topeak mountain morph or mini morph. a leg folds out and you can use it like a mini track pump which is a bit easier

I carry mine in my camelbak and its been very useful on a few occassions (particularly the pliers) hadnt realised i could potentially be breaking the law.

A couple of years ago there was a hiker in the US who somehow got trapped under a boulder and had to cut his arm off to get free. So a leatherman could be useful in such a situation not just with bike repairs 😀

http://www.wolf-paw.com/component/page,shop.product_details/category_id,149/flypage,shop.flypage/product_id,1307/option,com_virtuemart/Itemid,28/

ive never used that site before so i dont know how reliable it is, but i used to use that mobile phone pouch (it has a velcro strap) and it worked pretty well strapped to chest strap on my camelbak. I lost it though so im currently using a nike armband i got for running and that seems to work just as well. Not sure how it would be for other sizes but it is a perfect fit for an iphone.

anyone know if a gps tracker like googlelatitude works outwith mobile network coverage? might be quite a useful feature to turn on if riding in an isolated area

peanut butter and jam

http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/flash/banana

macs tend to be better in terms of design and build quality (the aluminium unibody of my mbp is great) but i seem to have far more frustrations with the OS now than i get with windows 7. Things like not being able to maximise windows or the multi touch trackpad – being able to scroll down the screen using 2 fingers is a great feature, but most of the other gestures are just a pain in the arse causing me to do things accidentally like minimise/maximise text size when i dont want to. Gets very frustrating yet it is impossible to disable the multi touch gestures i dont want to use and customise it to work the way i want it to work. My windows machine is much easier to configure to work to my own preferences.

The OS on macs used to be a strong point too in comparision to windows in terms of stability, speed and user friendliness – but i dont think there is much (if any) difference now.

speaking as a 19 year old swedish lesbian who likes to cyber and swop hawt pics i have to delete friends all the time – there are just too many loser men with fake hot lesbian profiles 🙁

Audrey Tautou

usually a shower but if ive had a long hard ride then a bath is needed to limit the aches and pains the day after!

managed to release it using a cable tie looped round (couldnt fit a pipe in to use that). no broken fork, just a big red mark on my hand where i was gripping the cable tie 😀

thanks for all the tips 🙂

elite marathon runners can only compete in about 2 or 3 events every year so that must be up there as one of the toughest sports

i tried the wd40 and it didnt work so going to have try a bit of pipe next. bit worried as its flush with the fork so a bit of a recipe for disaster knowing me! thanks for the tips though, glad to know im not the only person this has ever happened to 😀

I've got the 3G and i found that after the upgrade to the 3.0 software the performance got much worse. Can be slow and laggy at times, to the extent that i had to jailbreak it just so i could go back to a similar level of speed that i was getting pre 3.0. The 3GS doesnt suffer from the slow problems though so id either get that or hold off a bit longer until June until the new version is released.

It varies from person to person but i find that if the sole of the shoes are stiff enough then i can ride just as long and as comfortable on SPDs as i can on SPD SLs and have never had a problem with hotspots. I used to alternate the pedals and shoes depending on what sort of ride i was doing (if it was more leisurely and involved cake stops etc then i prefered the SPDs for the easier walking off the bike). Now i find most of my riding is SPD, they might be slightly less efficient but i cant say i notice it much – i waste more time changing the pedals about than would save while on the bike.

i've done probably 10000+ miles on mine over the course of 12 years (with a few years in the middle not being ridden at all). i have no idea what brand it is (i assume shimano).

probably shouldnt admit to such a lack of maintenance and tlc 😀 but i've never had any problems with it so never needed to change it

pearl izumi cyclone are good as a spring / autumn glove – not bulky at all and good cuffs. with a liner they are decent as a winter glove too but not without one as under about 5 or 6 degrees then things get a bit cold

been thinking of getting one as well,it seems to ride really well. but im
holding off making a decision for another couple of weeks until i can get a proper demo on a stumpjumper fsr.

last time i was in tesco they were selling clif bars for 50p off which is cheaper than i've seen them online

had intended to do the mtb route on saturday but dont think i can make it now

the aldi bib tights seem to have lasted much longer than other brands i've had at more than 5 times the price.

He is a tit for apologising to the world about it then becoming all Buddhist.

Have to say im a bit pissed off with the news coverage this has been getting from supposedly serious news programmes – says it all about the celeb saturated culture we live in that this is considered by far the biggest news story of the week.

It depends on the backroads – the road condition on some of them is pretty poor and there can be sections with poor visibility, blind corners, hedgerows and cars speeding. Had a few offs over the years with potholes or front tyres slipping due to unseen run off from the fields road a downhill corner.

However despite that i'd still say i prefer the back roads, one thing that is overlooked is how nice it is to breath in clean air when going at a good pace – busy a roads have all the problems with fumes and pollution and general road mankiness with grit, brake dust etc.

Wolfgang Wolf – ex manager of Wolfsburg

The boardman carbon is good value for money.

regards the weight thing with a carbon frame v alloy frame, unless you are racing then i wouldnt worry about saving a little weight going for carbon. Carbon does however have some advantages with ride comfort and dampening road buzz. Although to put this in persepective fit, wheels/tyres, saddle and even the type of bar tape will likely have a bigger impact on this!

went to have another look at them both today and instead of clarifying the matter the choice just gets harder and harder. 😀

do rocky mountain have a good reputation for frames and warranty support? i know specialized are pretty damn good when it comes to that sort of stuff.

i can get a discount of about 20% so that makes it a bit more affordable.
both bikes feel very nice, i'd be happy with either. at the rate im going at im going to be making a choice based on colour 😀

with the triad being a custom job does that mean replacement parts for it will be more difficult to get than a standard one?

they were reviewed on the gadget show last night. the gopro one came out on top but the contour one scored highly too

Sergeant Skillz

the specialized toupe is comfortable even though it doesnt look it. actually initially i found it quite uncomfortable compared to some saddles but after a couple of rides i was used to it and ive never had any problems with numbnuts and the like since.

rather than just picking a specialized bg one at random some bike shops can measure your sit bones to get the one which is the best fit.

if its relatively flat and going at a moderate pace then about 18mph compared to about 15mph (thats both on roads)

any idea when the garmin 705 is due to be superceded by a new model? fancy having one but its been out for 2 or 3 years now so a bit reluctant to commit to buying one if a newer improved one will be coming out soon!

had 5 punctures last year and seemed to spend more time fixing them than i did riding (only had 1 spare tube so had to patch the others). But despite that really looking forward to it this year

im probably a medium, my road bikes tend to be 54cm (im about 5ft9).

thanks for the advice everyone 🙂

i had a stumpjumper about 15 years ago and i loved that so may check that out if i can find any decent deals for the 2009 model. the 2010 are just a wee bit out my price range unfortunately

My air skills at the moment amount to being able to bunnyhop up a kerb so any improvement would be useful! 😀

Sort of daunting all the variety of bikes on offer. I get enough grief as it is with having 3 road bikes and the hardtail mtb in the garage, not sure how it is going to go down when i expand the n+1 equation!

they locked/closed two subforums (don't know why though) and now do the MTB classified at this subforum http://static.bikeradar.com/mtb/forums/viewforum.php?f=40050

the one i seem to use most when planning rides is accuweather – weather app gives a more indepth forecast than the weather app the phone comes with