There’s a STW 2012 course preview vid for those who see mountain biking as “rambling with wheels”.

not to the extent that you describe but occasionally with music and quite regularly with downloaded podcasts.

My solution, like the solution to all my iPad problems is turning it off and on again which fixes all its little niggles for a couple of weeks until they start happening again and so on and so forth…

As a clinical psychologist don’t you know the difference between being depressed and being a bit fed up?

No, I have absolutely no idea. I just tell my patients to cheer up and shake my head disapprovingly

This is why I got a bmx again. Northants is awful for mtb (still not sure how I got into it living where we do!) but great for skateparks and dirt jumps.

Yes, BMX is next on my list.

Tha needs to come north lad, to where the hills are. Even the sheep are hard round ‘ere.

That is indeed the plan. North is where I am from originally but moved down south to my wifes boring bloody homeland.

As a clinical thingy, you must surely be able to see that your problem is related to a core deficit of testicular fortitude.
The Northants bit is difficult, but you need to get out and do it instead of being a big softie.

Absolutely but I still think the combination of shitty weather and a shitty, boring place is a difficult combination to overcome. I’d be much happier if one of those was improved hence moving house next year, all being well.

most mortgages are portable, meaing you can move house with them, fixed rate or otherwise or are you looking for excuses not to move?

Not at all but if we move house (even if we take the mortgage with us) whilst under our fixed term we get hit with a penalty.

Very good that. I was born in 81 but still everything mentioned resonates.

Weather looks bad when you’re sitting inside looking at it, but can be a surprisingly small problem once you actually get out there.

That’s a really good point and very true. Watching the weather from indoors makes it seem a whole lot worse than it really is.

Why not boulder/climb indoors?

Will be doing that but I wanted to just get out and explore. Since January I’ve basically been in offices, hospitals and my house. I’m becoming fearful of sunlight.

move somewhere better then

Roll on 2014 when the fixed term on my mortgage ends.

massive over exaggeration boils my urine also.
“Like ,wow , my cup of tea tastes , like, absolutely amazing”

You will enjoy Louis CK’s show ‘Hilarious’. Worth downloading as an audio book.

GF can’t really do much right now with a broken collarbone.

She can’t do much but I reckon she can do that.

I am in no way condoning the poo hangers and I know this may incur the wrath of the majority but, on our last trip back to the UK it struck me how utterly useless it is

FTFY

I’m so glad I made a fuss on valentines day now. Looks like I’m in for an enjoyable evening.

As an aside, assume its worth investing in a crash mat? My wife is joining me on this venture so will always be the two of us. I realise mats aren’t infallible but they must provide a certain level of confidence?

Thanks all for the feedback, I don’t feel quite so concerned now about my spindly fingers. I guess it’s just learning to use what I have to my advantage. Clearly my lankyness will be advantageous.

TBH the climbing wall is not somewhere I intend to spend too much of my time. I decided to give bouldering a go to go and explore the outdoors more than I do already on two wheels. Just picked up a great book ‘ Boulder Britain’. Really easy to use guide to finding some spots, particularly for a novice.

I’m intrigued. Can I ask what the pics are for?

I recognised that hence the smiley. The point has been made elsewhere above – you have to work with what you’ve got, what is a disadvantage in some situations is an advantage elsewhere. You just have to play to your strengths and minimise the impact of your ‘weaknesses’ really. At least you are in a position to increase strength over time.

Genetics can be beaten though. I’m currently filing down my fingers.

Cheers folks, good to hear. I could sort of see where he was coming from. Others who had more ‘normal’ sized hands/ fingers could get more or less half their finger inside the hold where as I was just about getting the tips of my fingers in. But clearly it can be used to my advantage too.

My wife is 5ft tall.

She went climbing and they were fairly clear that no amount of exercising was going to increase her reach

Not quite the same thing, nor the point he was making.

Yep, we’re off to Nortn Wales for a long weekend on Friday as well. Hoping to give Stiniog a bash too.

I don’t really understand the logic. Don’t get me wrong, dog mess anywhere is grim and I without exception bag it and bin it but why go to the bother of bagging it up, tieing up said bag only to then hang it on a tree/fence and leave it there. Your half way to doing the right thing but then take a huge step back and just compound the problem that you were trying to resolve. All that you have done is add a plastic bag into the equation. You may as well go the whole hog and cover your dogs turd with the contents of your bin.

Seem to have got away with 2 weeks which were split by 3 days. 1st week all in my head, sinuses, just a very nasty cold. Got over it then 3 days later got into my chest and utterly flawed me for 7 full days. One week later seem to be getting back to full health again, thank goodness.

It’s a great show. Completely unique and pretty much exactly what you would expect from pastrana. You’ll love it.

Good advert for go pro (I’m guessing that was his helmet cam of choice), yet another ‘survive anything’ moment for them.

It’s not just riding, it’s pretty much anything outdoorsy I am finding hard to muster up the enthusiasm to do. I was worry thing that I was just becoming lazy and lacking in energy but I was happily reminded last week during the 2 days of warm sunny weather we had that it is just the weather that is spoiling my fun. I was up and out on the bike like a demon during those two days but now I’m back to ‘can’t be arsed’ mode again.

Sick of the cold/wet.

this isn’t a bad thing, just an observation – a biker is a biker and i like bikers

Are you sure?

It amazes me that they will put a pair of grips in a box big enough to carry a frame but choose to put two helmets in a bag?

We have a winner!

Swear filter is working very well I see.

MTBing is a broad church and different people worship in different ways, some of us even attend more than one church…

Those claiming to be oblivious to any antagonism towards Trail centers/users on STW are joking right?
There is a small but vocal core of “Anti-Trail Center” STWers, we often get to hear their opinions, seldom all that original, but they are entitled to them, so who are we to tell them to STFU?

Inevitably there are people who don’t like certain off-shoots of MTBing, and just have to tell you about it, we can’t all have the same tastes, beliefs or opinions. Just let them make their point then move on I suppose.

Just because you use Trail center’s, doesn’t mean that’s all you ever ride. But it’s the interwebz so people are prone to making sweeping statements and harsh judgements on any given topic.

Good words. Sums it up.

I like trail trail centres. They keep all the dull, unimaginative riff raff off my bridleways.

Bridleways, unimaginative, dull. Goes together very well.

Nothing wrong with trail centres. It’s a pretty much guaranteed decent ride. You know what you are gong to get with them. I love riding ‘off piste’ more but it is very hit and miss. In terms of riding I can probably think of more average/below average rides on natural terrain than really good ones.

If I just want to ride my bike without any unnecessary fuss, unlikely possibility of bumping into walkers/dogs, miserable farmers etc then I’m quite happy at a trail centre.

Mountain biking really is shit isn’t it…

slacklining is all about a nice summers day, in the park/woods/campsite, some sturdy trees, some beers……and some mates who are actually skillful enough to do it!

I agree but it’d be nice to just have the posts in the garden to set-up the slackline on a lazy Sunday afternoon, barbecue, few mates, few beers etc.

Rather than taking the footing down, why not run it horizontal along the line of the slackline? Would probably only need toi be a foot deep to support the post. Use some reinforcing bar to strengthen.

Good idea. Might opt for that.

I was thinking of perhaps sinking two thick ( 8-9″ diameter) 8 foot wooden posts, about 5 foot into concrete. I’m told that it’s fine to have the line at around the 50cm height mark ?

Is this the Alan Watts lectures you’re talking about?

Yeah BMX Bandits. Can’t beat it.

Well life is generally better just doing stuff with people you enjoy doing stuff with rather than buying stuff in order to fill the empty void that is your life.

So let the stuff break down, fall apart, wear out and send it to me and live a far more fulfilling life.

Gervais needs Merchant and likewise Merchant needs Gervais, but merchant has a better understanding of human frailties and how they can be funny. Gervais struggles with this and Derek proves it IMO. I enjoyed Derek but it was far too manipulative, too contrived and overtly blatant with its set-ups for the quintessential tear jerk moments.

The final line in the final episode should have been “Derek took the best shortcut, the only shortcut worth taking…. Coldplays Fix You”

He has yet to better the office and as a writer he can’t cut it without Merchant.

Regardless I still think the office puts gervais in the genius camp but Derek just tries far too hard to tug at the heart strings. It’s too contrived and the female lead is absolutely bloody awful.

Yeah, I made the most of the morning and put in a few hours around my local trails. It’s actually warm here. I can feel actual heat from the sun. Who knew?

Buy cheap, buy twice…

I’ll penny pinch by not going on holiday and my car’s 8 years old but I have a road bike costing close on £4k… it’s all about spending in the right places IMO

This exactly. I’ll penny pinch on the things that don’t matter that much, but the things important to me I’d much rather get the best I can afford.