Aldi Stores
On the subject of Aldi/Lidl stores - last Thursday I had my first visit to an Aldi store which was selling well priced cycling gear and a weird experience it was too.
I rolled up to the store just north of Glasgow city centre at about 8.50am and as I turned the corner I saw a sort of cyclists gathering . . . a scaled down Tour de France . . . with the drugs taken out and replaced with fags and beer. Cyclists of all shapes and sizes milling around waiting for the manager to open the door.
When he finally did open up, there was a strange sort of "dignified sprinting" (remember when walking was a sporting event??) by everyone towards the cycling gear. Man, they were like piranhas - within 2 minutes (and I mean 2 minutes) the racks with X and XL size jackets were completely bare leaving only one or two Med and some Small - this is fine if you're Jimmy Krankie, or you want to dress up your Barbie in a cycling kit, but for the rest of us, it's not much use. I heard a lady plaintively asking the manager if there were more in the back but he said that was the complete stock.
I did pick up a pair of gloves (a few quid) which never go amiss but that was about it. The moral of the story is to let you, the un-initiated, know that if you think you can saunter along to the Aldi/Lidl stores and pick up a bargain - beware! You need to be there early and ideally get some scrum and sprint training in before you go.
Having said all this, if you've got a spare quid on you, you can always buy about 20 gallons of German packed apple juice/apfelsaft . . .
Rab C