Your rants here.

rick_chasey

redvee wrote:

chedabob wrote:

Rick Chasey wrote:

Not really a rant, I'm quite relaxed about it, but nowhere else to put it.

So my olympic RR tickets haven't arrived yet.

I call the helpline, and I get two options, - buy tickets or speak to customer services.

So I hit 2 for customer services and get some guff about a high volume of calls, and that you should only call if it's less than 7 days for your event and your ticket hasn't arrived yet.

Great, I'm thinking, I get to speak to them.

The information women then, with no options to hit another number or speak to anyone says "this call will now disconnect" and it does.

No option to actually speak to anyone.

WTF?

Mash the hell out of the buttons and eventually the system will give up and put you through to a real person.

*# repeatedly usually works with most phone systems.

Well, tried again today

This time, I got through.

They ballsed up so they re-issued the tickets for me – so we have to pick them up at the venue at box hill.

That’s annoying since we don’t get to use the olympics free travel ticket thing for the trip out.

I moaned a bit but they couldn’t do anything. Managed to get my £6 delivery charge refunded (since they haven’t done any delivering).

I asked if I could get it refunded but they said no.

Irritating.

CiB

Rick Chasey wrote:

Cycling's a pretty boring activity really.

What's nice about it is you can go really far on your own steam.

It gives you a sense of freedom and you get to see a lot of the your local little world.

Then you get all the advantages of any endurancey exercise - runners high, eating loads without worry, keeping fit.

That's about it really.

I don't think there's enough in amateur cycling to make a program out of it.

All entirely correct, but that doesn't mean that they have to treat the audience like a bunch of toddlers. Can you imagine TG gasping at the price of a car that costs 10-15 times as much as Ford Focus, or giggling at the iDrive on a Beemer and pretending that it's too awkward to use and that an AM/FM radio and a heater slider would be much better?

Anyway. Rant over. I had a nice ride in this morning too.

rjsterry

CiB wrote:

The Cycle Show (ITV4 last nigth).

Juvenile puerile execrably crap attempt at being 'exciting', 'fun', 'with it', 'edgey'. A p!ss poor Top Gear impersonation that aimed low and missed by going even lower. If this had gone out on CBeebies it still would have under-estimated its audience.

Just how moronic do the producers & presenters think the average cyclist is? Wayne Hemmingway (let's crowbar a cycling Name into the show lads) appears in a piece on safety with his helmet on looking for all the world like a leprechaun after a night out and takes 2 minutes to help inform us that helmet & gloves are good, and that we should look around.

Rob Hales - how to ride up a hill. And down it again. No - you don't say. The odd looking bloke who's name I missed ends up on some kind of treadmill challenge. And the whole background atmos of having a noisy excited fun crowd in the background was so utterly bad as to be utterly bad. I hope next week's is better.


This is how the media treats cycling. Danny Baker's stand-in on Saturday who did the 'eeeh aahm a big thick northerner me' pretending not to understand cycling and tried to feign interest in the TdF but didn't even get close. His oppo on the show made the standard giggly girl comment - 'how do they sit on those uncomfortable saddles for all that distance? No wonder they stand up so much', Yer daft bint - the saddles are wonderfully comfortable, that's why we sit on them and pedal for 6, 7, 8 12 hours at a stretch.

Or 5Live last night on the Drive Time show having some presenter 'being Brad Wiggins' by dressing up in lycra with the inevitable jokey 'ooo I don't think Wigan's ready to see me in lycra yet'. Why ever not? You're human shaped aren't you? Northern people have seen bicyclists before. Do you imagine that you're so spectacularly special that you alone in lycra will cause people to faint? Prat. By the time he'd got the Oakleys on and had perched himself on fiiiiiiive thoooooouuuuusand pounds???????????????? worth of racing bike I'd given up - Clue was on R4 by then.

Will those of you in the media please get into your dense skulls that pretending that cycling is really difficult or only for special people etc is a sh"t approach. We're adults. Treat us like adults, not like The Cycle Show did on its first stab, or 5Live etc who imagine we need to have this and every other subject chopped pureed and reduced to the level that a four year old can cope with. Bastards.

Doesn't sound like I missed much. Thought it might be a bit like that from the trailer.

suzyb

My rant for the day...

I'm fed up reading about people out for rides in nice weather when Scotland if cold and wet If this north/south divide in weather keeps up I'm going to have to stay off BR till winter.

bails87

Suzy: I'll be in Scotland Friday- Sunday, so hopefully I'll bring some good weather with me!

WOOP WOOP*, Glentress and Innerleithen MTBing




*it's da sound of da police

roger_merriman

CiB wrote:

Anyway. Rant over. I had a nice ride in this morning too.

Lovely roll in though the park and watched the torch pass in Kingston.

But yes the Cycling Show was bad, and what where they thinking with Fisher? I'll try again next week but I suspect i'll remove it from the virgin box.

Sharkyssurfers

roger merriman wrote:

I'll try again next week but I suspect i'll remove it from the virgin box.

what eh! :shock: , you can't say that here that's more for the bottom bracket section :P

merkin

If it is correct that the opening ceremony is costing £40,000,000 then at least have the decency to start it at the traditional time of 7:30pm rather than 9:00 so that kids can stay up and watch it. After all, they are the generation who will probably be paying for it.
Half the athletes can't even attend because of the late start.
If the late start is because of fireworks etc then surely you can write it so that the first hour or so is suitable for presenting in daylight. :evil:

mattsaw

roger merriman wrote:

CiB wrote:

Anyway. Rant over. I had a nice ride in this morning too.

Lovely roll in though the park and watched the torch pass in Kingston.

But yes the Cycling Show was bad, and what where they thinking with Fisher? I'll try again next week but I suspect i'll remove it from the virgin box.

Yep, it's a shame as it could have been so promising, I think ITV 4 generally pitch cycling quite well so that it appeals to a wide range of people, novices and old hands alike.

With this they seem to have pitched the the whole thing at the lowest common denominator and thrown in a bit of oi oi banter mixed with some cringeworthy moments in a show that just didn't flow properly.

Applespider

Rick Chasey wrote:

They ballsed up so they re-issued the tickets for me – so we have to pick them up at the venue at box hill.

I think you can pick up tickets (with Travelcard and spectator guide) at any London 2012 box office. The problem is that the only one currently open for business is in Stratford. It was quiet when I picked up my RR tickets last week (a choice of 6 manned windows) but I believe there are now queues.

Long_Time_Lurker

Midges and flies.
I have a small, but steep hill on the way home. I'm normally gasping for breath, but had to do the climb with my mouth closed last night. Could feel the flies bouncing off my face all of the way up, but still managed to breath a few up my nose. :x

mudcow007

so, has anyone ever been shot at on their commute?

i have!

coming along a disused railway track on my way home when i hear a gas gun noise then hear something whiz past me an hit the path/ trees ahead of me, they only got one shot off but still fecking scary

KerwinRobertson

I have started to cycle to work this week, having done it intermittently in the past.
Just want to say thanks to the old guy on the road bike last night, he decided to "blast" past me
at the lights on the Beildside Inn on the North Deeside Road without checking behind him first.
Not sure who got the biggest scare, me, him or the car that was overtaking me at the time.
Talk about pedal to pedal action. Ever seen a side by side tandem?

I thought I was meant to be the inexperienced newbie....

redvee

mudcow007 wrote:

so, has anyone ever been shot at on their commute?

i have!

coming along a disused railway track on my way home when i hear a gas gun noise then hear something whiz past me an hit the path/ trees ahead of me, they only got one shot off but still fecking scary

Not on my commute but many years ago on the approach to the Severn Bridge two kids from the nearby caravan encampment took a shot at me from 100yds away. Luckily, due to the distance and their lack of sniper training, I escaped unharmed.

SickAsAParrot

mudcow007 wrote:

so, has anyone ever been shot at on their commute?

No, but I half expect it every time I go along the canal/greenway routes. Needless to say anyone who hits me with an airgun pellet will be finding their skull promply being caved in with said rifle butt.

Dog Breath

mudcow007 wrote:

so, has anyone ever been shot at on their commute?

i have!

coming along a disused railway track on my way home when i hear a gas gun noise then hear something whiz past me an hit the path/ trees ahead of me, they only got one shot off but still fecking scary

I know the track you mean, and cycled along on the Trans Pennine Trail a couple of years ago. Felt a bit intimidating around the Norris Green/West Derby area with a few black-hoodied teenagers around on bikes, eyeing up our bikes. Glad there were 5 of us and they didn't bother us. However, I would be reluctant to ride along there on my own. I used to live near the southern end of the trail at Halewood and was one of my regular runs, and never had any problems.

mudcow007

Dog Breath wrote:

mudcow007 wrote:

so, has anyone ever been shot at on their commute?

i have!

coming along a disused railway track on my way home when i hear a gas gun noise then hear something whiz past me an hit the path/ trees ahead of me, they only got one shot off but still fecking scary

I know the track you mean, and cycled along on the Trans Pennine Trail a couple of years ago. Felt a bit intimidating around the Norris Green/West Derby area with a few black-hoodied teenagers around on bikes, eyeing up our bikes. Glad there were 5 of us and they didn't bother us. However, I would be reluctant to ride along there on my own. I used to live near the southern end of the trail at Halewood and was one of my regular runs, and never had any problems.

it happened in Norris green!!

i work in Aintree so its a straight run home along the track, i dont normally use the track during the summer an go the longer route home through the pier head/ allerton

scary hearing a pellet fly past your noggin though

bushu

Sick to fucking death of my dead end job & pleb boss!
Yea yea we've all got them I know + I've got the blues, very underpaid & have to jump through hoops for a promise of payrise for it to vanish into thin air once they get what they required out of me..

Standard I'm guessing for small companies, but where do i stand when the MD is making me do tests logged in as him? I mean I've enough todo and revising for my own MS exams to keep them happy already (promised me a slight wage increase last time mind) so this is the last straw, well that and running the show while I'm the most junior in the IT department...

Anonymous

whistleblowing?

aclivity

Manchester city centre was full of inattentive pedestrians walking out on to roads in front of me. And they have closed roads around Exchange square so wendyball fans can gather to watch the overpaid prima donnas on a big screen.

aclivity

Oops double post

bushu

Is it fraud? can i complain to someone? I mean I could refuse but he would make my work-life even harder to bare rather have him by the nuts to show i can't be bullied like the rest of the office

Anonymous

Maybe not fraud, but highly dishonest. If you are passing tests for your boss, who presumably is raking the benefit for them (assuming he is incapable of passing them himself) then why should he be taking credit?
If you're working for a small co, then let his senior know before you do it, so there is some way of proving it (proof, in all these circumstances is key. If it's your word vs his, you can be assured, you will lose).

What would happen if you said no?

Anonymous

(too busy, not sure its ethical, got to wash my hair etc etc)

bushu

he's the MD..

spoilt tw@t, father works as a manager under him and its his fault for not giving him a clout years ago!

jds_1981

CRAP.IN.MY.EYES!!!

That is all.

msmancunia

aclivity wrote:

Manchester city centre was full of inattentive pedestrians walking out on to roads in front of me. And they have closed roads around Exchange square so wendyball fans can gather to watch the overpaid prima donnas on a big screen.

That one caught me out tonight as well - had to hop on to the pavement and ped-dodge instead. Would be nice if they stuck something in the MEN to let us know.

redvee

The silly woman in the 3 series convertible with the roof down. I wouldn't drive along in slow traffic with your handbag containing your worldy goods on the passenger seat. It was so tempting to reach in and demonstrate what might happen

rick_chasey

Articlated lorries.


Each day this week by Edith Grove and Cremome Road they've scared the sh!t out of me.

Today was a classic.

Heading down Edith Grove, towards a reasonably sharp left hander. No-one ahead of me. I look behind as I hear some serious roaring of a lorry engine and an enormous articulated Waitrose lorry is shaping up to pass me ON THE LEFT HAND CORNER.

After some serious swerving I end up having to take some aggressive primary.

He then tries the same on Cremome Road, and starts squeezing other bikes into parked cars too, so I put in a little sprint to get a head and continue primary the whole way down.

This was after yesterday, when another articulated lorry suddenly pulled left to park up just after it'd passed me. No indication, nothing. Was very glad I was already squeezing the brakes as soon as it started pulling up alongside me.

rubertoe

Friday legs on a Thursday. What is that about?