Daverambo speaks the truth.

Bugger – there goes my reputation…

I’ve had a few interviews over the years where I’ve walked out – some physically and some mentally so as to not be rude.

It tends to be where I’m asked to do something that is so not relevant to the job, where I’m left waiting for a long time or talked to in a condescending manner.

In all cases I decided that I don’t want to work for an organisation that thinks it’s appropriate to treat potential employees/colleagues in that way.

It’s a 2 way interview in my view – not about them deciding if i can do the job/fit into the culture, but also they need to sell to me why I should commit a significant part of my life to their company. I guess I’ve been lucky in that I’ve always had a job when I’ve been for interviews but I’d struggle to work for someone who thinks it’s fine to leave someone waiting for an hour.

Agree that it looks lovely.

With all the crap weather we’ve had I’ve been pondering something simpler and more weather proof – this looks exactly that.

Looking forward to a ride report.

Mrs R worked at Tate Modern for many years so I’ve seen an awful lot of stuff – particularly like the Rothko’s

I think the one that stands out for me is Yves Klein’s IKB 79 at Tate Modern.

You have to understand the process and actually see it to ‘get it’.

It’s not just a blue canvas

I have a Medussa 1.8 – I’m 76kg and run it at about 30 – 35psi for my local trails where there is nothing really that will cause pinch flats.

As there’s not a lot of volume in it you need the pressure to be a bit higher, I tend to go for feel though rather than rely on the pressure gauge – I like to have a reasonable amount of give in it.

I’d suggest trying 35 to 40psi and see how it feels.

as long as you’re prepared, which you seem to be, then go.

Life’s an adventure – just be careful.

I’m not surprised.

They just don’t compete well with online in my experience.
We rent from a local Blockbuster and they have had offers that encourage you to get one or two more films – the price for 4 films ended up less than 2 films via the apple TV so we used them a lot.

Then for some bizzare reason they stopped it and hence we stopped renting – I told the staff and they rolled their eyes.

It’s a real shame as I quite like the physical browsing but when it ends up being the same or more expensive than online with fines for late return why would you rent from them.

I really don’t get the don’t wear a helmet view.

It won’t help in lots of incidents but it will protect your head if that has an impact.

There isn’t a cost vs benefit argument either – what would you pay to not have a head injury. No matter how small the risk you percieve of an impact on your head due to your skill level etc there is a chance you will have a head impact when someone out of control plows into you, and for £30 it could save your life or a severe injury.

I’m all for personal choice and all that I just don’t get it.

Good on you for speaking out – if more people did things like this we’d have a more tolerant society.

I’d be tempted to find out who the owner is and write them a letter.
If that was the owner I’d name and shame.

I got for for Xmas, as did my wife and daughter and we’re all very happy with them.

We’ve charged from a number of sources, mains USB plug, MacBook, main home PC all fine – as you’d expect.

I also expected the off light setting to really turn it off but it doesn’t, and I wish it did but it’s a minor niggle.
In general I think the light is good – allows one of us to read in bed if the other wants to sleep, my daughter can read in the car if travelling at night.

I think for kids they are brilliant as they get exposed to a wider range of books than they would normally think about. Being able to get a sample has led my daughter to read a biography that she would never normally have wanted to.

Not quite a correct statement.

The mass of a spring is more when compressed (ie there is more stuff)
It’s weight is dependent on gravity.

Take any object into space and its mass stays the same but it’s weight becomes effectively zero

</pedantic>

Catton Park may be 40ish miles away but it’s not

“completely virgin mountain bike territory – a private location never before used for cycling in any way”

I think it’s a good move and one they had to make after last year.

With all the rain we’ve had the past few months and entries only a few weeks away, staying at Eastnor would have had a lot of people not bothering this year I think.

I don’t get why some people are saying it’ll be north of Eastnor in a high population area – the press release talks of Forrest tracks. I’d give Pat some credit for knowing what makes a decent course and wherever it is it’ll be a new challenge rather than the same bits of track at Eastnor.

Bring it on I say – all sounds like a good thing.

I’ve backed my first one recently – an updated multi-player version of Elite.
Was the first game that really made me think WOW on the old BBC micro.

Kickstarter is good for this sort of project I think – Normal publishing companies don’t want to take the risk so several thousand people backing it shows there is a demand/market.
I think it reached it’s funding goal today.

Elite Dangerous

*Raises hand*

Have to say I was well chuffed – can’t wait to get stuck into it.

As others have said ‘fat burning’ is a bit of a myth.
You lose fat when you take in less calories than you use.

You can take in less calories by eating less/lower calorific food.
You can use more calories by increasing exercise or increasing your base metabolic rate (the amount of energy you need to just exist) You can do this by increasing muscle as it’s a live tissue (unlike fat) that needs energy to exist.

My understanding is that…

Very high intensity exercise causes the body to release hormones to decrease insulin and increase glycogen breakdown from the muscles – to provide glucose – this then triggers the replacement of the glycogen which is quite slow. The high intensity exercise also causes muscle damage which takes energy to repair, and increases muscle strength.

You have to deplete all your glycogen stores before you burn fat – and you’ll bonk/hit the wall first.

Late to the thread – 36 pages crikey.

I’m off to Val Thorens in Feb half term again.
Expensive but amazing runs. Going with friends who always go there but next year I think we’ll try somewhere else.

Tempted by a new jacket as my current one is many years old – anyone have any experience of a North Face Bansko ?
Any other suggestions around £200.

I’m a big fan of decent suppliers be that LBS or online.

I’ve bought 3 bikes in the past few years.

First was a Yeti ASR bought from the LBS. They sorted out a test ride, did a deal on the price that I was happy with ( I could have gone cheaper via the internet) and threw in some XTR pedals at cost.

I went back there for other bits and clothing for ages as the staff knew me and showed me stuff they thought I might like plus I got an automatic discount. Got the bike serviced as they did it at a reasonable cost as well.

Second was a road bike – bought via the cycle to work scheme. Went into LBS to see if they could do anything to compete and they couldn’t go got a team boardman from Halfords.

Then they swapped staff – the main mechanic left and the service went downhill. I became just another customer and when the servicing wasn’t done as it had before I stopped going in.

Third bike was a Ti frame custom built up – Bought the bits from anther shop after they offered a similar level of service. They want to know me, what I like, suggested components, signed up to be suppliers of stuff they didn’t have. Result is I’m now spending £1200 with them again upgrading the Yeti.

Now I’m probably not the average customer but I spend my money where I get the best service. I would often just stop in to look around and say hi

As to why people don’t come back – I imagine it’s because they don’t need to. If you service yourself (or don’t service) have enough riding kit, then there may be no need to go back.

At a festival a few years ago I lost a contact lens while taking it out, after a beverage or 2.
I was sat in the car with the door open at the time and spent an hour trying to find it as I didn’t have a spare.

Gave up and went to bed.

In the morning went to the car to get something and saw it on the floor by the car door. How on earth it wasn’t walked on is beyond me and how I saw it with no lenses in is equally unbelievable as I can’t see beyond a few inches with out assistance.

I’ve got the Canon 50mm prime lens. As davidjones says it’s plastic but very good optics.

Well worth the £60 or so I paid for it.
I use it a lot as it’s very small and light and so easy to take with you.

Anything better adds a 0 to the price.

To make money consistently you have to have an edge, that is the probabilities need to be in your favour.

With casino games this is impossible (discounting card counting) but with other forms of gambling it can be.

Bookies tend to not care who wins an event, they only care about the over round (or the sum of the odds always being over 1)

If you can calculate the true odds (or more accurate odds) then it is possible to make money, consistently.

I used to do fixed odds football many years ago and focussed on the lower divisions where I could commit more time and effort than the bookies would. I had about 5 years of making money and packed it in when I couldn’t commit the time.
On fixed odds you can make money if the bookies initial are far enough away from the real odds to give you an edge – as they are published almost a week before games then you can use information that they didn’t have to get this edge.

A good example is that one team has a key striker who gets injured midweek, reducing the teams probability of winning. You have this knowledge and the bookies can’t adjust the fixed odds to reflect this (the opposition would have a better chance of winning now so you may decide to back them for the draw or win)

+1 for roofbox.co.uk

I bought some whisper bars plus a Kamai Corvara box 2 years ago. Both are quality.
Not the cheapest but there is no wind noise, they are well made and very secure.

I’ve started buying mine from hawesandcurtis.com

Up there with the best I’ve had, very good quality and well priced.
They often have offer with the current one being 3 formal shirts for £79.

Delivery is excellent – by DPD with an hour slot given and always, so far, met.

I won’t be buying anywhere else from now on.

Sounds familiar.

I have some 2009 SLX brakes and they have recently been doing the same thing with the front being worse than the back.

I have sanded pads, cleaned discs etc. Been very very careful with cleaning but to no avail. New pads are fine for a ride or two then they start to squeal and then scream.

I’m now almost certain it’s a leak as after a month or so the front brake is pulling back further than it used to /should.

I’ve just spend a couple of hours removing and cleaning everything but it all looks fine. Am on holiday next week so will spend some more time stripping it down and see where I get.
I’m on the verge of upgrading kit on the bike so may decide not to bother – I’m going to get Hope Tech V2 Evo’s as replacements.

I passed my test just before the law changed.
Up until then I’d been a mad cyclist, riding too fast, broken collar and wrist etc.

I would repeat what most others have said.
Get lots of training.

I did an intensive course and took the option of 2 extra days to ‘just go riding’ with the instructor and it was the best thing I did.

I bought a Bandit 600 as my first bike and it scared the hell out of me (well it’s potential did), but it made me respect the power and ride well within my skills.
A 125 is dangerous IMO, a bigger bike has the power and more to keep up in traffic, the brakes to stop and more of a presence.

I’ve ridden for about 20 years, now on a 1250 Bandit, always assume the worst and never had a close shave.

Passing my test all those years ago was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. Buy the best kit you can afford ( it’s not cheap you know) and enjoy.

I have a set of Medussas and at Mayhem this year they were amazing.

On my local trails where it’s mixed they perform as rocketman describes.
Brilliant in the mud, sticky on the road, squirmy on hardpack and interesting on roots.

On my ipad it took ages to connect and the quality was crap.
On the Macbook it all works perfectly.

Not the most exciting thing I’ve ever watched but that’ll change in a bit when he gets high enough

I’ve worked for a few small companies/start-ups and have/ would have welcomed a decent share of the company in favour of employment rights but then I could have easily got another job so I had nothing to lose.

The main problem with this idea is that some employers will take advantage of people who don’t really understand what this means, the exact people for whom employment rights exist.

You offer someone 5000 shares in a company and it sounds a lot until they work out that there are 25,000,000 shares so they are in effect worthless. Shares are only worth anything when they are traded on an open market and you can easily sell them.

Normal employee share schemes for publicly traded companies are a great example of motivating staff to stay put and they are rewarded with cheap shares. This new idea is the other end of the company lifecycle, new companies whose shares aren’t easily traded as you are often restricted by who you can sell to, and even if the company will buy them back the value is an arbitrary value, not set by market demand.

It’s a crock of crap designed to reward owners and shaft employees.

</rant>

If ever there was a sign that you need a road bike – this is it.

You need to jump before you come to your senses.

On radio 5 this morning I heard a private investigator being interviewed about it.

When he was fed the line about this being a very rare occurrence – no doubt fed it to stop parental panic – he jumped in saying it certainly happens as kids play outside and are vulnerable, its waiting to happen etc

Just what people want to hear – and I’m sure it’s not a common occurrence in the way he was suggesting.
Not often I shout at idiots on the radio.

Fingers crossed – can’t imagine what the family are going through.

My advice is to just ride it with the tyres it comes with.

Only think about changing them once you’ve done a bunch of rides and got used to how the bike rides and if there are areas where they don’t feel great.

I run Ralphs all year apart from when the mud is stupidly bad (Mayhem) when I run Medussas.

No real problems on most stuff I ride – you don’t need to swap tyres for the conditions unless you’re racing and it’ll really make a difference.

I own an iPad and had a play with a Nexus 7 at the weekend and given the choice right now if I owned neither I’d get a Nexus 7.

We use the iPad for games and internet surfing at home only, usually in the lounge occasionally elsewhere.

The Nexus is easier to handle, although that’s less of an issue if your sat on the sofa and has a nice textured back that makes it easier to grip. The smaller screen wouldn’t be that much of an issue as it’s got a decent resolution – but the major part is it’s so much cheaper and yet has the same quality feel about it.

I have a pair of MW80’s that I’ve had for 2 or 3 years.

They’ve been pretty good and I’d replace them with the MW81’s if I needed to right now.

Water can get inside via the neoprene cuff but in my experience only when it’s really wet and on an all day ride.

The velcro straps struggled with the Mayhem mud this year on the third lap with no cleaning. I tend to hose them down with a washer while on my feet and they are fine.

Boots are only decently priced if they are properly waterproof.

I wear some Shimano MW80 boots and they are largely waterproof, the only downside being they don’t cope with water running down your leg into the boot on an all day ride. They cost £100ish and have lasted me 2 winters so far – very well made IMO.

Saw a tip from someone on a forum who cut the fingers off a latex glove and used the hand part to seal their leg to below the neoprene cuff and reported it worked a treat – It’s on my list of things to try this winter.

Well

Singletrack isn’t like any other MTB mag – and hence it’s why I buy it – I’m exactly the target reader.

I also ride a road bike, really enjoy it but I’m not a roadie and roadie mags hold little interest. Most of my road riding has been on my own or with one mate until recently when I found a local club without an attitude.

So if there was anyone who could bring out a road mag issue to appeal it’d be the Singletrack boys.
Twice a year sound about right for my level of interest.

I’d like to see articles that mirror the sorts of questions asked in the forums.

– reviews to help buy a bike
– what to expect at different price points
– the different group sets
– Frames
– Wheels – how much !!
– something to drool over

– some adventures similar to the offroad stuff in the mag
– road etiquette – riding in a group etc

Count me in

I’ve got all sorts of leg attire – normal shorts, bib shorts, 3/4 bib shorts and leggings.

I find that I’ve tended to wear my DHB 3/4 bib shorts as the weather gets colder and it’s enough. Feels a bit chilly to start but you soon get warm.
I do wear leggings over normal bib shorts as well but it’s often to make it easier to remove all the muddy stuff before I go inside the house and it’s often too warm unless it’s very cold.

When it’s approaching zero it’s bib shorts + leggings. I’m going to get some Roubaix bib shorts at some point.

If it’s chucking it down I sometimes wear some waterproof baggies to keep the water off.

Ah – I didn’t say it wasn’t cool – just that no-one else had said it was and uphillcursing seemed to think we were saying that it was.

It’s a skill that, like most other skills, needs practise to get right.

Having skills is cool.

I don’t recall anyone saying it was ‘cool’.

If you’re commuting and clipped in it allows you to get away from lights faster than cars so they are aware of you and you can ‘assert your presence’ or whatever you’re supposed to do.

so it could be argued that it’s a skill that makes you safer on the road.

If I was in a similar situation,I’d make it a personal crusade to annoy the hell out of him.

That will give you control especially if he dislikes you for challenging his ideas.
Just keep yourself whiter than white and your challenges are valid and not petty.

Don’t let his ignorant comments wind you up and remember it’s just a job.