M-i-t-c-h

Do you want to meet at Gunnersbury station and we can cycle down to the river. If worse comes to worst we can go to the industrial estate and get some pallets! ha

I'v just moved here and know no local spots. Any suggestions?

Saturday Morning sounds awesome, where are you thinking?

Completely agree, it's totally where I would like the project to go. Load the app, snap a picture and grab the geolocation. An API is in place via wordpress and there are already forks of the Wordpress App so I'm hoping that the project will excite someone else to help build on the foundations and bring app integration (maybe through a framework like appcelerator and HTML5 for the geolocation?? Someone??). I lack the xcode/java skills to complete the work myself unfortunately.

Hi All, So recently I moved to a different part of the country and realised very quickly I knew none of the local riding spots. Concurrently I am planning a little riding holiday with some XC buddies but soon realised that it was harder finding guaranteed great spots that we first thought. I figured this might be a problem for quite a few people so I thought I would (try!) and do something about it. I've cobbled together a few open source projects to create this: http://rideable.net/ Essentially the idea is to upload/tag and share your local riding spots, then others can come ride those spots if they are in the area. Similarly if you would like to ride somewhere new you can find good riding spots in new areas. Feel free to sign up, upload your local spots and let me know what you think! It's built on Wordpress and anyone can sign up (via their Facebook account) then tag their local riding spots, the mapping is provided by Google. I know there is still a lot to do and I'm sure their will be various bugs that need ironing out, so please bear with me - it's a spare time/Sunday project. If anyone devs that would like to lend a hand please feel free to contribute! Comments and thoughts very welcome.

Echoing what has been said above. I'm in a very different industry to the above but it rings true for whatever you want to do. Do as much and as many work experiences places as you can, especially unpaid ones. When an employer (or even a uni) comes to look at you and sees you have seeked and completed unpaid work for 4 weeks in a field that you have a genuine passion for - it sets you apart from most others who are interested in your chosen field. The other thing, which has happened to me, you may find you don't like doing the job you thought you wanted. VERY IMPORTANT: Pick up the phone!! In this world of online comms and email it can be very easy to find the right person on LinkedIn and send them an email. Don't do it. If you pick up the phone and call them you get the opportunity to have direct, human, contact with the decision maker - who will 1) remember you and 2) can't directly ignore you / put it to the back of the pile / forget about it. If you don't get through to them first time try again a few days later. We do not actively take on work-ex people however if someone phones me or my team we will usually take them on for a few weeks. They have already proved that they are above doing the easy thing and really want to get some experience. Hope that helps.

Nope never Haha. I'm sure there will be some one else about who can show us the way?! Anyone?

I'm near Hammersmith, but also getting back into it! Short tube/train ride away from Clapham.

Next time give me a shout!

http://www.codecademy.com/ Object orientated programming is very different to web technologies. Learn how to think like a programmer first. Thinking like a computer can be difficult and you need to understand why you're writing something rather than how you write something. Learn your fundamentals like variables, arrays and strings then picking up any programming language will be become far simpler - it will make more sense.

I'v been riding on and off for the best part of a decade and trials has changed and evolved in a big way - in my opinion a good way. I agree whole heartily with Mark. I would also like to add another insight around innovation. Incremental innovations tend to be on a shallow curve - meaning the first innovations make a larger impact than the next, so on and so forth. There have been some key innovations that I can remember - the introduction of the Monty X-Lite series when people where still using Giants and other Jump/XC frames. Every manufacturer since then has focused on the gradual reduction of weight, increase of strength and lowing of centre of gravity. These small increments frame on frame has fueled the manufacturers and the commercials of the sport. However after 10 years, that curve is now really beginning to slow. I actually took a break from the sport for about 3 years, recently getting back into it and to be honest - not much has changed in regards to frame design, manufacture and materials in the last 5 years. Which brings me back to Marks point. The use of carbon fiber (finally!) is a new innovation but, one that offers little incremental advantage to a rider. This small advantage is important at the top level of riding but it's only going to be 99.98% of the total trials market that would see a noticeable advantage gained by switching from a mod Echo Lite to a mod Monty M5 Carbon is just not worth the investment for your average trials joe, or even most comp riders. In my opinion there needs to be a radical innovation that has a big impact on the riders ability and the bike as a tool - where that comes from, I have no idea. Trials is expensive. Especially since you start off in this sport an a young age. £400/£500 for a bike is a huge sum of money at 14 years old - probably the most expensive thing you own at that age. Genuinely, I feel manufactures need to focus on producing good, low end, low margin bikes. You need to nurture the new starters and reduce the barriers (cost) to start in the sport. You will then have more riders in the sport as a total market, who will in the long term go on to buy the more expensive frames and components as they improve and become more financially well endowed. Thinking long term is critical to the development of the sport. That's my two pence on the trials situation, right or wrong no one can argue that it's a challenging and interesting time for the sport.

Burning down nandos in ealing. Massive own goal.

Hi All, I'v just got a new bike after a 2 year break. Was wondering if anyone was from the Lancaster area and wanted to ride this w/e or next? Mitch