I was tempted to watch this only to see if it turned a poor film into a half-decent one. The original was one of the biggest film disappointments of recent years for me.

The geography of the Netherlands should not be underestimated. Cycling is fun for a broader range of people if there are no hills to climb. The popularity of converted railways for family cycling is no coincidence.

I can see why Utrecht is an interesting example to show how mass adoption of cycling “works” but it is not without its own problems. I’ve been a pedestrian in Utrecht and I actually hated all the bikes sharing the space with me. I felt like I needed eyes in the back of my head to navigate the shared-use pavements by the side of the canals and would have hated to walk around the city with kids and pushchair in tow.

Neither Amsterdam nor some of the smaller towns in Holland I have visited had this problem.

Not for one minute am I dismissing the goals of CB, just raising the point that awareness of other users is a two-way street (pun obviously intended).

If you’re keen to help Peak District MTB directly, we’d appreciate assistance with building up a database of the recent trail works across the Peak District. Go to the website for more info.

Thanks

Hi all

I’ll echo the comments from rogerthecat above. It’s been incredible how the Rushup situation has stirred up the mountain bike community and beyond.

Peak District MTB will be looking for more help so appreciate the offers. We want it to be structured, focused and with specific objectives in mind to manage this momentum so will be getting our heads together this week to work out what the priorities are and what you can do to assist.

We will keep our heads in this thread but do please also visit the website and Facebook Group[/url] for the latest info.

Thanks
Dan

The Roych is a national trail that received additional funding.

Lots of background info to this and many of the other points raised on our website. If you can support us – and have not done so already – please sign up as a member.

http://www.peakdistrictmtb.org

Thanks
Dan

There are lots of unanswered questions still and on behalf of Peak District MTB I’d like to thank Singletrack for picking up the story and firing those questions – and more besides – at DCC.

We’re not going to have all the answers overnight but we need to keep the pressure up on our elected councillors, DCC RoW team, Peak District National Park Authority and anyone else we think can have an influence or get us answers.

Other user groups are not our enemy. We should be aware of the fact that even within a user group some like the trails easier and some like them harder. Bear in mind that whatever comes out of all this will likely mean a compromise solution for mountain bikers as well as ramblers, horse riders and the off-roaders. I’d be surprised if the option to leave the trails alone completely is even an option.

I’ve been trying to get Peak Horsepower’s view on all this and will continue that effort. I had a positive meeting with them 2/3 weeks ago but that was before the Rushup situation picked up this impressive head of steam.

Let’s keep working together to establish the facts.

Various press and media have been informed

It’s not just mountain bikers who are disgusted by this. Let’s make sure we work with he other user groups to express our disquiet.

Is that something you can elaborate on?

Yes. We reported on it earlier this year on our website http://www.peakdistrictmtb.org/index.php/25-derbyshire-cc-meeting-report

Click through to the Questions & Answers section.

Making assumptions can be counter-productive. For all we know it could have been a group of mountain bikers who had a fall and made a complaint. My personal opinion is that this whole strategy is borne out of an expensive court case DCC had quite some time ago. The wheels will have been in motion for years (pun intended)

I don’t think anybody is?

They were, but have since stealthily edited. Thanks 🙂

I suppose that’s a marginally better argument for it, but I still don’t buy it. If they really cared about that aspect of it they could get some decent legal advice and save a lot of money and hassle by sticking some warning signs up telling people to ride it at their own risk. Anyway I dispute the idea that the trail will be any safer with that surface on it, as people will tend to go much faster on it than previously, not to mention the fact that gravel like that is loose and unpredictable, and it’s going to get rutted and washed out in no time.

All discussions and arguments we’ve had with DCC. They are not afraid of tarring sections and putting up warning signs so be careful what you wish for.

Let’s not use this as an excuse to get upset with other user groups. We need to be working with the ramblers, horse riders etc to give us enough voice to be listened to. Chances are that many of them are just as disappointed with the works as many mountain bikers are.

It is DCC; there is a van up there right now. One of the Peak District MTB lot is up there taking pictures and finding out more information and I’m grilling Peter White for more information.

Frustrating as it is for many of us to lose technical features from our trails, remember that others would prefer it easier. I’ve heard huge support for the Stanage Causeway works from other users for example. Those of us who want it technical are probably a small voice but we try and make a lot of noise.

Remember:

If you have an enquiry about Rights of Way or you would like to report a problem email: eteprow@derbyshire.gov.uk or phone Call Derbyshire on 01629 533190. Alternatively you can use the online reporting facility here: Rights of way: Leisure and culture – Derbyshire County Council

I have the attention of Peter White from DCC who looks after rights of way. It would be very useful to have some more precise details of location e.g. grid references.

I won’t be able to keep checking on here so if you can please email them to me. Email in profile.

Thanks
Dan

I was going to suggest Ikea, but then I opened the thread

There is no hierarchy – a life is a life

I’ve yet to meet anyone who genuinely lives by this mantra; taking it to its logical conclusion means none of us would squash a midge that was biting us or flush a spider down the drain.

I believe we all have our own moral hierarchy.

I am curious as to where the dog’s owner was in all this. Was it the owner who shot it or is this a stray dog that’s been causing problems for people and animals in the woods that some vigilante has decided to “take down”?

I’ve tried Bel Airs, WTB Pure V, Madison Flux (much like Bel Air) but my fave is my current perch: Fizik Gobi. I find the Bel Air and Flux uncomfortably wide in comparison now.

As well as Peter White from DCC I’ve also been in touch with Jim Dixon to ask what is going on. He is the current chief executive of the Peak District National Park and is quite active on Twitter (@PeakChief). I’ve already had a response from him saying he’ll look into it, so fingers crossed and watch this space…

We don’t yet know for sure that this is DCC. Let’s keep the momentum and disquiet going with this, but let’s not throw pitchforks until we are 100% sure of the target.

I’ve been in contact with DCC this evening to ask them whether this was their doing. I have doubts it was anyone else and I have doubts I’ll get a response. If I do I’ll update this thread as well as the Peak District MTB website, Facebook and Twitter feeds.

People still click on back buttons?

<swooshes with 2 fingers on trackpad to go back to previous page>

This. I don’t miss it because I have a fab MTB and road bike now, but if I could only have one bike this would be it. When I first bought it, it was crap, but after replacing a few parts I turned it into a “just right” bicycle that was effortless to ride.

My old Bianchi. Fond memories. by stilltortoise[/url], on Flickr

The frame is still hanging on my shed wall waiting for the day…

1TB drive cost me £50, seems the best storage/backup value to me, drive should last 3 or 4 years

That’s just it. I don’t need a storage/backup solution; I already have offline and online ones. What I need/want is to take a photo and then be able to work on it on my Mac, iPhone or iPad and have any edits propagate to all the other devices. I will only need to do that for a relatively small subset of my entire library at any one time, but Apple want me to do all or nothing. I *could* do this with Flickr I suppose but I actually quite like the Apple photo management and editing tools.

I’m sure I’m not a unique use case and maybe I’ll find that the Apple way works a treat…just at a cost.

@jambalaya you’re probably right, but until that point I can’t turn on iCloud Photo Library with shelling out more money. I don’t want to pay for it until I know it will give me what I want.

I just need to wait for the new Photos app for OS X to come out to see how well the reviewers think it plays with iCloud

I used to go every year on a hockey tour and in my experience it has got cleaner and tidier, at least on the seafront. As someone said above, step away from the promenade – which is still very tacky in places – and there’s next to nothing going for the town centre. I’ve never eaten worse fish and chips than at Blackpool either.

I went with the kids in the Summer holidays and ticked off the Tower and Circus (surprisingly entertaining) but have no desire to go back again.

Can’t find any changes in 8.1

You can now turn on the iCloud Photo Library beta if you so wish. I’ve wimped out of that:

Automatically upload and store your entire library in iCloud…

My iPhoto library* is 60Gb and that’s just the main library! With only 5Gb free iCloud storage from Apple I think I might give this a miss.

*although the Mac integration with iCloud Photo Library is not even at beta yet anyway

I got to page 2, nodding with agreement and empathy at many of the comments.

This is a huge generalisation but I genuinely believe there is some truth in it:

Women want kids so they can be a mother. Men wants kids so they can be a child again

I felt pretty useless when our 3rd was born but everything changed when he went on the bottle. I then felt like I could truly share the responsibility and – for one reason or another – it was actually less stressful for the entire household.

If you want a practical tip to help with bonding and accepting the situation, strap her into a papoose on your chest and take a stroll with her…on your own. Babies love fresh air and peace too and this gives you an opportunity to enjoy her company without the other paraphernalia of life getting in the way.

Do talk to your wife and do try and arrange time away from being a parent…for both of you. This is hugely important.

It *could* be worth having a look at your technique. I would have expected a Five to be fine with 6 foot drops, especially if the transition isn’t flat.

[EDIT] – I’ve done 20 18 🙂 foot table tops on my Bandit which is similar to a Five. I never felt under-biked.

taken off big drops/jumps etc

How big?
How good is your technique?
Do you need more travel to let you get away with mistakes?

People do huge jumps/drops on bikes with no suspension at all. Just look at the pro BMXs or Danny Macaskill.

However don’t go on about Windows being like it was in 2005

I didn’t. I actually pointed out that – daily – I use a Mac and a Win 7 machine of similar vintage.

The big problem with the Apple v Windows debate is that – pun intended – it doesn’t compare apples with apples. Until Windows start offering the 360 degree package – hardware, after-sales service, peripherals etc – they will struggle to appeal to a huge group of users who have different expectations from IT than many of us on this thread. For that reason I should probably quit now 🙂

I never seen that advantage of leaving them on / hibernate.

Quicker start up times
Can use as a media library hooked up to Apple TV and hence TV/stereo
(Allegedly) more power efficient

You don’t have a Windows trackpad, you have a Synaptics one or whatever.

Who cares? This is such a huge point. I’ve bought an Apple desktop machine; Apple make the OS, a lot of the software I use and of course the hardware. The “one stop shop” is a hugely appealing to so many users. Who wants to hear “that’s not a Windows problem it’s a Synaptics one”. I want things to work and if they don’t work I want to know who to go to to get it sorted.

I use Windows 7 day in day out. I use a Mac day in day out. I’ve had them both about 3 years and I don’t (intentionally) poke them anywhere they shouldn’t be and I keep them updated. My experience and enjoyment of using my Mac is as good as it was when it was new. I can’t say the same about the Win 7 machine.

Let’s also remember that the hardware that Apple produce makes a huge difference to the user experience. My Windows 7 multi-touch trackpad doesn’t even come close in terms of function and usability to the Mac one.

I have no shares in Apple by the way 🙂

But when the engine seizes because it’s been driven for miles with no oil in it, don’t blame the car, and for the love of gods don’t be proud of it.

OK – so using this analogy on this thread – the experience and perception of Macs is that this scenario simply does not happen, whereas lots of people have had Windows seize up.

I’m conscious that the truth is that Windows is better than it was and perhaps Macs are worse than they once were, but perception is more often than not based on experience.

Thanks for that Drac, but either I’m not understanding what you’re suggesting or you’ve misunderstood the problem. I use the Favourites bar already and as far as I can see adding the Favourites button to the toolbar just allows me to toggle the Favourites bar on and off. I’m talking about missing Favicons, not missing Favourites.

The Bookmarks bar – the bookmarks menu that appears down the left hand side of Safari – no longer uses Favicons. As such I have no graphical indication of which bookmark is which.

wouldn’t expect every car driver to be able to strip down a carburetor but I would expect them to know how to put petrol and oil in it (and find out if they didn’t) rather than going “Fords are shit” the first time it runs dry.

I have a rule not to bite when it comes to analogies, since they inevitably go way off topic. However, I’ll make an exception because I think you’re onto something here. The fact you would expect all car drivers to know how to put oil in is quite telling. I reckon there’s a huge proportion of car drivers out there who (a) don’t know and/or (b) don’t care to know how to put oil in. At best they might see mention of oil on their service invoice. At worst they pay their service bill and are none the wiser. The most “maintenance” such people might ever learn to do is fill the car up with petrol.

Apples aren’t perfect. I’ve sat in front of mine tearing my hair out as I tried to fight the Apple way, but there’s no doubt in my mind that using a Mac is a more pleasurable experience than any of the PCs (which I look after) that I’ve owned and used.

I’ve noticed 2 or 3 of the “I don’t get the love for Apple/hate for PCs” comments have come from people who admit they have not had much exposure to Macs.

In the interests of balance, Apple are crap at some stuff. Photo management and editing across multiple devices is appalling and I hope iCloud Photos sorts it, but I won’t go down that road.

Congratulations fella!

Two is easy*

*that may not be true

I had a look at Better Touch Tool when I got my Mac but for whatever reason went with the Better Snap Tool. I might give it another look. Cheers Jamie

😆 Bravo! Keep it up everyone*

*pun not intended

I love snapping windows to screen edges,

Try Better Snap Tool. I can’t remember if it’s on the App Store but it’s a good addition to a Mac if you like the way Windows snap to the edge of the screen and size themselves. With Yosemite reducing the title bar size for grabbing and moving windows it also provides a neat “grab anywhere” solution.

Conclusion: PCs and Macs both can last quite some time if you take a little care of them.

In my experience it requires more regular maintenance to achieve this on Windows than a Mac.

As to the OP, do try and spend some time with a Mac to make sure you’ll get on with it. There’s lots to love but you may find “the Apple way” not to your liking. For example 3 years in with a Mac and I still think the OSX Finder (including save/open dialogues) a ball ache compared to Explorer in Windows. For my needs I have found myself using Google Drive more and more, largely due to the ease of use and cross-platform support. It’ll be interesting to see if iCloud Drive has caught up or whether Apple are still struggling in this arena.