Interesting. I have noticed that rocking back and forth with front brake applied there’s a slight knocking. Any clues where I should start looking?

Grab a single fistful of bike such that you’re holding the frame and the stem, rock the bike on the brake. You should feel if the knock is in the headset – and that can be adjusted.

We’ve already got footwork, leaning the bike, and I dare say “look where you’re going” covered.

I’d just add: *don’t* look where you’re going, look where you *want* to be going. And don’t just look, point your chin, that way you really pick your head up.

THIS is where mountain biking came from for ME, anyway.

Me and my mates were always churning round the army ranges, constantly looking for a new hill to fly down. We couldn’t afford dirt bikes but gravity was free and a bike that wouldn’t break let you use that big free engine.

While I do cycle up what I cycle down, riding for or choosing a bike for the climbs is like going skiing to ride the lifts! 😆

There was a guy I saw on local roads some time ago in a recumbent racing diamond shaped wheelchair velocipeed of some sort. He had ‘pedals’ in front for his hands, but he seemed to sort of row rather than pedal with them.

Might work with these chairs, hands nearer the controls for when they switch to churning uphill and back.

All these moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain…

Pinch to zoom is a very specific thing (regardless of the mechanics of how it’s done). Someone had that original idea and deserves to benefit from it. If that idea is stolen then the thief should be punished. No argument will ever convince me otherwise.

The inventer of the multi-touch display has the valid patent, not the person who says “oh, you could touch it this way”. That’s the equivalent of patenting the double click after someone else invents the mouse. Or to go with the car analogy, someone invents the steering wheel and I patent “turning left”.

US patent system is broken.

And always:
Boardman FS Pro

Carrera Kashmir. It had oval rings for blah blah blah. Is that bio-pace?

1. The bike shouldn’t have been there in the first place.

Be careful with that – most MTBing is done where “it shouldn’t be”, and I’ve had a pair of dogs leap out at me because “they don’t like cyclists”.

Something weird there.
I find it hard to believe that someone would ride at a dog for any reason.
I find it impossible to believe that someone would ride at a dog for NO reason.
I find it hard to imagine hitting a dog that hard and not falling off.
I find it hard to believe that someone would hit a dog, deliberately or not, and then (while in possession of a number plate?) continue to just *ride around*.

Maybe it all did happen as reported, unbelievable stuff sometimes does…

“Mech Hanger” sounds pretty metal.
“Dirt Jump” sounds kinda rude.
“Big Ring Grinder” sounds ruder.
“Sticky Clipins and the Flailing Topples” sounds country.

kaesae: do you know if any work has been done to look for any correlations between this work and what it shows and the movement of the stars or other astral bodies?

Well, our relative movement amongst all the other astral bodies and earth’s biological diversity has been examined:
A lay-layman’s guide to:[/url]
A layman’s guide to:[/url]
A paper.

I first put wheels on dirt when my bike had stabilisers and the pedals went into the front wheel – over 30 yrs ago – and never stopped, but I have never raced, or been coached. So cycling offroad I’m just completely and utterly at ease, but probably do quite a few things “wrong”.

I will happily aim at a lump and jump off it, but actual proper air (gap jumps, kickers, and all that) is alien to me. And this must be fixed sometime!

One word for ya: Burrington Coombe. 🙂

The other day I went into a pet shop and the man tried to sell be a quadriplegic stick-insect. How do I know it’s not just a stick?

Because it has two working legs..?

I’ve read quite a few, and not in order. While there is a narrative about his life that runs from book to book the investigation is the key in each one, so the sequence didn’t seem to matter too much – reading some as prequels was nice in a way.

And I think they’re good.

I’ve read and watched Headhunters too, I liked the book and the film.

When I was an enlightened thinker able to get outside the box and care about the planet[1], I had a “road” bike and rode to work, and I would again.

But road riding for fun? Might as well be in a spin class, plus I’ve never been into the fetish wear that goes with the road scene. And spin classes, actually.[2] So here me now – Road riding is boring, and the bikes are rubbish! 😀 (Fast, yeah – but dreadful handling and no brakes!)

[1]Or maybe my life just fortuitously tumbled together such as to allow me to cycle to work for a few years, take yer pick. 😉
[2]Why do they dress aerodynamically in order to pedal on the spot!?

Assange has allegedly raped two women. Swedish authorities wish to question him in these allegations.

Everything else is a smokescreen.
+1

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assange_v_The_Swedish_Prosecution_Authority#Complaints_and_initial_investigation
Wikipedia’s detail on the charges and legal processes. There appears to be a language barrier in exactly translating the charges into English. But note:

The High Court found that the Swedish process has reached the stage of criminal proceedings, which would be equivalent to having been charged under English process

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-18521881
BBC’s ‘Assange FAQ’.

GrahamS –
Anyone with a bell like that, in fact. Follow a mate on a climb, watch their pedalling, then gently ting the bell every time their right foot reaches the top of the pedal stroke.

But the UK could extradite him to Sweden and they in turn are permitted to extradite him to torture central.

Not without the permission of the country he was first exradited from. And Sweden won’t get that permission because it would be unlawful for the UK to give it, because the UK doesn’t allow extradition in cases where the death penalty applies.

In Sweden he faces no increased danger of extradition to the US, but he does face the possibility of sexual assault charges.

(And if he actually went to Ecuador, how long before a bunch of hard guys in bomber jackets have him back in the US via a burlap sack and a speed boat?)

Every one of the Star Wars prequels made me weep – with INCANDESCENT RAGE at the TRAVESTY!11!1!

I also cried with despair every time Frodo appeared during the LOTR films; oh God, is he still trudging up that volcano and whining, before toppling over in over-acted slow motion, again!?

BMX!

Explosive sprint starts, but not a short distance, technically it’s enormously demanding, requires oodles of bravery to jump so high and so far – esp surrounded by 7 other nutters, riders had to go through multiple time trials and quarters and semis to get to the final.

Didn’t hear of any other sport’s commentating containing anything like the gem that was “He mashed up his spleen again, so they just took it out this time…” 😯

I saw a program about something like this.

It was happening to some girl, along with dinner party urination, her head spinning round and round, and a tendency to vomit on priests then tell them that their mothers “cook socks in hell” or some such…

I always struggle to understand XC as a sport, and I mainly ride XC. But I ride it the way I did as a child – I’m pretending I’ve got a dirt bike, but lacking an engine I’ll use gravity. If up-then-down speed was the aim then a CX bike is going to be faster, but I endure the climbs in order to rag the descents. Designing a race *lap* where a mountain bike will be a faster option than a CX bike must be tricky.

(Gravity?) Enduro (as I’ve heard it explained) probably best represents the pass-time of “climbing to descend”, and really makes the “mountain bike” distinct from a “CX bike with 90mm travel in the fork” – possibly it’s the way to go to represent non-DH mountain biking as a sport?

Wondering what the Edinburgh defence was, I looked on wikipedia. Suprised to see STW and TJ mentioned!! 😯
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edinburgh_Defense

🙁

I think I’ll wade in. As succinctly as possible:

The idea emerged in TKD practice that kicks are so awesome that they should be the main focus of your efforts in a fight (which has repeatedly been demonstrted to be totally untrue) and the rule set was designed to reflect this idea, rewarding kicks, particularly high kicks, and little else.

As a sport it’s particular demands for point scoring could well be argued to provide a demanding and watchable challenge, but many martial artists cringe at how kicky-punchy combat ends up being “represented” at Olympic level by this not particularly practical art.

TKD medallers are still exceptionally springy, stretchy, fast-reactioned, fit, the best at winning in their rules, and will have worked very damn hard to be.

SUPERLUMINAL!

Superluminal.

“Big pharma” is just one of those “A-Level Activism” targets.

If ya really don’t like big pharma, don’t use their products; if enough people feel the same they’ll go out of business, and then we’ll see what the world’s like without it.

Went there with my folks when I was a tiddler. Mum and Dad said we were gonna hire bikes and “go for a nice cycle”, me and sis were unimpressed with the idea of not being in the pool. Maw and Paw got two dreadful mudguarded and chainbathed Dutch style heaps, me and sis got BMXs. About 100 yards into the “nice cycle” we came across a BMX track and me and sis shot in (with cries of “we can look at that on the way back, you two!” drifting after us) and wouldn’t leave! 😆

Ear plugs.

Local Halfords sent my fork off for a service, and paid for it, when I took it in with the bike (foolishly) a week outside warranty. Then promised to do a deal when the fork finally dies (yet to see how that goes). Even if they renege (and there’s been some staff turnover) they still did well by me.

They ARE my LBS.

The sense of entitlement a lot of folks carry round in mountain biking is astounding.

“Yeah, those horses, bikes, tractors and 4 bys should all be banned and those ramblers moan about us and they should FTFO cos MTBs are scientifically physically incapable of doing any harm and now lets rag along these footpaths some more cos they should be ours anyway and then build a jump park in some private land and f*** the Forestry commission cos the last time the b******s went harvesting they ruined OUR trails man and someone build us some more trail centers and WTF OMG they’re charging for parking and then some slow guy got in my way and ruined my run and he like had V Brakes(!?!?) like he belongs there at all I mean WTF…”

It’s about being permanently 1/2 an inch from utter death carnage, it’s got speed, danger, tactics, grit, fetish wear, daft punk’s headgear, and the spectators can see the whole race.

It’s like watching suicidal trans-gender sperm riding Tron Lightcycles.

As far as Olympic cycling goes only BMX could be a better spectacle.

As for helping uptake:
Certainly provision at work to let people ditch a layer of clothes and put on another is vital when it’s hot or wet.

Have to accept that motorists don’t drive because they hate the planet and want to kill cyclists, but because they have to. It’s easy to cycle in when mum, dad, and 2.4 kids have home, two jobs, and 2.4 schools all within cycling distance of each other; otherwise someone has to drive sometime. Increasing the cost just makes people poorer.

Park and cycle, as well as park and ride. Does that exist? My SO is “cheekily” using a park and ride as park and cycle. I think this could be the biggest idea, cars on the A roads, (motor)bikes in the town.

(Public transport is hopeless, if I was to use the bus I could get to work 50 mins early or 10 mins late – and my hours are the standard 9->5. And as for crossing town for an evening class, I had to simultaneously overlay 3 maps and 3 timetables from the bus company’s website on “mental acetate” to figure out how and even then I can’t get home afterwards.)

What CG and some others are saying, just get time on the bike without trying to Achieve anything. When you’ve got space weave about, pop manuals, do some skids, basically play around until it’s fun again.

I’m for the Olympics, but hoped that being in the host nation there’d be more chance to watch the less well known sports.

BBCs 1, 2, and 3 carry all of the usual cycling swimming and running. I tried the red button and saw judo listed, but when clicked on it was pistol shooting. The streaming over the net is unwatchable, so I couldn’t watch any fencing, and all the time this was going on BBC4 was switched off!

Olympics great, coverage not so. They’d better make sure the BMX is on the tellybox, or, or … I’ll legally (there’s precedent) tweet a joke about blowing something up. 😉 (emoticon for the rozzers)