I’ve had a cheapie New Trent one for my iphone 4 from 7dayshop for the last couple of years and it’s been fine. Cost about £20 AFAIK. I use it on all day ski trips (9 hours ish) to track the GPS (often with 2 tracking apps running) and it’s never died on me yet.

Newcastle based here, but often head south to Co Durham. Was at Chopwell yesterday and it was almost bone dry for once!

Always on the lookout for new routes, and happy to show people around the few bits that I’m familiar with (although can’t promise any degree of skill on the bike!).

Hannah

I’m a fully qualified doctor, and have been for 6 years. “in training” just means im not a consultant. And there is no guarantee I’ll ever be one. My boyfriend, who is a surgeon, will be unemployed in August because there are no jobs. 6 years at Uni, 2 degrees, a postgrad qualification and 6 years of working in the NHS “in training” down the pan. We have job insecurity just like everyone else.

Although we haven’t yet been made to pay a disbanded organisation, that’s just nuts!

+1 stoatsbrother. We get nothing for our money other than the privilege of getting struck off. When I qualified (2006), the fee was ~£100. Not sure that my little piece of paper has quadrupled in value over the last 6 years…

@highclimber and TJ – I’m fairly certain we all work as a team, with different roles. No one does more or less, just different. But, if you want me to down tools midway through my nightshift and allow all these senior nurses who are actually “running the hospital” in my stead to get on and do that, be my guest. My guess is they’ll be “just not happy”. ;-)

Anyhoo, my point (which was rather argumentatively put, for various reasons) was that the NMC fees are currently not in line with other “professional” bodies’ fees. That may mean that I pay too much, or you pay too little. You decide.

(FWIW, my opinion is the former)

Not forgetting the 2x£200/yr that I pay to be a member of professional bodies, that I had to pass some very difficult exams for. At a cost of £1800. Out of my own pocket. Exams that are compulsory for my job.

Some days I wish I wasn’t a doctor…

On the plus side, at least it’s not >£400/yr + thousands in insurance + the responsibility of running a hospital as the most senior doctor after 9pm. For the same pay as a nurse working 12 hours a week less than me.

DOI – not a bitter doctor “in training”. Oh no.

GPS for the above suggestion: http://www.mtbtrails.info/Trail_Venue.aspx?VenueNumber=72#TrailNumber129
Misses out all the crap fire road on the red.

http://www.mtbtrails.info/Trail_Venue.aspx?VenueNumber=69 – has a couple of my favourite loops on it. Or just ride around and head down any singletrack you see, they usually pop out somewhere and you can’t really get lost.

My parents are going to go to the nearest Decathlon in the next week or so to have a look, but they’re not exactly mountain bikers and they are currently cycling Edinburgh co-op rigid bikes (mum has a 17″, dad has an 18″).

The smallest rider is probably going to be my mum at 163cm, although she’s not exactly going to be gnarring it up to the rad (or something like that). I’m probably going to get most use out of them, and I currently ride a 16.5″ Trek hardtail which is just a tad too big for me.

My gut feeling is to go for the small and medium, with the knowledge that it’s easier to make a small bike bigger with stem etc, than make a big bike smaller!

Bump for the morning crew

http://www.mtbtrails.info has a nice user interface for trail mapping, with google maps and OS map side by side.

“Worked” there for 5 weeks as a medical student – loved it! If you get away from all the 5 star hotels, there’s an awesome island to explore!

Some pics from 2006:

http://www.mtbtrails.info/Trail_Venue.aspx?VenueNumber=88
http://www.mtbtrails.info/Trail_Venue.aspx?VenueNumber=84

Get a map of hexhamshire common and just follow the bridleways – lots of stuff there! Although it might be a wee bit boggy – I haven’t been across there since October.

EDIT – just realised you said road route. Ignore my stupidity! In my defence, I’m just off night shift and so tired I’m hallucinating!!

Agree with all of the above. 440 is normal.

The machine also gets it wrong pretty often in my experience. You can check it manually by dividing the QT interval by the square root of the R-R interval. The QT interval is the distance in milliseconds from the beginning of the Q wave to the end of the T wave. Try it on a few different complexes and you’ll get an average.

HTH
Hannah
Cardiology Reg

Cool vid, but the bottom third that you missed is my favourite bit!!

Big fan of http://www.mtbtrails.info

My friend and I did the Carlisle to Newcastle section in a day last year – me on my MTB with semi slicks, her on her road bike. There’s the odd mile or so that’s not Tarmac but not much. Wished I’d been on a road bike by the end of the day!!

That bit’s still closed, but everything else is open AFAIK

I can confirm that it is indeed dry and dusty. Made it all the way to the top of deadwater fell for some amazing views, and also did the Osprey route for the first time, which is well worth a look.

Coolio, thanks!

Anyone?

Final (hopefully!) quick question: will I need any sort of adapter/lockring thingy if I get the shimano rather than SRAM cassette to fit it to the wheel? Or will it be a straight swap?

Yeah, that’s what I’ve done in the interim. Much better! However, it still skips in a couple of gears now (not sure how as it wasn’t doing that before I put the new chain on!).

Sweet, thanks!

Judging by the amount of homemade flapjack I hauled round Hamsterley on Saturday, I don’t think I should really be bothered by the weight of the cassette!

Looking at this one on CRC – it says “for use with super narrow 9 speed chains”. Is that what I have?

Ton – theoretically, it should get rid of the symptoms caused by the AF driving the ventricles too fast. If the breathlessness is multifactorial eg smoking/weight/heart not pumping efficiently due to other factors, then it may not.

Like I said, it needs a full and frank discussion with the doctors who have all your facts and figures to hand. 45 is young for a pacemaker, but by no means the youngest I’ve done (and I’ve not been at this that long!).

+1 vinneyh and 2wheels1guy regarding the pacemaker.

DOI: I’m a cardiology registrar but obviously don’t know the specifics of your case.

It might be worth talking to your cardiologist again about the AV node ablation plus pacemaker (“ablate and pace”) option. The pros: gets rid of your symptoms. The cons: doesn’t get rid of the AF, so you still need warfarin (but not the beta blockers), risks of a pacemaker (1/100 risk of collapsed lung is the major one), pacemaker needs changed every 8-12 years (so potentially you would need 5 procedures during your lifetime).

You need a serious discussion with your cardiologist about these pros and cons, stressing the effect that the symptoms of AF are having on your life.

What’s the difference between them and the Superstar Nanos/Carbon Cycles pedals?

They work – they have been used since they were put in. I think they pump out above a little terrace above the highest water level.

To be fair, I don’t think the house will flood to the point that stuff will be damaged. We had another look and the cellars (which are as high as the river has ever flooded) are fully tanked and have pumps to pump the water out. So I think our belongings are as safe as they can be.

Bump for the Saturday afternoon crew.

We’ve just been for a second viewing and still love it – I need people to tell me that it’s not the worst decision we’ll ever make!!

Slowoldgit – I have no doubt that the property will remain standing. It’s Georgian and has survived this far. It’s the insurance and resale that’s making me cautious.

It’s certainly been overpriced and the vendors have been very slow to reduce the price. They’ve already moved out so I presume they’re serious about selling at some point.

LOL @ legend!

Maybe I’ll give it a miss tomorrow and head down at the weekend. Looks like another afternoon playing in the mud at Chopwell!

Chopwell Woods GPS

That’s my little loop round Chopwell at the moment. Quite a few pockets of frozen muddy bog when I did it on Friday.

Some kind trail fairies have fixed the worst bits of the Powerline trail too, which is nice :D

Can you get an external battery for your phone? I have one for my iPhone 4 and it allows me to track a full day skiing in the alps with 2 GPS apps running.

My parents have just advertised their new gite in the south of France. Some pretty sweet rocky singletrack on the doorstep too!

http://www.holidaylettings.co.uk/rentals/saint-paul-le-jeune/202558

Hmmm, this has got me thinking. I have a long weekend next weekend (10-13th Feb) and quite fancy going up to ski/MTB in Scotland from Newcastle.

Where do you think the best place to base ourselves would be if we wanted a fun day out on the slopes and a relatively easy day of MTB (other half is an enthusiastic but somewhat unfit cyclist so doesn’t do epic days on the bike).

Yup, that’s the plan! Don’t want to be swimming though, or causing too much erosion.