I was kayaking in the Altai Republic in Siberia in 2004 on some pretty remote rivers (katun, argut and chuya) and we met many many of these katarafts. Most of them ill equipped for those rivers by our standards but all packing a serious sense of adventure. We ended up helping to rescue quite a few and lots of the major rapids had commemorative plaques at their entrances in the name of those whose lives had been claimed by the river. Quite sobering really. Which is probably why any crew we met had a bottle if something strong to hand in order to ‘toast the meeting’

Cheers guys. The STW thumbs up is good to have.

My other passion is kayaking and canoeing. That can also get quite pricey. In that world I have a mate who has a ‘red’ policy. He only ever buys boats, paddles, PFDs, helmets, drysuits etc in red. Thus his wife cannot tell the difference between the new and the old and he easily slips new gear in when he wants. Genius.

Be proactive. Say you have a dog but offer a guaranteed professional deep clean at the end of the rental. Get quotes for the clean and show the agency or landlord you are genuine.

42:16 is the best place to start IMO. Smaller if you live somewhere hilly. Bigger if you live somewhere flat/have legs like Cav.

BTW, ss or fixie?

It’s Thursday nights here. 2 hours at 7pm. If I had kids I would even less impressed because its load, turged and relentless. Why can it not be practised at reasonable hour when most of the working world is trying to relax/have dinner/get their kids to sleep?

Another grumpy atheist.

Well, who would have thought that the first response to a five thread would be filing cabinet related.

Original.

I’m sure Orange will be forthcoming with a response. I’m guessing positive ( for you ). Although I’ve never heard of this before so ill come back here to find out how it goes.

I have a patterdale. Very similar. The mutual respect comment above is spot on.

Can you take them riding?

Incentive based pay. I work with kids and they need clear incentives. As pointed out hourly alone wont cut it. They will likely get bored and string it out. Kids need to know why they are doing something and what it is worth.

Set clear objectives of what you want done with standards he agrees and understands. Then dangle the carrot that if it is done in slow time, he gets x, normal time x+1, quick time x+2′ etc. Then the promise of more work if he is up to scratch. Simple management really but so often overlooked with disappointing consequences.

Apart from the house in Leeds where we had a steel back door and bars on the windows to keep the scum out, the worst neighbour issue I ever had was in Llanberis in north Wales. It all escalated from minor ASB to the point where an axe was put through the roof of my house mates van.

I got the hell out of dodge. Life is too short to have pitched battles with douchbags who know no better.

Stay calm, keep hope.

I’d square that you are not the only one to figure it. If he is on a bragging-spree then those who are hearing his tale of triumph will get their calculators out too.

I’d let him take his medicine.

22 years on SPDs here with never a worry. Just as long on look/spd sl on the road bike, never a worry.

I had a dabble with flats on my fs a year or so ago and it all felt a bit ‘meh’. Then switched to Mallets and thought I had the holy grail.

For other reasons I thought I would try out my flats again the other day (fat spanner ones, just like CNC nano techs from superstar with five ten impact 2 lows). I remembered that I had a bag is DMR Terror Pins (long ones) so I thought I would switch out some of the short stock pins for them to see what happened.

Bloody marvellous is what happened! I can’t say I will never go back to clipped in on the fs but words like “stuck like glue” and “planted” come to mind with the flats. Plus the knowledge of being able to dab easily.

Long term I will worry about float, because long pins and five ten rubber don’t. Short term, loving it.

Totally agree. They have put very little thought in to making sympathetic improvements. Seeing as there now exists a wealth of expertise in the local MTB world when it comes to sustainable trail building it shows spectacular lack of insight that the the friends of ilkley Moore or English nature or whoever it was that did this failed to consult.

I have heard answers about giving access to the countryside to all abilitys and needs but they could have done that without paving the damn place. :cry:

If you can do grid references it starts at 181 537. It is in Beecroft Moor Plantation.

From the main car park you ride out alongside fewston reservoir and then turn south (left) on to forest double track. Follow this climbing steadily for approx 500m until you see the trailhead appear on your right. If you find yourself at a gate to the road just turn around, its behind you. And go to specsavers. :wink:

Best so far ( all from the same skip)
1 orange Alu elite
1 set of pace rc35s (seized)
1 Reynolds 531 road frame and fork
Many, many wheels.

Turned the Alu elite into a Frankenstein bike for my sister, and sold the rest to fund bike bits I would actually use!

double post

Well I rode it today and its ace.

I took a group of kids from work for a blast there and it turns out that Yorkshire Water are doing a great job of trail building there. We found about 1km of well built and interesting red trail. Some challenging obstacles built in like rock skinnies and mini boulder rides. Lots of berms and rollers that get bigger and bigger as the trail progresses.

We met Geoff Lomas who has been responsible for it and he said the line he has built will be finished in about a month. If Yorkshire Water are going to build anymore then they will respond to public demand. So if you want them to do a bit more then go ride it and then email them and tell them how much you like it and would love more. I will be.

About 10 inches of m10 threaded bar, 6 penny washers and a couple of m10 nuts and hey presto, a headset press for about 3 quid. I’ve lost count of the amount of headsets I’ve successfully fitted with this ‘tool’.

Sort of strangely feeling better about not being the only one swearing at my I pad. Pocket mags has been nothing but grief for me. It took 8 weeks to establish my access to my subscription and then I got issue 82. Now it wants me to pay for issue 83 even when logged in.

It’s a load of old bull spit.

@hora.

Two polite messages left asking for an update. I see no point in abusing an organisation or company. It would rarely get anyone anywhere.

The order turned up.

The promise to return my calls did not. Twice.

I have a very nice laptop that is a pleasure to use but since I got an ipad mini I use it for 90% of my web browsing. Great gadget. Love it. Would not be without it now.

Get some link pliers from Superstar. (Too lazy to link, google is your friend) I use them all the time. They make short work of splitting 10spd power links and I reuse them all the time with no probs.

Thanks Patrick.

Skinny tyres for the commuting days, swap back to nobbies at the weekend? Cheaper than a bike you don’t need.

Hang on, what am I saying!

Of course you need a road bike and a cross bike and a fat bike and a…..

N+1 dude.

Purely a laymans response.

I would hope at the least they would be offering you
A) an apology for their cock up
B) an equal or better version of the same item at no extra cost
C) full refund and promise of a percentage off your next purchase with them by way of recompense for your inconvenience if the above is not possible

I had a similar problem with Evans which they resolved well. A fork I ordered got sent as the wrong model (9mm qr instead of bolt through). They then sent the same fork again a second time. By that point they admitted they did not have the forks to send that I had ordered. I, like you, had a confirmation email of my purchase and just wanted what I had paid for. To Evans credit not only did they apologise but they gave me a credit note for £50 and they sent me a fork that was of a higher spec too. The result is that I feel warm and fuzzy about their customer service and would and have ordered from them again.

Broke mine when I was 16 (now 35). Pinned for 4 weeks, pot for another 2. Never bothered me again. Well, until last year, but that is another story

Best things to happen to mountain bikes since they were invented
1. Proper working gears
2. Proper working suspension
3. Dropper posts

@Russianbob – The riding in the vid is 100% pure Chevin :wink:

These are Salsa Bend 2 bars. They are spot on for me. I have a set of Marys but find them too narrow and too swept

I’ve ended up on funny shaped bars as I had to have my right ulna shortened as it was a “non union”. Basically, it didn’t mend at first attempt, the Ti plate holding it snapped, and then it was free floating in my arm from June to October last year 8O When I had the fusion op the docs had to shorten it quite a bit to get it to fuse again. Hence the wonky hand.

The dog is just being territorial. it wants you ‘orf its laaaand!’ Speed, away from the mutt is the answer. Kick it if you want but if it the dog is truly after you it will likely see this as no deterrent and just a challenge. Result? It chases you more. If it thinks you have been ‘seen off’ it will back off.

That’s just short term though. I would be reporting it as a dangerous dog as my next port of call.

Cheers for the positivity folks. It is truly grand to be back on the dirt.

I would advise anyone with an injury to overcome to watch Chris Akriggs edits of his rehab. He was a genuine inspiration to me.

I have not been able to ride my MTB for over a year since smashing both my wrists so its been skinny tyres all the way for me. I even did 1000 miles on my turbo in my cellar during last summer in the early days of the injuries (leaning on elbow rests).

I’m hoping to get back on the MTB soon (maybe even today, maybe).

Whatever you reason though, riding is riding so just give in and call yourself a cyclist.

Thought it would go for loads but that’s amazing! Let the hunt begin for its new owner!

Not my worst cut and paste fail :wink: Cheers for sorting the link Andyl.

I am currently the head of paddle sports at a large council outdoor centre. (Not the one in question)

If you have any concerns over the safety of anything your child is, was or is going to be involved in on a trip to an outdoor centre then call them. Ask for an explanation, air your views and try to gain your satisfaction that everything appropriate and proportional is done for the safety of your child.

Your biggest indicator will be if the centre is willing to have that conversation with you. If they won’t they are not doing their job properly and you would be right to ask for your child to be removed from an activity that concerns you.

You may also want to ask to speak with your child’s school EVC (educational visits coordinator) as they should be assured of the quality of the practice of any organisation their school uses.

The key to ensuring you know everything is going to be safe is to make yourself as informed as you need to be.

As far as the details the OP had described, no one here was there so its not really possible to comment.

Was the bike lost? Do you think they intended for the bike to fall off on transit and then they follow and collect? I’ve known this happen to kayaks on roof racks.

Now, let me just clarify. I ride all my bikes and manage to look after them! Both are possible on the same pair of wheels.

I also canoe and kayak and a friend of mine in that world has a policy of only buying in red. Red boats, red drysuits, red everything. That way, he says, his dear wife cannot tell what’s new and whats old. Just lots of red boats and stuff. Pretty cunning I think.