Ahh okay, cheers Adam I didn’t realise 🙂

Many thanks for taking the time to explain.

Adam I didn’t name any of the shops, and I did say that I was having a moan, and wanted to know if my expectations were unreasonable. I didn’t say that all bike shops owners are terrible, however after sitting back and adding up my experiences with three different shops I felt like I had been taken for a mug. I accept that if you work in the industry you will have more knowledge and experience than I do, it still doesn’t change how I feel about my experience though.

Many thanks for the replies. I just wanted to get a feeling from the hive mind whether I was being unreasonable in my expectations or they were being unreasonable. It seems that it’s a bit of both which is fine.

I guess my approach from now on will need to be a bit of a mix and match as well. Bike shop if I am buying a new bike, order parts from the web and pay for workshop time (at full rate which I am happy to do) to get them fitted, and clothing from online so I know I can return without an issue.

I am quite comfortable that local bike shops are businesses and are there to make a profit, I am also perfectly happy to pay to access that service, it’s just I am not an expert on bikes and my understanding of what I can expect may need to adjust.

And yes my son LOVES Star Wars, although to him it is a cartoon (clone wars and rebels) so he finds it odd that there are real actors in Star Wars!

i thi both trailers have been fab, and think JJ is going to do an excellent job!

Chewbacca dying was in the EU, when Disney took over the reigns they have called all of the EU to that point ‘legends’ so it is not canon! I think that is a really good thing because it has freed them up to take this films in a different direction.

To be fair a load of the EU became whiny emu nonsense, with the emperor making lots of returns (clones etc)! The only part I am slightly sad about is that Mara Jade will not be around.

I think that the books that have come out recently, Tarkin, heir to the Jedi, and the rebels stuff is now canon and will be consistent with the films.

I have just realised how sad I am to know all of this stuff! I need to get a life 🙂

Currently SLT, all of my colleagues either have MA’s in educational leadership or MBAs, I would be doing MBA in addition to my MA but I am currently working on qualifying as an ofsted inspector. Also been an LA appointed governor sent in to support struggling governing bodies! I am alsoqualified with EQR to carry out reviews of 6th form colleges and report to their SLT and corporation.

Please don’t assume that all those who elect to go for SLT get there on the basis of long service. In addition to an intensive 2 day interview I had psychometric tests and prelim interviews by the recruitment consultancy before I got this job.

Shall I step back quietly now and shall we work on the assumption that both of us have expertise?

I always find the fundamental problem is that because everyone attended school , they all think they are an expert on education and how schools work.

PGCE students are always stunned in their first placement at how different school is when you are not a pupil!

what is rocket surgery?

Did you mean rocket science, or brain surgery?

good management techniques, all of which were no doubt taken from the 1990’s big book of management, I think you will find leadership theory has moved on a fair way since then!

I thought being unable to speak was called mute!

Only reason was we had a student whose diagnosis was that she was an elective mute (she could speak to some people but not others). It made teaching the interesting!

Happy to be proven wrong though

Triathletes training bible is a common choice

Or Going long

Depends what distance you want to do. If it’s an Ironman then going long is useful.

I used to do runs during mon-fri mixed in with my swims, then weekends were saved for long bikes. I was doing Ironman distances races though, so needed a good 5-6hrs for a ride!

Mercian all the way for me, I know it wouldn’t be the lightest, but it is the closest I can imagine a bike frame to being a bespoke suit! Have you seen the lugs they can use! Each one hand cut, they are just lovely. The only issue is that you have to wait a really long time from enquiring to getting one, last time I checked!

What is so good about steel btw?

If I was going to go for a steel road bike it would be either a Mercian (with the loooong waiting list) or possibly a Rourke!

I do like the skinny tube, deep section look though!

Press fit BB… I am out!

Yak, is it okay if I contact you via email? I am Bordon based and my little lad is a mad keen cyclist (he isn’t 6 until September) but he would be over the moon at having a local kids mtb club! Any details I could get would be great.

conventions are about interpretation, and given that she lectures this stuff to undergraduates, and also works as an Ofsted inspector for nurseries (not the care quality commission). I would say her view still trumps ours!

Btw I got in t!rouble because I thought it was pretty reasonable punishment, but then again I used to think a smack was okay……how wrong I was 🙂

The point my wife was making (she bought up uncrc) is that there are more appropriate consequences to use with a child, rather than withholding food, and to be fair she knows a lot more about this area than any of us!

We are a signaturary of the convention and it does enshrine rights for children (I always thought they only had the right to silence!).

united nations convention on the rights of children UNCRC (I had to ask!)

i was inclined to say it seemed like a fair punishment, then I asked my wife (lectures to degree level in early years education and is an ofsted inspector). It turns out you are absolutely right to be furious!

Nurseries have no right to deny food at ant time, even pudding, they should not have done it, and ofsted would be very very unimpressed. She then started going on about the UNCRC (1989) welfare requirements, asking for the behaviour policy of the nursery to see where it says witholding food is an accepted punishment for not tidying up.

She wasn’t happy and I am a little scared!

My belief system is not based on you, no real surprise there, it is based on critical evaluation of evidence and data in order to reach reasoned conclusions. Now the reason I don’t think you and i will find common ground is that all of the links you provide as ‘evidence’ do not stand up to critical scrutiny.

I will not repeat the deconstruction of your arguments that other forum users have so eloquently provided, suffice to say, your inability to critically evaluate evidence is what makes me reach the fairly reasoned conclusion that your conspiracy theories are acting in the same way for you (please note the subtle idea here), that religion does for many people. Just to make it clear, I am not suggesting you have a belief in a god, but you are trying to find underlying structure where there is most likely just a chaotic system!

Now if you follow your usual pattern, you will either try to belittle my intelligence, or you will attempt to use this same argument, but replacing my name as the focus rather than yourself. Would it be easier if we both assumed you have done that, so I don’t have to bother reading a fairly tiresome response and you don’t have to waste time trying to craft a response with complex words that say nothing?

I think what most people have taken is that jhj uses conspiracy theories as a religious belief system. Evidenced by his inability to broach any discussion regarding this framework, and his calling into question the intelligence of anyone who does not agree with him.

I am not worried that he thinks he sees the deeper truth that the rest of us can’t see, most religious fanatics tend to have the same belief!

Has anyone else noticed that jhj has not questioned or responded to the analysis of conspiracy theorists as a form of religion. Instead it is back to the monarchy with a steadfast silence on a question about his own world view!

To quote him hmmmm makes you think doesn’t it!

I am trying to remember where I read the article, it was about 10yrs ago when all of the theories about 9/11 were out and about.

Not sure if that makes my post invalid, as I don’t have the original source I can quote 🙂

I have struggled to understand conspiracy theorists, but I read a piece which analysed them in terms of a religion. Whatever you think of religion, they are a way of placing a structure onto the world around us. I think it is much harder to accept that the world is chaotic and there is no overarching order. so people look for structures, even if they cal them evil, so that the world isn’t so scary, things are happening for a reason (eg the illuminati etc are controlling it all).

I think it is also why arguing with conspiracy theorists proves to be quite fruitless, people who have a deeply held religious belief cannot simply stop believing, even when presented with clear evidence. They will wriggle, look for exceptions, suggest that there is more going on but that you aren’t enlightened enough to see it.

I do feel a little sorry for them, as is just seems a little desperate, and they would most likely criticise organised religions for being part of the overarching conspiracy, when they themselves are displaying all of the same traits.

I do think there have been cover ups, by the government and other organisations, most of the time they are discovered, and it is due to petty reasons like protecting their mates/ the name of the organisation. However it would be a fallacy to suggest that because cover ups have occurred, all of the world is ruled by an organisation, it is like saying all of the universe is ruled by a god. Neither the God or the world dominating organisation exist, they are merely there to provide a structure when in reality there is only chaos!

All personal to me, so take it or leave it but 🙂

Don’t strss if you don’t feel immediate attachment and love for your child, it took me a couple of weeks to get my head around the idea that this little bundle of noise, strange smells and poo was actually wonderful (yes I am a terrible person)

You really don’t know love until you have your child in your arms! I am already sad about the day when they won’t want to give me a massive hug and a kiss when I get back from work!

You will drop down your wife’s priority list, your child is the most important thing to her bar none, suck it up, support her (she really is going to be doing all the heavy lifting, and overtime as your relationship is redefined it wil be better.

You have the most wonderful but greatest responsibility ever, you are raising another human being!

Cheers for that watching it now 🙂

Ben Dover, I know it’s leftfield but I am pretty sure plumbing is a heroic profession 8-0

We used to pose a similar question in the staff room, name a director who hasn’t made a bad film?

The strange thing was that all the male teachers really got into it and arguing their case, whilst the female teachers looked on in pity!

Some of the female staff at work were discussing the book when it came out, they all wanted to know if I had read it. When I replied that I preferred my pron with pictures they were not impressed!

IfI am going to watch a film about sex with a bit of mild titialltion I think I will stick with porkies thanks very much! Yes I know it is low budget crap 80’s affair, but bits still make me giggle like a idiot!

Julia Roberts? (Never seems to play a baddie, not sure if she would be classed as a heroic one though!)

Robert Downey junior?

Not sure what the standard wheels are, they seem to be whyte branded hubs on some rims! I suspect given the bike was £699 they are not going to be the best!

I have lost 7kgs since I decided to get back into shape……but I still have 8kgs to go to get back to my former sporting weight 🙂 yes I did eat all the pies!

It’s 3*9 so as far as you can get 🙂

any suggestions for brands of wheels or forks that would be an improvement but still under budget? I would like hope but I think that would blow my budget completely 🙂

Have you considered that you prefer the chase of selecting a new bike to the cold hard reality of actually owning a bike and, well you know, actually riding the thing?

All of the steel frames mentioned are lovely, but if you want to pootle on the road get a hybrid. If you want the kudos of having other riders look at your bike, admire the frame and therefore think that you must be a ‘proper’ roadie because you have a steel framed bike as you pootle around, then at least be honest and say that!

Why not go with Steve Goff, you can get a complete frame and forks custom made for £500 and it will fit like a glove!

Been fighting off a cold all week, felt slightly better today, so I got out for a run, it was cold but lovely and sunny. I wasn’t expecting much, but I managed a half marathon, my first one in 7 years!

Yes I know not a ride, but I am chuffed, and with London creeping up I am having to get the miles in running.

I’ll be there, 2hr vets. I will be racing* hard at the back

*racing = getting out of the way of all the fast peeps at the front.

I am hoping not to be last, managed to avoid it by one place last time 🙂

My wife toyed with he idea of a home water birth, I then got a couple of our friends who obs/ gynae doctors to have a word! The general consensus was that if NOTHING goes wrong then it can be a bit more relaxing, but and this is a huge BUT if the baby starts getting into difficulty do you really want to be dicking around for the 20/30mins it might take you to either get into hospital or for Doctors to get to you?

I get the feeling a few folk on here know the cost of everything and the value of nothing!

Coming from a rowing background I used to do lots of 2k ergo tests, after those nothing is that unpleasant anymore!

Not much help but there seem to be two ways of dealing with it

1) embrace the pain and use it to make you push harder (I know of some people who can do this in races)
2) find your happy place! Sounds very trite but my pain therapist (yes it is a real NHS job) explained that pain is all in the mind, and how you experience it depends on your mood! I did nearly punch him at this point but it does seem to work for me! I sort of ‘daydream’ and stop paying attention to the pain

It makes no difference btw I am still pretty crap and slow 🙂

Or as my rowing coach described it. ‘Pain is weakness leaving your body’