Elf – everything is idiot-proof until they give you a sufficiently talented idiot…

Carbon, clicked through on that link.

The word “blimey!” springs to mind.

Phil W speaks sense. I don’t run “barefoot”, but do run with a fore- to mid-foot strike. This is not something I “trained in”, it’s the way my gait developed as I upped my running frequency. See a professional about your injurious and your gait, don’t try and force yourself into something that might* do more harm than good.

If you choose to go that way, as others have said, start slow and short and work on either speed or distance at any one time, not both.

*might, not will.

Yup, bailed out of a job a year ago, wasn’t happy with the work, didn’t get on with half of my work colleagues (including my boss and the other company directors) and was haemorrhaging money driving 350 miles a week at least to get to and from the office. Was performing poorly because of all the above and when the time came for a slapped wrist, I admitted how I felt to two of the directors and handed in my notice. They were remarkably nice about it, think they wanted shot of me as well, which is probably fair enough, so they waived the notice period and just paid me a month in hand to tide me over.

I was she-it scared, but took a couple of weeks to pull my head together, then a week of concentrated job-shopping, and only a month after I quit I was in a new (long-term temp) job which I’m still enjoying to this day. I work 20 mins ride from home, with people I get on with, and with the new AWR regs coming in in December, I’ll be a couple of grand better off than I was back then.

I’d be tempted to stick with conditional formatting as described above. Not sure you can apply formatting from one cell value across the whole worksheet, but it’s a simpler concept than the VBA solutions.

Yup, 5’10” and riding an 18″ Rocky Mountain after switching from a 17.5″ Top Fuel.

Terra Nova in a sale wins in my eyes

Jim from Alpkit made this point at the Shakeout event a few weeks back. The problem that they have with their tents is that they are priced very similarly to matching tents from people like Terra Nova etc, but no-one ever buys a TN tent at full price. There is always a retailer selling on stuff from the bigger companies at below-retail, and because a bigger manufacturer will be knocking out more units, they can afford to take that hit. AK don’t work like that, so these tents will invariably appear to be highly priced, when actually they’re fairly similar.

And for what it’s worth, there’s a fantastic attention to detail on them. The big basecamp tent especially, lots of little bits like storage pockets, loft spaces, eyelets for lighting etc that you’ve probably gone “i wish my tent had…” a thousand times. They look like really nice bits of kit to me.

Do it. Loud and proud or silent and violent?

With the current topic of conversation, Yeti, I’d say “probably”

CFH – “shout soup”: never heard that one, I like it!

I’m not a “big hitter”, nor do I converse directly with Sue or Emsz particularly often, but it’s a shame to see any section of the demographic chased away by the unthinking tittery of a minority.

For what it’s worth, I don’t think most of the sexism, or even the other forms of offense, are actually deliberate or targeted. You get the odd personal spat (see Binners and C337 above) but the majority of the grief seems to be purely failure to engage brain before typing.

Here’s a thought: Consider what you wish to express. Consider who will potentially be reading it. Consider if those audience members may take offence, bearing in mind that those audience members are not you . If you consider that they might, how about considering either rephrasing your statement to minimise that risk or just not saying it at all. The above thought process would NOT make things “boring” or “sanitised” – a rational, sensible, intelligent human being can express and consider opposing opinions without resorting to lowest-common-denominator tit-for-tat twonkery.

I saw a t-shirt I liked the other day. It read “BANTER: Because we needed a shorter way to say “acting like a t**t” “…

M_F – may I ask where?

Yup, as above. Go to a good running shop, get a decent gait analysis and some recommendations of shoes to buy. Safest way!

< Sits back and waits for the crowd of people advocating the B-word… >

they were focused at the professional creative market. Now they just seem to target the hipsters and the wanna-bes.

Sorry, explain to me the difference? ;)

Yeah, certainly is! Go to the RoseBikes facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/#!/RoseBikes), Hit ‘Like’ and then go to the link on the left of their page marked ‘Gutschein’ (Voucher in German)

It gets you to add a wee app to your FB page but then gives you a voucher code that’s good for a tenner off (ten POUNDS not ten EURO as I think it was previously). Worked fine for me, I think some people’d had issues but worked nae wuckas.

Edit: Aye – brakes will be Euro way round so I’ll have to swap them. But couldn’t turn that saving down, since it’s half what Merlin are charging for the same!)

Sorry – 2011 SLX, not ’12. Still happy with ’em :)

Resurrecting the thread, just got a set of 2012 SLX’s for total of £69!! Much Rose cheapness – voucher from FB and Brakes reduced to £35/38 each end. Woot!

Alternative would be to plot the three series (assuming you’ve got relatively similar values) as a clustered column graph.

Since you’re essentially comparing three six month periods (irrespective of whether that’s past, present or future), that would probably be my choice. You could then experiment with (thinking Excel ’07) changing one series to a line graph (select one series, right click, select “change series chart type”). I’d probably do that for your forecast line.

Plot one of your series on a secondary axis?

I use them on my singlespeed and like them. Loads of space and hand positions, very comfortable even on silly rigid forks, and nice to look at too. Plenty of space behind the looped section for levers, shifters and grips, then just bar tape the rest.

A mate swears by the Blade Tech for some high-spec kitchen knives of his, having tried it briefly I’m inclined to agree with him. Seem very effective and are tiny.

Good luck Col. Was supposed to be coming out to ARWC for press coverage but it hasn’t worked out with flights etc. If last years XPD vid is anything to go by, Craig and Louise might have some ‘interesting’ times laid on for you!

Hmmm. I’ve updated my firmware, but shoot 90% of the time in Matrix and have never had a problem with it. Dunno whether that’s me, the camera, our the subject and places I normally shoot though…

Yup, same boat, n_e_d. Rent plus house bills is about £375, car and essentials another £180 or so, and my take home is not much over a grand. But, like you say, as a single low-ish income individual, a mortgage is a bit of a pipedream…

@Rusty – never had any trouble with my D80 either. What was the metering issue?

Rent, house bills etc – about 35%
Add in phone contract, car stuff, etc and I’m up (down?) to about 55%
I don’t earn a massive wage though, and while bills are pretty low, my rent’s fairly high (though not excessively so for where I live and what I get for my money.)

If it’s Orange, you may have more difficulty, depending on the phone. I know certainly some of the older Nokia phones were done in specific Orange versions, which weren’t unlockable.

There’s a few good REM tracks, anything off New Adventures, to be honest.
James’ “Run Aground” is a good one as well, though I prefer the Redbird/Jeffrey Foucault version of Running to Stand Still.

It’s the old debate about whether an aircraft on a treadmill would be able to take off, IIRC. No idea whether that’s from a thread or not.

Polo? Save.yourself a bit and look for the equivalent engined Skoda Fabia.

Less facetiously, mine go on my singlespeed behind the cables. But then, I have Jones bars and funny cable routing, so it’s not as much of an issue.

What straps for attaching an antelope? ;)

Superficial – to a degree, yes. While I wouldn’t fancy riding blindfold to prove it, I could easily tel the difference in the suspension characteristics of the 3 full-suss bikes I’ve owned (Marin single pivot without platform damping, Trek EX with propedal/ABP, Trek Top Fuel without platform damping)

Even between the two non-Platform designs there was a noticable difference – the Marin bobbed like a bugger, the Top Fuel much less so. The EX refined that and the platform damping tuned the bob reduction even further. Brake jack I notice to a lesser extent – the EX definitely felt better braking through stuttery sections, but I couldn’t define exactly how or why. There’s a good chance it was the ABP, but I couldn’t have told you that for certain at the time.

Seanoc – expensive? I’ve always got them free when buying shoes. As long as it’s from somewhere decent/respectable (/respected…) then it’s all good.

Go to a running shop, get your gait analysed, and go with what they recommend. While you need less control etc off-road, the wrong shoe will still cause more problems than it solves.

For what it’s worth, Inov8 usually come up quite narrow. For each shoe in their range there’s often two numbered models – the higher number is usually their “comfort” (wider) last.

Think carefully about Gore-tex shoes. If you have warm feet, if you’re running in dewy grass, or if you tend to plunge through streams, they’re pointless. Membrane fabrics only work if ther outside is dry and the pores unobstructed. So as soon as your shoe gets muddy, they’re not breathable any more and if you have sweaty feet, they’ll be soaked in no time.

Standard advice on barefoot/minimalist shoes also applies. It may be the latest trend, but it doesn’t work for everyone and can be injurious if you try and force yourself into it. Hence, get a gait analysis and see what works for you.

Also, for what it’s worth, I run in Mizuno Wave Harrier 3s, and love them.

Marcus, Rab’d be fun in a squirt! Not got up to that sort of stuff yet, only had my Shred 6 months and there’s been no water for most of that!

I’ve done night runs of a few rivers, including some Grade 3+ stuff. I’m not sure I’d recommend it.
We once did a late run of the Crake (south Lakes) with pretty minimal lighting, and both I and a mate nearly ended up in severe poo when we ran into a fallen tree. Not funny in the slightest, lots of very nervous giggling and “that was a bit sketchy” comments afterwards. Do less of it now, despite having much more capable lights for it (AyUps work very, very well)

The best night run I’ve done was the Falls of Dochart at Killin. The main drop is floodlight under the bridge in town, so a bit easier to scout, but there’s a couple of smaller bits below it in pitch black that have caused me some upset a couple of times…

Going old-skool, Informer by Snow. Never did figure all the words out, but it does feature the line “pull down me pants, look up me bottom”. I think…

Odd. (“This year has been”, not “your post was”)

A year ago I was working in the Forestry industry, rapidly falling out with my bosses, hating everything I did at work, and was very run down because of it. One holiday and one resignation letter later, I was jobless at a crap time and scared sh*tless. One month later I had a new job which I’m still enjoying and being challenged by to this day.

‘s a funny old world, eh? :)