I don’t necessarily like everything he says, but you’ve got to admit that it takes balls to say stuff that’s unpopular! Plus, every now and again he does make some good points.

You could always look at Chepstow or a little further up the Wye valley towards Monmouth. The area is stunning, riding’s good, trail centres aren’t far (including FoD) plus your smack bang between Cardiff and Bristol with easy access to both M4 and M5. Plus the bike shop’s good too! :) What’s not to like??

Just tried the tin foil trick over a pair of socks in my normal shoes with overshoes. My toes have never been so warm from the off. Brilliant – thanks Normal Man!

I live in the mtb desert of far west Wales so if the weather’s good it may be a road ride. If the weather’s tonk then it’ll be on the rollers.

Anyone else using this thread as reassurance that there’s still life in the old (26″) dog yet?! I am.

We need to have a pragmatic debate. Either we are happy for “the state” to monitor more communications to improve the chances of them catching potential terrorists, and it can be argued that unless you have something to hide you have nothing to fear, OR we preserve our freedoms, such as they are, and accept that there is a greater risk of an attack succeeding, in which case, the media and the public and the bereaved need to MTFU and not have a witch hunt to find out why MI5 failed to protect us.

This. What we should not do is expect to be 100% safe, yet bind the hands of those who seek to protect us. That’s just nonsensical. Personally, I couldn’t care less who sees who I’m sending emails to, calling etc etc and I don’t really feel that allowing organisations to see this for the sake of my safety a restriction on my liberties or giving in to those who want to harm us. However, that is just my view and completely accept that others will have a problem with that.

I doubt anyone on here wil post up their name, address, mobile phone number, and place of work for example.

Except allowing the security services to see who you have been sending emails to/calling etc is not the same as releasing this info into the public domain. I think a lot of people are worried that allowing the security services to see this info makes it available to everyone, when it doesn’t.

You’re right in saying that “the real question is how much should we be allowed to hide from the state spying/snooping/protecting us”. Like you, I don’t know the answer either.

Minutes after the 7/7 bombings in London a group of men in traditional muslim garb marched down middle of the road in front of my work cheering and shouting ‘ Allah Ahkbar’ and punching the air. Maybe 10 or 12 of them using their right to free speach and to demonstrate peacefully their veiws.

I would be very surprised if this was not actually illegal. I imagine the police were somewhat otherwise preoccupied at the time though. Well done on the restraint though. Not sure I would have managed that…

Or at least get the security services to start monitoring some of these nutters rather than dicking about in sports cars and speedboats all the time.

They do monitor as much as possible and would go further if they had the resources. It’s be cool if all potential terrorists signed up to a register so that the Int Services knew who to monitor. But they don’t and never will. Unfortunately, a lot of that awareness needs to come from monitoring communications – there simply are not enough people to be out on the ground doing the old fashioned HUMINT side alone. Unfortunately, we the British public seem to have a massive bee in our bonnets about phone calls, emails etc being monitored. If we want to be safer, then we should stop being so protective and subject ourselves to monitoring.

As for the OP pulling someone up on having racist views, well done. They may be his views and yes, he does have to right to hold them but that does not make them any less offensive, ignorant and bigoted. Unless someone tries to put forward alternative point of view then he will continue to hold those views and he helps society polarise even more. Brilliant, lets just welcome UKIP into government. If that happens, I will leave Britain out of embarrassment.

So this is a 26″ frame that can take a 650b? Hmmm, tempting – I’m considering a replacement for my heckler. Good find!

Surfers taking advantage of a winter swell, Pembrokeshire.

Nice. Nose on the HL might be a bit high, though it could just be the photo.

+1 for crate training. Ours was in a crate every night for the first year and she quick got used to it. Our trainer told us that dogs instinctively do not want to mess their sleeping area so will hold on until they are away from it I.e outside. Pepper’s right though – they have a disproportionate amount of wee and poo inside them, especially if they are fed crappy food which contains lots of grain – they go in as bulk and come right back out again! You’ve just got to keep taking them outside.

I bloody love threads like this! I’m after a nice gin for my dad’s Christmas present and have taken note of the recommendations.

Sunnrider – where’s the spanish gin bar? San Sebastian? It looks awesome!

Fight fight fight!!

I’ve not ridden a Trance so can’t help with the comparison short of saying that it’s a reasonable climber – little bob and as long as you apply the slow and steady technique it can dig traction out of the most technical climbs: i’m frequently surprised at what I’ve managed to get up and can out climb my mates on Fuels and a Spicy. On the downs though my Heckler’s really fun and reminds me of riding a BMX. As for the speed, it’s absolutely fast enough for me!!

I’ve got a 2010 Heckler (26″ wheels). 150mm on each end built up to just around 30lb. I’ve used it all around the UK, at numerous trail centres and even done the Welsh c-2-c on it. I got one because I always wanted one which was justification enough. Yes, the design is getting a bit long in the tooth but I don’t care. It will not break much much I abuse it, it is light enough to go up hill without killing me, and robust enough to get me into a lot of trouble very quickly going down. As for the 2nd most hated bike ever comment…whatever! It’s simple, it works and I can keep up with most. Job done. Buy one, I’m yet to meet anyone who doesn’t like it.

That said, be aware that the old style was short in the top tube though I think the new version has addressed that.

Have a look at this: http://great-rock.co.uk/santa-cruz-heckler-1st-week/

Maybe an AWACS paired with 2 fast jets in the area. Good spot.

Is it just me or does anyone else think that it looks like the UK getting hit with a load of american gentleman’s relish at the start?!

Innuendo aside, a very interesting film!

Ah that’s annoying! I had the 44mm Field Automatic. never wore it swimming, not even in the shower yet all three developed condensation within 2 weeks. If I thought the sealing wasn’t going to be an issue, I’d def get another one. Shame… Anyway, thread hijack over.

winston – Member
resale value-perhaps
Quality? My £300 Hamilton automatic is more accurate than my £5k Rolex

What Hammy have you got? I went through 3 Khaki field automatics before giving up on their alleged water resistant to 100m claim – it couldn’t handle the real world without developing condensation on the inside of the glass. A beautiful watch but useless.

I recently went to a friend’s wedding where they had asked a friend who did a LOT of photography to be their photographer. As he was so inexperienced in taking wedding photos, he didn’t have the character to start marshalling the family and friends needed for all the photos, or getting the composition of the photo correct (ushers and bridesmaids balanced, stood in similar poses). As a result, the whole process took frickin’ ages, annoyed a lot of people and finished with a lot of unbalanced & mediocre photos.

As a back up, the bride had asked a few of us who had a bit of experience in photography to take some as well. If I was the official photographer, I’d have run a mile. As it was, knowing that there was no pressure meant it was really relaxed and fun, and resulted in loads of great photos from all of us. That said, we all had SLRs and range of lenses. Plus the weather, light and locations were great so didn’t demand a great deal of skill to get good shots.

If they don’t want to pay for a photographer, maybe suggest approaching a local arts college to see if there are any trainee photographers who could do with the experience for a nominal fee?

My dog, running free on the beach for the first time since we got her a year ago…her recall is atrocious and she gets very easily distracted so the chance to run her on a beach with no other dogs, people or seagulls was awesome!!

I’m another one with loads of baby gates but no kids. I even have them on my office door at work, meaning that anyone coming in as well as me going out has to vault it – Molly has worked out how to open it unless I lock it down. Annoyingly clever little mutt…

This is Molly/Molski/Moll. She’s a springer/collie/terrier mix (I think) and as a rescue we have no idea when her birthday is; so we celebrated her ‘gotcha’ date instead with a sausage. I wasn’t sure about getting her but now wouldn’t want it any other way, she’s awesome :)

Oh yeah, does anyone else struggle to see red laser pointers? I can spot them if they are still, but move them around like when being used in a presentation and I’m lost. What’s more of an issue is when they are used as red dot laser sights on rifles…

Oh yeah, red meat. It starts really red when raw but I can watch it turn grey before my eyes. Thankfully it doesn’t have to be cooked that thoroughly otherwise I would have died of food poisoning years ago!

I got engaged this summer (“WOOHOO!!!”) and we’re in the midst of planning our wedding. My fiancee is now getting her knickers in a twist about colour schemes for the wedding, desperately trying to work out a colour scheme that I looks nice, has a bit of variety and is vibrant enough for me to see.

As for problems, I got into quite a lot of trouble a few years ago when my missus asked if I liked her new cardigan. I replied, yeah, grey was ind of neutral colour to go with anything. “Grey? You think this is grey?” She then got out all of her “grey clothes” to check. Turns out, her favourite colour was baby pink. I had no idea.

Pastel colours are my nemesis.

…reduce the impact of the billions of people who live in this crowded isle.

My bad: that was meant to say ‘millions’ not ‘billions’.

@Alpha1653 Becoming Rambo is looking quite enticing now….and in all seriousness, holy shit do those Bowie Knives look badass as ****. But like too many people have said, they’re more bad than they are good, more trouble than they are practical. No. No I am not going to forget about the Survival stuff. If you want to discourage me, you’re going to have to try harder (please don’t lol). No, how can I not learn how to live independently? I mean, it’s like a basic life skill. It’s learning to live, on your own, independent from any impermanent things that won’t always be there. Well they probably will, until you know, we kill mother earth, but that’s another story lol. The point is, I don’t want to be some sheltered nitwit who doesn’t know how to live life the way it was meant to be lived. I know I get too much into things sometimes, I just think it’s only fair that I explain myself

Knock yourself out, big lad. I’m not trying to discourage you from getting out, understanding and enjoying the countryside; far from it, I actively encourage that. Why not learn to hunt and fish? And by hunting I mean, having someone teach you how to shoot using a good air rifle w/ optical sight and, very importantly, use it humanely; and fishing, try fly fishing – to actually catch anything regularly, you will really need to understand the environment and understand what’s happening under the surface. If you get someone to teach you properly, the process is far more productive than jut trying to make it up as you go along plus you’re more likely to stay on the right side of the law.

I understand what you say about “owning animals” but just remember that very little of our countryside is properly wild and much of it requires careful management – take the river Wye for example and its salmon stocks. Management requires money and if every man and his dog started poaching then it would undermine the efforts of those who try to maintain it and reduce the impact of the billions of people who live in this crowded isle. Maybe agricultural college or a career in countryside management beckons – my cousin who works in this area knows unbelievable amounts of things that the normal ‘sheltered nitwit’ would never have a clue about.

Kuruki? Khukri? Yep, might have been.

And yes, throwing axes is a BAD idea.

I used to carry a 12 inch knife and it most definitely would have got me arrested had I not been allowed to do so. But it wasn’t for hunting or running around the countryside pretending to be Rambo. Go out, have an adventure but forget about the survival stuff. Having been trained in it, it takes ages to be even slightly good at it and even then, it sucks big style.

97 Cindercone running Fox Floats reduced to 100mm or Exotic carbon forks, mimicking a 100mm fork. That’s with a 90mm stem on too. (image has a 110mm stem on it which was far to long).

Why not fit it with the 100mm fork and see how it rides and if it’s too lazy then drop to 80mm?

Mine still handles blisteringly quickly and is great fun to ride – rode the Welsh C2C on it last year. Tith a 90mm stem on too. (image has a 110mm stem on it which was far to long).

Take the plunge. Leaving what you know for something you don’t is scary as hell – I went from banking to the Army but I’ve not looked back. The daily grind of a job you don’t enjoy will eventually, if it’s not already, have an effect on your home life – it’s a cliche but you work for 8 hours a day; life’s too to spend half your working hours bored.

And remember that despite what you may think, you’ve racked up some great experience in the Civil Service already. Compliment it with a few years of commercial experience and you’ve got an even stronger CV which will help in the long run. Good luck!

£300??? Bargaintastic!

I had a similar option about 6 years ago. I deliberated like you because the change actually scared me, the leap into the unknown so to speak. My advice would be to go for the job that is most satisfying and rewarding.
The job I left had a great work/life balance to the point where I would start and finish at the exact time every day, no weekends etc. However, the work was so intensely dull that it started to infect the ‘life’ bit of that balance. The new job demanded a huge amount of my time but it was so satisfying and rewarding that my life outside of work was enjoyed with a whole new sense of vigour and purpose.

By the sounds of it with your spreadsheets and everything you’re looking at this very objectively. Flip it on its head: what does your instinct tell you? Imagine yourself in 5 years – what do you see yourself doing?

:D

…just be vigilante…

I don’t think I can think of a more apt spelling mistake, especially given that’s exactly how I’d be if someone tried to nick my bikes!! :D

Errrr…am I missing something? It wasn’t dubbed, it was a translator translating what was being said in spanish. And I’m pretty sure it was a spaniard translating to english, not someone taking the piss! It’s very hard for spaniards to loose their accent when speaking english and a lot of them sound like that!

Widge: that begs the question – what’s going to happen to your bike between now and Sunday?!

Rigid it is then – look out for a worried bloke wearing a 559 Bikes jersey and riding a blue retro Kona… :)