Show me responsibility and I’ll show you a clean pair of heels.

30 miles round trip commute, on a road bike with time mtb pedals. I have a long walk from bike storage and my keo road cleats would be dead in a week. In my last job, very short walk so was using road pedals.

I compete in everyride I do, even if it is only against myself, and this is a big part of the fun for me. I love racing, events, Sunday rides, my commutes and hard dark winter miles; if I’m getting mybike out why not give it some beans!
I’m lucky I no longer fret about bike choice, diets or training regimes. I know pretty much what works for me and what I can accomodate in my life style. I just love riding bikes and giving it loads.
Seeing some of the OP’s previous posts, I wonder if he views cycling as a project rather than a hobby/ pastime/ obsession or fun. If I went through all the mental rigiours and fretting he gives the subject I would think I may as well race. Why wouldn’t folk compete?

If anyone has size 44 feet, these are a bargain.

I would too but it goes straight through me 

Add this to your whinging, and i can’t help thinking you need to HTFU. 😉

It’s an outrage.

How do you make your living?
Mental health nurse hanging around A&E’s trying to gues how serious folk were when they hurt or tried to off themselves. Been lucky to only have to be part time for the last decade doing 2/3 long shifts a week. Got involved in developing/ renting property with my brother and another friend and this will most likely be what i retire on. We also own a bar/ club type thing, and I’m a partner in a small micro brewery.

Are you happy doing it?
I Could have walked away from the nursing a couple of years ago, but just can’t seem to walk away from it. But at the moment the brewery is doing great and we are looking at getting our first pub and this is proving great fun.

Would you consider a change of career?
I guess I already have and I’m a bit of a chancer really.

Does it pay enough for you to mtb comfortably?
Yeah, all’s good, I consider myself pretty fortunate really.

The attitude of the bike shops on here just reinforces why I don’t use them and learnt to do it myself. If you have a good one then support it all you can, but most I’ve experienced don’t deserve my pity, let alone my money.

Have you previously tried to ‘do’ her sister?

I’m sure he will be equally crushed by the weight of middle class stw angst; soiling the good name of us proper cyclists. If only he was reading this.

‘Smart trainers’, Jesus wept, we are descending into a nation of chav’s. From your description of the team any high street retailer dispensing fashion for the style’less should be adequate.

As that manager I would be more concerned that you hadn’t thought to ask and just guessed

I’d be worried i had just employed someone and they had to ask what to wear for work.

Great service following one issue i had with them over a damaged frame; they actually asked what could they do to make things right. To this day, i don’t know if they have released that dwarf from the wheelie bin.

In a rather shocking chain of events; i was once in a job and took on aspects of the job above me when colleagues wouldn’t. After about 9 months a senior position came up, i applied along with colleagues and external candidates, and got the job. Obviously, this could have been a total coincidence, but it has now happened very similarly for me in subsequent job moves with several different employers. I’m currently on track to ditch working for the ‘man’ before I’m 45, and will just do a few side interests i’ve got on the go.

What would RealMan do..?

Deny everything and then report anybody who dare suggest he was a crooked scumbag? then wait for the rules to be changed so he can get back to selling without having his ad spoilt?

Wonder how long this will last………

Always had good service from UK bikestore to be fair, only had to ring them once and they did exactly what they said they would. Also ordered from crc yesterday on the standard free delivery and the stuff arrived today.

Since Guy Martin is riding my wife

😯

6.5 days; took over a mental health service and it was just dangerous; they had lied about the situation and weren’t prepared to do what was needed to sort it. The penny dropped on day four when i was heading into a meeting to prep for some coroners court cases coming up; me and the solicitor got there first, and his off the record comments were ‘there is nothing to save us in any off these cases, you are ****ed and you really need to watch your back’. When one of the devils own was willing to share that with me, i knew it was beyond hope. In a very short meeting, about 15minutes before i left i advised them i wouldn’t be stepping foot back in their Trust. But in the time it took me to clear my desk one of the assistant directors drove half way across the city and tried to assault me in the car park. One of the neighbouring Trusts employed me on the grounds i had the sense to walk away from the other one!

Fat bloke, on a five? Get yourself to a trail centre, you will think you have been cloned 😉

Seriously, all power to you, get out there and have a blast. I doubt anyone will look twice (after they have checked out the bike!)

Only reason I don’t own one is cos I was offered something very similar, for less money, and made of Titanium

Don’t worry, you can buy a Soul when that breaks 😉

Loving the trolling and the defensive fretters on this thread. I’ve got an older Soul and i like it, no idea what it weighs, but i do love being ‘in’ on shit. I was happy to pay the premium for the cotic brand; I’m roadie with loads of pricey foreign carbon, so i liked the British mtb company thing. I wouldn’t proclaim i could tell the difference between a gas pipe inbred or any 853 bike, I’m guessing there must be, but compared to my road bikes mtb’s always feel inefficient. But they do put a smile on my face.
Folk justify all manner of premium brand stuff on ‘performance’ grounds and other spurious reasons, but why not? why not spunk your hard earned on something that makes you happy, nowt wrong with some frivolity; it’s fun! I ride because I love it, not for anything else.

It’s like watching rats trapped in a maze from which they cannot escape.

[alert] the usual suspects to this thread, please [\alert]

It’s a wonderful life

Or

Dude, where’s my car.

Mental health nurse working in deliberate self harm. Been lucky to only have to be part time for the last decade doing 2/3 long shifts a week. Got involved in developing/ renting property with my brother and another friend and this will most likely be what i retire on. We also own a bar/ club type thing, and I’m a partner in a small micro brewery. I was looking at having a bit of a change and was going to head to NZ for a private health provider, but the brewery is doing great and we are looking at getting our first pub and this is proving great fun. I guess I’m a bit of a chancer really, who happens to be able to fall back on being a pretty decent nurse and who doesn’t mind putting the hours in to make stuff work.

He’s still a friend of mine even though he’s kept this from me

Either;
– they clearly don’t consider you a friend.
– you are the sort of inadequate that considers the bloke in your corner shop your friend on the basis you see him once a week to buy a pint of milk from and he says hello.
– you are or are considering playing away.

Anyway did you get into Oxbridge or an Ivy league..

Nope, nor did i ever aspire to. I think any response i give you on where i am at in life will just sound a bit smug, so I’ll not bother. But I’m glad you have found your focus and drive.

I sincerely regret doing all the shit I did at his age

Unlucky, i had a ball and my career hasn’t suffered due any of it.

Gosh, at your age my 3 main priorities were getting off my face, attempting to shag girls and going to gigs. My early career choices were also driven by those 3 wants. You sound very sensible, you will be fine.

I thought that link was in some way related to your post, but then i started reading and after 2 minutes realised i would never get those 2 minutes back….

seems a lovely bloke, I’d be happy to help him out………..

Jesus, i feel sorry for the guy that was looking to have the op’s ti road bike! given the op claims to have serious money woes, i wouldn’t be holding my breath on money back.

I rode a caad10 around Norway earlier this year with some sks race blade longs fitted. Seemed almost as solid as proper guards, and no issues with rubbing. I was so impressed with them i came home and binned my cruds and got a set for my training bike.

@anna b – yep, was only about a 150m stretch. It was rather exciting after i rode past the end of the little bridge i stopped on as the current picked up and the front wheel got bit of a wobble on. But by then i was half way across. Whilst sat on the bridge taking a few pics, i did look at my submerged bike and thought that sram bb will never see it through the winter. 😀

 I wouldn’t expect Cotic to build a no-holes barred, no compromise road racer, but more of a comfortable and fun, but high performance bike

A high performance drop bar roadrat then? Bit like the old one with posher tubes and a carbon disc fork.

But they should go all out and make it a proper road bike, rather than something for middle aged trail centre nodders.

There was a thread about it some time ago, and folk seemed more concerned about it taking a rack and guards and it having good tyre clearance. I would think STW’ers are the target market, so……. I bet they’ll be moaning it doesn’t take disc’s now.
I guess it will have custom geometry to accommodate comfy use of peaked helmets, and braze ons to clip your baggies on, to stop them flapping in the wind.

XT; that there is a mountain bikers road bike, son.

Crash damage, very unlucky, but suck it up.

I sweat like jimmy saville in a kids home but still like using Marino base layers. They do get wringing wet, but have never found they leave me cold when layered up. My on one Marino shrunk, but my howies ones have been great and they just get washed with everything else.

I think it’s fair to sell like that if you are honest about it. That way buyer decides. If it was my bike for riding, i would swap the fork. 40+mph, bumpy roads and a suspect fork, no thanks. I’ve already spent £6k in dental work following a high spend road off. The rest of the facial surgery was on the NHS.

Yep, pinkbike is the third ring of hell, linking to it lets me know who to avoid. I’m happy they do it.

If found when i started riding steel riding skills increased beyond belief, I could ride through buildings, women found me more attractive and my cat AIDS disappeared overnight (and it was the bad kind). ymmv.