Wiggle are doing the new Contour Roam2 for about £135, not in stock though otherwise you could get more off with their discount offer but I think it’s still a good buy at that price if you can wait until in stock.

I had one of these in the late 80’s early 90’s (not a photo of my one but an image off the interweb) used to get a bike in there, wheels in the front boot on top of my kit and the frame and forks wedged in the passenger seat and footwell … changing gears was tricky

Although not current, and STW wasn’t around then I thought it was impressive at the time.

Behaviour management isn’t usually an issue for me, but it is becoming more relevant here as I’m in an environment and an area I’m not familiar with, I think, as mentioned, that the pupils are probably picking up that I haven’t a clue, it would be great given the time to look into the subject more and become knowledgable about it but I feel I’d need a month or two just studying it myself, not trying to learn it at the same time I’m planning, doing demos, running practicals, marking, assessing, trying to get groups through GCSEs, teaching and all the other admin stuff. I’m just going to talk to my mentor and the other staff to see what they suggest, as my mentor (ICT) said, it’s the blind leading the blind. The department is being as helpful as they can but they have to teach too, they said they were hoping food would be dropped in favour of Product Design, now that would be perfect!

Thanks for the replies.

Still undecided, do I struggle on doing something I’m not interested in or enjoying or not? I don’t intend to not just turn up as I’ll speak to all involved to see what they suggest. There’s no HoD at the moment, it’s a shared responsibility, but I think the other members of the department would be understanding as they are aware of the situation.

They didn’t find anyone suitable in previous interviews and I think they just needed to have someone in place at the start of the new term. Speaking to the tech he was saying the interviewees had catering backgrounds but no teaching experience but we both agreed that they would probably have been more suitable to teach food than myself. I’m quite happy to wait for the right position to come along teaching my specialism, why would I train to teach something and then do something completely different, I might as well go and collect glasses in my local club … mmm, tempting. I decided to give it a go, I enjoy cooking but trying to teach it to a large disruptive class especially during practical lessons is chaos only compounded by the fact I don’t know the subject. It’s very different from teaching RM or Product Design. They need to employ someone experienced, the tech said if I wasn’t there they would just get supply teachers in.

This is not something that I would put on my CV and I wouldn’t need references from them, although as mentioned schools might keep in contact but if that’s the way it is then so be it. Although, I think the staff will understand my decision.

I’m concerned that the pupils won’t be taught properly, they deserve better than this, an NQT trying to teach a subject they have no experience of, a bit crazy!

Mmm, maybe it is just me? I’m in my mid 40s so do find it difficult to adjust to a career where I seem to have to work til 11pm, miss my breaks and don’t eat lunch as there isn’t time, have no resources (we don’t even have notebooks for the kids just loose sheets of paper), feel stressed and tired all the time and have to teach something I don’t know. I have to say that this is the worst way of working I’ve ever experienced, maybe I should just put it down to experience and find a job I can enjoy. Since starting all this, PGCE etc, I’ve forgotten what it’s like to have a life, to go out on the bike without feeling stressed as I should be doing a lesson plan/power point/finding resources etc and enjoy time with friends. Yes, maybe this career is just not for me! I think it would be different if I was teaching my subject, so that’s why I thought leave and look for a position to teach RM Product Design, it’s an area I know in depth and have a lot of enthusiasm for.

Unlikely that another position will come up, food tech comes under DT, they already have teachers that do RM. Unfortunately being a practical subject there’s so much subject knowledge to learn myself as it’s not as simple as just cook some pasta, there’s all the therory, H&S, nutrition info, as well as try to keep up with all the usual teacher stuff like marking and admin, I’m spending so much time trying to get to know the subject and what I’m supposed to be teaching that I have no time to organise my lessons properly. I’m having to demonstrate a recipe that the pupils then have to do next as a practical, it’s been quite funny at times but the kids know more than me! I would know what I am doing if it was in the area of RM or Product Design …. some serious thinking to do this weekend I think

I did wonder about sticking it out, but I’m concerned about subject knowledge and teaching is stressful enough without trying to get your head around a subject I do not know that I’m expected to teach to GCSE level. 2 experienced food teachers left at the same time, I have a mentor that teaches ICT, so no one to guide me. They would be better to get an experienced food teacher or supply teacher, but from what they say nobody trains in this anymore. I just keep thinking, well I’ve given it a bit of a go but feel like I’ll be struggling all the time which won’t be good for my health or the pupils.

I haven’t got anything to go to but that doesn’t matter, no mortgage to worry about and some savings, originally I decided to look around Christmas/New Year for work but this came up so thought I’d give it a go, could be good interview experience, I was surprised they offered it to me! They know I’m struggling, one of the other staff members said to me last thing on Friday ‘please turn up on Monday’, I think after the few days that I have had the look on my face must have said it all. It’s a teaching job, I’m trained to teach DT resistant materials/product design, I’ve worked in this area for about 5 years and have a degree in 3D design, they want me to teach food tech, I’m an NQT, no experience with food and I’ve got 2 GCSE groups, pulling my hair out at the moment, that’s why I feel I need to find a position to teach the area I know.

😆 @ sss

No worries flatfish 😆

Thanks legend, noted, thanks.
And a quick google brings up some info too.

Erm, … I’d have thought Les Gets is the area? or is there more than one Les Gets? Les Gets, France

kayak23, good to see you’ve signed up for that trip, a friend of mine in Hong Kong did peru bolivia a couple of years ago, not with Red Spokes but another company, did the road of death and went to machu picchu, he had a great time, they even got held up in a remote village when a little revolution broke out and there was a bit of a shoot out so things could get interesting for you. It’s a trip that’s on my list to do but the cost of the flights has always put me off … one day.

The road back into Nepal, it’s a bit long though at 24mins …

Couldn’t resist …

Ok, now on with some work

Oh yeah, rain! It is monsoon season, poured on and off the few days in Kathmandu, roads were like rivers then it would dry up, no rain in Tibet, chucked it down coming back down into Nepal, then it dried up again and was hot for a few days. So not too bad really as we spent most of the time in the Himalyas.

Must do some work 🙁

I went on my own, I’ve been on a few trips and always got on with people, I’ve found that these type of trips usually have like minded people and if you go with an open mind, can shrug your shoulders and think nevermind and laugh when something goes wrong you’ll have a good time. I used to work at a private school and we finished at the beginning of July so was a little more flexible with dates, try Exodus I remember looking at their trips but I think it was more £’s and slightly shorter, although they used to include the flights into the cost of the trip.

I did a trip like this a few years ago going from Lhasa to Kathmandu with Red Spokes, google them and have a look, I had a really good time.

Like you I work in education so had to go during the summer holiday. Had to organise my flights to Nepal, everything else was included. I think you spend about 3 days in Nepal then fly to Lhasa where you spend about another 3 days acclimatising before starting the cycling. I think it came to about £2 – £2.5K in the end for about 25 days away. A lot of the route is tarmac so I took some semi-slicks and a pair of off road tyres for the off road bits, the part up to Everest base camp was still rough and waking up to see that outside your tent was amazing. We had a good mixed ability group but everyone managed the trip, but the altitude will get you in different ways. I remember at some points having to climb a km and stop to get my breath, go another km and repeat, and one of the fitest people on the trip had to be taken down from base camp with altitude sickness. Good food, good support, we were amazed one evening in the middle of nowhere in Tibet the support russled up a huge pizza and chips! This was a welcome change from dhal and rice.

But, a friend of mine did the same trip with the same company a month or so later and said he had a nightmare of a time, said the support wasn’t good, didn’t like the food, but reading between the lines it sounds like he had a whinging group as a lot of them ended up in the support truck, my group seemed to be a determined bunch who wanted to cycle the distance so no one gave up and got in the truck.

I’ll try and get some photos up later I’ve got a bit of a busy day.

Eh?

Am I missing something, do tell? Resist what?

Yep, all ok now, got rid of it, but I did have to uninstall, system restore and reinstall quicktime. The only thing that I can think of that may have happened was that storyteller was updated 2 days ago which may have installed something into the quicktime??

I tried uninstalling quicktime, then my .mov files wouldn’t play, other video formats like mp4 and avi play fine, it’s just the .mov files that seem to require quicktime, so I had to install it again.

Problem is that with the Contour cam you can only change the settings via storyteller which insists you have quicktime otherwise it won’t even start up.

News – the sytem restore has got rid of the medialooks logo/watermark but now I can’t start storyteller, although my .mov files play ok now, mmm?

Hi, yeah tried that, nothing there …?

I might try a system restore as it’s really irritating, it only started doing this today, I tried to do a screen shot of it but no luck, WMP or the video format just won’t capture a screen shot, the video keeps playing behind the screen grab in photoshop or comes up blank in other imaging software. Anyway, basically it looks like this

I’ve copied this from another post on another forum which didn’t really help but you can see the logo.

Only comes up with .mov videos, that’s videos taken with my Contour camera, if I change the file extension to .mp4 it’s fine but that’s a lot of videos to change.

Annoying 👿

This is the official line I got about Friston Forest in 2010 after a mad dog walker had a rant:

Cycling is also permitted on existing tracks and trails within the forest too, as long as there is no signage stating otherwise (e.g. during harvesting operations).
Cycling is not allowed on a designated ‘public footpath’ but the paths within the forest are fine.
Cycling is not permitted from Litlington Road Car Park.
Kind regards,
Recreation & Education Officer
Forestry Commission

So I get the impression that any trail withing the forest is tolerable/usable with considerate use? There are some that are clearly marked footpath only so I don’t use those but will be interested to find this new one.

Saw him about 30mins ago around Bo Peep, still looking strong. Amazing effort!

If your local have a look at this group

Cycle Seahaven[/url]

worth joining as they do regular rides in Friston, as well as night rides, and on the Downs catering for all abilities, not been out with them for ages as I’ve got other things on at the mo but hope to be back out with them this June, and get yourself to the bike shop in Seaford, Mr Cycles, to join and get some advice, in Friston there’s the not so secret ‘secret trail’, the new ‘fairey trail’ and what they call ‘jamies back passage’ or the bombhole trail, as well as the marked routes, I think the red route is quite good but you have to stick to it as it goes from one side of the forest to the other so has some more interesting bits.

I had a good days riding this weekend. I spent Saturday at the local dh spot and managed my first series of dirt jumps. Nothing too big but pleased with myself none the less.

^ this, this is the important bit

it’s downhill, first series of jumps and he enjoyed it, don’t think the op says ‘impressive huh?’ at any point and to some, in fact probably most, that is probably technical

I’ve just started using this myself, finding it handy to keep an eye on my own fitness and times, a lot of the segments locally seem to be short road sections so I’m segmenting parts of my own mtb rides to see if I improve, this is easy to do online once you’ve uploaded your route, when you click on your route there’s something you can click on to create a segment then next time you ride that route it’ll automatically time you, although I wouldn’t say it’s always going to be accurate due to losing signal sometimes.

I’ve only just discovered this, used it 3 times or so just to see my distance, elevation and times but on a ride this morning I got 2 achievements on the same route, wasn’t even aware of this function, nothing special but it’s got me thinking now everytime I do that route I’m going to try harder on those sections!
With hiding your address, you can crop the start and end point when you’ve uploaded – I’ve only been messing around with it this morning but I assume you can upload as a private route, edit, then make public? I did look at adding my address but the miniumum distance is to block everything from 500ft from that address which seems a lot to me, thought it would be better if you can add your own distance?

Have you thought about using the canals? You could park in Langley, Iver, Richings Park areas easily pick up the Slough branch that takes you to the Grand Union then just after Hayes pick up the Paddington branch. Not sure how long that would take though, I used to use the Slough branch and part of the Grand Union when I lived up that way to cycle to work, it was bliss!

Gotta be the star nut thing in the steerer tube shirley? You don’t see it, it just does it’s job and I don’t think you can get bling-y one’s (waits to be corrected) … but I also like putting crimps on the cables, the last thing I do when I build a bike up and it means it’s time to ride it!

Was in the forest on Sunday, fireroads and main tracks are good as is the SDW at the mo, but in the forest was mixed, if you know the not so secret ‘secret trail’ the top half was a mudfest, front and rear clogging up and sliding on roots and in mud, still patches of water up there, had to pedal lots to keep going, the bottom half was quite dry and ok. I’ll be avoiding it for a few weeks yet! But I did notice some new posts going in on this route, think it might become a marked route soon?

I’m in the same boat as the OP. Just been pointed in the direction of this thread by my SO. Last June I was about 87kg, 5’11”, but in September I started a PGCE which has taken up most of my free time so I rarely get out on the bike or go to the gym, I weighed in at 92kg in the gym in January! 😯
I find I’m feeling a lot more tired so tend to snack more, also find on my school placements that lunch is usually around 1.30pm which seems late to me so I feel hungry by the time I get to eat, lots of late nights and stress doesn’t help either. I’m trying to make time for the bike and gym but sometimes just don’t feel like I have the energy. I can’t wait til the end of May when my course is over and I feel that I’ll be able to get back into the swing of a ‘normal’ life … for a while.
That Myfitnesspal looks good, think I’ll give that a go to keep an eye on things.

I used to have one of those Fiat X1/9 things in the early 90’s – mid engine 2 seater small sports car, and got my specialized xc bike inside there somehow, never thought of taking photos of it but would be interesting to see now.

This is from about 1988, my brother had just got a new Raleigh Mustang and was on holiday in a caravan on the Isle of Wight, I wasn’t too sure about mountain bikes so decided to buy a second hand one and go by bike, train and ferry to join him for a few days to try some off road cycling … those were the days! (when I was skinny and fit, the bike was rubbish!)

Yeah, there is a smartphone app but I’ve still got an old normal mobile phone.

I have got the office imaging tools, I’ve got Office 2003, but when I try to run it it says I need to install something from the original CD which I can’t find at the mo, so it won’t work, but that FreeOCR link a few posts up works a treat, converted perfectly, and then saved as a .doc

😀

Perfect, just tried that software, no problems, another one I tried, with the same scanned text, came up with lots of gobbledegook.

Thanks, I’ll try that one, I did google free OCR and tried some but they didn’t work well or weren’t very user friendly (more like me being a bit of a numpty with this sort of software) and one changed all my browser settings, set my homepage to Ask.com?? So looking for reccomendations 😆

I’m sure that the viewfinder app for the iPhone or Android phones will only work with the later GPS, Contour+ and Roam which have the bluetooth built in and not the older HD 720p/1080p ?

@ oldgit, yeah a great hero, are you refering to the Seven Pillars of Wisdom? I read it about 15 years ago and struggled with it but I was trying to read it when doing some evening work when I was a student in a local corner shop, been meaning to revisit sometime soon with a more maturer focussed mind.

and, same as Brake-neck