I’m in. Now, what do I have to do?

Seems you may have a degree of “unconscious incompetence” about this aspect of your riding. You only know that it’s a weak aspect but not why or how to improve. A second opinion can turn this to “conscious incompetence”. From that position you are better able to improve.

Didn’t get it diagnosed at the time but reckon this might have been why I felt so dreadful for so long after completing the Trans Wales a with a cold a few years back. The weather had been awful.

My energy levels and motivation were at rock bottom at times and stayed relatively low for a good couple of years. Lots of rest, good food and LIGHT exercise seemed to help. I also changed my work routine (long overdue in itself) and non-physical projects/challenges kept me active.

Look after yourself. It’s a long road and a change in perspective may be required.

@cullen-bay – I agree that arts/humanities students shouldn’t be subsidised more than any other.

@gonefishin – I’m not suggesting that you pay more tax. Just making the point that high earners contribute to the funding of so called pointless/less useful degrees and that is as it should be.

I think that there probably are too many students funded to study at a level that they’re not really capable of without remedial support. The dole though seems a less useful option for workless would-be students.

No cullen-bay but you did equate usefulness with earning potential. How do you rate a degree with no obvious vocational application? Someone else made reference to “pointless” courses. My point is that high-level study in any field has social utility.

This idea of “useful” degrees and “useless” degrees is all a bit cockeyed or even myopic. Some degrees, true, have straightforward and sometimes lucrative vocational applications. Other not so but that isn’t to say that they are useless. High level study in any discipline contributes to the wealth of society and can develop creative ideas which may translate into work. It’d be dull indeed if the world were made up of IT specialists, engineers, and business graduates. Oh, hang on… Present company etc…

I think studies in the arts and humanities should be subsidised through tax for these reasons. The high earning chemical engineers can pay their whack so that we can have artists and philosophers in our communities. A view of education which only gives value to that which can be turned into cash is a bit sad and unambitious in my view.

Teaching is by no means the “hardest job in the world” but to do it with any sense of professionalism requires seemingly endless commitment of energy and time that isn’t demanded by many other jobs. The “weighing and measuring”, work to prove you’ve done your job (as well as doing your job) together with standardized systems of work requiring evidence of compliance (not just the fact of compliance) stifles creativity. Taken with a lack of professional trust… It can all be very demoralising.

Part-time helped me put it in perspective, energized me and opened up new avenues.

I’m a teacher and felt similarly, it seems, to you; bogged down in the politics and systems of work, lacking autonomy and the time and energy to make a change. A pretty depressing situation, I felt. I decided to go part time in order to pursue some other voluntary and paid projects and also to have more time for my wife and baby, due next year.

The distance I’ve been able to put between me and my employer has been refreshing. I’m more enthused about my work and am doing more of the work I enjoy. I earn less but it’s worth it to be happier. Eventually it may morph into a complete change of lifestyle but, for now, it’s a good compromise. Best wishes.

Clive

For winter skills, if you are a student, you may be able to apply for a place on one of these subsidised courses:

http://www.thebmc.co.uk/News.aspx?id=3896

I notice the deadline has passed for this year but I did one over 15 years ago (so there likely to run next year). Really good value with top class instruction as I remember.

Thought it might be West Yorkshire. I recognised the coal-waste soil.

Dyslexia is not a particularly useful diagnosis since it can cover a range of specific reading/writing difficulties. Certainly some of the errors made in the ad are quite commonly made by people with a dyslexia diagnosis.

Reversal of consonants and vowels – porfit/profit
Confusion where words are not spelled “conventionally” – prophet/profit
Unconventional use of capital letters – ALL IN CAPS/no caps for proper nouns
Confusing words spelled similarly – enquires/enquiries.

Ah, “a teenager” you say. That’d explain the skids too. ;-)

Nice video. Looks like a fair bit of work.

Whereabouts is it shot?

I was on holiday, in France, with my folks when Chas and Di got married and by the state of the French national papers you’d think it was their monarchy getting hitched.

The French had it right though. They got to celebrate the royal wedding (or not) without the expense and from a comfortable distance.

Those in the UK who are into that sort of thing should choose a foreign royal family they like the look of and celebrate their weddings instead.

Ugly? I don’t think so. This is my 2005 Pro-Hope model. Still my main ride.

Ditto the points above, especially the long nights issue!

I wouldn’t carry a tent as back-up, without the intention of using it, too heavy. Plan to stay indoors (B&B/bothy) and take a bivvy bag as back-up/supplement to your sleeping bag if staying in a bothy.

Your tent will be fine unless the weather is awful (and it can be very, very, very bad) in which case you’ll need a back-up plan and that might mean getting up in the dark and hoofing it to the nearest building (sleep with your kit all but packed – ready to get up and go within 15 minutes of things getting horrible). Even a four season tent pitched in the wrong place at the wrong time can be an awful place to be in Scotland in winter.

That said, if the weather is kind, even if cold, the scenery and your sense of self sufficiency will be priceless.

FWIW – I’d plan to bothy, forget the tent, and make up the weight with a good book, plenty of goodies and lots of warm clothes. I’d also take a friend. If you’ve got dry clothes are well fed and happy a couple of cold nights are more likely to be instructive than especially dangerous.

Agreed TJ!

If one abandons the possibility of a better society in favour of giving priority to individual concerns of preference the possibility of a better society diminishes.

I’d like a better society and so I sometimes give preference to what I perceive as the greater good.

In cycling I think that that equates to generally obeying the law as it inconveniences me very little and means that drivers etc. are less likely to have a problem with cyclists in general.

See, I’m doing you all a favour ;-)

Yeah thanks for that TandemJeremy.

Safety issues aside I suppose. I judge that sort of thing as and when. But as a general principle I obey the law. Others, as a general principle, don’t. There’d be far less RLJing, pavement riding (the stuff that winds folk up) if people would consider the big picture.

I’d also suggest that it’s probably best if your ambassadorial talents and cycling are kept as far apart as possible ;-)

Breaking reasonable laws, even little ones, is generally corrosive. Dissolving away those small matters of manners which bind us together as a society.

RLjing etc. makes life more dangerous for all cyclists as it makes us less predictable, as a group, and builds resentment from drivers and others who would say “they’re all the same…”.

Following the law in this respect is part of being a resonsible adult, seeing the big picture beyond one’s own (selfish?) perspective.

Neither ugly or elegant but I think they have a utilitarian aesthetic that I rather like.

Mind you, I rather like the look of my 2005 Orange 5 for similar reasons.

FWIW – I’d have a 90 (I enjoyably drove one for work some years ago) but for the fact that I really couldn’t justify the expense to me or the planet on just aesthetic grounds. Now if I had a farm or, indeed, a smallholding…

Been raining non-stop since the early hours here in Shipley. Gusty wind too.

I’ve done a range of things over the years and continue to do so

Practical conservation and survey work
Leading a schools expedition to Bolivia
Trail building and
Outdoor youth work and coaching
Fell rescue team

It’s helped me to gain work in the past, to maintain perspective on my day job and has provided job satisfaction when my paid work has failed to deliver in that department.

I’m sceptical also of the “Big Society”. I know lots of people who “give back” regularly though perhaps there are sections of society who could be persuaded to think a little more than just about number one.

This is a good spot on Baildon Moor

http://www.dobrudden.co.uk/index.html

Close to Saltaire world heritage site and Leeds-Liverpool Canal for kiddie trailer rides (10 minutes pedal away) Baildon Moor area for off-road fun, Fanny’s Ale House (http://www.fannysalehouse.com/), Bradford city center for ace curries (though also good options more locally) and media museum etc. etc.

PM me for more info.

In my experience LA outdoor centres provide the most professional services one is ever likely to encounter. People guided by a sincere sense of mission, enthusiastic about their work and often with inspiring stories of their own. Excellent and effective models for the, often challenging, youngsters they work with and, hence, great value for money.

In a climate of increasing youth unemployment, it seems to me, that these are exactly the sort of services that LAs should keep hold of.

LA outdoor centres may become a thing of the past as LAs, due to cuts, increasingly seek to outsource services rather than provide them directly.

See – http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11398678

LA managers I know are being asked to produce plans for 50% and 80% budget cuts in response to October’s spending review.

I hope that by maintaining contacts in private, local authority and charity sectors I can be responsive and keep doing the sort of work I enjoy (and get paid for it as far as possible).

I’m currently engaged in a project to increase the amount of work I do in the outdoors in order to address some work/life balance and job satisfaction issues.

I now work part-time for my main employer and spend two days a week working for a number of providers of outdoor and environmental education (some voluntarily, some paid). It’s working out OK. I certainly earn less and don’t always find the amount of work I’d like. On the other hand I’m happier and healthier, feel like I’m making a contribution, get more satisfaction from my work, am more productive in the work I do for my main employer and, since me and Mrs Gritty are planning to start a family, hope to be around more for the people that matter most to me. The best of both worlds? Maybe. Nothing’s forever.

See my blog to get a flavour of the stuff I get up to http://www.brightaire.blogspot.com/

A similar way of working might work for you.

Screwing in boottom bracket shells, and other threaded components, by hand first will give you a feel for the pitch of the thread and mean less chance of stripping once you apply a tool with a long lever.

Changing the price of alcohol is part of changing the culture around alcohol. Note how Stella were able to elevate their bog standard lager to a luxury product before their marketing went wrong. Price can be a very effective mechanism for changing attitudes and patterns of consumption.

Not a magic bullet but, I think, a useful tool for reducing unhealthy consumption among the most vulnerable. It's supported by the science and resisted only by those with a political or economic interest. Worth a go I think.

You too sweepy

Thanks all

Bedtime for me now

U31 – Your post re: components seems to be a variation on the "worse things happen" theme. "I'll continue to do x bad thing cos it's no worse than y bad thing". A non starter for me I'm afraid.

Sweepy – I've addressed that point and agree with you. But we're not living in your imagined future. In the year 2010 people do get hurt over the trade of drugs to which you appear to contribute. Thanks for the promise of cheap drugs come "L day" though.

RichPenny – Best answer. Especially the creativity angle. Worth your granny getting mugged though?

TJ – Think it is possible to address the moral issue of drug consumption in isolation of others eg fairtrade. Agree – not all drug use leads to crime. Agree – reduce demand by raising awareness of health and associated crime issues among users. Most effective with relatively wealthy I'd have thought. Also selective legalisation being way forward.

Thanks everyone else. It's been immense.

Goodnight and happy trails.

Shuffles off, chats to Mrs Gritty "Yeah, had a great chat on STW. They all thought I was the dog's ….." :wink:

sweepy – I've made exactly that point and am broadly in favour of legalisation. Heck I'd probably indulge myself if that were the case. Obviously the drugs would have to be organic, fairtrade etc. etc. :wink:

So, what's your justification for using illegal drugs NOW given that people do get beaten up etc.

Please don't say "x, y ,z is worse/no better etc." I'm looking for an absolute justification for taking illegal drugs in the knowledge that one contributes to the beatings etc.

C'mon you can't do much worse than U31 :wink:

nacho

You're right, I've been given justifications and I think U31 sums them up:

"Because I want to".

I know some kids who'd want to get into your garages while you're stoned, nick your bikes, piss in your shoes and flog them down the road for a tenner. I just thought the STW massive could come up with something more reasoned.

C'mon you're really just here on a jolly from MBUK, aren't you?

:wink:

nacho – if you can guarantee that no criminality was involved in obtaining or facilitated/encouraged by your smoke then you haven't done anything wrong. You may have just done a little bit of wrong. But still wrong.

It is bad that you should have to deal with criminals to have a smoke but there it is. I am not against drugs especially and I think there is a case for legalisation.

With respect all

The gist of the arguments against coming forward seem to be:

"It's all really complicated and intermeshed with some really big issues around trade and employment and anyway booze and fags are as bad and they're legal and its only bad drug guys miles away who get hurt anyway and we all contribute to bad stuff through our taxes and we've made these countries dependent on the drugs trade last century through coffee and tea plantations"

My issue is simple:

"Buying illegal drugs contributes to a trade in which people (some innocent, some not) get intimidated robbed, beaten and killed".

Now then. Anyone going to tell why taking illegal drugs is justified without saying "but x, y, z is worse"?

Since none of you are actually addicted it should be a fairly straightforward call to make no?

:wink:

Thanks alex222

I'm not saying that either are right.

Contributing to misery, whether legally sanctioned or not, is a bad thing and I try not to do it.

I'm also not saying that anyone has to remove themselves from modern life and lead the blameless existence of a monk. Though that's an option if you feel strongly enough!

I am saying that everyone can do a bit to lessen their contribution to the sum of the worlds's misery and not consuming illegal drugs which contributes to violent crime seems, to me, to be an obvious choice. I understand why it's a difficult choice to make for some people who get a lot of pleasure from using illegal drugs but there it is.

Just to go back to the litter analogy – if your local trail was strewn with litter one would chuck your own litter down thinking "well, it's already a mess, my junk won't make any difference" or do something else. I know which option would be best for my soul but entirely understand that changing a well developed friday night E habit is a bit easier than putting one's gum wrapper in one's pocket!

@ RichPenny

Hmm. Not sure but I think I get you!

If I buy alcohol I suppose I'm supporting the same construct that makes it available to abusers of alcohol and the same with fags. Similar with the jobs idea. If I have a job it means, at least at present, someone else doesn't.

For me though, the link between buying illegal drugs and supporting the illegal activity that supplies them is more clear cut and therefore an easier choice. As a non-user it's also an easier one to make :-). I'm sure It'd be more difficult if I did use illegal drugs.

As for society insulating us from our choices in some parts of the UK the link between drug use and crime is all too apparent with lives made very difficult by a local culture of drug use.

@ U31

I agree. Drug use per se is not the problem as I see it. It's the illegal activity/violent crime that currently surrounds it. I agree that drug use has been associated with ritual since the year dot and, for the record, a return to the celebration of some of these rituals would be no bad thing.

RichPenny

You may be onto something about alcohol related crime impacting on the population in general but drugs related crime being more confined. That'd need checking.

To me the concept that one's illegal drug use contibutes to violent crime isn't nebulous. It's a fact. If one didn't buy the drugs one wouldn't have contributed to drugs related crime.

I'm not saying that the crime wouldn't go elsewhere or that there aren't other factors at play other than one person's decision to buy illegal drugs one day.

I am saying that there is one clear recognition that an illegal, recreational drug user can make (that their use contributes to violent crime) and there seems, to me, only one moral choice to make on the basis of that knowedge.

If one buys illegal drugs one must recognise that one is contributing (albeit perhaps in only small way for some) to some very serious violent crime. An illegal drug user has to live with it. A non-user of illegal drugs doesn't have to deal with that. They can worry about something else :wink:

PS – Thanks for that about opiates. The media would have you believe the "slippery slope" message. One hit and you're as good as gone.

Less misery = less drug abuse?

Good point RichPenny

"All in moderation" that's the methodist heritage coming out in me!

BTW Is it possible to use heroin for example in moderation?

PS – If I say I'm a "social libertarian, economically on the left" it might help some of you know where I'm coming from. See http://www.politicalcompass.org/test

Hi RichPenny, thanks

You're dead right. There are loads of contradictions.

I'm with you on fags and booze and tax paid to fund unjust wars and exploitation abroad. For the record, I was taken in by WMD and felt mislead by Blair. I have campaigned against climate change and work for a youth and an environmental charity. Reconciliation of the issues you mention is always a matter of compromise, doing what I can and recognising that I can't do everything. I also have my family and friends to think of who need my energy too.

In this thread I was trying to focus my attention on the way illegal drug use contributes to violent crime (not so much with fags and booze bought on the open market) and the fact that many recreational drug users seem content to brush this under the carpet.

Just because one can't change everything doesn't mean one shouldn't address the things one can. Doing nothing though, for me, doesn't seem to be an option.

I've said above that I do try to think through the effects my choices have more widely and I'm not saying I always get it right.

Personally though, if I knew that something I did just for fun contributed to violence and hurt, I'd try to stop doing it because otherwise I'd feel bad.

Sorry to hear about your family members succumbing to booze.

I'd add to Buzzlightyear's "manifesto":

"provide varied activity for young people – people tend to be good at stuff they enjoy and enjoy stuff they're good at, build passion for learning, hope in their futures – in and and out of work, power to make a difference in thier own lives and communities, compassion and the possibility of joy".