I’m not questioning the fact or anything. More questioning my own possible onset of dementia, as I honestly thought I had ridden it……at Guisborough.

Anyways, this topic reminds me….I need to buy a spare hangar :-)

I thought Hully Gully was at Guisborough. Am I confused?

I like Bowmore. I’m not sure which one I like exactly, but they do a nice smokey one.

I passed one on a ROW the other week while I was waking the dog. Was like the Schwarzenegger of the bull world. The thing was huge, and you could see the muscles rippling out of it. As it happens, because of all the cows, I had decided to jump over the fence with the dog and walk down the adjacent field. And I’m glad I did, because as I passed it (this was the moment I seen it, and I was literally only a couple of feet away on the other side of the fence) I literally pooped myself.

I swear that thing was on steroids.

Aside from the act against bulls (as above), I’m pretty sure there’s also an act banning any dangerous animals on a public ROW.

The issue I have with this, is that it will do nothing to alleviate our cultural problems. But it will impede on the lives of alcoholics. Most of them already living on the edge of poverty. Taking more of their money. And more money from their children. I hardly see it as a better step towards a more positive future…

They’re talking about city centres, where people are happy to spend £50….£100….£300 on a night out… I hardly see 40p a unit making an impact. Not when bars are charging £4 a pint anyways.

And what’s this ‘pre-loading’ term about. Like it’s some dirty hit of heroin before painting the town. So Vodka’s going to go up to £10, rather than the usual £9. That group of four….I’m sure they’ll change their mind and go to the Opera when they see they have to pay an extra 25p each to ‘pre-load’…

Absolute drivel. I’d genuinely welcome a rational and reasoned counter-argument. Rather than the dude on the radio this morning who thought a tenner was a reasonable amount to spend on a night out… Clueless.

Think the legal limit’s down to abut half a pint fr your average person now isn’t it?

Those Rhythm section manuals are awesome. Love it.

On your average mountain bike the chainstays are quite long and so you have to get your weight right back – almost sitting on the back wheel. I used to dabble a bit with BMX when I was younger, and I really struggle on an MTB sometimes.

But…what a lot of people don’t realise, is the amount of practice that goes into these things. No one can teach you how to do it – though it’s a big help to watch someone do it. It’s something you have to learn yourself.

99% of the time I find that everyone is just enjoying the countryside, same as yourself, and usually very welcoming. Or they just ignore you.

Had one bloke threaten to knock me out the other week when I politely aired my views on cycling on public footpaths, in response to his vocal aggression. His reasoning was that if I could ‘break the law’, then so could he.

It pains me to say it though, but I can understand why some walkers get upset with experiences of cyclists buzzing past them at speed. It doesn’t take much to slow down, and/or give them a bit of room. As above, it can be quite intimidating for them. Especially if they have dogs – which in my opinion have every much right as yourself to roam. I don’t see any need to grant ‘right of way’ to any particular group. A little common sense and courtesy always ensures everyone has a pleasent day out.

Eat too many pies, ride anywhere between 20 and 150 miles per week, and work in IT.

Had someone pull up to the right of me at a crossroads the other day. Then he decided to turn left….I was going right.

I too would like to know where I can get these bar end plugs.

I remember talking to a homeless guy years ago. He was sleeping in an old abandoned warehouse, which also happened to be a very crude skatepark, used by ourselves. He had travelled down from Edinburgh and was only staying there a few nights.

We ended sitting down with him, and talking for hours. I don’t think we even skated that day. Really nice bloke, but by this point he had spent near 20 years on the streets, and whilst he had gotten by in the past, he was fed up with it. Which is what brought him across our path. He’d come down for some scheme for homeless people, hoping to do something about his situation. I wonder what he’s up to now…

Cool. Except I can’t help but think of the Chronicles of Riddick now.

I’m out of the loop. Is this a prequel to Alien?

He said it was cold (really?) and after a while boring (again, really?). He said what grated on him in the end…

Some people really don’t appreciate the chance to experience something like this. Which is fair enough, I suppose – it’s pretty nuts to relish in the opportunity to spend months in the most inhospitable conditions on earth! It’s just your average person would rather spend a week in Ibiza.

It all depends where you fit in that spectrum. I’d love to go, personally. Spending ‘months’ there would be a bit of a challenge mind, I’m sure, but if that was my opportunity…

Can you take a bike??

Dreamweaver probably isn’t bad for email as they’re generally still built with tables due to the lack of support in anything more modern – as monkey says, it’s a bit of a minefield.

I’m sure mailchimp or campaign monitor will have templates you can use though, which is probably a safer bet.

I dont mean to be flippant (I really dont mean to be flippant) but seriously who the hell would want a job for life as a coal miner? Thats ultimately what the Miners Strike was all about…..was she really wrong?

It was all just a little before my time, so I don’t have strong opinions either way despite the fact that I lived in (and still do) one of the worst affected areas of the country. I just find it hard to agree because everyone tells me I should. And the above has always resonated with me … It’s a very valid comment. Would you want to send your children down the pits? From the people I’ve spoken to there’s not a worse job out there…

I’m sure if I was teleported back to the 80s I would dislike her. But was she wrong? I’m genuinely not sure.

Though I’m sure we all want the big box, for the occasional home mechanic on a budget, I can recommend the slightly less impressive, but infinitely more affordable, 18 piece 3/8 set for £19.99.

The 1/4 kits are still full price, but you could add one of those too and still keep the budget under £50.

Well worth the money.

For me relaxation activities are ‘things that I want to do’ which are rarely things that actually help me to relax.

This is an important understanding. Many people ‘relax’ watching the telly, drinking a beer, reading a book, messing about on STW, etc. But these activities are all mentally stimulating…

Physical activities such as mountain biking are quite different in that they often push thoughts to one side while you concentrate on the here and now, which incidentally is exactly what you do during meditation.

So mountain biking can certainly be equated, but if you really want to relax, though riding will undoubtedly help, a few minutes of proper meditation on a regular basis will go a long way.

Not sure you can with a 450d. Not sure you can’t either, mind (my experience is with a 350d and a 30d). Seen several methods for various models, but I think some of them are to be taken with a pinch of salt. Canon never made it easy to grab the shutter count.

It can be difficult to get into at first. It’s kinda like riding. You need that push to get yourself out of the door initially when it looks cold and wet, but after a while it becomes what you do, part of your routine and you almost feel disjointed without it…

Who’s Nick Clegg?

Seriously, if the Lib Dems only just grew some balls and vocally challenged the tories as being as set of *******s, then they might have stood a chance in the future.

Their uninspiring time in government however has made them look like nothing more than a bunch of showboaters who wanted to be on the telly.

OK, maybe I worded that wrong. Yes, I’m refering to the privately owned car. But the rest applies. Our industry is built around our ability to commute.

The trouble is, the current economic structure is built around a modern transport system. I live in the ‘commuter belt’, an area that was built around local industry during the turn of the last century. That indusrty, which employed around 25k people was shut down pretty much overnight, leaving us with the worst rate of unemployment in the country.

Loads of money was ploughed back in over the years, in an attempt to attract new business. And it never came. Instead, the area recovered despite all of this. People ventured further afield to look for work, and people even moved in with housing developments popping up on every corner…

And so we have a healthy thriving area with no industry of its own. I commute by both bike and car, but given the altitude, it makes it hard work. And I work on the closest possible edge of the city.

The modern world is built around the car. I’d happily take a job closer to home, and I’d take a pay cut for it, but there isn’t any.

Don’t get me wrong, there’s a lot of people who can cycle to work and choose not to. Because it’s not really in our culture to do so. But there are many that have little choice in the matter.

Sorry, I didn’t realise there was a Blyth in Nottinghamshire. Very confusing.

I’m guessing this is the single lane sections of the A1. And that article should say Northumberland, not Nottinghamshire. But very sad.

If you use Super Resin Polish you will need to wax it afterwards, as the polish will not last long at all by itself.

My Auriga Comps were pretty easy to bleed (done it several times as they sprung a piston leak). Remove nipple on caliper and attach hose. Remove bleed nut on the lever, and insert hose for less mess. Then loosen the bleed port with the hose attached on the caliper and push your new fluid through with a syringe.

That was along the lines of how I done it.

I once had someone bump into my car in the carpark at work. Minimal damage and I wasn’t in the car at the time (I was sat watching from my desk), and the police wanted to charge the driver with leaving the scene of the accident.

I think it’s positive that the Policewoman was also a cyclist, as leaving someone lying in the middle of a roundabout after you’ve smashed into them with over a ton of metal is not really on!! I’m sure she will appreciate that.

Definitely claim for any damage.

I just replaced a 300bhp JDM import with a run of the mill Honda Civic. Phoned the insurance company to tell them I’d changed cars and their initial response was that they would continue the monthly direct debits as normal – at the same price!

Another phonecall explaining that they were taking the pi$$ and those monthly payments dropped quite dramatically…

Insurance companies always start with the highest price and work down from there, depending on your reaction.

Doesn’t matter how you ride really. The perception of your average motorist is that you shouldn’t be in their way…

I’m guessing the Orange was a steel frame (P7 or the like). Which you can get away with doing (one of the advantages of steel).

If you do that with an alu frame it is liable to explode underneath you.

Hi guys, the new design is just an interim holding page before we fully implement the new Singletrackworld, which will be mostly Flash based and will look something like this.

Haha. Good effort. But two weeks early.

Took a couple of weeks for dispatch when I ordered on there, and another couple of weeks in transit…

Molgrips:

How can there be a ‘perfect’ white balance? Surely you adjust it to get the effect you want?

The grey card method grum mentions above will always give you an accurate white balance, with correct colour tones and no unsightly casts. Thus near enough perfect. If you want colour casts, or innacurate tones, then fair do’s, it might look great, but I’m refering to the way they would be seen with the human eye in their natural context.

I’ve never looked back since I started shooting RAW. As grum says, RAW doesn’t save white balance in any way, and by using a grey card you can get it pretty much 100% perfect, if you want to put that level of effort into it. But shooting jpeg you’re limited to a handful of options which don’t always turn out that great even when you think you have them set right.

And that’s before you set all the jpeg settings in the camera. The resultas are so much better when you can do that after the picture has been taken, I find.

It’s a preference thing really, but I’d urge anyone to give it a try.

I wouldn’t rule out compact and bridge cameras. They often produce more satisfying results straight out of the box. Especially when only used on the web. Easier to carry on the bike, and for the price of a bottom of the range dSLR you’ll get a decent bit of kit.

No. By law they’re obliged to sell at the advertised price once they’ve accepted your order. Ie, if they’ve taken payment, they have to honour it. Until then it’s what’s called an “invitation to treat” – there’s no onus on them to agree to the sale.

That makes sense.

I managed to order two, one of my mates ordered six. You won’t see them delivered though but there is always hope

I think by law you have to sell at the advertised price. So they are obliged to send it out to you.

I’m sure there’s a loophole in there somewhere though…

Looks like it’s been taken down now anyways. No iPad for me :( Ha.

Interesting, as I’m doing the speed limit, and you think it’s safe to undertake at 80-90mph+ ?

Whilst there’s plenty of annoyances on the road, such as lane stayers (even if they are doing the speed limit…they can do that in the left hand lane and let everyone else get on with their business). The single worst and most dangerous thing on the roads is impatiance.

Undertaking, or even overtaking people in dangerous ways really isn’t acceptable under any circumstances. Driving a little slower than you would ideally like is hardly a crime in comparisson.

It never fails to amaze me how many people will admit to their anti-social and bullying behaviour in these threads. As if it is acceptable.

Is there a loop up at Blanchland taking in a little singletrack, there is a route in purdy’s book, but only on green lanes as far as i know.

I think one section on the map above is green lane. The section that goes through Blanchland itself (in the center) is road. And most of the rest of it is singletrack (far left and far right on the map). It’s a really enjoyable route, and should be decent with the current weather. But it depends what kinda thing you like. The single track is mildly technical in places.