Although she doesn’t sound like a nice person, I’m far more inclined to have a pop at the newspaper journalists / editors. They don’t have to publish every second of a celebs life, but they do. Sadly it sells, because this country is full of morons 🙂

On the other her face on the front cover keeps cancer awareness in the limelight which may be a good thing. Seems like a few of us have been affected by cancer either personally, or know someone that has. That’s all the awareness I needed. It shocks and scares you to know how horrible this disease is first hand.

My favourite is also the BBC News site. Preferred the old style but used to the new one now.

Also take a look here:

http://www.usabilitynews.com/news/article2786.asp – Though I actually find Flickr quite horrible to use. Took me ages to find the upload photo function 🙂

If you’re after a book, this is a good one:

Don’t make me think

Maybe the STW massive can help to come up with a name or a badge for this brand, or is it already declared to be ‘Shedfire’.

10 days for me also. But beware! I called them twice near the end of the 10 days to check on delivery date. They said they would phone me back when the build was ready, and to confirm a date – they didn’t call back.

The guys at merlin sent it off. Luckily someone was in to collect else I would have been a wee bit annoyed.

Still, well pleased with it, build quality seems great and the gears work so well that I don’t want to touch them 🙂

The new CRC adverts on this site bother me. They look a bit apocalyptic 😕

1st Hardtail – Used for messing about in the woods and local singletrack which is what I do most weekends 🙂

2nd – Roadbike – Gets used when I need to get somewhere quick (weekly shopping, visiting friends)

3rd – Full-sus – Over the top for anything around here, but use it for the trails in wales / scotland. Don’t tend to get out to those places so much, so it’s gathering dust.

Me! I was off ill Thursday / Friday too, I feel like a right freeloader 🙂

About 7″ in SE london where I am. Just one car attempted to drive down our road, pretty dangerous as none of the roads near me have been gritted.

And I wake up to this…

“Last updated at 05:10

All services are currently suspended until further notice” 🙂

I comfortably manage with only a 50l pack for a week

I agree – I reckon 50L is a good size for a week – actually the length of time is a bit of a void point, as it really depends on how often you need to re-supply food. If you have to carry all your food then you need a bigger pack to accommodate that.

When it comes to backpacking, the lightweight idea is pretty popular these days. Lightweight = less effort = more miles with less pain 🙂

I never used to enjoy lugging around a full 70/80L pack for any trip so downsized and packed my gear better, with no reduction in comfort. If you do consider a lightweight pack, check out OMM[/url].

If you haven’t thought about it already, think how you’re going to waterproof stuff. Ideally get some drybags. The other benefit is that they make it easy to organize stuff.

I’d also recommend getting mug to eat out of like this, rather than having a full on cookset. I guess that depends whether you want to have a fry up on the way 🙂

I’ve had the curtains shut since 5 ish and there wasn’t any snow then. Just looked out now and there’s about 2 inches (se-london)Schweet! 🙂

Just looking at the service updates for south-eastern. Doesn’t look too good so far 🙂

A whole list of cancelled, delayed, no longer calling at…

for the splendid reason of ‘poor weather conditions’

http://www.southeasternrailway.co.uk/live_running.php

scuse my stupidity, are you considering cycling with this 60ltr backpack, or just walking/hiking? 🙂

It partly boils down to how comfy you both want to be, and whether you can afford new equipment (lightweight tents/sleeping bags/backpacks).

I have a fair bit of lightweight kit now which is great. Although it can get quite expensive, it’s something that should last 10 years or so 🙂

A good tip is to get compression stuff sacks for lots of things (tent / sleeping bag / top-layers).

Mines 45L + 10L. Only real problem is whether you carry food / water or not, or whether you can get it on way.

http://www.ebuyer.com/cat/Monitors/subcat/19%22-LCD-Monitors

Pick one with a good review 🙂

I’ll grab some numbers for social services just in case.

I did try to ascertain whether she had any family. She thought that she had a son, but she had no phone numbers. She then said she had a friend that lived locally that she could go to, but I asked her where, and she didn’t really know the directions.

She was pretty frightened and was brave to admit she has these problems. It was quite a scary experience really…

“boy girl puzzle” in google only gets STW to 2nd spot, more posts required 😉

It got a bit muddy yesterday so I gave it a bath 😉

I’ve just uploaded some pics here http://www.flickr.com/photos/nichb

Sorry about the dodgy camera phone. This is the 2009 model I guess – at least that’s what I asked for 🙂

I guess it depends what riding style you have?

I’m not really experienced enough to describe the differences in how the frame feels in detail, but compared to my old inbred, this bike is way lighter. (same wheels/equiv. groupset), and geometry is spot on for me.

I initially had the intention of buying the build, selling of the frame and getting a steel frame. I won’t be doing that now, as I prefer the ride to my old inbred, plus it fits me really well.

I’ll give them a whirl, can’t do any harm I guess 🙂

I understand why someone would consider buying one if they are self-conscious about running outside. Must admit, I don’t like to run in built up places, but thankfully I can run around the park or woods, and it’s pretty quiet where I live. I also love running during dark mornings or at night, so the problem of worrying what people might think of you goes away.

I have used a running machine before and found it was a lot easier. I didn’t get any problems with my shins which I do outside. Having said that I would never buy one.

Expensive, noisy and boring 🙂

Edit – Of course, if you have no alternative, then you may well try it. It’s better than doing nothing. If she doesn’t use it you can always ebay it later.

Well not really…but I used to, so did 90% of my school all those years ago 🙂

Waiting for my new bike which will be SLX all over. It cost a hundred quid cheaper than XT which is what I’ve had before.

To be honest I’ve had deore components that work as well as XT, so personally I think it’s as much about setup and looking after the gear, than buying what’s meant to be the pimpier version.

And, for gods sake, will some people stop going on about people that are not properly equipt to be out in such conditions. The vast majority are very well prepared.

“3 mountaineers were caught in a slab avalanche today in Glencoe Scotland. They were swept 500 feet from a cornice scarp on the normal ascent route of the mountain Buachaille Etive. All 3 were in cardiac arrest. 2 were dug out by companions and one was located by spot probe.”

This guy was carrying a spot probe, which is more than what most mountaineers would carry. If you’re the sort of guy that carries something like this, then more than likely you’re fairly switched on.

In this case it looks like they got unlucky. Once again, RIP.

I will add a drunken perspective to this thread 😉

Everyone has to go sometime, better to go doing something you enjoy I say. Winter mountaineering is the one thing I’ve done in my life where I’ve truly known what it is to be alive. Taking risks is a good thing.

I’m suprised this thread hasn’t already led onto biking and the helmet vs non-helmet arguement 😉 Same thing in my opinion, risk analysis, blah.

And yes I have great respect for the volunteer guys that rescue people of these lovely mountains, but hey, that’s the reason they apply, they love the mountains, they love the challenges.

http://www.merlincycles.co.uk/?fn=product&productId=42&categoryId=39

I don’t think how quick conditions turning is the issue. The vast majority of people that I’ve met whilst up in the hills are fully prepared for bad conditions, and fully aware of how quick weather changes. This is to do with either not reading the forecast, ignoring it, or just being caught out and unlucky.

Given that the SAIS forecast was ‘considerable’ then I guess you could call it irresponsible, then again, maybe they did check the forecast and amended their route, and still got caught out?

Still don’t really know the circumstances though. ‘Climbing’ is quite a general term – don’t know whether they were doing any rope work and got caught, or whether they were just bimbling around up there.

RIP to these chaps.

Some invites for spotify 🙂

mgRid7RmZ8Jj9FDn
x2LK46Z4DeeShVd9
NapGDAs8uRHEcALE
F4ZJLS4c2PAH9jPg
kUPgx2uAEB5UKTLU

I also recommend spotify – http://www.spotify.com. It’s free but you get the odd commercial ad. Can’t say I really notice them though.

I used to have the 853, my brother has the team-tig – in fact it’s in my lounge right now. Quite a nice frame, very light.

I preferred my 853 mind, although I can’t really comment too much on the team-tig as it’s far too small for me.

I was stupid and sold the RL and jumped on the on-one bandwagon a few years ago. I preferred the RL…wish I never sold it.

Oh well, just waiting for merlin to build up my malt 4 now…mmm 🙂

‘Can’t find time’ is a lame excuse for being not being motivated enough, and one I use lots 🙂

Wake up an hour earlier 3 or 4 times a week and go for a run.

This is what I’m trying to do, but I’m lazy.

And only 2 miles from work? Jeez, he should walk it. If he’s never run before, then do the walk/jog thing and build up at a very slow pace. Within a few months he’ll be jogging all 2 miles.

If he can’t be motivated to do that then he should give up on the get healthy plan 🙂

Had my cx300 for ages now. Isolation is good, but I don’t play my music that loud so I usually still hear chatter on the train. I’d buy again.

They do get good reviews – lots of nice pics of the Malt 4 on flickr.

I think the biggest thing is that across the malt range you can get a hell of a lot of kit for the money.

I can’t decide on what bike to get, so one option is to just get a Malt with all the good kit for a great price. If I don’t get on with it I can always swap out the frame, and it would probably still be cheaper than building it up from scratch 🙂

Regarding colours – response I got about a month ago was that the PA came in orange or purple.

If in doubt, email them…they are very helpful 🙂

I really like the duster. I’ve been lurking in evans a couple of times this week as they stock them. I was impressed by how light it was, felt like a feather compared to my old inbred.

I’m 6’2 and tried the medium. It felt ok but didn’t have a large frame in stock to compare against. I’ll probably end up opting for the large though.

Senior software developer, and our in-house DB guru 🙂

I’m thinking of buying a Charge Duster. Think I’ll pop into Evans tomorrow and have a wee look.

Wiggle’s[/url] price of £587 for the 2009 SS isn’t bad, considering you get £50 to spend on whatever you want there.

I think this is a brand that’s gonna get bigger and bigger 🙂

I think it’s all the fake tan the english girls wear. Must act as some kind of insulating layer 😉

Interesting Surfr. I’m looking for a new bike, I just can’t make up my mind on what frame and it’s doing my nut in. I don’t fancy building up one myself as I’ve done that before and it will take me over a month by the time I get the all bits. I just wanna get out and ride 😉

I may do something similar and just get something in the sales – or take a look at the merlin range. All the kit is top quality, so then if I don’t like the ride, I can just swap out the frame and it will still be cheaper than building it up myself 🙂