They're often companies that give (some) money to charity rather than charities – so a bit of a con IMO.

Not on mine and I'm no lightweight.

He may have been unlucky with the ones he tried but he is a fast rider, light though. He usually rides a Prince with R-sys wheels so maybe he's a bit picky.

My mate tried them and reckoned they flexed when climbing hard – rims rubbed on the break blocks; sound likely?

Wow, is it that dangerous? Should I just put up with the backache?

Well if you're built like the Elephant Man you might want to see a doctor.

You could try using sleeping pills from somewhere like Boots – I use them when I need a decent sleep but just take 1 instead of the suggested 2. This might help get you into a new pattern.

I'd prefer to leave it away from Church Stretton; you could leave it in the water factory car park up towards All Stretton or just on a road around All Stretton. I have left mine in a Church Stretton residential road in a council estate for a day which is OK I'm sure.

There was a bloke like this on that Elephant Man film; he died when he slept in a more sensible position. Something to think about.

HRM monitors estimate calories burnt based on the heart rate – probably not very accurate but heart rate must be relevant. Not only will your heart rate be slower on a given climb climb when fitter it will also return to a lower rate more quickly so less calories burnt.

So you only need 3 on that list to be posh. BTW, anyone who uses that word isn't.

What's wrong with Barnsley?

Oh and there was me thinking it was a well known feature….

Essentially I am in the Leatherhead suburbs.

I'm in the village with the squareabout.

I was looking at the Panorama which is a great road based heavy touring bike but I went for a Kaffenback in the end as don't think I will do any heavy touring.

No – mine's the curvy building roughly in the middle of the pic. I do, however, live near you…!

Our's is pretty cool really – nice view of The Tower, Tower Bridge, HMS Belfast and Boris's place.

Which is why I started 'But then'… my point being that there are times when comfort takes priority. Having said that I do think my heavy cotton short sleeve shirts are OK.

I only roll back the cuff – looks a bit naff more than that IMO.

But then I'm happy to wear short sleeve shirts – have to really when it gets too hot as otherwise I can't cope. Fortunately I don't usually have to wear a tie – if I did might have to go with the naff rolled up sleeves.

If you can only afford a small step up the housing ladder then extension maybe the way forward but it's tweaking what you've got so may still want to move in a few years anyway. Guessing you're in a lower stamp duty bracket so moving isn't so pricey really.

I extended and renovated my previous house – gave me a big kitchen instead od the 6'x7' that was there originally and really compromised living in the house; probably made it easier to sell when I did move.

My kitchen has Amtico – was put in by the previous owners. I think you're meant to look after it but we don't and not had any problems with it. Looks good. We've been here 3 years and the extension was done in the 90s so guess it's been there for over 10 years.

Most of us could have a nicer car but choose to put the extra in the house – kinda sensible. I wonder what sort of percentage of their house's value most peoples cars are – mine is a bit low as my car ain't worth a lot and I live in a niceish part of the SE. My car does let the area down.

There was a TV program about ordinary people owning super cars. Well they weren't really ordinary as they were a bit odd and living at home with their Mums; the cars had seen better days too really.

The people at the local church are quite aggressive with their bell ringing IME.

he did note that hákarl was hardcore food and not for beginners.

What? Babies?

30g bowl of cereal – that wouldn't keep me satisfied for long. Need a good energy boost in the morning.

I lost a stone in a month once by just eating veggie, low fat food. Ate as much as I wanted as hated feeling hungry and it worked for me. Now just do as many miles on the road bike as I can fit in and eat sensibly – 11 lbs lost in 12 months without really trying – don't really need to lose weight now just aiming for 10% body fat.

I think this thread shows how ruined so many people are in our society; there is so much good food mentioned here including some of my favourites – parsnips are lovely.

When I went to China I wanted to eat the strangest things I could find though eventually decided to stop that when I saw a chopped up dog's head.

But he's a cyclist!

Three Pinarello Princes I think?

Angus is the most entertaining.

Zappa for being so creative but that's more than in his guitar work of course.

a website frequented largely by unattractive men in their 30s and 40s?!

Really? And I thought I was the only one.

Get your wife to post on here then she'd see how normal most people here are. Or not.

This "footprint pressure" is below that of a seagull standing on one leg!"

I think that says more about the problems we face from seagulls.

Full fingered only when too cold for short fingered ones which I prefer – hate sweaty gloves.

He got a double first in economics at King's College, Cambridge – bright chap!

He messed up but he cost us less than many legitimate expenses claimed by MPs so it is a shame. It really was a stupid system.

Just seeing if anyone would rise – I could be meaning it's a bad thing!

One less white man

He'll be back…oh wrong one.

My mate got his license and spends some of the time in NZ flying privately. Now contracts here, has taken lots of rich bankers to events and the odd grand prix driver to races – had that Jordan bird in the back one time….

There's so many that the odds are there are a few on here – care to explain why you do it? If everyone honked their horn or flashed them they'd soon get the feeling they were doing something wrong.

Why's that the point? I'm sure they're more than happy with Campbell throwing his wait around.

On the 1st week or so of my placement where my new boss said in response to something I said in a really sarcastic voice 'I'm so glad you agree with me'.

Mostly had good managers since though when my best mate at work became my current boss things did get difficult as she suddenly thought she had to be really authoritarian which didn't work with me.

And he's your mate?

I'm sorry, I lied for a moment of mirth….