Any cycling naturists out there?

http://www.jesusandmo.net/

Just got back from Ax in the Pyreneees. Disappointed with the lift-assisted stuff, but with caveats. I am a confident ‘red’ sort of rider, not averse to the odd black bit but not a downhiller of any sort. It was not clear to me exactly whether the marked descents from were actually proper DH stuff or more reasonable. I rode the route marked as red. it was a bizarre mix of completely untechnical dirt, tracks and ‘silly’ DH (difficult carrying *down*hill!). It looked like there had been very little work done on it. It was washed out everywhere. Now, I realise I shouldn’t have expected an hour of Spooky Wood, but I was disappointed.
I did Luchon a few years back and experienced something similar, although rather better. A tiny bit of bike park stuff at the top then basically follow the track/path. The final GR path was nicely technical, the rest largely a waste of height. I think the key is getting local input, there are obviously loads of good trails, *if* you can find them. Marmot Tours do Ax, and AQR Luchon I believe.
On the plus side, I can recommend the area around Le Mayet de Montagne near Vichy entirely – buckets of easy to find high quality XC riding, and a lovely village with pool. Been there 3 times now and still just scratched the surface 🙂

‘cos it’s just an opinion, some kind of intelligent wadding would help.

bigrich that’s a big statement to provide no supporting evidence for!

I can’t help thinking if Tim Minchin was prime minister the country would not only be a much nicer place but also a lot funnier. The quote is absolutely spot on. Which now makes me sound arrogant too. So be it.

Yes, but often *because* of science – or other historical reasons which suited its purpose. Like the CoE now arguing (embarrassingly) about female vicars, or whether or not to like homosexuals. It always seems to *follow* changes in society, coming more often than not from rational thought, or heroic behaviour.

Lets have evidence where a religion has changed independently. genuinely interested.

Science *does* change, every single day. Rarely does a scientific theory get totally trashed, but they regularly get refined. Gravity to quantum theory. Newton wasn’t wrong, just OK for apples, which was utterly magnificent back in the day. Now we have to cope with weird wave-particle duality and possibly dead cats.

Religion either does not change (fundamentalism) and consequently looks stupid, and often offensively out of kilter with modern thinking, or, sort of stutters along as scientific developments become so blindingly obvious and mainstream only the truly dull fail to embrace them.

Basically we need to ensure non-rational thought is left to artists, where it can do wonderful things. Not though in most of real life where it mostly leads to ignorance and nastiness.

Actually the statement ‘clear role for him’ is telling. It’s like the author needs the role to exist, which is the whole thing about religion – it’s invented by humans to make us feel better. Fair enough, do what you need to get through the day, but please, don’t turn this into a genocidal, homophobic, costume-wearing pan-global scary bag of shit.

“Anyone who thinks science and religion are always incompatible hasn’t really thought about it very well.”
Really? Science is objective, religion is not. The two are completely different. Of course to suggest science will explain everything is very probably a bit short sighted but that doesn’t mean it’s rational to appoint the things we do’t understand to some guy with a beard floating on a cloud. That’s just childish.

Oh and the analogy with race and gender really annoys me. I realise this puts me rather at odds with current law but I total reject the equivalence of race, age and gender with religious *beliefs* – the latter being the one an individual has control of. It’s demeaning to the others.

Clearly intelligence is all relative – but I think the point he made is largely true. And the fact that people can hold two completely opposing views at the same time is well documented. There are many so called ‘religious scientists’ – which for most religions would be complete nonsense. I don’t want to go around telling grannies to stop going to church, baking cakes and doing a bit of singing but they (well some of them) are part of a very dangerous cult they infects the globe with actions that are far from trivial.

Amazing how much difference the school holidays make. Half as much traffic? Imagine if all the little shits rode bikes to school next term? They’d be less tubby, happier, live longer and less would die in travel-related accidents. But no, the world is full of paedos and the only safe place is in the back of a Freeloader…

I rather intelligent friend of mine once said that religion was for the weak and ignorant. It’s cutting but, I think, probably true.
To my mind the point of the cartoon is that many of us have silly personal ideas, lucky charms, weird beliefs etc that we keep to ourselves and that don’t really do much harm – and might well provide a funny pub story. Organised religion in it’s hideous bigoted, offensive and painfully backward way is, I think (not ‘believe’), one of the biggest hindrances to progression in society. As Dawkins has put it many times, religious indoctrination of children should be seen as child abuse.

I think we need to face the fact that ‘we’ have become selfish as a species. Can’t be arsed. Someone else will do something. Fear – of interacting with other people, possible conflict. Lack of confidence in communication skills. It’s all over the place, not just biking. It’s possible we just don’t care as much as we used to but I think it’s a reversible trend. You bucked it 🙂

If you can, wait until the autumn (the technical one, not the weather one we seem to be having already) and pick up last year’s model – usually for 20-30% off. I can’t cope paying full price in the spring for something that might cost shed loads less in the autumn. Plenty of good value 2nd hand bikes on eBay, if you have an experienced mate who can sniff out a sensible deal. Decent full suss bikes going for £900 but you can’t be too picky on makes etc. Good luck – and remember you can always change it in the future, everyone does 🙂

I used to do the Polaris once or twice a year. Then is went down the tube (taken over/ruined) and has only recently restarted under the OMM badge. It was fun, and often took me to a new area, where someone had contrived to work out a load of great riding. But it was expensive, and all that driving, parking/attempting to get out of a muddy field at the end etc. Now I have a good few years of biking under my belt I am more self-contained and happier to pick my own location, bunch of mates, and weather window. Not saying never again, just not at the moment. Just recently back from a Long Mynd weekend. Not too far, nice campsite, great riding, no fuss – brilliant. Maybe I’ve just got old, slippers anyone 😉

This seems very simple situation – and you did all the right things. Attend to the injured, sort help, stay with them until help comes – job done, and well done. In a similar situation I might have shouted at passing riders for more help if I felt it necessary, but yes, it is unsettling that so many failed to even ask a quick ‘you OK?’. The casualty might have been cold and a few jackets could have helped; maybe someone was carrying a FA kit or survival bag; maybe just the moral support of a bunch of riders stopping and offering help, advice, or just keeping you company might have been nice. The motto is simple, it might be you face down in the shit – what would you want? And I am fairly certain the Daily Mail style ‘helpful passer-by sued for trying to help’ headline is total nonsense. I haven’t read or heard of anything like this.

Camelback rucksacks. £70 for a bag with a bladder? Alpkit Gordon does the same *and* is waterproof for £25.

The SRAM chain for £19.99 – works fine, has a powerlink which make removal for cleaning easier. Or buy the £15 one and spend the fiver on some WD40. Might stop it rusting up 😉

‘The way I see it, you’re born and then you die. Anything else is a bonus’. Ted, from Ted and Ralph, The Fast Show.

Glossy bike magazines repeating the same articles again and again as a cover for being one big advert.

I had a similar brief to you and went for a Planet-X Uncle John frame, hope disks and a mid range chainset (44-36-26 I think) with a MTB cassette. Got mud guards, 32 tyres, flat bars, comfy saddle – love it.
Sooooooo much better than my previous road bike (skitty, uncomfortable and kak brakes).

You got it. I used to have the same problem with rack on my old barn door T4. My T5 has a similar rack but with the long arm thing and it’s fine. Did take a few attempts to get the bikes located OK. Usually one one was and one the other, and remove saddles.
Good rack though – seems solid.

Going out, even for an hour or so, is almost always good for the soul, if not for the chainset. This would appear to be the worst summer since..2007? Not that long ago to be honest. My best weekend so far was Long Mynd in *March* – three days of sun and 20C. Seems ages ago.

So it’s a Nokia P iGeon then. Featuring double-Wing (TM) technology, Beak-tooth, and Shatomatic rear charging point. I’ll go catch one.
Thanks folks 😉

The argument based on ‘sometimes there is no need to obey the law’ is kak. The law is a blanket set of rules that are designed to make things best for most people – usually as a result of evidence and case law. There are plenty of times I stop at a red light light, both on a bike and in a car, and think – I can *see* there is nothing coming/no one crossing, but I don’t go. I think this boils down to me wanting to comply with a system I broadly agree with and although it frustrates I realise is in my general interest. Maybe in 100 years time, probably in the Netherlands, we will have evolved enough to update the law to say ‘when approaching a junction, or seeing someone wanting to cross the road, it would generally be a good thing to slow down/let them cross etc’ and reply on peoples’ nice-ness. But whilst there are 70 million of us all trying to squeeze ourselves onto the same overloaded infrastructure, a simple set of rules is fine. Red light jumping boils down to the same thing no matter who does it – selfishness.

They asked for it. Filthy vermin.

Invite him around for dinner, drug his food and when he keels over tie him to a chair, blindfold him, place a small orange in his mouth and turn the heating on full. When he wakes up play a tape of loud Arabic shouting (I’m assuming he doesn’t speak Arabic) and hit him repeatedly in the face. After he’s broken down a bit, hold his head back and place a flannel over his face. Pour water on this until he expires.
Then take the flannel and blindfold off, untie him and slap him a bit until he, hopefully, wakes up. In the unlikely event he fails to see the funny side, remind him about the wheel.

Did something similar with a mate a few years back. Starting from Leeds we drove up to Glentress and did The Magic Carpet (red to Buzzard’s Nest, shortcut to top of black, black descent to bottom of Spooky Wood, back up to top of red, red to finish); then drove up to Carron Valley (OK, but probably wouldn’t go again); then ‘Gorms for epic XC (Loch Enich there and back speedfest), Ryvoan – Nethy circuit; Burma Rd; fair drive up to Golspie – because it is brilliant and beautiful setting – back to Laggan (other centres on the route that we didn’t do) then Fort Bill (new red might be up your street); Kinlochleven for the (impossible!) Ciaran descent; then back south via Mabie. Job done. Just don’t go anywhere near the abomination that is the Moray Monster.

Butcher is heavier duty I think; and Nickle heavier and a bit cheaper?
I know it’s dated, but what do folk think offered equivalent simplicity and fun? I am talking single pivot swing arm, lightish and tough.

This is basic customer service and I just don’t buy the ‘we’re really busy/lost the note’ nonsense. Instigate a serious policy – all messages written down and stuck in a tray; review the tray; have a tick box for ‘wants a call back’; be honest about when the call back is likely to be. Yes you’ll screw up now and again but there is no excuse for regarding screw ups as acceptable. Where I live I have two similar bike shops not so far away. I have stopped using one because they were embarrassingly poor -at many things, but specifically call backs. The other is good, not perfect, but reliably good. Like someone else said, money talks – spend elsewhere.

If it looks like an advert and smells like an advert it probably is an advert. I don’t like the (failed) attempt at subterfuge.

Totally agree about holding speed. It feels like a mini-DH bike – straight and solid. You are right about bush wear – but more so than other bikes? Am thinking of getting the upgraded TFT bush to increase the interval.

Totally sure 🙂
Yes, Superlight wasn’t really the right name, but you can build it lightish. And it is utterly solid. And if you like the feedback of the single pivot over a VP-style design (like I do) and the simple mud clearance beauty of it all… Maybe I am a romantic but I just don’t want another bike.

I wondered about that. But I’m not convinced about 29ers. 26ers are more nimble.

Hmmmm I smell something…

It is done. Utterly magnificent. Day 1 through the Gaick was, as predicted, cold and wet. Day 2 dry and cool with brilliant single track through Rothiemurcus and beautiful tracks to Tomintoul. Day 3 sunny cruising down the Avon, and a stupidly fast descent to Braemar. Day 4 the amazing Tilt and single track excitement.
When the weather is good, there is nowhere I would rather ride.
No river crossings proved a problem despite a bit of snow melt.
Thanks again for all the advice 🙂

Thanks a lot for this folks – more really useful practical stuff. We are carrying camping gear but the obvious Kingussie area stopover lacks a campsite. Kingussie itself is a bit off route but we could go there for chips and a pint then head back towards Feshiebridge area and kip in the woods…but, we also need breakfast. Guess we could pack a couple of pork pies for that, and push on to something hot at Coylumbridge..?
After that it looks OK – Tomintoul has a tolerated wild campsite and pub/cafe; Braemar has a campsite/pub (and hopefully a shower!) and then it’s back to Blair to eat a horse.
Anyone know if the campsite in Blair is cool with leaving a vehicle there for 3 days..?

Getting to crunch time – the trip is on this weekend (Fri – Tues) if at all. Weather not brilliant with sleet Fri but maybe improving after that?
The Loch an Duin crossing may be critical. I wonder, are any/all of the footbridges marked downstream between Duin and Bhrodainn are real or imaginary? Anyone have any up to date info?