I’d never heard of Torm, looks great, thanks for that!

I don’t think I have had a bad word from anyone for years despite my sometimes grumpy demeanor on this forum. I slow down for walkers and horses, especially older folk and small kids, call out a warning from a good distance and smile and say ‘hello’ to all and sundry. Some people do act surprised as I am often plastered in mud or bloodied from thorns. So many people do have a negative view of mtbers that i give them no chance to ignore make and try to make them realize that we are normal, well mannered and not overly selfish.

Women on horses are probably least friendly followed by men walking with their wives / girlfriends. I assume the latter are embarrassed to not be as fit as us and shown up in front of wife / GF.

Groups of ramblers strung across a track and making no effort to move are the most deserving of our ire but what good will it do us if we abuse them?

Just needs Ravens as well to go after all the crap people throw in the streets. They might keep the pigeon and seagull populations down a bit as well.

Ravens are making a massive comeback in the west country. Never heard one in my first 35 years and since about five years ago I have heard them most weekends now. Away from houses etc. Hard to identify in flight but their sound is unlike any other bird and leaves no room for error. Good to see these bigger birds about.

I think the dairy breeds bit set out above is still current. Non dairy breeds are normally fine even if there aren’t any females about to distract them from a passing cyclist. For a 650 kg beast they can run quite fast though!! JMTFU and see it as useful interval training!

Maxxis Ignitor. Just not enough grip in corners. I guess I am not a

the most discerning professional racers

as their website says. Give me a Racing Ralph anyday.

I also found my Nevegals quite good as well but UST if that made much difference.

Well, its a good descent by all means but the best in UK? Surely not. The back of Ditchling Beacon, Smiths and Weacombe, stuff in the Lakes the names of which I am not familiar with, more stuff in Quantocks and Exmoor, more stuff in Wales (Y Das in the Black Mountains??) and so on. In fact I prefer the other descent off Long Mynd, described by Benji as so much fun (and hence inherently scary) that its almost a relief when its over. Exactly how I felt.

Hardly anything but 10 o Clock news and Newsnight. Spend more time in web or reading or out drinking. I just think its a complete waste of someone’s life watching telly. Reality crap, property $hite, fly on wall guff, all total bobbins. Sometimes I think I’d like to get satellite so I can watch the cycling but most times I would rather be out riding.

“masturbation saved my life” by Therapy. Can’t remember which album.

I’ve long thought it would be a good idea but I cannot see 40p a unit being enough to put your average binge drinker off much. so a 70 cl bottle of 40% vodka has to cost a minimum of £11.20. Still pretty cheap?

Strong (5%) lager and cheap spirits did for us when we were students!

Don’t worry they’ll grow back

Well actually they probably wont grow back because the bulb will not have had a chance to build up enough energy stores. Daffs and other bulb based plants need to be allowed to grow their whole season until they whither naturally. I think the OP did the right thing. Pikey scum should have been shot IMO. Probably trespassing as well.

Riding around Regents Park on a Saturday morning it is about 15 : 1 men to women riding but the joggers its about 8 : 1 the other way. So, if you men want to get laid go running, women, join the bike ride.

Hackney. Steel, retro ish, single speed, road bikes with a spattering of old sit up and begs, pub bikes, and Bromptons.

two long days in the Quantocks – better weather (today at least) and better bikes! Today was just fantastic, one of those early spring days that makes you glad to be alive and able to do such wonderful things in wonderful areas.

I have a 70mm on my Soul and I race that occasionally at Gorricks and Thetford and no real problems. I think the more sat up position is less conducive to working really hard but I’m not sure the handling is affected badly. The bike’s great handling is one of the reasons I like riding it generally. I don’t race it more because my Flux is lighter and has rear travel that I like fer racing.

I’ll stop supporting England if Redknapp is appointed.

Stuart Pearce or Mourinho.

ditto.

What a sham.. Capello is really clever, likes art, cool glasses and good at disciplining our ****t players and Redknapp is almost certainly bent as a five bob note. Say what you like because that is what I believe and I can believe what I like. He has to be dishonest, acting the way he does.

I shall support whoever is playing against us if Redknapp gets the job.

is it really 15.5% of your gross salary?? That seems (is!) rather a lot.

London already receives massive subsidy and the SE is already the most economically developed area of the country. The reason most places get trail centres etc is because they are economically under-developed.

FFS – London makes more money and pays more taxes for UK than any other region and always has done.

As for questioning the legacy what do you bright boys all think is gong to happen to the athletes’ village, the media city, the velodrome etc – they won’t just just sit their rotting will they? Media city = offices = jobs (geddit?); athletes village = housing; velodrome, well if Manchester has one we need a better one and so on. I live 3 miles from Olympic Park and the area has been improved massively already so to say there will be no legacy just makes no sense. Weymouth gas a long overdue new road, hotels and other misc infrastructure. You may argue its poor value for £10 billion that may be a better argument but not much.

If you all have such a miserable attitude to the rest of your lives you really will have short sad miserable existences. Where do you get it from? I blame your parents. Everyone I know in London and Dorset (Weymouth, sailing) thinks it will be great. Cheer up FFS.

TJ – you make some fair-ish points but Scotland is the minority. National teams will be staying (and hence spending money, bringing some life etc) to places all over the country and not just London. Certainly as far as Midlands and I know that not the whole country but nowhere would benefit the whole country. I’m sorry your grass roots spending has been cut – we suffered the loss of Beastway that was bad enough but i expect some of those cuts get blamed on Olympics as it is a way to blame nasty English and in fact would have been cut anyway.

as others have pointed out Londoners have paid for it in all sorts of subtle ways so that’s not a good argument.

As for ‘cuts’ that is a different argument. The Olympic spending was perfect for sustaining jobs through the last four years downturn even if more by luck than judgement.

As for drugs, like all athletes I am drug free!

Miserabilists really do need to get a grip of reality. The Olympics are going to be fantastic. The atmosphere will be great, the legacy of facilities and feel good factor will be great, the regeneration is already amazing. I do worry about bad weather and terrorism but if they do not materialise (too much in the case of rain)then all will be well.

As for the people who think it should be in Manchester, FFS, get a life. Manchester is not a world city like London, Sydney etc and was never a runner.

Oh, and its going to help lift us out of the economic slough of despond as well.

The food is quite basic – classic comfort food etc. The service, setting and other diners are supposed to be the attraction. I prefer the Wolsey but booking is a nightmare.

My Soul has 120 mm Fox and they are white but surely you could find some that weren’t white. They do work well though.

my 51 Golf TDi went to 125,000 with no problems at all. A bit smelly on start up but consumption still around 55 mpg. It was largely motorways and was always serviced by a VW or similar approved place. People often report 200k without a breakdown.

I would say delivery vans generally whether post office, private couriers or private companies delivering their own stuff. Drivers are not well paid so tend to be short term, no extra above a car licence requirements and set silly (I’m just guessing here) schedules to try and meet.

They certainly scare me most when I am cycling.

Drove up through it on tuesday morning and barely noticed it. On auto pilot I guess. It does seem to have less roundabouts than it used to though. I like it when you get north of Grantham and suddenly it flatens out and all the distant power stations hove into view and what must be a sugar beet factory in Newark, all billowing steam into the blue winter sky…..

I missed that but do have tickets for the RA later on this month. rare for me to be so organised.

Looks ace but pretty tough. Day 3 is 128 km and 3,500 climbing. Even day 8 is 86 km and 2,300 m of climbing. Somewhat tougher than the Trans Wales.

Not seen it but it sounds rather depressing being partly about dementia.

I rode 475 hours in calender 2011. More than any other year since 2005 when I started recording. Strangely it didn’t feel like a record breaking year or a particularly great year ride wise but somehow I clocked up the time. A mix of commuting mtb and road, races and casual.

My average over the last 7 years is 430 hours.

I locked myself out of work garage where my bike is stored by day and had no choice but to walk home 5 miles with heavy bag. Not such a long way but was after 10PM when I left and I had been up since 6 and was ready for my tea.

I agree with nwilko in that good for plotting routes and then riding around with less interuptions for map reading and that I like. Mine is currently back with Garmin being fixed as some Welsh drizzle caused it to pack up in November. Customer service is far from ideal. Grudging would be the most polite word I would use.

The hrm is also totally useless on 9 rides out of 10 and accuracy of altimeter is also questionable.

Overall 6/10 and hard to justify the £450 rrp although I got it discounted in LBS.

Maybe you are run down? It is winter etc. Or the hrm is inaccurate?

Me too! Have just looked at a few files i brought home to work on over Christmas but in fact I haven’t opened and it all seems so long ago! I really must try to get out of bed when the alarm goes at 6. So much to do, so little enthusiasm. Its a been a great Christmas though and better than I feared (outlaw issues didn’t materialise!) so nothing to winge about and I’ve got in a fair amount of riding.

Have only read pages 1 and 2 but the answer is still “No”. Iran is the victim in far more ways that it is the villain. Why USA cant a) see this and b) learn to stop imposing its views on the rest of the world unilatterally is a headache for sure. The pro Israel lobby is the answer but even so common sense should prevail. Hopefully China and Russia will keep USA and UK honest on this one.

Moab is pretty good, well set up for bikes, lots of bike shops offering uplifts, nice small town with two breweries and several good places to hang out at night. Porcupine Rim was one of my best ever days on a bike. Its a good 7-8 hours drive from Denver though so closer places may appeal.

Fruita is OK and about 5 hours from Denver sort of en route to Moab and worth a day or two. When skiing in Vail I was assured by locald that the riding was as good as the skiing and my guess is that Colorado is stuffed with great pleaces to rise. Durango is another, The Leadville 100 etc etc.

Yes, its good if you like lots of medium climbs and descents, nice scenery, relaxed atmosphere and don’t mind a bit of road and nothing too exciting. At the time of year (early April) its the perfect event I think.

Good thread that I shall return to when my 800 is returned from headquarters where it is being fixed for getting damp despite being weatherproof. It really is the worst and most expensive recommendation Singletrack has ever issued to me. Really, I would rather just have my money back but maybe one day they will boither to fix it or replace it.

surely the answer is got the National Trust to buy any such land. It has a policy to acquire such land especially where public access can be helped / encouraged and it has plenty of cash. It also has land nearby and its experienced in managing rural land.

Its obviously a hopelessly open ended question but by my own standards and expectations I think, ‘yes but could do better’. Pretty much all my school reports said the same thing. My extreme risk aversion holds me back more than anything.

My 3 month old 800 packed up in the rain and waiting for it to be fixed or replaced. V underwhelmed i must say. Big altitude and some distance variations when doing laps that is not what i expected. Too easily confused by trees as well.

I think it is but to me its more of a cultural thing than pure religion or theology. To me Eurpoe = christian. I expect an Arab to be a muslim and a Chinese a buddhist etc and find the whole concept of conversion quite wrong. Clearly all religions are equally dima nd only existed at all as a means of control and prhaps explaining stuff that science now can explain so in a modern world there is no need for it at all.

I live next to a mosque and enjoy the multi culteralism we have but at our core we are christian. That said none of it bothers me much. Apart from zealots and other people that try to claim their religion is right or best because that is wholly illogical IMO.