mcmoonter, do you think that you can provide more info on the riding on Orkney, cheers.

After deciding not to go to Europe this year, we are going to hire a campervan and goto a part of scotland weve never been. So its either Shetlands or Orkneys.

I know neither are mountainbike hotspots, but i will be taking the bike anyway and stopping at torridon en route 🙂

Im working in Bordon from April – July, so will lend a hand over that period. Ill make sure my spade is in the back of my car 🙂

Keep up the great work. Working down in that part of the world is alot more appealing now that the trail is at the standard it is now 🙂

svalbard , ooohhh yeah, now your talking, id love to go there but no where will take 3 year olds. All the boats require 11 years upwards. Typical Ive only been able to afford that sort of place since he has been born, but now I have to wait till hes 11 🙂

CFH – We have looked at the Neilson places, are they as good as they look in the brochures?

Thanks for the input all 🙂

Greece – No or maybe somewhere low key and undiscovered.
Portugal – No
Madeira – Out because the missus went there before she met me.
Ireland – Possibilty

Im after some inspiration, Im a fussy bugger and choosing a holiday is becoming stressful. Surely its meant to be fun 🙂

We have a decent budget, lets just say its not going to stop us going anywhere.
I love India, spent 5 weeks there the year before our lad was born. Cant wait to go back, but we have to wait untill hes 5 and had all his vaccinations.

Good Luck.

Ive got a tapered fork (Revelations)in my 2011 Blue Pig frame, used the Nuke Proof headset reccommended to make the adaption.

😉

I applied for a Primary PGCE 5 years ago, they didnt want me because my degree was in Geotechnical Engineering, and it was’nt a national cirriculum subject! 15 years experience as an engineer counted for nothing! I made the effort to gain experience in a school, and was also a qualified UKA coach. I had alot to offer.

They did offer me place on the Geography PGCE, didnt accept as it was Primary I wanted.

It sickens me as my wife is a Primary school teacher, and half of the teachers I have met through her are thick as P*g **it.

As others have said, Dirt makes me want to go and ride, whereas Singletrack is something I will glance over whilst the missus is watching the soaps.

I like them both, and being a general all round non specific type of rider, I think that between the two of them they cover 90% of the mountainbike world.

I do tend to read Dirt cover to cover, whilst ST can get boring, and is read in short bursts. I get the impression though that sometimes, by buying Singletrack Im funding the ‘jollies for the boys’ I do enjoy it though and will still continue to buy it as I love things mountainbiking 🙂

cool, The blue pig is a great ride, so im guessing that the piglet will be too 🙂

Is the piglet available as 17″ ?

Im 5ft 8, and ride a 16″ Blue Pig, I test rode a piglet and a blue pig, at 18″ and they were both slighty to big for me.

At a guess 18″ would be perfect or you.

Correct 🙂 ‘They say’ it takes about 4 weeks for the bodys physiology to change following a training session, in the expectance that it may have to perform the same activity again. These changes are miniscual, but over the course of a training plan lasting months, all add up!

When I started I was a 4 to 5 hour plonker too, In fact Im a 4 hour plonker now, 🙂

I am naturally not a fit person, trust me I had to work hard for those times. I have suffererd believe me. It was easier when I was in the forces, as if you are good at a sport , it basically becomes your full job and are encouraged to train etc. I could never get back to those times, due to now being 10 years older, having a young family and civi job which involves travelling away all the time etc etc. plus im bored of running now. 😉

good luck, just getting around the marathon is 99 percent mental, it will be painful, but an averagely fit person can do it with limited training, goal setting is where it gets interesting.

If 9 weeks is it, just run as much as possible, it takes about 4 weeks for the body to recognise the effects of training, so essentially he only has 5 weeks of training.

Good luck. ( I am a former 2:39 marathon runner and former RAF x country champion so do have some experience 🙂 ) Just saying as this being STW I know someone will know better and tell me Im talking poo 🙂

EDIT – and only 5ft 7, and naturally a fat bastard so had to work and train hard to achieve what I did!
The above book will be a useful reference guide, if he gets the bug, and wants to do more running in the future.

can i refer you too this, its the runners bible, the font of all running knowledge, its all there! Getting through it all is another thing! This is reccommended reading, I used to know national level runners who refered to this daily.

Number one question is do you just want to get round the course, or do you want to do as well as you think you can? if its the later 16 weeks aint enough, 2 years and 16 weeks is more realistic for the marathon.

This book is a good starting point.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Lore-Running-Tim-Noakes/dp/0873229592/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1329000058&sr=8-1

hehe, I was in a 5 star hotel in Amritsar and a cockroach actually walked out of a bubble in a naan bread, i had bitten into. Amazingly tough creatures!

Some of the roadside cafes in India have to be seen to be believed. Dirty is not the word, the back of them are 30 cm deep in human poo, bloody truckers 🙂

I am a cleaning obsessive, i cant cope with dust on top of our cupboards or anything like that, sadly, my 3 year old is taking after me, anything that he dosent want or like is ‘dirty’ I spend alot of time cleaning.

Its strange for me to be like that when my 2 favourite things in life involve getting covered in cowpats and general mud/other animal excrement from head to toe, yes biking and fell running before any wisecracks are made :), and my favourite place to visit is india, which is argueably the dirtiest and most unhygenic country on the planet.

🙂

Tough luck, you win some, you loose some!

Under legitimate circumstance, fight it all the way, under those/yours circumstances, refer to my opening line.

apologies for the spelling, ive had wine 🙂

Some of us oldies have been riding mountain bikes for a long time, in fact, since before mummy and daddy thought of having their little precious.

At the dawn there were no trail centres, we rode up Snowdon and in the proper wilds on crap bikes,without having to come on a forum and ask if ‘my 2000 quid hardtail will cope with real riding’.

You should show us oldies much respect init! After your DJ’ing and reality TV is over, you will be old too, if you are lucky and manage to make it through the hardship of your piss easy mickey mouse university courses that seem to be favoured by the yoof of today!

bloody kids xxx (and im only 37)!

Never ridden in India, but its by far my fav country Ive been to. Its true it is a beautiful country in every way. Amazing place, unlike anywhere else.

As soon as my lad is old enough to have jabs and take antimalarials, were going back.

Defo reccommend as a place to go.

hehe absolutley, 🙂 fit though! 🙂

sorry, being a bit presumptuous, its the girl :), just checked ukc, shes before my time there 😉

whos this ukc bighitter, all i can see are two old fat blokes, can either of em make it up a mod?

mind you, suppose its the same with mountain biking and the big hitters here 😉

Anyone been over there this morning, ill be arriving in cannock at about 2 ish, is it still too unpleasant?

Cheers

Thanks for the warning, will I need my 180mm DH bike for the braking bumps?

🙂

Cheers all, going south with work tomorrow, so will stop off en-route tomorrow afternoon.

Thats the problem with these forums, “the gang”, its not a gang its a public forum for those with an interest in mountain biking.

wrap them up in a black pudding blanket 🙂

Beautiful clear day in ludlow, trails were bone dry and almost summer like. I had to sit in front of the fire for 30 mins before getting in shower, to stop the pain in my toes.

Not many times ive had to do that in 25 years.

I live in ludlow, but work in stockport, I always go home on a friday via Cannock. I really like it. Worth the drive imo. Visit and you can then experience these oh so horrible breaking bumps for yourself 🙂

I think its great what they have done with somwhere as flat as Cannock, some of the downs are great.

MTB monthly total should be –

Total Acsent/Miles Travelled X Number of sessions

Not a hope in hells chance of doing anything, only managed 110 miles in january, all on singletrack though 🙂

But gonna enter anyway, with a personal goal to break 200 singletrack miles.

Is the new issue in the shops yet?

Cheers

is it in the shops yet?

Back in the day when I was in the RAF an practically a full time runner, I ran a half at 5:55 pace.

The key to running quicker at all distances is speed work. You need to introduce 1 or 2 speed sessions a week. Something like 8 x 400, or 4/5 x 800m. However your current fitness will determine when you add these sessions into your training.

Im now 12 years older than when I ran at that pace, and 3 stone heavier 🙁 , but still expect to run at 7 minute mile pace. I would say that for 10K to half marathon, a good pace for a ‘middle age’ person, who is starting running for the first time in thier life, of average – good fitness would be 8 minute mile pace

Can I reccomend a book called the Lore of Running. Its the runners bible.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Lore-Running-Tim-Noakes/dp/0873229592/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1327999100&sr=8-1

Ive got 2 reverbs, The first one needed bleeding straight out the box, and needs bleeding monthly. The second one is like grease lightening and hasnt been bled yet (and ive used it 2 times per week, since september).

So by my reconning, its hit and miss wether you will need to bleed or not. 🙂

My lad is 3, and having the net around it means that I can plonk him in it to bounce, and potter around the garden. Without the net I would have to be on there with him 100% of the time.

Got my 3 yr old one for xmas, he really really loves it. He says its his favourite toy.

But yes as above, really ugly, it made our average size garden look ugly indeed, but worth it for my little precious 😉