Month: March 2003

Rode all day today. Left the flat at 9am and arrived at Edale Station Cafe at 5pm, by the time I’d caught the train home and ridden home it was 7.30pm. I biked down to Chorlton water park, then hooked onto the Trans-Pennine Trail, followed it out to Stockport then carried on through Reddish Vale, Broadbottom, Glossop and onto the Longendale Trail. I rode that up to the Woodhead Pass, dropped down the otherside and down to the Flouch Inn roundabout and into the Swidden plantation. From there it was up onto the moors and following Mickleden Edge and Cut Gate path down to the top end of Howden Reservoir. From the Derwent Reservoir, it was up to Woodcock Coppice.

The descent down from there was quickly over and it was time to cross the Snake road, ride over the Haggwater Bridge and begin the push up the unridable climb to the crossroads. From there it was the sketchy descent down to, through and back up from Jaggers Clough. The final descent of the day down to Clough farm was fantastic, a group of bikers even held the gate open for me. To top it off there was still time for a pint of tea at Edale’s finest cafe before hitting the Rambler for some draft ale.

The sun shone and it was T-shirt weather, everyone I met was happy and there were some BMXers on the train home having a slapstick comedy fight with rolled up newspapers. All in all a very good day, but one which has seen the vast consumption of food. Including tonights pasta feast, I don’t know what the calorie balance for todays little sortie will be, but my legs are aching and I’m sure that’s a good thing. The steed for today was a 2003 Specialized Enduro Expert

Well the bike was pretty good, though it was only it’s first outing, so there was a fair bit of bedding in as to be expected from a new bike. By the end the discs had some nifty bite and the forks were beginning to loosen up. Full test report coming soon. Jed’s been busy over at deadpineapple with some new stuff now on show. Oh and Andy Armstrong‘s been playing about with GeoURL. As a Geographer I’ll have to get into that, once I get the great escape section sorted, though as I haven’t even planned it or scanned the holiday pictures that might be some time away.

This weeks recommended link: Temple Of Thee Lemur – These guys are just plain silly. Has the quest for Terrestrial Intelligence ever been more appropriate? Probably not.

Shop work today and returned home with some cables I’ve been waiting for for the FSR build. I now discover that the hydralic hose clamps don’t have long enough bolts to fit the frames cable guides. That’ll be a trip to the bolt supplier then. The front disc is in, as are the wheels, I’m just waiting for the tyres and the rear disc and she’s ready. All this building is getting me sentimental and I keep thinking about the old S-Works Steel . Will be trying to get the other bikes up here soon, it all just takes longer than I was expecting.

Not much to put up today, just a few more links and some idea of what else is coming soon. Today I have been mostly mucking about with maps in photoshop and this evening have the delight of washing a weeks worth of snowboard kit and some biking clobber that has been festering for about two weeks. I lead a truly dangerous lifestyle, dicing with danger at every opportunity. Buy this Audioslave Album now, it just keeps finding its way back onto the stereo.

Been looking at the Cotic frames today. Looks nice, but however much I miss my old S-Works steel, the M5 doesn’t get enough action as it is and I’m trying to concentrate on getting the FSR back up and running for the beginning of April. And for that little project I’m still saving for wheels and disc brakes, with BETD seat stays and riser bars probably on the cards too.

Quotes have been on the STW agenda today. One person springs to mind as a significant idol in the use of proverbs and general intellect: David Brent, a man of wisdom:

1. Eagles may soar high, but weasels don’t get sucked into jet engines.

2. Lack of planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part.

3. There may be no ‘I’ in team, but there’s a ‘ME’ if you look hard enough.

4. Process and Procedure are the last hiding place of people without the wit and wisdom to do their job properly.

5. Remember that age and treachery will always triumph over youth and ability.

6. Never do today that which will become someone elses responsibility tomorrow.

7. Every time you open your mouth you have this wonderful ability to continually confirm what I think.

8. Show me a good loser and I’ll show you a LOSER!

9. Put the key of despair into the lock of apathy. Turn the knob of mediocrity slowly and open the gates of despondency – welcome to a day in the average office.

10. It’s the team that matters. Where would The Beatles be without Ringo? If John got Yoko to play drums the history of music would be completely different.

11. What does a squirrel do in the summer? It buries nuts. Why? Cos then in winter time he’s got something to eat and he won’t die. So, collecting nuts in the summer is worthwhile work. Every task you do at work think, would a squirrel do that? Think squirrels. Think nuts.

12. When confronted by a difficult problem, you can solve it more easily by reducing it to the question, “How would the Lone Ranger handle this?”

13. Accept that some days you are the pigeon, and some days you are the statue.

14. If your boss is getting you down, look at him through the prongs of a fork and imagine him in jail.

15. If you can keep your head when all around you have lost theirs, then you probably haven’t understood the seriousness of the situation.

16. You don’t have to be mad to work here! In fact we ask you to complete a medical questionnaire to ensure that you are not.

17. If you treat the people around you with love and respect, they will never guess that you’re trying to get them sacked.

18. If at first you don’t succeed, remove all evidence you ever tried.

19. You have to be 100% behind someone, before you can stab them in the back.

20. If work was so good, the rich would have kept more of it for themselves.

21. Those of you who think you know everything are annoying to those of us who do.

22. There’s no ‘I’ in ‘team’. But then there’s no ‘I’ in ‘useless smug colleague’, either. And there’s four in ‘platitude-quoting idiot’. Go figure.

23. Know your limitations and be content with them. Too much ambition results in promotion to a job you can’t do.

24. Make good use of your cylindrical filing unit, the one you mainly keep under your desk.

25. Quitters never win, winners never quit. But those who never win and never quit are idiots.

26. If you’re gonna be late, then be late and not just 2 minutes – make it an hour and enjoy your breakfast.

27. Remember the 3 golden rules: 1. It was like that when I got here. 2. I didn’t do it. 3. (To your Boss) I like your style.

28. The office is like an army, and I’m the field general. You’re my footsoldiers and customer quality is the WAR!!!

29. Set out to leave the first vapour trail in the blue-sky scenario. 30. Statistics are like a lamp-post to a drunken man – more for leaning on than illumination.

31. A problem shared is a problem halved, so is your problem really yours or just half of someone elses?

32. Is your work done? Are all pigs fed, watered and ready to fly?….

33. You don’t have to be mad to work here, but you do have to be on time, well presented, a team player, customer service focused and sober!!

34. I thought I could see the light at the end of the tunnel, but it was just some b*stard with a torch, bringing me more work.

35. Avoid employing unlucky people – throw half of the pile of CVs in the bin without reading them.

Finally had a good look at some maps from Ordnance Survey Ireland today that arrived whilst I was away. Bit gutted to find that after waiting for 2 months for them I’m still missing some coverage from the area I was trying to get. I can see more phone calls coming up. Indoor on the phone means not being outdoors on the bike. Talking of which Graeme MacPuppy has the old P7 built up. Looking good and I’m glad it’s gone to a good home.

Bit a reminder of the Guernsey days today and Kirk revolution frames. It seems not all of them returned to Dawes having gone wibbly wobbly. Looks like Leon, Mark & Co. from Team Sheep have been hacking things into pieces again.

Okay here’s what rothar means. Guess I should create a permanent link to that.

This thing is going to take a while to knock into shape, but then I reckon there’s not much wrong with that. So after a 12 hour delay in Toulouse, I’m back in Manchester. Well Ibiza-on-Snow (Pas de la Casa) was actually quite good. Three dumps of snow and some good boarding to be had. Also managed to roll this beast off piste.

I blame the extra body riding pillion. Thoughts of trying to do a back flip on one of these beasts as in the Ski Movie series makes you realise the balls of those guys. Big respect.

Anyway I get back to find out that Forestry Enterprise are trying to evict the very people who have made the Coed Y Brenin the very success it is. Not too happy about that, but this is something we can take action on. Chipps is on the case. There seems to be trouble everywhere at the moment. I need to read the news.

Finally managed to get my act together and find an Internet Host and they’re local, just up the road from here. Big thanks to Jed to getting me motivated on this finally. Right not much time to do anything else because tomorrow I’m off to the Pyrenees to get some more winter downhilling in.

This site is about bikes and there’s more coming soon. In the mean time go here, here or here.