This threads in danger of going off at a tangent.

😆

Find me a Red Bull Rampage rider who actual calculates how fast to go using “a little thing called physics” and I’ll show you a major MTB brand investing in 26ers.

…comes with experience…

Which makes Rampage all the more impressive, since I assume few have experience of such huge terrain.

Jumping over gaps that size is easy! It’s all just down to speed, if you hit it fast enough you’ll clear the gap.

So how do they know what the magic speed is, without first having come up short or overshot, both of which can be pretty serious? Is there some Wizard behind a curtain working out all the angles of the take off ramp, approach, landing, gap etc and calculating where they need to set off from to not die??

wobbliscott have you any practical tips for me that will address any of my issues?

it is as you say a multi-device photo sharing/management thing

It’s not there yet. Apple did talk about changes to their photo apps on iOS and OSX in their developer conference in the Summer which look like they will do what I’m after. I’ve heard little more about it since though.

Open the Photos app.
Tap the Albums tab.
Tap My Photo Stream.

On iOS8 I have no Photostream album.

That aside, the problem with this solution is that I’ve already sorted and deleted the photos outside of the Photostream. I don’t want to have to go through it all again. What I want/expect Photostream to be is an automatic way of temporarily backing up my photos and automatically transferring to my Mac. This bit it does. However I want it to be in the background and not feature in my Photos app under Collections at all.

Apple have half-implemented a multi-device cloud photo management infrastructure that – for me – arguably causes more problems than it solves.

In what way did they muck it up as seems Ok to me?

1. Take photos on iPhone
2. Photos uploaded to Photostream automatically
3. Photos automatically downloaded to all devices including Mac
4. Sort/edit photos on Mac
5. Sync sorted photos back to my iPhone (I want the good/edited ones on my phone, not the dross). I’ve set everything up so my last 10 events on my Mac sync automatically back to my iPhone

Following this workflow I end up with all the original unedited photos still on my iPhone as well as in the Photostream. This means duplicates and no easy way to bulk delete them.

Pre iCloud Photostream I had to manually transfer images from phone to Mac and then sync back to phone i.e. I treated the iPhone as if it were just another camera. The idea of Photostream still appeals as an automatic and temporary backup of photos. I could turn it off and work my old way, but if I turn Photostream off I’m conscious I’m swimming against the Apple current which, in my experience, leads to more frustrations.

I’m open to suggestions

Photo sharing etc fine

No. No it’s not. Apple really mucked up photo management when they introduced iCloud/Photostream and iOS8 offers no improvement. I do hope they get their act together with the new Photos iOS and OSX apps, whenever they appear.

Normally people ask for the impossible Holy Grail of light, waterproof and breathable but you want it cheap as well??! 😯 😆

What’s a MTBer to do?

You could try buying a bike that is in stock and that you could ride home tomorrow, rather than ordering one with a long lead time then moaning because you want it NOW.

Happy to help 😀

[EDIT – beaten to it by Rocketman]

As weeksy and bigblackshed said, I wouldn’t waste your time riding up. I’m sure you’ll get on the uplift. I had no probs when I was there and I didn’t pre-book

I think my Bandit is the best 26er ever made. It’s so amazing Transition even had the confidence to write 26 on the top tube. I am so zeitgeist it hurts 😆

I have considerably more weeks skiing experience than snowboarding, but if I could only choose one it would be skiing. Why? Here are the downsides of snowboarding based on my experience:

– Drag lifts are much harder to deal with than on skis
– You will end up on some flat terrain having to walk
– The inevitable stopping and waiting is easier and more relaxing when you can stand rather than trying to balance on a board or sitting on your backside
– It hurts a lot more when you fall
– Skis are more naturally at home on piste than snowboards (IMHO). Since you are more likely to have good plentiful piste skiing than off-piste – in Europe at least – it’s worth being honest about what type of terrain/snow you’ll be riding/skiing on

That said snowboarding in fresh powder is ace. Have both 🙂

Went on Saturday. On its own merits the show was great and my boys loved the Red Arrows, but it wasn’t worth the 7 hour round trip, 4 of which were at walking pace. I gave up just before the end of the show, but just caught the helicopter doing a backflip – A BACKFLIP! – when leaving the car park.

I don’t see why OS can’t retain OS grid ref datum in blue, and maybe add WGS84 in purple

Can I request two colours that are significantly different rather than just shades of the same? 😀

Full suss bikes are great fun but for most trail centres a hardtail is possibly more appropriate…

…unless your local trail centre is Cannock where the breaking bumps will shatter your spine on a hard tail 😀

Both. They’re all the same big happy family. Having had a look I can confirm the MBUK review is just an abridged version of the WMB review on Bike Radar.

It’ll be on the BikeRadar site eventually

Now in fact

http://www.bikeradar.com/mtb/gear/category/frames/mountain-bike/product/review-pyga-industries-oneten29-14-48762/%5B/url%5D

yes. September issue, page 52

In recent issues of mags like MBUK I’ve noticed that shortish travel 29ers are making a bid for “best all rounder”. Basically the industry will tell us what the best all-rounder is and the brands will all clammer to fill that market. You will therefore have a huge choice of bikes to test-ride so you can then buy the one that you enjoy riding the most.

Personally I think more than 150mm suspension is unnecessary for the riding you describe, but I would go full suss.

[EDIT] – I have a 26er Transition Bandit with 140mm fork and 130mm at the back. It is the perfect compromise for the Peak District and trail centre riding I do; not too ponderous on the ups and more capable than me on the downs. Do I sometimes want something lighter and more responsive on the climbs? Yes. Do I sometimes want something burlier on the downs? Yes.

I think the Bandit has the sweet spot for me, but I’m sure there are other bikes as good if not better now.

The video made me want to go ride my bike

+1

“Siri, what song is this?”

as more and more apps are splitting off in function-specific apps (I’m looking at you Facebook/Messenger and Google Drive/Apps) it’s great to know I can at least delete an app now. Bye bye Shazam.

Asking people if they want to activate a feature they probably can’t use is a bit silly

To be fair, the update does very clearly tell you it won’t work unless you’re on Yosemite.

Oh, here’s another handy feature that I will definitely use. Shazam is built into Siri. Ask Siri “What song is this?” 😀

Favourite new iOS8 feature based on my 2 minute play? Finally – FINALLY – you can add emergency contact info (and blood type, allergies etc) to your medical ID that can be accessed from the lock screen.

Do you have an iPhone? If you just want to play with chest-mounted footage, a cheap(er) way to do it is to get a chest mount for your iPhone. I’ve done this for skiing and mountain biking.

…there’s no way I’m trusting everything to someone else’s infrastructure…
…As it happens, most of the time I’m listening to 6Music

Erm… 😯 😆

^lol. I’m a big fan of the beef and stilton pie 😀

Not sure what you are after but the Royal Oak at Hurdlow is next to the High Peak Trail, does amazing food and has a bunkhouse as well.

As someone who has stayed at the Royal Oak and Barn Farm in Birchover, the Birchover campsite wins hands-down for kids. No contest. The food at the Royal Oak is great and it is directly on the High Peak Trail, but it’s not a terribly inspiring campsite.

Easy. Barn Farm at Birchover. It’s a really good site with great facilities and is in a village with 2 eating pubs. Loads of interesting countryside to explore nearby including the caves above the Druid Inn and Robin Hood’s Stride a short walk away.

Linky

Now, in the real world, on real trails, drops are much more complex than the typical “roll straight in and out” drops used for coaching

More complex or just more intimidating?

Having spent quite a bit of time practising drops in the local quarry near my old house as well as various man-made obstacles including 6 foot ladder drops, this weekend I found myself approaching a drop that was just a touch too big to roll. The approach was a bit rooty and slippy and the landing was a bit rocky. I stopped, got off my bike, had a look and nearly talked myself out of attempting it. I then slapped myself round the face a bit and remembered that I knew what to do and had done it many times before. It was easy. I assume this is the coaching bit rather than the skills bit. I had the skills, but needed to coach myself into doing it.

I was expecting a better punchline

I live “up the road” in the Staffordshire Moorlands. There is some good riding around me, but the network of trails doesn’t really open up until you get a bit further into the Peak District, but it’s still pretty close to Stone. There is some cracking stuff well worth an hour’s drive.

FWIW I love Cannock and sometimes drive there to ride instead of riding more locally in the Moorlands. Sometimes it’s nice to have a quick blast on purpose built trails.

those who rave and rant about his greatness (if this is you, you might want to stop reading now) were pretty damn useless at riding a bicycle.

I’ve often wondered if that’s the case 😆

If Jedi was nearer to me I’d put my money where my mouth is and try for myself. Since he’s a good 6 hour round trip away from me, I want to be absolutely sure it’s going to be worthwhile. I don’t think there is any way I can be that sure.

Money back guarantee? 😉

No one is naming the coaches

OK, for what it’s worth, I went with Great Rock to Delamere forest. Nigel Page did most of the instruction with Ed assisting, but it was very much a case of:

1. talk about what you’re supposed to do
2. Have Ed/Nige demo
3. Have a go yourself
4. Receive feedback on what could be done better/worse

I just felt that the group was too big for me to get a lot out of it, although watching Nige and Ed’s young lad launch a huge gap jump was impressive. This was a few years ago.

I think my expectations might have been too high

it’s not like you can do it in someones living room like the Piano teacher scenario.

People will still travel for good piano tuition even if someone else can provide it more locally.

I actually quite like the idea of having “MTB lessons”. There’s a wood near me with some berms and jumps. Any volunteers? I can pay in beer and cake 😀

… then something is very wrong with your life….

Judging by the traffic on the roads every morning and every evening, spending significant time in a car is a part of many people’s lives. It’s a huge sweeping statement to suggest their choice is “very wrong”

The idea that the level of excitement in our lives is somehow dependent on the car we drive is pretty pathetic.

I agree.

I disagree. Surely life is all about making the most of everything you do. If a huge part of your life is spent behind the wheel of a car why would you not strive to make that experience stimulating and enjoyable. It doesn’t preclude doing all the other stuff that makes life worth living.

I drive an MPV 😆

I’ve had a group course and was a little disappointed with what I got out of it. The main thing it taught me was confidence rather than specific techniques. Certainly I got absolutely nothing out of being one of a dozen or so pupils trying to pump through some lumps in a “show and tell” teaching style. Frustrating.

My 5 year old lad has group swimming lessons. During the summer holiday a lot of the kids did not attend so it was often just him and 2 others. His swimming came on loads in that small group and even he recognises and tells us a big group is no good.

I will be paying for 1 on 1 or a VERY small group if I ever go on a skills course again

Lezyne Micro Drive. Everyone who sees mine is impressed by it although some find it too bright to follow.

not surprised as they are usually a crash/crumple zone

I hear this said a lot, but – as an owner of a VW Sharan – I’d feel safer with my kids in the 3rd row of that than the back seats of something tiny like a Toyota Aygo.

PS the Sharan is an ace 7 seater. The middle row is 3 full sided adult seats and even the 3rd row are more than just kid seats.