Its cancelled?

:( That was going to be a big chunk of training for me too.

I gave some advice on this thread a few weeks ago – might have been the one you were thinking of.

Oh ok, I know the bit you mean. Not sure I’ve ridden it in it’s previous state if it was 6 years ago, so I probably won’t notice a change!

Love the area, should be running dry and fast for Sunday :)

22-34, definitely.

Even then, over a decent length climb I still find it faster and less effort to ride the bike than walk, in bike shoes, pushing the bike.

Perhaps one way to get things through “walkers’ thick heads” (?!) is to slow down and say “hello”.

Usually works for me. Although it of course invites the odd idiot to say ‘Where’s your bell?’, as if it’s the method of alerting them that matters rather than the alert itself.

C_G – is that the byway at Farleigh Wallop you’re referring to? Has it been done recently? No doubt I’ll be heading down it at this weekend’s Cliddesden Trailtrax.

I’d imagine Caesar’s Camp will still be ok to ride tonight. Although watch out for all the random new fences that have appeared recently.

Epic Cymru?[/url]

It will almost certainly expire at some point in the next year and ask you for money.

Indeed. Lets see if I can tolerate it that long.

So in summary, I’ll leave McAfee where it is by sheer inertia.

Until, that is, its relentless requests to sign up for some pointless extra functionality finally break my spirit, when I’ll uninstall it in a fit of pique, thoroughly botching the job and leaving my shiny new laptop unable to run either McAfee or MS Defender.

Sorted 8)

I just bought a Windows 8 laptop, and it came with McAfee pre-installed which I wasn’t expecting as I planned to just use Defender as recommended above.

Is it actually worth me going to the bother of uninstalling McAfee so that I can switch on the MS security elements that it interferes with?

My internet hygiene is impeccable BTW :)

The Sculpture Park is ace! Kids love it too (not that I have any).

The train across the border (change at Ventimiglia) might work too. I travelled from Nice to Borgo San Dalmazzo on a gorgeous mountain train with stunning views, acres of space, for 3 Euros a few years back.

Admittedly you’re going a bit further and would be sticking to the coast, but it might still work well.

I bought some bars, and the parcel arrived today without the bars, although it did have the dispatch note, a catalogue and some free sweets in an otherwise enormous empty box. Still somewhat short of expectation though.

Currently awaiting a reply to my email. Next step – the phone.

+1 for Mavic, I’ve bought their Rush shoe for an alpine endurance race where I’m going to be doing a fair amount of clambering over rocks with the bike on my back.

Chiba Gel Comfort Plus work well for me on long Alpine XC stuff – fingerless though so may not be so great for more DH-orientated stuff. Gel Premium and Gel Pro also worth looking at although I’ve not tried those.

I’m interested too :)

Hard to tell whether it’s finished, or started for that matter. A dirty white van blocked the view from my desk for a few seconds, and was the same colour as the sky.

Exactly the same shade of grey in London as it was an hour ago.

Are the grips different to ones you’ve used before?

I built up a winter bike in December, and by the end of Jan I was getting some pain in one of my hands – swapped the grips to match the softer, fatter ones on my other bikes and the problem went away.

Nice!

I’m sure beerbabe[/url] would make you something suitable if you asked nicely.

They do actually make handy containers for energy powder, like the ones that Torq Single Shot used to come in.

But obviously njee’s idea is far superior.

Lose to Afghanistan and we can still finish bottom of the group.

Trans Cambrian for me too. Hopefully get it done over 2 days this summer.

Bookmarking this as doing something similar.

“This app is incompatible with all of your devices” :(

Not surprising, as my phone is utter garbage. Great idea though!

I’ve got an EZJ flight to Portugal in a couple of weeks – also an early morning one.

Have just received an email recommending I arrive 2 hours before the flight, so I guess that’s what I’ll aim for.

My 2000 Berlingo is very faded red. When I bought it last year, the seller said it would T-cut up nicely.

Needless to say I haven’t bothered.

I love this one: Impossibility: The Limits of Science and The Science of Limits

Quite a lot of it is about cosmology but some other stuff covered too. Tells us a lot about what we can know (but don’t), and what we can never know.

Some of the author’s other books will probably suit you too – he’s basically a cosmologist. He assumes you don’t have much background, but not that you’re an idiot.

There’s always going to be some tarmac involved unless you’ve got a massive area of roadless terrain to work with.

Careful placing of checkpoints can limit it though, or at least make it a difficult decision whether to choose the tarmac or the dirt – and forcing people to make difficult decisions is one of the main objectives as a checkpoint-setter!

djtom – hoping to get to your Box Hill event in April! Would have liked to have done the first event but it clashed with something else I’d already entered.

Took me about 5 hours I think and that was in ideal conditions last July.

Have a look at other routes on that website though, some good stuff on there and you can restrict by distance/area etc.

That Cadair Berwyn loop is great, my favourite ride of last year, but its hardly a quick 10 mile jaunt to tack onto the end of a day’s touring :D

I get the “where’s your bell?” comment all the time, despite always making a point of slowing to walking pace and saying a friendly good morning from a good distance away. It’s often from someone in a large group of walkers and I generally read it as code for ‘How dare you ride your bicycle near me’.

Exactly this, especially your interpretation.

Often showing off in front of their friends, although I’ve had it from solo walkers too.

HiFX are reputable, they aren’t who I work for (SGM-FX). Same sector though.

What level of documentation you need may depend on where you were located then, how much you were transferring etc. But the regulations around money-laundering and Know Your Client are being tightened up all the time, so it might well have changed since then.

Ironically HSBC are one of a number of UK banks to be very heavily fined under US money-laundering legislation!

If you want me to put you in touch with someone at my place, email is in my profile (I don’t get commission so I’m not going to try and sell you it!).

Alternatively, if you used HiFX before then they’ve probably still got you on their client database. So you wouldn’t be starting from scratch, but quite likely they will need to see some of the documentation again as it is probably ‘stale’ by now.

I’m probably at the limits of my competence here, so best you talk to sales staff at whichever company you choose to get the full details :)

Compliance shouldn’t take very long, but you’ll most likely be asked to provide scanned copies of documents giving things like proof of address, source of funds, details of the accounts you will pay from and to etc. Could be less than an hour if you have all the documents to hand.

The industry is fairly heavily regulated to deter money-laundering these days, so strong compliance requirements are generally the sign of a reputable company, even if they seem a little onerous when registering.

Goldeneye Control Room (both versions) has to be the worst on a console.

This. When I finally completed it on the top level, I was so pumped up I stayed up half the night finishing off the other levels still outstanding (Cradle and Temple). Mainly though I was just elated that I would never have to play Control again, took SO many attempts.

Had a similar experience with one of the intermediate bosses on Jet Force Gemini (N64). Never did beat the final boss :(

Yes I do them quite often, love the mix of planning before the start, riding hard and navigating and making decisions on the move. Easy to get it wrong, rewarding when you get it right.

I occasionally set a course for Gorrick’s Trailtrax series – enjoy doing that too although it means I don’t get to compete on the day.

You won’t go far wrong with a Scale for short or long XC races. However if you like your current Whyte then try the Whyte 29C as well.

I test-rode both, the Whyte felt very slightly more relaxed, although that could have been down to the builds on the demo bikes.

Both bikes were superb, and not much to choose between them, in the end the choice for me came down to no more than minor spec differences, which have probably changed for the new model year anyway.

I don’t really trust the elevation data given by my GPS for reasons explained above, so if I’m downloading files at the end of the ride then I stick them in Tracklogs and see what the elevation model on there reckons.

I think this is more accurate (and usually lower), although I may be kidding myself.

Obviously when it comes to bragging about my ride on the internet, I just use whichever figure is the highest ;)

I’ve also got very narrow shoulders and get on pretty well with the Wingnut, have had a few in differing sizes. The hip pockets and webbing are very useful for getting at stuff without taking the pack off. The main compartment is just one section though.

Yes it’s ugly, but so am I :D

I’m not sure the chest strap is height-adjustable though, so may not be so lady-friendly. As others have said, best to try before you buy if you can, they are a bit marmite. But I’m not sure any bricks and mortar stores stock them in the UK. You might be able to find someone local who can lend?