Few years back, sat at work next to someone explaining to her how to do some stuff on t'puter. We all have standard issue work phones. Mine beeps. I pick it up off the desk – ooh text from a number I don't recognise. It says: "It's Friday morning. 11AM. It's at this time of the day I like to think about how I'd like to be F@*%$ing your brains out. See you later hun, can't wait xxx".

Hmmmm….. Cool. It must be a wrong number, so I show it to my mate, who calls over a load more mates. It's a big open plan office, The phone is passed around about 70 people, all laughing their heads off. Then my phone rings, and ermmmm, it's in my pocket. Ooops. Oh deary me. The lady I'm sat next to calmly picks up her phone and carries on like nothing's happened.

Respect.

Exmoor. Defo.

The riding around Porlock, Minehead and inland from there on Exmoor around Dunkery Beacon and pretty much all around there is bloody fantastic. There are more bridleways in that area than you can shake a big stick at. It's v cute too with thatched cottages. And bridleways. Minehead itself is not too hot, but you can drive to decent beaches such as Woolacombe, Croyde Bay etc. v easily.

You could be out on the trails v early & get a 2-3 hour ride in before people wake up, sorted.

Beers rubbish though, but it's down south so that's inevitable. Just hold your nose or try cider.

Yes. Because it rains fish, we need to get water piped in from the lake district. Which is a carp situation

In Manchester we always have carp weather, just ignore it and wear a coat!

His mummy and daddy will be really proud

Whilst there's obviously some nice benefits here, I think it's worth pointing out there's a huge difference between an iPhone and my geko in terms of suitability for mountain biking. The geko fits to a handlebar mount, and is a weather proof and very robust piece of kit built for the job. It's got scratches on the casing, I can use it wearing gloves, I've dropped it in a stream, it gets splatteredwith mud and grit etc.

I'd be v nervous about taking an iPhone riding. Wasn't built for his sort of abuse and a very expensive toy to break!

Lowey, I think your tent size is the cut off for charging double? We don't get that with the 600

We've one. Good buy at that price I think

I took my daughter night riding to the pub from the campsite in eskdale. When they get out there, they're pleasantly surprised how well the lights work etc. "it's just like day dad". A view down to the lights of manchester is a difficult one though. Kind of implies a climb however you play it? Maybe we should do a bring your kids night ride sometime round here?

Show her the Beast of Bacup

I was riding round hebden bridge and heptonstall yesterday, conditions were very good to ride. Roads are clearer than s manchester believe it or not

I've got barrett's oesophagus as a result of ignoring those symptoms for ages. The advice to see the doc is spot on, acid inhibitors like lanzoprazole are the answer defo. They are not the same as gaviscon. You can also look at dietary side of things, but see the doc, this is v common

boblo – that's where I got my last cable from, good find eh?

When you load a route onto my geko as a track and then select the option to follow it, it appears on the screen as a thick line to follow, just the same as a route. You leave the breadcrumb line with where you've actually been still. It's actually no different to following a route on the screen when you're using it.

I could run it from the compass screen, in which case you can follow the arrow, but I use that less. On that screen it still comes up with "turn ahead" and stuff like that. The only time it is different is if I added some commentary on a route at a particular waypoint. Very rare I do this – for eg if completely off piste looking at a crashed bomber site or something like that.

To be honest, I usually memorise the route on memory map first – kind of happens anyway as I'm plotting it. Then when I'm out riding I glance at the screen occasionally for reference, but it's not as if I'm glued to the screen if that makes sense? I still use maps too.

edit – oh yes, +1 for the service from garmin, I've found them to be superb

Dave, don't worry about waypoint capacity. I use a geko 201, the one you're looking it is a bit better but same sort of thing. You plot out the route on memory map using waypoints as a track, but then convert it into a track (right click on the route whilst in memory map – it's one of the options). Then it has zilch waypoints and device memory is not a problem.

Thing I like about the cheap ones is they're robust, you can drop them in streams etc, and if you hypothetically (hem hem) were to leave one on your car roof and lose it, it's not as bad as buying a zingy one with maps etc and losing that. Frying pan – face interface alert.

Amazon etc sell them too, and they tell you what cable to look for depending on your device. I found some guy on tinternet that builds the cables in his garden shed at a v reasonable price. I'll see if I can find his details.

Blimmin eck – is one of them wearing sandals????

Here's the non Mancunian elitist version of the sport. Note added health and safety features such as use of rope, gloves and a snowboard:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/30820703@N08/4257004081/in/pool-onephotoeveryday

Action man obsessed, also airfix kits, toy soldiers (used to spend hours painting them) and generally anything to do with war was good. My Chopper bike was also the business.

Just an idea, is this something the singletrack mag could get behind too?

Bormio in Italy is also worth thinking about. It's like a kid's drawing of a mountain – a big pointy one. Great food on and off the mountain, and the town itself is stunningly beautiful with plenty for non-skiers to do.

I think the ideal for young families is ski to the door accommodation, and ideally with the classes starting outside the door too. Saves a lot of faffing about.

Worth thinking about somewhere like Soldeu in Andorra. Heavily geared towards learners, v English speaking friendly in the classes (A lot of the instructors are British, Australian etc), and it's relatively cheap due to being duty free. Kit hire, lessons, lift passes etc are also all relatively cheap.

In some of the bigger resorts you'll be paying for access to a relatively large area which you'll not see much of until you can ski better.

ando227 – why have a dog and bark? 🙂

That's the bit that needs colouring in red?

that colour's ace

Did you find any answers to this 5thElephant?

Hi Dave, mine is 18. I'd say you should defo go for a 16. I run the old pikes, you could try it with them wound in if you want to try before you buy?

Aren't all battery run times reduced in the cold?

That is brilliant!

sticking with the cold theme

cookeaa+10000 !!!

Oldgit, the stock answer to your question is if we had alpine winters every year, everyone would invest in the infrastructure accordingly, and it would cost kerzillions. Because it doesn't happen very often, we don't invest to cope, so every few years we get an impromptu day to play with the kids in the snow, build snowmen and generally have a bit of fun. Which is fantastic. A day off from capitalism, bring it on.

If it happens more frequently, we will have to invest kerzillions and the impromptu fun days off will cease, which would be a shame really.

Yup, fraid so! Doh….

Hora – someone's built one that big near Kingbee records, only with a proper igloo next to it. Igloos are the challenge…

I was there with lots of neighbours and their kids – not guilty!!!

I think so too…

Oh yes, and a charged hip flask…

I'm bringing 30+ neighbours and their kids, so I'm not bothering with the bike. Let's make it massive…. 🙂

Exactly Stan!!!!!

snow = day off from capitalism. Enjoy it for ****'s sake!