are the Advantage generally considered better in mud and roots than the rampage then?

They must be! While I’ve not used an Advantage, I know from bitter experience that Rampages are absolute rubbish as soon as it becomes muddy.
FWIW I still rate Rampages highly as a summer/dry tyre for trail centre style rides.

Thanks for the advice. I’ve got a set of Rocket Rons, so will pop those back on.

on-one have had a load cheap recently

Try entering a winter event/enduro or similar. That will help motivate you to get out and ride or you will suffer come race/ride day.

The faff and journey to get to decent trails was taking up too much time as well. Esp in the winter. So have entered the Brass Monkeys series and am doing a lot more riding from my door. With my expectation levels of the trail quality suitably adjusted, i find that i’m just enjoying getting out and knocking off the extra 90mins or more it takes to load car, drive, unpack car etc.

Got some Smart Lunar 1/2 watt lights here. Very impressed and plenty bright enough, even in fog. They are so small, light and cheap that I reckon it’s a good option to fit two, so that you dont care if one fails or runs out of batttery (although they last ages).

it does vary a lot from shop to shop. I decided to do a test ride inside the shop once, as they wouldn’t let me take it outside. Not great but better than nothing.
I’ve also ruled out shops and bikes based purely on the lack of test rides available.

If I remember correctly when setting mine up: yes, you need a router. And you need to allow the printer’s MAC address onto your network (depending on level of you network’s security).

If anyone sees these police, please can you tell them that the newly resurfaced bridleway (loads of dull, loose gravel) at Ebbisham Lane is a hive of criminal activity and needs regular patrolling?
Then, hopefully it will start to ride better again.

If you go for this, worth researching which NAS to use, as compatibility varies a bit (eg if NAS goes to sleep and won’t wake up on demand).

FWIW, Synology DJ110 NAS works fine with Sonos. Takes up to 20secs to automatically spin up if asleep and Sonos want to stream from it.

Also, Sonos indexes my large iTunes library perfectly.

Sonos is excellent. Will do everything that you’ve requested and is staggeringly easy to install and use.

Moray Monster trail centre is probably the most dull I have ever ridden. I feel bad saying it since it is volunteer built but it is just mundane. There is a section called ‘The Widow maker’ which could be named ‘the modest slope’ and numerous jumpy bits on uphill sections.

+1 total yawn fest and the uphill jumps were mind blowing.

Bottom 3:
Moray Monster – total yawn fest and the uphill jumps were mind blowing.
Learnie Red Rock – if only for the compuslory high woodwork with the level of grip akin to an ice rink.
Bedgebury – massively underwhelming and expensive car park

If I can have a fourth: AE – just dull.

+1 havana club 7, although I’m prefering Angastora 1919 at the moment. Very smooth and lovely vanilla.

As above, you can be reasonably open with a recruiter. Avoid slagging off but def worth pointing out the reasons for you leaving.
If done correctly, you can use this in an interview: outline the ahem, challenges in the last role, explain how you tried to improve/resolve the situation (include any improvements made from your actions), identify anything that you would have done differently. Unless someone is simply looking to hire a “yes” man, then they will appreciate someone to actively seeks to improve the team.*
Overall, phrase it from a managing your career aspirations perspective rather than simply getting away from a rubbish company.

*admittedly this can depend on the job, workplace, manager and company culture.

When i was in Les Arcs a few years ago, one of the guides highly recommended some gloves like those. Said the extra padding worked a treat on the all day judder of riding out there.

Well that was pretty conclusive! Thanks all. Looking forward to watching it now.
psychle – yes. Both me & Mrs t_i_m like Being Human (even though it appears to be running out of steam now)

while she’s tall enough for a mens small frame, she’ll very prob be a lot happier on a WSD.
Unless she’s going to really give it a battering, a FS would be better for a first bike. I assume that you’re looking for her to like riding rather than teach her better technique from the off.

no, never.

Or take the trail heading south from the south-east corner of the car park. It runs parallel to telegraph road. It’s an ok bridleway, with a couple of interesting roots near the start and a pretty easy way to plod up the hill. Only a bike to two wide in most places, so less tedious than the fireroad.

A State Of Trance – Armin Van Buuren
+1 for R4 Fri Comedy and Bleep
6 Music recommends
Solid Steel (Ninja Tune)
BBC Documentary of the Week

FWIW, if you’re using an iPhone, I highly recommend the DownCast application. Infinately better at downloading/managing/listening to podcasts than iTunes and totally removes iTunes from the podcast process.

I ran 2.3s on 717s.
2.35s on 719s will be fine. Esp LUST ones.

I remember being taught this (BODMAS) when I was 11. It’s not particulary tricky. Although, in fairness, this type of sum is now normally paranthesised to cater for those not paying attention at the back.
And FWIW, 26 – IT manager

So in summary, how do we get williams extreme events to eff off and stop trying to make money out of an event that isn’t needed or wanted and is just causing aggro in the area?

Blimey, some pretty extreme options there!
For an emergency repair (i.e. enabling you to do a long run rather than allowing it to heal), I’ve heard that superglue and gaffer tape works. NB: i’ve never tried it, and am not 100% convinced.

For a continuing training approach, I found that micropore surgical tape was good. I also found that it is very good for preventing blisters in the first place, esp when running in the wet. Wrap it around the foot, covering the area prone to blistering, obviously.
It will stop any rubbing directly on the skin and it’s breathable. Unlike gaffer tape, it isn’t too sticky, so will come off afterwards without causing any damage.

finally, dont bother buying special blister plasters. they’re rubbish.

Sonos is an excellent system.
very easy to set up and works well. esp if your music is on a NAS drive.
you’ll prob want to control it from the free iPhone/iPod touch/android app rather than lug a laptop around.
Easily integrates with Spotify Premium (you need the premium account for Sonos).
Only downside is that the Sonos controller is a little limited with Spotify. You can search for and play music. Unfortunately, that’s about it. Playlists need to be managed in the Spotify desktop or mobile app. Not exactly a huge problem but a little disappointing.

given the lack of pedalling required, you might as well wear full face & all your armour. That’s what most guides wear as well.

I’ve used QC15 headphones on a long haul flight. I thought that they were very good at cancelling the aircraft noises and comfortable.
However, I will not be buying any because:
1) reviews seem to suggest flimsy construction for everyday use
2) can only use in NC mode. So if the battery dies, so do the headphones! (although i suggest you check my facts on this one!)
3) i’m not convinced of their NC capabilities for non-aircraft noises.
4) they are very expensive
5) i dont fly enough to justify getting them for that purpose

In their favour, I found them to be better on flights than my in ear Shure E110s.

I’d recommend investigating getting a set of custom made ear inserts.
http://www.hearingprotection.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=60&Itemid=117

i’d be interested to hear why they’re doing a full redesign

Shed Shackle

but how much can you push these things on the swoopy + rollercoaster stuff

quite a bit. I’ve got a Chariot 2 and the main limiting factor is the width of the trail. I’ve taken it round the berms and rolled over the (admittedly lame) dirt jumps at Bedgebury. It’ll happily go up/down kerbs (and similar size trail features).
Although note:
1) The Chariot does have suspension
2) Watch your speed on non-bermed corners as you dont want to roll the trailer over.

With a little redaction, kiwidaves post would make a great article for the magazine.

+1
Really good read from the perspective of what it’s like to guide.

“the fastest athlete on no legs”

Ortis Dealey on that South African 400m sprinter

just brought a printer myself. Was looking at the Kodaks for the reason you stated. However, unless you are printing quite high volumes, the cost savings they quote for ink will be small.

cluzas is def worth a visit. the marked trails are fun but there are not that many. Good for a day or two before you need to do some exploring.
As with most areas, there is def some decent singletrack to be had if you get an IGN map.
The marked trails I rode a La Grand Bornand were not great (6 years ago) but may have got better. And some exploring with IGN could help.
You’re only 2hrs drive from Morzine etc is you fancy a change of scenery.
And there is also some decent riding to be had in the Les Saises area (other side of the valley SE? from Cluzas)

It’s a bit of a mixed bag. The town centre is a bit grim as are some of the residential areas in Redhill but some are also fine.
Good for mtbing and commuting.
Yes, Reigate is nicer but a lot more expensive.
The other surrounding towns are cheaper but harder to commute from (hence the price).

just keep eating larger portions of your normal diet. Always have a desert, whether you want one or not (can be fruit). Then have a protein shake to keep you topped up shortly after the meal.

If you’re doing more weights, up the protein.
If you’re doing more cardio, up the calories (but dont eat too much rubbish).

The big meal, desert then shake should have the effect of making you feel a little too full for a couple of weeks and make you stomach bigger, which will increase you appetite. The key is to eat until you’ve had enough, then eat some more.

The other option is to snack a lot. Again, avoid too much rubbish.

It can be bizarrely hard to put wieght on but he above worked for me. Although someone will prob come along to tell me that this is an irresponsible way of doing it.

the sanding ‘dust’ from when you sanded them, wood glue and wood satin to colour.

+1
the foil blanket under the floor is well worth doing as well.

managed to get a third of the way through the third book before i ran out of steam.
While the books were ground breaking and full of great ideas, they are quite frankly, pretty badly written by today’s standards. Very clunky, slow moving, self-indulgant and dont get me started on the songs!

What Brown said +1
Get proper kit.
Know how to use it.
The VF route should be graded with description of the level of obstacles, exposure, skill & strength needed. There are plenty of guide books that cover this. (Well there are in the French Alps.)
Pick a route level within your comfort zone. Climbing back down from half way often isn’t an option (easier to keep on going).
Get it right and it’s great fun.

BTW, I did Thones via ferrata (google image it) with minimal climbing experience but with a local friend to do an equipment run through and guiding/coaching me up in places. Good fun in places but also scared the cr@p out of me in places.

Tip: if you’re likely to get sweaty palms while climbing, wear some tight fitting, fingerless mtb gloves.

I’m still curious as to why this event seems to be the only thing affected by this. The trail centres are still open and other events are going ahead.

At a guess, the proposed route was billed as using a lot of unofficial trails, so would cover a lot of forest not used by many other events and it is these bits of forest that are diseased.

i’ve got a group entered into this, with accomodation. Where are you hearing that its cancelled?
And if it’s not cancelled, is it being re-routed onto a load of fireroad, again.