You do have priority as a pedestrian, but try it in London and you will get taken out by a black cab within 500 yards.

The Ribble seems to be sold out, at least as a frameset. Looks great for the price, but a bit weighty overall. Ideally I’d like a half way house between that and the Layhams, fairly light, decent looking, but not necessarily high-end stainless.

Yeah, the equilibrium fulfills all the needs, but it just doesn’t really appeal for some reason. Haven’t seen many that I’ve thought have looked good.

The Layhams is rather lovely, and having ridden Layhams Road several hundred times it has a bit of added appeal, but it is a lot to spend on a ‘winter’ bike, even if it does see a lot of miles.

That’s kind of opposite to comfort when talking about steel though? You might want to consider comfortable ALU frame if you want fat tubes, as its not just the material that determines comfort.

I guess I’m not talking really fat tubes here, just something a bit more modern than spindly gaspipe. The Mason in my opinion looks great and reviews suggest it hits the right balance of comfort/stiffness. The Layhams looks like it uses pretty similar tube diameters, so I guess I’m looking for something like that.

I believe most scientific research suggests that unless you are eating a very poor diet anything other than Vitamin D supplements are basically a waste of time, as your other needs are easily met by the modern diet.

I have that Rapha city rain jacket, its great. Definitely not a softshell, it’s a hard shell with a few bits of lining. Waterproof, but not that warm, which is fine if you’re riding. Wear it off the bike a lot too.

It’s a very common word in architecture/construction industry. See https://www.designingbuildings.co.uk/wiki/Masterplanning and http://awards.bdonline.co.uk/masterplanning-public-realm-architect-of-the-year/ It helps to distinguish it from a town plan/local plan/floor plan etc.

That’s not to say it’s fully accepted: http://m.bdonline.co.uk/5084689.article?mobilesite=enabled

http://road.cc/content/review/169421-adidas-pluvius-jacket

Maybe more road biased than you’re looking for, but a bargain for £75 here:

http://m.probikekit.co.uk/sports-clothing/adidas-men-s-adistar-luv-jacket-black/11084366.html

If you can see the other guy pedalling then you’re behind them, in which case you’ll be pedalling less because you’re drafting.

Chalkpit Lane Segment

Chalkpit Lane is the hardest I can think of. Certainly worse than Downe, Beddlested, Braested, Sundridge etc. Whites Lane and Yorks Hill are both pretty famous hillclimbs, but I don’t think they’re as hard as Chalkpit either.

It’s compilation of the week on Lauren Laverne’s show: https://www.soundwayrecords.com/Shop/DownloadDetails?rid=SWR_RE_111

Open Unbeaten Path?

Sleep on your front/side.

This is all rather distasteful, very arriviste. But I guess that’s the lower classes for you!

As much as that^ is a joke, it’s basically right. The way to solve this problem is massive investment in the Middle East. Import western education, which brings with it western, secular culture. Couple that with investment to improve the quality of life in the region up to European levels, and watch religion and radicalisation melt away.

There’s loads of hops/fruit picking in Kent. Getting towards the end of the harvest but there’ll still be apples for at least a month or so. Try the job centre, a lot of farms advertise there.

I’ve ordered some stuff from Inverse, should be arriving next week, but quality samples seemed good, and I believe they did the kit that the Spanish Olympic team raced in today. It seems very good value, and they do small numbers. Dealing with a UK distributor who deals with the Spanish parent company/factory means comms can be a bit slow, but otherwise seem good. Will let you know how happy I am once the kit turns up.

Are you sure it wasn’t a 46/36 CX chainset?

It’s not a question for which there is a right or wrong answer, but the examiner will want evidence that your son has researched and understood the work of whichever architect he chooses, and will then want a cogent and reasoned explanation of his opinion. The answer above falls pretty short on both understanding and reasoning.

I would suggest Scott Brown is probably easiest, there’s been a lot written on her work. Get hold of Learning from Las Vegas by Venturi/Scott Brown, which is probably the most important text, and Las Vegas in the Rearview Mirror by Stierli, which does a pretty good job of contextualising/explaining it.

What was your son’s answer?

You can’t race with discs as far as I know.

Would something long and narrow running up one side of the garden work? Hang all the bikes vertically along the back wall, have a series of doors along the front wall, depth only needs to be around 1.2m internally, the height of a bike saddle. Like a big wardrobe for bikes. Then one bay at the end with space for the scooter at the bottom and some deep shelves above.

Croatia is basically Italy but cheaper and with better beaches.

A slightly better build on the same frame as the OP. Definitely prefer the orange version though.

I would third Gorges de la Nesque, and second a trip to Gordes, via the Col de Murs.

Makes me proud to be British, and also glad that we’re part of Europe.

Knives.

Dogs.

Rapha Core and Classic use the same pad, but different fabrics.

http://fridaynightridetothecoast.blogspot.co.uk/

The Rapha super lightweight is nice, and I especially like the blue/white ombré. I wouldn’t say it’s that much lighter than other decent synthetic jerseys though, but of course much cooler than Sportwool. If you want a really cool jersey then the pro team climbers jersey is the one. If it’s mostly just something a bit lighter than Merino for UK summers then it’s worth looking at their Core range if you want something a bit cheaper and more understated.

I also really like the Café du Cycliste Fleurette, which is designed for hot weather. If you want something high end, but a bit different to the ubiquitous Castelli try looking at brands like Isadore Apparel, Cafe du Cycliste, Void, Twin Six or Attaquer. Also worth a look at some of these shops:

weareomnium.cc
alwaysriding.co.uk
victorandliberty.com
girocycles.com
thevelohouse.com

The biennale is on at the moment, the architecture exhibition is normally worth a look, and there are other art/cinema/theatre/dance events going on at various times. http://www.labiennale.org

I think the advice above is pretty sound. Shorter strides, higher cadence, and build up very slowly. 18 stone is very heavy, ideally you’d probably try and drop at least 3 or 4 stone, but in the meantime you need to build up very slowly, lots of walking, and run/walk intervals to build up strength.

One day a snail goes out and buys a brand new, black Porsche. As soon as he gets it home he parks it on his driveway, gets out a paintbrush, and starts painting big yellow letter ‘S’s all over the car.

His neighbour sees this out of his window and can’t quite believe what’s going on, so he rushes out and asks “Why on earth are you painting those giant letters all over your brand new car?”
And the snail replies “It’s so that when I overtake people on the motorway they’ll see me speeding past and say ‘Look at that ‘S’ car go!'”

I used Swisstop Yellow before trying the Lifeline pads, and while the Lifelines are a bit more grabby they stop just as well and seem to wear better.

I also find the braking better on my race bike with carbon rims and 105 calipers than on my winter bike with alloy rims and Tektro calipers. I think the braking issue is over played by some people.

I use Wiggle Lifeline, £5 for 4, so even cheaper than those. Never had any problems.

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/lifeline-performance-carbon-road-brake-inserts-pack-of-4/

Be aware that a lot of rims want to use their own branded pads for warranty reasons.

You could consider the Open U.P? With one set of 700c wheels for general road/bridleway, and some 650Bs with fatter tyres for more off-road stuff it seems like a pretty versatile bike.

Maybe they’ve got permission from the landowner?

Amazing that a rider of Nibali’s calibre has now won four grand tours. Shows what you can do with consistency, luck, and the right race selection.