Sopranos is a great concept and best of breed for its day (pre-Wire I think), but doesn’t have anywhere near the ‘completeness’ of The Wire. I suspect The Wire’s story arc across 5 series was in place before S1 started shooting, whereas Sopranos got caught unawares by its success. That could be factually nonsense but is how it feels.

The other issue is there’s simply nothing to like in the main protagonists of Sopranos, they’re just murderous scum that the world would be better off without, and it’s done. There came a point where I simply didn’t want to spend more time with them.

The ‘enough is enough’ moment for me was when single-mother dancer/hooker was beaten to death in the railings out the back of the strip club by the (mob, not police) lieutenant with the chip on his shoulder. It was just horrible.

Good call.

Sopranos is ‘above average’ but The Wire shows up its flaws and makes it look 1-dimensional.

So I guess there’s a dilemma, if you’re sure you want to watch both, do Sopranos first.

** caveat: I quit Sopranos half way through S3, by then you’ve ‘got it’, and there are times when it’s fairly repetitive, brutal and unpleasant, I didn’t see the point of continuing.

you can borrow S1 from me if you can to pick it up from Dorking

Once you’re into the Wire, TV is over, and it’s no loss.

In particular any drama with composed incidental music makes you want to kick the screen in.

but we do learn in s’chool where to put our apo’strophe’s’

also btw we do a night ride every Weds should you want to do a proper ride once your work is over

my god people are giving you grief and it’s not even a weekend?

perhaps the weekday ramblers are a different crew

ps kids on bikes is a brilliant thing, good on ya. And the thoughtless ****s in cars make the roads untenable for youngsters, where can you go then in the woods?

if you want to spread the net a little for your kiddies, there are lots of big open tracks, not too steep, kiddie friendly tracks on Holmbury Hill with a great view from the summit and Headley would be worth a look. You could also make a nice little loop from Epsom Downs along Stane Street.

lol soulwood

& for the record Dorkers is t’other side of the hill, it’s Fetcham and Leatherhead residents who are giving you grief. Folk are a bit funny over there.

It’s our AONB and we want to keep it that way.

(Not heard of any issues over Norbury way, I was there 3 weeks ago and everyone was nice as pie.)

Same in Surrey – no dust, no clag, no wet puddles, everything frozzed. Fast ride, pint by a warm fire, home with a clean bike. Brilliant. Better than summer.

I’ve passed thru Geneva a lot.

Got to be worth a look up here, that’s rideable from the city: http://www.geneve-tourisme.ch/?rubrique=0000000026

rent a car and you can get to Les Gets/Morzine in an hour and a tad

maybe the trains can take you north into the Vosges, there must be some nice stuff up there

Cotic must get asked this a lot, maybe then need to do a ‘Schmedium’ frame size. Until recently (when gets kids got taller and messed up the figures) we were average height for a male.

I did ask Paul @ Cotic on sizing, he said he’s the same size as me and can fit a medium but a small is more fun. esp for twisty singletrack. I never rode a medium but the small defo is fun. I have a medium SC Blur Classic too and it’s a tractor in comparison.

@drapper well we’re pretty close to Gatwick too, should you be passing thru this way any time

As above, Mud X, good mixed conditions winter tyre, IMO not as mud specific as the name suggests, but it’s pretty rare you want a 100% mud specific tyre..

ps re the stem I run 660mm bars which the trendies would currently consider ‘narrow’. If you’re a wide bar fan, you’d probably be able to run a shorter stem too.

5’8″, 32″ leg, small Soul with a 90mm stem, I reckon I couldn’t get away with a smaller stem tho I’ll try it one day if I can blag one

it’s very agile. I reckon I could ride a medium too but I’d sooner be at the top of the size range for the frame than at the bottom, and anyway it’s for twisty ST

if you’re near Surrey, come and try it, email in profile

lots of seatpost showing, right to the limit – a USE Sumo Ti, 10mm offset

ps for people at our height consider getting shorter cranks than the default 175mm, I run 170 and I defo spin up quicker

I run 2×10 on my XC/singletrack bike. I use the all the gears and I spin out on the fastest trails and road. The low gears are handy when I’m tired and make it viable for the better half to use the bike too. I don’t care about the spinning out though I wouldn’t want to drop any more high gears at the mo.

1×10 is tempting and I’ll likely try it sometime but I think 2×10 does what I need. I wouldn’t go back to 3xanything.

Get the DVDs then you can rewind the dialogue you miss first time.

The Wire = brilliance

@rewski Ssshhhhhhhh.

What we should be doing is pick the name first, then make a trail to fit.

Actually random Motorhead track titles make remarkably good trail names, I’ve currently got ‘Don’t Need Religion’ blaring in the cans.

(Of course, I could just have made those up……)

C’mon play the game, song titles only please.

Back when I took training seriously I used to ride out there on my shopping bike, chuck it in the bushes by the river then run up that and around the hill, then ride home.

Those days are long gone!

Once when I was about 10 (which would have been mid-70s) I drank from the river and spent the next 2 days spewing up. Bad idea! Got me off school tho.

We digress ….

So do I.

Speaking of Boxhill, has anyone here ever cleared the steps (from the top down to the river)? Tis strictly a footpath and one I wouldn’t ever condone attacking on a bike.

**** me you mean down to the stepping stones? Last time I was there (not recently) a bit of that is tough to get up, on foot.

Up ‘Metropolis’ and down ‘One Track Mind’

Beautiful pics from Keswick. And so different to what we do in Surrey that a side by side comparison is pointless. Apples and oranges.

Yeah, I was more curious about what weight people were giving to riding vs other stuff than arguing the toss.

Can’t really separate them, I think for the ‘best’ places, the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.

I’m a big fan of Surrey’s riding, but if it wasn’t for the work opportunities would you guys still rate it over Cumbria etc as MTBers?

Of all the places I’ve ridden (Welsh & Scottish trail centres, holidays to Peaks, Peru, Utah, others) where I live now is the best place I know to ride and live. It suits me and what I want to do. I can’t comment on Cumbria etc with any in-depth knowledge.

It’s totally subjective of course.

The thread title is plural, “where are the best” not “which one is the very best”. That way lies madness and I bet many places mentioned here are superb.

@montarius pretty good on the whole, it’s not rained much this winter, though there was some slop, mulch and slippy roots about last night

@ybot what about our friend from Malta?

I think we should also stress that, while it’s fair to say we have a preponderance of ‘grumpy old men’, happy young women are more than welcome to ride with us too.

Funny thing is it was only last night, as we supped a pint by a log fire after a 90 mins of st, that cheez and I were discussing how crap it was and we should go to Swinley instead.

/defeated

miserable old men

oi, speak for yourself!

Jon thx I’ll get the map out.

Chill out fella.

Where do I go first?