Not done it for a couple of years but many times in the 10 years before that. Mountains like that don’t disappear very quickly so I am sure it is all there (and the route).

Steady how you go on the drop into Ponty.

I went to Oregon last summer, we didn’t ride out of Portland itself but we did ride nearby in the Mt Hood area which is about an hour out of the city.

I would recommend 15 mile trail but there are others in the area: kneble springs, 8 mile, surveyors, gunsight, dog river.

There are no doubt local rides out of Portland but the closest that got repeated mentions was Sandy Ridge but there was a race on there so we went to Mt Hood instead.

We had our own bikes but I am sure there are places to hire. Advice on where to ride seems to be a big part of the shop scene so a good starting point. And no matter how many GPS tracks we had we always seemed to end up buying the map of the local area – also available in the bike shops!

It’s a great city and state, enjoy.

Ah OK, I think I have spotted the issue potentially….

The On-One website lists the seatclamp size as 29.8:

On-One seatclamp sizing

but that isn’t a very common size so I suspect it has a 30.0mm on it.

Will a 30.0 Salsa do a better job or should I seek out a 29.8mm in an alternative brand?

Surprise, surprise On-One make something in the right size and a bit fliplock esque:

On One CNC seat QR

You all seem to have quite shiny new computers.. I have a mid 2007 I actually which I think is the oldest version that can be upgraded. I am no power user and quite happy with the way it runs on Mountain Lion.

Should I install Mavericks?

Good confirmation and consensus :-) matches my experience.

I think the checks mentioned are an important part of this. Thanks all.

There are some mentions of Park PCS10 workstands for around the £90 mark on this thread.

Has anyone seen one at this sort of price from a non Ebay source recently?

Thanks for your advice. Ah yes, looks like I need an ISO adaptor, one of these:

ISO adaptor

Looks like Ebay is my oyster for choice then.

One more question, if I buy one with a USB socket would it also double as a phone charger or would it only play music off the phone – would be a nice facility.

Given I am none too sure on sizes the £7.99 option Bazz suggests looks ideal. Thanks all :D

Ah yes, England and Wales.

Thanks for the rundown. I suppose what I was after was an opinion on a rather circumstantial case of using a public open space and serving alcohol to it. But to make a judgement on that I guess the specifics are important.

I think a conversation with the council is probably the best way ahead.

I would really like to keep a bootable windows partition as what I have at the minute can effectively be plugged into a computer and off it goes (albeit in vintage Windows XP :wink: )

So I think I will give in and buy an additional external hard drive.

Thank you though.

poonprice – Yes you read right. I want to set aside the 400 Gb out of the 500 Gb,
Three_Fish – but I want to keep all the existing content on the disk so formatting it is not an option.

OK so it can be done, I was not sure if I would be able to partition again having done it before.

I realise the other option is to get another external HDD and have been toying with that but I am also thinking of getting an Apple Airport Time Capsule in the nearish future that would solve all future backing up and so reticent to spend money at this point on something that will only get very limited use.

EDIT: I have just looked at the External HDD in Disk Utility. It appears I can’t do it as it says: “You can’t resize the partitions on this disk as it uses the Master Boot Record Partition Scheme”

Looks like I have to buy a new one after all then!

thread diversion….

kayak23 – did you have success in removing the seatpost, I have a similar issue and tried it once but not much seemed to happen. Can you describe how you did it please?

Off the back of this thread and a couple of others I bought some AKG K450 headphones.

I’m not an obsessive in this sort of thing but thought I would give some better quality ones a go for a long journey.

I’ve never had any headphones like this but normally use the standard iPod ones…….

And wow these are good! The sound is in a totally different league and I am now rather looking forward to my journey next week!

I’m sure lots of the others are also very good but basically if you like music and are listening through iPod ones then treat yourself :D

Thanks to this thread for prompting me to buy some.

I wonder why that is? I guess they are a small company but I also thought the 575 had got a bit chunky making the 5 better suited to a lot of trail riding.

As it is the Arc is the only XC or trail bike in the range.

But as we know it is all about Enduro now ;-)

Rode this last week. OK it is not epic in length but it is a great ride, good technical challenges and a brilliant final descent, watch your wayfinding at the top you want to be on the bigger more obvious path. I think it took 3 hours and we were taking it very easy.

Met two German guys who had also got the route from MBR – they were very tidy riders.

We went to Whinlatter afterwards, 45 minutes away and good fun/contrast.

I’d suggest that if any of the content of pjm84’s link relates to the type of query or dispute you have you should be seeking someone more like a transport engineer or someone working in development planning rather than a highways engineer.

A subtle difference perhaps but will tend to relate to their experience and nature of the work they are involved in.

Would any of the clutch mechs work with a 2×9 setup or are they all very 10spd specific?

OK, progress update.

Checkdisk did not work

Drive Image (recommended by someone else) did not work

Minitool is doing something!

Pressed ‘full scan’ and it has been running for 12+ hours now, it has found a lot of files but not sure what it is actually doing, is it just a health check or will it fix it or is that the point you pay up to recover the files :D ?

Cheers all, some good suggestions.

The owner of the disk is a realist. The data is perhaps not ‘vital’ but it certainly makes her work easier so it may well be worth paying someone to do it.

The content is professional rather than personal.

No there is nothing I object to on the 575 but I have not really ridden much else so open to being impressed!

Considering I already have it it is an option to fit it and experiment but I think I may wait until after my holiday.

Also I am not sure whether the shock eyelets are the same size as Fox, this will clearly affect whether I can fit it. Also need to check the stroke length as this may differ from my RP2

Daytime bump?

Thanks Twang,

That looks good, two sizes of strip 17-19mm and 19-25mm which would be right for my rims?

I thought the 719 of the rim was the measurement of the width but having just checked the Mavic website this doesn’t seem to follow exactly!

By a bit I meant like up to the value of tubelss bits and bobs and if needs must new tyres, not a set of new wheels.

At the minute I want to give it a go as it were but full UST is to spendy for me. If I move on from this it will be to Flows and tubeless ready tyres.

Avoid Panasonic.

I have had two machines, both have had the same fault :-(

I don’t think the Talgarth/Llangorse route is the same as the ‘Killer Loop’ or ‘Black Mountains Epic’ that I have ridden and heard reference to in the past but it may well be, I have sent a gpx to what I think is your e-mail so that you can check.

I agree the Gower option is not a good one, loads of people will be heading that way for the beaches.

Have a good ride wherever you go!

If you are going to Mynydd Mallaen be careful on navigation. I am normally the map reader but I got pretty lost at a point.

Having said that I would think the weather is good for the ride as it was very boggy when I went there.

I did a ride starting at Talgarth, around Llangorse, about a month ago, it suffered as it was wet but should be great now so long as the bracken has not gone too wild. Quite a drive from Cardiff though.

Thanks Patrick,

I recognise that cover and that the article was beer heavy! I will trawl through my archives later.

Keep the other general suggestions coming, much appreciated.

@b r

Yep, Cardiff is a far bigger sh1t hole than Bristol.

Is that just intended to offend? Do you actually live in either?

Both cities have their faults (where doesn’t) but on balance I think they are both great places to live and work. Both, in different ways, have character; that offends some I guess.

I went there a couple of years ago. I am not sure many of the routes are half day :P Take plenty of food.

We did the Torridon loop (documented in many magazines and the ‘Scotland Wild Trails’ book) and also a loop of Bein Dampf (sp?)

Both were excellent big days out, the descent into Torridon (Annats?) is one of the best I have ever done in the UK but getting there with enough energy was a challenge for my brother!

As for guiding I would think a good place to start is the person in that video of Steve Peat and Danny Mac riding in N. Scotland. On the other hand if you have not been before and can read a map I think you won’t feel like you are missing out with those two routes.

Leave Amasa Back and the Portal trail until last then!

If you like technical riding I recommend Fruita. We rode both and though the final section of Porcupine Rim was just brilliant I actually preferred a lot of the Fruita riding.

In Fruita we rode Horsethief Bench and Morefun. Chasing someone down the final descent of Morefun at sunset was one of the standout moments of the holiday.

Also make sure you take an evening trip to Arches national park for sunset. Not normally into that sort of thing but pretty scenic spot (along with the 500 photographers).

But bear in mind if you are taking a bike with you the charges for bike carriage are likely to be a bigger factor than the differences between the flight options.

Virgin take the bikes for free whilst most others charge.

When we when to Utah we flew with Air Canada but I know Virgin fly there as a friend has returned since.

As an aside is it ever a good/feasible/cost-effective idea to send a bike separately?

If you are looking for guiding and advice try either Sacred Rides or Mountain Bike Buddies. Great riding in Utah.

I rode at Camp Tamarancho near Fairfax when I went to SF at the end of a two week cycling holiday.

Certainly not the best riding of the trip but a fun blast in a good setting. We were quite fit and riding well by that point in the trip, it was funny to see the locals pushing themselves beyond their comfort zone on the descent as a pair of tourists threatened to catch them!

Don’t underestimate the time it will take you to get there from the city centre though.

China camp also seemed to get a number of mentions.

Traffic signals and pedestrian crossings can be pretty complicated.

In an isolated situation you at least need the time taken to change the lights. In more complicated situations the pedestrian may work as part of a UTC (Urban Traffic Control) system which links crossings and signalised junctions together aiming to provide ‘green waves’ and move lumps of traffic around together or as suggested above it might be linked to detection loops sensing approaching vehicles. In other cases there may well be a limit on how often the pedestrian stage may get called.

If integrated into a junction pedestrian crossings use a lot of capacity due to the time spent to switch into that stage, complete that stage and then pause before commencing the next traffic stage.

Or of course it may just be because they are set up wrong :D

Can you realistically ‘do’ Instanbul in a weekend? (From Manchester).

No, but you can have a look around at a few key sights and enjoy yourself. It is a very large city indeed. My parents thought they had ‘done’ it in a four day trip, in reality they had barely left the Golden Horn area!

Change your hotel!

Transport is a major issue in Istanbul. The last time I went there on a work trip road travel from the airport to an office on the same bank of the Bosphorous took 3 hours. This was an exception but it is always pretty bad. The Asian side is a cheaper place to stay and the airport zone is not great anyway.

Until the tunnel is complete across the river (2014) there is also no rapid public transport link and the queue for the bridges in peak hours is significant.

Here is a map of the cities public transport network, print before you go as I didn’t find one as good elsewhere.

You can see the disconnect that the river imposes. This is set to continue in the future too as one of the bridges needs long term maintenance that is set to require its closure and the city continues to grow rapidly.

Having said that there are some great examples of public transport in the city, the locals don’t seem keen but the Metrobus is an example of what can be done with buses and should be extended in an exclusive lane across the Bosphorus, it would move more people than the current traffic jam.

As someone else said an option may be to travel from the airport to the Golden Horn and get a ferry across but it really is quite a long way and you are going to be a sweaty mess by the time you get to work!

Oh I should also mention that the taxi experience is rarely great, out of eight taxi rides I got only one successfully took me to the right place despite written addresses. One of the taxi rides ended rather unpleasantly with a row as the driver tried to rip me off royally.

Enjoy your trip it is a interesting energetic place.

The HP looks pretty good thanks. XL cartridge capability sounds good too.

Not sure I understand about the guns.

Plumber: Kris of KLM plumbing. Have used him twice with good experiences. You may have to wait a while though as he seems very busy (probably a good sign).

I would be interested in any other recommendations you get as I have ongoing DIY works in my house.

Keep going on the recommendations, I tried rated people recently, was not too impressed with those who came to quote unfortunately.

Oh it seems that five pages later my missing ‘i’ is still causing hilarity making this by several leagues my most successful STW post ever!

Hmm, clever phone keyboard makes untrue assumption! There is no wife.

I had corrected that twice in the post but missed the title.

Think I had better start again, I suspect it is going no where helpful :-)