Thanks all, for the advice! I had also looked at the Saracen but with shipping it’s another 200 quid, the riprock I didn’t like the idea of those big tyres. So either the Charge or save some extra cash for the Saracen

After evryone saying about teh Dub Pistols I checked themn out as they are playing at Exeter in November, great I thouhht, I’m up for that. Then I am informed by Mres Nacho we are away that weekend and I can’t go 🙁
Still I see the Mighty Diamonds are playing this month so hoping to sort tickets for them!
EDIT
I think I forgot to read that before posting, shows how good I am at typing!

Off to see Black Uhuru but not till April, been a fan a long time! Hope to get tickets to the Orb soon. Last gig was a few weeks ago saw Jurassic 5, thought they were pretty good.

LOL, some great replies, I love riding at night (we try to go out once or twice a week) and where I ride locally isn’t exactly a big forest – Woodbury common. I just need to MTFU and get out into the woods more when no-one else is out. I know the fear is totally irrational but it’s there. Bumping into marines hidden in the woods on night manoeuvres can cause all sorts of bodily functions to briefly fail as well 😯
I must try turning the lights out on a full moon though, that sounds good.

20 minutes climb? Maybe on the fireroad but the “official” climb – C1 on the trail map – I was told by staff the Strava best was 20 mins and we took 30 each time (but we are old and slow!)
Rim dinger was ace and enter the dragon awesome but I had to take a couple of chicken runs – oops, no I mean “alternative lines” 😉

Well thanks all for the amusing, informative and occasionally stupid answers (yes to maybe a stupid question, I get it)
I have always thought we had a really good cross section of people here who just like to ride and all sorts of preferences, skill levels etc and this just proved it….

buzz – true but also some people prefer a pootle on bridleways whereas others throwing themselves down a hill (I know many like both, me included but overall I would go for techy over bridleway riding and I am just trying to see if there is a consensus from the STW massif!)
Anyway gonna finish work shorltly, then off for a ride (techie xc 😉 ) before the pub and back to read the humorous replies received on this thread…..

stilltortoise, yes you are right, I could have put the question(s) much better (although not sure if it would make the answers received any different / less entertaining)

The reason behind asking as I think there is a good spread of people who enjoy all types of riding on here whereas I couple of people I know (both on and off the forum) disagree.
I also guessed I might have some interesting answers. 🙄
I lurk a lot more than I post on here and find it a hugely entertaining forum. I believe it maybe my most visited website!

Well, BPW was fantastic, had a great day BUT as a PSA they don’t do the uplift on Tuesday or Wednesday 😥 Apparently they are considering changing it if there is demand.
We were very tired and very wet at the end of a great day, personal favourites were the “willy wobbler” / “rim dinger” descent and “enter the dragon” although I did have to leave a few of the drops on enter the dragon – too big for me, maybe if I sessioned it a few times I might get a big braver!

Nice one, thanks gents. Really looking forward to it, even more if I don’t have to do the climb several times. Hopefully the rain might put a few people off!

Wow! Well it must be a fairly original defence

LOL @ Yorlin, true dat!

The bike that got me back into biking, one of the first Whyte 19’s (2005 I think) I finally cracked the frame last year, still got a discounted “warranty” replacement through ATB (what fantastic service Whyte / ATB offer) and the frame is now hung on the garage wall.

Squidlord, the best I have seen (and been recommended to me) are the Collins guides – as above I have the garden wildlife one search “collins british wildlife guide” on Amazon and you can see the complete range. I want to get the British set for my kids for next year (unless anyone recommends better here)

I love night riding with mates. Have done it a few times solo but I must admit it is spooky. And the night I had a puncture I nearly kacked my pants with all the noises. Yet if I do a solo road ride at night, even down the local country lanes I never feel scared despite the fact it’s probably more dangerous than riding in the woods. Instinct maybe?

Thanks for posting them sharki, brilliant photo’s as always and with a little knowledge shared as well.
I bought my kids (6 & 4) the collins guidebook to garden wildlife earlier this summer and it has brought us loads of enterntainment and well as learning them (and me) a little about our local wildlife. They have seen and identified an adder (at their grandads place on Dartmoor when we went to collect a canoe)a slow worms, a hedgehog and various moths, butterflies, caterpillars, beetles etc.

zilog6218 – there is a black market now, if it was illegal I think it would only get bigger (although that is pure speculation and you could be right!)
But I also think we are moving towards a nanny state and if people want to smoke let them (not in my house though, you go into the garden)

Much as smoking is bad for you if it was made illegal you will not stop people smoking it, just criminalise a section of society and drive it underground. Daft IMHO.

Based on my budget and requirements looks like I might need to save to buy a complete Whyte or be patient and wait for a frame or used Whyte / Stache to appear. I like my 26″ bikes anyway 😉

Absolutely yes. But there should also be more research into it and how it affects the mind so people are more aware of the choices they are making. Criminalising otherwise “normal” members of society is wrong and more police time and resources would be freed up to tackle real crime. It would also reduce crime (less dealers) and raise extra taxes which I guess our gov’t needs!
I think I might be with binners – legalise it all – as the war on drugs doesn’t seem to be working very well. However looking at how the legal drugs affect society (Saturday night most town centres 11pm-1am anyone?) I think that is a big debate as well

Yep, soiunds good and it would give me somewhere else to frequent in Exeter apart from the Bikeshed 8)

Not sure how one works (I guess as per the title!)
I would go when I got the chance if there was one running and would also mention it to others I ride with.

rewski – that is beautiful but way beyond my budget!

TINAS – tried a Whyte (68.5) and it felt great, “sat” on a steeper one in the shop and didn’t like the “feel” as much so based my decisions on this.

Thanks for the suggestions all, some research to do now!
Clobber, 100mm is all I have at the mo, will be upgrading to 120mm in the future (when I have enough $$)

Robdixon – OK potentially a bad example but are you are telling me that you think big businesses pay their fair share of taxes?
I’m not saying there is an easy solution, especially when you look at it on an international scale but goverments (all of them) have better solutions available to them than breaking promises to FF’s (and others)
Sorry I do seem to be moving away from the OP’s original post, FWIW with my limited knowledge I support them IF the gov’t are reneging on previous promises made. The FF’s also have their own house to sort out, I have family in the force and know of the old “buddy” system where managers were promoted shortly before retirement purely to increase their pensions although I believe this has now been stopped.

Have just read most of this, seems like some bitter people on here! If the firemen have been promised a contract shouldn’t that be adhered to? If they haven’t been promised then I guess the government would be within it’s rights to amend it.
As for people saying this country is broke – load of crap, it’s just poorly distributed – although Vodaphone are redistributing £54 billion (sorry not sure how many 0’s that is) shame it’s only to shareholders. No tax being paid on that deal either although that is normal for Vodaphone. And there are many other large companies avoiding paying the taxes that would enable this country to get back on track financially, they just sem to pay government ministers or high ranking civil servants.
Unfortunately with our current political system this won’t change until Joe Public cannot take any more inequality and either there is a massive political reform or we have a revolution.

Cube

I am stunned with incredulity (I think)
What will they ban next?

PMSL

My 3rd one, the whole family had a brilliant weekend and now the kids are older they get to ride more and I get to drink more 😉
My boy Max got a prize for not stopping riding after the pyjama race – WCA’s official gun and private race plate – so thanks Nick.
I got soaked in the garden when we got home last night and he was so pleased to get up on stage and receive a prize! He has been telling his friends this morning he won the Big Bike Bash!
We also brought some friends for their first BBB who also loved it.
Great fun and hopefully we will be back again next year.

I’m no expert, that fitday was the first thing that came up on google and there is alot of truth in it such as what catle are fed. I am sure google could provide plenty of arguments for both sides, my personal choice is where possible to avoid eating products that I don’t know what is in them. Same as LHS we try to eat as little processed food as we can (which is very difficult, especially when you like cakes and chocolate)
Ref the DEFRA link (thanks quite informative) it does say to convert to organic you need to:
:Stop the use of growth promoters, synthetic amino acids, herbicides and pesticides in your system:

47 here, kids are 5 and 6, it’s great! I had a whale of a time in my younger days when some were having kids, wasn’t a particular choice to have them late, just happened that way. It is demanding as you don’t ahve the same energy as in your 20’s but I think it will help keep me younger and fitter as I want to experience things with them as they grow, riding bikes, kayaking, etc.

I thought all non organic cows (and other animals) were generally given anti biotics to combat disease and hormones to make them grow as standard- we then ingest these in our milk (or meat)
I drink milk but not much and eat meat also not much as I can’t afford it – we buy organic or at least from local farmers who can tell us what they feed their animals on (but we are lucky to live in the country) Try researching what happens to meat before you eat it (or drink milk from a cow) some of it is frightening
http://www.fitday.com/fitness-articles/nutrition/healthy-eating/the-difference-between-non-organic-and-organic-meat.html

Food, how it is processed and what we eat is a growing concern to many people

oo er, I’ll stick to my MTB I think! I am slow, did 20 miles on my road bike yesterday, 15.5Mph average and I couldn’t have gone much faster. Did have some headwinds but I guess there must have ebeen tailwinds as well. Although it is very hilly down here I chose a fairly flat route. My last couple of rides were just under 15Mph so yesterday was quite fast 🙁 But I love riding my bikes (even the road one on occassion but MTB 90%+ of the time)

Really looking forward to it, been twice before but missed last years. Have a couple friends coming this year. My kids are 5 & 6, they remember BBB form 2 years ago and are excited to be going back. I might try the pint to pint this year 🙂
Unbeatable family fun if you like bikes or ale IMHO. And I like both 8)

Ha ha! I have a spare you can ride if you need to escape 😈

Congrats Tormy! Twins eh, that will keep you busy 😉
Our youngest was born in August. He started school at 4 and was still 4 when he completed his first year! He’s the smallest in his class but holds his own with the other boys physically and academically in the classroom so I wouldn’t worry too much (although stats seem to say otherwise and I must admit I think starting school at 4 seems too young to me, if we had the choice we may have held him back)

I guess that means you won’t be biking down here for a while?

Riding the local trails on Woodbury tonight but if I can count Monday as the weekend then I’ll be riding down Mt Teide in Tenerife 🙂
I think the forecast is hot!