oh, and Candy was our dog when i was a kid.

i've fond memories of a huntaway that used to belong to my housemate when i lived in NZ. we used to go running along wakatipu lake together all the time. and when i'd come into the house after work he wouldn't just wag his tail in excitement his whole ass would be vivaciously swaying from side to side. he was a curious little bugger who would just disappear from the garden for hours only to return after we'd spent the time fretting he'd been run over or something like nothing had happened. unfortunately it was a case of curiosity killed the dog for this hound, as when i spoke to my mate last xmas and enquired about him i got the upsetting news that he ventured to close to a cliff and tumbled to his death. a sad story i know, but a great dog and a great name.

his name was Miles :cry:

had a gander at this on Monday and i must say it's f'kin nuts! i reckon there'd be some parts that i could ride but the sideways rain just created a big slippy death slide. want to go back after a couple of days of it baking in the sun and have a proper challenge. i did notice a skinny to skinny right angle corner that looked nigh on impossible (or impassible) before i had to drag my sorry ass off the hillside through the heather.

another nod to the DOC campsites – they are simply ace. we used them all of the time and many are near to rivers, streams or lakes so you can wash at them. the downside to that being the sandflies. take headnets & full length clothes!!

another option i would suggest, although completely in the wrong direction for your route, would be a trip over to Stewart Island in the deep South. oh, and squeeze in a 2/3 day hike/kayak along the coast at Abel Tasman NP if you have the time, you wont regret it!

I wouldn't consider it essential, I'll still go out without one

i always wear one; seen so many people knock emselves out on ice and even just hard-packed snow. more essential than a helmet for mtb imo

i got my board last season (v sexy forum destroyer :D) from here. it's the snowboard asylum's outlet store and if you are in the NW you can pop along to their store under ellis brigham in castlefield. very healthy prices!

http://www.snowboard-clearance.com/

temporary ones are

was it a big group lesson or something? i'd expect to have learnt a bit more than that. but glad to hear you enjoyed it. the thing which is so captivating about the sport is that it is in fact relatively easy. the learning curve starts off quite slow and flat (what's this weird piece of wood attached to my feet?!) but once you get the hang generally you'll see vast improvements very quickly. so 720's next week keith?

looking to buy a few sets for the club. interested!

hit em square as you can and try and move your weight as you cross them; so as your front is going over keep you weight back and then once your rear is coming into contact move forward. basically your aiming to be as light as you can whilst in contact.

D0NK – Member
Ah right, thats why some of you don't like wrist guards, ok

…where there is no form of shock absorption at all. which is why they are so bad because lots of people think they can fall on them and not get injured. which is why learning to fall is always the first thing i try to teach people.

is helpful

wrist guards are $hit. complete waste of time.

isn't.

yeah…sorry :oops:

dunno, depends where you're from…

have never used one yet but i imagine that for the kind of thing you want it for (checking out names of features, finding hidden fp's etc) they wouldn't be ideal. and they can never be as reliable as a map. speaking from experience of planning routes online compared with on a proper map…

ebay. bolle saftey specs. from about £4 up

Goan – Member
wrist guards are designed to redirect a breakage away from the small bones in your wrist and onto the radius and ulna.

…where there is no form of shock absorption at all. which is why they are so bad because lots of people think they can fall on them and not get injured. which is why learning to fall is always the first thing i try to teach people.

Goan – Member
Peachos – my wife has done it, my cousin has done it and a number of my riding mates have done it. tends to come from losing a heel edge at speed, sliding and hitting a rock. We get rocks just under the snow up here.

maybe it's hereditary then :-)
tbh the vast majority of my riding has been in the alps so very few rocks to be found until late spring, which for the best part of, was spent in the park. must hurt like ****.

Goan – Member
Broken Coccyx is one of the most common injuries from snowboarding.

i've done 2 seasons and never seen a single case of a broken coccyx. have heard of it but never known anyone to have done it.

broken wrists on the other hand… :roll:

wrist guards are $hit. complete waste of time.

lesson 1. learn to fall. DO NOT UNDER AND CIRCUMSTANCES EXTEND YOUR ARMS FULLY TO TAKE THE IMPACT. falling on your ass will hurt but i've never seen a broken ass from snowboarding. that's my top tip, the rest is easy!

enjoy!

great timing with this thread btw – driving up to fort william tomorrow and will be hitting up itunes( :roll:) tonight!!

really you just need:

electric soul/electric soul ii/electric soul summer session cds (or anything else mixed by the unabombers) – search electric chair – amazon!

or

any of the many albums mixed by sir norman jay (good times) :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

a couple of my faves:

rhombus – bass player/future reference

a skillz & krafty kuts – trickatechnology (album) has some nice chilled hip hop/funk grooves going on

Mr Agreeable – Member
Peachos, the last Terminator film I saw was the third one I think, and it just didn't stick in my mind at all. Can't say I see that many films at all these days but action films in particular seem pretty tired. Visually they all seem to be generated on a computer, and plot-wise they rely either on well-worn cliches or knowing post-modern smirkiness. Blow shit up by all means, but do it with a bit of originality, conviction and style.

Another point is that there are plenty of great films out there already, and I'm not going to be spoon-fed the latest thing when access to amazing movies made over the previous 75 years has never been more easily available.

i couldn't agree more in respect of access to loads of great films mate. LOVEFILM is ace and has allowed me to get around to viewing all those goldies that i never saw!

as far as blowing shit up films though – have they ever been original?

barnsleymitch – Member
Check out the hope vision 1 – looks great, reasonable performance, retails for about 70 – 80 quid.

hope vision 1 is proper ugly. even more ugly than the USE Exposure Maxx range (apart from the Joystick)

oh, and not forgetting Kora.

Yey for Kiwi dub.

why don't you make a mix-tape of what you want to hear, burn on to a few CDs and wack that in the stereo? a much more personal touch and will prevent you from spending time cueing tracks up at your party.

Based on a True Story is ace
Mr Boondigga and the Big W is not a patch on BOATS

Black Seeds are the shizzle :-)

but…

Rhombus kick them all into touch!

Shandy – agree on Gran Torino

Mr Agreeable – blowing shit up films?? you missed the new Terminator & Transformers films?

district 9..really??! looks crapola.

chvck – Member

From the post subject I was going to say 'Irreversible' but that's leagues below anything musical…

That film really is just something else! Don't think I've ever seen another film that's stunned a room of us into such a 'wtf' silence

but it has a happy ending!

yep done it on both bikes. a bit fiddly the first couple of times – as coffeeking says, you need to find a compressor that blows a consistent stream of air. the digital compressors you find at most petrol stations these days are a right pain. i've spent countless 20p's watching my tyre nearly inflate then just before the bead seats the compressor backs off for a few seconds, the bead moves away from the rim and the air escapes. and then it repeats itself. but persistance wins in this game.

in that case molgrips i'm sure it will be a great camera for you. i've heard good things about them, was just voicing my views on a hours worth of semi-drunkerd usage!!

i echo I-Ache's pov, was at a wedding at the weekend and playing with my mates a350. it felt really awkward in comparison to my eos 450d. didn't like the liveview (very grainy indoors) and much prefer being able to see shutter speed/apeture setting etc on my canon.

i had problems with mine loosening off so i overtightend them and consequentially managed to snap the bolt at inners. don't want to scare you or anything but just watch out! prob use a torque wrench if you have access to one and find what they should officially be tightened up to.

D0NK – where is oaken clough?

did the bridleway off hollins to castleton a couple of weeks ago. top half was fast & grassy – not the most interesting, but it turned into a deep gulley towards the bottom with lots of rocks and roots. not sure if this section was a fp or bdw – twas dark!

must have been this one http://streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?x=413981&y=384434&z=115&sv=413981,384434&st=4&ar=y&mapp=map.srf&searchp=ids.srf&dn=669&ax=413981&ay=384434&lm=0

I've done it a couple of times and not overly impressed TBH but I do like mam tor, pity it's over so soon (hollins cross to harden clough).

i don't understand your logic here. harden clough-hollins cross is a great climb but i don't think it's anywhere near as good a descent as chapel gate. i must admit i've never descended from hollins over that side but the first section (rocks with a couple of drainage ditches) would be like descending on a lino covered kitchen floor compared to the boulderfield that is chapel gate. and the second half, the singletrack, is basically straight.

joemarshall – Member
I don't see why it'd be so hard assuming you had a level of fitness way beyond what most of us have (and the skill that comes with riding that much). It is just very steep and long.

it's not all that steep though. more like very loose, rocky and relentless!

flats or spds though!?

you'd need a hell of a lot of stamina to get anywhere near close to the top. i got to the first corner in about 3 dabs and was completely ****, and i consider myself a half decent climber. maybe with the right bike (not 36lb 6" FS) and in broad daylight i'd get around that corner but you've still got a loooong way to go even from there. you can clear the first stepped section after the gate by sticking tight to the corner and taking the line to the left where there is an eroded cut away section but once you summit there you've landed in the thick of it and would have to power your way straight up and over the next section, the bit where there is a definite smoother section that has been laid that zig-zags around the bigger jagged stuff. clear that and you've got a relitively easy section to recoup before the cobbles, which again you'd need high rpms to keep your momentum up – a tough section after what you would have just done. into the gorge bit with a couple of step-ups(which i cleared last night so they can be done) and you're home free. king of the mountain.

can it be done? possibly. if you're of superhuman qualities. but worth a shot just to see how much of it you can ride. i'd love to see someone do it.

descending in the dark is highly recommended though :D

worked out i've done less than 300 miles on that tyre. running on some syncros FR rims, they're quite deep but not mega wide – similar profile to halo freedom.

i ride all over – local loops, trail centres, big lakes stuff etc i just don't expect a tyre with 'Ultimate Sidewall Technology' written on the side to have crap sidewalls!

it'd probably work but not having chain at a good tension will risk it jumping off lots, which would be a royal pain in the ass. and normal cassette ring/chainring wouldn't last that long either.

just the way it split along the seam makes me think it's a weakness rather than wear & tear. and LUST tyres are supposed to be thicker in this area so i paid more for a tyre that has not done what it's designed to do.