TooTall – Member

Trail centres breeding a lax approach to self-reliance so emergency services must work harder to compensate for individual shortcomings. Discuss.

The maps for Afan include identified 'ambulance pick up points'.

jond – Member
>Advance Driving UK ?

Tho' having just spotted a 'should cyclists have insurance?' thread over there (tho' I have now, as a ctc member) I'm tempted to register and put my tuppenyworth in

Yeah, Advanced Drivers are generally more enlightened but not always. Did you see my "old ladies with shopping trolleys should have insurance" . response?? 8)

There is indeed another JonD out there, ADI, IAM observer, Lotus driving, cycling instructor..

The IAM book is a good read, like I said, a slimmed down more accessible Cyclecraft.

Aye, just folow the river, there is a bit of a nadgery stone wall chicane round the back of the Dolphin INN, but other than that it's plain sailing.

Just for info that disappeared a couple of years back. Sledgehammer and pick axe one night 8)

Linky for Will and Johnny's new shop – just off the riverside path and opposite great cafe in Chelsea Road and well worth a visit

Home

slightly relevant hi-jack/

jond, just clicked who you might be.. you on ADUK perchance?

Apparently we've sold 500 IAM Cycling books so far, I was a cynic I'll admit but it looks like it might end up being a more 'accessible' version of Cyclecraft then that's a good thing

Gave my 50th a few months back 😀

Not all ticks carry Lyme disease

Study by the University of Bath found it was 10%

By strange co-incidence had a email from our (very helpful) local ROW officer yesterday about a bog we've been in correspondence about*. No matter what the legal requirements:

"The condition of the bridleway has been highlighted but we are back into the same old problem – money !!"

And with the budget cuts coming "Things Can Only Get Better Worse"

*Interesting issue in itself (separate thread perhaps?). The commercial Wellow Trekking Centre, large groups using trails all year round whatever their condition, causing damage including here but doing nothing to maintain the trails they use..

http://www.wellowtrekking.com/horseriding/horseriding.html

Mr Woppit – Member
"Checking myself for ticks…"

Surely, if one of these little bar stewards sunk it's rotatory fangs in, you'd know about it?

You'd be surprised, not always painful and as already said they've a tendency to crawl to place you might not immediately notice them! 😯

Personally I'd never spend half an hour on a Sunday afternoon trimming back the gorse and hawthorn on a lovely flowing section of hidden singletrack.

Oh no, not me. Move along now, nothing to see here.

Nor here. That rumour about a team of three of us heading out in Dave's van with petrol strimmers, a pruning saw, trench spade and bill hook to sort out one particularly fave trail that had become inpenetrable. Completely false. 😀

Although I'd try your local Council Rights of Way Team first and get them to badger the landowner..

Only a BB gun,

One is a BB gun, the other a Glock 17 9mm. Can you tell which is which?

Especialy if it was pointed at you?

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE DO NOT USE ANYTHING OTHER THAN TWEEZERS OR BETTER STILL A REMOVAL TOOL – YES I'M SHOUTING!

Lymes disease is a nasty debilating potentially lifelong illness. A study by the University of Bath found 10% of ticks in the area carry it. Removal them quickly and properly and you stand a much better chance of avoiding it.

http://www.lymediseaseaction.org.uk/ticks.htm

Drac – Member
Hahaha! I missed last weeks and now the video is gone.

He said he'd reported it to police so I'm guessing he's been advised to remove it whilst action is pending.

Basically a van pulled out on him from a junction on left, causing him to brake.

He thumped on the back of it. Driver who reacted by shouting back, slowing, attempting to force him into the kerb and then throws a plastic bottle at him..

Not that old, road bikes seem to age quicker than MTBs these days.

That's a 63cm btw and I'm 6'6

Also have an old steel Concorde which has been fixie'd

Just spotted this, thread of the week.. or at least it would be if the video were included 😀

Think I spotted her in Brick Lane the other day:

Just the one, many years ago.Another woman pulling out of junction on the left for me.I swear I got eye contact but she must have been looking right through me.

Went through her window, made a real mess of the car and me.

singletrackmind – Member

Doesnt make it OK , but if he is a tradesman on business time is money.

That's BS! A**holes like that never let anyone out themselves, squeeze in, drive like bullies.. all to get to the next red traffic light / queue a bit quicker.

..never mind 18 months, how about 18 years..

My first true love, we were both 19. Yeah, call it 'lust' 'puppy love' but it was so intense. We were both so into each other. All over after one silly falling out.

Didn't end badly but she went off to Uni, I moved to London, we never lost touch so much as I guess thought it would never be the same, just moved on. I often wondered what happened to her, heard snippets, but at same time it was a kind of unspoken question that never got raised with mutual friends

18 years later I walked into a doctors surgery in another totally unrelated city and there she was.

Her smile, that sparkle, just the same. One of those rare occasions when I was pleased the doctor was running late. We chatted, laughed. She was happy, married, two boys. I was happy, married, two girls, almost the same ages. She was just as I remembered her, all the good times came flooding back.

The tannoy called my name. There was an uneasy silence. "Really good to see you" she said. "You too". We both knew exchanging numbers was not a good idea. One last smile and she was gone.

That was 7 years ago. I occasionally wondered when the next time might be.

Does sound like a kn0b. Did you cross-up, do any no handed stylee stuff?? Was the bunny hop 4ft high????

Obi_Twa – Member
Complain to his boss.

Agree 😉 Did you get his shoulder number? He was a PC presumably? From local nick?

Give his Inspector a call and explain calmly. I'm sure he'll have a 'quiet word'

Obi_Twa – Member
Incredibly poor roadcraft from the cyclist. Some of the worst I've seen. Another thing – if you go out looking for trouble like he obviously was then you are certain to find it

The van driver would have been looking for cars and large vehicles, the cyclist should have know this and expected the van to pull out in front. Anything that happened after it did is 50:50 and the cyclist has a deathwish

Eh? I can't believe you criticise the actions of the cyclist first over the moron driving the van.

He was making good progress, positioned well, in clear view of the junction, he anticipated that the van driver could be a complete moron and pull out and was able to stop.

WTF about the van drivers Roadcraft!!!??

Especially given his reaction, van driver clearly saw him and decided it was ok to pull out forcing the cyclist to brake to avoid a collision.

Cyclists (over)reaction not the cleverest but understandable given the circumstances.

So what would you have done in the same situation? Slowed and let him force his way out presumably? Given him a cheery wave 😉

Interesting.. Ten years ago I used to fall off regularly due to pushing limites, speed and technically. Used to say "if you don't fall off you're not going fast enough".

Broke numerous bones, disloc shoulder, facial injuries (not bad but looked it) at my sisters wedding was a particularly memorable injury. I'm in one wedding photo hiding at the back. The whole family will never let me live it down 8)

Now 42 with kids and 'responsible' job.. have conciously and unconciously done some 'risk assessing'* and toned it down, been ages since I fell off properly and did myself a serious injury (touch wood).

Do I have any less fun? Course not 🙂

*Some of the mates I ride with will no doubt claim 'he's always been a wuss' 😳

You mean NCN4 – it follows the K&A Towpath most of the way to Reading (87 miles from) but with the odd divert off on quiet local roads.

http://www.sustrans.org.uk

Bought a cabinet at an auction many years ago that was crammed full of them. Almost all mint.

Sifting through them I found one by Elvis, on Sun Records.

Sold it to a dealer for $400 8)

Beatles and other 'collectible' also worth good money. 'Waltz' and classical likely to not be worth carting to the tip!

http://www.musicpriceguide.com/

Trenchard St has attendants and CCTV and they've recently tarted up the lifts.

Access is great since they opened the fantastic new foyer last year.

Acoustics are great. I've seen probably over a hundred bands there over the years from Orbital to classical.

Traditional seated, tiered venue though, and the management can get excited about not standing / dancing in the aisles / photography etc.

They sometime take the first block of seats out which can help.

Not MOD either, we've been trying without success. Apparently it's the Treasury's fault. Most Civil Service Departments offer advances of salary to cover bike purchase and the Treasury won't let us have both.

First band I played in was called 'Rancid Badger' due to drummers other 'collecting and stuffing' hobby

Raleigh Grifter for me. Then later a Jeep. Used to ride the same trails we're riding today. One of the hot summers (77?) they came to lay a gas pipeline near across the fields – we used to ride it for miles

A giant Giant

As said above, most versatile bike in the stable, get's used for racing (3 Peaks, Honc, not enough of the local (Western) League CX rounds, the off-road commute 15 miles mixed, winter rides, club runs, Weds night off-road, all sorts..

Planning to do a summer offroad Epic '200k in a day on the K&A and Ridgeway' in a few weeks on it too.

Surf-Mat – Member
aka – I did a Police driving course at Portishead (A&S Police HQ) after my IAM test. I had a temp driving job (thanks partly to having an IAM pass) and as part of it I had to take and pass a Police test. It was the most fun I've had in a car I reckon – the instructor was inspirationally good and observant and we learned tonnes of stuff. The observed run was nerve racking but the rest was a hoot. Don't know what level I officially achieved but got decent marks and learned loads of stuff that even a serious trackday or "performance" course won't even touch.

Pleased to hear it 😉 So did this 'job' involve driving on b&t's?

Ahhh, the legendary Pipehouse.

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&q=pipehouse+bath&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hq=&hnear=Pipehouse,+Freshford,+Bath,+Avon+BA2+7UJ&gl=uk&ei=HpD6S9KbF5X80wTK-uTpBw&sa=X&oi=geocode_result&ct=image&resnum=1&ved=0CA4Q8gEwAA

We (the Weds Night from Widcombe lot) do it 'regularly' i.e. about once a year, long enough to forget how bad it is before the next year when someone suggests it we are daft enough to give it a try!

'Back in the day' (before suspension) we used to try to clear it with the fewest number of dabs. One day this young German lad turned up on one of the original Klein's (like Dave Hemming's) he was showing off, hopping up benches and stuff. "We'll show him" we thought and set off for Pipehouse. Without giving him any warning of what lay ahead (it starts off relatively easy and then there is a sudden drop in on the left).

He only went and cleared it all.

These days there are a quite a few people who can clear it. Finn does regularly.

One guy turned up on a Spesh 'Big Hit' a couple of years ago, complaining about how lame all the down hill was around Bath – it's not, there's plenty hidden away 😉 – we sent him off down Pipehouse, found him at the bottom, covered in mud and bleeding, broken arm. First hospital case we'd had in ages!

There's a picture of it in Nicky Crowther's book.

Bumping this as today's offer was "25% off lights"

Bought my copy of The Times. Made mistake of reading some of it on the way to finding the 'coupon' (biased coverage of the Llandis Lance affair).

Go online to get that Joystick I've been promising myself… not included in the offer!

It applies to 'non sale' items and almost everything (including ALL the Exposure lights) are listed as 'sale' items.

FFS!

"Arsehole" apparently..

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/blog/2010/may/04/mark-cavendish-cycling-tour-romandie

The pretty girl was sitting in an alcove under the stairs in a Soho bar, sobbing quietly into a mobile phone. In a nearby room her very composed boyfriend was taking his seat behind a table and starting a schedule of media interviews that would last all day.

On the table sat hardback copies of his autobiography, fresh from the printer, its simple dedication – "To Lissie" – explained and elaborated on the very last page: "Last and most, not least, of all, I thank and dedicate this book to my fiancée Melissa. Lissie, you were there when I was a sixteen-year-old scally with no money and sometimes even less charm, and you're still there for me now that I'm a lot older but unfortunately, on occasions, no less of an arsehole … "

Several people noticed the girl's distress. A few knew who she was. No one wrote about it. A few weeks later Mark Cavendish made his first public appearance with a new girlfriend, a former Miss Italy, and now, a year on from that morning in Bar Italia, it will be interesting to discover, on its republication in June, whether the autobiography in question is a rare instance of a book changing its dedication in the process of going from hardback to paperback.

Trinity an interesting venue btw, 1st ever Faithless gig there, about 20 of us in the audience!

enjoy the F***buttons

How tall is the van? Never used it but there's a 7ft height limit in the Carboot Circus one:

http://www.cabotcircus.com/website/CentreFacilities.aspx?currentSectionId=6145f5cc-31db-4eab-8d7b-64faba70a1b1&contentInstanceId=5845cb6b-db1f-45be-bc02-694bbf10ea6e

Oooh, Parish Boundaries – often incredibly interesting, they record the earliest delineations (not necessarily relating to church boundaries as the name implies) some of them have been shown to follow ancient earthworks and stones.

In answer to Foxy's original question from the day the car was invented it's always been that way for'some' motorists.

But as lots have said above, as the roads reflect social attitudes generally so 'some' has grown and has perhaps sadly become the majority.

For those who find themselves rising to challenges (red mist) this is a recommended read:

Keep it up

(Whatever 'it' might be) 😉

bassspine – Member
what's a penhalligon?

£25per 300ml 😯 Think I'll stick with the Lynx

Should add railing outside of Sports Centre double as bike park. You could leave a D lock attached to them.

No not yet*, only option might be to use the showers at the Sports Centre (Grand Parade)??

*Avon Valley are moving from the rear of the station to the front – would be great if they could get some kind of Mud Dock type facility set up)

You need some Lucie's😉 (about a minute into the vid)

I've been sat in the commanders (passengers) seat (not wearing them) hacking round the same circuit in blackout mode! (It's off the public highway I hasten to add!) Bloody scary!