Note, Pitch Hill car park (at the top of the hill) will be closed Monday (19th).

Walking Bottom should be okay though I think.

Just in case you were thinking of the top one.

On Utah, been many times in the past and snow conditions are generally great or at least there’s enough variety around with a lot of resorts. Cheap option is to stay in SLC and drive to where you want each day. The cottonwood canyons aren’t too far.

Not been for some time though what with Covid and other things, and situation has changed…

Lift ticket prices are now insane!!!

Used to be $30 – $50 a day (not counting Park City which was already silly money, and a bit crap anyway). Now they’re pushing $200 a day!

You can get an entire week with an area pass in Europe for the price of one or two days in an American resort.

Only way I can see for a reasonable deal is buying a season pass, and need to get it about now. They don’t cover all the resorts as they’re scattered across a few major resort chains.

Driving to resorts is getting more complex with a clamp down on congestion by making you book parking or get the bus. Used to be drive up, loads of free parking.

And yeah, Alta and Deer Valley are still stuck up their arse and in the dark ages with ban on snowboards.

Powder Mountain lives up to its name but also a victim of its own success and gone with the exclusive club resort thing in part at least.

The whole American snow scene has turned into a rich playground. Not so bad for weekend trips from a nearby city as they mostly do there, but bad for Europeans making a big trip out there.

ps, yes there are direct flights to SLC now, but they’re not cheap. But from experience, connecting flights risks your bags not getting the connection.

Had we stayed in the EU, perhaps some of these trail centres would have benefited from (further? *) EU funding ?

* – don’t know if these particular ones had EU funding in the past. I know I’ve seem some others with EU funding signs.

Is this closure as in kick everyone out or just the facilities such as shop/cafe/toilets etc?

It appears my membership has expired and as I’ve changed banks the card on file didn’t work. By crikey, the user experience for free members is dire, isn’t it?

Apparently mine is on hold saying payment hasn’t gone through, have I changed card details, yet I’m on direct debit and it’s showing paid both here and at my bank, and says my subscription is active here.

Though I still get loads of STW ads here. Only stuff for STW, but the pop up videos on every page is annoying.

Mine just charges you upfront when you make the booking! Must be a right bunch of slackers round here to decide thats the policy they need.

After not going for a while post covid, got back to mine and noticed it’s all up front charges and loads of notices about being kicked off the books for repeat no shows.

Though not sure if the up front charge is private or NHS or both as they do both. I’m on a plan though so not paid up front, oddly even for cracked tooth last week which isn’t covered by the plan.

Wisley campaign group are looking at a judicial review so it may drag on in the courts for a bit and will be after the election. Things might change then but doubt it.

Runway is still accessible for now, though TW have had patrol cars there for last few years. They’ve not kicked cyclists and walkers off up to now but that may change now its approved.

Can get in via footpath link from Ripley roundabout or the bridleway and byways that cross north south, for now (don’t do the byway from south, it’s a hideous bogfest. The motos like to smash it up and are fighting the status judging by graffiti insisting it’s a byway. They get grief from TW as they insist no motorbikes but it is a legal byway crossing the airfield).

I assume the RoW will be reclassifield or removed replaced by some sanitised tarmac cycle path round the dog shit / SANGS park they’ll build.

Still main problem for me is access between Ockham and Wisley commons without the bridges.

Only access over A3 between Wisley and Ockham now is by Ripley roundabout and across the airfield. They still haven’t opened the new Wisley Lane bridge even just for non-motorised traffic. Wisley common across Claremount bridge is gone also. New bridleway bridge on Ockham common side may not be open yet either. I might check if I look at the closure today.

It’s rubbish. The only provision is a bus between Wisley and Ockham. No use out of hours and no use for bikes and horses!

I’d heard there should have been access over Wisley Lane in March, but not happened (unless it’s opened in the last week, doubt it).

The whole scheme serves only to profit those with investments in construction and Taylor Wimpey as the project enables the housing development, not yet approved.

That and prioritises polluting vehicles, but it won’t fix the problems. Induced Demand. More lanes, more traffic. Less vehicles is the answer (and EVs aren’t the solution, it’s just more vehicles).

Loads round my way and it’s a mix of the cheap chav modified cars and lamborghinis and the like (this is Surrey). All high revs and bang bang bang down the road. Plus couple of the V8 monster trucks that cruise round the council estate. Then all the loud bikes.

I’m on a busy road with a straight stretch by my house that means they’re going to floor it then take foot off and trigger the bangs.

Plus there’s the occasional late night parade when they’ve been kicked out of a car meet.

Then there’s the sound systems with deep bass vibrating all the windows and doors.

I thought it was just my Honda, being a Honda, was the reason my original Exhaust is still going after 15 years 😄

I guess places like Kwik Fit are still in business as they can still con people into new tyres they don’t need. Probably still try to flog them an exhaust.

I wear microfleeces and a layer under, when cold. Prefer that to jackets.

Many of my layers are ski base layers and some I use as a regular top, fleece or otherwise. Not really into logo’d bike tops. My ski and fleece stuff has lasted way longer, not snagged and usually warmer.

Tui Norwegian and Icelandair fly the MAX too

Tui are mostly Max 8, but they’ve cleverly left off the Max on the side of the plane and the in flight safety sheet.

Just says 737 8.

Flown on 4 of them now with Tui. No choice really other than not doing a Tui holiday (which would be my choice, not a fan of package holidays, but it’s a group decision).

While the nose diving is considered “fixed” I’m still wary. I believe the fix is training and also concerned it’s aerodynamically unbalanced and requires computers to correct it in flight. If something goes down and had to glide or without the computer, it’s going down hard. Though it’s all fly by wire these days in most modern jets anyway.

Wait until Freely replaces Freesat and Freeview and then cash-strapped pensioners find out that they have to fork out for a broadband contract in order to get TV.

And probably still half the channels are the same low resolution we’ve had since the 70s.

Talking of which. No Dolby Vision / Atmos unless you pay for ad free now.

https://www.tomsguide.com/tvs/prime-video-just-locked-dolby-vision-and-atmos-behind-a-premium-subscription-plan-what-youll-need-to-pay

Not that I care. I have an old school 1080 telly and av amp from 10 years ago.

TV shows I can live with. I won’t watch films on Amazon now though. Hate ads in films even very brief ones.

Well, so far it’s been an ad before the show and another a third in, and they’ve just been ads for Amazon prime. Usually 15 seconds.

I’m guessing they’ll run it light at first so most get used to it thinking it’s not too bad, and then ramp it up with other ads and longer.

Though the ad placement within the show isn’t always great. In the old days shows were made with ads in mind so had natural breaks. Existing content made for streaming platforms maybe less so. They might start putting those natural breaks in again I guess.

As with Bears, Mountain Lions don’t run/ride off. (We have it easy in this country.)

90% of times just stop and chat, and show no fear.

If it was a bear, I’d ask if it really does shit in the woods

£39 for the white freerider pro is very tempting, even if they are half a size too large.

White though for off road shoes! 🤔

As for sizes, I’ve heard the Adidas versions are a size or two small compared to old Five Tens.

My plan is usually to stop and talk to the dog

Usually my approach, though the odd few aggressive types are already committed. Many are just playing chase though. If you continue riding it will see it as a challenge. If the owner is about they’ll give up but may continue to chase if not. Also you could be leading it away from the owner wherever they are.

Taking to the dog is more useful for grumpy dog walkers who look like they’re going to have a go at you out of bike hate. Talk to their dog and it often disarms them.

Though I live on a busy road anyway, I’ve noticed a huge increase in traffic, especially since covid oddly.

Though the noise inside the house is made worse by the edge sealant around the front facing windows having detached from the brickwork revealing a tiny gap. It’s enough to dramatically increase the noise. Old Victorian house with wonky walks plus heavy traffic rumbling away might have caused it.

Have a temporary fix which helps but I need to reseal properly.

Meanwhile my front door has shifted over the years and there’s a gap somewhere as noticeable now through that.

I’d look at all possible gaps for noise basically. 

Though once someone is fed up with a place, there may be no stopping the desire to move.

My story was on here a few year back under my old account. Undetermined cause of pain, nothing showing on xrays, dentist wanted £1k for root canal and crown. Even then it involved signing a waver effectively saying I lose the money if it doesn’t fix it, the tooth breaks or the drill snaps off in the process and I won’t sue.

I asked if they could just pull it. Advised against as it would weaken the neighbouring tooth at the back which would be on its own.

Was going to go ahead, then noticed a crack had opened up. Only option was to pull it. £90.

Tooth at the back so not noticeable or bothers me eating. Just mainly annoyed at losing it in the first place and nearly wasting £1k, plus suspicious of filling redone on that tooth a couple years before when didn’t seem to need it may have triggered it. Wasn’t happy with dentist’s attitude generally (new dentist after old nice one retired).

Swindon….and yes I’m serious

Not only all that amazing stuff behind Nationwide, but I’m sure you could get a job at Nationwide too 😄

And for transport there’s the magic roundabout, and it’s fairly lively.

Eventually coins and notes will die whatever. Like paying for things with goats and chickens died.

For the concerns about the poor, elderly, and potential to be tracked, just need a digital wallet card or gadget that tells you how much is in it, not linked to a bank account and can add/remove from it as easy as someone handing over cash.

Only issue is if you kept all your money in it and lost it. If you lose a tenner you still have the rest of your dosh under the bed.

To add security so only you can use it and can invalidate a lost card and restore it on another, requires an account and back to the tracking issues. Though a tin foil hat could be the answer.

Just remembered my business account gets (now free) prime because I linked it with my personal account. I’d lose that cancelling, and it’s sometimes useful for a next or same day delivery. But then again just pay for that delivery (vat free on business expense after all).

£95 now for free quick shipping and hit and miss selection on Prime video. Without ads it was just about worth it. With ads, no, and not worth paying extra. 

So I may just dump Prime entirely and pay up for quick shipping of I need it.

Depends where the ads are. They claim unobtrusive. If just at start and end of a show, I can cope. Hate it in the middle and worse if it’s like YouTube and every minute.

Hate ads in films and Prime is mainly good/okay for films.

Where I am, great is debatable. Bloody expensive and too many people. However, I moved to Surrey long ago because that’s where the jobs were in my industry and turned out there’s loads of riding from the door.

Excellent transport links. I’m in Woking. 30 mins train to London, 1hr to the coast. Heathrow / Gatwick 30-45 mins. Not too far drive to channel tunnel or Dover. 3 hrs Wales driving.

Not the best riding in the world or country, but there is a lot of it and a lot of common lands that all join up which isn’t so common (😋) in some other parts.

Today though, with WFH I don’t need to live here and cheaper house prices elsewhere is making me think about relocating, but there’s a compromise on the amount of riding from the door. 

Did St Andrews Lane decent xmas 2022 and was a little sloppy then but rideable. Conditions worse now so I’d expect it’s bad or at least a river down it. Was over at Canonteign at weekend and that was sloppy.

Haldon itself official stuff is more all weather and they’ve done some improvements (though looks like gravel sanitisation) on the red. Didn’t take a look though.

Cafe Side has been closed for some time. Long story here from their FB page involving felling, an accident and lawyers:

MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM CAFESIDE 🎄

Some light reading for you all to enjoy after your big Christmas dinners 🍽️ (It’s worth the read 😉)

CAFESIDE – The story from the beginning

Thank you so much for your continued support over the past 2.5 years since Cafeside sadly closed.

Here is our story so far…

For many years we have developed a strong working relationship with Forestry England, allowing us to build our trails semi-unofficially. We’ve been able to work closely with the forestry to continually improve our trail building, make our trails safer and reduce our environmental impact on the forest and wildlife. This has been a strong friendship developed for more than 10 years, from right back in the days of Gav digging and Tim the ranger managing the site.

Everything was going very well with the increased popularity after covid and we continued to work well together.

Back in May 2021 we had to close due to scheduled tree felling. We had several meetings with the forestry, and even met with the contractors who would be carrying out the work. This was all to try and save the trails from being completely destroyed during the work. During this we were able to mark up specific trees to be removed to improve the trails and sight lines. (We actually went through 2 cans of spray paint marking up trees!). The contractors did a fantastic job and we avoided a lot of damage.

While the work was going on we were permitted to dig on weekends and repair any damage on the go to keep the closure to a minimum. However part way through this process we got the news to STOP. 🛑

Unfortunately several months prior there was an accident involving a young child on one of the trail crossings. We were informed of this at the time and were asked to carry out mitigation work to further improve our crossing points.

Unbeknown to us as Cafeside continued, the father decided to take legal action against the forestry. Because this claim involved a young child it managed to reach right to the top of the forestry and way above our local contacts.

As Cafeside isn’t a sanctioned FE site or setup with our own insurance the people at the top simply shut us down. This was heartbreaking for us, however understandable as it’s not our land and we live in a world of legal challenges.

Going forwards the only solution to bring Cafeside back was to get insurance.

This sparked us off on our journey to where we are today.

So to bring Cafeside back we need a few things- Permission & lease from forestry- Car Park- Insurance- Signage- Staff

Turns out this is a lot more work than it sounds 😅.

Cue the music 🎶

In early 2021 we started having formal meetings with the forestry and by the summer we had their permission to move forwards.

In November 2021 we met again. We brought along some structured paperwork to show we were serious. This meeting was very positive and FE were impressed at what we had done so far. At this point we were taken more seriously and a follow up meeting was planned in for January.

Jake Scoynes from Silk Cycles then joined the team. His knowledge of business, the bike industry and contacts will prove invaluable going forwards.

In January 2022 we met with the two area land agents, the head of recreation for the west district, the Haldon Forest Park manager and the recreation ranger. In the meeting we were able to show off some of our hard work, and ask the difficult questions going forwards. There was huge positivity from all parties with everyone keen to see Cafeside become a success. Off the back of this meeting we now had permission to move forwards with a pre-planning application.

March 2022 we met once again, but this time to discuss the location of our car park. We had the Haldon Forest Park Manager and the Head Forester join us. We scouted out 4 different locations on a site visit, weighing up the positive and negatives of each one. After deciding on a location we had to wait for the FE ecologist to review the site and ensure it would be a suitable spot with minimal environmental impact. Several weeks after we had the green light from the ecologist and could get the drawings made up for our pre-planning.

Over the summer of 2022 we worked hard on our pre-planning application, speaking with as many different contacts as possible to ensure it was watertight. We were hoping to submit our pre-planning in November 2022, but were kindly requested to delay by Forestry England due to the large scale planning application Haldon Forest Park already had pending.

By March 2023 we finally had the green light to submit our pre-planning to the council. After so many delays and 2 years since Cafeside closed, we made the decision to skip pre-planning and go straight for the full application. We made this decision because after waiting so long, our planning became very comprehensive and pre-planning would just further delay us. At this point we now needed to add a full ecological survey of the site to satisfy the planning officers.

In April 2023 we appointed Richard Green Ecology to provide us with our ecological survey, and the initial site visit was carried out.

We further met the forestry to discuss the lease agreements and the legal side of things post planning approval. Once again another very positive meeting with lots of questions asked and answered.

Over the rest of 2023 our ecological survey was completed and we submitted our full planning application in September.

After some serious chasing we heard back at the start of December that we needed to make a minor adjustment to a couple of drawings, and add in a surface water management survey for our car park. Two weeks later, lots of hard graft and a little more money spent and it’s done.

Our planning application is complete! ✅

This brings us up to where we are now. After nearly 3 years of work, countless meetings, and about £5,000 spent…

🎉 📑 PLANNING IS LIVE! 📑 🎉

We are hugely excited to finally share what we’ve been working so hard on!

Please click on the link below, have a read and get excited!

👉🏻WE NEED YOU! 👈🏻

We need as much support as possible to ensure we get approval.

Please read the planning and add your letters of support. There is an option to add comments. The more positivity we can generate the better chance we have of success, so please take 10 minutes to explain why Cafeside is important to you!

https://publicaccess.teignbridge.gov.uk/online-applications/applicationDetails.do?activeTab=summary&keyVal=S0NSUFPZFHI00

Our crowdfunder is still running at https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/cafesidemtb-bike-park and has received an amazing £2,700 so far, but if you’ve not donated yet, or looking for a New Years resolution, any further donations would be very welcome. Every £ helps us take Cafeside one step closer to opening.

We cannot stress enough how thankful we are to everyone who has donated, supported and advised us over the years. It’s been a journey. And it’s not over yet – Roll on 2024!

Merry Christmas 🎄 James, Ben, Andy and Jake.

People who buy ebikes are people who have open minds. deep pockets

It’s the next new thing and the industry chases what people will spend shed loads of money on. The market is perhaps moving away from high-end “analogue” bikes to ebikes because that’s what sells.

Though I’m more disappointed at 29ers being popular and less 27.5 being made, because that’s what sells. Still struggling with the move from 26 😄

Increase in erosion I think is less to do with the type of bike, but the increase in users.

Though yes, ebikes maybe are part of the increase. It’s attracted many who would otherwise not ride a mountain bike.

But it’s a general increase in riders whatever the bike. Things like Trailforks exposing the quieter and cheeky trails to the masses hasn’t helped either.

Though I do feel ebikes promote sessioning on trails that would have previously just seen one run on a typical ride.

Frankly I’ve ended up going a lot more XC to find areas to ride that aren’t a mess, though that means bridleways to get to and from places and as said, horse churn is the problem there.

Barclays wallet has a margin on the conversion up to 4.25%. Fee free on purchases and cash withdrawals, yes, but the margin on loading the wallet makes it poor value especially for purchases. Worked out better using Nationwide credit card for purchases as it’s fee free and visa rate. Though their debit card isn’t fee free anymore even for cash unless you’re on the Flex Plus account.

The Barclays wallet is convenient for cash and avoiding fees at ATMs if withdrawn in local currency matching the wallet, but still there’s that margin on loading the wallet. Don’t know how that compares to Revolut.

Take care with prepay card options at petrol stations, car rental and hotel deposit, as it will reserve money on the card that may not clear for days or weeks, blocking that money.

Also, cash withdrawal on credit cards, watch out as may not have interest free period even if fee free, so get charged interest from the day you take out cash.

But I try to use cards and avoid cash but a few European countries still like cash for a lot of things.

You don’t need a 365 sub to use Outlook, or even need a free Outlook/Hotmail account.

Microsoft are effectively killing the old desktop Outlook anyway and the new one is replacing Windows Mail built in app. If you have a 365 sub or corporate email you get a few more features, but it’s the same app now really. The old Exchange integration is quietly dying too as they’re attempting to kill Exchange server and make corprates use 365.

Just add any account you like, though it will use cloud services to cache your mail if you hook up an IMAP mail server.

Who would have thought that the big problem that needed solving in mountain bikes was the need to pedal them?

The next real problem to solve is the need to steer them.

I’m sure Musk is on the case.

It’s not giving up, but I feel the pressure to give in because I’m Billy No Mates on an analogue bike 😂

Though it’s not about eebs, just the latest trend and a bit of FMO. Similar where all your mates moved onto 27.5 and now 29 wheels and I’m a wheel size or two behind, not up to the latest number of cogs on cassettes. Maybe I’m a bit of a luddite with bike tech 😄. Though I was instantly sold on dropper posts.

Plenty of people live near Swinley 😂

Which really is the main problem with Swinley 😂

Back in the old days people were discouraged to go due to permit prices or the masses from London would just pootle about with the family on the fireroads. Then it became a trail centre, even if Crown Estate still kid themselves it isn’t😄

Is there anywhere that’s not red (350m+) on that, that has good MTB riding?

Surrey Hills, North Downs, South Downs

Elevation isn’t huge but the hills can be steep. Plus there’s tonnes of xc stuff and surprising amount of rights of ways (though not always joined up). Huge MTB scene and trail building.

Comes at a cost. Heavily populated part of the country, overuse of trails, lots of conflict with walkers and land owners.

Also where I am much is army land and it’s a constant battle with DIO who want to kick everyone off the land (their playground yes, but they’re public access common lands mostly).

Still, I can usually find quiet rides and always stumbling on new areas or trails. Can also link almost everything up around Surrey and NE Hampshire mostly off road.

including a specialist team cutting open a chest cavity and massaging a heart with their hands at the roadside

😲

and bump – https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/ShereParishCouncilAEDs?utm_term=RD9vpnMY5

Come on. Tonnes of us ride Surrey Hills and pay nothing to ride there (also reminder to donate to The Friends of the Hurtwood). Mountain biking tends to trigger heart conditions (as said, tragic one just the other week). The AEDs there need replacing.

Living in Surrey I’m being drawn to return to Devon for various reasons, and while you may think Devon is great for mountain biking, the kind of places I’d maybe move to are a fair distance from decent riding. Devon has a lot of land but a lot of it is out of bounds. The main decent open space is Dartmoor and cycling off road and off bridleways is forbidden under the bylaw (though largely ignored but things may get clamped down).

While Surrey is not mountainous, I have a huge amount of riding options from the door, and not so far to climb 😄. There are a huge amount of commons around me, public access army land, Surrey Hills of course which is a huge area, and a lot of access. Such a big MTB community around means a lot of trails.

I’d prefer to live in Devon in part for the scenery and lifestyle and for family reasons. Yet I’d be losing a lot of luxury I have where I am.

It’s daft though because as I say you’d hardly consider Devon rubbish for riding. It’s just it’s a big county very spread out and where I need to be is not ride from the door friendly.

Okay, there’s car option but I’m driving so little these days and I’m happy not to drive about and ride from the door if I can.

Channels are spread accross transponders and may not even come from the same satellite. Slight misalignment or fault in LNBs can cause some transponder signals to be poorly received or not at all, and others seem fine, and yeah they can move about.

With Freesat the channel guide is on one particular transponder and if that’s not being received it can knock everything out as can’t browse the channels, yet a manual tune may get them.

On power cuts, how likely are you going to need a landline during a cut?

Dig out the candles and sit it out. Probably got mobile anyway.

Though chances are if widespread, power has gone to the cell towers and the green box down the road so you won’t get much.

Anyway, only thing stopping me going full fibre to home is PlusNet not offering landline (unlike their parent BT, but that’s way more expensive). But then I pretty much don’t use the landline. Just parents sometimes if they can’t get Skype working and I’ve had the number registered on loads of companies for past 25 years or so, but guess I could get that changed. Used to be some things you could only register with a landline. Maybe not now.

Still, wondered about this I’ve seen advertised. Basically can port a landline number to a SIM. Aimed more at business but they’ve said on social media that many individuals use it. Not sure anyone’s managed to port from PlusNet.

https://onsim.uk/landline-sim/

On the subject of AEDs and mention above about batteries needing replacing, Shere council in Surrey are raising funds to replace theirs in their villages, Shere, Gomshall, Peaslake and Holmbury St. Mary.

Reason being that they get out of date, can’t get replacement parts to keep them maintained, and council doesn’t have the funds to replace them.

This is vital to help saving lives especially in rural environments full of mountain bikers, walkers and runners.

Given someone died recently on BKB, heart attack or cardiac arrest (not sure which), and while these may not have helped, maybe it will help the next one.

Despite a few of us posting this on a number of popular groups it’s not had much attention so far.

https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/ShereParishCouncilAEDs?utm_term=RD9vpnMY5