‘We must be the change we want to see in the world’
Your world is as spiritual or feral as you want it to be…

I’ve noticed over the years that angry, cynical, agressive, self-absorbed people are rarely leading fulfilled lives, but people who are open to change, not dogmatic, friendly, trusting, helpful, give of themselves etc, are usually relatively content and fulfilled…

So the world you live in kind of starts with yr own attitude and perspective imo

We need better opposition at a time like this…
I reckon Labour are in the wilderness for the next Parliament, just like Tories were for 13 years, running through a series of inadequate leaders…
Keep an eye on David. He knows his brother. I think he knew his brother would screw it up and is waiting for his moment and will jump back in. Sometime in the next 12 months for sure, very possibly sooner after this weekend’s shenanigans. If I were a Labour MP I’d be working out how to get rid of him now.
Essential problem with Ed is he manipulated his way into power by playing the way the voting system worked. He is not representing the views of his party members and has no support underneath as a result so now he’s struggling he has no allies to back him up/counter the negativity. Who wants to be led by someone who tricked them?

if honesty would hurt them, tell white lies.
But be civil at least, it’s a small world and they may well know someone who you want to work with in the future.
I used to work with a bloke who routinely screwed his colleagues over for his own gain. He’s ended up having to set up his own company cos no-one will work with him and very few of his previous colleagues or clients will work with him…

All the advice re carbs the night before and porridge for breakfast work well for me, and it’s been well tested…
Fry up is the worst. It’s all fat and protein, no actual energy. Banana and toast would be better than that

To the OP, natural S Wales e.g. Gap could be considered rocky. But personally I don’t find the trail centres that rocky.
Lakes and Peaks are rocky. You’ll lose your fillings without some boing at some end of the bike 😉

[parent mode]If you know you’re riding illegally it seems a bit out of order to respond aggressively when they point out to you something you freely admit on here.
The long game of that kind of behaviour is we’ll lose access IMO.
Personally I disagree with cheeky riding but if you’re going to do it, IMO best to be inconspicuous and polite if asked to take responsibility for your illegal behaviour…[/parent mode]

the flow of smooth trails can be more satisfying sometimes.
Personally I like a mix, the smooth, flowing trails can feel too easy after a while, rocky tech keeps you focussed and helps stop you getting complacent.
Ullswater lakeside path is an example of a rocky path that frankly can feel like a bit of a beasting after spending most of the year in the Surrey Hills. But it shakes me up and makes me think about technique.

And to the OP, you may well get flamed for apparent snobbery but personally I think flowy trails are more fun on a hardtail. A full suss will be used more to its full potential on rock and tech, so kind of wasted if you only use it for smooth trails IMO

Lights just gone red seem to be treated as green by a lot of drivers at the moment. Of course they usually accelerate which would make any accident even worse. Doh!

I’m very careful when I’m driving and I stop when the lights have just gone amber – I want to stop but you really can’t be sure the driver behind has the same attitude and, even tho they would clearly be in the wrong when they hit me, I can do without being shunted up the rear end.

I hate cyclist RLJs – but frankly there’s so little respect for the laws of the road in London I don’t think too many car drivers can have a pop at cyclists for breaking the law…

Road ride through SE London and North Kent with the club. Stunning day, great to be properly out in it and a big chunk of midwinter Vitamin D 🙂

Hope Pro II on Mavic 521 will cost you less than £300. Strong and light.
Personally I wouldn’t spank too much on pair of wheels – rims tend to take a battering from stones and other trail stuff and I’d only be upset that such expensive kit had got dings everywhere…

oh look… an argument on STW…
Happy New Year all!

Fair play to the OP for actually having doubts about what he thinks and posting it on here IMO.
Personally I think both competence and incompetence are colourblind

out on a club ride on Saturday some guy cut in really early after overtaking. Hard to prove but my guess, and the guy at the front of the group agreed, was deliberate.
Had the same on the way down Sydenham Hill yesterday. I was doing 30, so I wasn’t holding anyone up, and legally no-one could overtake, but still got overtaken and a pretty close cut in…
Sometimes it feels like open season on cyclists out there. Some really psychotic behaviour… it’s quite frustrating not being able to do anything about it other than take your primary position (although that seems to create more anger, not less) and make your feelings known with rude (but futile) gestures re drivers’ sexual proclivities…

i rode past his childhood home in Stockwell this morning 🙂

I mix haribo with nuts, raisins and choc chips for a balance of necessary slow burn energy and sugar hit over the course of a ride. I find Haribo cheer me up which can be helpful when you’re suffering.
Gels I use as get me homes when I’m proper borked. Def work for me.
I’d avoid taking too many or relying on them for your primary source of energy, IMO, they can use up reserves you need towards the end

One of the most interesting and warming threads on here for a long time, chapeau for starting it and glad it all worked out for you both

2nd yoga. You’ll be amazed.
Swimming is good for upper body too, and more interesting than press ups

More to the point, you need to read the rules:

No Trade or business advertising – except bona fide retailers may respond to genuine enquiries from potential customers.

A Five is great round Surrey Hills. Although you can feel the weight cos the hills are short and steep.
I’ve actually gone all hardtail cos it’s more fun but you’ll still have fun on a Five.
Email in profile if you want a 2004 18” frame with a pair of Pikes!

I’m going to sell the Five. not ridden it for over a year. Prefer hardtail but like others, got bored of driving for as long as I ride, and road cheaper, less faff and better for fitness. Club riding, esp sprints can be as much fun as MTB.
Using commuter a lot more tho so still riding plenty, just different bikes. All good 🙂

I use Nikwax on my smart casual brown shoes and they don’t shine but they’re in great nick. And don’t let the water in either 🙂

I liked it. Hard work as you have to climb a lot but the berms are a lot of fun. Pump track is ace.
But I only went when the weather was nice. I can’t imagine the link to Cragg being too much fun in poor weather

I’ve been riding nearly 20 years now and it’s been contacts and riding specs all the way and never had a problem once, either with grit, wind or one falling out. That’s hacks round the woods and 12 hour road rides, all day Spanish and Alps epics, SDW, the lot.
I do take a spare pair of lenses tucked away in my first aid kit but they’ve never been used.

A few comments/selected quotes
1. Liverpool wasn’t left to rot – huge amounts of money went into the city in the 80’s and it’s much, much better off for it.
2. Wasn’t just the Tories:

Sir Geoffrey Howe argued for a secret policy of “managed decline” in Liverpool
The cabinet papers reveal that he was horrified by the way Merseyside Police operated in Toxteth, saying they were not racist as they treated all suspects brutally.

3. The comment was about fairness to other deprived areas of the UK, not about attacking Liverpool per se.

“We do not want to find ourselves concentrating all the limited cash that may have to be made available into Liverpool and having nothing left for possibly more promising areas such as the West Midlands or, even, the North East.

The BBC could have had a headline which said ‘Tories refused to let Liverpool fall into ruin’ but of course that wouldn’t get the same amount of attention would it?

I would 2nd more counselling and also use your friends. Times like this you find out who you real friends are, and just how amazing a good friendship is.
Also worth looking at this book which was recommended on here previouslyDavid Burns: Feeling Good– explains some things which you may have been grappling with for a while, in a really straightforward way, and gives you some useful solutions.
This is also good for keeping a day to day eye on yourself. Moodscope[/url]
This time of year can make negative feelings more frequent – just make sure you keep off the drink, sleep and eat well to give yourself best chance of recovering.
And make sure those close to you know how you are. It can help enormously. As does riding a bike, but you probably know that already 🙂
Lots more people feel like this than you may realise…. good luck

Whole
Lot
Wiser

Where the Middletons had their pre-wedding gig[/url]

Park Tools Big Blue Book

I’m not going to t*ke the p*ss, everything I’ve learnt about bike maintenance has come at the expense of some embarrassing mistakes. But if I were you I’d buy this book, it’s excellent, a t25 tool which’ll cost you pence, and DIY.

Oh and this forum and YouTube are superb sources of experience for maintenance stuff..

I wasn’t planning on it 🙂

Haven’t read all of the above but a few contributions:
1. Consider spending less (c£1k for your first bike, see how you get on with road riding and in a year, sell it and upgrade. Road bikes take a lot less of a battering than an MTB and you’ve a good chance of it holding most of it’s value.
2. It’ll make you stronger on your MTB
3. Def consider getting a proper fit. Sitting down, not moving, and pounding out the miles means fit is far more important than it is on an MTB and will keep you from injuring yourself
4. Consider riding with a local club, you’ll learn a lot more about bikes, and will get fitter and a better bike handler
5. Definitely test ride as many as you can to find a brand that suits you. Much easier to get a sense of a road bike round the carpark than you will for an MTB

Enjoy, it;s all riding bikes!

When you’ve recovered, get some core strength exercises from a sports physio so it doesn’t happen again…

IME a lot of people who are what other people call ‘a success’ are driven by very high standards, insecurity, unhappiness or escaping from something… which makes me think striving to be ‘successful’ isn’t entirely a positive thing to do.

On the other hand, things I’ve done which have required a massive effort, or breaking through barriers, or I’ve done well at (rather than just participated), have given me such a buzz and sense of satisfaction, that I think ‘success’ is often well worth striving for – the rewards can be addictive. That’s when you get those moments of ‘life is brilliant’.

And somewhere in the middle you need to find your balance. I’m still on the journey personally…

Love the concept of a helmet. Like it will save you if you crash into a tree at that speed.

more about helping visibility. You need goggles when you’re flying at 100+mph but they limit your field of vision. You can put an open face helmet on but it can lift off your head at that speed
so full face with a visor is much better. And it gives you something to attach your camera to

It is if there are only 6 people a year doing it. How many people do do it – I’d presume rather less than some other activities with similar death per year rates?

There’ll be thousands of BASE jumps a year, and plenty these days will be wingsuit jumps.
Relative to the number of jumps, the number of deaths from skydiving is pretty low tbh, it’s just that when it happens it tends to be dramatic and make a big news story.

Wingsuits have only been around for 10-12 years, originally used by skydivers but moved into BASE pretty quickly. And the progress these guys have made in that time in terms of accuracy and control is immense. May not be that long before someone learns how to slow down enough to land one without a parachute… proper pioneering in the same way the space race was IMO…

Great PR for cycling. Let’s hope he gets what he wants in the Olympics too

Ordered pedals on 19th, went in post 20th. seems all ok to me.
They have a massive ad in the tube in London Bridge so they’ve clearly gone mainstream, which would explain why maybe they’re not quite so quick as they were back in 2005 when STW base was 99% of their customers!

Hora could well be right about her perception of things. People who victimise themselves are very hard to deal with, they’re essentially children and aren’t willing to take responsibility for their behaviour.

You need to have an adult to adult conversation with her. If she responds like a child, which is likely, you need to tell her you’ll speak to her manager if she’s not willing to adapt her behaviour. Then make it formal.

From what you say about her behaviour and my experience with similar people, she won’t respond like an adult so good luck

2 people broke laws put in place for their own safety and that of others and came a cropper.
That’s what happens when you break the law and seems like a very good reason to a) obey 30mph limits in particular and b) not ride thru red lights..
Not sure how or why anyone has a claim for compensation. Just seems like an exercise in idiots self-identifying!

Soul(Man) – Blues Brothers

Definately +1 jambo’s comment.

If you gathered that information about your ‘holy grail’ of footwear & pedal combo it’s going to take you a lot longer to improve your technique !

It’s 5:10’s I have, my mistake. What would the STW collective suggest as grippier pedals then? I only got the V8s to try flats out so happy to make a better investment and spend a bit more…

Greg, yes I was on the Peaks Pootle last year. Job went belly up and couldn’t find any work so moved back down to London Village (where I’ve been since early 90’s anyway. Besides, I was missing dusty Surrey Hills trails 😉