A couple of races were upsampled to 1080i and broadcast on BBC One HD last year, but not filmed in HD. Just for balance, they will now be filmed in 1080p and broadcast downsampled to 1080i (720p).

Great move – as usual at this time of year I’m getting impatient for it all to kick off again. Car launches start in a coupla weeks, for the nerds like me!

What I said there relates to “official” ideas, as opposed to any other new trails, which I (obviously) wouldn’t know about.

As far as I know the Etherley Farm thing is a potential project to make an area suitable for mountain bikers – a kind of convenient and useful access point for Leith Hill.

The trails are a different but related project-in-the-pipeline which seeks to have a good official way of linking through Leith Hill, and take a bigger share of the mtb traffic. The objective would be to lure bikers on to the official trail by making it good.

It might be steep on paper, but there again that is exactly how it was designed. All of the other dimensions are correct to make it sweet steering with the fork it is designed for.

The slack thing has got so prevalent that you might imagine bikes are just unrideable with normal geometry! Why not just put it together and enjoy a bike that flicks and steers on a thought, rather than having to haul it about?

Like all vehicles, but especially true of bicycles, tyres make a big difference to feel. Def try swapping around so that front tyre is bigger than the rear. You can get a decent enough tyre in the Reba.

Also, this kind of snag tends to be a little bit self-perpetuating – you feel not quite at home, so you (maybe unconsciously) look less far ahead, you second-guess your lines and wrestle with the bike just a wee bit… and all of that just makes feel less comfortable, so you do the negative stuff all the more… and so on. So, when you make whatever change you decide on consciously nail the trails and try not to let the negative thoughts creep in for a few miles. That’s my suggestion anyway.

Good point – layback seatpost? Will give you a bit more stretch but get your hips back behind your feet.

Is everything else the same as with the Blur? Same tyres?

What about size – you did compare top tube length I guess – is that similar?

Also – are you 100% certain that everything is tight and true? Wheel bearings? Rear end all tight and nothing waggling about? Headset tight?

If I were you I would get a chunky tyre and stick it on the front and see what that does. It will give you a smidge more slack, plus a bigger gyroscopic effect for stability.

Blimey. Extensive ranting.

I use SPDs because I like them, and if anyone asks for advice in that matter I tell it just like that. Takes a few rides to get used to of course. Or you might prefer flats. Whatever.

As for skills courses – OP might not realise that a hell of a lot of them are at the “fundamentals” level – lots of people like to get into mountain biking without making too many painful mistakes.

Oh – and as for XC: if it’s xc racing then a few pointers can be extremely useful. We’ve had loads of riders who race and have benefitted from finding out how to flow smoothly on the downhills and get a rest at the same time – keep your time on the downs, and make extra time on the ups.

I’ve just gone to 5.1 (well no .1 yet, but I don’t really need a subwoofer because I’ve got big floorstanders), but for decades I used just stereo and it isn’t really that far off for more or less every type of viewing. I’d say get a cheapo secondhand stereo amp (look out for a Cambridge or NAD or similar on ebay) and some medium sized speakers – drastically better than standard telly sound, plus just the job for radio and music.

Good thought – I should do a back-to-back.

OK, so I went ahead and did it anyway. Got an Onkyo 605 off ebay for £135, and a Sony 570 Bluray player. And – it isn’t bad at all. In fact, I quite like it in regular stereo. Obviously it isn’t the lovely thing that my old stereo set up was – but it is by no means unlistenable.

Plus I now have very effective and enjoyable surround sound.

Plus I now have a rather excellent CD player and valve amp going spare to (one day, when I get round to it) rig up a system for the office.

Ah, ok – thanks guys.

Automatic switcher might be best, although as pointed out I could also send picture straight to tv.

Cheers, it would be neatest if I could just switch inputs using the amp’s remote, rather than choosing via the tv remote. So the really short version of the question is is component video plus optical audio the same quality as HDMI?

Rain for a good few hours tonight, so it it said – on the plus side it will see off the snow, on the minus say hello to our old friend the mud. Hey ho.

Trail creep and general erosion are certainly problems, but that more people will come to Surrey Hills is inevitable – and a good thing. Good for those that come and enjoy, good for the rural economy.

What is a good idea is projects that make the situation more sustainable – like the BKB initiative for example. Surrey Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty are very much in agreement, and have provided funding. Hurtwood Control are positive thinking and have provided resources and good will to enable Yogurt Pots to be made sustainable, and have also acknowledged the “legacy” network of singletrack.

The Leith Hill situation has similar broad support from several quarters, including The National Trust. If something does get off the ground at Etherley Farm then it will be part of a joined-up positive approach. Training, especially of novices, has got to be a good thing – riding responsibly and leaving no marks are very much at the heart of what we do, certainly.

As for a proliferation of training activities, well provided everyone is acting responsibly I can’t really see a problem. We are the original company (notwithstanding quite a few that have set up in a small way over the years and gone away again) operating from Holmbury, and very much a local business. Villages need an economy – they aren’t just places that other people drive to come and look at, they are communities that need some commerce. This is a stance that Surrey Hills AONB certainly supports – when we look after groups of kids from inner London, or teach novice mountain bikers how to get their mtb kicks safely and sustainably, or help out maintaining the official trails, etc etc then they are very supportive.

theyEye

No doubt because you can’t be bothered to read into it (you are a perfect citizen, behaving just as the powers want you to, well done) you seem to have missed quite a lot.

Troop movements? When did that get leaked?

As for women assaulted – do you think it is odd at all that both women continued to be host to Assange after the alleged incidents? Continued to hold parties for him? Or how about “Miss A” continuing to tweet about her association with him, but then trying to delete those posts once she found out about the other woman?

No doubt you can’t be bothered to read this either

The US, and UK I have to assume, were perfectly well aware of the WMD situation – they just did not want to know. Sanctions alone had already killed half a million under 5 year olds in Iraq (UN report), and then the killing was ramped up many-fold. Get real – well over a MILLION Iraqis are dead now, and the excuses are just lies.

Te absence of hot Israel gossip probably has more to do with security level than anything else – the current tranche of cables are more in the line of embarrassing tittle tattle than the kind of earth shaking stories that might come out in the case of Israel.

Talking of WMDs – one middle east coutry def has not only WMDs, but Nuclear WMDs – they also have blatantly invaded another country, and continue to do so every day, in blatant defiance of UN and world governments resolutions.

geetee you seem to think that these cables are top secret military strategy – they’re not even classified secret, for the most part. Tens of thousands of personnel had access to them. I think you and others ares very eager to put down what Wikileaks is doing purely because you don’t take to Assange’s character – in other words the government character assassination is working just fine, and the propaganda is being lapped up by the masses.

Consider this: Wikileaks is distributing truths – it is not made up. In contrast we and the US went into Iraq on the basis of untruths – and over a million people are now dead. It’s pretty clear to me who the criminals are.

Hero. 100%

Can’t believe some people would have more of an opinion about his character than what Wikileaks is doing.

There is some middle ground! Somewhere in between freezing and swanning about in your pants in the depths of winter. The world is a mad place when we are so soft that we can’t tolerate being indoors with a jumper on.

And then people moan because fuel is expensive.

And. Some of the same people are all full of “mtfu” advice on other subjects!

Jeez. Some middle ground is all.

I’m astonished how hot people think they must have their house. Especially reading these comments on the home of MTFU! And blaming it on cosseting the kids! What a laugh – how the hell do you think mankind got to this point? 20 degrees indoors all year round is an product of this current generation only. Go back 30 years and most people were unaware that such extravagance and softness was even possible.

My parents still live in the house I was born in (indeed the house my dad was born in). There is no heating at all apart from a Rayburn and log burner downstairs. No double glazing, no loft insulation. Plenty of ice indoors. I survived it, as did my brother and sister – as did dad and his five siblings.

It’s ok. The surface isn’t nearly as good as some Sustrans routes though. Can be very muddy in parts. Frozen would be good, but snow would be a drag (literally). There are a couple of road diversions and one little bit through some woods. I wouldn’t call it exciting, but you can get to the sea off-road.

Nice video, by the way. That was before it snowed though!

Road update: Hollow Lane from Wotton Manor Farm to Abinger Common is salted – so you could try park at Abinger Hatch is you fancy. Holmbury Road is untreated. If you do turn down into Abinger Common, dead slow please, because the bit through the village is untreated too.

Having said that, it is forecast to be -9 tonight, which could be enough to freeze anything.

The Holmbury road is treacherous, and getting into a car park will not be easy either. Haven’t been to Peaslake, but there again neither would I for a non emergency. So, if anyone does drive here please park somewhere sensible. Am going to walk to Holmbury in a wee while – I personally wouldn’t bother with a bike in this much snow.

You wanna gogle Mule Motorcycles if you wanna drool over some fabulous street-trackers.

Flat and street trackers

What’s wrong with the Arcam? A lot of faults are very trivial – is it only one channel gone, for example? Scratchy/unreliable volume control?

For value it is hard to beat Cambridge. Similar “chunky” sound to Arcam.

Cheers. So much easier than asking in the shop!

Anyone else?

Media and propaganda do NOT have different messages/agendas – that’s the point! What we see in our media is outrageous propaganda.

Over a million dead in Iraq. Half a million children before that just because of sanctions alone. Innocent blood on our hands, especially if we ignore it!

Great programme. Everyone should see it.

Well, your example is not very good – because smoking dope is illegal in Holland, but tolerated. Setting that aside, the mechanism cited above says that it must carry a 6 month sentence. The allegations against Assange might be termed rape and sexual assault, but they aren’t what we would term rape in this country. The charges were dropped earlier this year and have been picked up by a right wing politician in Sweden – who claims that the motivation is not political. Yea right – he digs up old discarded charges all the time I suppose!

Why surprised? Hoo blimin’ ray.

Well that would be different. As it is he’s accused of offences that don’t even exist in UK law, with no evidence being put to the hearing here to determine if he should be extradited. He hasn’t even been charged.

I’m only saying that it tends to be given undue weight, given the simplicity of planting it.

DNA is thousands of times more easy to plant at a crime scene than a fingerprint, yet because it is a modern technology is held in general to be much more powerful evidence.

The innocent should have nothing to hide, sure.

But they have nothing to prove either.
__

The problem with widespread holding of DNA data is that it is such seductive “proof” – because it is assumed to be infallible.

We just have a blanket policy – we don’t ride past horses, we stop and let them ride past us. I they are going in the same direction we make sure they have heard us and ride dead slow a good distance behind until the horse riders acknowledge us and wave us past.

Not so difficult, and much more civil.

So. I’m not particularly a demo person, although I did go to the Gulf War one (only time).

But. I am thinking about going to London tomorrow. Cumberland Gate, Marble Arch, 11am.

Very bad thread title – the dream is just beginning.

The level of arrogance is astonishing, isn’t it? The very first thing the US and the rest of the west should do is lead by example. If they can’t even do that they can hardly pass comment on any other countries’ behaviour.

I can only feel momentum building here – the Avaaz.org petition hit 300,000 signatures in 24 hours and is now over 400,000.