baby spinach

I agree with the people who say have nothing. Having said that I'll sometimes have a pint of shandy if I'm driving, but that's it. If the limit was reduced further I wouldn't bother have anything. I'm still surprised there are people out there that think having 2 pints of Stella and driving is acceptable (I know a few people like that… :? )

I think it would help if pubs actually served some nice non-alcoholic drinks. Bavaria do a quite nice 0.0% ABV Beer that my wife drank when she was pregnant, if they served that on tap drivers wouldn't have drink horrible syrupy soft drinks.

I used to be a teacher so here's my 2p worth. The job is quite demanding/tiring but on the plus side the days pass very quickly. Every day is different and you certainly won't be bored (although you may lose your sanity :wink:). However, the hours are nowhere near as bad as many Teachers make out.

Completing the PGCE / NQT year is probably the hardest thing, after that it gets much easier. Many teachers will probably find my next point contentious but IMHO If you find after 2-3 years you're working every hour God send you're probably doing something wrong (or to be more precise, just not being very efficient). The only time I needed to do work at home was when reports needing writing (circa 5 times a year), other than that I managed to get all lesson planning, marking etc. done within 'office hours'. The holidays are a little bit overrated unless a: you have kids b: your partner is a teacher/unemployed or works part time or c: you have friends that work shifts so you can get some midweek biking in. I'm surprised but I've never really missed having 13+ weeks off and I'm much happier being able to choose when I take time off. Pay wise the money is ok if you're a graduate like I was, but probably pretty poor for most people transferring into the profession .

I certainly wouldn't want (or could afford) to go back to it, but I wouldn't dissuade someone from doing it either. If you're unsure but can afford to take a year off then doing a PGCE is a really good way to get a feel for it – personally I really enjoyed doing the PGCE despite it being a quite a challenging and intense year.

Since Jo Whiley left the daytime has been dismal, although I quite like Moyles, even if most of the jokes were tired after about the third year, still beats Wogan.

Wogan hasn't been on weekday mornings since before Christmas. It's Chris Evans now, who IMHO is roughly 4 million times better than his namesake on Radio 1.
The only thing more annoying than Chris Moyles on Radio 1 weekday mornings is his sycophantic bunch of hangers-on. Worse of all is 'Comedy' Dave… Don't get me started on him… :evil:

I had some Diadora mtb shoes, they seemed reasonably well made but they were very narrow (which was a big problem in winter as I couldn't wear appropriate socks). Buy a size bigger if you have wide feet.

Barclays offer free Kaperski if you do online banking with them

Wow, if ever there was a case for enforced sterilisation!

I'm not wearing lycra

Bibs under baggies? That way, no one will ever know :wink:
Personally that's my biking outfit of choice (for both road and mtb)

Possibly a 3rd option – You could go on holiday and hire a FS when you get there? That way you have reduced faff (i.e. not having to travel with the bike) plus you could use the holiday as an opportunity to help you decide whether you really want to go full suss or not? Bike hire might not be cheap though… :?

Wow – Some serious handbags on this thread… :roll:

One of the best thing about STW is that there seems to be a wide variety of biking discussed. However IMHO I think being totally dismissive of riding 200k @ 15mph average comes across as a bit twatish… I appreciate that a lot of 'proper' roadie/club riders might not consider 15mph average over 120+ miles that impressive, however for a lot of people who are just looking at getting in road biking/Audax for fun/fitness then riding 200k would be a serious undertaking and completing it would be something to be proud of…

Back to the OP – personally I'd take the road bike unless you're already reasonably comfortable with the distance – if you do it on a slicked mtb then it'll be harder work (but also more of an achievement). Either way I hope enjoy it.

I'd be interested to hear more about people's experiences of doing Audax (particularly ones in North Yorks) as I'm also planning on doing my first one this year too.

DHB ones here. I wear them under baggies pretty much every time I head out on my road or mtb bike. Very comfortable and no complaints after 4-5 hours road rides or all day mtb rides. Recommended.

+1 for Etrex. Pretty basic but totally bullet proof and around 18 hours battery life on a decent set of rechargeables. I've got the old version (not H), mate has the newer version and it's more accurate and never loses signal (mine occasionally loses signal if biking quickly under dense tree cover – works once you stop though). If you've got a copy of tracklogs or Multimap get the leads from eBay.

Thanks Rob. Sounds perfect. i just need to see if my local spesh dealer or Evans have them in so I can try before I buy

I've got a virtually unused boxed 3.5" Ndrive (the one with the google earth type images for big cities). Yours for £20 + postage if you're interested.

Douwe Egberts pure gold is my favourite instant!

Mine too.

Call me a total pleb but the best coffee I've even had was from an isolated café off a trail near Morzine. It was a double espresso … with cream… and a tiny sprinkling of sugar… mmmm

similar situation here – but our first is due in 2.5 weeks <gulp> . I'd recommend getting the Which? £1 trial as they reviewed loads and have all the crash safety tests as well the practical day to day stuff etc. We ended up getting a Britax 3 wheeler with car seat, isofix base and lay flat carrycot/car seat thing. We got it from babybabyonline.co.uk and saved a few hundred quid over the mothercare prices.

although bizarrely some of the red is actually much better when ridden anticlockwise. I'm thinking specifically from Dixon's Hollow to the main car park – I'd only recommend it during winter night rides with lights though…

what fubar said. I got the £1 trial when researching which pushchair/car seat to get for our impending new arrival and found it very useful. l wouldn't subscribe to the magazine at full price though. Personally I think they're missing a trick by not offering a reduced price online only subscription.

So am I the only one who found "French Revolutions" to be predictable, mediocre and not very funny?
I'd read a few pages before buying if I were you.

I think you might be… :wink: but then books, like most things are subjective. I wouldn't judge French Revolutions on the first chapter as for me it didn't get laugh out loud funny until a few chapters in. I've tried reading another Tim Moore book (the Monopoly board one) and didn't like it at all, I don't think I even made it half way through.

http://www.greenhead-holidays.co.uk/%5B/url%5D
This is our regular place for when we ride Dalbeatie, Maibe, Kirroughtree etc.
Sauna, pool table, decent showers. Very cheap (although we normally go in Autumn/spring) and the owners are friendly. The only downside is that there's no riding from the door, however it's only 10 minutes drive from Dumfries and the Pizza/Fish and chip shop near the river in the town will deliver if you ask nicely.

[edit] Just re-read your post – it's not near the sea as it's 6-7 miles north of Dumfries. It also sleeps 6 so might be a bit big if there's only 2 of you going (although in the off season it used to be £60/night which is ridiculously good value)

there's a figure of 8 loop starting at Ruddland Rigg that has some good sections of singletrack that drop from the top the bottom of the valleys. If you want a longer ride the figure of 8 can be linked in with a decent route starting from Chop Gate. I normally log the routes on tracklogs so might have a pdf marked OS map of it somewhere (or might be able to click out a gpx file if I have time) .

I've just got a new work bike on C2W – it's a 'budget' tourer. It cost £700 (i.e. slightly more than my road bike but much less than my mtb) but I think it looks like a 20 year old racer with mudguards and a rack. The hope is it's so uncool that no one would ever want to steal it. On the plus side it's very comfortable, reasonably quick and practical . I must admit I'm a bit of a convert, I just need to grow a beard and buy some sandals now….
:oops:

Elevenses and/or nutrigrain breakfast bars. Peanut butter and jam sandwiches if I'm short on time. 'One cup' Allbran fruit loaf if I plan ahead.

French Revolutions – by Tim Moore.

What StefMcDef said. Brilliant book.

nicko – Glad it's not just me!

Fibrax sintered on my Shimano brakes. Thoroughly recommended

FSR Stumpjumper – for mountain biking
Giant SCR 2 – for road biking
Ridgeback Voyage tourer- commuting/touring (hopefully)/slower road biking
And an old 7 speed Nexus geared town bike – for going in town on the lash and leaving overnight at the station when away with work

I'd quite like a CX bike and a long travel steel HT too. And an Orange 5. And a lightweight full carbon road bike. And a winter mtb with a rohloff. Maybe a single speed. A refurbished 1998 Trek 4000… (you get the idea)

oh, fair enough. Still seems very quick though! I have averaged 19.5mph on a reasonably flat 32 mile loop but that is going flat out (annoyingly 20mph average has been elusive and 21 would need a lot of hard work)

Last night was a Crit, 1 hour plus 5 laps long, flat and windy, three single file corners per lap. Average speed +/-29MPH. Looking at my computer during the race 24MPH slowest 36MPH fastest.

Oldgit, you did say mph and not kph? 29mph average over and hour plus?!!! 8O Is that normal?! I did consider myself to be a reasonably fit 30 year old but I may have to downgrade the 'reasonably' bit. Must admit that I have had the experience of been out on the road doing a steady 20-21 mph on the flat and being left for dead by people who are probably twice my age. Their bikes were probably 3-4 times the price of mine but I'm sure that makes minimal difference. Fair play though, I'm sure it takes a lot of hard work and 100s of hours in the saddle to get to that level :-)

I think I'll give road racing a miss and stick to mountain biking, short solo road rides or slow-ish 50-60 mile road rides with friends and a cake/pie/pasty/pint/chips* at the mid point.

*delete as appropriate

+1 for DHB.
I've got some DHB fleece lined 3/4s which are perfect for winter (and ok for cool spring/autumn rides) and some normal DHB ones (i.e. thin and not 3/4) for summer. Both recommended.
Can't understand why you'd want to wear 3/4 lengths in summer though :?

My concern is the way these racks seem to rely on gripping the tow ball. I would have thought that there is a lot of scope for the rack to tilt back on the ball with the weight of the bikes. Is this ever a problem? A 45kg weight limit is also not enough for 3 dh bikes, even light ones…

Don't worry about that, I used to have the Thule 9503 and when it was clamped I could stand on the end of the rack and it didn't budge (I weigh circa 90kg) so I'd be very surprised if 3 DH bikes would cause the Thule clamping mechanism to fail. My suspension did sag quite a lot when I had 3 people + luggage, a full tank of fuel and 3 full suss bikes hanging off the tow bar though…

I use cheap DHB ones from Wiggle. I wear them underneath some Altura baggies with the inners removed (even when on my road bike – can't quite bring myself to go for the full lycra look). Can't say I've ever had a problem with then and find them very comfy even after 4-5 hour rides on both road and mtb.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/jun/14/bbc-vuvuzela-free-world-cup
At last! I hope they get this sorted by Friday
More worryingly though:

England fans in the UK appear to be heeding his call; Sainsbury's sold 22,000 red vuvuzelas – or "Vu Vu horns" as it brands them – in 12 hours before England's game – one every two seconds. The supermarket chain has ordered 25,000 extra horns but thinks it may run out before Friday's game against Algeria.

Please no!

To date this item has been viewed 559 times! This guys must be thinking there's going to be a bidding war any moment. I've stuck it on my watch list too (no, I won't be bidding – I wouldn't pay a penny over £850 :wink: ).

3 x Shimano HG53 chains for £30 from CRC:
link

I used to have a Thule 9403 which I bought off a mate who used it (amongst other things) to take 3 full suss bikes from North Yorkshire to Morzine. Totally secure and recommended, especially as you can pick one up new for around £100. Plus having the built in lighting board is a bonus. I sold it though as my new car doesn't have a tow bar.

I've got an old Halfords tow bar mounted rack that I'm planning to stick on the STW classifieds when I eventually dig it out of the shed. It won't fit a swan neck tow bar as there is a bracket that fits permanently in between the tow ball and the bit that sticks out of the back of the car. The rack then slots into the bracket and is secured with two metal pins on each side. It'll take 3 bikes and can tip forward to allow boot access if you remove the top 2 pins. It also leaves the tow bar free for towing at the same time. £20 if you're interested.

I took my Fox Vanillas to Evans. They send them off to their special fork service centre so assuming you can get to a shop there's no P&P to pay. Cost was £75. Not sure if the cost is the same for air forks though.

There difference with the forks is really noticeable since the service – I guess fork performance gradually deteriorates, I only got them serviced because they started spewing oil on the way down Cut Gate – next time I won't wait so long! :oops:

I'm probably going off point here but I'd argue that all decent quality bikes/components are expensive and arguably overpriced. You could get a brand new moped for sub £2k (not that you'd actually want one) – and surely that has more component parts and is more complicated/expensive to design and build than any full suss bike?
Decent Mountain bikes/road bikes are essentially play things for grown ups and are priced as such. I guess someone somewhere is making a lot of money.

Now all I need to do is find a couple of grand so I can get that new 5 I want…

Guy at work got a Focus Cayo[/url] although he got his for a little over £800, which is a total bargain in my opinion – FWIW it would be my £1k road bike of choice.

I'm English and I wish people would shut the **** up about 1966. I almost don't want to England to win the world cup this year as the nation's inevitable collective smugness would be embarrassing…