Work payed for my MSc and gave me a day a week study leave to attend lectures and extra leave for field trips etc. Worked out fine just make sure the course is the right one for you. Go for it!

Have a look at Noongallas near Penzance, basic but next to some brilliant woods, allows camp fires. Very laid back and good value.

Its true just park on the road section midweek and car park behind the Kingfisher centre weekends

Did my first bike ride since November today does that count as training? Been carb loading on beer since November though so not totally unprepared, what can go wrong?

Looking forward to seeing how many times I get lapped is there a special prize catagory for this?

I would now consider them to be one site really! Need to come up with a new name for them!

Meant to say if any one wants more information about what is planned let me know as its another one I’ll be overseeing.

Shh! Actually the request for planning permission has just gone in for a new mtb trail in the woods at Hurstwood. Rowan has put some basic designs together for us and it should go out for tender somepoint this month with a view to construction starting as soon as it gets planning permission (if of course it is approved). It’s only a relativly short section of trail initially but thats how they all start! Should start on the construction of some new trails in Lee and Cragg Quarries within the next few weeks! Lots of good stuff happening in Lancashire at the moment.

I will be getting some proper signage up there soon. Hope you found your way round it all ok in the end. Did you enjoy the new track over the moor on the way back down?

Should be getting some new sections built in Lee and Cragg Quarry over the next two to three months. New pump track and some more black graded techy stuff in Lee and more red singletrack in cragg. Also hoping to get some beginers style trials sections in at Lee.

Motorbike courier done that !
Living in a commune in south of Spain done that!
Forest conservation project in Botswana done that!
Safari Camp Manager/Guide in the Okavango done that!
Countryside Ranger done that!
Mountain Bike trail building doing that at the moment!

All good but the grass is always greener!
Can’t hink what to do next now though.

Hope you are all OK and no bad injuries? Anything we should know about?

You can be as rubbish as you like as long as you have fun, in fact that is more likely to get you a prize than talented but miserable! Even the downhill section will be doable by all just at different speeds! Also lots of line choice so you can pick what you are comfortable with.

Linking route is not quite finished but is fine to use. We are going to let it settle over the next couple of months and then return to put abit more dust down and compact it a bit more. Fine to ride now but not the finished surface yet bit loose in a couple of sections so watch your speed on the way back down. Also please give way to horses who have a right to use the route too! If you are coming up behind a horse slow down and give a cheery hello so that rider and horse know you are there and wait for the rider to wave you past.

Singletrack weekender! Coming again soon to a quarry near us.

I have but just for work you understand. It’s partially finished at the moment. We are going to leave it till the spring now for the surface to bed in and then get the contractors to go back over it with a bit of dust and then a wacker plate. So end result should be much smoother than it is at the moment. Still a bit loose in places at the moment.

Remember to give way to horses on it as well please it is a bridleway not a mountain bike trail.

Just noticed those ones have a tapered steerer so not the same! Don’t know if you can get a converter? Def the type of fork to go for though.

Those are the ones, good price that too I think I paid about £300 and thought it was a bargin. Had mine on my VT for a three years or more now and no problems with them lots of miles all year round on some pretty rough trails. Can’t see why anyone would pay more for forks to be honest if you can get ones as good as this for £250

Depends very much on where you are, climate, altitude, soils, drainage etc.

I have the same model VT but I destroyed my black comps after 18 months or so. Put some Rockshox Revelation air u turns on my VT and they have been great much better than the black comps. U turn means you can set the travel to pretty much what ever you want. I have a newer set of revelations on a Genesis hard tail as well and again they are excellent, easy to set up and no problems to run at all.

Some good pictures there. Just starting to think about planning next years event any ideas for what you would like to see greatfully recieved. Thinking about a chainless race down the new linking route across the moors as one of the sections. 2km with no chain what could go wrong?

After chatting to the contractors today two weeks till finished is more realistic, still some header walls on drains to do etc.

It will get some signage although I would always encourage people to take a map out with them. Way markers etc go missing.

Another week or so now a lot of the shaping has now been done but it still needs compacting it will feel horrible and loose if you try to ride it at the moment.

knottin what you doing out there? I used to live in Maun is the Duck In still there?

I used to run a safri camp in Botswana in the Okavango and was the forestry officer for Ngamiland for a couple of years so know the area pretty well. Okavango is the place to go for wildlife, go for a walking/dugout safari much better than any of the ones where you get driven around. Camp I used to run was called Oddballs its still going and is well worth considering not cheap but good value if that makes sense.

Let me know if you have any specific questions and I’ll try and help.

Stunning part of the world well worth going to.

Planet fear have some RAB ones half price at the moment.

My little boy got a conc16 when he was 3 and he loved it worth the extra cash. Sold it on the classifieds here a month or so back for £80 so it kept its value really well. Lots of people were after buying it. My son has now moved on to BMX entered his first race last Sunday aged 5, Im sure the Islabike has helped him build the confidence to do this. I’ll be getting him another fairly soon once I can convince the wife his intense bmx micro mini is only really suitable for the bmx track.

Linking route is still under construction should only be a week or twon now before it’s finished though.

There will be some signage for Cragg etc going in soon.

And of course you are close to Lee and Cragg Quarries now and the surrounding areas!

New face book group just been started up for riders in the area

It is an issue for the local PROW officers and we are working with the quarry to resolve it. Over all the parent company has been very helpful and has assisted with Lee Quarry and the linking route over the moors (most of the new linking route is on their land) so we have a pretty good working relationship.

Another vote for Genesis assuming the quality is the same as their other models. I have an Alptitude and have found it to be pretty much faultless, my fullsus bike has not seen daylight since I got the Genesis. Lots of fun to ride!

Elaine can I suggest a map and a day on one of our map reading/navigation courses would help you out quite a lot. Signs get removed, moved turned around etc so its always best to know roughly where you are especially when up on the moors surrounded by quarries and old mine workings.

I lived and worked in Salford late 80’s left when we found our selves seriously considering buying a gun. It truly is a different world. Saying that had some good laughs and there used to be some excellent pubs full of character! Fine if you are child free and like a spliff.

Brittania is working and they are activly trying to keep people out. But I have a cunning plan to get two new bridleways round the site. Hopefully getting at least one of these sorted out this winter.

Speaking of new bridleways just put the signage out for a bridleway claim from Goodshaw lane accross to the PBW near Clowbridge. Its a good route and assuming there are no objections should be on the maps soon.

Stone is coming from Britania quarry which is only about 1km away over the moor no roads, houses, pylons etc to cross or avoid. Turn around time for the copter is very quick and the hoppers can take up to 2 tonnes. Heli flies low on fuel to keep weight down. Not a cheap way of doing things but strange as it seems cheaper than anyother way given the constraints we have to work within. Helicoptor should finish by this weekend. The back again for a day or two once the surface has been shaped etc to fill in any low spots. Also planning on getting a few other muddy patches in the area filled in with stone while it is there.

Collisions will be best avoided by a combination of looking where you are going and being in control! If you have problems with either I can recomend a session with Ed Oxley of Great Rock fame.

Out of all the possible ways of getting stone to where we needed it helicopter was the best option cost and environmental impact wise. Drops the stone pretty much exactly where you want it and a very fast turnaround time and no mess to clear up afterwards.

Route should be finished by the end of the month think 2km pump line on the way down its going to be lots of fun!

Please stay off our new linking track for the next two weeks or so we are busy trying to build it. Helicopter is shifting stone for it and each time someone takes no notice of our signs it can cause a delay which could get expensive and result in less trails being built elswhere in the area.

It will be worth the wait its going to be shaped up by guys that have just been working on a 4x track!

Find yourself a nice young blond “sports” physiotherapist and go for a guilt free massage! Worked on my back.

Come along to Lee Quarry over the next week or so and see a helicopter building a mountain bike trail!

Nice picture can I get a copy to use for our promotional stuff when we get around to producing it. I'm hoping by the way that the bike had just been placed there and it wasn't another crash on the pumptrack!

Impossible to choose just one! With the possible exception of in through the out door all their albums are classics. Can't think of another band I have listened to more over the past 35years. Now my kids are in to them too its great to hear Rock and Roll and Black Dog blasting out of my 13year olds room.

Are there any Led Zep tracks you don't like?