If I hadn’t gotten bored of watching Flash Forward after a handful of episodes I might be able to provide an answer.

Gaynors has reasonable deals I find (just got a jacket from them online at £50 cheaper than Tiso).

Prices do vary between their store and the website.

Nothing on their website about cycling gear, there is a 50% off fishing gear sale though, is it just your local store I wonder

There is a page which says fishing is today, cycling is tomorrow.

Hmm, tempting to put one in the parts bin.

Is a Go Outdoors card £5 or something?

£3.32 billion lost

These ridiculous figures the media comes out with don’t make any sense. It would be fairer to say that £3.32 billion is distributed differently. Money doesn’t just disappear. On a simple level, if an office is closed for a day, they don’t make any money, but the people who would have paid for those services still have the money in the bank.

My MacBook Pro is a few months older but should have the same port as yours. I use an adaptor from the laptop, and have an HDMI or DVI cable from that to the TV (can’t remember which). Works perfectly. As you say, the sound won’t work as the pre March 2010 standard doesn’t support sound, so you need a cheap cable from your audio port (I use 3.5mm to 2 phono which goes into the back of my CD player).

You can get all of the above for less than £30 and it works just fine. I used UK HDMI[/url] for my cable and adaptor.

Easy to get caught out, as there was little ice anywhere else on the descents (apart from the berm near the end of spooky which I crawled round). Thankfully I don’t travel fast enough on the rigid bike to get in any real trouble. :-)

Never weighed it, and I wouldn’t like to pluck a figure out of the air, but it feels lighter to pick up than my Giant Anthem X2. A huge amount of the weight saving is probably in the forks, as I think the frame comes in at close to 5lbs. It feels light enough when out of the saddle to sprint up short climbs.

I think I know the jump you mean. Had an arse clenching moment myself there today too. I saw the ice early enough to slow down and stick a foot down whilst on it (foot slipped but I managed to stay upright), but my friend sailed straight across it and into the bushes on the right. 8O

[/url]
2010 Boxing Day Ride[/url] by pixelmix[/url], on Flickr

I’m on a singlespeed rather than the geared version. Was out today round Glentress Red and really enjoyed it. It’s a cheap and cheerful frame, but the lack of mechs and gears keeps mine light. Enjoy it when you get it.

I use any old printer plugged into an Apple Airport Express.

Really enjoyed it thanks Tony, and easy enough to find (as long as you know to turn right at the byway as stated above). The link will be great when it beds down a bit. Much better than a muddy bridleway. The jumps were a nice addition to keep things interesting on the way down.

It seemed fairly busy up at Cragg today. I only ride a couple of times a year in Lancs, so look forward to checking it out again later in the year. Think I’ll maybe do one lap of Lee and two of Cragg next time (did the other way round today).

Thanks again. Found the link easily enough and took the right turn thanks to the directions above. Really enjoyed Cragg, which is well signed when you get to into it. Seemed to flow better than Lee (for me anyway).

Great, thanks folks. Will give it a bash soon.

Bump

Had a walk at Anglezarke yesterday. Not a patch of ice anywhere, and not too muddy either. Should be okay out tomorrow I reckon.

As a non-local, is the link from Lee Quarry to Cragg pretty easy to locate, and do-able without a map? Thinking of doing a quick blast round one lap of Lee, one lap of Cragg (and obviously the link in between) at some point in the next few days.

I’ve been round Lee once before, so have a hazy recollection of the layout.

Cheers

I have an Anthem X2 at the moment and like it. Reasonable spec for the money if you can pick up a 2010 end of year deal. I’ve had a Spesh Epic in the past and liked that too.

The Anthem frame has gradually evolved over the years. I think 2009 is quite similar to 2010. I looked at the 2011 model, but didn’t think I’d benefit from the different bottom bracket and tapered steerer tube, so went for the cheaper and better looking (IMHO) 2010 X2.

Issues wise, I haven’t heard any bad stories. Mud clearance isn’t great (not much room between tyres and seatstay bridge), and the suspension links seem to attract muck.

Before I got mine I looked at the Scott Spark, Spesh Epic, Trek Top Fuel and glanced at the Lapierre X-Control and Cannondale Scalpel.

I have Kinetic, which seems to be pretty decent and gets good reviews, although I haven’t really used it. It’s pretty cheap though, so give it a shot.

Not been on the Innocent, but the Roseburn / Ferry Road path was interesting this morning. It was totally rideable two days ago when it was snowy, and parts of it have been cleared and gritted, but the uncleared parts were a mix of nicely polished ice with slushy bits and dog **** at the edges. I made it from Trinity round to Haymarket without any spills, but it was a bit slower than normal and I stuck a foot down a few times.

I suspect that the Innocent will be much the same, and I wouldn’t even bother if you have a slick tyred road bike or hybrid. You’ll be quicker on the roads for a few days I reckon.

Yeah, definitely not cool to be practical. Unless you are racing and the extra 150g bothers you, that is about the only reason.

I’ve just stuck the crud card on the seatpost of my full-sus for the first time in years. It was fitted to Mrs PixelMix’s bike, but it looks particularly wet out there today, and since I am heading out for over 3hrs, a dry(ish) back side would be nice. Normally I don’t bother, as a bit of spray isn’t a major pain, but since it has been raining for about 24hrs now, and there is melting snow around too, this could be a soggy one. If I was commuting I reckon I’d have something on a commute bike too.

Big yim – can’t go wrong with black/white. Bright green hubs etc would probably be subtle enough.

Tom83 – here’s you’re alternative I just spotted on the On-One ebay site (far too big for me!) – pre-production 20″ whippet

Have you checked out the sizing? Long top tube means you can often get away with a smaller frame size.

20″ was only ever £234 I think. I presume they are just clearing excess stock of the 16″ and 18″ models.

any of the online route finders do elevation too?

walkjogrun.net does I think.

Any one got any pictures of their builds to give me some colour ideas

I built mine up with white brakes, saddle, seatpost clamp and forks, and was pretty happy with it.

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_MG_8088[/url] by pixelmix[/url], on Flickr

I’m currently resisting picking up a frame to stick in the cupboard. I got rid of mine as I wanted a full-sus again for my main bike, and don’t have room or funds to keep a light hardtail too. I think a build with red blue or green highlights would look good too (Hope bits etc?)

Have a look at Racing Ralphs from On-One at the moment – some decent deals if they have your preferred size and type. If you want a summer only tyre, Racing Ralph at each end would be fine. I normally run a Racing Ralph at the rear and a Nobby Nic up front, but you don’t need a Nobby Nic for dry fast trails..

I’m not buying any from On-One though as I prefer Double Defense Schwalbes. :(

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2010 Boxing Day Ride[/url] by pixelmix[/url], on Flickr

I had a Scandal for a bit, and those measurements all sound right to me. The downtube narrows after it passes the top tube, so the seatclamp is smaller than the front mech clamp size. You will want a front mech that supports top pull too as the cable comes along the top tube.

68mm english is a standard MTB thread. Hollowtech II etc will fit fine. I was happy enough with my Scandal. Light and cheap.

That was a cruel edit. Druidh just looks like he can’t remember what he did today now.

I’ve not ridden GT for a few weeks, but I would imagine it will be pretty icy at the moment. Latest update would seem to suggest that anyway.

I’m hoping to be a bit fitter and faster in 2011 now that I work a bit closer to home. If funds permit, we are planning to move house (garage for the bikes!), which will allow me to commute to work again (too close to work just now).

Planning to get out to some new spots for riding too (rather than just riding 7stanes and Pentlands all of the time):-
– Glen Tilt round in Spring when the weather allows
– Cycle up Mullach Clach a Bhlar and surrounding plateau (walked it last year)
– Great Glen Way in a day in May
– 3-4 day tour with panniers somewhere (looking at Mull and surrounding currently)
– Joining my riding chums for their annual trip to Morzine this year (funds permitting).

Good luck with the munros Druidh – quite an achievement.

Loads of factors at play here.

Is it USB 1.1 or USB 2.0? Cards also vary vastly in speed, and yes, the performance of the reader could vary.

Edit – Parksie beat me by 6 seconds!

I can’t speak for BT, but it will all depend on whether they keep your email account open. I suspect most providers will keep it open for a while, but not indefinitely.

So long as BT keep it open, you should be able to use it when connected through another provider using the same POP server settings (although some ISPs don’t allow you to send mail through their SMTP servers if you are not connected to the internet through them).

Plenty of snow in Edinburgh, but it hasn’t snowed for a few days now – just never gets above freezing to melt what we have.

Technically it is only a white Christmas is it snows in London or something is it not?

I shudder to think what I could have done with the time. I’d be a millionaire now or something. If I spent as much time riding my bike as reading / posting on here, I’d be a world champ by now. Sod that though, it’s chilly out there.

Sounds like sensible policing to me.

Your example sounds like a good result TJ.

RBS won’t have noticed a few thousand though (assuming they were found to be guilty in the Gogarburn example). It does sound like the arborist at Gogarburn knew they were protected though. If it is possible to show that they an arborist knew, then higher fines would soon stop them chopping things down.

Hmm, I had the Double Defense version of the Nobby Nic up front, and the same in a Racing Ralph out back last year. I was happy enough with them, so thinking of getting another pair this year. I run them tubeless with a stans strip, so figured the Double Defense would give some extra protection and be easier to seal.

Do people reckon the DD is worth it? I’m happy to live with an extra 80g at each wheel if it saves me just one puncture or sidewall tear.

Edit – psychle posted that whilst I was typing.

Both salaries into the joint account and then each month we have the same amount transferred to our individual accounts.

Yup, works for us. We pay for all of the “joint” stuff (food, bills, fuel, days out where we are both going etc) from the joint account. We take £XXX each per month from the joint account and put it in our own separate accounts. I spend my £XXX on bikes, occasional pints etc, don’t know what she spends hers on. Mrs PixelMix was quite insistent on this, as she wants her own wee pot of money so we don’t just buy each other birthday presents from the joint account. :)

Edit:- And before we were married we did what Doosuk said – equal amounts per month into the joint account.

Actually TPOs aren’t great – apparently for the gogarburn RBS they felled a bunch of TPO trees as it was cheaper to pay the costs of that than design their buildings around them. There are nowhere near enough TPOs granted in the UK either. TPO and AWI and any other local/statutory designations are considered as part of the EIA where required for a planning submission though.

Interesting. What is the going-rate penalty for “accidentally” felling a TPO tree? Sounds like these need to be increased a bit, or other deterrents put in place if companies feel they can just ignore TPOs.