fiftyish and smoking cyclists.

[Mandy]

Hi Mandy

Thats as good a plan as I`ve heard by your dad there,go for it. I used to eat fags and didn`t think that I would ever give up,but hey ho I`m nearly there.

My latest bike is an M6R Brompton.Although not an electric bike (YET) I may convert to the Nano a bit later on if I get to much trouble from two worn out knee`s and a manky hip.Only had the one ride so far and didn`t get any joint probs,but it was a fairly easy ride to be fair.
I really bought it for my motorhome so`s we can get about whilst on site,and they fit the bill perfectly.

Good luck with the quiting (it is hard) and let us know how you get on.

steve

Hi Steve
Well I am building up to the packing up so we will see
Going electric will sure help your knees and your hip.
It helps my back especially on a bad day.
Let us know how you go if you convert your Brompton, I am sure you will love it!
All the best
Mandy

 

[bunbury]

"It's good for you"

To force yourself to do things that are "good for you" such as not smoking or drinking or keeping fit is an excellent way to increase stress and that's not good!! Do what makes you feel good not what other people say is "good for you".

I had a nanny way back just after the war and she probably had a lot with forming that attitude. "Eat your greens, the're gfu". "Drink your orange juice, gfu". "Take your cod liver oil, gfu" etc

Just over 2 years ago I broke my ankle very seriously and spent 10 days in hospital. Also they diagnosed me as diabetic - I stopped smoking and drinking without giving it a thought - just stopped, no cravings. I didn't feel the need to sneak out for a crafty drag like some of the patients did. So some sort of trauma is a good incentive - like having a heart attack.

I still don't drink, and didn't smoke for about a year until they said I had to start sticking needles in myself.

I used to go to the pub regularly although I'd stopped smoking and drinking, just a nice place to have a bit of socializing. I haven't been in a pub since the smoking ban, not really because being bolshie, but I can't take the smell of air freshener - most of them make me sneeze and wheeze !!
Here endeth the rant.
Tim

 

[ElephantsGerald]

Hi Mandy!Don´t you find that the W. 905, when on flats, in some way, makes you pedal faster than neccessary forcing you to brake or stop pedalling? It´s like motor and pedalling had nothing to do with each other?
Doesn´t the motor stall or stop on long and moderately steep hills?
Is the battery indicator reliable?
Did the bike come with a user´s guide?
What has been your maximum range and in what circunstances?
No humor in this mail, sorry. Haven´t lost it, though. But right now ïm obssessed with the pursuit of a new bike! I know your reputation as a W. 905 advocate (and the trouble that has caused you ja ja) but I am sure that you must have some complaints with your bike, so spill the beans!
Kind regards.

Hi Poppy,

We seem to be leaving the topic of smoking here, but in response to the questions you put to Mandy...

I have a new Wisper 905SE, which I believe is slightly different from the version Mandy got from Germany. I think Mandy's bike has 3 buttons (On/Off, Restricted/De-Restricted and Throttle On/Throttle Off). My bike has only 2 buttons (On/Off and Restricted/De-Restricted) - the throttle is always enabled, but you don't have to use it. Apart from that I think our bikes are basically the same.

I can't really say how the bike behaves without pedalling, because I always pedal. Every now and then I try not pedalling (just to see what its like), but the slower speed just annoys me and I start pedalling again almost immediately!

Also, I never use the throttle, I just pedal in pedalec mode.

So, on the flat, I find it impossible to go slowly (i.e. less than 10mph); the moment you start pedalling, the pedelec sensor notices and starts the motor, which instantly accelerates to 12mph or more - theres no way (that I've found) to idle along at lower speeds without continually braking. If I want to go slowly on the flat I switch the motor off completely and just use human pedal-power.

I have lots of hills on the way to work (32 mile round trip, 2 x 15% short hills on the way there, 2 long steep ones on the way back, constant ups and downs the rest of the way). I do this on a single charge, and the bike has never cut-out going up hill on this trip. Having said that, I'm not sure the trip would be possible if I wasn't pedalling all the time. The bike has Shimano megarange gears (14-34T), and I find the big 34 tooth low gear is absolutely brilliant for getting me up the nasty hills (although my legs are spinning round and round like crazy in this gear!).

I have got the bike to the point of cut-out by doing my normal 32 mile trip, followed by a 9 mile trip in the evening. The bike started cutting out going up hill after about 39 miles, but was still assisting on the flat.

The battery indicator is 3 lights (green, amber and red). Mine seems to stay completely green for 8 miles or so, amber with flickers of green for another 8, then red for 16+ miles.

The bike came with absolutely no instructions whatsoever, and I did a lot of headscratching over how to attach the rack and the suspension seat-post. Having said that, Dave and Doug at Wisper Bikes have been extremely helpful and have sorted out my problems straight away, the problems being missing mud-guards, missing battery lock and a broken speedo (which I broke incidently).

Apart from that, I'm really enjoying the bike and I'm really enjoying commuting in the open air (apart from the pollen ).

Theres no substitute for trying one yourself, but I guess it may be diffucult for you to find one in Spain.

Back on the subject of smoking, heres a couple of thoughts:
1) Having smoked, you can never be a non-smoker, you can only be an ex-smoker - its not the same.
2) Nobody is making you smoke, you always have a choice. Giving up is all about free will and consciously exercising that choice.

Regards,

Elephants

 

[california]

Hello, Poppy:
In answer to your question my bike is an Ezee Sprint 7 which I've had for a few months now and am quite pleased with it; with changes to the saddle and pedals (they were dreadful), it's nearly perfect for the 10-mile round-trip commute I do daily, over varied terrain.
As to the translating, other than some business documents I did for a shipping company, I'm an amateur. I am trying to change my status in this regard as I really love translating literary fiction, and fancy I am quite good at it. My test readers seem to concur. I have 6 or 8 novels completed at this point and would like to retire from being an institutional photographer in favor of writing and translating fullish time.
I wouldn't worry much about slipping between UK and US English. The two really are mutually intelligible and IMO entirely too much is made of the differences (most amusingly by Churchill). If you can understand most forms of new-world Spanish then in the same way people aren't likely to have trouble with your mixed English. In translating I lean toward sort of all-purpose, mid-Atlantic forms of English expression. It gets more UK-sounding when I'm working on European Spanish, more American when translating Latin American Spanish.
Otherwise most readers and educated speakers are familiar with most of the differences and take them in stride; e.g. in vocabulary (lorry=truck, etc.), or in spelling (color/colour). Nowadays, with so much media and so much migration and travel, we are even familiar with many of the slang and colloquial expressions of our "cousins"; things we might not have known 20 or 30 years ago.

 

[flecc]

Back on the subject of smoking, heres a couple of thoughts:
1) Having smoked, you can never be a non-smoker, you can only be an ex-smoker - its not the same.

I slightly differ from you here and in your previous remarks on this. It was also true of me for around a decade after stopping and I could easily have smoked again. However, not much longer after that I started to find the smell of smoke etc extremely unpleasant and since then and to date I could never attempt to smoke again, my reactions to the smoke, smells etc being exactly like those of non-smokers, one of some revulsion.

This may demonstrate just how long it takes to entirely clear the legacy of years of smoking, and with time you may find the same.
.