How often do you hit your head on the ground when you fall off? It’s once in 20 years of cycling for me.

Twice in about 20 years for me, both times I landed on my face two and suffered cuts, bruises etc… I was wearing a helmet the second time and the peak somehow ended up being forced into my nose. I’ve got a scar on the bridge now, the St John’s ambulance people at Mountain Mayhem laughed at me too. B*st*rds!

Still wear a helmet when on Tourer and MTB, but not on folding bike as I’m wearing normal clothes then and can’t be bothered. Not sure what any of this proves, don’t even know why I wear one…

Yeah, you’re right molgrips, I was just being a bit more cynical!

That’s a pretty simplistic way of looking at quite a complex issue Tazzymtb, but if you feel that way so be it!

I understand the logic and, well, common sense in the vulnerable watching out for themselves – and of course they should do that. But I find it wrong that drivers assume right of way because of the fact that they are operating the potentially deadly weapon. It’s pretty close to bullying.

Yep, this exactly. Most of the time this is just victim blaming. It’s like blaming a woman for being raped by walking through a dodgy part of town at night. Okay so it’s a potential risk, but that doesn’t make it right and indeed if people persist in this point of view then the rapist/car driver* will always be the one with the ultimate power.

*Please note, I’m not comparing the two, just looking at analogies in other areas of the victim blaming culture in which we live. Interestingly misogyny provides numerous examples

The official term I believe is “greenwash”. At least in the corporate environment (if you’ll excuse that pun!).

On a personal level, the lingo is “dark green” and “light green”. Dark Green = The hardcore elite, those who make a significant effort to shun environmentally damaging products and behaviour. Light Green = those who reuse their carriers bags, and only drive when it’s raining, or they have to carry lots of stuff, or the kids need picking up, or they’ve got a bit of dodgy ankle from the last badminton session, or… …you get the picture I’m sure!

the Prius (and other e-cars) is also a joke as the batteries produce a lot of shitty pollution during their production

Not entirely convinced by that argument. [/quote]

Aye, me neither. As a ‘stepping stone’ technology it’s probably a useful direction to take transport in, at least in the short term.

Can you imagine what horse riders/stage coach users etc… said when some chap came along with a new fangled vehicle without a horse that ran on a volatile solvent that had to be distilled out of black stuff that came out of the ground*?! He’d have to work really hard to flog that idea, especially when horses were easily available and could be fed on hay and grass!

* I suppose they could’ve used alcohol distilled from normal fermentation.

edited to add – How come in preview double quoting works fine, but in the real forum it doesn’t?!

None of what we’re doing with regard to what, exactly?

The whole transport system by which we live our lives, from local motorised journeys (50% of which are under 5 miles, 30% under 3!!!), all the way to shipping strawberries from Ghana so that we can have Eton mess for pudding in February!

Cheap flights, cheap fuel, cheap parking, cheap foreign imported goods, cheap holidays in far flung places. It’s all completely unsustainable and founded on a temporary capital ideal. Sooner or later the third world will catch up with the first world and we’ll be stuffed because we can’t get away with cheap labour and cheap natural resources anymore (assuming any form of energy crisis doesn’t hit before that tipping point). It makes more sense to start to think now about getting as much as we can locally, with minimal transport involved.

Edited to add – I suppose the engineers could sort out some of the problems we face, but surely a simpler solution is to be found by doing things differently? Maybe I just don’t have enough faith in human ingenuity and technology to sort out the problems!

The world has become considerably ‘smaller’ in the last 60 years through air transport, and changing people’s mindsets back to only living and working in one area, and trading their products and services in areas they can easily reach is not going to happen.

It’s going to have to happen, sooner or later, the way things are going our current transport choices are too cheap and too easy. I suppose the driver will be cost and capacity this will start with freight and food, but it won’t be long before people are restricted too. None of what we’re doing at the moment is sustainable financially, environmentally or socially. It’s time we faced up to this.

If you make people on welfare work, the argument goes, that it takes away work from the ‘marketplace’ i.e. that work could be done by businesses and not artificially undercut by the state!

I’m not convinced the welfare bill in this country is that big compared to others either, there are compelling arguments that we live in a low tax/low spend economy. But then I am a left wing, hand wringing, bleeding heart liberal, sorry about that!

Either way though, Nick Clegg can’t do anything to make the Lib Dems gain what they’ve lost so it’s all a bit pointless. Wish he’d just go.

Interesting perspective Toys19, it’s certainly something that the British media seem very adept at stoking.

Maybe we have become too insulated as a species, or at least as a culture to the realities of the world we live in? Should “life” be given the pedestal it currently sits on? We set so much store in individuals without often considering the wider impact. Is this even something we can do, i.e. taking the bigger picture? Certainly some folk sacrifice themselves for “the greater good” should this be something we should all aspire too, at the expense of individual life and/or suffering?

Not sure myself, but it’s worth thinking about. Tends to be a bit uncomfortable though.

i appear to have amassed a collection of various “flavours” of Original Source…

Me too! Always in the cheap offer bit at Wilkinsons!

Is BoardinBob American Psycho?

I sometimes use White Spirit on my hands if I’ve been fettling the drivetrain on the bikes, but I’m a bit concerned about the carcinogenic effects so don’t use it too much.

Not suggesting it’s ok to hurt animals but I’ll stand by my argument that people are much more important than animals.

Ha ha, people are scum, just like animals… …and plants with their faux-renewable energy photosynthetic green-wash.

The only true higher intelligence and consciousness on this planet are fungi!

I sit firmly in the camp that supports freadom of movement and the rights to freadom of movement

Me to, but only up to the point where it doesn’t impact negatively on others. To that end travelling by air is very selfish and irresponsible (considering the current prices we pay). Travelling by road is probably less so (per person), train is probably less still. Ultimately though the only true freedom of movement and rights to that freedom that we should have is by foot. Unfortunately we’ve been sold a lie for decades that freedom of movement = the right to fly/drive where we want, when we want. Which is pretty selfish for those who have to suffer the consequences be it locally, regionally, nationally or globally.

Making people pay the true cost of travel would raise prices and restrict capacity. It’s going to be the case on the roads, on the tracks and in the air…

you should be doing all of those things with your partner, or otherwise what sort of misogynistic ideologies are you peddling to your children..?

scratch that.. the fact that you’re indulging in golf, drunk in Beverly Hills or otherwise, would indicate that misogyny is only the tip of a very nasty iceberg..

Interesting, I reread the post you’re referring to wondering where the misogyny came in and noted that there was no reference to the gender of either the poster, the partner or the best friend!

Edited to add – I guess the poster could be male from their username, but even in Internetland that’s only one option!

Actually Binners does have a point there. My Missus would be quite upset if I called her some of the stuff I’ve called my mates in the past, even in jest!

The Greeks have about five/six different words for “Love” including the good old Eros and the love for your parents, there’s also brotherley love (oi, stop sniggering at the back!). Same is true of frinedship in my book, there’s a few different types.

A FIVER!!! you robbing git,
There’s a gulag with your name on it come the revolution….

Hey, the markets determine the wealth I’ve created by selling this biscuit on. I’m just using the system to improve my lot.

I’ll raise your Gulag to my Camp X-ray!

I wish I had a chocolate hob nob.. capitalist swine….

Your’s for a fiver, and none of your dodgy left wing currency please. Dollars or Yen only (even Sterling is tainted these days).

Anyway, sorry about that last post. Garibaldis and fig rolls would be good.

Why is always one extreme to the other? What is so wrong with railing against selfish capaitalism that automatically turns you into a Stalinist/Maoist quasi-dictator?

I don’t understand internet forums or folk that inhabit them!

of course it can, we are a very rich country we would just need to be prepared to pay for it.

That’s true, there’s a few arguments that the UK is a low tax/low spend economy. I’d be happy to change that…

I’ve got a set of Lyras and I wouldn’t get another set. They’re a hassle to set up properly the amount of cable pull required seems to be more akin to V-brakes so they need to be severely “preloaded” before they work well. The rotors are very pretty, but have so many large holes in that you get a ‘pulsing’ effect and a squeal that I could never get rid of. The callipers look good too, just don’t perform as well as the uglier Avids!

I’ve had two sets of BB5s, been very impressed with them both, nice feel, good amount of power and stop a heavily loaded tourer well. I’d get them again if I was on a budget. However, I think next time I’m in the market I’ll plump for BB7s simply because they have such a good rep and they look much easier to setup than the BB5s (not that the BB5s are difficult, just a bit more regular adjustment and initial setup than the BB7s).

Never tried Shimano so hopefully someone else can cover them for you.

…I can count the cost. Footprints on the beaches are now footprints in the frost.

Yep, same here. Going to dig out the N64 from the loft space and while a few hours away soon. The silenced sniper rifle on the snow level was cool!

I seem to remember a DfT guidelines document somewhere stating that cycle lanes shouldn’t be used at speeds of over 15kmh (around 12/13mph). This really isn’t very fast, particualrly for commuting longer distances. So I tend to avoid cycle lanes for this reason (amongst others).

The summer sun is fading as the year grows old…

Jeff Wayne’s War of the Worlds
Nirvana – Nevermind
Chemical Brothers – Exit Planet Dust
Future Sound of London – Dead Cities

It’s like being back in the nineties (except for Jeff Wayne, but that’s when I discovered him!)

I had lots of success using an aquarium heater for homebrew, one of the submersible ones that plugs in to a wall socket. You can adjust the temperature easily in one degree increments (essential for keeping tropical fish apparently!).

Alternatively I’ve got hold of the lager-style yeasts that ferment at lower temperatures, some as low as around 10 centigrade. It does change the taste of your beer a wee bit, but at least it brews and is drinkable! With a bit of experimentation of adding some hops you can easily get the taste you want anyway.

Not compulsory, but heavily promoted politically with a suitably resourced campaign to back it up. The above responses have explained why it can’t (practically) be done, but there’s no reason why a lot more funds can’t be put into the promotion of it to both adults and children.

Go retro, score a sheet of acid.

I would, instinctively, prefer to compete against men at sport, rather than women. I expect chivalry would get in the way.

After you Madam, no, no, no I insist! etc… :-)

Ah, okay so I’mslightly out of touch with the story then! Anyway, I can see the arguments about physical size and shape being advantageous or not so gender differences and disabilities should be sepaerate for some. But surely for things like shooting, then they could all be lumped together? It’s all about the skill of the competitor and very little about the physical strength isn’t it?

It’s a fair point, and any well versed feminist will tell you that Sport and higher level sport especially is one of the key bastions of the Patriarchy. It’s probably primarily a historical thing, same as darts, snooker and a whole load of other areas where mixed teams/opponents could play.

There’s probably an argument for mixing up the paralympic and olympic sports too. Can’t see a problem with it meself. Actually didn’t that Pistorious chappy (carbon legs) want to run in the olympics rather than the paralympics?

Bit partial to a mug of Russian Caravan meself, slightly smokey (but no where near Lapsang territory), nice orangey colour, bright and refreshing. A nice cuppa that’s slightly different to the usual PG/Tetley clones.

Athletics, all of them!

Big Wig was pretty hardcore in Watership Down, respect to that bunny.

I think the OPs first line is the most concerning.

I think the OPs first line is the most amusing, it’s certainly a lot less insulting than some of the things* I’ve called my son (2.5) and daughter (11 months over the years!

* Obviously under my breath, rather than out loud. Esp. if they’re in earshot.

Don’t they hit 90mph on the glacier races? I thought I read that somewhere…

…I could be talking rubbish mind.

:lol:

I see the plea for no petty bickering had a result

For the most part it’s more considered debate than petty bickering. Most posters seem to be getting their points across without resorting to personal insults. STW can do these threads sometimes!