The best car I’ve ever owned would be my Mark V GTI. Looked at replacing it with a Focus RS and just couldn’t justify the outlay, its the perfect all-rounder.

Car I should never have sold – 2003 Toyota Hilux Double Cab D4D. Never skipped a beat for three winters in the Alps, could tow anything, sat at 80 on the motorway, so many memories. Still regret selling it. Consoling myself with plans to buy an old one some day and do it up.

Nice to see some 205s, always wanted one as a kid. Loddrik has had some nice cars!

Another thing to consider, if you’ve room on/in the van you might want to bring a kayak or some form of inflatable boat.

Its the laws of physics, innit.

I’d second stevo’s comments, Verbier is pretty close to Chamonix/Courmayeur etc as well. Near Courmayeur there are amazing thermal baths at Pre St Didier, absolutely brilliant.

You really want to head to the north of Garda, the south is flat as a pancake and not much cop. Bellagio on Lake Como is absolutely incredible, brilliant for a romantic evening. Theres an island with castle on Lago Maggiore which is cool.

Biggest bit of advice though, go to Slovenia. Such a beautiful landscape, loads of stuff to do. We were in Bled, Bohinj and Kranska Gora, all of them are very nice, Bled is a good base. There is a pass, Vrsic I think its called, which would certainly stretch your legs.

You are a lucky man.

Rosetta is very good. Decent showers, pool table, bar upstairs. They do some good food in the bar as well. The people are very friendly too.

Don’t hold back there Rudeboy, let it all out.

I used to have a lot of problems with niggly injuries and back pain. I was doing half an hour in the mornings for a couple of years, just stretching and some basic pilates from a DVD. If you’re just looking for something relaxing to sort out your injuries do some stretchingat home with some good tunes on. It sorted out my posture and back pain, now I can keep it in check with some basic stretches and core work 3 times a week.

Chi Running by Danny Dreyer is good for getting a nice relaxed running posture with everything in line and reducing injuries. As somebody else said, swimming is good, but only if you know what you’re doing. Thrashing about/straining is going to make any postural problems worse. Total Immersion is a good swimming book.

The beemers are both quick. The 2 litre is ok but the 3 litre diesel is a great engine. You need to justify it to yourself on the basis that you are already being sensible going diesel. BMW engines are also reasonably efficient which can save on road tax/BIK.

You’re right about the Audis, I’ve driven the A6 and A4 and they were both shopping trolleys. You do get a lot more options as standard though, and 4wd can be handy.

Mercs are spacious in the back and can look well, maybe worth a look.

After a bit of research it looks like the N79 Active bundle is the only way to get hold of the HRM belt.

The latest version of the Sport Tracker works with most of the handsets and the HRM. Unfortunately other belts aren’t compatible.

Nokia and Polar seem to have been surprised at the level of demand for the belts and stocks are limited, with no plans announced to sell the belts seperately.

Thanks druidh I am trying to find if they sell the Nokia belts seperately as I could do with a slightly more business biased handset. If I can seems to be close to a full package for navigation, training logging, music and email in one device.

I’ve just started looking into this tonight as HTC have left me without my phone for the last 8 weeks – I have a couple of questions if you don’t mind…

Are any of you using the HRM belt, and if so what handset are you running?

Can you get routefinding via the Viewranger software and does running it with the Sports Tracker slow the phone down/eat the batteries?

Cheers!

Andy

Cicatrin powder for grazes, out of those two Savlon probably best.

He is probably trying to make you feel better about your purchase. A road bike will feel different but shouldn’t be uncomfortable, just set it up however you feel is right.

loddrik I expect you are keeping that bad boy in the shed for an assault on the North Face of the Eiger?!

No offence intended to you, but you were going OT on a wind-up now weren’t you..?

Five is more of an all-rounder. Its also the result of a lot of fine-tuning where the Blood is a first step from Orange into a different, quite specific, type of bike.

One of the constants of this forum is the incessant wittering about being “overbiked”. A lot of the witterers have repressed feelings that they can only vent over the internet, its a kind of “suspension-envy”. A few of them are probably looking at pictures of a nice comfy Five right now in preparation for flagellating themselves with the rusty chain of their dad’s old 1970s racer and heading out for 25 miles on the rigid singlespeed. Theres no joy without pain, just you remember that geetee72!!

crouch_potato my sarcasm was obviously lost on you. I am a big fan of Harrogate but lets face it most of the inhabitants are somewhat sheltered from the grim realities of modern life.

The point I was trying to make is that people are losing the ability to deal with confrontations or differences of opinion. These things are usually better dealt with at the time and forgotten about, rather than constantly replaying incidents in your head, allowing them to add to an increasing but unspoken frustration with the state of society, or indeed writing a strongly worded letter to the Daily Mail.

I’m just shocked that this kind of thing happens in Harrogate.

Most of these passive aggressive threads could be avoided if people were more willing to share their opinions with those involved at the time of the incident.

I’ve just cut mine down to about 680 from 710, I feel more in control with my elbows more flexed and outside my hands.

The difference isn’t in the diet, its talent, technical ability and hand speed. Pacquiao is fast becoming a legend, he has so much speed and power and is very hard to catch clean.

I hope Hatton hangs up the gloves, he can’t cut it at the top level and what is he going to achieve fighting on?

Get a lawyer involved straight away and bring any emails, letters or contracts that mention the “partnership”.

Sometimes being a nice guy in business just gets you f*cked over. Only you can decide how aggressive to be about it but it sounds like you need to sort it out quickly and be very aware that your partner could still be looking for ways to strengthen his case.

I was walking the dog on the tow path the other day, loads of people around. A couple of beer bellied chavs on bikes started shouting some “witticisms” at the canoeists – “Do a 360” etc etc. Having got everybody’s attention, the lead chav was clearly delighted with himself and had a big smirk on his face.

The canoe instructor then replied “you give us a wheelie first then, you fat c*nt”, everybody in earshot was cracking up. The chavs took it in good part, it was nice to see people giving and receiving a good slagging without it getting aggressive.

oh, and for a grand, try and go for something that has at least Shimano 105 on it

So the consensus seems to be you should find something with 105 kit and a decent set of wheel, maybe Shimano RS10s or something like that. Then it comes down to a choice of frame between aluminium from any of the big brands, or carbon from some of the less fashionable ones…

http://tangoandcash.blogspot.com/search/label/The%20Ulster%20Way

I got a Focus Cayo last week, I love it, although I have nothing to compare it against. Decent carbon frame, Shimano kit. It has own-brand seatpost, stem, bars, saddle, but those are the bits you’re likely to want to change anyway.

Also got dhb 3/4s and long sleeve jersey from Wiggle, can’t complain about either and the back pockets on the jersey are very handy. Don’t forget to order some bottle cages with the bike. Haven’t really needed gel gloves but might get some for longer rides.

There were €25 deals on during the ski season, less competition in the summer though.

http://www.rrtransfers.com/

This guy is a nice fella who took me last year, I booked through somebody else who passed me to him. He is self-emplolyed so might do you a deal.

My heart bleeds for the tax man. After all there is hardly any wastage or innefficiency in the public sector.

Deliberately misleading other people into supporting you when you just can’t be bothered to work, and avoiding a bit of tax as a contributing member of society are both morally indefensible.

Dave I think the natural progression for your sporting/social life is a good private golf club.

Quite an entertaining thread you’ve kicked off all the same.

I hope not too, I’ve just bought a tub. I find most of the powders are pretty disgusting unless you water them down.

I’ve a good nick 2007 Meta 5 XL frame which is currently hiding from my wife in the shed. Pedals nicely, stick a set of bolt through forks on it and you’ve got a great all rounder.

Rudeboy are you not a rugby fan then?!

Powell is in because they don’t have a big ball carrying 8, Heaslip is more of an all rounder. The other option for a carrying eight was Easter who isn’t very dynamic and can’t pop up in the backs and offload the way Powell can.

Worzel is a very good defensive 6 or 7, he doesn’t win a huge amount of turnovers. The two most rounded back rows are Ferris and Wallace, apart from that most of them have weaknesses that need to be balanced out by the other picks.

Dallaglio was better than Quinnel, pains me to say it but he was a very good player. He played a couple of years past his peak but deserved to be there because he could really lead a team.

Williams isn’t a guaranteed starter its has to be said. Bowe is the form wing in the squad, the other wing is pretty open. Earls might even play himself in.

Fullback will be Byrne unless Kearney overtakes him on form.

I blame Sky TV. The hype they give the premiership just gets everybody else’s backs up.

England’s biggest problem is the criticism they give their own players, leading to ridiculous levels of turnover in players and coaches.

Backhander if you are going to continue to fish please bear in mind that England have been manshamed by Southern Hemisphere teams on a regular basis since 03 with the lucky exception of scraping past the Aussies in Merseille in 07. France have also played in 2 World Cup finals.

There have been a few threads about this recently. I have Shimanos which were giving me knee pain, stuck a pair of Times on yesterday and the pain was gone.

Backhander you must be on a wind-up now.

Williams was probably considered useful by a few people when he was named IRB World Player of the Year 2008.

O’Driscoll is probably the most complete centre of his generation. Its unfortunate that you’ve eliminated the 6 Nations from the reckoning as BOD as just been named player of the tournament for the 3rd time in 4 years. He’ll just have to be content with his match winning performances in the HEC, Irish victories over South Africa and Australia and 3 Lions tours as a Test starter.

Shane Byrne is the owner of possibly the best mullet ever to grace a rugby field.

Wilkinson was great and everything but there are plenty of players in that squad who can change a game, even the underrated ones. ROG had a patchy Six Nations but look at the Wales game – a perfectly weighted cross kick putting Bowe in under the posts and a screamer of a drop goal to win the game. Phillips nearly took that game for Wales with an incredible run, if he’d scored he’d be a Lions shoe-in. You never know who is going to become a legend!

Sir Clive made his choices about test team and dirt trackers before he went on tour, choosing his style of play before he arrived

Whatever his choices were he didn’t give anybody else much of an idea. Brought 3 teams worth of players, tried to “save” people for the tests leading to stupid squad rotation, played people out of position, had an outdated gameplan that didn’t suit the players involved, lets face it, Woodward was totally out of his depth.

You’re worrying too much about the style of play. Passing twelves are all the rage and Henson is a big loss, but its not the only way to play the game. ROG and Jones are both very good distributors, a lot of the time the backs line out differently anyway, for set moves, scrums in the middle of the park, broken play etc. You have to consider the defensive aspects as well, the Saffas have big strong centres and the hits in the backs will be massive. Maybe we have a defensive weakness at 10, but you can cover a single player much easier than 2 side by side.

Ellis is much snappier at the base of the ruck than Phillips, he serves up quick ball.

I would definitely go with Ferris and Wallace, I’m not so sure about Heaslip but he has pace which means he is much better on hard ground, and he has great hands.

Back row could go either way, we need somebody to stand out at 8 for it to be a success. Scrum half, I’m not so worried about. In contrast to what was said earlier they are all very different. Phillips is huge, he just takes too long to pass. Ellis has quick hands, pace, and plenty of niggle. TOL has a bit of everything, he is very underrated. Decent pass, can break, brilliant cover tackler, needs to boss the game more.

World class players, there are plenty. Everything is based on form these days. Anyway, talent is useless without the right attitude. Look at the horsing that Munster gave the star studded Ospreys recently.

Oh yeah, and you can’t play Williams and Wallace on both flanks, there is no balance. Ferris is likely to be the Test blindside because of the physical edge.

I’m surprised to see so many rugby experts coming out of the woodwork and quite a few informed opinions, there haven’t been many rugby threads on here.

Geech has made a few big omissions but I think that shows they have a good idea of how they are going to approach the whole tour. They seem to have learnt the lesson from the stupidly sized squad in NZ, and kept it smaller. I think they will start off with a Test and dirt tracker team, this gives the two teams valuable time to gel, and encourages the players to challenge for places. I think that is why Quinlan is in, perfect pack leader for the dirt trackers, big, aggressive, dirty.

Cips/Hook/Flood etc are all out because they have no form, and can’t be trusted to land their kicks. If there isn’t an in-form flair player why try and shoehorn one in? They have two experienced fly halfs who have both won Grand Slams and could land a penalty or drop goal under pressure. Neither of them have any gas but they both play in attacking back divisions and bring outside backs in nicely.

Everybody is building the Springboks up far too much. They might be world champs but they are arguably the most beatable Tri Nations side and have lost to plenty of NH teams over the last couple of years. They have plenty of talent but their coach is a flake. They will be fired up but so will the Lions. They have picked two senior Munster forwards because they want to go out there with that mindset, that you play for your team-mates and believe in yourself and anything can happen.

Whatever happens I am very hopeful that this is a return to the old Lions ethos, look at POC’s interview on the BBC website, you can see how much it means to the players. I can’t wait!!

Yeti 575