[David9694]

Now the nights are drawing in, there are old copies of this on Ebay for £3 or £4.  If you’re under 40 and missed this, it’s still worth a look.  It rapidly takes you through what cycling is and can be, getting and keeping a bike. 

Not sure what happened to mine, but this is the book that got me hooked and to some extent you might say radicalised me. All the stuff about drivers and cars 2ww talk about is charted in there – and they hadn’t even got phones back then.

Steel was real and “10 speed” meant “10 in total” (minus the 2 illegal gears, of course.)

Topic

[David9694]

Something very 2022 about the

Something very 2022 about the power cuts: 

Charles Raymond – responsible for the colour artwork – came to the rescue. He volunteered to do the modelling himself, with his German wife, Edeltraud.

Chris Foss, who was responsible for the book’s black-and-white illustrations, took the photos. The book’s author, Dr Alex Comfort, had given them dozens of positions to get though, and all were done for real over two hectic days in early 1972.

The miners were on strike and they had only limited light to work with before the power cuts would plunge them into darkness.

“We’d say: ‘Charlie, we’ve only got another 20 minutes,'” recalls Mr Foss. “And he’d say: ‘Oh I’m terribly sorry’ and he’d go off to prepare himself to perform again, and Edeltraud would go: ‘Charles, Charles, please, please come on, we only have 10 minutes, please two more positions.’

[David9694]

Disappearing attacking dog

Disappearing attacking dog passage – solved. Received the 1983 edition today. It was back in by 1989. 

Much curtailed section: 

What about an actual attack in which you are being bitten and savaged?

Unfortunately, my publishers will not allow me to explain in detail some of the methods for defending yourself. Dog lovers have threatened legal action on the grounds of prevention of cruelty to animals. These are not people who have had to spend a month picking bits of gravel out of their legs and face because a dog knocked them off a bike. They have not had to undergo the long and extremely painful series of rabies shots which are mandatory if you are bitten outside Britain and the dog gets away. They do not have anything useful to say about the little girl who lived down the road from my parents’ place and who was pulled down by three dogs and torn to bits.

So be it.

 

[brooksby]

David9694 wrote:

Pretty sure I read an interview with the couple on whom the Joy of Sex illustrations were based. 

sorry – that’s all I got

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-15309357

[David9694]

Pretty sure I read an

Pretty sure I read an interview with the couple on whom the Joy of Sex illustrations were based. 
 

sorry – that’s all I got

[brooksby]

Not sure, but you should see

Not sure, but you should see the lugs on his space station 😀

[David9694]

GP 5000  – consumer test – I

GP 5000  – consumer test – I’ve been tyre shopping 

Evans: £60 each (size, 23, only confirmed at checkout – £5 delivery disappears if you buy two) 

Probikeit: £78 for a pair, free delivery – pretty fast, from past experience

PS In the end, I ordered something else from Mantel – that was Thursday and it’s being delivered today, Tuesday; cheaper, even with £10 delivery. I hope there isn’t a nasty shock waiting for me with some unseen customs surcharge. 

[David9694]

will he introduce me to two

will he introduce me to two blonde beauties who then randomly disappear off?

[David9694]

If a big dog has got you on

If a big dog has got you on the floor, then that’s the advice. 

[David9694]

It’s important to be able to

It’s important to be able to tell your Argos from your Ellis Briggs. 

[chrisonabike]

But enough about Dr. Alex

But enough about Dr. Alex Comfort…

[mark1a]

janusz0 wrote:

…  (Before it was bought and run into the ground by bankers.)

FTFY ? 

[janusz0]

Ah, F W Evans.  Youth of

Ah, F W Evans.  Youth of today probably won’t believe that it was once a real bicycle shop!   (Before it was bought and run by bankers.)

[janusz0]

Surely the advice was to put

Surely the advice was to put your hand (fist in Richard’s vocabulary) down the dog’s throat to asphyxiate it?

[janusz0]

When he’d wrecked his knees

When he’d wrecked his knees he did have the grace to admit that he’d been wrong to advise  riding hard in big gears.

[Rendel Harris]

David9694 wrote:

Cover bike is decal-ed as an F W Evans – do you mean Mercian built for them?

No, I mean I’ve got old eyes and haven’t got my specs on!

[Author]

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