Arrived this morning , some great calendar shots , the bikes and guns article looks good.

Ooh, hopefully mine will be waiting for me at home tonight then 🙂

like wise. This is my first one since getting my P back. Very excited.

Looking forward to it, I was digital only for a while due to being abroad, back to a proper paper mag now, happy days

Nearly finished the latest Arrivee, then need to choose between Cycle and Singletrack….

Struggling to keep up with bike mag reading at the moment. I may need a higher fibre diet to get more peace and quiet

As a tip if you write on the calendar in Biro it carbon copies onto the next month and the one after…

it carbon copies onto the next month and the one after.

My children would have no idea what that meant 🙂

I expect if I asked them what cc and bcc were abbreviations of in emails they’d struggle to explain it…

As a tip if you write on the calendar in Biro it carbon copies onto the next month and the one after…

I thought there were only 8 issues a year .

I’v just reverted to digital, now only £15 a year, result. Although my son won’t be pleased

I was hoping the carbon paper effect would have been cured by now 🙄

Mine popped through the letter box todayu, and in my excitment to get the new calendar out of the package and up on the wall, i gave myself the mother of all paper cuts!

It’s a dangerous lark this mountain biking hobby ain’t it! 😉

(PS, are STW Premier members being specifically targeted for Shimano XTR now? Or did some, less bang-on-trend members get a “lower quality” SLX brochure instead?? )

I got the SLX 10sp 11-40t cassette brochure

The Empire bike in the test….it might be a very nice bike but it does not looks like a £3k bike…truly hideous.

Re. calendar – why are Cube the only sponsor who insisted on putting a giant logo on their photo? Bastards.
Also, has anyone considered there might be a market for a higher-quality calendar without the large ads, with bigger photos such as those which adorn the front covers every month?

I think there might be. I’d buy it. If stw set it up via kickstarter or similar they would reduce the risk associated with it as well.

Kickstart it & have it delayed until some unknown month next year?

I got a an Altus brochure with mine… 😉

and………can anyone tell me where each months photo was taken as that seems to have been omitted on mine. Just a small point I know, but surely good PR for the locations.

Talking of photographs – that’s one hell of a cracking shot on the cover!

A quick flip through last night piqued my interest. I’ll go back and read properly this weekend.

The short River Findhorn article was of interest as my mother lives less than a mile from it. I have to say having run and walked along it a thousand times I don’t think I’ve ever once thought “that’ll be a nice place to take a bike”. It’s just too fiddly – most of it that I know would be large amounts of hike-a-bike for very little return. Maybe I’ll go explore this Christmas.

Riding articles especially – There been a bit of a reinvention of these since the make over, specifically the UK ones, and I can’t decide if I like it or not. There seem to be two formats – the fluffy emotive article devoid of any specific detail like this Findhorn one (no map, no specifics about the best place to start, details of distance etc), and ones with a ‘The Knowledge’ section like the Black mountains one this month with way more detail. I still can’t get my head around why some are deserved of more detail and some are not. Sometimes it’s nice to get a vague idea of an area and hunt out your own route I guess but a few more specifics to help you hunt out what the author was going on about would not go amiss.

Talking of photographs – that’s one hell of a cracking shot on the cover!

Lovely yes. It looks like someone got a bit enthusiastic with the saturation bar to me though.

So, took the new calender into work today.

The carbon paper effect is really bad this year. Even trying to write softly in pencil.

Come on guys, a great looking calender that you can’t really use for writing on? 🙄

[/quote]Also, has anyone considered there might be a market for a higher-quality calendar without the large ads, with bigger photos such as those which adorn the front covers every month?

I would go for that, good idea.

I got an XTR brochure with mine, which proves they’re not profiling subscribers. (Or if they are they’re doing it badly.)

IIRC there was a Singletrack paid-for calendar (bit smaller though) – never really worked. Maybe Kickstarter is the key right enough…

Must read the Findhorn article as the river run is one that I look forward to / scares me witless in equal measure.. It’s not a ride out of the door though – short drive away.

Despite subscribing I got a Shimano catalogue with mine. It was missing the premier card and my joining gift from 5 issues ago. Pretty crap really.

What did Sarah say when you reported your missing gift?

It would be a week or so for the card and waiting on the hip flasks. That was a month ago.

People got hip flasks?

I have no idea.

I got a hip flask, everyone now thinks I’m an alcy!

Thats a point, this is my first issue as a subscriber. When do you get the free gift and card?

More importantly, can I get that picture from the start of the Finhorn for my computer desktop please?

I got a hip flask – you’re not missing anything. Happily the mag is far better quality

Anyone recognise the cover photo location on the calendar?

Swaledale?

Great mag this month, calendar has some amazing pictures. As above, location would be helpful.

EDIT. Also waiting for my hip flask and subs card.

The Findhorm article implied that I would be able to find the route on STRAVA

“Those who have drunk deeply from the goblet of enduro Kool-Aid this
summer might not see the appeal of such a ride: our seats stayed raised for
the most part, and there was barely a descent to be found that was worthy of
becoming a Strava segment (that’s a hint, by the way). “

Am I missing the point?

has anyone found the route on Strava?

Must re-read the Findhorn article as it was more a philosophical “ride to the coast” article than a route guide. Huw has a (different? same?) write-up of a Findhorn ride on his blog. The photos were also in the DBMIS photo completion. I think – http://www.dmbins.com/riders/news/photo-competition-mtbing-in-scotland.

I think the hint was it’s not on Strava, no segments were slain in the making of the trip.. Maybe I’m out of kilter though..

Great issue. Rather touched by one of the teams wish for Christmas.

Anyone recognise the cover photo location on the calendar?

Yup, it’s above Whirlaw which is above Todmorden.