of the shop sans ammo box and don’t leave it overnight

Edit: Mine’s sitting next to me on my desk at work as I ty…..YIKES! What’s that burning smell?….

was there on Sunday. Trails are damp but firm underneath

Les Arcs is great, been there three or is it four times. BUT you need a guide to get the best out of it plus there’s only 1 proper DH course.

Plus it’s really, really boring in the evenings and if you ain’t riding (gf and other daughter) you will be totally bored.

For our man’s requirements that really doesn’t fit the bill.

Nice one Ian, I first took my eldest son to Les Arcs in 2007 when he was 16; it’s both great and terrifying in equal measure to see them flying down the side of a mountain.

However, rather than tell you about my holidays lets see if we can answer your queries:

We both ride DH bikes – perfect. Full on DH trails (with graded trails and obvious signs to tell you what you are on and a proper lift system to get you to the top of them without pedalling). Answer – Morzine/Les Gets (which includes the whole of the Porte de Soleil area accessible via over a dozen lifts all on the same lift pass)

I would drive us both over – yup, usually the cheapest & easiest option. can take loads of kit you couldn’t normally take on a plane. Most alpine resorts are a broadly similar distance from Calais

I would camp – I really wouldn’t. After a day on the trails you want a nice hot shower and a comfy bed, not a tent. she’s 18, not you

I cant really afford the fly and catered chalet for 2 of us – self catering is the answer. Plenty in most alpine resorts but we got a nice one in Morzine for circa 160 pp in July this year. Plenty of supermarkets to do a shop to allow you to cook/eat in/buy cheap french wine n beer

I have no idea where to go or what to do – so what you need is clearly marked trails and a well developed lift system that you can pick and choose whatever you want to do. – again the answer is Morzine/Les Get/PDS area

There is a chance my GF will want to come and ride her road bike, or walk in the hills. Amy’s sister may also want to come, but she isn’t a cyclist. – yup, Morzine again, everything from table tennis to tennis courts to walking to horseriding to open air swimming pools, to a luge type thing and more walking than you could shake a (walking) stick at.

I specifically commented to my mates last year that despite the fact there’s 5,000 lads in town ranging from 18 year olds to 50 year olds like myself there’s still plenty of families enjoying non-cycling holidays, old couples enjoying walking holidays etc. It really is a proper holiday destination

We have the bikefax guide to the alps – never even seen it but managed to find my way around Morzine/PDS area without it

We aren’t superstars, but just want to have some fun on our bikes – me too; again, see comment above re graded and marked trails

Do it, it will honestly be the best family holiday you will have ever had.

I don’t personally know but I am Zwift curious and found that this site cleared up a lot of questions over what I did/didn’t need

Titanium Geek[/url]

Bears can’t run downhill

Dogs can’t look up

The moon landings…

Les Arcs lift, July 2012

no idea re children I’m afraid but my wife has been Type 1 insulin dependent since she was 13. She is now 51 and went onto the pump two years ago.

In terms of fashion it does cause a bit of a problem as to where to attach it and whether it shows. she normally attaches it to the front of her bra although you can often see the outline of the pump.

She removes it for showering. Can’t remember the last time I ever saw her swim and she doesn’t do contact (or in fact any) sport.

the cannula doesn’t come out.

Her control has been better since the pump was fitted.

She demo’d it to a mate of mine who is a similar age and also Type 1 insulin dependent. He didn’t like it due to being ‘tied’ to it and chose to stay with the injections.

Bearing in mind that this is essentially a ‘what tyre?’ thread and so everyone’s opinion is correct (and everyone else’s opinion is thereby incorrect) this is my hierarchy of tyres based on personal experience (six years cycle-commuting all year round covering circa 8,000 commuting km per annum)

Fast and ok puncture protection – Continental GP4000S
Decent handling in wet weather & ok puncture protection – Continental GP 4 Seasons
Better puncture protection but slower and poor in the wet – Continental Gatorskins
Even better puncture protection but wooden feel to the ride – Specialized Armadillos
Bombproof but heavy and slow – Marathon+
Schwalbe Ultremos – paper thin and useless for commuting

Schwalbe The Ones are next on the list to see how I get on with tubeless on the road bike

I’m 6’2″ here and ride a large, I feel it’s fine for me. Even ridden 105km off road (London to Brighton) on it and no issues

pick-a-tube, any tube

EDIT: not really up on cartoon characters and I’m assuming that’s Picachu?

does anyone have a non-DM link?

slight tangent but I was channel hopping the other night and watched ‘Urban Rugby’ or whatever it was called with Ugo Monye and Marlon Yarde.

A really great idea, moving away from that ‘rugby is for posh kids’ idea (well in England anyway) and to borrow a football term for a moment some of those kids had ‘unbelievable tekkers’. It was also great how they spoke to the kids about behaviour in school, at home etc. and teaching them values.

Really heartwarming

<quote>jekkyl – Member
people who misspell their into there, this is very common</quote>

Similarly your and you’re.

IMHO good grammar is the difference between knowing your sh*t and knowing you’re sh*t

‘smashed’ when used to describe a very ordinary action to make it sound more exciting like:

‘I was going for a Strava time so I smashed a full fat coke before I set off’

or

‘the roadies with their power bars all stared at me as I smashed a Greggs corned beef pastie at the food stop’

where the court leaves a ghost image on your TV screen

i thought this was an update on the cricket

you can go colourful without going tasteless

in fact you can off road to Brighton from there. It’s ace, I tackle it at least once a year.

A great place to live, work and ride.

It’s expensive tho. Mainly to keep the rabble out :wink:

a personalised numberplate.

MBMC18 or something

My grandfather told me to always fight fire with fire.

Perhaps that’s why he got thrown out of the fire service…

Baduummm tish!

muppetWrangler – Member
Nobody ever gets to the end of their life wishing they’d spent more time at work.

I agree and subscribe to this although I heard it as “no-one ever had ‘I wish I had spent more time in the office’ on their gravestone.” Same difference.

Another good one that has been alluded to already and an ex-line manager of mine told me was that I should leave off replying to some emails for 24 hours/overnight.

This has served me well as i used to just bash out an angry email and send it and this would raise all kinds of sh*tstorms. It’s much easier to reply with a cool head.

And finally, one that Dilbert taught me but is a universal truth. If you ignore something long enough it will go away.

The number of times that someone is desperate for some info/response/report etc. You ignore it for 24/48 hours and hey presto, they’ve resolved it another way.

electronic shifting i.e. Di2?

Some say that Steve Jobs early death was a metaphor for the battery life of Apple products.

Done it twice a year for the last five years (one MTB trip with riding buddies, one road trio with 2 x sons). Always Eurotunnel. Even with this year’s issues re strikes and Calais side fences being overrun only had an extra 30 minutes waiting time.

As above really, roads are a dream in France, more like British roads re potholes in Belgium.

Stick to the toll roads and price that in to your cost of the holiday.

I’ve booked Eurotunnel up to two weeks before the trip. Was less than a tenner more than booking well in advance but don’t necessarily chance it. if you know when you are going, book in advance

It’s long way. regular stops and change of drivers are best. Although I have done Surrey to the Alps with just two petrol stops and me doing all the driving once my head was pounding by the end of it. Not recommended.

I often drive overnight as others recommend. Roads even quieter, cooler too rather than 30+ degrees during the day (especially as my aircon packed up this year).

Never bothered with the tags but seems like a good idea.

Don’t eat large meals or snacks when travelling. 30 minutes after eating them you will feel really sleepy as your body digests them. Not good on fast autoroutes. small snacksmore often or a bag of sweets in the middle armrest to keep you going.

Use a sat nav. If you borrow one off your in-laws make sure they haven’t set the ‘avoid toll roads’ option (hence why I experienced Belgian roads)

75% of signs on the autoroutes say ‘aire de something or other’. These are places to stop, relax, stretch your legs, have a pee. Some are just grass and benches, some are the full motorway service station experience. It doesn’t take long to work out which is which.

Contrary to someone above, in my experience paying by card at the toll booths is expensive, often at a 1 euro = 1 pound kinda rate. I always pay by cash.

Mount your bikes very securely. I’m guessing with a motorhome they are either inside or on a proper rack outside. There are some quite large dips on the autoroute which if you hit them at 90mph give a massive compression effect and can cause your bikes to wobble worryingly on a tow bar mounted rack, even a nice sturdy one like my Thule euro S3 wassisname.

Enjoy the views.

Drive on the right!

I rode 3 x 9 for years (22 x 28) on my hardtail. I then moved to 2 x 9 (22 x 28) on the same bike, obviously no change and rode that for a couple of years too. I did notice when I did an el cheapo 1 x 9 (32 x 28) conversion on the same bike which I rode for six months but never enough to really bother me.

I then went to 1 x 11 (32:42) in June when my YT Capra arrived. I can still get up everything I did when I had the hardtail in it’s various guises.

do it.

and it’s better for it. It would be dreadful if it had someone like Tom Cruise in it

yes, that’s what I meant

just mentioned it two minutes ago on the 11pm thread.

Didn’t really know what to expect. The old lady just wanted to go to the cinema last weekend and this seemed the best that was on.

Very bleak, very violent but a good story. It’s another one of those films though that makes me think probably unfairly ‘cross Mexico off my list of places to visit’ :lol:

Great performances from all actors with no real superstars in it.

Do yourself a favour and go and see Sicario instead.

Saw it last week. Violent and bleak, very bleak. but a good watch

oh and who though Michael Cheika’s voice was going to sound like that?

proud Englishman here but was cheering you on all the way and absolutely gutted for Scotland. That really was the pits at the end.