What are these “memory sticks” of which you speak? 😉

DVD –> Handbrake –> iTunes –> iPad. Works a treat for me and no memory sticks to lose. I must confess I don’t tend to buy DVDs any more though, since it’s all a lot more of a faff than just downloading from day one.

We met (again) with Peak Horsepower on Tuesday. It was a very positive meeting and there’s plenty of news on our website.

http://www.peakdistrictmtb.org/index.php/62-peak-horsepower-meeting-december-9th

This, and for most folk it’ll be pennies unless they do loads of business miles and their company pays under the allowances.

When I used to do loads of business miles the money I got back from the tax man was well worth claiming. So much so that after 2 or 3 years of HMRC giving me back nearly 4 figure sums they started asking me to do full tax returns instead. They still owed me money. It’s well worth learning about what you can and can’t legitimately claim.

As for the example of claiming back VAT on a new kitchen, it just goes to show how each or our moral compasses are aligned very differently 😕

Years ago at a firm I worked for the FD said that we shouldn’t be paying for home internet connections (even where we needed it) as HMRC could see it as BIK

It’s not wrong to have benefits in kind; you just have to pay tax on them. The employer would provide a P11D for benefits in kind and the FD of the firm you worked for should be well aware of that.

Presume we’re just talking mountain bikes?

No, not really. I know a lot of us like doing different types of riding and hence have lots of bikes e.g. a road bike, a “hack” bike, a BMX, a mountain bike etc. If you could only have ONE, would it be one of the ones you already have?

The question of “…if I could only have one mountain bike…” is too easy and some might say done to death 😉

You’re cheating souldrummer 😆
I could easily get it down to two if I could have a road bike and an MTB, but limiting if to one is what makes this so interesting when I know so many of us on Singletrackroadworld enjoy road riding.

I find it interesting because that Bianchi up there – when I owned it – was the one I said I would keep if I could only have one bike. However it was always going to be the first one to go if I could have 2 bikes 🙂

If I gave up road riding it would be a lot easier, but that’s not going to happen.

From an initially dismissive Derbyshire County Council we now have an apologetic Derbyshire County Council. I don’t think anyone is under the illusion that this is anything but a long haul but I’d say that is a positive outcome. We’ve shown the weight of anger and support behind the Rushup Edge campaign cannot be ignored by them.

<is tempted to write a reply containing lots of “interesting” words then thinks better of it>

😆

I have a sub so tried logging out to see what the site is like with adverts. It’s actually not as bad as I remember it, but I suspect that since the adverts are targeted my experience will be very different from someone else’s. It’d be interesting to see what sites you need to visit and what search terms you need to use on Google to trigger the more irritating adverts

The Rucksack Club – founded in Manchester in 1902 – have got behind the Peak District MTB Rushup Edge campaign. It’s fantastic to get support beyond the mountain bike community 🙂

More info

Charles Cotton at Hartington has a lovely bar/bistro with a fire and some good ales. I’ve eaten there and the food was excellent.

linky[/url]

I’ll second the Royal Oak for food but don’t remember a fire last time I went, although their website shows one.

another linky

oh and the Bull i’ t’ Thorn on the Buxton to Ashbourne road. I’ve had a few good feeds there, but not been in the last year or so.

I’ll sell you mine if you’ve got a deep enough wallet 😉

OK I’ll try that thanks

I’m new to this malaise. Having stripped my wheel the other day I was quite alarmed when, instead of just the cassette coming off, the whole freehub body – with cassette still attached – came off! What is this badly engineered pile of carp?

Cheapo Shimano freehubs played perfectly well with a variety of cassettes fitted to them, so what gives with the Pro 2 Evo?

So anyway, what tips for removing a cassette off a now unattached freehub body?

But not expecting things being dropped on it or someone in stilettos to walk on it seems a bit short sighted

This^

I really don’t see the need for the Air

Cheaper? Longer battery life? More compact? All very good reasons.

To balance this out I was briefly in this same position. In my side-by-side comparison the Retina screen on the Pro wasn’t significantly better for me to justify the extra expense. Size and battery life were more important so I’d go with the Air.

As it happens I decided that for what I wanted even the most basic Macbook was too expensive so I got a Chromebook instead. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not a patch on the screen or build quality of a Macbook but it is a fifth of the price.

We are gutted it’s happened in the first couple of weeks when it’s been open to the public but it’s completely safe.

I’m not sure I’m prepared to take your word for that 😯

Is it ok to always travel at a speed you feel in control of or is it just a case of getting used to higher velocity?

In many ways they are the same thing; you get used to a higher speed when you feel in control at that speed. Riding out of control is surely not the way to ride faster.

As someone who went through a period of crashing painfully I don’t think the answer is to simply go faster and hope for the best. Faster riding comes through practice, experience, tuition etc.

I remember when I learnt to drive and going at the speed limit rasied the hairs on the back of my neck, now the speed limit feels like I’m crawling along.

Ask yourself why that is and – assuming you come to the answer I expect you will – apply that to your riding.

I have none and my shed has security lights, a reinforced steel door and an alarm. I don’t live where you think I do and the bike that I don’t have is locked inside the shed and is of no value.

Right, so a different bike offers no practical difference, doesn’t change the “outcome” of the ride (struggling to keep up) but it does change your experience

Erm, this couldn’t be further from what I was getting at 😕 😆

^good point IA. I recently rode with a chap who was considerably faster and fitter than me. I was on my “do it all” bike that was arguably more bike than necessary for the terrain. The fact I was struggling to keep up made me wish for a light 29er hardtail. I still wouldn’t have kept up but it might not have been quite so embarrassing 🙂

Conversely, someone who is extremely talented can do virtually anything on a bike so long as they are comfortable on it.

Skill will allow you to “cope” on a bike that isn’t ideally suited to the task in hand. My point was that a pro would not choose to be compromised by anything but the right tool for the job because it can mean the different between 1st and 2nd place. For many of us looking for a one-bike-to-rule-them-all it’s rarely the bike holding us back.

I don’t think anyone has mentioned this, but for me it’s about how good you are (or aren’t). I’d be quite happy with one MTB because I simply don’t ride at the extremes. I enjoy a bit of downhill action but I know my limits and they are well within my bike’s capabilities. Likewise I enjoy a fast(ish) XC blast but since I’m not racing anyone but myself it matters not that the bike isn’t as fast or responsive as a dedicated XC machine. I like to do a few jumps but recognise that technique is far more important than the bike. etc etc…

I wouldn’t be happy with one bike for off-road and on-road though.

[EDIT] someone at pro level would, I suspect, be extremely frustrated on anything but the right tool for the job in hand.

We’ve secured a meeting this morning with Secretary of State for Transport Patrick McLoughlin MP. His constituency is the Derbyshire Dales so we will be discussing Derbyshire County Council’s trail maintenance in the White Peak which was causing controversy long before the Rushup Edge saga kicked off.

More info here

successful yet short lived band

I’m not a huge G n R fan but loved Appetite for Destruction and some of the Use Your Illusion stuff. I’m not sure you can call them short lived though. 21 years between Appetite for Destruction in 1987 and Chinese Democracy in 2008. The latter album sold 6.5m copies worldwide which most artists would struggle to top these days.

Why is that a conflict Jambalaya?

I love my Chromebook but I wouldn’t want it as my only device. It’s a great – cheap – device with long battery life that is more than adequate if, like me, you use Google Docs for “office” stuff and Spotify for music.

If you have even a passing interest in photo management and editing the low quality screen and lack of grunt will eventually annoy you. If money was no object I would have bought a Macbook Air. My Chromebook is a fifth of the price but arguably not a fifth of the usefulness.

Am I the only one who didn’t get 3 questions twice? 😕

I’ve tried on 3 different devices and different browsers. I must have the magic touch 😉

It looks like the repeating questions is a glitch we can do nothing about, perhaps due to the device you do the survey on. I’ve checked the survey preview and taken the survey myself and have no repeating questions.

I’ve checked the results collected so far and there is no duplication of question there, so whatever the problem it’s not affecting the final analysis.

Baffled. I have no repeats when I do it. What pages are repeating?

Just re-checked the survey and found no duplicate questions. There are 2 similar questions but one relates to how the work will change your use of the track and the other is how it will affect your enjoyment.

They could have been worded more clearly, but they are different questions.

CALL TO ACTION: RUSHUP CONSULTATION SURVEY

We’ve prepared a survey to gather data on the DCC consultation and works on Rushup Edge. DCC are due to start work again next Monday so please respond and circulate ASAP to mountain bikers, walkers, horse riders and anyone else who can spare 5 minutes to fill it in.

More info on the website or click directly though to the survey here:

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/WFRDKK9

Peak District MTB and Ride Sheffield are run by volunteers who have full time jobs, families and other responsibilities. All we’re asking is that people are a little more considerate to the bigger picture here, so we don’t have to spend our time dealing with the fallout from ill-advised comments by a small minority but can instead focus on the important stuff.

At the end of the day these disparaging comments are on OUR Facebook Group sites, so claiming they are nothing to do with us is a little unconvincing.

It was the disparaging comments from MTBers against horse riders from a minority on social media

Peak Horsepower are still very much engaged with Peak District MTB and Ride Sheffield. All they’ve done is declined to put their name against a joint statement over the Rushup work.

Bridges have not been burnt but it’s a shame we had to worry about the fire in the first place.

Google Drive is one – significant – part of a much bigger ecosystem that includes Google Docs, Google + etc whereas Dropbox is “just’ cloud storage is it not? For that reason I’d recommend Google. I’m a huge fan of Google Drive and Docs.

Not this one, but it’s something we’ll explore for the future. If you have comments or ideas please email us. Contact details on the webpage

Thanks

Do we know if PDNPA know about this one?

They do.

Peak District MTB are meeting tonight to discuss the next steps in this ongoing campaign and Ride Sheffield will be coming along to share their experience and ideas.

More info

Much as I love Apple stuff I do think they are poor at “the Cloud”. They take too long to implement decent cloud-based stuff and other competitors are arguably doing it better. I’m bored of waiting for proper iCloud photo editing and management. For these reasons I wouldn’t want to entrust my backing up to Apple.

What surprises me is why Time Machine does not yet have an option to backup to iCloud. Or does it?

For backup I use Livedrive. Not sure what I pay but it’s £60 ish for the year IIRC. No limit on storage…or at least none that I’ve hit.

Looking at my broadband traffic I have a HUGE amount of uploads going on every month.