In the last few weeks, I've eBay'd:

1) Trek road bike
2) PRST1 Mtn bike

This evening I listed 70% of another bike, which I've stripped down into its component parts.
I can now see to the bottom of my shed; I'm on a roll so there's no stopping me. This leaves 2x bikes to ride once my legs injury is healed next year (?) and lots of bits to be sold in the meantime.

Very cathartic, plus I'm up over a grand thus far!

A helmet that has split has failed and has not made significant difference to the severity of any injury.

Helmets provide little protection against major injuries even when they have worked properly

I'm sorry but simple common sense and a life well lived tells me that these two statements simply aren't accurate.
You must start to read between the lines when reading statitical papers and reports as many are loaded as they're commissioned by non-partisan bodies.

This discussion has now run its course for me.

+1 Molgrips (other page)

To my mind he's absolutely correct in saying that the first 2 comments are wrong and the third is correct. Personally, I find the first two statements from TJ quite bizarre TBH.

I'm not sure why we're even debating this; but 'round we go again, only to surface in another 6 weeks time or so!

I don't know about anyone else, but my own lid has bashed, clonked and scraped and been generally abused by countless overhanging branches and twigs and such like, especially in the summer months, to know without a doubt I'd have grooves in my scalp that would not look at all pleasant.

Plus I've thrown my head down several XC trails and a bit of Watford High Street over these past 4 yrs in order to test my own feelings that I would not leave home without it. Nor can you compete in any XC or downhill race that I know of without one.

I've also raced m'bikes at club level and have slung it down the tarmac four times = 4 new helmets = £!

Here is mine. It went live on eBay last night.[/url]

I took off much of the lacquer from the down tube.
Having spoken to a number of companies who deal with CF, whilst looking to have it repaired, I have come to better understand that there are a few pit falls:

1) If it is punctured, or the weave is cracked or split you must have it looked at.
2) If the lacquer is removed it MUST not get wet as this soaks into the CF weave. Re-coat the damaged area.
3)Crushing can also be catastropic.

The only way to be sure is to have it X-rayed.

There are companies who can replace or mend damaged CF, including atlantic-boulevard

Are there different versions?
And is it likely it's an '08 model as that's when I believe the frame was built up for the previous owner (the Merida importer in the UK )?

I've stripped out the components and am putting them onto eBay as I type.
The frame went on last night, XTR brakes, wheels, gears etc are just being photographed now.

I've witnessed, up close, 4 alcoholics in the last 2yrs, 2 rented rooms from me, 2 were neighbours. I also have a relative headed that way too – when I asked last week how much he (her husband) drinks, she said she has no idea, yet she does the household shopping, she recycles the cans & he does his drinking at home. I do wonder that if you’re surrounded by weak-minded people, how much of a contributing factor this must be.

All 4 would be surprised to hear I describe them as alcoholics, but they drink to get drunk, one definition of alcoholism, although there's no, one, defining definition.

They have to want to give up. Higgins had to want to give up. How much sympathy can you ultimately expend on a anyone who doesn't do something to succeed & stop? Some may well consider Higgin's lifestyle as a self inflicted wound.

George Best, Higgins, I wonder, is Paul Gascoigne next?

White spirit or lighter fluid.
This lifts the glue from the previous sticker.
Job done.

If you know your onions, you'll know the OS is notoriously inaccurate.
I travelled with some Dutch cartographers (map makers) a while back and their stories of how "approximate" the OS mapping system was and how they make things look good but completely out of scale and with a high level of inaccuracy really opened my mind to the possibility (fact) that my once held belief that the UK's mapping was the very best and super accurate, was in fact, the butt of most of the world’s cartographers.

Sad but true. :(

BikerBruce:
You surely must know that in say Apartheid, it was whites & coloureds.

BikerBruce:lets be honest and non racist

You never refer to a man or woman as a Coloured (as you did) – ever.

dave clark is the best british coloured rider.
roman bhahiti is a ok us sprinter but theyre are very few decent coloured riders…..

Unlike in swimming where the two body types are quite different, I too think it’s mostly a cultural phenomenon.

The thing is, and this is where many seem to be coming unstuck from the very outset (poor quality schooling no doubt), I asked for books on the subject.

Thereafter you get the most opinionated members of the congregation chipping in with their prized opinions with no more backup than the England defence:

plenty of swivel eyed zealots with dubious theories. real good science – missing

.

In a round-about way we did manage to unearth some material; shame we had to summount such opinionated zealots on the way!

TJ – I love your conviction that you are so right!

You won't find any decent science

I’ll let the World know you have spoken out on this subject.

Ernie – you've slipped even further into the mire than I at first supposed.
You have taken a perfectly benign & innocent question, warped it one way and with some conviction and loaded phrases you would have others believe almost by inference that I wish to join their number or am consolidating my own stance on this issue – a quantum leap of supposition if ever there was one (don't fret though as you're not alone in drawing conclusions on little or no evidence!).

Ernie – thanks for the info, but you too are sliding into the same mire that tarnished the first few replies.

The question stems from Clarkson's Sunday Times article from 2006, now published in his "Driven to Distraction" book where he talks about the Bjorn Lomborg book, "The Sceptical Environmentalist".

That is what prompted the original thread as I wondered what else was out in print that countered or at least provided a counter point to the idea that we're causing the premature demise to the Planet (or how ever you’d like to phrase it).

Thanks for the ideas thus far.

Jimmy.
I don't know you from STW, so wouldn't venture an opinion, that'd be plain ignorant.

Smee is a genuinely nice bloke

although I might have to change my mind based on this statement; I guess it's what you're used to dealing with as "nice" is a fairly damning indictment & a dubious recommendation in any quarter!

The biggest Plank on STW by a long mile.
Just my opinion.
Check out how many threads he's manage to originate.
Zero.
Then check out his replies.

EDIT: I think SMEE's been banned as I've been re-reading the full thread.

As yet, no one has answered my original question.

If anyone has any reading recommendations, and not just their own take or political bias or interpretation on what it is I've actually asked, any book titles would be most welcomed.

Troll alert!

It's the Non-management speak that gets me.

Why start a sentence with "Basically" or the perennial favourite, "Like".

PS.
As an aside, it’s also very annoying when someone says, “I was sat in one meeting”.
No. No. No.
“I was sitting…” or “I sat …”, never mix the tenses!

As a casual observer, the reason why many of these snaps fail (from a photographic perspective only you understand) is due to poor cropping. A little post production crop will as oft' as not tighten the image or subject matter and make it a far more successful photograph (flower & damn images above being perfect examples of this).

Adding a border is a sure-fire way of preventing the image from bleeding out into the page – it works especially well in the graphic monochrome barbed wire picture above.

Gatehead.
Kirklevington (Cleveland)
Nunnington (N Yorks)
Pocklington (E Yorks – school)
Aldershot / Cambereley / Minden / Hamburg (Army)
(2yrs back packing adventure in SE Asia)
SE / N London.
Bushey, Herts (last 9 yrs)
Next….. don't know but would consider a move, no problems with that as I'm self employed & single.

I know men 10 years his junior who struggle to get up the stairs at night.
He's already beyond the average life expectancy of a man of his age; so he has a few cranky ideas about his cereal – perhaps you should consider how incredible he still is, physically at that age and how your own parents / grandparents were / are at 80 and bring that into the equation before shooting him down in flames.

1/3rd of the UK’s population have some form of dementia from their 60’s onwards – my God, If I could still attract a woman like that even now, at 46, I’d die with a smile on my face and a box of frogs on my cereal every morning if needs be!

Cand:
Is riding the bike at all a good idea if you've just had a heart attack?
Is not a brisk walk a better idea?
No chance of riding Kielder this year – for both of us.

Gavin Looks Gawjus:
Lv how tha coppas say shit reet they r killers aswel take raoul 4 example they cud of getin off the twatin lazy arses nd did sumit about it nd tha neva nd tha **** taisered him forcin him t pul tha trigger rip raoul m8 does any 1 no wen the FUNERAL IS EHH

Am I living in a parralel universe or is this a language I have not yet mastered?

Actually it's an addictive site!
"Liz Newton-fitzpatrick: If all the haters fked off,the weird **** would have no more than 500 fans,oh minus the troll's that would leave 100 mental geordies!" That about summs it up!

I just have a vision in my head of what three these three friends look like.

I think there's a smattering of black, broken teeth, missing ones at the front, noses that will take a line or five, 1000yd stares, twitching movements, shabby appearance, unwashed clothing and a propensity to sniff every few minutes. Lovely stuff!

I don’t think they make small Canadians do they, so she may well be built like a heffa or a moose; in lingerie, it boggles the mind (along with your drugs!) – I think you should go after her, see if her reverse physiological tactics have worked & give her the full-on benefits (pardon the pun) of your gorgeousness.

(who all thought i was the dog's bollocks)

Here's your answer.
YOu see what you want to see & not what others actually see.
Perhaps have a heart to heart with your friend and clear the air? Wives recently arrived on the scene can indeed be a little jealous of established bloke friendships without really meaning to act strangely, but really, what does it matter to you, besides, why waste any time with druggies?

The training was going very well, every two days, never less than 3hrs, most 4hrs plus longer rides at w/ends and really gunning it up those hills with no let up; I was feeling the strongest I've ever felt on a bike and just getting stronger and fitter and faster; it's infectious!

Now I've been off the bike for 4 weeks… no idea when I'll be back to the saddle. Physio agrees with me that after 3x sessions we should have seen some improvement, so Friday's session with be with another physio present to see if we're missing something.

See you next year.
(tear / strain of the bottom of the Lat' quad where it ties into the tendon)

Cycling shortens muscles in the leg over time and so affects both the ligaments and tendons accordingly. I now stretch for an hour each evening.

So much is cycling implicated in my new found body that I've developed a sloping gait and a walk that sees me not being able to articulate the leg fully.
I have a walk on part (!) in the next re-make of Planet of the Apes & I'm a logical stand-in for any John Wayne re-makes.

For those who do venture onto the Other Side, time yourselves as I wonder how long it'll take you to get frustrated on any thread that's to do with getting fit, losing weight, geting into that dress, looking good for the beach this summer etc that sees you, an STW undercover Man, consider mentioning a jolly good bike ride might be the cure to end all fat / skinny / poor body image issues.

It's akin to trying to suck Fruit Pastiles and not chewing! Only The Other Side can manage it.

If you want really soppy, up-own-backside, boggled-eyed girly things, go onto one of the wedding web forums. You and your wedding is as lively as any.
Some of the advise about losing weight verges on the damn right dangerous.

I was given an ASBO for my comments to one bride who was trying to lose something like 50lbs in 63 days and no one had an issue with that! "He'll really want you to lose the weight, good luck Puppy-scrunchie, only one choc' bar in bed tonight with your can of Special Brew" – well, you get the picture!

I'm off the bike for the next few months through a Lat' quad muscle / tendon issue.
I hope to be getting back into some serious walking soon.

Hope to God I don't need a walking stick (trekking pole) as my experince of watching the sort of duffers who used to use them some 5yrs or more ago is not a positive memory at all.

I think Nordic walking and people who like to use trekking poles (walking sticks) is not one & the same though (?).

YOu can do flyes and dumbell presses without it. These build bulk very well, especially if you start the movement as a DB press & end it as a fly, which seems to increase the actual exercise movement.

Then straight away, employ the fly attachment, and once you've exhausted the muscles with that, go straight to normal, close grip press ups, ending with some press ups pivoting from the knees. The closer in the hands, the more the inner pect' you'll work.

I think this method of doing an exercise to muscle failure is called running the rack or pyramiding, although it's been a while since I've been in a gym!

Hobo.
I don't do any other training but did just shy (20 seconds) of 3x 2 minute sessions on my first attempt, so after a few weeks I'll maybe need to try some of these variations to keep it fresh.

This must in part come from mtn biking (?), perhaps because I've swapped out from a sit-&-pedal FS to an out-of-the-saddle HT in the last year or so.

Might take the opportunity to have the Fox forks serviced and the Turner's sealed bearings looked at / replaced whilst things are quiet. Will clip-tie the brake levers too as this worked once before.

I've found the Wiggle (dhb) own brand to be quite excellent, regardless of price. They get excellent reviews and if the kit's not to your liking, send it back, which makes sense when they have no high st stores.

Their new £90 bib shorts have a lot of white in them, making them rather unsuitable for 50% of the British XC riding I'd suggest! More Rd than XC – which is a shame.

Sales & marketing. As illustrated once again with the above example: some are good at it & some simply don't understand it.

Did you see his written note to the police?

Makes me think that he went to the same skool of illllittteerates as Kimbers.

Does anyone remember Barry Prudom?

His was the biggest armed man hunt in England – some 19 days worth I think in 1982.

He eventaully hid out 'round the corner from my Gran!

Ti29er – but I may not make it due to an injury (where the L lat' quad muscle ties into its tendon down by the knee is strained (?) )that is not healing (physio has had 3x sessions with me and can't understand why it's not healing, so next Thursday she's having a 2nd physio in with her to suggest other options :cry: ).
I may habve a place up for grabs.

You might have to read the question carefully. Is it about how you feel or "us"?
If colours don't trigger responses, it's going to be a short project!
For myself, red = danger but to a Chinaman, it means something entirely different.

There's a very good book on the subject – 'cept I can't recall its name. Google?
On my post grad’ course, the top student did his thesis on just this subject. If you really want to read it I can possibly still get a copy for you. Email me if that’s the case.
Green is an appetite suppressant; hospitals tend to be white, Mc D’s red & yellow (which is the fastest colour) etc.
Also consider colours as primary & secondary, not just colour as this might help in the essay.