Woah! My saddle is a different height every time I ride – and it's up and down like a yo-yo all day if I'm at a trail centre. But I'm still quite quick 8)

I just guestimate where it should be or stick it right down if I'm pointing downhill…

Already had a few camping trips this year – minus 7 in Whinlatter a month back, Brrr! Slept in me clothes, Snugpak bag, goretex bivvy bag and wee Vango tent. Snug as the proverbial bug!

Just bought a Gelert Solo (like, half an hour ago) with replacement Vango poles – the main gripe in reviews seems to be that the poles snap after a few uses…. £32 posted and less than 1.5 kilos. That's a fair bit lighter than my basha and bivvy bag.

Enrolled in college in an effort to get my youthful life back on track (aged 20). Borrowed my Dad's cheapo commuter bike, and in an effort to appeal to the kool kidz I stuck a set of BMX handlebars on it.

Second day, home time, and I forged a path between the many studes onto the main road between two parked cars. Saw a car coming and hit the brakes – BMX handlebars swung forwards / downwards at high velocity, coming to rest on the front wheel, but not hard enough to stop the bike which continued onto the main road.

No choice but to deliberately fall over onto my side (harder than you'd think)… Came to rest with my head inches from the passing car – everyone laughing – never went back to college…

Not really 'pimped', but here it is nonetheless…

Ok, I'll put it back

:-)

Summary: you are a product of the internet age, you probably subscribe to that horrible twitter thing in which classic works of literary fiction are reduced to 180 characters (or however many). You are unable to take in information in chunks of more than one paragraph, or two sentences (whichever is less) and you probably work in IT.

EDIT: smiley removed.

Just bought my 3rd pair of these;

bolle safety glasses

I keep on putting them down to take photos and forgetting to put them on again…..

Cheap as chips, don't fog (IME) and they keep the mud out of my contact lenses.

Back in the day….

DeVs – nice pics but have you got vaseline on the lens or something – there's a few blurry bits. Was one of those out of control dogs licking your lens?

Heather Bash – Member
>TJ is there a law about a dog nicking The Publics sandwiches<

There is in Scotland: Breach of the Piece…

LOL! A droll Scottish joke!

I'm a bit confused TBH – are the anti-dog lobby saying it's OK to have a dog if it's on a lead / walking heel all the time (ergo having a sh1t life), or just that we shouldn't keep dogs?

Off out with mine shortly for his 2nd walk of the day. I don't even take a lead with me as it's all off road and my dog is well socialised, well behaved and has impeccable manners. Unless he chooses to go see another dog / rabbit / whatever, in which case he'll do it no matter what I tell him.

Most dog owners know what their dog is like – if it's a d1ck then yes, keep it on a lead and muzzle it. If it's a friendly mutt but over-eager, then yes, keep it on a lead near kids / super-phobic paranoid schizophrenics. If it's a well behaved beast with good recall, let it roam free!!!

How is a dog running over to play with another dog ever going to be a problem? My dog is off the lead almost all of the time and will come back if I shout him.

As with the guy above, I won't shout him back if he's off to play with another dog – if the other dog won't play, he quickly gets the message and moves on.

I get totally p1ssed off when over-protective owners snatch up their dogs when mine approaches – he's neither big, nor scary – a fluffy white stunted lurcher.

Dogs like playing with each other. Fact.

—- on a bike steamed past me and the dog yesterday – on a dirt track closed to vehicles. Dog about three metres ahead of me, pootling about. It was windy as hell, so didn't hear him approach from behind.

He shot past me and I shouted my dog's name – dog turned round and just had time to skip out of the way – very nearly got flattened.

I shouted some random abuse at the guy along the lines of; "You are allowed to shout and warn people" or something equally lame but no acknowledgement.

Wouldn't have minded a warning shot from an SA80 (or whatever they're using these days).

I have two Sandisc players which have been excellent. The first is a 6GB job which also plays videos if you so desire. Had it about three years and it's still going strong – good clear screen, easy menu BUT slightly dodgy scrollwheel thingy which needs cleaned out every six months or so.

Nice brushed metal case, easy to take apart if it needs cleaned out, and you can buy spare batteries which are easy to fit. Mine was about £45 I think…

The 2nd is a 2GB clip which I bought to listen to audiobooks on – also excellent.

Both recharge via USB only but the batteries will go weeks without a charge – the bigger unit lasts months.

I've been lubricating all my mechs / cables / chain in the summer etc since forever with GT85 – works for me and keeps everything rust free. In Winter, I use Finish Line Heavy Duty lube on my chain, although it needs cleaned very regularly.

Due to lack of preparedness, I was forced to pay £5.98 for ONE tin at the Whinlatter trails bike shop last week :-(

I know it's dull – but has no-one managed this? Sure I remember someone on here explaining it in easy terms…

Don't do it. Horrible, horrible little car. I had one for a year and I hated it. I had the 1.4 petrol engine and it had absolutely no poke at all and was quite heavy. There's very little space in the back and no way to attatch a bike rack. Repairs will set you back a small fortune.

Also, people (me) will point and laugh at you and it will fall over on corners.

The only plus side was a slightly elevated driving position if that lights yer candle.

Never mind that – look at THIS from the same site…. Holy Cr@p…

Email, STW, Digital Wedding Forum, ephotozine, Facebook (if it's slow everywhere else), repeat ad infinitum….

my vote……..

The obvious answer is a special 'Drunk Lane', seperated from the traffic by a few feet, just like in Amsterdam. How did they get my picture anyway?

Very nice – takes me back! My mate had a similar looking fully rigid Orange Clockwork back in the day, and we were all jealous of his see-through grip shifters!!

Aaah! This may explain why our loooo-ooong awaited CTW scheme has just been shelved again, for twentieth time (I do a few hours a week at a local council run ski slope).

I phoned the lady who deals with it and she sounded utterly depressed and frustrated with the whole mess – she did say it was a tax issue which had put a spanner in the works this time.

City of Sunderland Council – sort it out!! Wouldn't mind so much, but we've got leaflets and posters all over the building exhorting us to get off our lazy, fat backsides and onto a bike!!! GRRR!1111!!

Soryy rant-hijack over.

EDIT: No.

Hmmm – there's a thought – my crackberry takes micro sd cards. I suppose you could take a quick test vid, then put the camera's card in the phone to check it…. Perhaps… Off to check! And slowrider, yes please, I'd like to see a pic of that if poss.

Aha! You have to use the drop down menu for the 'predefined side' and choose 'Long Side'. Took me a minute…..

I've tried my £12 el-cheapo one a few times now – got a roll of industrial strength velcro and have stuck bits on my rucksack, jacket and helmet – also, of course, on the back of the camera.

I just can't get the bl00dy position right though – keep getting twenty minute vids of my left hand, or the sky, or my jacket lapels flapping about :x

I'll persevere….

Just downloaded faststone out of interest – not the first time it's been recommended on here.

At first glance / use, it looks pretty good but doesn't solve the portrait / landscape issue. If you want all your pics to be 800 pixels (say) on their longest side, there's a checkbox in Photoshop's Image Processor which will make portraits and landscapes 800 pixels on vtheir largest side.

Can't find a similar thing in faststone – am I missing it?

Easiest way is probably to create an action – open one of the pics, record an action to resize it, close the pic without saving. Then file>scripts>image processor.

Tick the checkbox at the bottom of the window to run your new action. Bob's yer uncle.

Be aware that you might need to seperate your folder of pics into landscapes and portraits before starting, and make a seperate action for each, or you'll end up with your portrait shots all cropped…

Without checking, and never having worried about ratios before, I think it's 16 on the back and 42 on the front. Does that sound right? I did wonder if the ratio was a 'normal' one…

Me and Bobby McGhee was my first – country and western is a good place to start as three chords will get you a loooong way.

Having walked the WHW a few years back, I second the idea that the banks of Loch Lomond are pretty much unridable – hard enough going on foot…

ephotozine is the best on the net – no competition.

Mmmmmm, special bru….. Hope it was nicely warmed in the sun before consumption….

Last time I was on a uni, before this one was dropped into my lap (ouch!) was in my LBS about five years back – went in with a few mates, saw the uni and said; "Hey! I can ride that!". Got on, did the full length of the shop and bailed into a display of kids' bikes. Cue much laughter from everyone except the owner of the shop, who was less than impressed with my skillz.

Haven't been back….

My first uni was bought from an alcoholic clown named Haggis (sorry if you've heard this before) who worked in the same kids' circus as I was helping out at. He came round to my Dad's house a few days later, out of his mind at three in the morning, crying and wailing that he needed it back again. Quite scary for a nine year old….

These guys are great[/url]

Got my basha from them – loads of other good stuff too…

Actually, I'm wrong – it was Ronnie Sunshine's site…[/url]

Even better…

chakaping – Member
Oh alright then.

Did somebody just try to do a wee on your unicycle?

Ha! Sorry no, but the truth is even worse – after I fitted the tiny wee bars to the Cannondale, I took the bike for a bimble round the back garden lawn, and cycled straight through a large pile of my mutt's squelchy sh1te. So the 'wee' is actually water from the kettle :-)

Do you mean 'wine' and 'breathe'?

I never bother, but rarely spend over £8 on a bottle so doesn't matter much I suppose…

Not even a comment about the state of the patio?

By the time I got my first school shoes, the x-ray of death machines had gone, but they had another contraption which closed in all around your foot to get the exact measurement. That was the only good thing about trips for new school shoes.

How disappointing is it for a seven year old to be handed a box which says "COMMANDO" on it, only to open it and find the most boring black shoes in the world.

Just wanted to show my hand – I too was a happy, prolific soft drug user for most of my youth. I kind of missed out on the whole culture of drinking cans of cooking lager in back lanes and trying to snog teenyboppers, but view this as a positive thing – in fact I didn't start my drinking career until I was in my mid twenties. I was too busy skinning up. Also, IMO a good thing.

Had a lot of amazing times with good friends – camping / biking trips with a bit of pot and a few tabs. A few not so good times too (300 mushies baked into a cake gave me a full on death trip) and my memory hasn't quite managed to block out the occasional shivery, shakey, nightmarish comedowns…..

But I feel fine now :-)