Cheese & pickle & lettuce sandwiches.
A big piece of chocolate stout cake.

I almost always take something in, I've been privy to the joys of Nottingham University catering in the past, and I avoid it whenever possible, really expensive (like £5 for a decent meal), of dubious quality. The only reason they can do it is because we're a campus university, so you have to walk a mile to the nearest other sandwich shop.

When I was working at University of Canterbury, New Zealand, the catering was all organised by the student union. They made enough profit on it (plus the rents for the bookshop etc.) to pay for union activities, and still managed to have good quality, tasty food that was freshly cooked and dirt cheap. Whereas here we pay a fortune to useless contract caterers for terrible food.

Joe

What, more efficiant than turning half of them off? Surely 50% power dimmed is just the same? And I'd imagine it would be simpler electronics if there was no dimmer too….

LEDs produce significantly more light per amp at 50% power than they do at 100% power. So if you put in 50% of the power, you get something like 60% or more of the amount of light.

I think the complexity of the electronics is in having a constant current circuit. I don't think dimming massively increases complexity (it is just sticking a different resistor into the circuit somewhere basically).

Joe

I have lost the program I used to do this with. I wrote it myself, because I didn't find anything quick to do it.

You could try this: http://www.dvdvideosoft.com/products/dvd/Free-Video-Flip-and-Rotate.htm

To be honest though, after rotating a few, I decided to always take videos in landscape in future – it isn't like there are any places you'll want to view a video that have portrait shaped screens.

Joe

douchebag

iirc that is what light and motion have done with there Seca lights

That is neat, looks very well done, it looks kind of similar to what the Busch & Muller ones do. The "brand L" comparison on their site makes lupine lights look very undeveloped for something so jolly expensive.

Joe

And whilst on the subject of low/high beams, why in the age of multiple LED lights are we changing power by dimming the bulbs?

Because it's way more efficient to dim the LED.

The other stuff though, the shape of beams is because most LED manufacturers are just using pretty simple optics or conical reflectors. If you look at B&M dynamo lights, they use a cunningly shaped reflector to make a perfectly shaped beam of light for road riding. They are very neatly done. I don't know why mountain bike light makers haven't done this.

You obviously want some upward pointing light if you ride in trees or anywhere else where there might be things at head height.

Joe

It should work on 2G anywhere that there is an Orange 2g signal I think?

Joe

Also, someone a while ago mentioned a really technical trail from the top of Leith Hill. They mentioned it started by the picnic benches off to the right (as you look south).

There used to be one straight down to Landslip Carpark that was a bit scary and steep.

If it is the one I think, whatever you do, don't ride it without sending someone down slowly to check that no-one is parked at the trail exit / walking in the way, as you can pop out into the car-park at quite high speed if you're not careful, and that would be bad.

Joe

I think 'clubs' are an anachronism, a throw-back to a pre-internet world with less instant communication.
Back in the day, you needed to be a member of a club to have a regular group of folk to chat to or ride with. regular meetings at a pub or clubhouse were the forums of their day.
Now they are required no more – you just search you local forums, get your banter, find out who is riding, where & when, then rock up if you fancy joining in.

Totally not the case for road riding – there are no forums where you can reliably get together a group of 20-30 people every Tuesday & Thursday night for example, or a bigger group on a Sunday, which several of our local clubs manage easily. When you get to competition, clubs are even more useful, road races, time trials etc. don't happen without someone doing all the boring club stuff, like notifying the police, getting insurance etc.

I imagine that for a lot of mountain bikers, riding in a small group is better, so you don't need to get a big gang of riders together. Many mountain bikers don't compete or organise competitions, which is where clubs really come into their own too. Also, a lot of people don't ride all that much, whereas roadies often train with others 2 or 3 times a week or more, which is way harder to organise on a regular basis in a smaller informal group than in a big club.

Joe

Whatever you are driving/riding, it comes back to the laws of dangerous/careless driving and the cycling equivalents.

The crucial aspect of these offences is whether the driving/riding in question falls below (or for 'dangerous' offences far below) the standard expected of a reasonable, prudent and competent driver in all the circumstances of the case.

Yeah, exactly. In the two extremes – first one, you are riding along at 50mph past a school, not looking where you're going at all, and you smash into a kid who is already crossing the road, clearly your fault. In the other extreme, you are going along slowly and carefully at 10mph, someone runs out in front of you really quick, completely without looking and runs straight into you, giving you zero time to brake, quite likely their fault. Most real incidents are somewhere in between, hence the court cases / arguments.

Joe

Coopers is nice, but it is also the noisiest, they don't really police noise at all, so it somewhat depends on whether you sleep easily when there are people making loads of noise.

Joe

I think that Kate Rew (and Daniel Start, and to a lesser extent the Rivers & Lakes person whose name I don't remember) have obviously got some press about it, and hence become by default the names that are in the address books of random media people wanting to find out about swimming. Everything I see where they're publicising it, they seem to be very much doing it because they are excited about doing something fun, and want to inspire other people to get out and swim. I don't imagine they are making masses of money for their sinister media empires, I'm guessing like every other guidebook author, they do it because they like doing the activity. Until recently, it was the swimtrek people who were the go to people for the media about outdoor swimming, the current people are a lot more focused on swimming in normal places in the UK, rather than always having to travelling hundreds or thousands of miles to swim which is nice.

The getting pissed off thing seems a bit like surfers getting pissed off with people muscling in on 'their' bit of sea or whatever. Yes, people have been doing it for years, but no-one has been publicising it, making it mainstream, making it easy to find good spots in new areas in the country, or to meet up with people to swim with. It isn't like the rivers are crowded, they are just a bit more accessible. If people wanted to have a media profile as the person to ask about outdoor swimming, it is pretty simple to get in the media, but it takes a whole lot of effort, just spend ages writing press releases and sending things to journalists. If they couldn't be arsed to promote it then surely they should just be happy someone else is out there inspiring people to go swimming.

By the way, anyone looking at buying either of the recent books, Daniel Start's Wild Swimming is better in my opinion. There is also somebody or others guide to wet places or something, which is supposed to be good (I've been given some good swimming spots out of it), I haven't got the full details (or even the actual title / author details) here, there is an email address you write to, the guy prints you off a copy for a smallish charge, it is pretty much just a list of OS grid references though, not very descriptive.

Joe

To get a hero free, you have to spend £35 a month on a 2 year contract, meaning you'll be spending £600 extra in order to get a £350 phone for free. It is worth phoning them up and asking if they can do any better deal though.

Obviously, with a phone like that you'll need to pay extra for mobile internet anyway (it isn't worth having a fancy phone like that without mobile internet), which may mean you spend more per month than you currently spend whatever happens, so that is worth taking into consideration.

Joe

I've never driven a car (go karts excepted), or lived in a household with a car.

Oh yeah, and I've never had a cup of coffee either.

Joe

replace the brake pads every 3 or 4 months.

Blimey, do you do an awful lot of miles? I've done 6000km on my current set of brake pads, that's about a year of riding at my current rate, and I don't need to change the pads yet.

I found that if you ride a chain for 4000km, you need to change the cassette too. When you do change it all, it feels amazing, like a new bike again! I have a chain checker tool, and I'll change it when it wears, hopefully next time I won't have to change cassette, and won't have to have bad shifting for the last month while I get round to buying a new one.

Joe

Hmm.

No-one local who might know?

Radial spokes and disc brake on the front wheel?

Radial spokes and disc brake and driving force on the back wheel?

Won't it just all snap on the first ride?

Joe

Oh, it appears to be both bits then – the bit where you transition from riding to going up and the bit where you transition from being in the air to riding along on the flat. Learn a new thing every day. You can tell I've only fallen down off things to landings rather than jumping up off proper jumps.

Joe

Isn't it the bit that you land on and that is angled for landing on.

Like if you jump off something, and land on something that is angled nicely to land on, the bit you land on is a transition. If you jump off something and land on a completely flat bit of ground, that has no transition.

Joe

In areas prone to mud, BOAT often = rubbish riding in winter as it'll have had 200 motorbikes over it every weekend. On rock, it can maybe be the opposite, as they wear the track right down to the rocks rather than leaving a layer of earth on top.

Joe

Pot luck. Some of our best bits of singletrack and rocky descents round here are restricted byways, some of the bridleways are wide and easy. Even footpaths are sometimes pretty dull and easy.

Joe

joemarshall – sorry but that's wrong. I have already compared the one I got my other half to the Tesco torch (that I bought last yr) and the Tesco one is nowhere near as good.
Why do you think otherwise?

Oh okay, I thought the tesco torch was the same brightness as my £10 dealextreme 2xaa one, which was significantly brighter than either my home made theoretically 120 lumen light, or the blackburn x3 60 lumen light. This is also rated at 60 lumens.

oh well, just goes to show, you can't trust the numbers off any of these guys.

Joe

Bear in mind they are horrible to cook on, so it is worth hanging onto your old cooker too for when you want to cook anything at a particular temperature / cook things in pans.

Joe

Even on low, the airzound makes lorries and buses stop, thinking there's a bigger lorry coming through. It is probably what you want. On high, it is a proper foghorn, so loud that your ears ring if you use it for too long.

Joe

I doubt it'll be as bright as the Deal Extreme offerings, but I'm only using it as a supplement to my 12/20w

That's only going to be 1/3 to 1/2 of the brightness of the £8 2xAA torch that you can get from Tesco? And it weighs about the same.

Joe

Not telling

Is there some good cheeky riding in Darley Dale? I know there is closer to Matlock, near Cromford and further down, but almost all the stuff I know in Darley Dale is legal.

Joe

My Mum:

About a girlfriend ages back:
Every time I see those cows, I think of <girlfriend>.

About my now wife:
She [wife] always looks healthy, like a second world war land girl or a member of the Hitler Youth.

Joe

The Youlgreave/Darley Bridge route you link is only okay. It is a lot of road / tracks for only two nice descents.

The maps in the v-graphics book, you could probably get away with using as long as you also read the instructions carefully, but they are not so good and I'd usually take an OS map with me.

Also, if you're not up there often, you might just want to click "toggle map sizes" in the bikehike window for the route I just made you, then zoom out the OS map slightly, click print, and you'll have something you can print out which has the OS map and the route fits perfectly onto a sheet of A4. Print out a couple of copies and bung em in your bag, voila, no buying map, no buying route guide.

Joe

The Five Dales route is nice, it rides up Back Lane and not down it I seem to remember, which is a pity, as that is a super smashing downhill, and a bugger of a climb. I haven't got the book here, but if I remember it right, you would be quite fit to do it in 2-3 hours.

This is a nice ride, 100% legal, and takes in a fair few of the best bits off the Five Dales route, but ends in a fabulous descent. I think I could ride round it in under 3 hours, it's only 15 miles. The first hill is a killer, but there is nothing else too crazy on it. Some great descents and lovely wooded singletrack. It starts from Darley Dale.

http://www.bikehike.co.uk/mapview.php?id=20299

There is a naughty weekdays only shortcut through Beeley Plantation that skips going down to Beeley, or you can spin down the obvious road shortcut to Limetree Wood and miss out Beeley that way if you want a shorter ride.

Joe

who kept touching my back wheel,

Although that is out of order if you mean literally making contact with it. Hanging close behind = okay, contact = bad and naughty and dangerous and I'd have a good old rant at them.

Joe

I've done this before – was riding on a causeway with sea one side and estuary the other, into a massive headwind, after a long ride, and was pretty much bonked. Guy overtakes me and says hello, I jumped on and hung onto his wheel. He said d'you want a turn, I said I couldn't, he obviously still had working legs, so kept on the front and we were all fine. At the other side, once it got a bit wind shaded, he sped off like a fast person and I limped home a fair bit faster than I would have if I'd had to battle the wind over the causeway.

i turned round and shouted 'hi – you fancy a turn?' to which he replied, 'no, i've knackered myself catching you up!'

That seems fair enough. He is knackered and needs a tow, hence using the last bit of power to jump on your wheel. You aren't losing anything by providing the tow. We all get tired sometimes. I've towed people a few miles on my commute before, not a problem really, if they want to go on front that is nice, but if not, as long as they look like safe riders, I don't have a problem with it, I don't understand why anyone would have a grump about it.

Joe

Best commuter option is a hub dynamo and a decent light. Cost will be less than the Hope vision, but more than the DX (mine were about 150 all in). You will never forget to charge them, or forget to bring them with you, and they will never run out of battery. Not as bright as the Hope, but then you're only riding roads and wide off road tracks?

The downside is that they are commuter specific – not really good enough for technical offroad, whereas with the hope or DX lights, you'd have something for nightriding at other times too.

Lots of info on these threads:

http://www.singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/recommend-a-front-light-for-my-commute-with-low-and-high-settings

http://www.singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/new-dynamo-bits-n-pieces

Joe

Only 100 miles. A 12 hour solo is way harder than 100 miles on a road bike, even in hills. If you're not in a hurry, just hang in behind a not too fast group and you'll get round in 6 or 7 hours without too much effort.

Joe

Me… I am more into the upstream swimming….. more of a workout, and when I am done, I don't have to walk back, because I didn't actually get anywhere…….

Yeah, I've done some upstream swimming too, but in my most local river, it is hard, even swimming from eddy to eddy, there are a few points where I just can't swim against it and have to turn downstream.

Joe

Apropos special equipment, old quarries tend to have a bed of broken bottles near the shore.Can anyone recommend any good footwear for gettting in & out.

Old shoes? You can get fancy water shoes (like trainers but without padding that gets wet – used for canoeing where you might have to portage) or wetsuit boots.

Probably the best thing is to get in at a point which isn't where the local drunk people hang out on a Saturday night, and always swim as soon as it is remotely deep enough.

Joe

The Shimano DH-3N80 is the daddy of dynamo hubs. It is lighter weight than the other ones, and more efficient (meaning less extra effort pedalling), oh and lighter than the older ones (500g hub weight).

http://www.cyclestore.co.uk/productDetails.asp?productID=17731

I don't know if there's a disc brake version yet, it might be the DH-3D72, but I'm not sure. The older ones are supposed to be significantly less efficient.

Don't forget you can turn last year's knackered/unwanted Tesco torches into mini 3W dynamo lights

Cool. I did similar with a piece of old seatpost and a cheap Cree LED. I keep meaning to make a bottle-cap light* for the front, but I never got round to it as my stock lights are so good- I figure it'd be dead cheap (about eight quid), and would be a very tiny light.

Joe

*two cree LEDs, mounted in two plastic bottle caps with 20mm lenses in (these fit perfectly), with one wired one way, one wired the other, so they are their own rectifier, zip ties to hold them onto the bars / headtube / steerer or somewhere.

Swimming with the fishes

Genius.

I went swimming with the fishes in an Alpine lake earlier this year – was absolutely packed with little fish, and when I stopped, they nibbled at my toes. It was quite disconcerting.

Joe

Joe – I'll concede to you on downstream in the Thames but have swum way upstream at Lechlade, where its not much more than a big brook.

Ah, I have that end of the Thames in the list for next time I visit my friend in Swindon.

Why rule out 'swimming'? Does it need anything more than that

Because if you say "I'm going swimming", it means to someone that you are going to go and do some lengths in the pool. If you say, "would you like to go swimming?", they think you're asking them to come and do lengths in a pool. It is the same as why you don't say "would you like to come on a bike ride" and expect people to know whether to bring their mountain bike or their road bike.

"artificial swimming"

pisses people off too.

Joe

Do any of you have a better phrase to describe swimming in rivers, lakes and the sea, that captures the idea of it being about the scenery rather than competition (ruling out "open water swimming", and makes it clear that it is outside (ruling out just "swimming")?

I like "proper swimming", but it can be a bit contentious!

Joe

Not so tempted now though – checked the prices and another IQ Fly is around £80 I paid about £50 a year ago.

£56.71 at dotbike (I assume for a second light, you don't need a standlight or automatic turny on-off, as you're only going to want to run it some of the time?)

http://www.dotbike.com/ProductsP4015.aspx

The Cyo is £73.
http://www.dotbike.com/ProductsP6841.aspx?utm_source%3dinternal%26utm_medium%3dsite%26utm_campaign%3dDFR