Your a bad person when you breath in air that could be used by some other living thing never mind going MTB

Personally I think Buzzlight years answer above is the only sensible one really and I agree with fergal.

I think alot of the differences in opinion come from differences in opinion of what the problem is. Also there are differences in the terrain we all ride. I think we need to state what we think is the problem before we all give our answers.

Where : I ride in South/Midlands in forested areas where I know the vegetation can grow back fairly quickly.

What I think is the problem :
1. The fact that MTBing allows people to cover a much larger area than they just can walking so they have a greater effect on biodiversity and “wild” life.
2. The possibility that building trails cuts across wildlife channels, limiting the movement of certain species.
3. Destruction of brambles (I have definitely been guilty of this) which small animals love.
4. Destruction of animal habit by building in “bomb hole type areas”
Often Rabbits/Badger etc love to build sets in these bomb hole type areas but they are also great for MTBing.

What I dont think problem for nature/overall :
1. The trail looking a mess/becoming a bog
2. The trails getting sanitised
3. Trails widening
(I dont think these “eyesores really effect the wildlife”)

What I do think is a problem for the people who put time into building trails and then have to spend time fixing these issue :
1. The trail looking a mess/becoming a bog
2. Trails widening

As you can see the last two sections are contradictory. Frankly If I were to skid all the way round swinley destroying and widening the trails I dont think it would be much of a problem for the countryside. (But I appreciate it would be for the people who put the time into building/maintaining the trails)

Where as when I’ve gone riding on my own late in the evening or esp. night riding and I’ve encountered badgers/deers etc.. and scared and startled them (although I appreciate the wildlife/nature) I’m probably doing more damage than riding recklessly during the day. The badger or whatever will now not want to cross that path and it will reduce the genetic diversity of the species or whatever.

If someone said every MTBer in the southeast could only ride in swinley forest, we’d totally destroy swinley but it would actually be better for wildlife/the countryside overall as all the other areas would be quite.

Obviously Im not saying we do that. Im saying the real problem is what the overall number of MTBers is having on the countryside as a whole. Not whether BKB is now boring to ride because some people ride in a straight line or whether one of the tracks at swinely is now as wide as a road.

To be honest going MTB in the countryside is selfish as is building roads houses killing an animal for food etc

Maybe a percentage of the population should be sold into slavery and banned from MTBing. Another section could be sent to Australia and futher remnant to canada.

The test for selection should be based on your mtbiking ability with a special emphasise placed on your ability to ride the trail with out causing erosion.

Those who insisted on doing though stupid skids should be immediately executed and thoose who cause the least damage while still managing to be “Rad” should be raised to the level of gods and worshiped as such.

Would this help fix the problems ?

Buy a Chainsaw ?

Just out of curiosity (I’m honeslty not trolling here), for those who rarely drink, is it because you just don’t appreciate booze, or for health reasons?

I deffinetly dont “rarely” drink but I’ve never loved it in the same way some people do.

When I was younger most alcoholic drink (inc. beer) tasted of alcohol (unless it was like alcohol pop type thing with loads of sugar).

Alot of people say alcohol doesnt taste but to me it does or a least I theres something it does to my mouth I dont always like.

Now Im a bit older and some of my tastbuds have died when I have a beer I cant taste the alcohol and I can enjoy the different tastes of beer.

But with anything much stronger I can still taste the alcohol for instance I just dont get the point of shots, whiskey, rum or whatever. They all pretty much taste the same and something that strong is just revolting I might as well be drinking mouthwash.

Also I symphasize with molgrips. In my students day when I was drinking regularly I could stay drunk for a worth while amount of time to enjoy it, but recently I’ve been under the weather and had gum infection etc and sometimes when I drink I wont get long being pleasantly drunk before starting to feel a bit headachy and hungover.

Hopefully when I’m final rid of the infection I’ll get a little longer than that again

I dont get where your meant to land surely your’ll fall in the hole

I kinda agreed with you when you mentioned the tree routes but surely most roots will be deeper underground than just by the surface.

I does keep to be cleaned up though looks a mess.

Going back with a spade might be a good idea to clean it up but there are plenty of people who will be keen to knock it down doesnt really need MTBers helping them.

poor patellar tracking

I think the reasons are pretty obvious and that really you know what they are.

But maybe all jobs should be described is this way. There are some people who really want to be defined by there jobs but I bet there’s alot more who would nt.

Personally I quite like my job but I dont feel it defines me so I would probably prefer “worked as”

I think its dual pull the old one is SRAM x7 top pull.

On the Sram the mechanism for the pulling is above the band. On the shimano below.

But there seems to be a hole in the swing arm almost as if your mean to put an allen key through it

stop watching TV / watch TV on internet (www.tvcatchup.com)

your feet presumably are about 7% of your legs

What about questions about being outdoors, enjoying solitude, enjoying spending time with mates etc etc

I would imagine running would generally shorten your hamstrings as you rarely extend you legs properly when running.

However if your hamstrings are mega-mega-mega short from cycling it may lengthen them somewhat.

The kids would live with him if they had the choice

Im sure the Mum would say the opposite and kids probably something different again. (ie want to live with both)

£100 for a brand new full suspension frame ?

I think your questions a bit pointless as the frame will be gone when you get back

The problem is simple some countries are more sh*t than others. Until we sort out this imbalance people will want to leave their country and come to better countries and the people already there will resent them for it.

Hels I’ve been thinking something along that line recently. Currently we allow well qualified workers from outside the EU to come to our country. In the long term we’d be better having the quota the other way round. Well qualified workers have to stay in their countries and sort them out. Developed countries should take in as many of the less well of that they can afford to make it easier for them countries to grow and hopefully slow down their birth rate.

Once all countries are as good as each other we can totally open the borders as no one will care where every one is from.

It has to be noted the most rasict period of time was probably around 1900 this coincided with the greatest disparity between developed/undeveloped countries.

I came to (real for want of a better word) football late, so maybe this has affected me.

But when Im having a really good game I feel as if my brain is working as hard as my body.

You’ve really got to be in the zone to pick out the right pass make the right decision etc

Generally I think its fairly obvious when to let people past. But there is one incident that sticks in my mind.

I was doing a gorrick race near the end of my final lap. There was guy behind me in the same race, there was definitely space to over take if he went wide round me.

But he called and tried to come inside of me. I did nt exactly mean to block him off but I didnt want to take the wide line as we were minutes from the end of the race so I end up blocking him.

He then swore at me but he did have the pace to then over take me on the next bit but this seems to tire him out and I kept up with him to the finish line.

Personally I reckon as we were in the same category so close to the finish blocking here is fine, it is a race after all.

If he’s fitter than me he should prove it by taking the outside track.

I dont normally mind it when I’m mtb on out in the countryside but the bike paths in hyde park are full of it. I mean there meant to be cycle paths. I cant see why in hyde park the riding schools can put some sort of nappy/basket out of the back of the horse.

Also one damp morning there was a very small patch of it by the lights on the northern entrance to hyde park and I managed to skid on it and fall off(on my little fold up bike).

The bikes at swinley are fine if your just pottering round swinley.

Most now have now been upgraded to hydralic disc brakes and some have fairly beefy continental tires which are often better than skinny XC for a newbie as they are more forgiving.

Also £13 for 2 hours seems reasonable to me, which includes the £2 pass and helmet.

http://www.wellingtontrek.co.uk/

There also 9 speed and well maintained the weak point is the suspension which is rubbish though.

Looks like a badly positioned sandwich board did not help the situation.

If you ride that way every day I’d show the people who own the sandwhich board the video and ask them to move it.

have you tried the swinley facebook group ? They normally have a ride each weekend.

Personally I reckon the monkey trail is much better than most of the stuff in Swinley etc

The great thing is you dont need to know your way either so if your on your own just keep cycling with out having to check maps etc.

Could be busy saturday morning mind get there early.

O your taking a singlespeed. Theres a couple of steep bits on the monkey trail I could nt ride on a singlespeed. But there are plenty of people who can so if your a good rider you should be able to ride it still.

The new hollowtech II system is obviously better for the axle/crank interface. But obviously worse due to the fact the bearings are mounted externally.

No one is saying the old UN** bottom brackets axles used to bend but do a bit of jumping and the left crank arm would round off very very quickly.

Personally I prefer the new system, but the hollowtech I system was probably perfect for me. It could stand up to the amount of jumping I did and the internal bearins lasted well.

But if you do less jumping the square taper would be a better system and if you did more jumping the HTII better.

Really what they needed to do was accept Bottom Bracket shells were just too small in like 2000 when HTI was appearing and try to move over to a new system, but obviously 1 people dont like changes that make their frame obsolete and 2 companies can make more money from increment changes.

Around 2000 or earlier they should just of gone right we need a larger BB a larger Head Tube for bigger headsets and we’re going to make Bar/Stems interfaces larger as well as having 15mm axles front and back on the wheels. And just done it all in one go.

Can really see how riding AM type stuff’ rather than ‘out & out XC’ would effect the chain.

In fact proper XC riders probably have the biggest thighs and can probably put the most force through a chain so I would have thought XC riding was more punishing for the chain ?

I one again general XC with some XC races seems fine to me.

jam something under you headset crown ?

Swap your forks for something longer ?

Use a massive tyre on the front and a small tyre on the back ?

Use a 29er wheel on the front

– Softly spoken
– Pleasant permanent half-smile
– Explains that everything is wonderful and amazing

Totally agree I bet he would be even worse in real life. Im always suspicious of people with out obviously personality defects I just assume they most have one mega-large defect hidden away.

Kerbs, you know by the road side.

When I’ve been on holiday it always occurs to me that very few countries do kerbs as well as the UK.

A road always looks half finished without a decent kerb

Why? Is it because of a lack of speed or aerobic fitness? Does the body take longer to heal? Why would I need to retire by now if I were, say, a footballer etc?

Football is a sport that requires both strength and speed I think its difficult to maintain both these attributes at the same time as you get older its one or the other.

Also football is highly competitive you have to be at a really high standard and obviously maintaining that performance is even harder.

then there are injuries etc

Im 32 and probably as fit as I’ve ever been but that might mean I’ve never been that fit and probably could have been fitter in the past.

As a few people are sticking up for Hull I thought I’d stick up for Reading too.

As mentioned several places not very far from Reading are much worse.

Reading Town Centre does have some nice Victorian architecture ie town hall, a couple of old church and personally I like the new shopping centre. You cant argue its not busy or that its run down anyhow.

Also with the university having 22,000 students its a pretty vibrant busy place although can obviously can slow down in summer. Although theres the festival in summer.

Also theres some really nice spots nearby for cycling and theres not much that a walk along the Thames on a summer evening and if you head west along it in the summer you actually feel like your out in the country pretty quickly.

Some areas are pretty nice to live in ie caversham and parts the uni.

The main problems with it are the area round the station is ugly which is what most people see when they first arrive. Also the traffic on the “ring road” is terrible and the ring road is just concrete.

Also theres plenty to do there ie Cinema, goto the Footy, loads of bars and clubs and evening a couple of nice pubs.

Try to get hold of a satnav, then put in restrictions for motorways and dual carriageways and see what comes up.

If you don’t have one pop into Halfords and use theirs.

Or just use google maps from the safety or your chair to achieve exactly the same effect ?

Ah heres a view of it under the M4 flyover
Cyclepath

hmm seems to be lots of work going on, on the path wasnt there last summer.

Saying that I cant find alot of it on Google Street view I dont remember it being a problem cycling that way though.

Actually thinking about it there might be a little bit missing over the M25

Theres a cycle path all along the A4 to chiswick.

I normally get the train to work in south ken but the trains werent running one day so I cycled out on my fold-up got as far as Windsor when it went dark and made my missus’s pick me up.

It was fine on a 20″ folding bike obviously I could nt go too fast but it was almost empty about 6:30 – 7:00 on a week day evening.

If you use the OS map on Bing maps you can see where it starts. From Dachet there a line of green dots running along side A4/M4 thats a cycle path. leads to start of A4 cycle path.

Also what is the definition of “local”, the gorrick race on Sunday went through an area of heath warren wood that was very very stoney.

Reminded me of the material they have used to lay the original (follow the dog) track at cannock. Is a bit slippy in the wet but seems to protect the ground well.

There was a quarry there but I think its closed but havent they opened a new one in yately heath ? Surely this is local.

To be honest some of ground at swinely looks like your standard builders gravel.

Surrounded By Zulus thats a horrible thing to say, presumably the OP has the skills needed to be a Senior Manager but you do not have the skills to be a astronaut.

Im a Computational Chemist. If I did not have a job that would not stop me knowing about Chemistry I’d still have the skills and expertise. So I would still be a Chemist.

I also have skills for many other thing including MTBing/Football which makes me an amateur MTBer/Footballer (obviously I dont have the skills to be professional).

Surely its your skill base which determines what you are not your current job. No wonder some people feel so depressed about unemployment, if their whole personality is linked to their current employment status.

I could see your point if perhaps you were talking about a job with no skills that the OP did not want.

The great advatage of car ownership is the minimal forward planning it requires (if you discount having to tax, insure, service and MOT it). So, when that goes journeys seem really hard work.

The reality is that they aren’t – you do just need to plan more.

Totally agree when I didnt have a car I never missed it and it wasnt like I couldnt get places.

Once you’ve got a car though and paid the MOT/Tax/Insurance it doesnt seem to make sense to use other methods of transport.

As for trains like people say sometimes its generally cheaper to book in advance for longer journeys. But does nt matter for shorter journeys. Just spending some time on the National rail website typing in different destinations will give you a good idea of what is and isnt possible on the train.

must come from the forest itself

I’ve seen lumps of sandstone around the forest. There some bits near the back of the reservoir. Theres no way of sourcing local sandstone is there ? Mind I suppose that wouldnt last but longer either tends to crumble to ermm sand.

If your sending it to work your making it their business too. So you cant complain too much if they open it. Its not there job to handle your personal mail so their doing that free for you.

However its funny how much views differ on this.

Some people seem to think opening someone else mail is akin to murder and should be punished as so.

Where as, its never occurred to me it was particularly important. Most mail is just junk anyhow.

When I’ve lived in shared houses you obviously get sent mail for previous tenants. Some of the current tenants have thought opening their mail was a seriously breach of privacy. Where as I thought if there still getting mail sent to their old house it cant be too important, is probably junk and its the previous tenants fault for not getting their address changed.

Therefore I always open it to check its not something important before generally chucking/recycling it. Once it was a letter from some baliffs for the old tenant, which to be fair to the baliffs was quickly sorted, but if we hadnt opened it we’d have never known.