I’d withdraw treatment to Conservative Voters. They can’t see beyond their own immediate needs

^^^this.

Would Labour be any better than the Tories? Well they wouldn’t put someone like Andrew Lansley in charge, who used to be on the payroll of one of the major private healthcare providers who went on to get major NHS contracts as it was carved off.

Are you seriously thinking the Tory party have the healthcare of the nation as a greater concern than carving up what they ideologically consider a beacon of socialism for the benefit of their big donor private healthcare buddies?

No matter how good your private medical cover, there are certain parts of the NHS used by everyone, eg: A&E, for which there are no private alternatives.

Just look at the above poster – they promised not to cut the NHS and have done just that.

You can’t trust the Tories with the NHS.

Look into his eyes…he really meant it:

I would urge anyone thinking of voting Conservative at the next election to think very carefully if they would like the NHS to continue exist before marking that X.

much grinding of teeth over this

Really sad news as this is a great event – well organised, great route and, compared to many events on the MTB calendar, good value in terms of you get loads for a fairly cheap entry.

The taking liquids thing off passengers is a joke and I’m fairly sure more about selling drinks while BAA holds you captive in the shopping area than airline safety.

Strangley, the large glass bottles of flammable liquid available in duty free are absolutely fine to take on board.

I’ve had similar experiences to some of the above recently. Had cold after cold and even once they’d gone, didn’t feel right, always tired and 80% on bike.

I read about JT Locke who rides for sky as he went through a phase of that and it was due to Epstein Barr Virus, which is the cause of glandualr fever. I had a test and it came up +ve. Think I had the original illness at uni, but it’s one of these things that can come back or make you fatigued when the immune system is weak.

EBV is, I believe, the most common human virus and about 25% of people have it in their system. The impact changes from individaul to individual and there is no cure. I know not to push it if I’m not feeling great and just listen to my body a bit more.

My heart goes out for JTL who was either having a spectacularly good year in 2012 but seems to have gone all quiet now?

I spotted him twice in Majorca last month out riding with/waiting for a female of similar age, who I correctly/incorrectly assumed to be his girlfirend.

My mate was a fitter for British gas and when he was an apprentice, stuck his head through a gap in the floor boards to shout his mate who was getting something from the van. He couldn’t get his head back through the gap and the family’s labrador took a shine to it and basically shagged his head until the van mate came back and dragged it off.

Thats Hare Pie off the menu then.

(my spellin ain’t great)

I’ve done lots of MTB races but road racing sounds utterly terrifying.

The Conservative Party hate the NHS and would love to get rid of it. To them, it’s ideologically on a par with communism and so chip chip away at it as best they can, encouraged by big donations from private healthcare providers. Their previous Health Minister, Andrew Lansley, was historically on the payroll of one of the biggest private healthcare providers who went on to get some major NHS contracts.

If the Tory party get in at the next election the NHS is completely ****ed. Anyone who votes Tory at the next election better hope they or their family never has to make use of its services in the future and remember, there isn’t a private A&E.

I ride two abreast with mates/club on wide open roads, but (in the interests of harmony amongst all road users) we almost always go down to single file if it’s holding traffic up.

On the one hand, I don’t think it’s an unreasonable position to take but on the other, you need to look at why people don’t try to integrate as I don’t think it’s a particularly natural human trait.

Just like the British expat communities that exist in almost every country in the world, with their British Clubs. People are drawn to what they know, so when they move to a new country, often hang around with people who talk the same langauge and wear the same type of clothes.

There have been a couple of things in the national and local news recently that have seemingly brought the worst out in people.

National – Lee Rigby murder – people I ‘know’ on Facebook posting pictures of Enoch Powell and asking “are there any decent Muslims in the world”, FFS.

Local – a number of attempted child abductions in the local area. Someone posted that thier child had almost been snatched, but then the thread descended into an hysterical witch hunt with people filling in gaps in the facts and starting dangerous rumours.

I’ve been on the verge of contributing but thought better of it and blocked a few people instead to avoid the vitriol, almost all of which was spouted from a position of ignorance.

Read all about us on the website…

http://www.brownbacksracing.co.uk/%5B/url%5D

daft punk

…and let us not forget that in addition to the bacon/brew/buff/karma, all marshals on the day get put into a draw for £50 in used notes.

He should stick to being a chef.

With sites like Right Move and in most cases, it is the seller that shows prospective buyers around the house, I’m really not sure why unqualified individuals who set up as agents get 1% of the value of your home for putting an advert in their window.

Estate Agents appear to do very little for a large wedge of cash. Any differing views on that?

rode home from work warm, dry and in the light. Lovely.

Massive hike in the number of people out and about doing stuff and it just made me think the country should stay on BST as just that extra bit of light in the evening for a few months would encourage people to get off the sofa.

my wife would like to use your toilet

[2nd series is better, no canned laughter]

Credit to the Jeremy Hunt that is CMD for sticking with this as he could have so easily caved in to the bigots in his own party.

While I want to take the kids to euroDisney, it sounds like the worst place in the world and I think some seriously strong sedatives would have to be taken.

I woke up on the Ark Royal once. That’s not a euphamism. That was after a very, very heavy night out In Liverpool!

HELLO SAILOR!

how good can a single 8 hour period be? I mean £30k on a wedding?

Mention the word ‘wedding’ to a business and it’s keeerrching£££££££.

My mate spent a fortune on a wedding at a very grand hall in cheshire. They went to select the wine for the dinner and got charged half the normal restaurant price for a full bottle for a tiny sip of each despite the fact the catering alone was costing £15k.

“would madam like the standard air or the premium luxury wedding air on the best day of her life”

I’m an only child and:

am self centred
can’t take criticism
uncomfortable in social situations
have a twitch in my left eye and a love of hand guns.

Since having kids we’ve adapted our lifestyles and still find we can do most of the stuff we used to do, plus they are ace little mates to be daft with after a day stuck in the office with dullards.

However, the one thing I do struggle with a bit is being tied to fixed school holidays (espensive, crowded, not at best times). The government is cracking down on taking kids out of school (which I can understand), but not doing anything to help, like staggering the term dates around the country, like they do in France.

the weather is utter bobbins. My kids have not seen a proper summer, but what can you do other than don some decent kit and go out and have fun.

Keeping the clocks on BST would, IMHO, help as it would mean that evenings are at least a bit lighter and wet, rather than dark and wet and ****.

my contributions seem to kill off discussions and in that sense, parallel real life. :D

giro used to offer an excellent crash replacement scheme

email them for the price list – it used to be the case you don’t have to do like for like, just send them your old one and pay 1/2 price or less for a new one from their current range.

don’t assume cheap carbon will be any better than a good quality Al frame like the CAAD 10. Do a search for reviews of that bike. 105 groupset works really well.

A guy in the club has an Al boardman with Mavic Ask-ya-mum (or whatever they are called), that looks like a nice bike.

something from boardman

or if you can go just a bit over budget and they have your size…

CAAD10 105

EDIT – sorry, didn’t see the bit anout touring – check Thorn out for an all road audax/winter training/cheaper road bike options.

The Jai Kathmandu in Northenden, hands down

Nepalese. Fantastic.

not familiar with these forks, but if they are dual air, then try more -ve presure

and/or

less + air pressure

But what he actually meant was, we Conservatives hate the NHS and will do everything we can to smash it while lining the pockets of our mates.

If they get in at the next election we can wave the NHS goodbye. Frankly a nation that votes them in deserves to lose it.

Major kudos to anyone who did ‘the fred’ yesterday. A brutal ride even in good conditions.

so they are expecting you to fork out for getting to the wedding and have asked for money as a gift? I think people sometimes get incredibly self centred when they get married…I’ve heard of people not speaking to mates cos they won’t fly to Barbados to celebrate with them. FFS.

Just make an excuse, work or something and send them £50 in a card.

Unless you like getting hammered (I don’t) and tapping off with brides maids (no longer for me), then other peoples weddings are just a waste of a good weekend.

I find the best policy is to aways check the post for anything that looks like an invitation and bin it before the Mrs gets home so you don’t miss another weekend due to a ****ing christening in Hemel Hempstead.

Inbred.

Got it cheap to build up as a SS. Long and low, means it’s good for cranking uphill with 1 gear..but too long and 120mm max fork travel = rubbish for coming down.

All in all not terrible, just the worst bike I’ve owned.

facilities

explain how much money they could save on fuel each day while getting fitter for the summer.

…could talk some decency into his Dad.

Let me be very clear about this – anyone who knows my Dad, and there are quite a few on here who do, will know:

1. You will not come across a more honest chap, he will go well over the top helping people.

2. He is absolutely fastidious in looking after bikes. As had been stated he works in a shop and the forks have been regularly serviced since new.

Hand on heart he was not aware of any damage when the bike was sold. As far as he concerned, it was as advertised – top condition with a new frame. The buyer, who wasn’t Monster Munch, got £120 off the asking price and the deal was done after test ride and inspection. Some time after the bike was taken away, Monster Munch gets in touch with my Dad to say there is damage to the forks that looks like something has got stuck under the seal and scored the stanchion. Now if he is the expert he claims to be, the first thing you look at when buying a second hand bike is stuff like this.
I have no idea if the forks were damaged before sale or not. My Dad genuinely wasn’t aware of it and it could well have happened post sale so on that basis, sorry but no refunds are going to be given.

If Monster Munch thinks that he’ll bully my 66 year old Dad into giving a refund he is sadly mistaken and if there is even the slightest continuation of the verbal telephone abuse or snotty emails he’ll be getting a visit to his address in Brigham from the police.