London Metropolitan university, OP.

DezB – Member
do the research by google chat for super anonymity if they prefer.

I dunno whether to laugh or cry.
:-)

I wonder if the name of the forum somehow caused the post?

I do feel slightly nervy showing the name of the website “Singletrack” in the office. Do people perhaps think I’m on a dating site? Hmm!

On and on: big lol at the last one with the finger touching the finish line! Damn!

Higgo: took a while to understand what I was looking at there. Painful.

“Lie on your side and pull your knees up, and cough please. And again please”

*this feels strange*

Cougar
I wouldn’t hold you’re breathe.

Fixed.

Compared to my “coast to coast” Whitehaven to Newcastle – this is epic on so many many more levels.

I still hate hills though.

One of the first things I heard when moving to Newcastle and the pig ugly parking lot in Gateshead.

“Yeah it was in Get Carter”.
-Sly STALLONE shot that in Newcastle????

There seems to be an exponential rise in the “would of” instead of “would have”, mostly in the last 6-12 months? I both hear it, but also see it in writing.

Is there a particular commoner responsible for spreading this or is it more systematic? Reality TV? Facebook?

Fox Launch Pro. I’ve got knee pads, and they are ace. Got elbox pads too, ace.

I bought some 661 long arm pads but found them too large and sweaty and I ended up not wearing them, bought fox launch pro elbow pads there too and truly I don’t get bothered by them.

The only niggle on one of my knee pads is that after 4 hours riding it grinds slightly on the middle of my knee cap at the front, don’t know if I’ve managed to bash them slightly or something or if the knee slightly swells up after longer rides like that. Apart from that, ace, don’t get bothered by them.

Ive got an inov8 bumbag that can hold a bladder. Really good one, waterproof pocket on the left sise and a mesh pocket on the right, zipped. Main compartment sepatated from bladder and easily holds jacket, tools, sarnie etc.

I use it for quick after work rides and such.

oliverd1981 – Member
Matt – if you’re going past McDonalds you’re going the wrong way! instead of tuning left in blackihll and following the road you should go straight over, past Blackhill club and then over the fell to the Grove and pick the c2c up at Lydgetts junction.

There’s some nice cheeky singletrack from the top up Pontop pike to Hamsterley mill

Ooooh…:)

Have you checked under your car when it’s parked to see if there are oil stains? If there are not, and it’s a petrol engine – and it’s running rough, it sounds like oil is getting into the combustion.

1. Gasket issue
2. Cylinder issue – did you buy it new or second hand. If second hand, botched engine replacement/refurbishment?

Visio *shiver*

This programme needs to be nuked from every organisation.

oooooo: We probably frequent other forums. HPC?

[/quote]wwaswas – Member
one of your rotor bolts has no thread lock on it.

I always found with my kids when they were young that what the present cost didn;t matter – if it was bigger than they were then they were impressed. I suspect we’re often the same as adults.

It does, it’s just the reflection :P

The North Face has got some some of Pertex thing with mesh at the back and front and arms but I’m unsure what material it is.

I don’t think the mesh would make you any wetter than the sweat build up. Or maybe that’s just me trying to rationalize it so I can buy it….

I’ve got a Mavic Creek with some very nifty bike specific features.

The front zip is actually a two layered zip. If you zip both up, it’s totally wterproof. Unzip the outer layer and it opens up an inch wide mesh at the front (as far down as you want it by pulling the zipper up or down).

It’s got underarm pits.
The back expands with two vertical zips on each side of the back, which means you can wear your thin cambelback etc underneath the jacket as opposed to above it (if you got a sweaty back like me, having it under is much nicer). These backzips basically just works as an expander, so it doesn’t open up into your body…ehnm…so to speak.

This however only does go on when it pours down. I’m looking at something in between when it’s raining lightly (which will get you wet in the end) but you don’t want the very warm sweaty feeling of a proper hardshell.

I lurvs mine. Pricey though.

Tonyd: amen, again.

1. I got brain ache from watching that.
2. Please tell me he’s not doing that on a hardtail?

I know quite a few coppers. This does not surprise me the least.

Terrible culture of covering their colleagues back. Truly. I’ve heard some horrendous examples.

Marmite isn’t the sickests thing. The sickest thing is that brew based on oxe or cow? Bovril it’s called! And VINEGAR on chips.

Like jesus.

oliverd1981: I do the Derwent run quite often, starting in Gateshead/Blaydon. I always think “Ah I’ll reach the cafe soon” when hitting Consett. Don’t know why my brain retards every time I pass that Mcd.

Cool map, some brands are missing though mind. Quite a few actually. Heh.

tonyd: well spoken.

I think I need to do a two week equivalent in the UK or something. Then when I grow up (turn 40) – do Europe for two weeks.

How do you square stuff like that with wives is the main question. And when you have kids I suspect it gets….eh…a bit harder.

Shit!

I actually just had a business idea. Ooo.

I dug a 2 meter long “trench” that was a foot wide and maybe half a foot deep infront of my garage.

It was mud and rock. This was on Saturday, my back muscles and back of my legs still hurt :)

It must be a lengthy process to dig stuff and creating trails. Respect.

Newcastle. I guess it’s fairly ideally placed between many trail centres and close to some more natural riding.

1.5 hours to Hamsterly?
1.5 hours to Kielder?
2 hours and a bit to Dalby?
2 hours and a bit to Glentress?

I don’t go out nearly enough. Need some non parent riding mates!

Berghaus freeflow 20 which is my everything – moon, sun, love.

Awesome if you are of the sweaty back variety. I also imagine, incorrectly perhaps, that the “bars” that create the space between my back and the backpack would protect me when I crash. I live on hope.

anagallis_arvensis: apologies, I should have written “not funded by the council” and not private sector.

What do you teach?

swedishmatt – Member
I wish Labour won the last election. Truly. They would have been stuck with this great unf-cuk and the population couldn’t blame anyone but the incompetents themselve

Don’t confuse my dislike of Labour for being a Tory supporter as a whole. No, they’re all fairly incompetent and constrained by getting elected again.

I wish Labour won the last election. Truly. They would have been stuck with this great unf-cuk and the population couldn’t blame anyone but the incompetents themselves.

Derekrides: Are you for real?

“I’ve always said, there’s no one like the Tories to really stick a recession to us steep and deep and saw this coming from the moment they got in, however they have been a tad silly here and there. They need Tax Receipts, putting vat up aint a way to increase Vat receipts in a recession, the other lot had a better idea dropping it to 15%, they should do that now if they want to kick things int action on the consumer front.
“

Do you not acknowledge that the coffers were run bare long before that, and that’s there’s something called a global economic crisis, that I know labour liked to say “that started in America”. Not at all acknowledging that they pretty much spent spent spent their way into massive debt.

anagallis_arvensis – Member
Sweddishmat do you have a point or have you just learnt to bold stuff.

Teamhurt more.. I believe heads are getting ready. We bave had 2 redundancies at our school and i dont think that due to not keeping an eye on the budget, I think its due to knowing what the future budget will be.
If you read the article properly, which you haven’t by the looks of things, you would see that there are not actually fewer teachers as a whole in the UK by 10.000 or whatever the figure was, but rather that there are fewer publically hired teachers, as more teachers are in the private sector in academies. So what you referred to as “cuts” aren’t quite that based on that article. Correct me if I’m wrong.

CaptJon – Member
swedishmatt – Member
4. Globalisation

yeah that’s a real lol one that isn’t it. I’ll let you stew on that. Think about it real hard.

anagallis_arvensis – Member
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-17840447

cuts what cuts?
A spokesman for the Department for Education said: “The main reason for the drop in teacher numbers is because local authorities do not need to directly employ as many teachers, because more schools are becoming academies.

Thanks Grum – yes, they will have an effect. But if I read you correctly, these are future cuts ie one’s that may do future harm, not current ones. So that may explain why spending may be cut in 2013. But that still leaves the question about how cuts have caused the current recession. Perhaps it something else altogether?

THM: stop being modest. You know some of the factors, if not most.

1. Reduction in credit – banks are not giving out mortgages and loans to anyone with a heart beat. They can’t because they have massive “investments” that aren’t actually worth what they lent against.
2. Most economies going down the drain due to (too much overspending and reliance on cheap credit as per point 1).
3. Increase in productivity in all we do
4. Globalisation
5. Property markets re-levelleing due to point 1, 2
6. Public sector wastage. Oh noes.

What is the solution? There are many, but they will all be painful :)

Grum: This professor said:

He said: “It is important to avoid this ‘sovereign risk’. But in my view Britain is a long way from such a threat, and the chancellor has exaggerated the sovereign risks that are threatening the country.”

BBC: “Fitch Ratings warned on Wednesday that it could downgrade the UK in the next few years if the government does not contain the level of public debt.”

That professor should shut up really. Muppet.

1. GDP is a shit crap measure. However, this is what is being used.
2. The UK borrows money. This leads to something called the deficit. All the years of deficits lead to a debt. The UK borrows this money from funds, banks and other sources. The UK pays interest on this money. The UK gets this money through selling government bonds. So people lend money to the UK, and the UK pays the bond holders a % of interest, called yield.
3. The UK officially has basically 4 trillion pounds in debt. Read the independent yesterday. This is several hundred % of GDP.

The UK is on a path that WILL lead to a Greece, Portugal, Italian and whichever basket case country you look at. I guess this could be a bone of contention as the UK can magically PRINT money. But if it prints too much, the bond holders will be pissed off because the pound will be worth less (inflating the money supply which is one factor that causes inflation).

If the UK starts INCREASING the deficit, i.e. borrowing more – the rating agencies WILL downgrade the UK. This will mean HIGHER borrowing costs.

Labour would, by now, have borrowed even more, and cut less. I guess I can’t with certainty say they would have borrowed more, but I think they would. I think we can be certain they would “cut” less. If you follow the conversations around the UK’s credit rating, you will find that it’s wholly dependent if they will meet the deficit reduction targets. If they don’t meet them, downgraded -> more expensive to borrow money, which leads to worse GDP in the end as the government will spend money on not goods and services, but repaying debt. Labour’s short term approach MIGHT have lead to a temporary increase in GDP, but without fail, would have bombed shortly after because of the reaction of the bond market.

I don’t know what figure you think it’s sustainable to have as national debt, but several hundred % is NOT sustainable.

Now, someone might be a hell of a lot better than me explaining this.

In essence, the UK can’t afford to keep borrowing at the levels it has.

GDP is a bad measure because you can inflate it by borrowing money and spending it in the economy. Would it be fair to call that a false economy? Borrowing money to push a figure up? It’s stupid. Would the bond markets and rating agencies fall for it? Well, no, I don’t think so.

That, is in essence, why Labour would have **** up even more. But the population would of course be happy – until the UK turns Greek and get shut out of the bond market or have to pay 6%+ yields. That, is not sustainable.