Brilliant place – on the interface between 4 different regions and the sea. Serious riding in the mountains up behind.

Lucky you!

Madeira – the recent mag articles do not over-hype it.
It’s a blast!

Is your clavicle broken, or are the ligaments which connect it to the other shoulder bones sheared?

Reason I ask is that this is what I did to myself 3 weeks ago – hit big rut concealed on very overgrown track locally and catapulted myself into the adjacent deep ditch, landing on my R shoulder.

Got back on the bike and slowly rode home (automatic pilot I think) but knew I wasn’t right. My shoulder and chest was very painful, and my clavicle was sticking up at a odd angle.

Thus to A&E, X-rays etc – sheared in 3 places. Back home. Alcohol helped. At first it was thought I would need surgery, but after a week or so I went back to see the shoulder specialist at the fracture clinic, and he was pleased with my progress. So no surgery, but physio – which eventually starts on Friday.

But I have made good progress. I’ve been back on the bike and driving for about a week, and can do most things with my R arm bar lift very heavy weights and toss the caber. Bit painful at night in bed, but a good dose of Cocodamol ensures that I sleep. Just hope the physio can straighten out my still wonky clavicle angle – it still sticks up and hasn’t yet reconnected with the other bones.

So ensure you get a good longer term prognosis from a consultant who is a shoulder specialist – and then appropriate follow up, including TIMELY physio.

Good luck!

Ironic that Mike Parish Care UK CEO is talking about ‘false loyalty to traditional models and organisations’, when what Care UK and their ilk (hello SERCO, hi ATOS, yo G4S) are operating is one of the most traditional models of all – leaching public funds to asset strip public services in order to run these services badly and run them down – and then run away with the profits, leaving the state to pick up the pieces.

Haven’t we been here before? Isn’t this why the state took over the running of most public services in the first place? Because the private sector couldn’t be trusted to run things consistently, reliably and equitably? Snouts in the trough, shareholders and CEOs making killings, while staff and service users are left shivering in the cold of the sheer inadequacy of the private sector’s ability to run the proverbial piss up in the national brewery.

But this will not change until we decide to challenge the mantra that ‘private is best’. This is the song that’s been sung by different singers since 1979 – Thatcher, Major, Blair, even Brown and his chums, and now this remarkable con-man Cameron with his ideological storm troopers Osborne and Boris Johnson. We have to spell it out – they are WRONG and they are FLEECING US ALL!

I have an XL and it’s fantastic. Bought S/H one here (£20 I think).
Comfortable yes, windproof yes, waterproof – no of course not, but it does dry out in about 10 minutes. Can’t knock it.

As a whole bike it’s probably worth about 50% of the new price in original spec – as njee20 says, the XTR isn’t so much an upgrade as an alternative choice to XX.

Whatever price you decide, please let me know (email in profile). Thanks.

From Walberswick there are a variety of bridleways (occasionally footpaths, but just be nice and polite to walkers) which lead you towards Dunwich. There you have the Forest and the Heath, and lots of tracks and trails. Not waymarked just natural – but all the better for that. 2 or 3 hours fun to be had, and try and end up taking the path along the crumbling cliff edge behind the ruined priory – lovely gully which spits you out almost on the beach!

As others have said, Tunstall and Rendlesham Forests are a bit further, and both have lots of trails. Look at the TROG website.

Then Thetford, approx. an hour and a quarter away, but with all the waymarked trails you have heard of, plus a whole range of other more secret twisty routes through the trees.

And I haven’t even mentioned places like Knettishall Heath and Alton Water.

So no absence of off road riding, and the twisty turny uppy downy makes up for the lack of absolute elevation IMO.

Enjoy!

It may be a no brainer to you, tinytimbo, but he’s correct – in the current cycling boom, roadie riding is seen as cool as aspirational, whereas MTB riding is seen as…….odd. No doubt this is fuelled by the Tour and its various spin offs, and ex-MTB riders who are now roadie whippets that I talk to say it is the speed of a good road race bike which seduces them. Humph!

Personally I agree with you – tarmac is inherently limiting and boring, and the trouble with roadie riding is that you can never get ‘out there’ (gestures to distant track on hillside), and you’ve always got a car up yer bum. Plus I love to see wild places and wild life. But we’re in a minority I’m afraid old chum………….

The whole MTB wheelsize debate in this context just adds to the bemusement that most roadies feel when they look at mountain biking.
Face it – we are perceived as ‘odd’!

Bollocks!
Echo most of the other comments about 26″ wheels being more fun and more, um, visceral in feel. For me 29ers feel like eating comfort food all the time, whereas I feel the need for a bit of spice. My sole 650b experiment so far has been OK, but while the bike rolls well, it’s less manoeuvrable in a tight space and lacks the fun factor. That may be down to the frame, so I’m switching the kit to a Santa TR frame to see if that feels better (with the proviso that I can switch it back to 26″ if I want).

But a good 26″ bike remains good.

Re obsolescence or suggestions thereof, think music. Remember all the ‘vinyl’s dead’ guff in the wake of CDs, and then again once downloading became popular? And look at how cool vinyl is deemed to be now. All the best DJs etc………….

Hope that helps? No doubt somebody will shoot me down, accuse me of trolling, suggest that fat wheels are the future, but that’s debate.

I had it done by a fella in Norwich last year. Great results one year on. Email in profile if you want me to dig out details.

Reasons are a) massive cuts in LA budgets (hence the way they in turn massively underfund home care and residential care – result crap care for the most vulnerable, giving rise to all the scandals we hear of) and b) unimaginative and jobsworth senior management in social care who doggedly refuse to stand up to government publicly and tell them some home truths, and c) as jojoA1 says, the introduction of rubbish private sector corporations into both health and social care who manage to be simultaneously inefficient and money grabbing.

So we end up with total fragmentation of health and social care behind all the rhetoric of joined up thinking and pooled budgets. Neither the ConDems nor sadly Labour have answers here. Their introduction of the private sector has just made things worse. Perhaps only the Greens (yes really!) have the right idea.

But the other sad thing are that there are so many people working in this sector (hello jojo A1 and wanmankylung!) who are committed to good public services and want to make a difference. And no-one in senior management and government listens to them. Bottom up not top down I say. Listen to the workers’ voices.

What sort of rehab unit, wanmankylung? If neuro rehab, email me (in profile) and I might have some ideas for you.

Campers – worn them for years.
Great styles, very well made, very comfy – and they last and last. I have a couple of pairs from 2002! Made in Majorca.

Here in Suffolk emails/calls to the County Council do sometimes result in an inspection and normally the local farmer being asked to clear the blocked route. However, sometimes the farmers say the Council should do it, and the Council says it’s for the farmers to do, and……so on!

Agree with CG though – local tracks and trails have never been so overgrown. Mainly due to a very wet winter and funding cuts. The former is beyond our immediate control, the latter (believe it or no) are not. Accepting ‘we’re all in it together’ leads to passivity. Council budget cuts are not inevitable like bad weather. They’re decisions taken by people who like us to believe that we should pay for the financial sector’s screw ups. I find locally that only the Green Party councillors have a robust attitude to keeping rights of way clear.

I often go out with secateurs in my back pack, occasionally shears. And I hassle the Council. ‘Every little bit helps…’

Fox Flux unless you want really deep coverage.

It is too – fascinating, though at times totally bonkers.

My wife would say differently though – as she gets tired and heads for bed all her musical tolerance and curiosity stays downstairs. Creaky door music comes on – Oh my god, what is this rubbish? Do you actually LIKE this? Not necessarily darling, but I find it ‘interest. ARGH!! Slams door. 2 minutes later……..zzzzzzzzz

Citizen Eco Drives are excellent value IMO, and look at least as good as Seikos, but a bit more bang for your buck. Shared engineering/manufacturing facilities and both very reliable.

Tissots worth a look too.

Not far to Alton Water, just south of Ipswich.
Approx 8 mile loop round the reservoir, not very technical but has 3 or 4 short but very sharp climbs. Better again is the 3 mile ‘cheeky section’ (marked as footpath only) round the north bit of the lake – some great singletrack and more technical.

Further into Suffolk are of course Rendlesham, Tunstall, and Thetford forests.

All the things/places that Bear/Yossarian said – but please note: Ashford itself is a DUMP.

Saabs used to be wonderful and totally robust but GM took over and donated more and more of their dodgy parts and poor reliability until they destroyed Saab altogether.

The 2nd generation 9-3 is the worst offender. The petrol turbo engine isn’t too bad and has no horrendous outstanding issues. But the general build quality is much worse than on older Saabs. Everything – suspension, alloy wheels, interior – has a more limited shelf life, after which time it auto-destructs. But the worst is the wiring and electrics. Constant glitches as they grow older, which become more and more expensive to fix. I have had to scrap a 55 reg TiD Sportwagon with 170K miles on the clock because of repeated wiring loom faults, and associated failure of things like the ABS and traction control systems.

However they do drive well if the suspension’s straight.

If you do go for the convertible, find yourself a good local Saab specialist. They know the cars and what goes wrong, and try to repair stuff rather than replace everything as the ex-main dealers still do. Wherever you are in the UK, contact David Greenwood at Saabflight (01323449908) who is very knowledgable and honest, and will steer you to a good deal – plus he has a yard full of old Saabs and Saab parts.

Good luck.

Lovely worldview you’ve got there jfletch – really positive.
Please don’t follow through your own logic and go and see those nice people in Switzerland on a one-way ticket………..

So what about COLLECTIVE ACTION? Joining together rather than blaming each other? Pointing the angry collective finger at THEM UP THERE rather than at him and her and them who’re actually just like us? But older (or younger). CHANGING SOMETHING?

Ooh no, too risky.

Oh robdixon – you really are the people’s champion aren’t you?
What will it be next – an explanation of slavery as voluntary assistance with personal care and chores around the house?

Tenerife’s like the surface of the moon – all volcanic lava. Some great canyons but don’t come off unless you fancy your skin in a cheese grater.

I’m selling a size L 575 because it’s a bit too tall for me with a dropper post – and I’m 6′. Length is OK though. Suspect that given the ASR-5 has a longer top tube, you’ll be fine with size M. Depends on whether you like to feel stretched out or not.

Shell, sadly you talk nonsense.
The Fens have more land below sea level than anywhere else in the UK, and are far bigger than the Levels. But no uncontrolled flooding there, despite mega rainfall. Why? Proper drainage. The Dutch engineers under Vermeyden did the job properly in the C17th, and it has been maintained professionally since then. That’s all it takes.

Total governmental cop-out – and then they blame the EA for not providing the leadership which they themselves should give.

Add to that the inertia and lack of help over the last 6 weeks, as dave rudabar says, and no wonder people would like to string up Cameron, Patterson and even Eric Pickles (if they could find a hoist strong enough).

But really Tory suicide – rightly or wrongly, most folk in the Levels and surrounding Somerset have been core Tory voters. Not any longer…!

We moved nearly 6 years ago from the packed urban SE to the edge of a small village in the middle of nowhere in Suffolk. I have been itinerant most of my life, and lived in city, town and country before, but for my wife this was the first time out of her comfort zone. She loved the look of it as we were planning the move, but I have to say that the adjustment took her a couple of months or so. For exactly the same reason that others mention – absence of immediate shops, fuel stations, and just……..urban people proximity. But now she hates London when she returns! Neither of us want to live anywhere else.

And yes, having off-road rides from the doorstep is a bonus, though she perhaps sensibly draws the line at my daily dousing in mud and rain during current months. She’s more of a fair weather rider.

Just do it! And get to enjoy chatting to dog walkers and horse riders. But do NOT approach hare coursers. And use your local pub so that it doesn’t shut, and campaign for your village post office, if your village is lucky enough to still have one.

We were there in October and we had a day with Joe from Bikulture – http://www.bikulture.com.

Totally awesome riding!

Just do it!!

Still with my Fox Flux, but Recon’s OK too.

If I were buying now, and given that the point of a helmet is head protection against trauma, I would go for one with MIPS, which apparently diminishes rotational forces injury. If you recall, some of the least stupid arguments produced by the helmet deniers (RIP Tandem Jeremy)were that if you wear a helmet you may be less likely to be killed in a major accident, but still quite likely to receive diffuse axonal injuries (I work with people with brain injuries, and be assured, that’s nasty). MIPS are designed to minimise DAI (not the Welshman) – therefore a helmet with MIPS gets my vote.

Saga Noren for an Oscar – Aspergers has never looked both so cool and so understandable.

Plot’s not half bad either – only weak link is perhaps having hateful eco-terrorists – this doesn’t gel with all I know about advanced tree huggers. Stoner is bound to disagree with me though.

Yes, focus on the future – The Bridge was the best of all the Scandi-noir stuff IMO and series 2 begins on 4th January. Saga Noren, one of the most fascinating heroines of our time: how often do you get a female autistic skillfully depicted in drama or fiction?

Cancel everything and watch!

Scott Genius LT I’d say, though Yeti SB66, Lapierre Spicy and Commencal also good if you want to stick at 160mm. Probably also Specialized Enduro higher spec. And Liteville or Santa Nomad if you’ve got cash to burn.

Don’t!

Octavia+++

Also Saab 9-5 2.2 TiD – pretty bulletproof engine plus relatively little else that goes wrong. Beware Saab 9-3 Sportwagons with 1.9 TiD engine – much less reliable and cars generally inferior build quality – GM’s legacy.

By the way, good luck Mr Tomato – I sold you something once I think – was it a wheel? Still in Brighton?

Gram Parsons – start with the Gram era Byrds, then go to the Flying Burrito Brothers, then move on to luxuriate in his solo albums (where you will also hear the young Emmylou).

For laughs, try Commander Cody and his Lost Planet Airmen – then move back to the source: Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys.

For more laughs plus some truly rousing live music, catch a Hank Wangford gig.

I’ll take her on – details please (email in profile)

Numpties paradise here – sure, lots of people stopped driving after seatbelts were made compulsory, didn’t they?

There may be some initial dip – but then folk will get habituated to wearing a helmet, and getting the coolest one will be the thing to do. It will become second nature to not go out without one (except amongst the most extreme wind-in-your-hair evangelists, who will queue up for legal martyrdom).

Helmets don’t protect against all accidents and bad drivers – but how many people other than the great and long-lost TJ can claim that they are safer not wearing one?

Bike helmets in ‘not the work of the devil’ shock.

All a huge excuse for the creation of a stronger and more repressive/intrusive state to crack down on dissent, deviance and anyone who thinks differently………which of course provokes the problem of ever more resistance, which in turn justifies the ever-stronger state, which…….and so on.

+1 for Diva – total brilliance and off-the-wallness….also Betty Blue, by the same director.

3 Colours Blue/White/Red (3 films) by Polish director Kieslowski – musing on the interconnectedness of things with amazing cinematography and dreamy music – not to mention sharp story lines, set in France/Poland/Switzerland.

Just seen Easy Money (Swedish thriller involving drug gangs etc which seems very real and takes it to the max – description of ‘Nordic Noir’ underplays its impact), and Looking for Hortense, which is very sharply observed ‘typical’ screwed up French family drama/ subtle comedy which knocks all of what comes out of the US and most of what comes out of the UK back into 1975.

Encourage your wife to go for Suffolk or Norfolk instead, BD. All the prejudices that are peddled about East Anglia are far more true for Sheppey. Much inbreeding and clannish behaviour. And unfriendliness. Don’t cross a Sheppey man (or woman). And whoops! I just have by writing this……..I will seek police protection.

Similar position here in rural Suffolk. There are still lots of ‘not-spots’ which are too far from exchanges and where BT has yet to be arsed to do anything about it.

Currently we get broadband wirelessly from a small community provider, but as BT slowly extends its scope this provider is being put out of business – but this may happen before BT’s upgrade can reach all those effected.

Given government blather about ‘super-fast broadband’, each county council has a responsibility to deliver or have a plan to deliver this to not just some but ALL local residents. They have been given money by government so to do. They need to show what they are doing with that money, and they need to be held accountable. So contact your local councillor and ask what they are doing, what they plan to do and within what timescale, and what interim community broadband services exist in your part of the Midlands. Join any local broadband lobby groups you can. Try and shame these elected representatives into action. In my experience here, the Tories, Lib Dems and even Labour are pretty crap, UKIP aren’t interested unless they can blame Johnny Foreigner, and the Greens are the only people doing anything about this.

Hope that helps?