Think it’s past the “flash in the pan” stage, but still very much media led – you don’t see too many out on the trails. I think 2012 will be make-or-break year for the mainstream.

I love my Scandal 29er and when I’m back in the market for a new FS rig will definitely look at 29ers as well as 26ers.

Try a few and see if you like them.

Tour is free to watch everywhere. Don’t see how they will make money on this – could it be more about crowd safety than anything else?

TandemJeremy – Member

Stu_N – Member
=1 for FarmerJohn. There’s a market for people who want to/ are able to run huge multinationals, and if you don’t pay a market rate you won’t get someone suitable to do the job.

Hester won’t be at RBS for the money

am I the only one to see the illogical nature of this? We have to pay the market rate to attract these people but he is not in it for the money?[/quote]

It’s not illogical. He could certainly do better elsewhere but presumably wants the challenge he is getting at RBS to make it “safe” and turn it around into a package that can be refloated (both metaphorically and literally).

To take on that, he will have agreed to be paid a market rate, which in that market is a package that has a fixed element and a significant bonus element. The challenge of the job is presumably the motivator, but reward has to be right – and in line with what has been agreed at the outset. It’s probably not the issue of pay per se that would make Hester leave, more the breakdown of trust in that he is not getting what he signed up for but has delivered what he has signed up to do.

1/4 of the banks profits in bonuses. how is that justifiable? This money should be goin gto the taxpayers who own most of the bank

What’s your source for that TJ?

+1 for FarmerJohn. There’s a market for people who want to/ are able to run huge multinationals, and if you don’t pay a market rate you won’t get someone suitable to do the job. Hester won’t be at RBS for the money – there are undoubtedly other jobs out there with less media scrutiny and public interference for the same/ more money.

How you influence the market rate is an entirely separate question from how you pay the chief exec of what still is one of the world’s biggest banks, and something that IMO needs to be tackled, but making a pariah out of someone who has come in to refloat a sunken ship isn’t going to help.

Imagine if he was a postal worker / teacher / tube driver and his employer told him he wasn’t going to get what they’d agreed to pay him. All the lefties would be up in arms.

Yep, like they were over public sector pensions…is changing a banker’s reward package via contractual bonus really much different from changing a public sector worker’s reward package via pension rights?

If you’re on XT then easy enough to swap pads so I’d go for “lots of cheap pads” as the killer option, probably resin ones. Bed them in now so they are good to go. It’s well worth taking plenty of spares, if you see the price of brake pads in Morzine you’ll weep…

Anyway aren’t you worrying about this a bit prematurely – presumably you’re going to the Alps in summer?

Here’s mine.

[/url]
Dalbeattie – Soul at Heart Cleft Stane[/url] by Stu_N[/url], on Flickr

Bought August 2007, 4,000 miles later I is still loving it. (actualy 3,969 miles!)

Perfect morning for me. 20 miles, 90% offroad. Ground still frozen but air above freezing, and as it was so dry when it froze at the weekend, no huge worries about black ice. Set off in darkness and rode through the sunrise into work. The sun, mist and clouds worked together to exaggerate the scale of the Pentlands so they looked like a proper mountain range, and the half frozen canal was confusing the ducks and coots.

Sadly it’s stayed above freezing so probably a pretty sloppy run home tonight. But still, it’s better than getting the bus!

For a quick up-and-down, Avoriaz would be good. Basically up the road to Avoriaz – it’s about an 800m climb – then either back down the same way, or hang a right and drop down the Joux Verte via Les Lindarets and Montriod.

A good half-day loop would be Morzine – Col d’Encrinaz (road round the back of Mont Chery to Pont du Gets then the back road down to Taninges. This keeps you off the D902 via Les Gets but is a bit hilly. You then head up the Giffre Valley to Samoens and up over the Col de la Joux Plan, which drops you back into Morzine to finish. Cols don’t come much harder than the Joux Plan; it’s steep, unrelenting, hot (south-facing) and has a pretty uneven gradient, and a long open pull at the top when you can see the restaurant at the top from a long way away. The descent into Morzine needs care; it’s steep, narrow with poor sight lines.

The Ramaz is probably the nicest col in that area; the ascent from Mieussy via Sommand is ace – starting from Morzine you could hit it from the Vallee Verte (loop round from above St-Jean d’Aups to Megevette then head towards Mieussy; you can pick up the main climb above Mieussy and then come back over the Encrinaz. I think that’s the longest of the loops. Ramaz from the Pont du Gets side (via Pras de Lys) would be horrible I reckon; it’s steep and in the trees for a lot of it.

Hope that helps.

Aye, the clip in mechanism is proud of the body of the pedal on the Z-series; won’t really work with flat-soled shoes in the way platform Shimano SPD pedals do.

Depends how far away your shops are, really…

It’s the New Year’s Resolution crew you have to watch. Riding in yesterday I had 3 people on my wheel at the bottom of a hill – and I was wanting an easy day, but I went for it cos I had to fly the flag for the year round rider.

By the time I got to the top I had 7….all on Boardmans, natch.

:-D

Stu, extra rotational weight for the Etape du Embankment?

I’ve never cycled it, but I don’t believe it’s any more than a Cat 2 climb – even going upriver against a spring tide.

Only for Schraeder, IIRC.

Yeah, but presta-schrader adaptors are very cheap.

Think outside the box…

The Exposure pattern of a bright flash from a steady background is very, very visible and very easy to follow IME. (Speaking both as a bikeist and a driver.) Flash and Flare do that as do the more expensive lights.

TBC – do you have, or can you get hold of, a demo ASR-5? (serious Q, not tyre-kicking – happy to go to email if you’d rather)

Well put geetee1972.

TJ – plenty of people who work for listed companies have shares in them, not just senior management. We have a family friend who worked for Bank Of Scotland for 30 years as branch staff then later as a branch “troubleshooter”.

He’d put money into shares most of his working life, and held a large part of his wealth as HBOS shares when he retired in 2008. You can probably work the rest out – he’s not having the retirement he had hoped for.

TandemJeremy – Member

Why do bonuses get given in shares – to avoid tax.

Or you could look at it another way – why are tax reliefs available for share-based payments that are not available for cash payments?

There’s not a lot of tourist attractions as such – Callanish is well worth a visit – but loads of wild land, beaches, lochs, mountains and wildlife. Second Stuartie_C’s recommendations for beaches.

Yes, good biking. A web search should find some MTB stuff. Just had a quick rummage and can’t find anything; MBR did a big feature with 3 routes in it c.2003 if you can find that you’ll be good.

Something else to note is that the Sabbath is a serious business on Lewis and Harris; assume absolutely nothing will be open and you’ll be about right.

Some chat on Passat vs Touran here, might be helpful.

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/vw-passat-or-touran-or-octavia-estate

Central Scotland (as you might guess from the news…)

Based on Murr’s numbers (cheers for them)

5 posts = 35 quid
5 bags post-crete = 30 quid
6 rails = 28 quid
60 slats = 60 quid
plus a big bag of nails, a couple of hinges and a bolt.

So about 150 – 170 in materials

Maybe half a day’s work for someone with the kit, the skillz and a nail gun = 100-150 quid?

Anyone?

unless you need a fence right now, I’d wait

We don’t have that option, unless we want to have no back fence for months…

There’s no existing “good wood” – was an old larchlap fence. Looking for a complete replacement – new posts and everything. One of the post sockets was loose anyway and shored up with bricks after Bawbag and another had been half-arsedly repaired by me with some leftover mortar a couple of years ago.

I was considering DIY as I knew it needed done, but it’s not going to happen in the next couple of weeks so need to get a man in.

Have never looked at a Touran, but if it’s anything like similar shaped cars it’s harder to pack the boot to full volume in a useable way.

Looked at Octavia and Passat (2007ish models) and went for a Passat. Load space was the killer, plus the Passat was a 170PS engine :-)

The Passat is, despite the similar numbers, a lot bigger in practice. It’s maybe a foot longer but a smidge narrower with seats down and has a lot more cubbyholes that maybe don’t count in the official measurements. For example you can get 2 wheels in the space between edge of seats and rear doors with back seats down. I don’t _think_ the seats in the Octavia go completely flat either (but not 100% on that).

We get two people, 4 bikes (2 road, 2 MTB), 3 weeks’ kit (2 x large holdalls, 2 x overnight bags and 2x crates) plus camelbaks, walking kit, toolbox and small box of spares in there with ease. Then we have space to bring back maybe 80 bottles of wine as well :-S.

The “10 cases” year was a bit of a squeaky bum time packing the car, and even more so coming off the ferry, but it went (just).

EDIT: Just read paul4stones post – the parking brake has gone wrong on mine twice in 3 1/2 years. Fortunately under warranty both times. Handling isn’t too bad but you know it’s a big car if that makes sense. Very seriously considering a Mondeo next, vast, good to drive and they do one with the engine out a Focus ST in it too…

Stanley knife FTW – Nigel Slater says so it must be right.

Stanley is much easier to control depth of cut than a cook’s knife, and a new stanley blade is sharper than a sharp cook’s knife as the blades are disposable so don’t need a sustainable edge.

235/45 R17

If I had a twatcar I wouldn’t mind so much, but it’s won “Towcar of the year”, which is hardly Rock’n’Roll credentials.

Yeah, but that is laying down 1,000 brake, and to someone that can buy a Veyron that will be small change.

Having driven a 1.0l automatic Opel Corsa to here on powder snow and sheet ice with winter tyres, I am convinced of the benefits of winter tyres. It was, in places, a granny ring climb on an MTB. And I went on my hoop when I stepped out the car after parking it.

For UK, I rely on my gf having a car that works ok on snow, and living 30 mins walk of a railway station and a bus terminus that will get me to work. We also have remote access that is OK. I missed 2 days work last year because of the snow and ice, and we had what is meteorogically known as “shitloads” of it.

Morzine/Les Gets is (comparatively) limited for the “off-piste” stuff.

BikeVillage are ace. Been twice, will return. The quality of the singletrack they know is exceptional. (White Room operate in the same area and sensible people speak highly of them.)

Samoens is ace, if you are prepared to take some road climb hurt on the Joux Plan side, even “in season”. Plenty of lift assisted greatness on the Samoens 1600/ Morillon side, but the best trails are on the Joux Plan side. We had an amazing week there at the end of October – saw no-one and trails super-buff. No lifts, loads of climbing but the shizzle when it came to descents. Tourist Office MTB map + IGN 25k map + legs and imagination will go far.

That said, we are going Beaufortain next year for sure.

Ace. I wondered if he was an actual professor too. Seems terribly young for one so learned.

Ordered Thurs 1 Dec (evening). Dispatched Fri by 1st class, arrived Tues 6 Dec. So not too bad. CRC seem to being doing their stuff but RM are a bit slow at the moment.

I accidentally sent my mum a text asking after C*nt Cathy.

I must use c*nt more than aunt, and so it corrects to that instead of aunt.

Orange has voice and GPRS data, Vodafone has nowt at Hub (RIP). 02 patchy voice and data. Don’t think Peebles is on 3G yet.

Sounds so like our Star. She was 11, dark coat long haired Shepherd. Heart problem (probably a tumour), basically same symptoms you describe. We let her go the day before Bonfire Night a 4 years ago. She hated fireworks.

If you’re anything like us you’ll miss her desperately, but make sure you remember you’ve obviously done your best for her all her life, and kept with that to the end. RIP Rex.

Stayed in the Premier Inn on George St on Friday night, was through west for a gig. Not fancy, but clean, comfortable, quiet-ish and very central. And the clincher for us, £39 a night.

Should be able to work out from the “development history” on the Soul page:

http://www.cotic.co.uk/product/soul

Tracks the tweaks to the Mk1 Soul (mine is Spring 2007 I think – 73mm but PITA dropouts). The Mk2 came in abour 2010.

Aye, a fine slice. Some straight away, then your proper lunch, then plenty left for afters.

BTW because venison is inherently slightly sweet, wines with a lot of Syrah/ Shiraz, Mouvedre or Merlot in them totally flatter the meat and the wine. Anything Cab Sauv led with bugger the meat and the wine. We’ve done loads of research into this 8-S

Assuming it is wild red deer, then use the very best cuts (fillet/ silverside/ topside) like you would good beef. Go for a fuller red to go with them.

Haunch etc make great casseroles. Google Delia Smith’s Venison with Madeira and chestnuts, that is an amazing dish. Lamb recipies work well with the “on the bone” – e.g. shanks, but turn the oven down 20-30C and add 30-50% to cooking time.

The crappy bits of wild venison have loads of flavour but are a tad difficult to digest. Turn them into stock and you have an amazing base for gravy/ pie juice or game soup.

Roe is more delicate, so treat more like lamb than beef.

Assuming there are no obvious large leaks, sounds like air is oozing out the sidewalls.

If it holds air for long enough to do so, go for a pedal. A 10 min ride should whizz the jizz round the inside of the tyre and seal all the gaps up.

If it won’t be rideable, brush soapy water over the outside, pump it up and check nothing is coming out at the bead. If that’s OK do the Stan’s Shake – basically hold the wheel horizontally and swirl it about so the latex coats the sidewall, flip it over and do same to other side, repeat until it stays up. You should see the air leaks as bubbles or white ooze on the outside of the tyre. If you can get it to a point it holds enough air to ride, then go for a 10 min spin and should sort it out.

(EDIT – if it’s “tubeless ready” – eg Bonty or Specialised 2bliss it will need sealant; normal UST ones don’t. IME once it’s set up it should be grand either way.)