North , central, east, inner west london i’d be interested. I still have my little enamel cycling profficiency badge if that counts?

Let’s look at it from another way. I don’t consider Islam itself, or even those using it as an excuse/smokescreen to justify some very unpleasant activities, a threat to the culture of the UK or Europe. Those individuals are a real threat to some very unlucky people certainly, just like our elected representatives were/are a very real threat to many Muslims…

I suppose you could say that Demographics is the threat here, if you like I would prefer not to live in a society similar to any of those currently with Islam dominant…But again, you could say that it’s not Islam that is at fault here, merely Theocracy (Saudi Arabia, one of the UK/US’ bestest friends apparently) grinding poverty and seemingly endless war (Afganistan) or grinding poverty and centuries of exploitation (Sudan).Look at the growth of extremism in Germany probably due to the conditions imposed on the population after the first world war.
Should I be alive in a hundred or so years, what with birthrates differing between “western” and “muslim” cultures as they seem to do, Europe could indeed have a Muslim majority. But then again, what usually happens a generation or two from poverty, is that people tend to have much smaller families.

Since i’m most likely not going to live for another hundred years, my more immediate concerns lie with the very real possibility of fuel and resource wars that will be fought in my name, the new demonisation of nations that will compete (ie the rather well equipped to deal with recent hardship China for starters), the news laws and memes/ideas introduced to society to make this global divide and rule situation possible rather than work together to try and sort it out as best we possibly could, and already the new laws that inhibit protest and exchange of ideas.

By the way, in response to the op, I personally feel that his audience in the House of Lords would have led to nowt, nothing at all, but consolidates the idea that it’s better to deny a voice to someone, rather than give them the opportunity to make a fool of themselves and learn to live with criticism, which the Islamic fundies with their rather sensitive skins could learn from. So IMO , own goal.

Could it be cheaper to just hire the armour when you get there? smells of vinegar, but it does the job.

Hit it properly you big poof.

Singletrack edit facility Schofield.

Muhammad.

Mohammed.

I dreamt about my old 05 enduro last night. In the dream, my brother had scratched it up.

Is that the same bunch of gang banging rapeos that lost a bredren last year on Oxford street? Crying shame.

What’s that big curly thing in the sky?

“I don’t think you can really comment on me or what I was talking about.”

I can comment on your comments, is that ok with you? And as far as baps out mingers go well pardon me, a daft baps out minger is a daft baps out minger. The show is nothing new, can you admit that?

“sodafarl ‘Baps out minger’? who is that aimed at?”

I have no idea, I don’t tend to watch “that type” of television program. WHY do you care though? Apart from trying to defend a really daft baps out type sister (if that’s the case prepare for a lifetime of embarassment), or trying to encourage an internet presence for a company with very little new to market itself upon, I’m ignorant as to your motivation.

“you STILL HAVE NO IDEA WHAT THIS THREAD IS ABOUT.” (arrrrgggghhh!)

Me too. So who’s a bad man and who’s a silly baps out minger?

Maybe he has very big feet.

“He picked his door step up, dragged it 4 miles then blugeoned someone with it”

He shouldn’t have done that. It’s wrong.

Four miles from your house? Why is your doorstep so big?

I have used an Altura Attack for a year or so now. I’m pretty happy with it, it’s waterproof, breathable enough etc. I did give it a bit of a nasty tear last summer but probably any jacket would have ripped in that situation. Got it repaired for £15. Sizing wise its a bit wide in the body for my taste (size large), but other than that it does the job well.

JoB,

You do know that was self denegrating sarcasm, don’t you? My whab really isn’t that big in real life 🙁

May I second that? I too enjoyed the longer features/tales of woe and unifying theme in the mag this issue.

“Men with body armour and 40lb bikes are always right. Anyone else is wrong.

Anything wrong with that synopsis?”

Yes, it’s as wrong as

“Men in lycra and with bells are always right. Anyone else is wrong.”

Both could be attempts to denegrate the holder of an opinion, rather than debate it.

Well I’m taking my redbullmonstertrucker phallus off to bed, hopefully to dream of common sense trail encounters with mature adults devoid of a sense of entitlement and willing to compromise.

GNARGNAR,

I feel that his penis is 40 years old, and purple anodised. I need no evidence of such a fact, but i’ve been mtbing for a loong time…so I know. End of.

“that depends entirely on your interpretation of “credibility”, and whether you can distance that from your opinion of their music, none of which is valid here really”

I suppose that one could also say the same regarding your opinions and attempts at “argument”, since you have tried to qualify it through a claim of longevity, with no regard to content. Eh?

It’s not really valid here is it? unless you can improve on estimations of my riding down or along a decline skills.

Anyone understand the difference between assuming a right on a trail , and using common sense?

“well, if we’re willy-waving, i’ve been mtbing for 20+ years”

And U2 have rocked the dullards for how long? I guess that gives them credibility.

Sorry JoB. I’ve always found it “much more risk prone to stop a bike at speed than at walking pace,” and “more difficult to stop safely at speed, than when riding at walking pace.” Perhaps you are using different tyres or something. Or maybe you are talking shyte, who knows?

Btw, have you reconsidered your approach to not giving way while climbing since it is equally as “bad” as the characters you have invented who will not give way whilst descending?

Who else sees nowt between Nulab and NuCon? eh? Who’s going to vote for either come the time? Care to explain why the country can’t do better?

” the crux of your argument is that you can’t safely stop your bike should anything untoward should happen on a multi-use trail,”

Pardon moi, where did you get that impression? Do you know me? I think you made that up, didn’t you?

I think it would be great if both the descender and climber could adjust their line accordingly. It’s a shame though that some people think that as they are climbing, they don’t have to. Eh?

“fixing northern ireland “,

Strangely enough, it’s John Major who recieves that accolade in the colonies for talking with those dastardly “terrorists”, when Mo Mowlam did the real work. Ten years on, it’s hard to believe the calibre of of British govt talent spunked against the wall, Robin Cook included.

JoB, I don’t really have a side of argument. I think its stupid to assume that anyone has ingested an unwritten code (or in the case of the trails that repack rider rides a written code. But I don’t live in the US, thankfully) before getting on a bike and riding a trail. I think anybody that assumes they have is stupid. I think anyone that causes an accident by trying to make a point going up or down a trail is a fool. I think an accident is more likely to occur by assuming I have right of way climbing a trail than by not assuming I have right of way, and taking the selfless option and stepping aside, just in case.

It would appear that you seem to be sticking to a side of “the argument “. I have no axe to grind, it just seems really , really stupid to force someone travelling faster to slow down when its a hell of a lot simpler to just have good manners and let them enjoy riding their bike. It’s much more risk prone to stop a bike at speed than at walking pace, isn’t it? Does that concern you?

London…slightly flacid .

Don’t worry, i’ll “**** off home,” “Go back where I belong if I don’t like it” etc as soon as I can afford to.

STATO,

The last thing I would do going up or down is assume that someone coming either way should adhere to a code as such. I’ve always assumed common sense when riding either way, and when coming down I do slow down if someone decides to stand in the middle of the trail. I don’t think the idea of a common code is practicable at all though, one reason being that a hell of a lot of bikers don’t actually read internet forums and may be unaware of ettiquette created by it’s inhabitants.

Personally, If I were concerned what an insurance court may conclude from my regular activities, and were to modify my actions to appease it, I think I would prefer suicide to life.

Of course though I like most people would like my fellow monkeys to show a degree of empathy for others in their actions. Some empathy for me and my friends and family etc for a start.But when I hear self righteous idiots proclaiming some unwritten, impractable and self created law that has no semblence of reality in my experience I will question it.

I do feel that some people are missing the point though. It’s not really about gnarly downhillduuuuudes v’s “real” mtbers who love to “clean a climb” etc…I’d say it’s about people who are willing to accept common sense and reality, v’s those that seem to have chosen for the sake of argument an unrealistic and untenable position. I have no time for a selfish bellend crashing into me anymore than I have for a pious cock holding his/her ground in the centre of a trail simply to make a point. I have more sympathy for someone forced into an accident than I do for a person who feels obliged to cause it, and that is what the uphill groundholder steadfast crew are suggesting..

Mr Nutt, I have to admit that when gravity pulls as it tends to do, I tend to take out my huge whab, and smite grimicing lycra types, causing them to construct impractical “rules” and “regulations”.

Shame I can’t find an example of precious lycra smiting…

“All this sh*te about it being dangerous to stop going downhill, are you serious???”

Well I think it is more difficult to stop safely at speed, than when riding at walking pace. That’s the point I am trying to make. I personally have always found it sensible and good manners to pull aside when climbing and someone else is enjoying a descent. It’s never bothered me at all to do so, and seems like good sense.

And let’s not construct a big old straw man with the suggestion that the majority of mtbers that gain their enjoyment going fast down or along a trail rather than slowly “cleaning a climb” or somesuch are either exceptional to the rule “downhill doooods” or selfish riders either. If they were a minority, there would be a much bigger market for hardtails with 80mm travel forks for a start. And if no mountainbiker felt such a sense of self righteous on a trail as to assume right of way let alone put others at risk to make a tenuous point for their own personal satisfaction, then this would never have been an issue at all. I can’t imagine it is really at all to be honest, most people have more common sense than that.

I got there in the end scotia…plenty of “yikes!”-ing” though
🙂

Pineapple of the South, minus pseudo intellectual baggage.

“it’s bloody hard to recklessly endanger others riding uphill. “

It’s quite easy to endanger yourself and others travelling at speed say around a corner or in a situation where they are being needlessly forced to scrub off a lot of speed quickly , simply because an individual decides that although they could easily and safely pull over to the side in a fraction of the time with a fraction of risk, a point must be made. Just like the idiots I occasionally encounter at trail centres who think the best place to fix a puncture is in the middle of it, preferably just after the jump/drop that caused it, not off to the side. In a situation where someone has had an off and is lying on the trail incapacitated, the risk of braking hard and the potential consequence of that cannot be avoided. It can in the first scenario. Of course it could also in the second scenario simply by going downhill nice and slowly. Each to their own.