I think it's based on a kind of unrealistic ideal of childhood innocence.

I agree.

Really tragic, although, TBH, I'm not that surprised. I think children are quite capable of overriding whatever it is that's stops a lot of adults from similar behaviour. Children are exactly that – immature, unable to fully control their emotions and often unable to see through the full course of their actions. Once they start bouncing ideas off a likeminded associate (particularly if both have psychopathic tendencies) it doesn't take much for their behaviour to get out of control. Think of some of the worse cases of bulling you have seen…

Seems like these two had been in foster care according to this article. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/south_yorkshire/8470299.stm

Doubt their unstable background helped much. Not that it's an excuse mind.

Some favourite cold ones of mine from the last couple of weeks :)

worth the watch

Over-use of revs in snow whilst trying to find the bite point is not the only a female problem. I took three hours to get home yesterday and maybe lost traction for a few seconds a couple of times. Unlike the bloke in front of me who's also crawling along at 10 mile an hour, but with his back end constantly sliding all over the place. He must have gone completely parallel to the road twice. The white van in front of him wasn't much better. So don't be giving it the 'women drivers' thing cos that's just nonsense.

And why, oh why, do people feel the need to drive as close as possible to the car in front….30 meters in snow at least – not only because of the stopping distance issue, but also because of needing to see that far ahead to see if the traffic is stopping on a hill and you will need a run up to get enough momentum to clear the next bit!

Plus the car/lorry in front may well just roll back when they try and pull off. The idiots who got stuck behind the lorries yesterday deserved it – who the hell follows a lorry in the snow that close that you remove any option to go round once they come to a halt?

Angry female driver rant over.

CaptainFlashheart – Member

Old school Fiat Panda 4×4.

*nods*

…and very good for getting through moderate floodwater as well

*knows through experience of driving one with the water lapping up over the bonnet*

F-reg fiats are where it's at, clearly

I wish I'd been a lazy git this morning. I nearly didn't get home.

As already said…don't underestimate just how hard trails can be for newbies.

I took a lady out a few months back on some hill trails. Nothing at all technical – just wide open stone tracks, and at tortoise pace.

She really struggled. She didn't even know how to change gear. She couldn't stand up on the pedals to go down (gentle) hills. And she walked every uphill – even the stuff I wouldn't even have thought of as being a hill. 8O

She still said she enjoyed it, but next time I take a newbie out, it's gonna be on a canal towpath.

I'm just counting my painkillers to determine if I have enough to finish them off myself :P

Ah, I rarely eat it (apart from the white stuff) because of the headaches. I'm more of a sweet girl myself anyway. Someone gave me some afterdinner mint thingies for christmas and I had some night. Woke up this morning with my head feeling like it was in a vice and remembered why I don't eat chocolate too often. Few painkillers later and it's easing off.

I was just interested more than anything. It's one of life's little mysteries for me.

gwaelod – Member

Remember that just because you get headaches after eating chocolate it does not follow that chocolate causes the headaches – correlation is not causation.

Perhaps something else (maybe stress) causes you the headaches, and causes you to eat chocolate.

Yes, this is very true. Fortunately I have a scientific background and have spent time assessing whether other correlations exist with the symptoms. As far as I have managed to determine, they don't. Of course, me myself and I is hardly a scientific experiment, but it's the best I've got. :D

Moses – Member

If I remember correctly it's the phenylethylamine and some of the more complex chemicals present in small quantities which cause the headaches, rather than the theobromine.
I get the same thing with beer. More than a pint and I get a hangover. Thankfully, cider's OK.

Now, that's interesting. Thanks for that. I haven't drank for many years (mainly because me and alcohol don't mix, or should I say, we mix a little too well..) but I used to get stonking hangovers.

Thanks for the answers :)

I don't get migraines and marmite definitely doesn't give me a headache (I am a marmite fiend so can be certain of that!).

I was wondering whether it was a specific chemical in the chocolate, like the theobromine or something similar…

I lived on the Bentley Estate in Hulme for 18 months which was probably the 'roughest' (two shooting's within a stones throw of the flat for a start)…….but it was also one of may favourite places I have ever lived. The estate had a real community spirit and it always felt like home.

Unlike Weoley Castle in Birmingham which was full of pig-ignorant dole scum. I lasted 3 months before cutting my losses and selling up. Weoley was definitely the worst place I have lived.

ianpinder – Member

I've been thinking it for 2 months now, i was expecting christmas to get me out of the thinking but it hasn't.

me n all

We also rode Malvern yesterday – Christmas Day riding makes the day great :D

Bit sketchy in places though 8O

I've got two pairs of shoes resoled with 5:10 rubber by feet first – outstanding job they have done too. My veggie skate shoes are still going strong after being put through all sorts of cycling hell (and weather!) and there is no sign of the soles coming detached as of yet :-)

I tutored private A level students when I was a post-grad. Because it was a private college they didn't really worry about whether I was qualified or not – they were raking in a boatload from the rich parents.

Bit of biology on a saturday morning @ £20 an hour gave me enough dosh for a decent weekend. The most custy and rewarding job I think I have ever done – most of them were incredibly intelligent Asian kids and on for straight A's and a trip to Medschool. I'm not sure my teaching style was really that important, they would've picked it up anyway.

But the rewards came with the couple that were struggling, it was so great to get that 'lightbulb' moment when they could finally visualise what was going on. :)

Edukator – Member

"Absolutely" incapable of thinking for yourself littlebunnygirl. If you've got something to add, add away.

No need for immature personal insults, I am quite capable of thinking for myself. I didn't think it necessary to repeat something when Resin42 had summed up my thoughts quite succinctly enough, thus leaving me to do nothing other than add my support for his opinion.

Resin42 – Member
Was wondering who'd go down this route first. As my post states, I didn't hit her because I was going at a speed I could control. As druidh said, there could be an injured rider in your path (and I've been that rider), all riders should be prepared for that. I'm not convinced all riders are. In any case, this is unavoidable. Someone standing around like a fart in a trance is entirely avoidable. Why put create a risk that doesn't need to be there? I see very little wrong with this attitude.

Absolutely.

yes

it was absolutely horrifying to have found out what had happened

Last year I hated it

This year I love it 8)

I brake middle finger only. Mind you, I can barely hang onto the bike at high speed and end up running death grip so get regularly moaned at by the BF for doing so.

Prolly should try and convert to using my index finger. Might actually have some control over the direction of the bike then…

Did you only ride the RIP trail? Not the proper DH as well?

NIN – pretty hate machine

Muddypuddle – Member

Great piccis there LGB Are you racing next year?

Cheers – it was a particularly good day to get decent pics!

Re:racing – nah, I'm not cut out for it! Did my first race a month or so ago and just hated it. I'm far too highly strung and rather useless when it's wet :lol:

Yes – it's pretty awesome. How anyone can say it's boring is beyond me. It's got a fast rooty top section with a few doubles if you have the speed, a decent-sized step down followed by an even-more decent-sized table and then a bit of techy rooty stuff through the woods before hitting the gap jump (gulp) and some swoopy stuff to finish.

The DH run definitely has a bit of everything.

There is also a pretty fun off-piste trail our local guide showed us (called the RIP trail, or summut) – couldn't tell you how to find it though! I would suspect there is a fair bit of stuff there if you look for it though.

Although we had planned to do Bucknell in the morning and then head to Hopton, we ended up spending the day there sessioning and just generally having fun.

Think it could be a bit sketchy in the wet though….

Here's a few piccies to give you an idea of what's there.

We were at the FoD today too Tracey! Glad you had a good time down there.

Really was slippy, nowt like wet roots to have me making a total arse of myself…..and of course it was all caught on headcam. Most fun I've had riding in the mud for ages! T'was an awesome day :D

goog heading under the M42

My little chammy on a derelict site in a rather rough Welsh town (rather a fun place to ride, as it turned out….)

Try it again to see if it's normal for you. I certainly have a far higher heart rate than normal (212 max, used to train comfortably at 185 when I was in my mid-twenties – don't know what it is now though!!)

because things only make sense when there's piccies

and there is never enough piccies

Interesting – a point I have always wondered myself……..whilst never having any desire to ride one of them.

Cheers for the input, I'll look into the options :-)

The wearlink straps sound much better than the old plastic ones.

I'm not too worried about GPS I guess, the distance/speed/HR calculations which will work on the MTB bike and when I run (very rarely) are really what I am looking for. I'm not planning on having any kind of major training plan, but no doubt it'll be useful as a guide to keep me in a good place and to give me a bit of a kick up the arse! I used to use my old polar one a lot and found it great, even for the simple stuff like keeping an eye on resting heart rates.

I've heard mixed reviews about the Garmins…with the 305 being great, but the 405 being a bit of a disaster unless you don't want to fiddle with it when it rains.

There's some good DH trails hidden around North Nibley. Definitely check out Leckhampton and for something (maybe slightly cheeky) more XC orientated a mouche round Stinchcombe and Dursley aint gonna be all bad.

Plus you're not gonna be that far from the Forest of Dean and Malvern either :-)

So many towns I love here, I could list 20 or 30 that I adore…but my favourite would be a 50:50 split between:

Malvern
Bath

total simplicity, immediately identifiable, in whatever colour and whatever background…no text needed

I've worked all over the country, both in towns and cities, for years, but none of the places I've been would come close to Cumnock in Scotland. It has all the signs of small town deprivation:

*adult men wandering aimlessly around town at 11 am rather than working
*drunks wandering at 11 am in the morning
*kids skivving school and shouting abuse at random passers by
*main supermarket in town is Farm Foods
*a 1960's style 'shopping centre' as the hub of the town
*a general air of misery and pointlessness, despite being surrounded by beautiful scenery
*the most offensive (and entertaining) public toilet graffiti I have ever read ANYWHERE

spafffeckintastic

Rangers Path – Snowdon
Death Valley – Malvern

Cachette – Les Arcs
Cwmcarn DH (what can I say, I likes my DH full blast fast)

We carried up Rhyd Du and rode down Rangers at the start of the year.

I personally wouldn't even bother attempting Rhyd Du as a descent…..the penalty for failure along the (often unridable) ridge line is massive, a good deal would be a carry and I think it would be very disjointed. Saying that, sometimes things look a whole lot easier when the bike is facing downwards…..

Rangers is techy, but potentially cleanable and thoroughly enjoyable. The best natural descent that I have done in the UK and probably one of my favourite all time trails.