Aren’t the natural trails in Wales any good then?

Loads of amazing natural rides in Wales. They just take a bit more effort and planning than following red or black signs around a forest.

I wouldn’t bother trying to eradicate it.
Massive waste of time and it rarely works. I transfer data to a hard drive, nuke and reinstall.
It only takes a couple of hours and you can be 100% sure its clean.

Anybody know if wearing a hat under your helmet increases your risk compensation or likelihood of sustaining rotational injuries?

I think a whole load of Scottish midges came to Afan to celebrate the Jubilee and bite some Welsh last weekend. Most of them seem to have gone back now thankfully.

Cut and paste still working for you TJ?
Thought you might have worn them out. :D

I like the Quantocks but still exploring it so its a bit hit and miss for me.
I’ve ridden Smiths combe, Weacombe combe, Paradise combe, Stert/Holford.
Was there last weekend and it seems alot of the singletrack in the great wood has been destroyed by recent treee felling. :(
What else is worth riding round there?
As most of the descents lead to Holfords what are the best climbs to the ridge other than the great road?

I don’t wash my hands after a number 1. I honestly believe my phallus is cleaner than the tap handle as it get cleaned regularly. I don’t do number 2’s in public places at all so don’t have issues with cubicle doors.

a football stadium in full voice

i like the deep guttural gollllllllllllllllllllllllll that you get at spanish grounds when they score, that makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.

I am always so impressed with the Welsh national anthem at the Millenium stadium. Its such a powerful, passsionate anthem and when the roof is closed the sound is amplified. Truely breathtaking for me and I’m not Welsh.

I wouldn’t get a solicitor involved at this stage as you will be charged for every communication she makes with them and then asked how you wish to proceed.
As she quite clearly sounds nuts, you will very quickly build up a legal bill that far exceeds whatever she’s asking for.
I’m not legally trained but learnt the above from previous experiences.

I’d wait for something in writing but keep a log of all communications.
Perhaps a restraining order would force her hand one way or another.

Wow. Loving those pics. I think my head angle just changed a bit.

Paper is current

Editorial group: Cochrane Injuries Group.
Publication status and date: Edited (no change to conclusions), published in Issue 1, 2009. Review content assessed as up-to-date: 7 November 2006.

TJ you are trolling and derailing the thread. Drop it now. The OP was not asking for this debate again.

To the OP. I’m sure if you stick to the reputable brands, find one that fits well, and a design that your child likes and will wear happily, you’ve done everything you can to ensure their safety.

I think if your selective about your FB friends it’s very useful. I don’t accept or add randoms. Only people who I want to share my stuff with. I cull regularly too as the list slowly builds up. Nothing private there for me just holiday and biking snaps. Don’t know why so many have such a problem with it.

Sometimes I wonder about the FB lurkers. They seem to know everything about you so check often enough but never contribute anything. Why bother then?

I feel like a complete **** for believing this guy in the OP. What a knob. Great climax to the Sierra sequel. Who says they’re never as good as the original.

Means you can put in an angleset and slacken the front if you want.

I have no experience of the Scottish highland midge but the South Wales midge at Afan molestered me 2 days ago and I can’t imagine anything worse. The itch actually gets much worse on the second day. Camping in that is my idea of hell.

I haven’t looked back into your other reviews but I’ve read what I think we’re undeserved negative appraisals of my LBS on this site and it seemed everybody got on the bandwagon. Perhaps I’m nieve but I actually thought the OP was legitimate and I would have given Sierra another go. The excessive nature of it seemed logical to me as an act of retribution and overcompensation for their previous sins.

The only reason I posted was because the overwhelming number of responses were suggesting an inside job, but as far removed as it might be to some, it might actually be that someone had had a good service from them and if so Sierra should be commended for sorting themselves out.

Opinions are obviously subjective. I read the original Sierra thread too and before someone accuses me of anything I am not associated with the cycling retail industry in any way. As opposed to other online retailers like eBay/ amazon etc this place does not have a formal rating or voting system. One voice is extremely powerful. I recall your thread but I don’t know if your bad experience is the exception or rule. I’m not in any way suggesting that your account was inaccurate but perhaps various mitigating circumstances resulted in your bad experience. I haven’t read the thread recently but this was the message that I got when Alan eventually replied. I recall that some of his responses weren’t the best but he’s in a highly competitive industry and his livelihood depends on sites like this so he would have been pretty stressed.

I’d hate to be a LBS or tour operator in Britain. Sites like this have way too much power and not enough quality control. No wonder the LBS is dying in the uk whilst online retailers with F all responsibility and accountability thrive.

14 years but I don’t look or act my age. She’s probably more mature than me despite being alot younger.

Prob is the hillwalking. You want a proper device with a big screen for navigation. The Dakota or 60 series garmins would be great for that but certainly overkill for road cycling and quite bulky. A garmin 800 would be great for road cycling a pain to navigate with in the hills as the screen is too small. I’d suggest 2 devices which is what I use. A device with a large screen for hill walking (Dakota or 60 series) and a smaller device without mapping on the road bike like a 305, 500 etc.

Rubbish! I’m heading back home soon and looked at this option. As a percentage of my monthly income it’s actually cheaper for me to buy it in the UK than in Oz. I won’t be taking this option as warranty issues as well as the extra cost and hassle of the freight make it not worthwhile. I’m a big fan of supporting the LBS and I know if I buy a bike from them that I’ll get looked after.

Pretty full on story really.
The way I read it, I’m not sure you have a knack of picking the wrong girls, it sounds like you are the wrong guy.
Being a good mountain bike rider is pretty low on my partner’s requirements.
This girl comes from a different riding culture to you but is still keen to get out with you.
I wouldn’t be coaching her on your first date – just get out and enjoy the moment FWIW.
My current partner tried so hard to impress me that she hurt herself badly a couple of times and now won’t go near a mountain bike again.
Take it easy on her, its a date not a thrash with your mates!!

A famous Australian comedian wrote a very popular rude offensive but hilariously funny song that describes emmas weekend very well.

Not sure how the Brits take it though. It cheers me up if I’ve had a shitter.

hope not

First dibs on the 575 if the leg goes

Lol harsh![/url]

Lol. I thought I had a shit weekend. Made me laugh.
Got this mental image of you pole dancing with your period.

I know some people install open street maps on them which are free and apparently pretty good.
Not done it myself but I’m sure you’d find instructions easily enough with a few google searches.

Its probably one of the preservatives. Experiment with different beers.

I’d love a crack at the olympic course after the event. It would really put into perspective how skilled and fit these elite riders are. I think alot of those technical features would look horrible from the top of the bars.

As much as I love Wales trail riding I agree that filming in tight dense forests probably would not make great TV viewing or provide enough passing opportunities.

Don’t stay at the Afan trail centre campsite. The midges are in force in a big way. I’d probably stay in Swansea or Port Talbot.

The Cochrane Collaboration

Cochrane Reviews are systematic reviews of primary research in human health care and health policy, and are internationally recognised as the highest standard in evidence-based health care.

I’m not going to let this consume my whole evening again.
I come here to hear about people’s amazing rides not argue with someone who misquotes the medical bodies and discredits the best available medical evidence.
Unfortunately I can’t help but be drawn into this debate as my daily job involves putting people back together again and telling them their disabilities are permanent.
I feel some sense of obligation if someone comes on here telling people they are safer without a helmet to set the facts straight. What they do with those facts is their business.
Are you safer with a helmet? Yes
Is there a survival advantage to the broader community for compulsion? The evidence is inconclusive.
I’m outta here.

Dont be silly now. You cannot discredit Cochrane. It represents the best available unbiased evidence on any medical subject.
People may have attempted to discredit it for their own reasons but if their account was reasonable there would be a revision and there hasn’t.

The current BMA position is:

The BMA, as a part of its policy to improve safe cycling supports compulsory wearing of cycle helmets when cycling for children and adults. The Association wants to see an increase in voluntary use prior to the introduction of cycle helmet legislation and supports initiatives that so increase such use.

As NW puts it there’s 2 issues here.
1. Do they actually protect against head injuries?
2. Would compulsion be advantageous to the community?

The answer to 1 is simply yes. The best available evidence in medical literature is a metanalyses which is level 1. These combine all the best available studies on a subject, collate the samples and perform statistical analysis to 95% confidence. This means that if the statistics are less than 95% certain the study is regarded as inconclusive. The best metanalysis on cycle helmet efficacy has been published in the Cochrane library which is widely regarded as the best available evidence and its difficult to argue with.
This found

Helmets provide a 63 to 88% reduction in the risk of head, brain and severe brain injury for all ages of bicyclists.

This is real life data based on the collation of all case control studies. This is not any form of simulation. This is the best evidence that there is.
This over-rides any concerns about rotational forces, risk compensation etc because this data is drawn from real cyclists injury rates and their rate of helmet use.

Now for 2.
This is where there is scope for debate.
This is where people attempt to weigh up whether the survival advantage of wearing a helmet, is counterbalanced by the drop in cyclists numbers. The drop in cyclist numbers may cause more deaths related to sedentary lifestyle and its cardiovascular impacts.
Unfortunately most of this data is quite old and centres around an Australian paper by Robinson.
Australian authorites have refuted this paper no end and as most people know Australia has had compulsion in place for 20 years.
The legislation and evidence has been reviewed in Australia many times in that 20 years and yet it persists to this day.

It is very rare to see cyclists in Australia not wearing helmets and thats not because its law, but because its now part of cycling culture.

TJ spurting out his dribble again presenting the same points which have been conclusively refuted many times over.
Can’t be arsed this time.
I think everyones opinions are fixed on this issue anyhow and nobody will change their stance so whats the point?

Monday’s forecast looks pretty good. Rest day for me today.
Can’t be bothered with the post ride faff after a muddy rainy ride.

I’d probably prefer some big knobby ones

I run my rebound pretty slow both front and rear. I find it very twitchy and unstable when they come back quickly in quick descents.

I did skyline today and loved it.
There may be lots of fireroad but the quality of singletrack makes up for it.
W2 is too busy on weekends for me, skyline is always quiet.