+Panasonic….. no nut dispenser though which doesn't bother us at all. Use it every day and as said earlier… the pizza dough is brilliant!

meccano
bike

Ben

Can you email me a hi res copy of that? It would be a nice pic to have as my wallpaper. Address in profile.

Thanks

Hmm I can see a new thread starting…."What Robin for mud/snow/hard pack" etc.

Water… I just keep changing it every couple of hours. Empty it every night, refill in the morning and repeat.

Sultanas, peanuts, mixed seeds, black sunflower seeds, fat balls plus blobs of lard (with seeds and stuff melted into it) – all in large quantities.

Squirrels give my garden a wide berth though if they were reds they'd be more than welcome, sadly just greys here.

We have blue tits, great tits, willow tits, coal tits, long tailed tits, dunnocks, sparrows, starlings, pheasants, woodies, collared doves, woodpeckers, chaffinches, greenfinches, robins, wrens (though not feeing), blackbirds, thrushes (song and mistle) and that's about it.

This turning a blind eye is nothing new… consider what happened post 1945. Lots of Nazis were recruited to work in weapons development, rocket science etc and only a relatively small number were punished. They trundled off to the US, to Russia and to GB because they were useful.

Justice is relative, it isn't an absolute. Whether you believe Israel is a morally corrupt state depends on where you are sitting. (Personally I have nothing for contempt for them and their policies but I am powerless to make any difference.)

As for Labour… when were New Labour anything to do with the traditional Labour Party? There were torn apart and rebranded by Tone and Co for their own personal ends… the old values disappeared without a trace.

I flicked through a few pages and it seems it was a troll – a damned good one if it was.

It all hinged on the loss of virginity/child on the way thing… the guy admitted he had slipped up cos he was too tired to double check his story before hitting the send button.

Visibility down to about 20 yards now. The horses outside have turned white. I presume their owners will remember to take them inside later.

A good inch has fallen since it started snowing about 10 minutes ago.

It is snowing hard in Bury St Edmunds now so Cambridge can't be that far behind.

Suffolk (not quite the SE) nothing. Just the half melted remnants of a few days ago. It isn't even that cold though it has been getting a little brisk when the sun goes down. Am stocking up on ammunition to keep the hordes of refugees orf moi laaaand!

Wanga… I had one and there were no problems with the stays. Where I dod have a problem though was with the geometry. It felt so steep I couldn't get on with it. I tried different travel forks, rigids and nothing worked. Having said that, I know other peeps with Wangas who love them. Mine was the largest size they make BTW, the other bikes I know of are uber small so that may have something to do with it.

Wi fi… yes.

ATM as I work from home I have computers coming out of my ears. There are 3 iMacs, A MacBook Pro, 2 x pc laptops and a pc here so internet browsing isn't that important I suppose. (Not all the machines are mine but internet browsing is pretty well covered).

A lot of the music is on Mini Disc (recorded from vinyl) right now. I have just started converting them using Audacity. I'll have to explore the quality issues.

Concussion… I have had concussion more times than I can remember though not recently. Years of battering my head on the rugby pitch ending up in hospital for 3 days with a cracked skull finished my rugby career before it had really got going.

To be honest with you, I can't really remember how I felt, it seemed to vary from dazed, battered, sick, headachy and generally crap. The worst time as a kid ( I cracked my head while farting about on a frozen pond in break time) I wandered around school for an afternoon with no concept of time, no idea where I was or who anyone was. It was pretty pants.

It just always sort of went away… it really was that vague. Every time was different and every recovery was different too.

In Thetford the FC spent a lot of money having pro trail designers put 2km of trails in. From what I understand, the designer wasn't actually on site very long, the contractors were given a brief and they went ahead and laid the trail. The results were interesting…. the surface is bedding in but for at least the first six months had the grip characteristics of marbles on glass (hence its' nickname the marble motorway). I can live with that but the rest of it leaves me with an empty feeling…. of an opportunity lost.

Design flaws abound… doubles and jumps on slow sections (slightly uphill) tight twisty sections for no reason (people have taken the fastest line which is off the trail), berms that don't work if you ride them slowly or fast. I haven't been able to nail any of the berms at full speed yet as you either get spat off the top or when you exit, the trail is going in completely the wrong direction. The choice of camber is strange in paces too. The whole thing rides terribly until you ride it backwards. If you go against the "proper" flow of traffic it suddenly comes alive (well only just) but the experience is much better except that it is then too tight in places.

Apparently the designer is a well renowned person with impeccable credentials but I bet you he never once rode a bike through the sections in question to find out which lines worked or not.

So… IME beware the "professionals"!

Voice of the Voiceless

I had some wax stuff on my road bike. After the first ride on damp roads the chain went orange with rust by the next day. Pretty underwhelmed really – and I had followed instructions to the letter… degreased chain, made sure it was totally dry before applying etc. Still looking for a decent wet lube.

I too have a carbon road bike (got it at the end of the summer). I noticed no difference in it at all (over my old ally frame). They both feel nice to ride and handle well. So…. i was a bit underwhelmed at first. It wasn't until after a ride with some mates that they commented on the acceleration that I realised something was different. Where I used to wind up to a sprint they all said that on the carbon bike, once I decided to go, it accelerated like a rocket, as opposed to a gradual increase in speed on the ally bike.

Impact resistance… yes that does worry me.

FWIW we have also been told not to expect any financial help from FC in future. We have to raise all the money for anything we want to build as well as financing all maintenance, as well as facing the risk that they could arbitrarily decide to take it down at any time. In Thetford the only thing the FC are going to spend money on is family trails.

.

It was inspected about 3 weeks ago because of the accidents. The surveyor went on to produce a report with specific reference to OGB37 and consequently the whole section was condemned as inappropriate. This is a section on the red route, the surveyor deemed the whole section to be black! 😯 He then went on to say that it should be scrapped because the build standard was outwith the new regs. So, it is toast, has to be gone by Easter and will not be replaced. We are arguing hard to see if it can be amended to be brought within the regs but at our last meeting when I asked for a definition of a red graded obstacle, a black graded obstacle or anything, they were unable to tell me. They were quite unequivocal in their stand that it will be destroyed. (As for the standard of construction, I can assure you, these obstacles aren't going to fall down or degrade any time soon. They are very well built and as solid as… a very solid thing!)

The only other obstacle with any technical difficulty is the platform as it has a narrow exit ramp. I have screwed this one up and face planted from half way off it but that was my own fault. We did get a complaint from one guy who took his 3 year old up it (on one of those crossbar seats) but apart from that, if people fall off they just get up and get on with it.

Trail inspections…. we have trained up trail inspectors who do most of the trail assessments, the rangers hardly ever get out at all.

It is hard to believe… we have a short section of log ride in Thetford, closer to the ground and only 3 trees long and it is going to be ripped out by the FC cos it is "too dangerous". It was built under FC supervision, they provided and placed the wood work, they even cut the riding surface but now they say it doesn't fit with OGB37 and because a few peeps have fallen off and hurt themselves it has to go. So much for a standard approach to trail building eh?

The attached is someone's vid of the bit in question clicky and you can see how tough it is! 🙄 Interestingly, for you gnarly northern softies, this section of trail is so radical (according to our FC team) that the whole lot is going to be trashed for public safety purposes!

BTW, note how the rider avoided all the obstacles (ref the rock section mentioned earlier in the post). While it is disappointing when people do this, the rider is exercising discretion, this concept seems not to exist in the FC, they believe that if obstacles are there, everyone will automatically ride them. 🙄

OGB37 was intended to impose a set of national trail building standards on all FC land across the UK. There is a certain irony that implementation is far from consistent!

The liability issue is understood.

You are right about communications though… ideally they should have a standard pack of documents which they can issue to trail groups detailing every piece of paper to be completed, standards met etc before you can build so you can embark on a project, get all your ducks in a row and get going. As it is, we have to draw all these documents up from scratch, have them submitted for approval, amended, submitted again etc etc and in the end it sort of wears you out. The road to 2010 is littered with the bodies of once enthusiastic Timber volunteers who have had enough, called it a day and moved on. I wonder if this is the same with other trail groups?

The amount of paperwork we have to go through is quite phenomenal. Risk assessments yes, Risk assessments and method statements for every tool we could possibly use. Trail inspections the day before any build day. Ops 1 if we want to do anything apart from breathe gently on a trail, we have to apply for permission to re route the red trail, inform Uncle Tom Cobbly and all if we want to even think about doing anything, post warning signs and advance notice warnings everywhere in short, to do everything a professional contractor would need to and more. We have monthly meetings at Cycle Trail Development Meetings, we have a Cycle Ranger (who doesn't ride!) and a well established communications network so talking isn't the problem.

Maybe we should stop this thread right now in case your FC bods get to hear of it! 🙂

It has been snowing in Suffolk but it has turned to sleety rain now.

Peanuts are like fast food to lesser spotted woodpeckers… we have loads in our garden almost queuing up to have a go!

It gets much busier in the winter but ours feed pretty much all year round.

Leave the feeders out long enough and someone will find them . Once they have worked out that your garden is a reliable source of food they (birds) will visit all the time.

Having given the matter further consideration the judge's comments about vigilantes is pretty spot on. I am sure pretty much 100% of us on here are decent folk but if vigilantes were given the green light, who would draw the line between living (on the whole) safely in our homes or living in perpetual fear that some thug, backed up by partial "witnesses" might not concoct some cock and bull story to justify attacks on anyone? Sort of sounds like anarchy to me.

I believe the outrage people feel and the ambivalence felt about the sentencing comes down to a perceived failure of the Law to deliver justice, whatever that may be. So, first of all work out what justice is, decide how it would further society then design an appropriate punishment. If the judge felt the chap should go to prison even in part, because not imposing a custodial sentence would/could give a green light to less desirable people to take the force of Law into their own hands then the sentence is right.

The defendant may not have had time to sit back or rationalise about his actions, for obvious reasons, but we, as truly disinterested parties, can. The fact that we can consider the action, the cause and the implications of our decisions, mean that we can live in a relatively civilised society.

Meanwhile, I have been held at knife point. I was not robbed, I was not stabbed but in a fit of misjudged bravado I took the knife off the bloke. When he had gone I was more relieved than anything else. I felt sick, weak at the knees and just glad it was over. All I wanted to do was sit down. I certainly wasn't going to go running after him. Adrenaline I guess but it didn't make me half kill the bloke.

TBH bashing him on the head is excessive, there are plenty of other parts of the body to aim at that would cause mucho pain/injury, ensure he wouldn't do it again and not get you sent away for breaking his skull. He must have twatted him pretty hard to break the bat in three.

There is a line to be drawn over which you can't step but if you have totally lost it how rational can you be?

We have plenty of tits and woodpeckers feeding off our peanut feeders. I have moved them well away from the seed feeders to a quieter spot leaving the sparrows, chaffinches etc to duke it out on their own. Having said that, the tits make occasional forays into the melee but never vice versa.

I work for myself so I guess I'll go out for a ride on my bike! 🙂

The thing is, if the "victim" was dealt with by the "justice system" he'd probably be out on the streets doing the same in no time, confident that he'd be unlikely to do time. The defendant went a bit too far but quite honestly, if you tie people's families up etc you deserve everything that is coming your way.

No mag here either

My son saved up for ages and eventually got himself a MacBook Pro and if money were no option that is what I would buy. If they did them for £400 I'd buy shed loads of them! Seriously though, there is no comparison between the MBP and the normal run of the mill laptop but they cost about 3 x as much so I 'd expect something special for that kind of money.

I have just ordered a Dell Inspiron 17 inch jobbie with Bloatware 7 for £399. It seems pretty well specced. I have never had a Dell before and am only replacing by ancient Acer Travelmate 290 cos it is struggling to run the software I want to use on it. The new machine will probably not leave the house.

I'd have got a Macbook but they were a trifle outside my budget on this occasion, and I don't like the white plastic so it would have had to be a MacBook Pro and then I'd have started to get silly about the spec and before you know it I'd have sold the house to pay for it.

I bought a Team Carbon road bike last summer and was amazed at what I got for the money, the bike rides brilliantly, it is almost "invisible" but accelerates like a rocket. Awesome.

Just get one… I did.

Common? The first one I saw in the flesh was the one I bought.

115m Rebas

Cosmic Debris…..Frank Zappa

Changed now…. Black Ark in Dub

great thing this random function.

ah yes… the famous STW sympathy bypass! 🙂

Sponging machine – you can get them on German websites though.

I was thinking of a race type machine so no massive travel beasts.

Wow the head angle on that Turner looks steep!!!!!

the Foes looks cool.

njee20 I'd agree that the smaller 29er frames look a bit silly but once you get to bikes for taller folk they just begin to look more balanced and less gate like.

29er Anthem… now there's a thought!

the Niners look very nice but are a tad expensive, though not as bad as the SC!