Definitely worth it. I needed a bit of surgery this month and in the time its taken for state care not to even write to me with an appointnent ive had two private appointments, pre anasthetic tests, surgery and 5 days of recovery. I wouldn’t have been able to work till it was done, which I was told could be up to a year waiting.

Best everest book ive read.. into thin air, touching the void, no way down (k2) etc are all good too but nowt on this one.

They are without doubt a side issue and just being used as a political/self promotional tool. What I meant was that if we are going to be forced to wear them shouldnt they be redesigned because as it stands they have very limited use and in certain sutuations more likely to give you a head injury.

Thanks for that link.

Wasnt there a study about helmets increasing rotational forces on the head, or making them more likely? Rotation being the bigger issue rather than impact. Had a dutch guy out last week telling me about some new helmet which allows the outer skin to rotate but the inner stays put.

Maybe helmets in a redesigned form would be better than the toy ones we have now? Protect the head in a wider range of forces and scenarios.

Here you go mate

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrKcKf1Jxvw

Can I still dress like a bike ninja tho?

Fantastic that is… move over cars, we’re on bikes.

Seems most people would step over some one in the street. Let alone up Everest…

example 1

example 2

example 3

Could go on. How many thousands of examples do you want of humans in everyday situations ignoring another human in need? It’s not nothing to do with mountains.

Had the same recently with my grandfather, living in another country I knew when I went over it would be the last time id see him. I just tried to be normal and talked about stuff I know he like to talk about, motorbikes, bikes and the war…. went to get him ice cream, which was the only thing he wanted to eat. When I left I really wanted to make a deal out of it but didnt want to scare him so just hugged him and left.

Be normal if you can.

“Sitting to our left, about two feet from a 10,000 foot drop, was a man. Not dead, not sleeping, but sitting cross legged, in the process of changing his shirt. He had his down suit unzipped to the waist, his arms out of the sleeves, was wearing no hat, no gloves, no sunglasses, had no oxygen mask, regulator, ice axe, oxygen, no sleeping bag, no mattress, no food nor water bottle. ‘I imagine you’re surprised to see me here’, he said.”

Licoln Hall was in a very different state to Sharp… very bizzare.

Good short film via aljazeera

I read once that it takes over 10 “fresh” rescue personell to get an imobile person down from the death zone… in good conditions. I wonder what a coherent dedicated rescue team would take? 50 personell on rotation to the south col in groups of ten in case a rescue is required? How many of those would die just to keep a presence.

When you trawl through all the everest literature it is loaded with successful rescues. Almost always the rescued person is still able to move on thier own; the ones that dont end well almost always involve some one who can no longer move, extreme weather (survival mode) or just too few climbers at the scene or nearby to assist… tired, oxygen deprived, dehydrated, horrendous exposure down the mountain side.

Stories like those of David Sharp make the headlines, but not the background. On his own, no sherpa support past base camp, no radio, noone really knowing where or who he was. Not surprising it turned out the way it did.

One of the best Everest books is “into the silence” by wade davis. Takes you on a trip from the first sightings of everest to mallory’s last climb, via the trenches of ww1.

After going under the surgeons knife yesterday, getting out of bed was an achievement today… a painful and slightly dizzy one. 😯

Rah rah rah raaah…

Anything else?

Rah rah rahbraaaah

Anything else?

Rah rah rah

Anything else?

Er… no.

1x would suit most people for ride up bomb down style. These days I climb much faster not having a granny ring, cadence same as it ever was.

XC you might want a double.

Cheap old road frame? LUXURY!

I ride 400 miles to work every morning on a brick.

No issues on a recent order to Spain.

Can anyone define who/what god is supposed to be?

Solar is the future. Solar road surfaces would be a good innovation, solar roof tiles, solar paving slabs and so on. That and lower power consumption generally by the population.

Its a flawed argument because what ever bike you ride if you ride to the limit of your ability it takes the same amount of skill.

I have music on VERY loud… bit of old school or d&b takes the monotony away.

The thing is to keep the sessions short but intensive, you’re not supposed to be duplicating a normal ride. Never more than an hour, usually 30 to 45 min.

Aah tubeless valves…. when they arent stuck they’re bloody leaking 😉

Youll just end up splitting/pinching the tubeless tire or unseating it instead, tubeless is too fragile a system for square or sharp rock fests. I reckon your current tires are too fragile and/or small. Big downhill tires, DH inner tubes (at the back at least) plus green slime and the right pressure is the way to go for rocky descending.

Loads of solar farms here in Spain. They are less intrusive than windfarms, even the larger ones.

Decathlon do a descent magnetic one for about a hundred notes, doesnt include the block for the front wheel tho which was about another 20.

I once used my fist to get windows XP unfrozen.

Work round from the valve and miss out every other spoke, thus tensioning one side first and then move onto the other. Quarter turn on each spoke at a time.

A road bike.

ITO mountain biking, getting descent brakes.

Dry as a bone here… its only rained twice since April. 😆

Have a look at us All Mountain[/url]

We are out of town so if your o/h want to chill it will be fine, if they want to be in a town it might not suit. Our villa is a very high standard and a good place to be.

The singletrack is the best around. in the press[/url]

Nothing. Car drivers just dont care about bikes… in the uk anyway. I got pulled out on once in similar fasion, after I caught up with the driver and asked did they see me she replied “oh yeah I saw you, i just went anyway” 😐

Any day now. Pushed the button on a ribble GFondo a week or so ago. Awaiting dispatch. If trek bring out a nice 650b remedy ill have one of those too.

So everthing should just be branded “Mountain bike” with no clue as to whether its for XC, AM/E, DH?

Interesting, I can see how that would work. 😆

Thanks for the suggestions so far.

No 26″ Fox forks after 2014,

And that affects the availability of 26er tires how?

So even if I want a new set of forks, will my 26ers not fit into 650 or 9er fox forks?

Samsung note, tabbed browser and multi tasking all the way .

When my dad was killed it was worth it. Couldn’t bring him back but made a big difference to a non working (at the time) mum left behind with 2 small kids.

Youre probably right mike… as I said previously, only thing my lappy gets used for these days is go pro footage.