Wiggins in hospital after crash with van

[gabi]

I'm suggesting that a pack of out of shape middle managers on £1,500 bikes in full on cycling team kit bearing down on you would probably be quite annoying. And a bit mentally scarring.

Those guys are hilarious. Do they seriously think they're Wiggins? Why the hell do you need to wear lycra to ride from your flat in Clapham to your desk job in the City?

 

[tommers]

Welcome to my life.

Yeah, that was me empathising.

 

[mattie]

I'm suggesting that a pack of out of shape middle managers on £1,500 bikes in full on cycling team kit bearing down on you would probably be quite annoying. And a bit mentally scarring.

Go easy. That'll be you in a few years, mate.

I'm there already. Except the £1500 bike.

 

[kabbes]

Yeah, that was me empathising.

Oh, is that what it feels like to be empathised with? I quite liked it. Do another one.

 

[tommers]

Those guys are hilarious. Do they seriously think they're Wiggins? Why the hell do you need to wear lycra to ride from your flat in Clapham to your desk job in the City?

It saves them about 3 seconds per ride.

 

[mattie]

Let them have their fantasies, winning the tour de france on the commute home.

It's why I wear my full West Ham kit going to home games.

 

[tommers]

Oh, is that what it feels like to be empathised with? I quite liked it. Do another one.

I can't just do it on command kabbes. I need to be in the mood. Say something sad.

 

[gabi]

Let them have their fantasies, winning the tour de france on the commute home.

It's why I wear my full West Ham kit going to home games.

Isn't a bit weird? Is there any actual benefit to it?

 

[Ted Striker]

To be totally srs for a second <-- srs face, there is also an issue with clothing.

About 50% of riders wear nice bright clothing, which is great. About 30% wear stuff that isn't too bad. But about 20% wear black or some other dark colour. In the summer, you tend to go in and out of shade a lot under the trees, and a cyclist wearing black is frequently all but invisible during those transitions. If you're out cycling, don't wear dark colours!

Not one morning and you've already been promoted from Traffic Patrol to the Fashion Police

Honey, I love cycling, but I love looking good even more...

The day you see me on a bike in anything other than my consistent SportsDirect X Rapha dark, discrete (lol) yet ever so dashing...Is the day you see me give up, move to Sussex (Evans own Vatican), and buy the bottom of the range Carbon Trek on cycle to work.

 

[mattie]

Isn't a bit weird? Is there any actual benefit to it?

Fucking cold if I don't wear the tracksuit as well.

 

[Ted Striker]

It saves them about 3 seconds per ride.

4 or 5 when the carbon fibre water bottle cage is taken into consideration.

 

[gentlegreen]

The problem is, black goes with everything.

Spoiler

 

[gabi]

this article on the subject of MAMILs is quite good

In other words, we Mamils are pathetic creatures, cramming our spreading midriffs into unsightly spandex sports gear and spending unfeasible sums of money on custom-made carbon-fibre racing bikes. Then we jet off to the Alps or Pyrenees in order to live out a laughable fantasy that we, in some alternate universe, belong to the fraternity of demigods who ride bikes for a living.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/sep/11/mamil-middle-aged-men-in-lycra

 

[The Boy]

The problem is, black goes with everything.

And goes some way to disguising aforementioned paunch.

 

[mattie]

And goes some way to disguising aforementioned paunch.

Is it stripes or hoops? I forget.

I should start a business. Lycra for fat boys. Includes a mars bar pocket and pre-connections for the defibrillator.

 

[tommers]

Good column, but Matt Seaton hasn't exactly just dusted off his old bike.

Read "The Escape Artist". http://www.amazon.co.uk/Escape-Artist-Life-Saddle/dp/1841151041

 

[gentlegreen]

I'm a fat, middle-aged man in combats - but I first got on a pushbike when I was a bit younger than Wiggo - and I have fat tyres and panniers. Hopefully I'm exempt from any such accusations.

I well remember my chain-smoking, Ford Granada driving colleague commenting that he'd seen me arriving "red-faced" at work (in my early 30s), and commenting.. "by the time I was your age, I had a little car".
He took early retirement (pre-60) and was found dead in his back garden when he was just a few years older than I am now...

My love of cycling only properly took off when I was 49, and I'm so relieved I never actually spent my "Harley Davidson fund" on a motorcycle.

 

[kabbes]

I
He took early retirement (pre-60) and was found dead in his back garden when he was just a few years older than I am now...

And how you laughed and laughed and laughed.

 

[gentlegreen]

And how you laughed and laughed and laughed.

Of course not, but the irony wasn't lost on me.
Another colleague (a Business Studies lecturer) suggested in the 80s that I opt out of the state pension scheme ... and another one invested her pension fund in .coms.

 

[kabbes]

Of course not, but the irony wasn't lost on me.
Another colleague (a Business Studies lecturer) suggested in the 80s that I opt out of the state pension scheme ...

A suggestion is just a suggestion. No more, no less.

Saying that, I have no idea why a Business Studies lecturer feels qualified to opine about pension schemes. Pensions are complicated things. Just because he knows about Business Studies, doesn't mean he has the first clue about anything at all to do with pensions.

Just goes to show that free advice is worth precisely what you paid for it.

 

[colacubes]

Well this thread has taken a predictable turn since I last looked at it

 

[kabbes]

Well this thread has taken a predictable turn since I last looked at it

You predicted it would turn into pensions talk?

 

[colacubes]

You predicted it would turn into pensions talk?

Yes

 

[mattie]

I wonder if getting professional road-race riders to observe the laws of the road would help. Set the right example.

Signal before overtaking, that sort of thing.

 

[Lemon Eddy]

I'm ambivalent at best towards road cyclists training on public highways.

For context, I think its important to point out that you are a grumpy git who generally disapproves of everything though. Off the top of my head I can recall your disdain for loud motorbikes on road, mountainbikes off road, and pornography regardless of vehicle or terrain.

Personally though I agree that mixed use of public highways for recreational purposes as well as road traffic is not ideal. I feel an immediate ban on all motor traffic is the obvious solution.

 

[kabbes]

For context, I think its important to point out that you are a grumpy git who generally disapproves of everything though. Off the top of my head I can recall your disdain for loud motorbikes on road, mountainbikes off road, and pornography regardless of vehicle or terrain.

I object!


I don't think I've made any comment about pornography.

Personally though I agree that mixed use of public highways for recreational purposes as well as road traffic is not ideal. I feel an immediate ban on all motor traffic is the obvious solution.

Certainly works for me. I can feel the purchase of a horse coming on.

 

[mattie]

For context, I think its important to point out that you are a grumpy git who generally disapproves of everything though. Off the top of my head I can recall your disdain for loud motorbikes on road, mountainbikes off road, and pornography regardless of vehicle or terrain.

Personally though I agree that mixed use of public highways for recreational purposes as well as road traffic is not ideal. I feel an immediate ban on all motor traffic is the obvious solution.

Or let people walk through each others' gardens. Roads for cars, gardens for people. It's the antisocial people who won't let others into their gardens who cause the problems and pedestrian injuries. They've blood on their hands.

 

[ChrisD]

most amateur racers around here train in daylight hours only... I don't think I've seen racers at night. My three bikes all have lights (& mudguards) and I generally wear a jacket with some reflective bits in too...

surprised (and pleased) to see that he appears to have lights on his bike since Sky jerseys aren't exactly rainbow coloured (can't find a rear view but aren't they mostly black?)
pic of bike after accident here:
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/4632983/bradley-wiggins-in-car-accident.html

 

[tommers]

That has got to be the most pointless photo I have ever seen.

 

[xes]

I'm so glad it wasn't serious.

Can you imagine the weeks of media torture and public outpouring of faux grief if he'd have been proper squished.