Try the trails at Fruita in W. Colorado–some really great riding.
Also in CO–try Crested Butte and Durango areas.
Here in New MExico, the South Boundary trail out of Taos has one epic downhill going one direction (been known to overheat/blow fork seals) and they have just opened up an expanded, sizeable mountain biking park in Angel FIre, New Mexico.
If you want to get major “pucker” effect, check out White Mesa trails just northwest of Albquerque. You can see video at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B99sVtTn-wY

Being here in the US, I don’t read/hear enough of the Prince’s comments to catch a lot of the gaffes, but those I have heard can be quite amusing—-at present we have our own Vice President Biden who manages to get his foot implanted in his mouth so often that it has become quite entertaining.

I have used White Lightning for years now here in the desert southwest of the US and love it. Not sure how it might perform in the much wetter UK climate, but here it works very well and I never end up with a black/gunky chain–however, you do need to to start with a clean chain. I’d recommend cleaning it with a chain cleaner (i.e. Park or some such) and good chain cleaning fluid, letting it dry, then applying the White Lightning. I just turn the crank and wipe the entire chain with a cloth, then reapply the lube. Because it’s so dry and dusty here, I lube the chain about every third ride or so. My chain continues to look like a new one.

Was on a ride at about 9000 ft. elevation in the Jemez mountains here in New MExico about 10 years ago when a thunderstorm ramped up. Bolt of lightning hit a big Ponderosa Pine about 75 yards away. Just a big, blinding flash of light and a sound like a bomb exploding. The tree was about 125 feet tall, with a trunk about 2 1/2 feet in diameter. When it hit, the tree literally exploded into fencepost sized pieces of burning wood-the larger pieces landed within about 40-50 yards of the tree and where I was at was just smaller pieces, bark, branch-ends, etc. Needless to say I set some new MTB speed records getting to lower elavation. Ever since have been REALLY cautious riding in thunderstormsm sitting atop a metal-frame bicycle/lightning rod.

Same thing happens here in the US. I asked a guy once and he said so he “could pick it up on his way back to the trailhead” Yeah, right–still there the next weekend.

Top: Mattie
Bottom: Shiloh (RIP)

Born in Nebraska, USA, now live in New Mexico, USA and in the 60+ years intervening lived/worked in many places, both in the US and otherwise, including 6 months in the UK (London).

I quit for 7 months last year, then started up again—found I was quickly back to the same level as before.
Quit again 5 weeks ago and hope to stay that way. I do miss my Jack Daniels and wine with a meal, but overall I feel better, lost some weight and sleep much better.
Like some said, the first few days is the hardest and it just keeps getting easier the longer you go.

This isn’t likely in the day of digital SLR camera, but many years ago (in the golden age of actual film) I agreed to do the shoot for the ceremony portion of a friend’s wedding. I shot a huge roll of 35mm film and when I took it out of the camera, it had disenged from the winding gear and I had a completely unexposed roll of film. Kind of embarrasing to say the least.

Do you get a lot of forest fires in the UK? I never see anything about it on the news here in the US, but this post got me to thinking about it.
We have lots of fires here in New Mexico, but a lot are grassland fires on the eastern plains during the spring wind season—-we do get our share of forest fires each year as well—bet more than half human caused and the rest from lightning.

You might be overly optomistic—really depends on how thick it is and the quality/condition of the concrete. I broke up a patio that was about 10 x 12, 8 inches thick using a sledge hammer and it took me all of one day and most of another. It had wire reinforcement embedded, so that added to the task. If you could rent a jackhammer it would sure make it a whole lot faster and easier. Bottom line—it is backbreaking work no matter how you do it.

Geographic/weather perspective is interesting and so varied. Here in the desert southwest in the US, we hope for some rain to get rid of the dust—-which firms up the trails with a damp pack that provides much better grip than the loose sand/dust. Tree roots are another story, like buzz-lightyear said, when wet are crash magnets. The best riding here is the morning after an evening thunderstorm.

I’ve tried a lot of shoes, but imho, you can’t beat Sidi. I have narrow feet and they fit the best, although I do think they make a wider version as well. I am on my third pair in 10 years.
They are pricey, but are extremely durable. I have the Dragon model that has replaceable sole lugs. My present ones are 3 years old, still very stiff and show little wear—the latching mechanism, while it looks like it might wear out/break has never done so on these or 2 earlier pair I have had. I am on my third set of sole lugs.

Can’t escape it here in the states either—every entertainment “news” organization on TV is having 24/7 orgasms about it—reporting on details that even the participants probably don’t know about and don’t care about.

Super-glue the carpet to the floor—I had renters move out in the dead-of-night and they removed the carpets and draperies and took them. I was working in the Middle East at the time and only found out from a neighbor that they had left. If you want to avoid the cost/hassle of having a rental agent, it does help if you live nearby or have friends/relatives who do and can at least keep an eye on the place in passing.

I have had 4 bouts of kidney stones—about as painful as I can imagine anything being. I found that morphine and similar narcotic painkillers not nearly as effective as Toradol (Ketorolac) a prescription painkiller used after surgery and one my urologist prescribes regulary for kindey stones. Comes in pill and shot forms and the shot obviously works faster, but the pills get the pain under control.
After the first go-around, I start drinking a LOT of water at the first sign of the pain (which, once you have had it, you know immediately what it is) and, so far, have been able to pass the stone—it’s a weird feeling because you know when the stone has passed as the pain suddently, instantly stops.
My urologist believes the lack of hydration is a big factor for me—I have always had mine in the summer when I am riding a lot in 85-95F heat—thinking I am drinking enough, but obviously not.
One bit of advice he gave me was if I am riding for 3-4 hours and don’t have to stop and pee at least a couple times I am not drinking enough water.

Haven’t had time to read this whole thread, but I will be 69 in November and I have no plans to quit riding as long as I can stay upright. As someone noted early in the thread, I’m nnot worried about being the fastes, a bit more careful, stop and rest more—but I sure don’t plan to quit anytime soon.
I’ve never subscribed to the notion that there is some arbitrary age limit on anything.

I picked up a clear plastic sheeting that is self adhesive after you peel off the paper on the back. Cut it to fit about 1/3 of the way around the downtube and, after cleaning down tube well, applied it. Has been on 2+ years and not a ding on the carbon. Also use small rounds cut of of the same material where a cable touches/rubs on the carbon frame

Since hot air balloons use propane to generate the heat, wouldn’t there be some limitation where the oxygen level got so low that you wouldn’t get proper ignition of the propane and your rise would stop.
I know a lot of hot air balloon pilots here in Albuquerque and will have to pose the question. I have been at 9000 ft in one and that’s a long ways up to be dangling in a basket from cables—the more experienced pilots here do fly over the Sandia mountains above the city that are at 10,400 feet—of course the National Guard and Forest Service have had to helicopter up and rescue a few stuck on the side of the mountain periodically.

Trouble (Mattie-brown) and Even More Trouble (Echo-black)

As an owner of a Mojo for 3 years now, I would definitely recommend the brand. Well made carbon frame. I have had multiple MTB over the years and the Ibis is one of my favorites.

DrT
Just sent you an email to your profile email address. My stepson lives up in Ft. Collins, CO (just north of Boulder) and is a mountain biker. Don’t know if he can help, but he might either know some trails or a bike shop where you can rent a bike.

I have had Norton 360 on 3 computers for the past year and no issues at all. Can’t tell any slowdown on any of the 3 computers. One extra feature is that it provides a back-up service. Once you have it set to auto update, etc., it just runs without issue and isn’t intrusive. So far it has caught everything the bad guys have thrown at it.
Also use Malwarebytes and Spysweeper along with it.

Better have a lot of available credit on your gasoline credit card

GTDave–They are most definitely bouncy, hi-energy dogs. Mattie (brown) is the 5 year old and Echo (black) is the 8 month old terrorist.

OK guys, got it figured out–thanks for the help. Used Photobucket and it worked just fine. I was reading too much into the Help directions.
THREAD CLOSED

I’ll get it figured out—I think I will try Photobucket as 2wheels1guy suggested. The problem may be with the Shutterfly hosting site (or in my head possibly)

Just realized that I was copy/pasting directions from the Help page in the above posts, but they don’t copy in the posts. To summarize (hopefully more clearly): Where does one type in:

or, in the case of non-copyright images:

[/url]

Drac–I have images on Shutterfly and using that IMG tag makes sense, but where does one enter the:
or the link back for non-copyright photos: [/url]

Guess I’m just dumb, but I upload/download pictures all the time and have no trouble, but in the Help tab, the following doesn’t make sense:
Then go to the forum and type :

Where ‘http://www.singletrackworld.com/common/logo.png’ is the URL you just retrieved.
If you are linking to an image that you do not own copyright on then you must link back to the originating website by adding the

[url=http://www.singletrackworld.com/][img]http://www.singletrackworld.com/common/logo.png[/img]" class="bbcode-link"> tag around the

GTDave–couldn’t agree more—they are really great dogs. We have an American F1 who is 5 years old (almost identical in color to yours, but with more of a wavy coat being 1st gen) and an Aussie F2 who is 8 months old (jet black, wooly coated-looks like a black lamb).

GTdave—what breed is Harvey? Looks like a twin to one of my two Labradoodles.

flamejob–if you took the coastline away, the terrain looks a lot like here in New Mexico

Epicyclo & flamejob–where are the locations in the photos?

IanB-that looks like a really great place to ride–have to say a whole lot greener than here in New Mexico!!

Mostly in New Mexico, some in Colorado—I am really fortunate to live 200 yard from a trailhead leading into a large trail system on the west face of the Sandia mountains here in Albuquerque that gives me 2 minute access to about 40 miles of trails (easy to moderate levels). I drive to the other side of the same mountains in the summer (about 20 miles or so) to access another 120 miles or so of trails that are much more technical/difficult (ranging from 8000-10,000 feet in elevation—– but snowed under all winter, usually open from April through October. Vacation riding usually in CO, UT or AZ

I’ve tried a lot of different shoes, but have settled on Sidi as the most comfortable for my feet, which are narrow. They are, unfortunately pretty pricey.
I also like the replaceable lugs, which extends the life of the shoes considerably. My current Sidi shoes are on year 3, with 3rd set of lugs.
I have never had a sole crack/break on them and, so far, haven’t had any of the latch gear break.

Maybe what is needed to curtail the piracy is for every national naval force involved to respond like the Danes, Chinese, Japanese and Indian forces. They might think twice about the piracy and hostage taking if they knew there was only going to be one result. One unfortunate aside to that would be, no doubt,innocents being killed/wounded for the first couple times, but once they got the message that hostage holding wasn’t going to shield them, it might put a stop to most of it.
I think if I was being held hostage by that lot, I would prefer to go out in a blaze of friendly gunfire than be executed by the pirates in the end anyway.
Another part of the equation is what the hell are civilian yachts/sailboats doing in that area knowing the high risk.