Well said, ahwiles!!!! and yes, the car insurance part is just icing on the cake

I use it in the winter as well, including riding in snow and muddy slop with no problems, but don't likely ride in as much wet stuff as you do in the UK.

Can you get White Lightning there in the UK. I have tried about every kind I could find and still like it best–I lube about every third ride and it keeps chain really clean in dusty/dry riding conditions here, so think it would work on a cross/commute ride.

I'm 67 (68 in Nov)so I guess I should have stopped riding 18 years ago? I started mountain biking at 50 and still ride 3 days a week on average and one of those days at or above 8000 ft elevation. Maybe I'm already dead and just don't know it. Not the fastest anymore, but sure as hell am not the slowest by a long-shot.

You are right about there being a fair share of bikers who are complete a##es as well who won't give an inch to anyone. In the dead of winter, as long as there isn't a lot of snow on the trails here near Albuquerque, you don't have much in the way of traffic—of course that's when one has to watch for the downhill crowd practicing due to the lack of traffic—gets your adrenalin way up to come around a corned and meet a guy on a 45 lb downhill sled at full throttle.

I thought that the clearcoat might fade/crack here in the US SW, but I ride in 80-100F degree sun all summer and so far no cracking/fading (of course it could also be my eyesight or denial). I do keep it polished with Pedro's Frame Lust (or whatever the name is—it is a silicone polish) and that may be what keeps it. Sun/heat a problem here that just fries anything plastic,like cable housings, etc.
I do agree that the white with the new Fox would look great and Toasty is right about the painted ones much easier to cover up scratches/dings that eventually show up.

I've had the matte black Ibis for two years and it is harder to keep clean looking, but when it is clean/shined up, really stands out, especially with red Chris King hubs/headset, red Ibis Mojo SL linkage and red spoke nipples.
I haven't scratched it except for a couple of small spots, but I'm riding much more sanely at this point in my life. I did put a clear plastic protection sheath all way down the underside of the downtube to keep rocks from dinging it.

++B and agree with BigJohn—make it short, to the point specifically about requirements for the position.
I am in the headhunting business and have to coach people endlessly on their cover letters. Most are way too long and rambling.

It generally takes, on average, 1 1/2 to 2 years to obtain a Masters in the US, going fulltime, but getting a second or third can take much less because one has completed a lot of the core classes.
If that guy is a communicator, then I am a world class downhill racer!! I think maybe his underwear may just be too tight!
Like I'd be voting for him–NOT

Was hiking up in the mountains here in New Mexico several years ago and thunderstorms started building up–just as I got to the top of a mesa at about 9000 ft., a bolt of lightning struck a Ponderosa Pine about 100 yards from me–large tree, probably 150 years old and 125 feet tall. Tree literally exploded, sending fencepost sized chunks of the trunk flying like shrapnel in every direction, some smaller pieces landing around me. Started an instant fire in what was left of the tree, but moments later it started pouring rain, so forest fire averted. My German Shepherd and I set a new world's record for descending 1500 down the side of the mesa to the truck.

Looking over these posts reminded me of someone else I met.
Long time back (around 1990 or so), but had a beer (several actually) with Ozzie Ozborne and his drummer Randy Castillo (also played with Motley Crue and died in 2002) at a hotel bar here in Albuquerque. Randy was from Albuquerque and the bartender, whom I knew, said Ozzie was in town visiting Randy and doing a little drying out (not that one could surmise that based on the number of beers consumed). We stayed in the bar after it closed for a couple of hours. Nice guy, seemed pretty normal and much different than his stage presence.

I'm pretty mechanically apt, but have never really/successfully figured out disc brakes: bleeding, adjusting, etc., so just end up taking it to the bike shop and they do whatever is needed quickly where it would take me hours (and still probably not get it right).

When I was 21 (an earlier lifetime), working for TWA at the Los Angeles airport, on a night shift at the lost baggage office, Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor came in about 10PM to report their luggage didn't arrive with their flight. Took the report and checked with originating station in NY and found their luggage was on a following flight due in about 30 minutes. They decided to wait there in the office, so got to talk with them. She was probably 30-ish and STUNNING–eyes to die for. He had obviously had more than a couple of martinis, but was very engaging and funny. Got the impression he wasn't a guy one would want to cross.
Another time had to take a last minute business trip from LAX to NY and the only seat my company could get was in first class and I got to sit next to the country/bluegrass singer Emmylou Harris. Really nice conversation over the entire flight and she too was very easy on the eye.

Is it my imagination or do many new frames not have the female fittings for bottle cages? My Ibis doesn't. I use the camelback Mule, with the bladder fully loaded for summer rides here in the desert SW/US, but only 1/3 to 1/2 filled in the winter. In summer, I fill the bag almost full of ice cubes, then finish filling with water, so have ice-cold water for entire ride.
I have always like the idea of keeping the frame unweighted as possible, although not sure it really makes a difference.

I went from a Samsung LCD to a Panasonic Plasma—like it much better. Color saturation/richness is really unbelievable. I went the extra and had it professionally calibrated and it does make a difference
Was originally going to buy a LED, but just liked the plasma picture better and viewing angle is much wider
At the end of the day, it's which picture you like best. Don't think you can go terribly wrong with any of the top-tier manufacturers

Been using a Kindle for about 2 months and love it. The 3G download is amazingly fast–book in about 15-20 seconds. I can easily go 3 weeks on a battery charge (reading 1 hour or so each evening)as long as I put it into sleep mode when finished. If you leave the wireless on, the battery doesn't last near as long, but the only reason I turn the wireless on is to download a new book. Haven't tried it for magazines, newspapers. I had put off buying one for a long time and now wish I had done so earlier. One cool feature that I enjoy is if you see a word you don't know the meaning of, just move the cursor to the word and the dictionary meaning pops up at the bottom of the screen.

Same **** happens here in NM, USA. As I posted a couple weeks ago on a thread, a biker hit a thin, stainless steel wire stretched between 2 trees on a narrow singletrack downhill trail. He was only bruised as he hit it chest-high rather than his neck or face. As it was on National Forest land, the Forest Service staked out the area and caught a guy who lived adjacent to the forest land stringing up another wire. Big fine and 90 days in jail. The nails & broken glass has been done as well as people breaking off pieces of Cholla cactus and laying them in low spots on the trail covered with sand

We have that kind of thing happening here in the US as well. Several months ago a guy strung a fine steel wire across a steep downhill, narrow singletrack. Biker hit it, fortunately he hit at at chest height instead of his face or throat. Just severe bruise as his camelback straps, on each side of his chest, absorbed a lot of the hit. It was on National Forest service land just northeast of Albuquerque—they staked the area out and caught a guy who lives adjacent to the forest land out setting up another wire. He paid a $1000 fine and 90 days in the slammer.
Right in the foothills trail system east of the city, someone was burying narrow pieces of wood with nails driven through it in the sand in the bottom of arroyos. Never caught the guy. Another guy got caught in the foothills digging all the rocks out of the trail because he hiked there and didn't like the rocks—$1000 fine for destroying federal property as his handiwork was inside the Sandia Wilderness area.

I had a bilateral hernia done and it was really easy. I was back on my bike in about a week. Also had surgery on plantar fascia that way and recovery again was less than a week. I would opt for it anytime it can be effectively done that way—so much less intrusive.

+1 karinoffnine
Horses know in the first 10 seconds in the saddle whether you know what you are doing—and if not, immediately set to taking full advantage. Been through that knocked off by an upper swinging barn door when I was 8, trying to sneak a ride on my Dad's quarter-horse–of course I didn't have the saddle cinched proper either, so if I hadn't been knocked of, I would probably have found myself dropped on my head under the hooves of said steed.

Anthonyb—great looking Labradoodle
We have two labradoodles, females 4 & 5 years (sisters from different litters) and they are great dogs. Smart (sometimes too much so), easy to train, good with kids, other dogs. I would have another in a minute–in fact starting to look for a third. ours weigh about 65 lbs and shed very little–they are much like labs in that they have that puppy-playfullness until about 3 years. Also love water–lakes, rivers, sprinklers, running hoses, etc. They do love to chase rabbits, squirrels, etc. if they can. My youngest grabbed a dove out of the air while walking the other evening. We walked past a bush where the dove was resting and when it took off, the 'doodle had it in her jaws in a flash–getting her to part with it was quite the task.

Here in New Mexico, wildlife pretty common (even in my front yard in Albuquerque–coyotes, deer, and occasionally a bear wanders down from the mountains and very rarely a mountain lion). In the winter the deer come down from the high mountains to the foothills and it gets your heart-rate cranked up when one jumps across the trail in front of you.

On a ride last weekend in the Jemez mountains in the new Valles Caldera National Preserve, I saw bear, deer, elk, coyotes, numerous eagles & hawks and best of all—- nary a human being all day.

If any of you guys/gals ever come over this way and want a really cool ride, check into the Valles Calderas:

http://www.vallescaldera.gov/comevisit/

You have to make a reservation to ride and they only allow 80 bikes on a given available day(in several rides I never saw more than 6 on the busiest day) and riding only on alternate weekends in the summer (under 6-8 feet of snow all winter). Not a technical/hard ride (except for the 8200-9200 feet in elevation), but pretty magnificent scenery and solitude. Probably 80+ miles of trails/old logging roads and most of all, the wildlife.

Have had the Mojo for almost 18 months and love it. Very nimble, climbs well and overall just a fun bike. I added the Lopes Link and it does stiffen things up–enough to feel it. I can't speak to big jumps/drops as I'm getting too farking old to do that stuff, but for just an overall great trail bike I think it hard to beat (previous bikes: Intense Uzzi, 3 Spesh and an Outland–the first VPP bike–the Mojo reminds me a lot of it. I have the black/clear-coat that shows the carbon overlays—looks cool, but black sure shows the dirt. I'd get another in a heartbeat.

I had issues with a Talas not holding a shorter travel setting and reverting to the longer travel. The LBS messed with a while and finally sent it in to Fox and they did a repair–replaced some of the inner works, but don't recall exactly what. It was no longer under warranty and I recall it cost me a couple hundred dollars/US.

We got one a few years ago, but found it made better adobe bricks and/or doorstops than bread–hopefully they have improved.

We have had springs, air (Select Comfort) and now have a memory foam and it is, from our perspective, the best mattress ever. Not cheap, but ours is 5 years old and not even the slightest sign of an indentation and it really does conform to your body. We do have a sheeps-wool mattress pad which only makes it better. Damn heavy to move around, but you don't really ever need to turn them.

If you do decide to do some riding, let me know and I can check with my LBS guys on what is available rental-wise in the city.

I forgot to mention, but in February you will generally find daytime temperatures in the 45 degree (F) range during the day, sometimes getting up to the low 50's —it is generally starting to warm up a bit in February and by the end of February you can get some days that feel almost spring-like–also can still get a snowstorm. Nice thing about riding the Foothills trails in the winter is there aren't many riders, hikers/runners or horseback riders about—the fair-weather riders don't get back on the trails until end of March.

Lots of biking here in NM. Right on the city limits there is the Foothills trail system–runs along the eastern side of the city up against the edge of the Sandia mountains. Kind of a mix of easy, moderate and some technical riding on the north end . There are probably about 35-40 miles of trails in total. Mix of smooth trail, some old forest service fire roads and singletrack. Plenty of sand and rocks and the occasional rattlesnake to watch for (you won't have to worry about that in February) Except for the periodic snowstorm, the Foothills trail system is usually open 95% of the time.

There are lots of trails on the east side of the mountains, but in February, unless it is an unusually dry winter, they will be covered by anywhere from 2-10 feet of snow. On the east side (in case anyone ever comes in the summer) there is the Sandia Peak trail system, that includes a ski lift ride to the top for those inclined. The ride up is about 8 miles of non-stop climbing with 2000 ft elevation gain and the downhill is about 15 minutes with your hair on fire. Elevation at the ski area start is 8000 ft and the top just over 10,000 ft.
Also on the east side there is the Otero Canyon trail system—probably 30 miles of trail ranging from moderate to extreme technical as well as the Cedro Peak trail system which is probably 40-50 miles of mixed trails, again ranging from fairly easy to extreme technical. Both Cedro peak and Otero Canyon might be open in the winter if is a dry winter.

If it were summer I would suggest Taos/Angel FIre area, the South Boundary trail is exellent–very long, high altitude and pretty technical, but with lots of fast singletrack. Up near Santa Fe (1 hour), there are several trails, including the Windsor trail that runs from Santa Fe up to the ski area–long climb, ranges from moderate to technical.
In the Jemez mountains (1 hr & 15 minutes or so) there are hundreds of miles of trails, both singletrack and forest service roads—mostly moderate, but some tough technical.

The Foothills trail system has trail maps posted everywhere at the several trail heads and easy to get to from anywhere in the city in 5 to 20 minutes.

Agree with footflaps-there are so many trails of just about every description, but I would say that most are more suited for a FS bike, unless one is a masochist looking to beat yourself up.
+1 for South Boundary Trail here in NM, but I wouldn't recommend trying it on a SS unless: see masochist comment immediately preceding

I switched from Blue Groove to Nevagal, front and rear, a couple months ago and so far have been impressed. I had no issue with the Blue Groove, but when it was time for tires, the LBS only had Nevagal in stock, so decided to give them a try. Of course, I am riding in mostly dry, rocky, sandy, desert-like conditions so don't know how they would fare on wetter trails–the most "severe" wet condition I have encountered on them was crossing an 18" wide stream this weekend.

I'm in the executive search business and spent my early career in Human Resources, so have interviewed so many people I wouldn't guess the number—I think what you overheard is the latest "touch-feely" bulls**t
that some recruiters are using. Every year or two, some new "method" comes out and is the rage, especially among those with less/limited recruiting experience.
I have no idea what on earth they think they are learning from such a line of questions. Recruiters who know their stuff will know in the first 5 minutes of conversation whether an individual is going to be a potential fit for the position—and won't need to know the answers to those questions to figure it out.
I would be really embarrassed to even make a fool of myself by asking them. If I were the candidate being asked, I think I would question the judgment of the company that retained the person to do the recruiting.

I've had XTR discs for 3 years and they have been set and forget—until recently. Finally had a rear piston sticking-got good advice on this site on how to unstick it, which worked, but it continued to stick with more frequency, so ended up replacing the entire caliper. I ride in really dusty/dry/sandy conditions and I think eventually enough dust/grit got between the piston and the piston sleeve to cause the problem. Not sure how to prevent that–thought of using high-pressure air compressor to periodically clean all the dust out.
I had Hope discs previously and they required a lot more messing with and were extremely noisy.

Not sure I really had to, but LBS mechanic recommended doing so—in retrospect, not sure what difference it would make unless leaving it in the tire might create wear/abrasion on the tube.

Singletracksurfer–I don't think the Slime for tubes works for tubeless–different formula/consistency, but I didn't try it.

Can you guys get Slime in the UK? The original product was for use in inner-tubes, but they now make a product for use in tubeless. I have had it in the tires for almost 6 months and it is still fluid and no punctures.
I had used Stan's for the last few years with no issues except I recently swapped my tires for new ones and put my old ones on my wife's bike. It doesn't have tubeless rims, so had to use tubes. Getting the old, dried Stan's off the inside of the tires was a task.

Hey Tandem, thanks, that did the trick and freed up the stuck caliper. I am assuming it was just fine dust that had it gummed up. Riding here in the SW US, dust & sand is the biggest culprit–we don't have to worry much about wet conditions.

I just took a close look and I think you are right about the sticking piston. One side of the caliper is closing and the other not. Any ideas on a way to loosen a sticking/stuck piston outside of replacing components?

I guess an increasing number of us, including more and more who voted for him, want him to stop trying to create a socialist society in the country. He is being accused of the same things George W. was about Katrina, in regards to response—-pretty much seen as dithering about more than anything else. Anyway, this isn't a political rant site, no matter which side of the ocean we are on.

I think Hayward did an excellent job of responding to questions that were as hostile as well as mis-informed. Do the DC windbags really think that it isn't in BP's best interest to get the damn well plugged.
As I said in my original post, it's more about posturing than anything else—-God keep me sane until we can vote a whole bunch from both parties out of office.

From my perspective here in the US, I think that bring the BP CEO to the hearing was mostly about posturing, pontificating and getting votes. They were really over-the-top in some of their questions and comments–for the great majority of them, the only thing they know about oil & gas is filling their gas-tank every week. There wasn't anything the CEO could have done or said that would have satisfied the lot of them. Unfortunately, our present congress are a bunch of windbags–not all, but way too many—their concern is getting re-elected and looking tough and "standing up" for their constituents is a way to do it. It also takes the focus off the massive debt they are piling up and so many other things that need attention.
I don't know how much of it hits the press there, but the public's perception of the president's handling of it has been on a downward spiral-even a lot of his own party aren't very pleased.
Our mid-term elections have the potential to be a blood-bath for both parties. Wouldn't make me feel badly.

Here in New Mexico, I live at 6000 feet and ride at an altitude of 6000-9000 feet regularly, so am pretty acclimated, but as soon as I head up into the higher New Mexico/Colorado mountains above 9000 ft, I can really feel it. Last summer I rode the Colorado Trail north of Durango, CO from Molas Pass southward and that trail starts at 10,900 and climbs to about 12,000 at it's highest point. Really a struggle as the first couple miles from the pass must climb a couple thousand feet.
I have read a couple of articles by sports physiologists who say that it takes a few weeks to fully acclimate to big elevation increases.
Of course, when I go somewhere and ride at or near sea level it's like having an afterburner with all the oxygen.