More slide scans:

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spikes[/url] by the1fletch[/url], on Flickr

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stream[/url] by the1fletch[/url], on Flickr

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thistle[/url] by the1fletch[/url], on Flickr

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tree to the clouds[/url] by the1fletch[/url], on Flickr

Another vote for Superstar sintered. Use them in my K18s and they last a decent amount of time and provide a pretty decent amount of stopping power as long as they’re not filthy.

Ham, cheese and some softened onions are great for savoury. Otherwise, peanut butter and nutella or lemon and sugar with sultanas.

Yeah, was trying to be optimistic yesterday, but went for a ride earlier and it was just miserable.

Actually, I take back everything I said above^^^

When I wrote that, I was remembering the last time everything was dry and enjoyable. Unfortunately, it hasn’t been like that since summer 2011. The soil round here is basically clay. Whenever it rains this clay either turns into deep, energy sapping, wheel sucking bogs, or glazes over and becomes incredibly slick and pretty dangerous to ride at speed, but mostly just deep clay. Once it gets like this, it takes probably a month of sunshine to dry out, and when did that last happen? And once it does dry out, the local trails (basically just the ridgeway, which is just a long, wide bridleway) are pretty mediocre anyway.

Basically, if you enjoy mountain biking stay as far away from Swindon as you possibly can. Otherwise, you may as well just buy a road bike.

I’ve grown up in Swindon and while it’s not amazing, I can’t see why it gets such a bad rap. Yeah, it’s pretty boring, but there’s cinemas and swimming polls and all that stuff and the riding’s really not that terrible.

With the recent volunteer work, Croft is getting to be pretty much all-weather and you can cover a lot of miles out on the Ridgeway if that’s your thing. Personally I quite like those long routes with lots of climbs and descents, and the Ridgeway lets you see lots of different terrains, with wide open stuff and wooded areas.

Basically, it’s not amazing, but it’s really not as bad as people make out if you’re prepared to really stare at a map for inspiration. Also, ladder lane is pretty great if it’s nice and dry.

This is pathetic. Every once in a while, a bear kills someone in Canada. they don’t say “Let’s kill every last bear!” They just make sure their doors are locked and carry bear spray.

Now a couple of people have turned their backs on an open door in an area where there are a lot of foxes and then act surprised when the fox decides to look around inside their house. We’ve already destroyed the large majority of their habitat and now we should kill them off just because they’re trying their best to survive? Again, it’s just pathetic.

Ok, figured as much, have more than enough oil spare from what goes in the legs, and if all goes well, I’m happy to take them out every once in a while and check they’re not dry, but I’d rather not have to buy even more oil just to soak two foam rings.

Cheers guys.

The Shining. I swear nothing happens for three hours then there’s about 15 minutes of running around with an axe. Nearly died of boredom.

Not technically taken in the last month, but the film was developed in the last month, so I’ll say it counts.

Also, please forgive the dirty lens in the first two, there is no excuse.
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church[/url] by the1fletch[/url], on Flickr

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church b&w[/url] by the1fletch[/url], on Flickr

And something a bit more colourful:
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mushrooms[/url] by the1fletch[/url], on Flickr

In terms of riding railway track at night, a nice bright helmet torch is good. Nothing to fear when you can see everything. Also, you can blind any potential attackers just by looking at them. However, the eye shine off animals in the bushes is ridiculously creepy at first.

I’ve got SLX on my mtb, have covered a fair few miles and it’s taken loads of bunnyhops and jumps with my heft without a problem – still on original bearings.

HOWEVER! The new SLX appears to be pretty ugly, so get the old SLX.

@maxtorque I never tried to learn how to bunnyhop. I started by jumping off traffic bumps etc. As I got a feel for it, I naturally started using more and more obstacles to get air off (down to roots and little mounds of dirt on the trail) until one day I realised I could just do it on the flat.

I’d say if you can already do little jumps, concentrate on getting more air. It’s things like compressing the fork and tyres and timing when you lift the bars and unweight the bike that help with bunnyhopping.

I think the pressures of exams and revision can have an impact. At 15 you’re told your future relies almost solely on how many facts you can remember in one hour on a random day. At the same time, there are less and less things to aim for and aspire towards.

At the same time for me my mother had been getting more and more ill over the past few years before passing away about a month before I turned 15. At the time, I wasn’t really comfortable with sharing that with people, but also wasn’t good at hiding it. This led to people just thinking I was being an ass and meant I had even less people to confide in when the worst happened.

Personally, the idea of suicide to me never lasted more than a moment. I’ve never had faith and believe that once I die, that’s it. Seeing how much of an effect my mum had on other people (the chapel was packed out of the doors) made me realise just how much you can manage, even in fifty years. I can see how others with the same feelings of isolation would seriously contemplate it though, and it was thanks to a few good, understanding friends that kept me in control of my thoughts.

Even now, nearing 18 I still can’t say I feel content most of the time, but I find trying to show a happy face even when you’re not means people are more likely to stick around as nobody really wants to be around someone who’s always seeing the downsides to everything.

In all, I can’t say I’m surprised that suicide rates are increasing for younger people. The pressures to do well in terms of studying and jobs combined with the fact that there seem to be less ‘Good Things’ actually happening in the world to inspire and less prospects mean that someone of that particular state of would probably take a lot less of a push now than ever before.

Oops, sorry about the essay, but I was going to either say it all or say nothing.

Go outdoors woolly thick ones.

Helly Hansen Lifa. The short sleeve is comfortable for 7 hours getting lost in the hills in summer.

The long sleeve is nice and warm but still lets air through to stop you overheating on those days where it’s just too cold for the short sleeve.

Gulf colours, natch. Have those green bits as the blue and then have the black as the orange.

I did the same. Definitely change the limit screw so it doesn’t skip over the bash.

I don’t know about lowering the front mech. It’d probably look better, but it shifted perfectly when I changed it so I just thought if it ain’t broke…

Just a standard free user myself, as I only do an upload a month or so when I get free time at college. However, when I get a home setup and start recording proper compositions, I might think about a premium account depending on whether I hit the upload barrier/get lots of hits.

Self plug time: soundcloud.com/the1fletch

Definitely think about building your own. It’s not too difficult – my dad even made a truing jig out of assorted garage parts that works perfectly – and it lets you get better components for the same money.

Also, it has the benefit of you knowing how to fix/adjust it if you warp it a bit or break a spoke.

Oops, was being sarcastic, internet fail there. I feel like that when I play though.

I do have some music on soundcloud if you’re interested though. http://www.soundcloud.com/the1fletch

Best – My Yamaha Keytar off ebay. Worth every penny it’s so much fun.

This is me…

Worst – Continental tyres. Not had a single one that wasn’t bad in some way.

Can’t believe nobody’s said Channel Orange yet… Such a great album, seriously recommend you listen to it.

British album for me is Union by Saint Saviour. She’s a really good singer, and each song in the album is different, not just 15 of the same tracks with different words like you get with some artists.

Some ambient electronic music. It has a mandolin and everything! It’s here on soundcloud.

Ambient acoustic – Other Lives. You can stream their album on soundcloud free before you buy: Tamer Animals

For some female vocals, maybe a bit of Oh Land: Spotify link (may or may not work)

My reccomendations are so good, Singletrack posted them twice.

First letter of artist’s first name/band name. Sort albums by order of release, newest on the right. Writing should be oriented so that the top of the letters is on the right. New CDs must sit on computer keyboard until they’re ripped. Then they go on the shelf. If a CD is odd sized, then all others must be brought forwards so that all the spines are flush with one another. This is how it’s done.

Had nearly climbed a set of rocky steps at the local trail when I ran out of steam. I toppled sideways and ended up rested against a tree…

Unfortunately I’d toppled over enough that I couldn’t get my right foot down and to put the left down I would have fallen face first (shoulder trapped against tree.

After five minutes of my mate laughing at me, I managed to pedal the bike out from underneath me and get on both feet.

Save your money and get these. They’re tough, have lots of space to move your legs around, dirt doesn’t stick to them much and they dry pretty quickly when they get wet. More than enough pockets too.

Nexus 4 Has all the technology in the S3 and gets updates straight from google. Also, look at the price! The only thing it doesn’t have is 4G, which is pretty much useless here anyway.

One of my only sunny bike rides this year so I thought I’d take a photo as proof:
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Grainy Sky[/url] by the1fletch[/url], on Flickr

If you have huge feet like me, the size 12 purple Five Ten freeriders are 50 quid at Leisure Lakes Bikes at the moment.

That looks great thanks, Will probably end up using zip ties to stop it getting pinched when the bike’s in the shed but as long as it keeps me dry I don’t care.

It fits great except for the sleeves, which for a “long sleeve” XL actually come up a tad short.

The Hex is pretty good. Keeps your head relatively cool, looks fairly good (especially in the matte grey like mine) and seems pretty tough.

Also, giro crash replacement scheme.

5 and a half on the road. Just over 6 off road. However, I usually get tempted to take detours off road, so it can end up closer to 7 or 8.

I agree, first ep of series 2 was seriously funny.

Channel Orange by Frank Ocean
Early Hours EP by Alpines
Prisoner by Jezabels

Alpines: