It’s half way down the article

The official loop deliberately avoids arguably the most fun bit of bridleway and that’s Ballcross Woods (AKA Bakewell golf course downhill), included on this Strava route.

There’s a link to a Strava GPX on Peak District MTB’s website Clicky

I’m not sure there is one single magic ingredient. Continuing the metaphor, it’s like cooking. Some ingredients work really well together, complimenting each other to make the sum better than the parts. Some ingredients work and are perfectly palatable, but are never going to be more than just OK together. Some ingredients should never ever be put together. You can keep choking the resultant concoction down but eventually you’ll be fed up of feeling nauseous all the time.

It was more used as an example of how natural language and search engines is a better way of finding the answer to what you’re looking for than a manual Cougar.

For those who bemoan the lack of a manual with an iPad, do you also bemoan the lack of manuals for all the various bits on your bike?

Where’s the manual that shows me how to change the bearings in my hub? Where’s the manual that shows me how to index my gears? Where’s the manual that shows me how to add a spacer to my shock to improve way the shock ramps up?

Google and natural language query engines are far better at giving access to help than an index

My wheels sound a bit rough. What do I need to do?
Why aren’t my gears changing as smoothly as they used to?
Why is my rear suspension blowing through its travel so easily?

Embrace the fact there are better methods than manuals for most of us to learn about what we need to do with technology, be it bikes, iPads or whatever*

*practical example – my dishwasher wasn’t working. A quick Google search told me exactly what I needed to do and I had it fixed in no time. I *could* have wasted time looking for the manual.

the lack of a manual probably isn’t a big deal. For someone starting from little or no experience it’s a much bigger problem.

The trick is to put aside your preconceptions that it is going to be a difficult experience and go with the flow. Assuming you can get past the first hurdle of turning on a modern smartphone/tablet, it does then walk you through the rest of the steps to set it up. It requires some trust that Apple et al know best and I suspect this is what a lot of people struggle with.*

*on this subject when I first got a Mac I struggle to get on with the iPhoto app, trying to manage photos the “way I was used to”. When I succumbed to/embraced the Apple way it made a world of difference to my enjoyment and productivity.

thought it probably needed charging

Did it? My experience of iDevices is that they don’t usually need charging out-of-the-box and before setup, but I suppose some may come with flat batteries.

How does one use a new piece of kit without a manual?

Ever bought a claw hammer with a manual? Ever wondered how many people don’t know what the claw is for? People have been making tools without manuals for decades. It’s not unique to modern tech and the fact you did manage to turn it on and follow the instructions is some testament to the efficacy of the manual-free approach. Is it not?

Reading your post, it does sound a bit like you wanted the experience to be a bad one. Am I right? 🙂

or is it technology not suited to older people?

A lot of technology is not suited to people who grumble about creating passwords, I’ll grant you that. As for manuals, the whole beauty of so much modern technology is how – and there will always be exceptions – it is usable and accessible without resorting to reading a “how to” guide.

But then he said he was printing off his old emails and putting them in folders (actual physical folders) organised by date/sender so he could find them again.

I have to archive (another word for lose never to see again) my email so often that I wonder if this is a better idea 😕

but I don’t really understand why separate power switches for PC and monitor would be such a mind-blowing concept

Put a modern iMac in front of someone who has never used one before and ask them to find the on button.

Thinking a little more about my comment ^ I do genuinely believe that technology amazes me these days because it is genuinely helpful and accessible to everyday users rather than – not that many years ago – geeks people with time on their hands to learn it.

As a great example I’m often away with work on a Tuesday night and stay in the more or less the same location. When I get in the car my iPhone tells me how long to get to where I’m going. There’s not necessarily anything in my phone calendar for it to know where I’m going or the time I intend to be there; it’s just learnt my habits. This is what amazes me and make tech so accessible and useful.

I often wonder whether my amazement at how technology has advanced is because it is advanced or just because I’m no longer the “younger generation” 😆

The made-up-word ‘get’s’ gets past the spelling and grammar filter too. Odd. Sorry, couldn’t resist 🙂

I suspect the serious answer is that, unlike most swear words, bitch has alternative (non-sweary) meanings.

My Unit is a heavy tank. It batters through stuff rather than skipping over it. Whether that’s right for you or not, only you will know. I love it because it looks good, requires little maintenance and makes my legs strong. I like it despite the way it rides 🙂

Whilst I’m not sure if a commuter is the right bike, a CX bike would be great. There aren’t many sections that are desperately technical and something that covers distance comfortably and efficiently is definitely recommended. The guy I rode the southern half of the loop with rode it on a CX bike and I looked on enviously on more than one occasion.

Sorry no. It was done in the days before I carried anything other than a paper map and compass. If you’re there this weekend you can finish that first ride halfway down the World Cup DH course 😉

[edit] Have a look on a map and it should be pretty easy to work out though.

In true “recommend what you know fashion”:

– Leave the car at Kinlochleven then head to Fort Bill via Loch Eilde Mor, Meall Mor and Lairig Leacach. This is a great day out getting into some good, remote terrain and finishing at Nevis Range. Fit people will no doubt claim you can do it there and back in a day, but not me 🙂 I don’t remember anything too hard, but there were a few sections that I ended up walking on as well as a river crossing, natch.

– Go and get the car by following the West Highland Way from Fort Bill back to Kinlochleven. A shorter day but some lovely riding.

– Cow Hill – a surprisingly good (short) ride that is perfect for a summer’s evening, do-able directly from Fort Bill

Lots of people make this work and lots of people don’t. Of course there are risks but if you can afford for it to go pear-shaped, is it not better to have tried and failed than never to have tried at all?

I do agree with the comments about experience though. I’ve met a few people on my travels who earn a living by doing what they love (snowboarding, sailing, mountain biking) and frankly they have been anything other than happy. As someone says above, it’s one thing riding all day every day with your mates, but quite another being host to strangers. Get the experience first to see if it’s something you would be happy to forge a business out of.

lol what a great thread with a commonly recurring theme. I know exactly what I’d tell myself but I’m not recording it in perpetuity on an internet forum 🙂

There’s a few close shaves at Cannock that might result in some type of interface with those

^this. Even with 720mm bars I have to be careful. There are plenty of scars on some of the trees that prove some riders can’t get through without contact.

Most of my driving is either cross-country on winding B-roads, driven spiritedly but not stupidly (in my opinion of course) or cruising motorways at non-licence threatening speeds. With this in mind here are some real world calculated average consumption figures from recent cars.

BMW 118d (diesel) – 46mpg
Suzuki SX4 petrol – 34mpg (also did town centre duties)
Mazda 6 TS diesel – 41mpg
Boxster 3.2S petrol – 28mpg
Elise petrol – 37mpg IIRC

Huge variation, obviously and unsurprisingly, but I was chuffed with how (relatively) economical the Porker was.

We also have a VW Sharran (diesel) but I don’t use it that much and it does a lot of short town centre driving too – 38mpg

No idea if this info is remotely useful for anyone but thought I’d share 🙂

What case/strap/setup are you using to keep it there and keep it safe?

I use a LowePro Dashpoint[/url]. It has a great mechanism for attaching securely to the rucksack straps and even unzipped the camera is secure enough to ride with. Perfect for whipping the camera out one-handed and taking a shot whilst riding. Recommended.

Four of us getting a lift up to the bottom of Glen Feshie to ride back to Blair Athol.

Enjoy your ride?

Was expecting a better response to this thread 😆
</disappointed>

Are you comparing images on the computer

yes, see my post above for an example.

I’m not sure all is well with the lumix settings, seems a bit poor.

Interesting. I’ve taken some great pictures on this camera but it’s never wowed me as much as I wanted/expected.

you’re comparing a three year old budget camera with a modern device of twice the cost

The iPhone 6 is nearly 2 years old and is a convergence device of which camera is only one function. The Lumix’s only job is to take photos and videos. What do you think a fair comparison would be? On the subject of video, I’ve noticed also that video is much better on the iPhone than the Lumix.

but you’re comparing out of the camera JPEGs, which is effectively less a comparison of the cameras ability to produce an image and more of its ability to process one.

For “point and shooters” it’s one and the same though. I don’t really care how it happens, but I press a button and get an image I can put online, print out or just “archive” on my hard drive for ever. It absolutely is the camera’s ability to produce an image and suggesting otherwise is semantics, no?

You could produce the same result or maybe even better with the Lumix.

Maybe, but I’ll be buggered if I know how 😆

So which did you prefer and why?

How do you know the HDR is ever turned off?

The images usually say HDR in the top corner when looked at on the iPhone or the Mac. I’ve always assumed if it doesn’t say that, it’s not used HDR to take the photo. I don’t know for sure of course, I just point and click 🙂

I took the following shots both on fully auto settings, one with an iPhone 6 and the other with a Lumix TZ40. I’ve done no editing on these after taking them. I have my own preference as to which I will probably keep (and do a bit of tweaking with) but I’d be interested to hear from the experienced photographers which they think is objectively best.

Loch Coulin in Torridon by stilltortoise[/url], on Flickr

Loch Coulin in Torridon by stilltortoise[/url], on Flickr

I don’t even know what half that stuff means geetee 🙂

Maybe I’ve misunderstood what dynamic range is, because it’s (what I think is) the dynamic range that so impresses me on my iPhone. I can “point and click” at a mountain with a cloudy sky and still see the clouds in the resultant image along with the detail in the mountain. Do the same with my TZ40 and invariably the sky is washed out. My TZ40 has plenty of settings to play with but when I’m out riding with mates who just want to keep pedalling, stopping and faffing with settings is a bit of a pain.

I’ve always bought compacts with lots of settings to experiment with, but invariably don’t bother.

artificially giving the photos a depth of field and dynamic range that a sensor that small couldn’t achieve on it’s own

Interesting. Can you explain a bit more? I would have thought that if the sensor hasn’t captured the detail (e.g. an over-exposed sky), no amount of processing can bring that detail back convincingly. My iPhone seems great at capturing that dynamic range and that’s without even using the HDR setting.

The camera companies just need a while to catch up & add apps and the ability to make a call.

…and in the meantime the SmartPhone makers are making their cameras better and better. My view is that the lines are blurred between SmartPhone makers and camera makers. After all, most of the SmartPhone manufacturers already make cameras. I think judging by the quality of iPhone pictures Apple can be called a camera maker (whose cameras have apps and can make calls 😉 )

^Dave’s book is fab and since he’s too humble to plug it, I will 🙂

My two year old was too small for many of the models in the market that seemed to have quite big wheels. I eventually found a Norco one that was small enough, but to be honest he didn’t really engage with it until he was 3.

I used to laugh at my roadie mate for having arm warmers and then I actually tried them. Humble pie was eaten. I have the cheap Aldi ones and they stay up fine, even after several season’s use.

I post a (badly constructed) maths question aimed at 10 year olds and get 48 responses and yet posts on Strava discrepancies and a new bike (albeit challenging the Brompton crown) received nothing whatsoever.

Parent of 3 boys, so threads like this genuinely capture my attention. Bromptons and Strava discrepancies don’t. Sorry 🙂

She arrived on the last stroke of 12 o’clock and left on the first stroke of 2 o’clock.

Rubbish! As has been pointed out, the question doesn’t even specify how many times the clock struck the 2nd, 3rd and 4th time. It’s a dreadful question and I’d be pointing that out to the teacher. It’s like one of those awful riddles that has an improbable and convoluted answer (or several!); it teaches you how to think laterally but I’m not sure it has a place in maths teaching which is about rules and patterns.

Normally this kind of business talk frustrates me, but I must admit to liking “ownership”. Why use lots of words when one word will do? Ownership says (pardon the analogy) “This is your baby. You will most likely need others to help with its upbringing and you can put it down to sleep when you need to work on something else, but until that baby is grown up it is your responsibility”

Read the first one and have avoided the second and third based on feedback similar to this^. Even The Passage wandered a bit aimlessly from time to time in my opinion.

I use Apple Pay whenever I can (especially yesterday when I forgot my wallet!), although I do only have one card registered which makes it slicker I suppose.

Some things to bear in mind that some people don’t seem to realise (apologies if already mentioned)

– double click on the home button – even when locked – means it is so so easy. Much quicker than getting my wallet out
– 3% cash back if you’re with Santander, just for using it

Don’t really see the advantage over contactless

– Because it is authenticated by fingerprint, there’s not the same limit as contactless. Many shops don’t even know this
– Get notifications of payments made – even on lock screen – which is a neat little confirmation

On the downside, I’ve noticed that at Aldi my phone says “Done” but it’s not cleared at the Aldi terminal. I’ve had to do it again and check I’ve not been charged twice. That didn’t instil confidence.

Love it. Surprisingly useful.

How are you guys cleaning yours??

Like B.A.Nana, washing machine and deodorant. The thing I LOVE about the North Cape top is that it’s the least stinky top I’ve ever owned (either that or I’m immune to the smell now!)

I thought I had a ‘mountain bike’ 🙂

When I bought my current bike (3 years ago), 650b was but a twinkle in the eye of the bike brands with only Scott getting bikes in the showrooms. I went with a 140mm up front, 130mm out back 26er because I thought it would be the ideal jack-of-all-trades. It probably still is, but it’s a steady sit-down-and-pedal machine rather than a feisty up-and-at-them mile muncher. Maybe I’m just getting less fit and blaming the bike 😆