Saint137

Regular daily commute - and now I've upgraded the bike to a hub dyno with proper lighting I'll do longer winter rides to get the mileage up. Will do 2 or 3 of the local Wiggle sportives and see if I can build up to doing a 100-miler in the autumn.

+1 for the near miss in the Cup Final - it was almost written in the stars that one. Which kind of sums him up - great team player, awesome workrate, but not quite there at the top level. At least he had a verse in the Posh Spice song. We've come a long long way since then...

Also rubbish at pens

Rubbish at free kicks

Exactly what we need - proven goalscorer, awkward bugger, good foil for our existing strikers.

Good effort - have done similar in the past "popping" to NY for the weekend to see a Mariners/Mets game (which turned into a double-header due to a rain delay). Wasn't entirely sure what planet I was on come Monday when I got back to work after flying overnight

Which'll be fine - he's American

If you've got the tools consider building your own - start with something like the Kaffenback from PlanetX. Full builds are £750 but frameset is only £200 and then you can pick and mix off eBay and bike forums for parts). That's got mudguard mounts, discs and loads of clearance for big tyres. Their aluminium equivalent is the London Road but you won't get that for your budget.Actually, scratch that - currently they're selling it for bang on £700 - http://www.planetx.co.uk/i/q/CBPXLDNRDAPEX/planet-x-london-road-sram-apex-bike

Still plugging away on the commute in this ****ty weather but also got out for a leisure ride over Christmas. Came back absolutely caked in mud from the New Forest roads - really sharp winter tanlines Back on the commute on Monday, can't wait for a full 5-day week at work just so I can cycle in...

Or wetting mini-Fonte's head?

Somehow Rest in Peace is inappropriate - he never bloody stopped and was never quiet. Love the quote on the BBC obit about if they moved in next door to you they'd be so loud your lawn would die. And interesting to hear from Brian May how they had the backline turned up - so they got to feel what the fans felt.

Stekelenburg has to get that on target

He apologised on Twitter for hitting a Saints fan with a wayward shot on Sunday - promised to improve his shooting

I ride for much the same reason as you, with the added benefit of saving on parking and fuel costs on my commute. £6 a day soon adds up, even if I end up spending it on bike kit. Over two years I've lost around 4 stone and I'm the lightest and fittest I've been since my teens. Ride in all weathers, mostly the commute but also get out at weekends and do the occasional sportive. Its the only exercise I've ever genuinely enjoyed and looked forward to - to the point that if I haven't ridden for a few days I get miserable. Not really blessed with hills here (except one with a short 25% section) but I do have the whole of the New Forest and Cranborne Chase on my doorstep. There are two things I love about cycling - the fact that its just you and the bike, which is just brilliant for de-stressing after work, and the fact that there's no get out clause like there is when going to the gym or the pool. If you end up 20 miles from home then the only option is to cycle home no matter what condition you're in. You'll probably find you'll plateau on the weight loss and most of it will disappear from below the waist. I had best/quickest results riding fasted - straight out of bed and on the bike first thing and then stay away from snacking whilst on the ride. You'll be ravenous when you get home but will have switched on your fat burning metabolism big time.

Pretty sure headmaster of WPBS mid-80s was ex-RAF too. Taught post-war at Merryoak - loads of ex-RAF retrained as schoolmasters when they demobbed

Ham-thighed centre forward is another term I've heard bandied about. Thankful in particular for that late goal against Milwall at the start of the '03 Cup run.

Thanks all. Only in Fordingbridge so to get Solent all I actually need to do is park up in the forest and listen on the car radio but that option isn't particularly attractive in the depths of winter Fordingbridge being down in a valley gets absolutely crap TV reception so we don't have a TV aerial - just watch everything on internet streaming instead. So Dave & Adam's comm is what SaintsPlayer uses? If so that sounds the best option - do they also carry the pregame/postgame parts of the show? Gonna miss the drive to and from the game listening to the analysis and non-league show.

Change in circumstances has meant I've had to give up my season ticket this year and I'm also now just outside the area where I can get reliable Solent reception. Any way I can listen to Dave & Adam online? I've checked and I can't get Solent on DAB either. Last time I tried I think Solent don't have the rights to broadcast the match online? Is Saintsplayer any good? I last used that years ago when I was living in Reading and it was always pants, has it improved?

Think the Spurs stat comes from the fact we were in the Southern League together for 20-odd years but its odd - even before the current reasons for hating them I've always seen them as a minor rival. Probably from the promotion season which is the first season I really remember.

Cafe culture is brilliant over there - went on a stag do in Antwerp*, waiter service at table, open to 4am, cracking beer and stodge to soak it up with, friendly locals. We all drank pretty much all day but with no need to rush your pint it was just a massive chillout. Drinking that much over here would inevitably have led to aggro. *yeah I know its in Belgium, but they're virtually Dutch there...

Fulham supporting mate went to all their European ties the year they got to the final - including Amkar Perm which was "quite far" http://calculate-distance.com/Southampton,UK/Perm,Russia

Yep, its odd that, had the same thing recently - couldn't get comfortable on the bike, felt knackered from the start, loads of PBs

First big off in three years riding, collided with oncoming cyclist (who was on my side of road on blind bend) and then parked car. According to Strava doing about 15mph at the time. Fortunately bike seems fine (downside of Ultegra Di2 is that you're looking at £125 for a shifter and a similar price for a front or rear mech). Impressive bruises and road rash (left calf, left shoulder, head, both elbows) and most spectacularly managed to slice a big flap of skin off my knuckle - perfect half moon cut from front of joint to back. Assume impact with something sharp on bike. Fortunately no ligament or nerve damage, just seven stitches and a week off the bike. The older you get, the more it seems to hurt, was always crashing when I was a kid. Guessing its a function of momentum and inertia

Its bloody awesome! The way it lets you maintain cadence is a huge performance improvement, and its quite insane being able to do a full power front shift at the bottom of a climb. So easy to change gear with absolutely zero effort. Trick stuff like simultaneously shifting front and rear rings and dumping the entire cassette with a long button press puts a smile on your face but not sure of the usefulness of those. Quite chuffed that with the help of t'internet I managed to set it all up myself & do a complete groupset swap (2300 to 105 chainset & Di2 mechs) with no prior bike spannering experience.

Most important thing is you enjoyed it. Riding on the drops at the speed you were averaging isn't likely to be lower drag so it may be a positional thing. Even minor adjustments can make a surprising difference to your times. Remember moving my saddle up by less than a cm and ending up consistently 5% faster on my usual rides.