I suspect I might actually be better suited to exams and learning than I am to real work.

Id feel depressed about the amount of people her posting that they are exactly suited to their jobs, but I suspect many are just saying it to convince others and many to convince themselves.

How many people do you met who moan about other people being rubbish at work probably a good 70%.

It cant possibly work if the figure is above 50%.

If I was commuting into London I’d be tempted to buy a second hand singlespeed something and leave it locked at one of the stations on the platform (well, Waterloo does this at least). Having taken bikes onto trains in London before, not keen to repeat it in any way, shape or form.

I brought a folder while my mate did the above at paddington.

He got really really bad C**p bikes 2 still got nicked over a year or so. On the other hand still much cheaper than buying than buying a folder.

My eyes hurt when I drink coffee

mine too

We started with the basics of manuals and bunny-hops, then moved onto drops (starting off with about a foot and ending up with about 3 feet), then table-top jumps, then doubles and finally a play on a (sort of) pump track run which had a sequence of jumps and doubles.

Back in the day I used to practise a bit of trials. Also being young I was keen on trying a bit of jumping.

I had all the above nailed, cant say I’d be able to do anything other than the simplest doubles now.

Alot of it is mental in my opinion and unless Im on the “right” bike in the “right” mood Im a total XC jey boy.

I’d be keen to hear how long the the skills day effect lasts for with out a regular practise area.

Im sure Jedi is great and all but half the “Jedi” effect is just thats your mind and body will be set up to improve skills/jumping that day.

I reckon if people just set in their mind they were going to do a days skills (not a MTB ride) with their mates (with a mobile phone) they could get much the same effect.

I know I used to be better/more comfortable with jumps. Half the reason I’m less good now is the guys I go MTBing with are really into the fitness side of things.

Even if I just got a minor injury ie bad bruise or sprain 5 miles into a 30 mile off road ride it would put a real downer on the day and I probably would not get to ride to the next weekend.

Flame them on internet forums where they are known?

Dunno whats the etiquette on morethanfriends.com ?

Its funny the amount of repetition on this thread. Would seem like the things people think are less than normal are actually fairly normal.

Expect the not drinking tea/coffee that is weird.

I had some on my race wheels. So I only used for racing. I found they tended to be more sticky ie braking felt less smooth, maybe the gobble effect mentioned above.

But the main problem I found is they seems to warp not much just slightly. The front went first and then the back. I found this very annoying so went back to hope floating rotors.

cheers Northwind I had no recollection of rebelstar II until I saw that screenshot and it all came flooding back !
Great game !

Pink shirts.

to me they indicate your probably southern and probably somewhat above working class. Nothing to do with sexuality.

I have a Dahon.

The dahons tend to ride better than the Bromptons. At least mine rides considerably better than my mates Brompton. I’ve riden 32 miles on it from London to Berkshire a couple of times and not been uncomfortable.

They probably dont ride as well as Airminal. However they fold much easier and quicker than an Airminal.

Mine is heavier than my mates Brompton, they also dont fold as small as Brompton and are cumbersomeness to carry.

From your description I think a Brompton might be better for your wife as smaller + lighter generally.

(im working on the basis a negative response is as useful as a positive response)

I usually take a pedal spanner to their head in as hard and a direct manner as possible. I feel this usually demonstrates the advantages of protective head ware quite adequately.

Hi could you not set uP some sort of Petition ? would this not be better and easier than getting everyone to email individually.

Me and the wife are NT member so a Petition that records your NT membershiP number would work well.

Maybe my legs are a funny shape or something, but i find it harder work to actually push my bike up a hill that to cycle it?

its just what your use to. when i first got a bike i found it easier to push.

but know its probably less tiring if I just keep cycling.

Bleeding brakes isnt that difficult once you’ve got the hand of but it is quite tricky the first time.

Also even though I’ve done it a million times I still find it a real chore. I think because 1 you cant stop once you’ve started 2 there is the potential to make a real mess.

So I dont expect to enjoy at all.

annika rice comment made me laugh :)

yes

I’m 32 and am only now beginning to pull my life back together, stammering can destroy self-confidence and ruin or seriously restrict your enjoyment of life. You won’t do any harm by seeking help now, but could do a world of good.

Why could nt it do damage ? Obviously not in your case, but for some kids making a big deal out of a particular challenge might mean they develop nerves/a mental block around the issue. A more relaxed approach might give them time to master the task without it developing into a big deal.

Or on the other hand it may not, everyone is different, presumably the parents would be in the best position to judge.

It undoubtedly benefited from its association with the Beatles, as did the other bands associated to the mersey sound/beat

Surely it was the otherway round to a large extent. The Beatles gained from coming from such an important place as Liverpool and gave them some extra kudos in the beginning. They left Liverpool and became bigger and bigger but Liverpool even with the extra tourism/interest from the Beatles/mersey sound/beat has continued to slowly decline.

and put Liverpool on the global map

Not sure about that, wasnt Liverpool a massively important global city during the late 19th and early 20th century.

Werent the Beatles really just the last big thing to come out of it before it went into decline ?

I did find some other bits of trail, and I did notice that some of them actually appear to be in better condition that the main trail.

I think alot of it is marked on openstreet map, but I didnt have enough time to make a full reccy.

Read this thread a couple of weeks ago and have since been to Centre Parcs and spent some time riding thetford.

Before I went my sympathies naturally went with the trail builders but after going I can see were the OP is coming from.

There are several challenges for trail builders here of which I think the greatest, is not the lack of elevation, but the multitudinous ridge and furrow systems. It appears the forest has very recently been planted straight on agricultural land and the remains of ploughing in very severe, much more so than at swinley of any part of the surrey heath.

Generally flatish forest singletrack must be ridden at speed to be enjoyable but this proved very difficult at thetford due to the constant bumpyness of the terrain. In fact I’d say it was probably one of the most tiring trail centres I’ve done because you could nt really just sit down and spin.

I think there are at least another 2 issues.

1. The signs (probably down to the attitude of the local forestry commission ?). Seem quite a bit over the top especially for the bombholes some of which really just gentle dips in the ground.
Also calling a section “The Beast” this is actually somewhat laughable.

2. Being in a “nice” area with a low population density probably leads to a lack of funding.

Going to thetford did make me somewhat grateful for the £20 a year/£2 a go fee to use swinely forest though. This has allowed swinely/gorrick/BOB/others to build and maintain a good selection of trail which can stand up to a large number of riders.

In particularly I think the people at thetford could look at the latest addition to stickler (at Swinley) to see how to make a good trail in a totally flat area of forest.

But I can see the challenges are greater a thetford. In particularly I think the “links” are almost the hardest bit at thetford. What people want is a fairly flat piece of easily ridable singletrack to link up the good sections.

But at thetford unless you put this on “boring” fireroad, the ridge and furrow system means the “link” is actually more tiring than the “real” sections. Or alternatively large amounts of work needs to be put into trail to flatten it, which could be spent on the “real” sections.

Still thetford has some massive advantages

1. Its a huge bit of forest for the south/midlands of England.
2. Low population density suggests there is unlikely to be future conflict between user groups. Felt very quiet while I was there even Saturday morning.

I’m sure some very good trails will develop in time, but at the moment I think its somewhat behind similar trails at cannock/swinely. Personally think this is down to an overly cautious attitude from the FC and probably a lack of funding/manpower (low population density) rather than the lack of elevation. Which is what I think the OP was trying to suggest.

There is a big difference in pace between even a very slow regular STW type rider (e.g. me, who’s probably just about the slowest person on here) and even a fairly fit occasional cyclist.

My wife is a lot fitter than me and if we’re running or hillwalking has to slow down significantly to let me keep up. When we’re cycling (on or off road) though it’s a completely different story as I’m significantly faster everywhere, even uphill where her power to weight ratio must be hugely better than mine.

yeah same here

decided to do a gentle ride with my wife on Saturday. We were out from about 11 to 2.

We got to Henley and wanted to get to Wargrave or Sonning.

Imo the road between Henley/Wargrave is very cycle unfriendly so went down Thames path(footpath). Obviously busy in a couple of places so we just walked these bits (ie the henley lock).

But between Shiplake and Sonning there were actually more cyclists than walkers ! And these were nt MTBer this were mainly young couples there was 1 group of 6 ! (think they may have been students at Reading Uni).

Does seem like the current ROW regulation doesnt really meet the needs of the users to me !

not very helpful but’ i reckon you were going the right way.

There are a couple of stone jumps and you can only do them the way you were going.

Could it be the reduced oxygen and physical exhaustion causing people to behave irrationally?

Possibly, but could it be of people who feel the need to say they’ve climbed the highest mountain in the world there is also higher percentage of kn*bs than in the average populace ?

went for a walk with my mum and wife the other weekend.

This footpath (click here) didnt even exist. There was just a footpath sign pointing directly across a full field of wheat.

This bridleway (click here) was great to walk down ! But the trees and vegetation were so close in you’d never get a horse down it. A cyclist would only just fit in places.

Between Uni/Job I was trying to explore as much of my local area as possible (bike/walking). decided to go down this footpath (click here). I couldnt find the start I was told by the owner of the house (fairly friendly guys didnt try to stop me) that it didnt exist anymore ! Which to a certain extent was true.

There are many many many footpaths that could be available to cyclist which would never bother anyone !

“There is a general acceptance from most folk that bikes use them and most have no problem with it.”
I beg to differ . I would suggest that that is your perception of how people things. The principle of assumption is wrong.

In tourist/rambler areas/some areas of the south east there is conflict on Weekends/bankholiday and occasionally on a normal weekday.

90% of footpaths are just randomly scattered around the country and are barely ever walked on never mind riden on. In all of these cases there are very few conflict issues. Especially in the evenings.

I live near Reading and the only time I’ve ever had a problem is on the Thames path but even then most people dont seem to mind you cycling it if your careful.

When I am out locally no has ever said anything when I am on footpath although I don’t use them that often. There is a general acceptance from most folk that bikes use them and most have no problem with it.

For years as a teenager/student I didnt realise you werent meant to ride on them.

But I rode more locally in the day/evening then, rather than saturday midday when I imagine most of the issues happen.

I didnt really read the rest, but Im sure I’d love to be described as “The current mrs plum” is that how you introduce her to everyone ?

As its sounds like it might be in the back of your mind why dont you make her the current-ex-mrs-plum and that will sort your problem.

Until obviously the next one is upset about something, but you could repeat plan as many times as possible.

wow needs some berms though !

have to say the wilcos one have a tendency to rust if they get wet.

Saying that I used them between Uni and getting a job as they are much cheaper.

For summer Racing Ralphs or Rocket Rons.

is nt the main advantage of LED is the TV can be even flater and the power consumption is lower ?

I have a LED TV but I think it is edge lit. So the lightening is nt totally even through out. When you have a total black image some areas appear lighter than others.

I think there are more important things to look at.

I think some internet access is massively important. My TV is a bit poor on this front although iplayer is implemented well.

Im gald I have my xbox for 4od 5od etc etc

Never really thought about it before, but suppose I was fairly scared of dogs that were bigger than me as a child.

But I never remember really having anything to do with on the other hand.

There was never any reason to go near them I only had one mate with a dog.

To be honest I’m still quite scared of animals that are bigger than me. I use the same tatic as back then dont go near them.

you should of gone official and got the police involved.

But you didnt she gave you £500 so no you need to leave it.

Well, cycling out on Wokingham Road in Reading on Sunday some feckless driver beeped his horn and started gesticulating at the ‘cyclepath’ on the pavement. Now I could have argued with him that by being in the carrigeway I have right of way and therefore safer than being on the pavement where signs explicitly sate give way to pedestrians, side streets, lamposts etc. But I didn’t, I calmly knocked on his window at the George traffic lights, waited for him to get his words in first, then simply said “button it fatty” before observing his goldfish impression and waitign for the lights to change.

The thing with that cycle path is it could be good !
The road has 3 advantages

1. Both the road and the pavements are very wide
2. The street lights are actually set back almost in people gardens.
3. Side road entrance are generally large with good views.

to improve it they need to do a couple of things

1. Remove remaining street clutter ie telegraph poles and set them back like the street lights.
2. Paint on proper cycle lanes that extend across the side roads giving right of way to cyclist/pedestrians.

I’ve managed to race all the autumn and spring gorricks while playing footy once a week with an occasional 11 a side thrown in.

But I know what you mean. I was playing footy 2-3 times a week a couple of years ago but I decided if I was going to race MTBs then I could only really do 1 footy match in the week before.

Also I’ve basically never injured myself MTBing but Im constantly getting little niggles from footy and I’ve had a couple of big injuries and one very close scare when my knee locked I heard a snap and it bent to the side. Seems to have healed ok fingers crossed.

Private. Im not really complaining there was always the chance it would get taken. I imagine it is something to do with H&S.

I’d hardly describe it as shore though ! It was pretty wide.

Plenty of walkers use to use it too. Now they’ve just gone back to throwing loads of logs in the stream which just means the water spreads and the bank become mucky.

nice :) have you though of approaching any major brands with that design ?

Would of been pretty useful round my way recent.