Letter in the Guardian

On 6/1/04 7:59 am, in article [email hidden],

dirtylitterboxofferingstospammers said:

Short, but it's there.

guardian.co.uk0,3604,1116665,00.htmlOpen ↗

Just saw it before browsing the NG. Short and to the point. You didn't sign it PSF?

..d

"dirtylitterboxofferingstospammers" <[email hidden]> wrote in
message "]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Short, but it's there.

guardian.co.uk0,3604,1116665,00.htmlOpen ↗

Cheers, helen s

Woo Hoo - Dereham is famous at last - just don't mention P*u*s Cy*les

--
Chris

Quoted message said:

Just saw it before browsing the NG. Short and to the point. You didn't sign it PSF?

..d

Nah - the PSF's home is here :-)

Cheers, helen s

--This is an invalid email address to avoid spam-- to get correct one remove dependency on fame &
fortune h*$el*$$e**nd***$o$ts***i*$*$m**m$$o*n**s@$*$a$$o**l.c**$*$om$$

In article <[email hidden]>,

dirtylitterboxofferingstospammers said:

Short, but it's there.

guardian.co.uk0,3604,1116665,00.htmlOpen ↗

It was a ludicrous article, though. Since Saturday's Graun had an article by Julie Burchill talking
about the joys of eating food designed to look like (and, one suspects, priced like) a Faberge egg
while snorting cocaine, and I'm sure later this week the G2 fashion page will provide free
advertising for dresses costing a grand, as usual, this puritanism there's been about the price of
gyms of late seems a little odd.

ian

[email hidden] (dirtylitterboxofferingstospammers) wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

Short, but it's there.

guardian.co.uk0,3604,1116665,00.htmlOpen ↗

Bulls eye! Well done that woman!

--
Dave...

Ian G Batten said:

It was a ludicrous article, though. Since Saturday's Graun had an article by Julie Burchill
talking about the joys of eating food designed to look like (and, one suspects, priced like) a
Faberge egg while snorting cocaine

Must get round to writing in and suggesting they take the paper's increasing trend towards
compartmentalisation on Saturdays to further extremes. Then I'll be able to take the G-Julie
Burchill section and chuck it straight in the blue bin and save the bother of thumbing past her
columns...

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch University of Dundee Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Medical Physics, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK net [email hidden]
dundee.ac.uk~pjclinchOpen ↗

Yes, but Julie Burchill is an idiot. This, as I'm sure I've said before, is the only thing on which
Tony Parsons and I will ever agree. I was overjoyed to see that she was apparently ceasing to write
for the Gruaniad, but then it turned out that she was only ceasing to do her column in the Saturday
glossy bit. Bah!

--

Dave Larrington - legslarry.beerdrinkers.co.uklegslarry.beerdrinkers.co.ukOpen ↗
===========================================================
Editor - British Human Power Club Newsletter
bhpc.org.ukbhpc.org.ukOpen ↗
===========================================================

Quoted message said:

Woo Hoo - Dereham is famous at last - just don't mention P*u*s Cy*les

--
Chris

Oh I won't mention the place I won't buy from because they ignore or are rude to women cyclists!

Cheers, helen s

--This is an invalid email address to avoid spam-- to get correct one remove dependency on fame &
fortune h*$el*$$e**nd***$o$ts***i*$*$m**m$$o*n**s@$*$a$$o**l.c**$*$om$$

Quoted message said:

Bulls eye! Well done that woman!

I thank you (bows)

Cheers, helen s

--This is an invalid email address to avoid spam-- to get correct one remove dependency on fame &
fortune h*$el*$$e**nd***$o$ts***i*$*$m**m$$o*n**s@$*$a$$o**l.c**$*$om$$

"Dave Larrington" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Yes, but Julie Burchill is an idiot.

Disagree - anyone that's able to write such tripe and get paid for it can't be all that
lacking up top.

So there :p

Tom.

Quoted post said:

Originally posted by Dirtylitterboxo
>Bulls eye! Well done that woman!

I thank you (bows)

Cheers, helen s

--This is an invalid email address to avoid spam-- to get correct one remove dependency on fame &
fortune h*$el*$$e**nd***$o$ts***i*$*$m**m$$o*n**s@$*$a$$o**l.c**$*$om$$

Cycling cheaper than the gym? I think not. Most people on this site would have a bike costing more than 1 years gym membership!

My gym (a JJB) costs me about £360 a year and my bike £1500+ then there are clothes and the 4 other bikes in the shed!

Also gyms are safer, you get instruction and meet lots of people.

While I like cycling more than anything, I am realistic in that it is one of the hardest/coldest/wetest and expensive forms of exercise available. Particularly when you are starting up or getting more serious.

"dirtylitterboxofferingstospammers" <[email hidden]> wrote in
message "]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Short, but it's there.

guardian.co.uk0,3604,1116665,00.htmlOpen ↗

Cheers, helen s

Oooh. Many well-made points in just a few words. Bravo and Encore!

Ben

In "]news:[email hidden],
Thomas <tom [at] greysheep [dot] co [dot] uk> typed:

Quoted message said:

"Dave Larrington" <[email hidden]> wrote in message -"]news:[email hidden]-
berlin.de...

Quoted message said:

Yes, but Julie Burchill is an idiot.

Disagree - anyone that's able to write such tripe and get paid for it can't be all that
lacking up top.

So there :p

But it can't exactly be pleasant faking being Julie Burchill, can it? And if she's for real, being
able to get paid for being yourself isn't the be-all and end-all of not being an idiot.

In article <[email hidden]>,

dirtylitterboxofferingstospammers said:

Short, but it's there.

guardian.co.uk0,3604,1116665,00.htmlOpen ↗

Oddly, the Guardian is terribly critical of people spending 1200 quid a year on Gym medicine, but
completely supportive of spending three grand a year on ``alternative therapies'' (G2 article about
some writer of programmes for the television, yesterday).

ian

On 7/1/04 4:10 am, in article [email hidden],

2LAP said:

While I like cycling more than anything, I am realistic in that it is one of the
hardest/coldest/wetest and expensive forms of exercise available. Particularly when you are
starting up or getting more serious.

Absolute rubbish.

It is one of the cheapest and most accessible forms of exercise available after walking. So you have
a very expensive bike that costs 5x your annual gym membership? That isn't a general rule.

I bought my bike (my commute bike) for about 3-400 GBP about 7 years ago. Since then I have spent
about that much again on it, possibly a bit more (tyres, chain, new wheels, gear mechs etc.) so the
running costs are about 150 GBP a year to date including all depreciation.

My gym membership (much subsidised through the Uni) costs just over 50 quid, plus I go about 3 times
a week at a cost of 3.50 so that adds up to just under 200 quid a year before taking into account
clothing etc.

On the biek I wear what I would if I was walking to work (I live close enough to work to do that).
Total commuting costs with free exercise built in are about 3 GBP per week.

That doesn't seem to be particularly expensive. If you are talking more extensive exercise (more
than the 20 mins a day minimum recommended) then I use either that bike or my road bike which was
bought in 1990 for about 700GBP and has probably had as much spent on it again over its 14 year
life. That is 100 GBP a year, so even with two bikes I am still below your gym membership costs.

Any form of exercise is as expensive as you want to make it. The entry level for cycling is,
however, very low, in the tens of pounds.

..d

2LAP said:

Cycling cheaper than the gym? I think not. Most people on this site would have a bike costing more
than 1 years gym membership!

But an equivalent cross section of iron-pumping fanatics would probably=20 have their own multigyms
at very considerable expense.

Quoted message said:

My gym (a JJB) costs me about =A3360 a year and my bike =A31500+ then t=

here

Quoted message said:

are clothes and the 4 other bikes in the shed!

I have 5 bikes and a Uni in the fleet, but for 8 years I only had one=20 bike and it cost =A3250 (an
'89 EBC Country tourer). You could buy a=20 better bike now for 250 of today's pounds that would do
pretty much=20 everything most people need.

Quoted message said:

Also gyms are safer, you get instruction and meet lots of people.

Gyms may be safer, but that doesn't make cycling dangerous. Look at the =

actual figures and it's a remarkably safe way to get about, and the=20 point is you actually do get
about so a bike isn't limited to just exerci= se.

Quoted message said:

While I like cycling more than anything, I am realistic in that it is one of the
hardest/coldest/wetest and expensive forms of exercise available.=20

Nowhere near it. You very clearly haven't been sailing outside of=20 summer in a force 5!

It isn't especially hard: like many forms of exercise it's as hard as=20 you want to make it and no
more. Coldest? There are many forms of=20 exercise that *rely* on cold weather, and since you're
doing work it's=20 generally only windproofing needed to take the edge off the cold.=20 Wettest
exercise? I went cycling yesterday evening to pick up a fridge, =

and I went swimming at lunchtime. I can assure you I got wetter and=20 colder in the swimming pool
than on my freight bike! Came out more=20 tired as well, despite only being in for 20 minutes.

Quoted message said:

Particularly when you are starting up or getting more serious.

You can get a perfectly acceptable new bike for around =A3200, less secon= d=20 hand. You can buy a
more efficient bike for a lot more, but if you want =

just exercise efficiency isn't a problem, it's only if you want to go at =

a certain speed or cover a certain distance. If it's just exercise=20 you're after 100W of power is
100W of power. You'll actually get more=20 work done on an inferior bike if you cover the same
distance at the same =

speed.

And not only is the =A3200 not very much in today's terms, especially as =

the bike'll last you years if you look after it, but you can get=20 exercise doing mundane things
like the shopping. Moving a fridge 5=20 miles with nothing but power from my own muscles last night
was good=20 exercise, though it wasn't hard, wet or cold.

Pete. --=20 Peter Clinch University of Dundee Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Medical Physics,
Ninewells Hospital Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK net [email hidden]
dundee.ac.uk~pjclinchOpen ↗

2LAP said:

Dirtylitterboxo said:

Quoted message said:

Bulls eye! Well done that woman!

I thank you (bows)

Cycling cheaper than the gym? I think not. Most people on this site would have a bike costing more
than 1 years gym membership!

My gym (a JJB) costs me about £360 a year and my bike £1500+ then there are clothes and the 4
other bikes in the shed!

Also gyms are safer, you get instruction and meet lots of people.

While I like cycling more than anything, I am realistic in that it is one of the
hardest/coldest/wetest and expensive forms of exercise available. Particularly when you are
starting up or getting more serious.

I currently have one hardtail hill bike which cost around £500 in about 1989, one road bike which
cost about £500 in about 1994, and one full suspension hill bike which cost £1800 last year. I've
probably spent, on average, £120 a year on maintenance parts, cycle-specific clothing and luggage
and so on. So my cycling habit works out at around £300 per year. Compared to that my sailing habit
probably costs at least four times as much.

And if you think cycling is hard, cold or wet, try going to windward into a force seven in the Irish
Sea with the tide against you.

--
[email hidden] (Simon Brooke) jasmine.org.uk~simonOpen ↗

;; 'I think we should trust our president in every decision ;; that he makes and we should
just support that' ;; Britney Spears of George W Bush, CNN 04:09:03

2LAP said:

Cycling cheaper than the gym? I think not. Most people on this site would have a bike costing more
than 1 years gym membership!

Most people's bikes last more than one year. Our workhorse tandem cost about 2000 quid, but has had
about 7 years of regular use by 2 people.

Quoted message said:

While I like cycling more than anything, I am realistic in that it is one of the
hardest/coldest/wetest and expensive forms of exercise available.

THe point you are missing is that you can save on transport costs by cycling on journeys that you
have to do anyway (especially commuting and local errands). That often makes cycling cost less than
nothing, and consume negligible time. I certainly struggle to spend my "commuting allowance" each
month (living in Japan, we get paid the public transport costs on top of salary). At least, I did
struggle to spend it, before buying a carbon fibre tandem...but that was for fun, not for commuting.

James

2LAP said:

Dirtylitterboxo said:

Quoted message said:

Bulls eye! Well done that woman!

I thank you (bows) Cheers, helen s --This is an invalid email address to avoid spam-- to get
correct

one > remove dependency on fame & fortune

Quoted message said:

h*$el*$$e**nd***$o$ts***i*$*$m**m$$o*n**s@$*$a$$o**l.c**$*$om$$

Cycling cheaper than the gym? I think not. Most people on this site would have a bike costing more
than 1 years gym membership!

I have but I don't but one of these bikes every year. Don't forget the amount of money you spend on
getting to the gym.

--
The Reply & From email addresses are checked rarely. mseries.freeserve.co.ukmseries.freeserve.co.ukOpen ↗