Pass 40? I’ve got 6 months yet!

I think Rocketdog wins as trails don’t get much cheekier than being indoors.

Sorry, meant for chat forum. Not sure if I can move it…

Saw John Grant on Jools Holland last weekend and decided to check out his album on Spotify – wow!

Dry and dusty this evening. I’d nearly forgotten what it looks like!

also depends what you mean by hardest…

and

to answer the question you need to pick your pigeon hole first

I deliberately left it vague as I’m interested in various factors: most physical, hardest uphill, hardest downhill, most technical, etc.

Not that I’ll likely attempt many of them! Just curious.

Stone Roses – Stone Roses
Belle & Sebastian – The Boy With The Arab Strap
Andrew Bird – Noble Beast
Pink Floyd – Dark Side Of the Moon
Tindersticks – Tindersticks 2
Sufjan Stevens – Illinois
Paul Simon – Graceland
Manic Street Preachers – Everything Must Go
Radiohead – Kid A
Chas & Dave – Job Lot

Somewhere convenient for Southend and Chelmsford would be about…Basildon. Although the centre is not great there are some nice suburbs like Langdon Hills which has some MTB trails to boot. I don’t know the trails, but a search on Google will tell you they exist and have been used for XC events so should be OK.

He needs a bike like Bradley Wiggins which parks itself when you throw it away:

Any particular reason you don’t want to drive?

I recently had the same problem and my LBS advised swapping from a QR to a bolt on. They said that the QR clamps go out of shape so that even though it feels like you’re doing it up very tightly it’s still not gripping properly.

I went with this and have had no problem since.

Going to Bluestone? I’ve been there a few times with the family but we’ve never got round to going far on the bikes. As others have mentioned Canaston Woods are on your doorstep but I’ve no idea if they are any good.

What a useful thread for deciding what to try out on Spotify! Just listened to the first few tracks off the Kurt Vile album – top stuff.

I seem to have stumbled upon InnuendoTrackWorld.

Andrew Bird
Tindersticks
Belle and Sebastian
Radiohead
Sufjan Stevens

As I’m hopeful I’ve cracked this problem now I thought it right that I share the measures I have taken so they may be of use to someone else in future. As I’ve taken several measures at the same time there’s no way to know definitively what’s been most useful but the order here is based on my gut feeling:

1. Position myself better on the bike. At the Bike Fit the fitter observed that my knuckles were white when riding. When I thought about this some more I realised I did hunch my shoulders and put a lot of weight through my hands. I have since concentrated on keeping my shoulders loose and distributing my weight better.

2. Perform neck stretches. I bought the book Treat Your Own Neck and used this as a basis for introducing some neck stretches. In particular I try to do these before I ride and then whilst I am stopped during a ride.

3. Use a shorter, angled stem. I replaced my stock stem with a 60mm Richey stem with a 35deg angle. I’ve found the altered position fine but my feeling is that this has been less useful than the other actions.

I’m saving my money for the arrival of the Specialized Brain wheel system. This will automatically detect the rider’s height and the terrain on which they are riding and adjust the wheel size accordingly.

I was in The Flumps.

The Times? You are aware that nobody who writes for the Times has ever been north of Watford, right?

I’ve rarely been north of Watford myself. I do wonder if I’m missing out sometimes, and not just because The Times says there are cool places oop north 😉

If anyone’s interested in why it’s so cool:

“Hebden Bridge has been voted one of the quirkiest places in the world thanks to its artists, musicians and New Agers. It is also reputed to be one of the most gay-friendly towns in the country. The music scene is great — the Trades Club is an institution.”

I’ve just bought 3 pairs of these shorts. I normally buy either a 30″ or a 32″ waist and 30″ is ample in these. I don’t think I’ve ever worn such comfortable shorts!

They were on sale at £26.25 at Debenhams down from £35.

CountZero-

I’ve yet to find any meaningful explanation as to what Motorcycle Emptiness actually means!

I’ve always assumed they ran out of petrol.

At least you redeemed yourself by acknowledging my favourite artist, Andrew Bird 😉

CountZero-

Even worse, its Motorcycle Bloody Emptiness! What is that on about?

Oi – you dissed my favourite song ever!

When your wife suggests you try on a pair of Craghoppers shorts with an elasticated waist, you do so to humour her then think “wow, comfy” and buy three pairs. I think I crossed a line this weekend.

Good shout by the OP on the Bowie track – very moving.

I’d add:

Elbow – One Day Like This
Tindersticks – Tiny Tears

You could always start a thread about Religion or Helmets.
Or the Pope wearing a Helmet maybe ?

Last night my wife told me that due to the Pope resigning, in her words, “he has to have his ring smashed to pieces”.

Seems like harsh treatment just cos he wants to leave his job.

Everyone welcome @ the long running http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/tune-association-threadits-friday-and-im-bored thread no matter what your taste

Oops, did I miss an obvious thread? I’ll be sure to get on over… 🙂

The music industry is full of too many poshos all pretending to be something they aint, singing about a life they’ve never lived or experienced.

I’m not sure that’s entirely fair here. I don’t recall them singing about being paupers.

They do sing about coming out of a cave walking on your hands but I’ve always considered that quite a classless act.

Not amusing names in their own right, but the fact they appear together…

My last house was a new build where all the houses on the opposite side of the road were “affordable housing”.

Surprising though it may seem, the people in the houses opposite turned out to be completely normal.

One Direction.

Liked their early hardcore stuff but for me they’ve sold out.

If I remember my school maths correctly, then sin 10 = rise / 110mm. Hence rise = 110mm * sin 10 = 19.1mm.

So compared to a stem with no angle you would gain a rise of a little under 2cm which seems to agree with the graph singlespeestu has posted.

For beer La Mort Subite and La Lunette.

If you like a drop of the harder stuff there’s an absinthe bar called Floris Bar. I seem to remember another bar attached which served many different varieties of rum (though my memory is somewhat hazy!).

How did you find the staff at Interstate?

A bit sullen, but they know their jeans!

Reminds me of my Dad – a keen footballer – telling me the rules of post match etiquette when they still had the big old communal baths instead of showers.

1. You do not drop your soap.

1. In the unfortunate event of you dropping your soap, you DO NOT go looking for it….

I wish someone had informed the guy in my gym who knocked on the door of my shower cubicle asking to retrieve his soap.

I was convinced that a ghost moved my phone around my desk. Turns out I had it on vibrate.

Having recently gone through the same shopping purgatory and struggled even with those jeans which others have said are more generous in the thigh (Fat Face, Gap, G Star – all failed for me) I came across a shop which proved to be a Godsend. So for those within shopping distance of the capital I recommend you get to Interstate in Covent Garden.

I found several possibilities there including Edwins and Carharrt but plumped for a pair of Dunderdons. They are a Swedish brand which I’d never heard of before, but their P4 cut works a treat for me.

Cryptic crosswords. Rock and roll!

So which adjectives are acceptable to the fundamentalists when describing the feel of a bike?

I believe that in the modern vernacular one refers to the positive feel of a bike as being “well sick”.