Has his ban just stopped him driving to work, or has he been sacked for having a conviction that led to him being disqualified from driving?

Getting 4 speeding tickets in 3 years isn’t just bad luck, it’s got to be a blatant disregard for speed limits. It’s hard to be sympathetic – if you’re on 9 points and another one means loss of livelihood then surely the sensible thing to do it make sure you don’t speed, or take risks on traffic lights with cameras, or use your mobile while driving or do anything, anywhere, that could get you another 3 points?

I voted – for the first time ever I nearly didn’t – but wanted to do my bit increase the denominator (which I can influence) so the effect of the BNP bit of the numerator (which I can’t) is diminished.

I don’t think we can be complacent with a PR system – you only need about 12% of voters to vote for a party and you end up with an MEP for your region. Half the population are stupider than average, so you only need only 1 in 4 of the stupids to vote BNP and you’ve got yourself an MEP for 5 years.

Not sure what you’re trying to achieve.

If you’re trying to add up a block of cells the function is

=SUM(A1:A2)

If you then add a row between 1 and 2, the function should update to SUM(A1:A3).

If you want to sum a set of numbers up to a given row, use =SUM($A$1:A2) then paste or fill into cells. The $ makes it a fixed reference; default is a relative reference to the position of the cell in the formula.

In cell B1
– if you use $A1 it tells Excel to pull the number from Column A in the row above
– if you use A$1 it will pull the number in row one from whatever column you put the reference into
– if you use $A$1 it will always return the value for cell A1

You can use =SUM($A$1:A2) in, say B2 and then it will fill into B3 as SUM($A$1:A3), int B4 as ($A$1:A4) etc
– if you put

Mojo or TF with do a shock with a reduced stroke for you.

160mm Float 36s, 200×50 shock and XC hole are the sweet spots for my Prophet MX

If you put a 190×45 shock on it that takes it down to 120mm travel (this was the shock that was used on the Prophet SL model – only difference between it and standard Prophet).

You’re better phoning Garmin – number is on website – they do a good telephone support process and if they can’t cure it that way the returns process is pretty quick, basically as soon as they get your unit in they send you a reconditioned one by return (then I guess deal with the one you sent in).

If it’s warranty it’s free, if not it’s a flat rate. I got an Edge 305 that was well out of warranty fixed for £65 so a 205 should be a bit cheaper. The repair has a 12 month warranty on it IIRC.

Yes, lots of good advice here. Cheap red is generally more drinkable than cheap white, and it’s hard to see the sense in spending much less than a fiver a bottle for reasons others have gone into.

I love my local Oddbins (well, local to work) – great staff, not had a bad bottle from them yet and plenty of good advice along the lines of “if you like this, try that”. Majestic are good as well, but only sell wine by the case so it’s more of a commitment and less of a “pop in at lunchtime and see what’s what”.

Another idea is to get hold of Oz Clarke’s annual “250 best wines” book – had some scorchers from there over the past 6 months.

100 :-)

Yes – not the best band ever. Was like a live version of Fraser’s Dad Rock Album, played on some speakers that had been dragged behind a car then chucked in a swimming pool. And the singer was doing some fairly dubious dancing, you have to agree.

Crazy pyro bloke was good though. Oh yeah!

More than I wanted to know about the state of your Flag of Japan, Ant! Good effort there.

48.45 and 48.28 for Andy B. Wondered why he had 2 x 4 hour laps and 2 x 48 minuters!

Looks like I was far from the only HEAT FAIL. 75 out of 176 solos, and 41 out of 88 senior men. Solid top half performance (big up to me!).

I reckon it’s nearer 10 miles than 7 but the main A86 is pretty much flat. Doesn’t carry a huge amount of traffic so wouldn’t be that unpleasant to ride on (considering its status as a Primary Route).

A nicer route that isn’t much longer would be to go the Sustrans route down the B9150, onto the offroad path to the Glentruim road and pick up the A889 for a mile or two.

There’s a cyclepath on the S side of the A86 after the junction with the A889 at Drumgask Farm – not sure how you get onto it but it certainly runs all the way to Wolftrax.

boxelder, results usually take a couple of days – if they aren’t up by tomorrow evening I’d be very surprised.

Hobo – My Edge made first lap 27.4km and a “normal” lap 18.4km with 360m of ascent. Pretty much the same as Stuartie then.

well done trailrat and mr_stru on the laps, very impressive. I ran out of fluid on the big climb on lap 2 – 1 hour of riding with no liquid going in pretty much did me in for the day. Should have checked how much was left after prologue + lap one, easy to say that now though.

Didn’t do the drop. Didn’t realise it was an option until several laps in then didn’t seem the time to be giving new stuff a go when I didn’t have to. Proudest moment was riding the tricky corner right at the end of the final lap (coming off the Berminator) :-)

Bob hard luck, I feel your pain. Too much water can be a bad thing. Electrolyte energy drink or Nuun tablets are the way to go.

If you’re heading up late on Friday then this is worth knowing (saw the variable message signs on the road coming home today).

http://www.trafficscotland.org/plannedroadworks/details.aspx?id=277703

Managed 5 laps solo. Heat FAIL.

Hot and sunny. Still, good event despite start line congestion and the dubious dancing from the band’s lead singer. Big up to the Manchester Company Of Extreme Largeness and his mad thong-clad pyromania.

Pretty good course though not quite as good as in previous years I don’t think. Felt like a lot more climbing but GPS says last year was 350m per lap and this year 360m so basically the same. Never quite felt like we got the value back on descents so maybe that was it? Sad to see the demise of The Wall as well, loved that bit of trail in both directions.

Good banter on the course as ever and absolutely no issues with passing or being passed. Usual excellent No Fuss Swan Style organisation and big thanks to all the helpers and marshalls. Top event – bring on Kirroughtree!

ps trail_rat – your lighting board isn’t working properly – check the earth!

Favourite albums are definitely the older ones – Boy, Under a Blood Red Sky, Joshua Tree, Rattle and Hum and Achtung Baby (Which was 1992 – so 17 years ago! ****!)

Never really got War, Pop and Zooropa. Everything since has been a bit iffy, though I does likes No Line On The Horizon (but not a patch on the older stuff).

They are one of the few bands for whom I have every album but perhaps they should stop now. Once bands stop wanting women and money and fast cars they loose the hunger and turn into a pale imitation of their former glory. And that is a SCIENCE FACT.

Yep. Solo. Again.

Hopefully on a Blue Rush with Lefty (“hopefully” because currently certain crucial bits are in the postal system. Eeeek.)

Metcheck looks just about perfect. If we all believe _really_ hard then should be OK. Last year was hotter than the West Highlands has any right to be so hoping for a bit cooler than that.

Mr Stru – yep, pretty much muddy as in “trail centre muddy”. Almost all of the course holds up really well in anything, they usually chuck in a few short natural bits to keep the spice levels up and they get a bit gooey if it rains (which it hasn’t done since 10UTB 2006 I don’t think) but we’re not looking at Catton Park or Malverns Muck.

I always thought Menstrie Cycles would be a good name for a female specific bike shop or brand.

If anyone is considering going A9 to Nevis Range there’s major roadworks with single lane running on the A9 at Bankfoot (between Perth and Dunkeld). Can very easily queue for 20 minutes to get through there.

Probably not an awful lot in it but I’d usually go via Stirling and Callander – avoids going through the middle of The Weege and also the slow bit of road between Tarbert and Crianlarich (though the bit from Callander to Lochearnhead is equally slow I suppose).

You’ll need to find out to get the right rings.

XT rings won’t fit the M960 ones (first Hollotech II gloss dark grey colour) and the ones before that (M952, a matt browny grey colour that ran on a specific splined bottom bracket) had special chainrings as well.

Not sure about the latest M970 (external bearings, polished silver faces on crankarms and dark grey anodised elsewhere).

What generation of XTR cranks? They are pretty much all different.

Cooroo – you never asked about that one! (though haven’t ever been on it)

druidh – been there, done that today. Very good apart from the section into the wind from Gladhouse Resr to the main Peebles road, and the bit off the top of the Meldons down to the Tweed. Both hard grinds despite being mostly downhill. Granites climb (up Leithen Water) was a piece of piss though, no doubt again due to wind again!

Running Air Pikes with travel reduced to about 130mm.

Had some old TALAS on there originally, then some Revelations. Revelations were pretty good but a game of Fork Chess ended up with the Pikes on there which are even better. It’s really quite hilarious.

No pics of Soul + PIKES though.

Cooroo – don’t do it. Worst Bridleway ever (and I’ve been on a few contenders for that title). There’s signs saying “deep bogs not recommended for horses”. I did it about 5 years ago (going S to N), wondering how bad it could be. It’s bad. Very bad. A long, nasty carry through head-high peat hags. You’re far better going on to High Row, down the road and then picking up whichever C2C route appeals most to get to Threkeld. Now please promise me you won’t do it, or I’ll worry all of tomorrow!

We’re going Edinburgh – Innerleithen and back on the road bikes. Should be a nice day for it.

If it is a gift then basically what Ed2001 says. Gift won’t attract inheritance tax but if your mum dies within 7 years it could be taxable, or will come off the “nil rate band” that determines what she can leave tax-free.

If it’s a straight loan and you’re paying her the capital back with interest there shouldn’t be any tax complications but would be worth speaking to a solicitor to get a loan agreement drawn up; lots of reasons doing this such as setting out what happens on death of you or your mother, ensuring it is properly structured as a loan and your mother doesn’t end up as part-owner of your house or something unforeseen, and just to cover practicalities in case you fall out or whatever.

if it’s something in between a loan and gift then probably worth speaking to solicitor as well for both tax and practical reasons.

Well the Record did get some stuff right by the looks of things.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/tayside_and_central/8059601.stm

Oh, and one more point – all these cafes and pubs who are losing trade – where the **** are they?

When I rode the route in early May last year (not as part of the event, I must add) there was nowt between Kinlochrannoch and Fortingal Hotel – even the Caravan park on the hill road was shut.

Course probably runs fine either way in theory but has to go anticlockwise in practice.

If you went the other way the start would be up the narrow singletrack road on the west side of the river to Logierait which would be a complete bottleneck with 3,500 people. Also the finish would mean closing the access onto and off the A9 at the top end of Pitlochry which would make getting out of Pitlochry to go north difficult (currently it’s the access to and from the A9 at the south end of town that is shut, and that’s to and from the south only). Also the event would shut down Rannoch and Strathtummel for a while (at the moment it’s at the start of the route so “open” again by 10am – there isn’t an alternatve route in and out). The way things stand the locals from Kinlochrannoch back to Pitlochry are back in action from 10am and you can get in and out of Aberfeldy all day anyway.

One change the organisers could easily make is to omit the loop through Fortingal (which cuts off access to traffic for Fortingal and the whole of Glen Lyon). IMO that section doesn’t really add anything much to the route other than a few extra miles; it’s not especially scenic as you’re in the trees for most of it and would be an easy concession for the organisers to make.

If they did that the only people outside Pitlochry itself who would be affected for more than a couple of hours would be the small numbers living on the section of route between Kinlochrannoch and the Tay, and the slightly larger population living on the north side of the Tay.

To put some perspective on this, I’m pretty sure the total population on the route for the 60 miles or so between Kinlochrannoch and Pitlochry would be less than the number of people riding, and at worst they can’t drive on the road for 3 or 4 hours on a Sunday morning anyway.

There’s a couple of press releases on the website now.

http://www.etapecaledonia.co.uk/

Strangely, I’m quite keen on riding it next year, hadn’t been that bothered until now.

We had a dog like most of those featuring in this thread. Basically would go for anything that she didn’t like the look of – children, bikes and (particularly) other dogs.

There was one place we would let her off the lead – middle of a park, where you could see for about 200m in all directions. Rest of the time it’s lead before she goes out and stays on until she’s back in the house. Only time we ever had a problem was when the buckle on her lead snapped as she lunged at her nemesis Westie. Wrestling a 35kg German Shepherd to the ground isn’t as easy as you’d think, especially when she’s on a mission. You can see why the Polis use them.

In short, if you can’t trust the dog, it should stay on the lead.

After a string of flats in Edinburgh (standard Spesh Borough tyres – the Armadillo ones are apparently much better) I’ve gone for some Conti Top Tourings in 28mm width, which are allegedly as near to punctureproof as a pneumatic tyre can get.

They are heavy (500g or something) but seem to roll fast once up to speed and as I have a couple of offroadlite sections didn’t want a pure slick like the Gatorskin.

So far so good, but they only went on last night so any other conclusion would be terribly disapppointing!

Local Offroad Big Loop on Saturday.

Calders, Pentlands, Water of Leith, Stoorie Brae, Crammond, tea and cake at Craigie Farm (mmmmcake!) and back via Ratho and canal. 45 miles or so, almost all offroad.

Who says riding around Edinburgh is all Pentlands-shaped? Cos they are wrong!

A couple of brief showers, including one 10 mins from home so I couldn’t cut the lawn when I got in (so sad….had to put me feets up instead).

I did a search for flights but for all of us would be approx £750!!

How many kids do you have? If it comes to it, decide how many kids you can afford to take and then pick your favourites and take them.

Sorted.

:D

Good luck chaps. Can’t be worse weather than Bealach Beag.

IMO no point going for mudguards, if you run them you’ll get covered in other people’s spray anyway so might as well not bother.

trailmonkey – Member

Flash, I think you may find that the joke’s on you here.
I’d say that the Mash are having a dig at the bloodlust irrationality of the masses, not at snout in the trough MP’s.

That’s the beauty of the Mash though. It works on so many different levels.

I still think my all time favourite is the Hudson River crash story.

white101, insurance is a must – doesn’t necessarily have to be a policy for that car, a lot of policies cover you to drive another vehicle 3rd party only. If you check your policy for the company car you might be in luck though obviously if you bend it you still need to fix your own!

You can drive to a pre-booked MOT appointment without a current MOT, I suppose you should must be able to do so without tax as well as you can’t get a tax disc without an MOT.

DISCLAIMER: “Some bloke on the internet said I could do it, your honour” is not currently an acceptable defence in a court of law.

Nope. Fair comment.