Count me in!

I'll pass that on to my friend Dave as I'm afraid I've eaten too much cake recently!

I'll bring cake for the first 10 people to turn up!

I've just handed my notice in today at my "proper" job! Am in the same situation like you where it feel like I'm just going around in circles and make no difference to anyone.

Started using our house for B&B a few months back which has been a great success and also got a job as a mtb instructor and having all this in place before taking the final step today to resign has been the safe way of doing it. Could have done it earlier but some part of my ego has not wanting to let go of the "professional" career I spent 10 years at uni to get… but eventually I've realised that the important thing is doing something you enjoy doing and I think you regret things more that you don't do rather than the things you do, so I would definately look into other things if I were you!

I like tracklogs very much. Not only do I plot some long unridden routes on it but I also love to go back and plot my normal riding routes retrospectively on the map which gives me the info I need such as distance and height gain. Also I make nice looking route cards using Tracklogs which are very helpful for the B&B guests. I'm sure there is better out there but I'm very pleased with it.

Just to let you know that if anyone needs proper B&B accommodation (and guiding down to the start of the ride!) I have a double bedroom available for both the 7th and 8th November. £25/person (no extra for single occupancy) included is a very good quality cooked breakfast as well as cereal and the rest…should be enough to slow you down for the first climb on the ride!! Details in the user profile. Mention STW if you book though as I'll reserve this room for someone who is doing this ride (just to make sure I'll get to go on it too and not stuck making pancakes for some grumpy walker!

I run a bed&breakfast and I love it! It's great to see people so happy and enjoying the country side. Took a couple of guests out on a two hours skills session since they wanted to hire mtb and they absolutely loved it! Two days a week I still go in to Manchester and do my fairly dull scientist job just to realize how lucky I am the rest of the week!

We are worst then. We only get max 120 kbps when it is fast. Mostly it is only about 80-85 kbps! Still pay for the 8Mb which is highly unfair. There has already been someone fighting a battle with BT about it but with no success so we just try and ignore it. Shame we can't use any of the services though such as iPlayer/Skype/youtube etc. but there are more important things in life!

I'm fond of tinted waxes. Comes as clear or plenty of different shades. Don't go for a deep colour with pine though as it doesn't really take it that well. It is very easy to apply, just rub in to the wood with either really fine wirewool or a cloth. The surface get a lovely and very natural sheen if it is buffed with a cloth and no worries about it ever going flaky such as with varnishes.

I'm fairly sure we are the end of the line up here. The local exchange is Marple and when entering in our phone number on the BT website it says that the maximum speed the line supports is 256 kbps, So there is very limited things I can do to improve things on my end I'm afraid. Although that BT Iplate gizmo sounds interesting could be worth trying.

I think ballsofcottonwool is right. I should just pay 1/32rd of the price!

Thanks for the advice! Tried the Talktalk website connection speed checker and the download speed is 84 kbps. About what I expected. The sky broadband goes via the BT phoneline so no chance of an improvement there.

I know the others on this hillside have similar issues so maybe we'll just have to start a petition to get them to upgrade the cables. Makes me really annoyed when you hear BT planning the superfast broadband to be rolled out when we still have superslow broadband. Anyway the mtb location more than makes up for the disadvantage of not being able to watch iPlayer or Youtube…. going out for a ride now….

I used Chips Away and I though they were great. When I did it it cost £90 for the first scratch (depends on the depth of the scratch) and then £60 for any subsequent scratches not necessarily on the same car so check with collegues or neighbours if they have any that needs doing. He came to my house and also took out some buckles while he was at it for free. Great service.

I have a pair and to be honest I can't remember how quickly they react as I never remember that I'm wearing them when I do. I suppose that could be a good sign (never too dark or to bright) or I'm just very unobservant in general. Not used them for night rides mainly because I had a cheap £7 clear bolle pair that I didn't mind loosing in the dark (which has now happened!)

Whenever I've had anything wrong with me they always picked up weird congenital or genetic strange things in any tests/scans used but never found out what the actual problem was. Miracle that my body works as well as it does actually. Thankfully every time the problems resolved themselves naturally with time. So do remember that everything that is found isn't always related to your illness. Seems strange that you should have to suggests the next steps yourselves, but keep it up, it is the best way. Hope you will find some answers soon.

Are you allowed to recommend yourself? If so come and stay with me! Can't be a more bike friendly place than ours (mtb addict speaking….) The riding is great despite being on the Hayfield side of Edale (about 30 minutes drive from Buxton or Hope). Have done Jacob's Ladder as an evening ride starting from the front door so it is definately not too far from the Peaks despite being 10 minutes walk from the High Peak border. Add to that all the great steep bridleways we have here and there is easily enough to fill 4 days of solid riding without having to drive anywhere. Ask "Flatboy" what he thought of it since he is the only proper mountain biker that has been here so far. (We've only just opened for business in the last month or two.) http://www.lilybankfarmcottage.co.uk

I've got friends whose labradoodle is called Elwood. Really suits him.

You should come and stay with us! Fully booked this weekend though. Good thing about a break here is that we have lots of routes aimed at all levels, ready and printed for you to take along with you when you go out, and also secure bike storage etc and if you fancy a quick skills session to get your confidence up that is not problem either!
http://www.lilybankfarmcottage.co.uk

I used to like the Gaggia classic but it malfunctioned (went live and nearly electrocuted my husband!) so we got a Pavoni instead. The Pavoni isn't just stunningly beautiful to look at but makes the most fantastic coffee, much better than the Gaggia! We are reluctant to go away because we miss the coffee at home too much! As said in other coffee threads, grinding the beans freshly before making the coffee makes all the difference! It is probably just a bit more than your budget but in my opinion worth every penny!

Last Wednesday night when I went out for a short ride on my own even though I didn't feel 100% up for it, went on the other side of the Goyt valley where I hadn't been before despite it being 20 minutes ride away and found the most wonderful technical paths with views to die for in the glorious evening sunset and realizing that now my favorite location for mountain biking had doubled in size!

When you decide to move house and you are happy to pay £800 extra in mortgage per month to have fantastic trails from the doorstep….

You should call in and see me as you are bound to come past my house! I've just started to bake a date and pecan cake and I need some help with eating it!

Go straight down from Mellor cross, avoid the zigzags unless you are very very confident as they are terrible at the moment instead take the left track (quite narrow) and I live in the first house on the left. 07799416722 if you are unsure!

Waiting for a delivery today so I'm going to be very bored!

Our family went a year and a half ago and our son got Shigella (bacterial dysentry) and had to spend four days in hospital when we got home being very, very poorly. Underdeveloped is the right word for it but it isn't in the kind of charming way you might think. But for watersport and good weather at Christmas time it's great and people were very friendly. Not going back though.

I always very politely ask if I can come past and say thank you afterwards and if someone comments on the lack of bell I always say that a bell doesn't say "please" or "thank you" and that generally shuts them up. My husband once got the comment by one of them "You've got the no-bel prize!".

I commuted for a number of years and I would recommend for the last bit into the city centre to cut across from the A6 to Burnage lane and then across to Birchfield rd-Anson Road-Upper Brook street in to Manchester. Generally much less chaos, less busses and fairly wide roads too. Never had any problems.

I can recommend Marple Bridge south-east of Manchester. Got everything you mentioned including good schools. (2 hours on the train to London) and obviously loads of trains to Manchester! Look at my website if you want to get a feel for the riding around here (all from the doorstep!) You could always come here for your holiday, we still have vacancies in August!

I once saw someone use a plastic colander attached with rubber bands as a bike helmet.

A few years ago we had a neighbours tom cat that persistently came through the catflap at night and apart from terrify our two cats it also sprayed urine in several places. We asked the owner if it wouldn’t be appropriate that she had him neutered as we suspected we weren’t the only people this cat visited every night. But her response was that surely she couldn’t do anything as cruel as that to him. Anyway we proceded by super-soaking the cat the next night with the heavy duty waterpistol for about 15 minutes on and off. He didn’t come back for 1 year. Wether that is more or less cruel than neutering I don’t know, but it worked.

It was quite funny because at the start of the ride I was about to say how relatively undiscovered the area is but I’m really glad I didn’t since as it happens we saw probably 30 other mountain bikers (out on an Evans event I think) and 50 (!!!) horses on a special outing! Never seen the area so busy!

I would imagine it will be the road version of C2C thinking about it, since she is doing it with her brother who has so far been lending her a road bike. She seems to be more interested in hybrid bikes though.

Sure Rudeboy, of course you can come. Can only do one pick up and drop off at the station though.

Weather forecast shows a bit of sun and 24 degrees….maybe too optimistic!

I’d better make sure he has a nice time now since otherwise it might spoil this fantastic thread!

Of course I’m serious!

(Grumm, shhh…don’t spoil the plan!)

No problem. Send me an email with the times and I’ll pick you up. 17.43 is pushing it since you won’t have time for a nice after-ride pint without feeling a bit rushed. But if that is the time you have got then it is definately doable.

Basically you get a ticket (it is free) for the bike when you buy the train ticket and the only way of doing it properly is to go to the station, don’t think they will do it online (definately not Trainline).

Depends on how long you stay for! Anything between 5 minutes (great little loop from the front door!) to 8 hours+. I would recommend about 4 1/2 hours since it is very hilly but don’t mind longer. All of it great stuff if you like steep rocky riding! Got Saturday free so you can choose.

If you come by train I can pick you up from Stockport. Although I bet all the cheap tickets will be gone by now.

Go on then! When do you want to visit?

Two hours on the train from Euston:

http://www.lilybankfarmcottage.co.uk

I can promise epic rides!

I had a similar problem and had to reinstall the software that came with it. Working ok since.

DezB- I think you overestimate the speed I’m doing coming down that hill!!but on a serious note, I discussed this with the vet. The key is to build it up slowly, with short frequent walks, this is especially important with big heavy breeds. She will be more of a light, medium size build I think.

To be honest she is physically more active running around the living room than she is running with me for a few minutes. And she doesn’t seem to listen to me telling her it isn’t good for her bones! 🙂 At the moment she is doing 40 minute walks or about 5-10 minute runs.