32. No surprises frankly – my Dad's a scientist and an introvert and I've inherited more than a few traits. And I am obsessed with bikes :-)

Both please. Especially in the same ride – each different type gives you a break from the other.
Right now in Surrey Hills what used to be flowy is often now down to the roots so it's kind of both together which don't work so well – the lines say rag it, the surface says techy.
But all good fun at the end of the day :-)

I have a Five and it's ace. Very balanced, can always take what I can give it whether in the Alps, Lakes, Wales or southern singletrack. But certainly worth a test ride on both I would have said, and see which one suits you the most

mates in the Lakes who ride Treks have zip tied old tyres down there

CycleActive get my vote. Really friendly and focused on helping you get better.
After a couple of bad offs my head needed straightening out helping me relax and learning technique for jumps and drops. Covered loads of stuff in 2 days and has been the single biggest improvement in 15 years of riding. Now feel so much more comfortable and flowy down regular trails, and much more relaxed down rattly stuff. + happily doing 2 foot drops and table tops which I'd given up ever being able to do :-)
Based in the Lakes but I think they do Cannock too.

I do most of my own maintenance. Never been on a course – just bought the Park book (excellent) and learnt over the years from having a go. Saves loads of money (here in London a workshop hour is £20-£30!) plus I don't have to wait for the LBS to have capacity + I know how to fix stuff on the trail if anything goes wrong. And there's no fun like putting some good tunes on, and fettling for a few hours. The satisfaction of a smooth running bike from your own effort is great :-)

Cy @ Cotic advised me to run bars as low as poss now I have 140mm forks on my Soul – ride on the front fork he said. He likes to run his forks at 100mm too. Of course as above re different frames = different geometry this may not be ideal for every bike but I know I feel more in control if my hands and weight aren't too far off the front wheel

I have Glasto tickets. Yay :-)
Agree it's not moved on so much from 80's/early 90's. Dun't mean it's not good tho

STW USERS: REPLICATE all the fun of being at work by sitting at home in front of your PC posting on random threads on STW
:-)

I rode Walna Scar last week for first time (daylight sadly) and it was ACE!

There's now a picture of it on my desk to remind me of the aceness. Don't think my colleagues can understand why I have a picture of rocks on my desk :-)

I might have a spare roller from a Gusset tensioner that I ran on my DMR ok. Email in profile if you want it

Singletrackmind, that's awful!
I recommend this book -it'll help you fight back
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sheeps-Clothing-Understanding-Dealing-Manipulative/dp/096516960X/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

i spent all last week in the Lakes. Sunny all week. was wearing elbow pads and also on the right wrist, a wrist support. So instead of an arm tan, there's just a patch of brown on each forearm, The one on the right being smaller than the one on the left. :-)

I have 2 Cannondale stems to sell if you're interested! Email in profile. One low rise, one mid-rise I think. 100mm from memory

Spoke to BikeTreks today and they reckon that IF that Strange ever gets manufactured, which is not certain, then 2 years before it is. A Five AM is the obvious answer to your problem if you want to buy soon…

2nd DaveFarmer – if you try and jump when leaning over as you do in a berm you'll be all over the shop. So a sh*t idea by someone who has no clue!

****T, ****T, ****T

That's so clearly a properly built bit of trail. What kind of arrogance do you have to have to think that by changing it you're making improvements?

Let alone the safety issue and the sheer amount of hard work that went into getting BKB re-routed and that goes on in the background already.

Cheers All. I have some knee warmers in the bag. And the pads are in the wash overnight

don't rush getting back out, let it heal properly.
Get physio(with a sports physio if poss), do the exercises to prevent long term muscle issues
If you're head's out of sorts, take it easy while you get back into it.
I knackered my collarbone right up and was 18 months off the bike. But with decent physio and being really disciplined about doing the exercises all is ok now. just some occasional pain from the surgeon's scar

I went up on Boxing Day with my axe and crampons in the bag. Didn't need the crampons in the end as snow was relatively soft. But did see some family about 45 mins out of the carpark struggling along in street shoes – seemingly unaware the fact they were having to hold on to the rock to stay upright on a flat piece of path meant they were ill-equipped for the conditions. Never fails to amaze me. But hey ho. Yr lad is lucky to get out on Snowdon in conditions like that when he's so young :-)

I was told (possibly wrongly) that 11-speed needs a specific chain tool so didn't worry about taking mine with me. I shall be checking that out with the guys I bought the bike from. Another one of the perils!

seems useful but don't underestimate the relatively small no. of people who do these activities – so not a lot of money if you're hoping to make a business out of this.
Also requires people to be able to get internet access as soon as they get back e.g. coming off Ben Nevis at 8pm you'll be lucky to find an internet cafe and if you don't have internet enabled phone or can't get a signal, it could lead to unnecessary Mountain Rescue callout.
But seems like a great idea if you can get it to work, and publicise it's existence. Maybe call Mountain Rescue and Coastguard people and discuss with them how they think it could be made to be workable?

Deffo try out a Cotic. I had a 2006 one, got replaced with a 2010 and it's ace. Really ace :-)

Feels sprightlier. Cy said something about the new profile top tube making it handle differently. Being able to run it at 140 brings the front end up and bit and feels more chuckable. Not done a back to back so may be making it up in my excitement :-)

Gym
Running
Mountaineering
Road biking
Reading
Play guitar (for my own pleasure, rarely anyone else's!)
I find the gym and road biking hugely complement the mountain biking – fitter, better core and upper body strength

Dunno but the 2010 Soul is ace. Acer than the 2006 ones!

Walk in the places where you can't ride. Especially big mountains, then you'll understand :-)
Snowdonia, Torridon, Lakes etc etc. It's all good

Whatever happens, vote. We have one. Use it.
Plenty of people in the world don't have one, or risk their lives if they show dissent towards their leaders.

Goes Forth. Private Plane = Lord Flashheart. 'Treat your plane like you treat your woman. Get inside her 5 times a day and take her to heaven and back! Woof'

I read an interesting piece of advice recently – which is that in a situation like this it's perfectly normal to feel a sense of loss. Something you really appreciated has come to an end. So don't feel bad about feeling bad!
On the other hand it's no fun feeling cr@p. Write a list of 10 things you enjoy doing. Do at least one of those things each day. I imagine riding a bike is one of them :-)

This thread is proof that riding bikes keeps you young :-)

Worst thing you can do I think is beat yourself up about your age. You'll spend time worrying about that instead of just living life and making the best of the time you have. + you've known for years you'd get older – hardly a surprise is it?
One of the things I love about mountain biking is it keeps you young – typical group ride is a bunch of mid 30s/40s blokes playing on their bikes in the mud and the woods with their mates. Much as we did when we were 12 :-)
Oh and as I've got older I've crawled up the career ladder and earned a little more. So now I can ride whatever bike I want, not compromise on ££ which I had to do when I was younger!

36 3/4

Will this thread be the new Picolax? :-)

IME – living with a girl who worked in the House of Lords and was very politically correct, she felt she was doing 'right' by sticking up for minorities who couldn't stick up for themselves. In principle it made sense, but in practice she seemed to be assuming that other people a) needed and b) wanted her to stick up for them. Which is actually quite patronising. 'You're black, society discriminates against you, therefore I will stick my nose in and help you, whether you want it or not' She was white middle class.
She was also a control freak and there were certain things you weren't allowed to believe if she deemed it incorrect. Like when I suggested a girl should go to Brownies if she couldn't go to the local Cub Scout group….!

Inline seatpost if you currently have layback?
Not that different to bringing the saddle forward tho'

Easily keep the Curtis – custom bike so hard to sell and presumably ace to ride?
Plus you can ride it s/s if you fancy anyway – either by not changing gear or sticking a conversion kit on it (ok it won't look as nice as a dedicated s/s but you're asking for a clear recommendation!)

anyone any idea what the music is?

Send to TFTuned for a service. Mine did that and as above, lost the compression damping

There's a lot of cyclists in London need to heed that advice

Pook – the payoff for you is the pleasure of helping someone else out with their job.
And if I therefore keep my job, I can continue to pay for shiny things for my bike, and keep riding. So you get to help keep a fellow rider on the trails. And who on STW wouldn't feel good about that? :-)