When I was at uni a friend of mine got bits of dried / crushed chilli inside his foreskin. The first we knew of it was when he came back from the bathroom then started running around in tears crying. The next thing we knew was when we followed him back into the bathroom and found him sitting in a basin full of cold water.

The Superlight's warranty only covers it with forks up to 120mm travel I think. Supposed to be a very good set up to run like that though.

Collector's item! If you want to make some money sell them on Ebay or find a dealer. If you're feeling charitable you could always offer to a university library somewhere. Seriously–the sort of thing that historians will 'work' in (and have already written about). Definitely definitely definitely don't chuck though!

@ Zokes

Even the word itself is Americanized!

@ Zokes

That would be Americanisation then?

Not according to the OED

John Lennon's 'Imagine'. No thanks.

My pet hate is a bit different here: the insidious corporate Americanization that tries to made us ask for ridiculous things like a 'grande Americano'. I WANT A LARGE BLACK COFFEE NOT A BLOODY GRANDE AMERICANO. It used to be so much easier.

And don't get me started on skinny lattes…

Come on post–you've got everyone all aquiver with anticipation now!

No Trimix–they’re too stoned / drunk / hungover / lazy etc. to do any work. *

* Disclaimer: this is not necessarily nor entirely true.

Exactly how much mountain biking did you do when you were in Cambridge Crispedwheel?!

Oxford’s a lot better than people make out. Like others here have said, you have decent access to the Chilterns, Cotswolds, Swinley and the North Doans. Unlike other places it’s also possible to do some proper riding out of the city centre. Trimix and I are part of a group that rides every Tuesday evening and most weekends. In the evening’s we’re normally out on Shotover or Boars Hill. There’s a surprising amount of stuff up there. Plus you can follow cheeky singletrack a lot of the way from the city centre up onto Shotover if you know where to look. If you make it through the interview process (and don’t necessarily count on that) and get in then be sure to drop me a line and join up with us. As long as you can keep quiet about what this history lecturer gets up to outside of work…

I was a student in Cambridge. Talk about a barren desolate mountain biking wasteland…

Not at all: instruments of torture

One of my mates sewed his back up with fishing line: nice and neat and still going strong a few months later.

Have you tried spinning the wheel / gripping tyre in each hand and shaking side to side / generally trying to spread the latex out to cover slits?

Bump

IRC Mythos XC–switched to them from Kenda Nevegals on my Superlight. First ride out tackling a rocky downhill in the Clwydians exactly the same way as always: washed out sideways leaving me in the dirt covered in blood. Possibly jaundiced view here.

The country started to sink a few years back because of the lax imigration laws

Those would be the harshest immigration restrictions in Europe then? The ones that have actually become increasingly restrictive every year since 1962? The ones that show that any claim we might once have had to be a liberal, tolerant and welcoming nation is nonsense?

If you’re going to read the Daily Mail at least keep half a brain cell and some kind of critical faculty active.

I’ll be there–on a slow-moving anodized blue Santa Cruz Superlight. Not that anyone will be able to see the colour through the mud…

Thanks Doug. We were thinking of getting a ferry to Santander and then meandering our way back up towards Caen. Biarritz and the Basque country would be a perfect first stop.

This is from my partner (works in the social enterprise sector and formerly involved in training programmes for NCVO):

NCVO (National Council of Voluntary Organisations) has lots of guidance on organisational structure. Try http://www.ncvo-vol.org.uk/sfp/index.asp?id=2225 to start with. Or http://www.ncvo-vol.org.uk/sfp/index.asp?id=2222 (this page has a link to agencies who can support you 1:1)
You can find your local CVS (council of voluntary service) from http://www.navca.org.uk
You should also be able to contact Business Links (government initiative) who are meant to be able to support Social Enterprise but whom often aren’t fully geared up to the specifics of social enterprise so try your luck

Hope that helps

What if the total newbie finds it a bit difficult, but really enjoys the challenge and wants to come again? Tell them they don’t fit in and can’t come? I do appreciate what you are saying to an extent but it doesn’t exactly make it sound like a friendly, welcoming group.

Of course not. In part you adapt the pace or intensity to take account of who’s there; in part you make it very clear what each ride’s going to be like–and be sure to have some proper variety in what you do.

And let’s be clear here–I said ‘faster’ rather than ‘fast’; we stop at the end of every section to chew the fat and let Trimix push his lungs back in. The quick guys that ride with us normally end up doing extra miles before or after to get their fix.

If it’s not friendly and welcoming then it’s difficult to explain why we had fourteen people out in the Chilterns the other Sunday.

This just sounds really snobbish and cliquey to me

I don’t think that’s a fair comment in this particular case (disclaimer: I ride with Trimix every week). In practice, it means that

1. We use a mailing list to advertise and plan rides. Occasionally we’ve posted on here and new people have been added on or we’ve added friends and acquaintances. This means that everyone knows exactly what to expect and we avoid the kinds of problems that come up when someone arrives with very different expectations of the ride.

2. We organize different kinds of ride to accommodate different people–faster and smaller on Tuesday evening but larger social rides with partners, pubs and picnics on the weekend.

3. We can (hopefully) do stuff that keeps everyone happy–that lets people join in but doesn’t, like Trimix says, disrupt the really good regular riding we’ve got going.

Snobbish and cliquey? Not at all…

The Kinder trespass was walkers going past the Duke of Devonshire’s gamekeepers onto land designated as private–i.e. somewhere they weren’t then allowed to roam. One hundred riders traipsing around bridleways they already have every right to be on isn’t quite the same Sandwich. What exactly is this going to open up to us?

One hundred people on a ride in the Chilterns? Isn’t that just a bit too many given all the hassle you suggest we get from walkers there??

Alpin for sure. Did anyone else have the misfortune to read his pulled post on the IWH thread? About the most offensive thing I’ve seen on here.

You’re joking right?!

So I should appeal if I got a parking ticket in town: ‘sorry sir, I didn’t mean to be longer than an hour but there was ever such a long queue in the M&S food hall…’

Sheesh

Thanks Mugsys, that’s really generous of you! Might well take you up on that offer once we figure out an itinerary.

We probably count as weird, but I can promise that your family are safe…

Thanks all. Lots of great ideas here! Time to get the map out and start playing join-the-dots as we plan our route south and back…

We’re not going for a couple of months but all these photographs are getting me excited already!

Bounce

This is great–thanks everyone. Lots of ideas to take back to my GF this evening. Blue skies, sun and fantastic scenery pics really help here…

Yeah I do that most of the time: a decent razor + shaving gel + moisturizer afterwards. It’s actually easier to make sure you don’t miss bits then doing a number 1 crop because any rogue hairs stand out a mile when everything else is smooth. Just run your hand down the back of your head and you’ll find them. Used to do it every other day.

Looks a bit daft misquoting when what Heihei actually said is right above your post! What’s the point?

PS I have his email address if it’s not in profile.

Trimix is the person to talk to about this–local to you and I think knows a few good workshops in the area.

Doesn’t Cawsey live the other side of the wall Adz?

Apparently the police are now standing guard outside his house.

Or possibly lived in the same house crispedwheel

You could see Eliot Morley’s house from my bedroom window. He had a bonfire party one year that ended up with fireworks flying out of his garden straight towards us. Perhaps he thought the taxman was coming.

I’m happy to be proven wrong on this, but RRR is either delusional or weaving an increasingly elaborate and creative fantasy around the whole sorry story…

I have a 2.35 Nevegal Stick-E on the front of my Soul and a 2.35 DTC on the back. No complaints at all.

Weird coincidence CrispedWheel–I grew up just round the corner from the devious git’s house myself…