The second stage of the Tour of Britain on 7th September will be a circle from Clitheroe to Colne.

Excuse me for obeying the law. Maybe the law makers have looked at the law and decided it's working perfectly fine? If there's enough pedestrians in the road though it works, as can be seen after every home game on Livesey Branch Road. Also if I walk in the road and you come along and knock me down, whilst it won't be good for me, it won't be great for you either.

What do you mean by getting under the feet Al? It sounds like you just want to do what you want, no matter whether it's legal or not. Is that how you act in other circumstances as well? As far as I'm aware anyone has a right to be on a public highway unless specifically excluded (e.g. motorways). Further to that pedestrians have priority, followed by horses, then cyclists and then motorised vehicles.

I get the impression that you believe that anything that gets in the way of you driving your car should not be on the road. Cyclists have just as much right to be on the road as car drivers and are considerably less of a hazard.

I can see the attraction of a few days riding out by yourself too. Most of the riding I do at home is by myself rather than on club rides. But it is nice to be out and about in the Tramantuna mountains with lots of other cyclists and very few cars, even if most of them are passing me.

I don't think going midweek makes a huge difference at this time of year in Mallorca Paul. I'm told there are 30-40,000 cyclists arriving every week about now, so they're coming all through the week. Don't go if you like to ride by yourself!

That may well be true - my experience is only really in Mallorca. I was at Toulouse airport a few years ago the day before the etape du tour. We had flown KLM via Amsterdam and they had left our bags there (I didn't have a bike). Whilst in the office reporting the loss a stream of cyclists came in looking for their bikes including a group from Canada. Their bikes would not be there for 24 hours which rather defeated the object of bringing them for the etape - imagine how they felt. Certainly there is no advantage at Palma airport in having a bike box, especially at this time of year as there are so many coming in. The last time I was with Alex waiting for his bike we waited for ages at the point where they usually come out, only to find it later by itself by a completely different belt

I always hire. It usually costs £50 to take a bike on the plane plus the cost of whatever you put it in, plus the hassle of taking it apart and putting it back together twice, plus the risk of it missing the plane, plus having to only take hand luggage or pay for another bag as well. Against that i can hire a decent quality road bike for 70-100 euros a week. Having said that my son usually takes his, although he has a good box to transport it in - Christmas present from his parents!

It's been a gorgeous day for a ride today. Had a little pedal up to Garstang to have a look at how our new boat boat is coming along. Off to Mallorca a week on Friday for 2 weeks with plenty of cycling included.

Just back from a wonderful week's cycling in Mallorca. 350km and 5,500 metres of climbing, trying to keep up with my son and his mates. Mind you they have trouble keeping up with me on the descents.

They also have the Fenwick Arms at Claughton near Lancaster and now the Farmers Arms in Great Eccleston.

I've ridden quite a few times in London now and the numbers of cyclists just keeps growing and growing at the moment. Like motorists, the vast majority ride perfectly sensibly but there will always be the odd one who does stupid things like habitually jumping lights. They're the cycling equivalent of the Audi/BMW drivers. It's not really every Audi or BMW who does stupid things it just seems like that at times.

I've had double sided pedals ever since I got the Hewitt and had mountain bike shoes on which I can use clipless but I have still not got round to trying them out in three years. I don't think I ride fast enough for the extra benefit to be worth the pain of learning to use them (and for me of putting the necessary on my shoes!).

He's on at the Lowry the night after. I was going to go there but maybe I'll get to Chorley instead. edit: Just realised I'm in London on 15th as my birthday present was tickets to the reopening event at the Olympic Velodrome on the Friday night.

I thought you had been to somewhere called Anson in Bolton at first!

And in fairness whilst we had good wine we didn't have a lot of it.

Well I'd be interested in your recommendations for something as good for what we paid - about £40 a head for three courses with good wine and coffee.

Went to the Freemasons Arms at Wiswell last night for my birthday and for the first time. We had a quite outstanding three course meal. Everything was good but the pick was a duck egg custard tart for pudding which reminded me hw good a custard tart can be when done with care. Not cheap (£220 for 6) but worth every penny.

Duk and Pond is just Pond now, on Cross Street. Heathcotes is the best, but at this time of the year not cheap and not the place for a night out with the lads. The Olive Press downstairs at Heathcotes could be good. The Continental in Avenham is excellent but for food and beer and also live music if you get the right night, but it;s a bit out of the centre. For chinese Tang on Fylde Road is the best but again a bit out of town.

If being reduced to tears by a performance is odd then count me as well - I was by Kate Tempest at Glastonbury this year. Or is it OK if you're 60?

We went to Heathcotes last night for the first time in a while. Got home from the game at 6 soaked to the skin and debated what to do about food before the cinema. The wife suggested Heathcotes for the early bird and with a quick change of clothes just made it for the 6.30 cut-off. The food was it's usual reliable quality and with early bird prices was good value too - £15.50 for 3 excellent courses. I can't remember ever having a bad meal there over the years. As for Indians, we can never get beyond the Sangam in Lostock Hall. Doesn't look like it should be as good as it is, perched above the shops at Tardy Gate but it's never less than excellent. I find the fish deshi to be particularly outstanding.

Sparky -if Decathlon are 10% cheaper online and you're happy with doing whatever assembly will be needed then I'd take your lad down to the shop and have a look at what they've got and then come back and order it online if it's OK. SAS - any good local bike shop (and it sounds from Paul's experience that Ewood Bikes is) should be able to fit you out for £1,000. They should be fully conversant with the Bike to Work scheme and should talk you through the paperwork you need to do. And bike manufacturers are well aware of the attraction to their customers of the scheme so all produce bikes to fit into the £1,000 maximum. Remember also that you can get accessories and clothing under the scheme as well so can get yourself fully kitted out with a slightly cheaper bike and all the bells and whistles for £1K or blow it all on the bike in the scheme and get anything else you need on top

BTwin is Decathlon's in-house brand. The range as a whole is known for excellence for the price. I would normally suggest that £300 is too little to get a decent bike. With bikes the general rule is that the better the bike the more enjoyable will be the riding and the more likely you are to ride it. A big heavy cheap bike can be hard work to ride and can put you off before you've properly started. But if you're looking for a bike for a 15 year old, who will no doubt grow out of it in a few years, and more importantly if £300 is what you've got, then the Triban 3 would be an excellent choice. If you google Triban 3 you'll find some reviews including a 4.5 star one from Cycling Weekly from last November.

Velominati Rule No 12 -While the minimum number of bikes one should own is three, the correct number is n+1, where n is the number of bikes currently owned. This equation may also be re-written as s-1, where s is the number of bikes owned that would result in separation from your partner.

For SAS and Marky, I have no specific knowledge of the specific types of bike you're looking for, but a couple of general points. I'd avoid Halfords as, whilst their Boardman range had a good name, they usually have very poor sales and maintenance staff. I'd go for a good local bike shop, who will be able to give you good advice, although they will direct you towards whatever they sell, or try Decathlon. They have very keen prices and well respected own brand bikes. You might have to travel a bit though - north west stores are in Bolton, Warrington and Stockport.