lol @ stonepantman.

I’ll have to remember that – but I’m into foreign investment now – off to Whistler for some 100% copper bottomed guaranteed returns on sunshine and good trails.

;o)

Car?
I have a normal small hatchback (Citroen C4) which is one of the more efficient cars around (125g/km carbon) and has reasonably low tax and insurance. I can fit my bike in no problem (wheels off).
Why on earth are you paying an extra £4k on a car for a bike – nearly any normal size hatchback will do perfectly well.

Oh and in terms of bike costs:
I ride from the park and ride into york and back everyday (saving £3.30 a day on the bus thats about £780 a year!) and then saving several hundred quid a year on gym membership.
On top of that I’m less likely to die early from heart disease / stroke / cancer / diabetes etc. or one of the other overweight related issues. So if you put a price on a days work or a days retirement pleasure then add all those extra days up – cycling is a damn good investment! (we’ll ignore for now the early death potential for being eaten alive by mutant sheep after coming off my bike somewhere remote in the dales or other such risks).

Petrol: yeah ok I spend a bit extra on Diesel to get to rides – but then I’d have to buy the same fuel to get to a gym if I didn’t ride.

Beer: give up beer? er… sorry I don’t understand the premise. It’s beer, cask conditioned, real ale, lovellyness. A nice pint on a sunny summer sunday at the end of a ride is the definition of heaven (OK the sunny summer sunday is perhaps a rareity I admit).

I think you’re thinking about it too much. You need to get out and ride mate!

Of course it will be dry – I’m not doing it this year.

I’ve done the event on and off since the early days (the first year it really really rained in Trentham gardens!)

Apart from the year in Birmingham that it was insanely hot and dry (so dry everyone puked their guts up with the dust) it has rained every year I have done it. After a few years of thick mud I’d had enough and didn’t bother…. hence scorchio weather, dry fast race.

So the next year I thought why not give it another go. It rained and has every year since last year was a farce.

This year I’m not bothering and of course it will be scorchio again! I think I’ve offended the gods somehow (anyone know where I can get a spotless pure white goat and a ceremonial stone knife to placate them?)

Grrr!

How about contacting GT?

£16K for charity on one of their bikes is good PR and they may be convinced to help – if its a frame at cost rather than retail it’s not cost them anything and if you pitch the story right to them they may see it as a good piece of marketing – I’m sure you’d be on here saying how great GT have been?

Worth the cost of a phone call or email.

Badger

how about maxxis (or maxis for a more conventional spelling)

shortens to Max for her mates when she’s older and Max isn’t a very common girls name so she’ll be a bit of an individual (well as much of an individual as she can be with “high roller” as her middle names!)

;o)

Congrats to Bristol and Larry for an onset of common sense policing!

Is there a scheme to mark bikes in Bristol?
There used to be one back home (warwickshire) but it involved using letter punches to punch/engrave a code into the Bottom Bracket shell and frankly anyone who comes near my bike with a hammer and some letter punches is going to get more than they bargained for!

But how about the old indelible UV pen trick – mark it somewhere it won’t wash or wear off (say 1″ inside the bar ends) with either a postcode, name or even just a number etc. and then when Larry and his colleagues collars some little scrote… er… suspect… in Southmead etc. whip the bar end off shine the hand held UV pen up it and bob’s your uncle proof of who’s bike it is.

The police could have a list of the codes etc. that are nicked along with a pic.

Am I stating the bleedin obvious and it’s already being done?

Badger

(I don’t live anywhere near Bristol but do visit to ride there occasionally so just interested in less bikes getting nicked. Besides maybe my local police force (er..sorry, police “service”…) will pick up on the good example that Larry seems to be setting.)

Mikey yeah I’m going with T2R.

My rims are Mavic Crossmax SLs (UST) – I’m taking my S-works stumpjumper FSR (carbon) with me – as I say I’m an XC person.

For the day off in the bike park I may hire a DH rig for the day – although I have been looking into getting the bus to Squamish and doing some of the trails there as I will miss the guided Squamish ride when I go on the float plane trip (squamish v float plane was a close toss up but I have a thing for aviation so the float plane won).

Hmm. I’ll have a look into the High rollers, the Nevegals and the WTB Dissents.

Any other advice?

Many Thanks

Badger

A Specialized Rival 155mm

Lots of padding but also the v groove thing to not cut the blood off to his nadgers.

Also not too expensive.

Badger

similar thing after a few 24 solo efforts in the past (but obviously not the “ladies parts” issue).

Usually it was fine to wash with disinfectant/anti bacterial soap, use a good chamois cream and to be asiduous about clean shorts etc. also used talc when not riding to keep area dry. This worked fine for all except one time (24 solo followed a few days later by a big epic day ride) woudn’t shift so went to GP – who hadn’t a clue and made up the name “folicosis” (lit. infected folicles) and prescribed antibiotics carried on the anti bacterial soap etc. routine with the antibiotics and it cleared up (but not sure what really helped most).

Got two steel hard-tails ones an on-one and the other a dialed bikes.

OK the dialed is more expensive but I think its a nicer frame by a fair amount.

But the On-One is OK nothing hideous about it as a cheap, treat it dirty, smack it around and abuse it SS/rigid bike.

Never understood the hero worship of them though – not like its some hand made lovelliness. The Tinbread were nice – would understand it if on-one had gone down the niche ti route.

Easy.

1. remove shifters from bike
2. replace with SRAM!
3. sell or bin the crap.

Sorry too this year I’ve seen loads of people with shimano rear mechs fall apart after only small amounts of time – don’t know what shimano have been playing at but they seem awful of late – SRAM seem to be so much moore durable.

I used to try the old “What that? … Oh I’ve had that ages” routine but it never really worked.

I did buy a set of new forks once with the major selection criteria bing that they were also black (as the current ones on the bike were) so that she’d no know…. how I expected her not to notice the old pair kicking around the shed I don’t know.

My last increase in bike numbers (remember the ideal number of bikes is n+1 where n= current number owned) I even used the old “its a small frame so you can ride it as well” which being a fully rigid SS was perhaps a bit mean – although I the old forks kicking round the shed now have a home and I am sorting out gears for her to use on it over the summer!

hmm forgot to add

12. 8mp or above so the best images can be enlarged?

Badger

RichC thats good to know -I’m over there at the same time as powerofra – entirely seperately though. I’ll give my bank a call before going.

Hmm the little things you forget about!

Oh and Ticket2Ride have been brilliant so far.

Badger

Sorry was thinking of North being nearest plymouth end and south being nearest er… lands end.

having had a think I see what you mean! (doh!)

oh yeah and second aleigh’s comment about a pic in the profile – a lot of us added our email address to the bottom of the pic to cut down on bots getting our email address and so cutting the spam a bit.

No Avatars no signatures – please (it only chews bandwidth for what is a pointless picture anyway: “so you have a picture of a cartoon lemon doing sexual acts with an orange as an avatar, does that really add anything to the forum? I thought not.”)

Please work on the Search function. Also agree that classifieds should sort by thread not most recent post – its fairer and a good search function would stop unnesecary bumping.

Otherwise its looking good.

The casa de Campo looked OK for light riding when I was over there at the end of the summer.

I printed out the responses to my thread about doing stuff in Madrid – I’ll have a hunt and pass on the recommendations – think someone mentioned a bike hire place.

In terms of other stuff – the Palace is free entry to EU citizens one day (I think its either tuesday or wednesday afternoons) and the art gallery with Picaso’s Guernica is also free one day of the week – worth going to see – I’ll hunt out the details when I get home tonight.

I like Madrid – Madrileños are great people and party hard – we found a great Tapas bar near where we were staying – I’ll get you the name of that as well.

Joe

The op can be reversed and you acn have full reproductive function back if you so choose – stop panicing man!

yum duck eggs – as above – soft boil, or omlette. They also scramble very well – pretty much like any eggs.

I know some people who only use duck eggs when baking a cake – to the point that they have worked out a conversion ratio of hens eggs to duck eggs (as they are bigger).

Goose eggs are similar in flavour but have much stronger yellow and bigger yoke.

Yeah ideally I’d like the 661 Core protector (I like the fact it’s light but has both back and kidney protectors) – but it doesn’t seem to come with shoulder cups? (anyone seen them with?).

I’m then looking at a set of knee and shin (I hate flats but I’m not doing some of the stuff planned with clipless!), elbow and possibly forearm

The elbow is most important as I’ve broken an elbow/arm joint and it took a long time to heal – and is therefore weaker.

Checked the costs and I’d not save much hiring. For the sake of £100 – £120 I can buy it, have clean stuff that fits right and then afterwards sell what I don’t want to keep for the odd black route sillyness back here in the UK.

Besides its an excuse to buy nice new bike stuff!

Cheers everyone – I was scratching my head and couldn’t for the life of me work it out!

Right back to the research ….. I’ll be back with more questions later. I’m not a Downhiller so I’m as lost as a Nun at a sex-toys convention (but willing to learn!)

Badger

Thanks mike for enlightening me!

protection from getting muddy? But I’m a mountain biker… surely mud is part of the whole experience?

;o)

They’re not hats – they’re wooly bobble hats developed from the ones the brownies used to wear!

A hat is not a proper hat unless something cute and fluffy has been killed to make it!

(says the man who wears a kangaroo leather hat every day – and warm and dry my head stays in it too).

owenfackrell

It’s exactly the same for me! I just read the mistakes back as I remember what its supposed to say not what it actually does!

I’ve used voice software to read-back (computer typed) written work. That sort of helps but its slow and tedious.

Also the same with spotting others mistakes – I think its because I have to work so hard at spotting my own mistakes in writting that others gramatical and spelling mistakes jump out at me really easily. So my friends all came to me to proof read their dissertations etc. as I was really good at it (if a little overly critical of gramatical mistakes) ironic really!

Oh for F*cks sake!

Yet again another ill informed ignorant idiot comes out banging the old "it doesn’t exist" "blame the teachers" "they’re just lazy" routine!

I am dyslexic – I love to read, I have three degrees now and I’m working on my PhD as well as lots of published work so to view dyslexia (as this MP has) as only a problem spelling or reading is like saying being paraplegic means you can’t feel your toes! Well yes sort of but thats just a symptom of a larger problem.

When I got an ed psych to test me my LEA said there was no such disability as dyslexia, my college said I was just bad at exams and my secondary school had assumed I was just not that bright…. it took me years of fighting to get any help – and in the end after failing my A levels the first time we just paid for a private ed psych consultation. When I showed them the results that I had an IQ of 155, a reading age off the scale and that the difference between my actual ability and my written expression in exams was huge they reluctantly (after being threatened with being sued) let me have what my ed psych report said I should have to make exams "a level and equal test" – thats important! I didn’t want an unfair advantage just a level and equal chance as everyone else!

Result: I went from two Es and two Us at A level to an A two Bs and a C in one year and the only difference was a bit of extra time in the exam and being allowed to use a computer to type my answers.

After this my LEA finally got sued for discrimination and admitted that maybe the other LEAs in the country might be right that dyslexia did exist.

So after finally getting to a stage where the school system helps those with dyslexia rather than leaving them to flounder on their own, to hear some idiot MP take the most simplistic grasp of the issue and mouth off to the press with his ill-informed ignorant twaddle really p*sses me off. Its a complete retrograde step and if you ask me most teachers, far from using it as an excuse for bad performance, should be applauded for doing the right thing – actually looking after the needs of the only people who matter in their job… the pupils.

Next time this MP should learn about what he’s talking about before opening his mouth (or in this case talking out his arse).

****t

(Rant over)

Coffeeking – yeah true – nothing to hide is fine as a reason to let them. But there is also the opposite of I haven’t committed an offence so they have no reason to search me and my right to a private life overrides their curriosity.

Not sure – depends on the situation – I might let them search if I thought that ruling me out of an enquiry would help them concentrate actually getting the right person – but then it would depend on how polite and reasonable they had been – bloody minded arrogance wouldn’t make me feel like being helpful.

Not sure about the cap thing – guess I’d just ask to see a warrant card (you always have the right to demand identification and proof the police officer is what they say they are).

coffeeking.

No. Unless they have grounds to believe you are committing an offence – hiding a weapon, drugs etc. then they can ask you to voluntarily let them search – but you should always say NO as the rules that regulate what a police constable can do when searching you or your property don’t apply if you voluntarily let them search. If they try to search after you say no then they are committing an offence.

Oh and they must tell you their name and show you their warrant card first before – whether you ask or not.

Oh and a quick read of PACE (the police and criminal evidence act) says:
"A constable who is not in uniform is not empowered to stop you if you are driving a vehicle (section 2 para 2)"

So does that mean that an unmarked car with an un-uniformed officer can (as mentioned above) be ignored until a marked vehicle turns up?

thegreatape

I do appologise – I’m confusing police power to stop a vehicle and "stop and search" including a vehicle you may be driving.

I’ve had a quick look and indeed they may stop you and demand your name and address.

To search you or your vehicle however, they have to believe you are carrying articles to comit a crime (like burglary etc) or firearms, drugs an offensive weapon etc. Otherwise you can say no to a search request and any search and subsequent arrest would then be unlawful.

I thought under the laws that let the police stop you in the first place that they have to have a reason to stop you.

I thought that reason had to be that you were committing a road traffic offence (even a simple driving a vehicle with an obscured number plate) or that the "have reasonable suspicion" that you are in the process of committing a criminal offence.

The only time that thats not the case is when a senior office signs a consent to allow randomn stopping of vehicles – and that can only last for a short period of time and has to be for a specific reason to protect the public or prevent criminal activity (like at xmas when a higher number of people drink and drive so most forces have a randomn stop).

So next time you are stopped and you don’t know why the first question you should politely ask the officer is:
"Why have you stopped me? was I committing a road traffic offence or do you have reasonable cause to suspect I’m in the process of committing a crime?" Be polite it might be a legitimate reason – tail light out or something.
If he can’t give you a justifiable reason, then demand his PC lapel number and the name of his duty sergeant, and the phone number for his base police station then ring them and report the guy/lass for wrongfully detaining you and preventing your civil and human right to freedom of movement.
Police have my respect – but I do get annoyed when they forget they are the servant of the people and that they can’t just do what they like cart blanche. Keeping the police under control is crucial to a liberal democracy, they should beholden to the law like th rest of us.

The Six-20 looks fun.

Although to be honest if I was looking at a film camera I’d go for a panoramic adapted SLR (vertical slit mask on the shutter, film rolls in time with the sweep of the arc of the tripod head – so you get one long 6cmx17cm shot – only about 8 shots per roll of film!), load it with fuji slide film (better colour saturation on images) and use it to take monsterously long colourful panoramics.

One of my favourite photographers is Michael Scott Lee (australian) who works in a similar way – stunning colours without any filters etc are his speciality. Got two pieces of his work on my wall at home as a wedding present from australian friends and they’re beautiful shots.

http://www.michaelscottlees.com.au to check out his work.

GrahamS , SFB

Yeah I guess you may be right in a sense that its the increased cost of failure makes the students pay more detailed attention to whats actually going on.

But there is also the whole problem of a digital camera with a million settings that gives them a sense that they need only find the right auto-setting for each shot to get a great result. Whilst film cameras can have the huge number of settings problem thats less common and a basic film SLR with aperture and shutter speed as the two variables makes the whole process a lot more focused. I admit I could get them to try this with a D-slr on manual mode but, somehow it never really sinks in that the aperture and shutter speed (and therefore exposure and depth of field) must be understood and mastered first – they seem to cling to the idea that they need to fiddle with one of the other settings to get it right!

Film itself has no specific magic quality – but film SLR cameras can strip the issue of the fog of “other things the camera will do” down to the basics of light and physics.

I guess the dark room also adds a hands on understanding of the process of creating an image – I can show them powerpoint slide after powerpoint slide about how the sensor/film works etc. but the kineasthetic nature of a darkroom really embeds the lesson in a way that no lecture ever will.

I guess I’m saying that its not about the film v digital but rather that it’s easier to teach through film where its more hands on and more costly of time and resources to the student.

Hey I exclusively use digital now and like anyone I’m still learning so there is nothing wrong with learning via digital.

That said I do still have a nostalgic love of the smell of Ilford FP4. (I know thats wierd)!

I am a photographer.

I learnt with a Kodak Browning when I was 6!
From there to an Olympus OM1 and OM10
Later I had a Nikon F and many other film cameras.
I got taught how to use a full dark room (B&W as well as colour).

I now have a Nikon D80 and have sold my film cameras as I don’t use them.

The camera is irrelevant – one of my best and most often requested images I took with a disposable camera! A photographer needs to know about the nature of light and composition and beyond that the camera just makes it easier to capture an image. Some of my favourite shots where taken on a glass plate box camera where you needed a degree in mathematics and physics to work out the exposure, etc. by hand in advance. I’ve seen hideous photos by so called professionals using Digital.

BUT

Having taught masters students recently they have no clue about how to take a photo – they don’t understand the physics or the principles of light behind how photography works because they’ve never used film or learnt the basics the hard way.
We gave them film SLRs and told them to take photos of a mock crime scene – the results were apauling!

So we took them into a dark room to demonstrate why photography works then drilled them with film for a while till they got why aperture, exposure, white balance, correct lighting, depth of field etc were important and how they relate to each other.

That said once you finally beat the basic principles into them, then improving their skill level is much easier on a Digital SLR as you can review their mistakes and correct them quickly.
The improvement in them through just understanding the principles of photography was immense – they can now all take perfectly workable and publishable images for their jobs in either digital or film.

I’d say anyone doing serious photography in any way should learn via film and a dark room as you just don’t get the depth of understanding otherwise. If like me they then choose to use digital then fine – their images will be far better learning this way than not.

oh and that ferrari looks vile.

F1=boring

Touring Car championship – now thats more interesting – at least there are some overtaking manouvers and …err.. the odd crash.

But best of all is Truck Racing – watching from near the apex of a major corner is great – 4 trucks going hell for leather into a space only 2 can fit! much better than the primadona filled bling silliness of F1.

Mark – Administrator
You really are missing the search function… It’s there.. top of page.. right

errr.. ah! I see it now – hidden in plain view witht eh adverts that I tend to ignore…

OK scratch the search function comment – sorry for my muppetry!

Reg number and report to the IPCC – Police are public servants – they’re not supposed to swear at the public as that brings the police force into disrepute – his sergent will give him a boll*cking if he can be arsed.

Alternatively if it was someone pretending then you just performed a public service and they get nicked for impersonating a Police Officer, as well as illegally detaining you (the former is a very serrious offense with fairly hefty penalties).

Badger