You’ve got to try them both really.

I used to use SPDs and loved them, but now use flats and also love them.
For me, theres less faff with special shoes and setting cleats up just right. I can get my feet off the pedals when I need to and move my feet around on them.
With decent grippy pedals and some practice, your feet should stick to the pedals just fine.

My proper bike is up on bricks in the LBS, so am heading out for a hack tonight on my old (95ish) Scott Yecora. Complete with rigid fork and original cantis.
I’m looking forward to it!

Could be your BB.
Grab a crank in each hand and try pulling them, wiggling them etc. Any movement?

I bought myself a set of Specialized Hemisphere Armadillos years ago when the old bike got relegated to commuting duties.
The same pair are still going strong. No punctures in around 5 years either.

lipo

Problem solved here by getting a cool ‘slow closing’ seat that you just nudge and then gracefully closes without a thud/crash.

Makes you want to lower it – just like the old slow opening tape decks!

Sad? Me? You bet!
Not sad at all. We’ve got one of those, and it’s great.

The lid needs to be down all the time round ours to stop the bloody dog drinking out of the toilet.

If the AMC fails to get recompense from the insurers for the car hire you will be liable for the sky high charge.

+1
I’m waiting on tenterhooks for a bill from my AMC after our car got written off in October.
We had the hire car longer than we should have, thanks to the AMC losing the paperwork. According to them, this is somehow my fault.

will do mate,so whats up with yer bike

The bottom brackets got a bit of play in it.

I’ve phoned round Alpine, Dales and Evans and they are all really busy.
Magic say I can drop it off any time, and I’ll get it back in a few days. I’ve never had anything done by them, so have no idea what they are like.
Really handy though, so will probably drop it off down there on Monday.

Much better. Been out and about a fair bit. Send me an email if you fancy a trip sometime.

Anyone ever used Magic Cycles out at Bowling? Any good?

Gear do fork servicing now.

The cost of drink isn’t that much more than you’d pay in any UK city centre. The problem, as already pointed out, is the rubbish exchange rate.
Best advice is to just go an have a nice time, but don’t think about how much things are costing you!
Careful when in summer you go. Midsummer is a big holiday in Sweden, which is great fun if you have family or friends over there, but if not, bear in mind lots of shops, pubs etc shut down over the holiday.

You can turn the voice chat off, you know.
I do that for myself anyway. Who wants to listen to the crap some people spout on Xbox Live?

Just put 2.25s front and rear.
Big tyres. Space is a bit tight at the back, getting a bit of a buzz off the chainstays when I corner. Might swap it out for a 2.1, but am liking the big volume.

A haggis supper out of Pizza Crolla near Queen St Station.

I’m in IT. (It’s STW, course I am) And am from the Glasgow area.
I changed jobs last year, and it took me 18 to 24 months applying and interviewing to do so.
I applied for loads, and the word from recruiters is, they have never seen so many applicants for each post.
S1 jobs etc are all very well, but most posts on there are on every other job site and get deluged with applications.
Can’t speak for the usefulness of LinkedIn, worth a shot I guess.
The Glasgow Herald on a Friday has a job section in it. It’s pretty sparse these days, but it’ll pick up again, I’m sure… :P

Go to the Police again, and keep going to the Police until they take notice.

Bonus points if you ride your bike down the Skansen Kronan steps!
http://www.ipernity.com/doc/supercargo/9966050

You may die.

or you may not.

I’ve been to Gothenburg a few times. Never biked there though.
There are quite a few wooded parks in the city itself, with loads of bike paths everywhere. You could easily commute by bike 100% of the time, except when it gets really cold in winter.
Last time I was there, I went for a run in the park just to the north of Västra Frölunda. Ruddalen, I think it’s called. Pretty hilly, completely covered in trees and big enough for me to get lost in for about an hour.

Snow on the Kilpatrick hills this morning, so I reckon you might need your skis up on Ben Lomond this weekend.
I get a good view of it on the way home, visibility permitting.

are you sure that isn’t a tank trap?
Is this on MoD land?
Are you expecting a Soviet invasion round your way?

Europc. A Dell reseller, amongst others.
3 years warranty, etc.
We use them at work.

I tried this myself once too, with a drill, clawhammer and 6 inch nails.
Not very easy to do.
DBAN it. From orbit, just to be sure.

A big, noisy dog.
The day before we moved into our current home, our flat got broken into.
The home we’re in is, IMO, a bit of a break in risk, so almost the first thing we did was get a German Shepherd.
Never been broken into since. I know thats not evidence of bugger all, but it makes me feel better.
The local neds are terrified of her too, which is a bonus.

There is software available.
I’ve used Killdisk at work, but you need to pay for that.
This one is free and meant to be good. Never used it, though it uses a similar method to Killdisk. DBAN[/url]

In a similar vain, if I have an event coming up, I simply climb the fence at the zoo and spar with the Polar Bears.

This is how I prepare for Judo tournaments.

If you are going to follow any of the advice up there make sure that you look after your lower back. The majority of that stuff up there will only destroy your discs.

A bold statement. Care to explain?
I am genuinely interested in hearing your explanation for the above.
Any chance?

If you are going to follow any of the advice up there make sure that you look after your lower back. The majority of that stuff up there will only destroy your discs.

A bold statement. Care to explain?

Haven’t confused anything with anything. He was shaking all over the place right from the start, I wasn’t moving.

There were a number of other tests that we did where I beat him by a mile. This is leading him to radically change his training and include much more in the way of core stability and also to develop his ability to recruit specific muscles – so he’s going climbing and taking up yoga.
It sounds like the guy is more of a bodybuilder than anything else.
While bodybuilders are big, they aren’t necessarily strong.
Have you looked at Strongliftsyet?
Very simple, very basic, very effective. You need access to a gym though.
I started following the stronglifts programme at the start of January and am finding it great. Hard work though!

Bloody hell, theres a few Judo players on here!
STW judo meetup anyone? :P

Krav? Really? Do you honestly think that teaching an 8 year old unarmed combat techniques as taught to Israeli military is a good idea?
Seems like it would be a bit unhealthy to me.

Krav’s focus is 100% on self defence, is it not? I’d argue that teaching self defence techniques to young children is not a great approach.

Send her to your local Judo club. Find one here – http://www.britishjudo.org.uk/thesport/findclub.php

I’ve done many martial arts, and I think Judo is by far the best one for any child to take part in.
Judo in the UK is very well organised, with well developed coaching programmes, so you are virtually guaranteed a good level of coaching wherever you go.

Judo and usually Thai Boxing, though no Thai Boxing just now, as I’m doing some weight training to see if it helps out the Judo.
None of this is particularly beneficial to MTBing, of course.

Funnily enough, I had my broken one out half an hour ago to see if I can figure out whats busted.

Beaten to it anyway.

My issue is…as I told the gym instructor yesterday ‘I hate the gym with a passion’

Then find something else you enjoy doing then, as you’ll never keep it up if you hate it.

There’s lots to explore here. The forest road network is huge, and will quickly take you into very remote glens that feel a milion miles from anywhere. The techy trails take a bit of finding, but there’s some very enjoyable trails at the southern end near Toward, and some around the Bishops Glen in Dunoon. Ride 30 mins over to Kilmun and there some great singletrack sections.

My inlaws live in Strone. I wonder how I can swing taking the bike next time we visit…

“So are the kilpatricks definately crossable, i’ve been looking at a possiblity up there of going out via mugdock to burncrooks reservoirs and trying to make it over to old kilpatrick, looks doable, my thoughts are that it’s a summer only after 4 or 5 dry days kinda thing though? “

Absolutely, IMO, the Burncrooks/Old Kilpatrick route is a Summer one. Theres parts of it, near Burncrooks, that are basically trackless.
I haven’t been up the OK hills yet this year, so I don’t know what conditions are like at the moment, but the steep climb up from Old Kilpatrick to Loch Humphrey will be ok, and then you can descend down to Dumbarton on the crags path, or the Overtoun House route.
This isn’t as long a route as you asked, mind you, but fun.

I’m thinking of heading up that way on Sunday, incidentally. I haven’t been on the bike since November, thanks to weather and flu, so am desperate to get out.

Theres some stuff in the Old Kilpatrick hills. Theres a few ways in – from Old Kilpatrick, Dumbarton, Clydebank or up at the Whangie.
Conditions will be horrendous just now though.

Do Squats, Deadlifts and Bench Press.
If times tight, thats all you need, and those, done heavy and properly, will give huge gains in strength.
Have a look at http://stronglifts.com/