Cycling UK Forum

Oh and it's not just about carbs, apparently some people's bodies struggle to digest fat, who knew that the digestive system of some is slow clearing fats!

I've just done the Zoe plan, I've been veggie/vegan almost all my life and didn't think I needed anything like Zoe as a lifelong cyclist/gym goer/swimmer/you name it, I've done it. Then out of the blue, I was told by the GP that I was prediabetic.

I have learned a hell of a lot in the last couple of months. It isn't just the Mediterranean diet though it's like it. It's an entire new way of thinking about how your body handles food (carbs, fat, fibre and protein), even NHS dieticians support it, I'm told. Yes, it does cost but it's based on research and science, why do people always want something for nothing?

You get to wear a glucose sensor for two weeks, I knew carbs put weight on my middle but I was shocked seeing the spikes every time I ate carbs and constant glucose spikes are a sign that your body isn't sensitive to insulin anymore and ultimately, ignoring what's happening can lead to diabetes type 2 and a failing pancreas. You get a lot of help with learning how to smooth out those spikes and the dips that follow, this comes from coaches and from a large number of support groups all set up in an easily accessible app.

I now recommend it to everyone, I've lost weight, my waist and hip measurement has shrunk and I've got loads of energy. Some people always complain, I do my share but Zoe is worth it.

Just following on from my posting below about ETA refusing to pay out cycle insurance because I didn't have a proper receipt but only a frame number and details of the bike (it was a cash purchase). On Saturday, in coordination with Bike Week, there was a police tent in town offering security marking and recording of bicycle details for submission to the Immobilise site. I took my Specialized Sirrus to them and whilst he was deciphering the frame number, I commented to the policeman doing it that the insurance company, ETA, had refused to accept possession of a frame number as proof of ownership, so I wondered what on earth the point was of bothering to record such things anymore.

The faces of the four policemen standing around all registered extreme surprise and they queried whether this could really be true. So I told them it was and also the slightly bizarre story quoted to me by one of the ETA staff, namely that a thief might register a stolen bike and then use the frame number as a means of gaining an insurance payout. Therefore possession of a frame number was not seen as evidence of ownership of the bike. The policemen all laughed and then one of them said, 'oh, well, insurance companies, they all do what they can to avoid paying out for any claims'.

Aside from what seems a petty and mean attitude on the part of ETA who claim to be so 'ethical' and who use this as a selling point to the cycling community, I do wonder about the larger implications of this. I have been a keen cyclist for 40 years and in that time I've seen it become more and more difficult to own a decent bike and dare to leave it anywhere for more than 5 minutes. You now need a lock almost as expensive and as heavy as your bike both to deter thieves and get any insurance cover at all. We are encouraged to record all the make/model details and the frame number of a bike because this still remains a unique identification point for each bike that is manufactured and yet at the end of the day, an insurance company can insinuate that you have somehow made this information up and refuse to pay out because you don't have a formal receipt (which could in itself have been a fraudulently produced item). I don't have any answers but I am in despair as to whether it is worth continuing cycling because if you like cycling then you want a decent bike but what's the point if it just gets stolen and then you have no recourse?

ETA like to describe themselves as ethical but they have just refused to pay up for a stolen bike of mine on rather flimsy grounds I would say.

I have insured bikes with them for three years, the cheapest of the three insured bikes, a Land Rover Akasha, was stolen from my daughter's university premises in Nottingham last week. I bought this bike through a friend who saw it for sale outside of a house near her village in Berkshire. I paid cash for it, £125 and it's been insured for several years with ETA. I put in a claim for its replacment, a mere £169.99 from Bikes2U Direct but ETA have declined to pay because I cannot 'prove' ownership.

I explained the circumstances of the purchase and they asked to see either a bank statement showing the sum of money withdrawn 2 years ago (what an Alice in Wonderland world they live in!) or photos of the bike. As I explained to them, it is not unusual for me to have largeish sums of money on me because I run classes, I did look and there were various small sums withdrawn but no conveniently large withdrawal. The bike has been a workhorse and so no photos of it exist. I did have a frame number and I did have a lock receipt and registration form (not in the end mailed to the lock company) which gave all the details of the bike but this has not been enough for ETA.

As I pointed out to them, if this was a fraudulent claim then I would have claimed for the most expensive bike of the three (£500) not the cheapest. I also asked whether they thought I had made up the frame number and description and put it on the insurance just so I could claim for its loss several years later. They 'sympathised' but refused to process the claim.

I have cancelled the whole insurance with them because quite honestly, what is the point of insuring anything anymore? ETA reckon they are 'ethical', I reckon they are sharks just like all the rest. So people, beware of the small print!