Words fail me.

It's a good thing no one takes any notice of Olympic XC, otherwise the entire world would think we were on crack. 60 metres elevation? I ride down a bigger hill than that on the way to the station every morning. My house is 80m asl, and I live less than a mile from the sea for God's sake!

My local trails are on hills starting at 200m and rising to 570m. It's all FC land - why couldn't they build the course there? Oh that's right, it's more than 20 miles outside London. Yet the Olympics is somehow supposed to benefit all of us? Unconvinced of Cumbria.

I could rant for considerably longer, but seeing as the organisers are evidently selectively deaf, I don't think I'll bother.

Cormac Eason wrote (see)

Easiest way to put on the lower cone (If it's not a split type) is to get a block of wood, drill a hole slightly bigger than the 1 1/8" diameter of the steerer tube through the centre of the block of wood

What, with a 1 1/8" drill bit?! Not sure many people would have one lying around, unless they build ships for a hobby...

 Easiest way is to use threaded bar as you say. Others I've seen include old BMX hubs, g-clamps, and a sash cramp.

Of course there's lots more to ride in the Lakes, but if you're going to spunk half a million bob on a trail, wouldn't it at least be nice if it's a worthwhile alternative? Rather than the sort of thing you ride once and then think "oh balls, they've done it again".

"depends on who the target "customer/user/visitor" is????"

It seems the target audience for most of these things is people on rigid 29er singlespeeds - that's about the only bike that would make the NF trail interesting? The guy who's building this one rides a singlespeed no less. A very telling quote from his site is about the Wall at Afan - "steep, over-fast sections removed". No doubt replaced with some flat, unflowing switchbacks. Yawn.

I realise they're not being designed with the experienced rider in mind, but if that's so why are they promoted as such? The gradings of the routes are particularly hilarious.

I guess it's a wasted argument really, but I wonder if the FC/LDNPA/powers-that-be will use such trail centres as an excuse to shut bridleways? We saw what happened a while ago with the NERC bill and 4x4s; might have been a different situation but they had no trouble at all getting that one through.

I'm over it really, just frustrated by the whole thing. It's semi-offroad and for many, that's enough

Just slightly frustrated by how crap these things often turn out, given the amount of money thrown at them. The NF Trail? £167k for about 8 miles of completely featureless flat motorway.

The budget for this one is a whopping £500k, so it should be 3 times as good? Let's hope they actually put some features in it this time.

I know the stock reply is "if you don't like it, don't ride it", but half a million quid could repair/improve quite a lot of shagged bridleways around the Lakes. Like the one I rode last night for example - from the bottom of Hardknott pass over into the Duddon. The top bit is basically a 400-yard trudge through a rocky bog, and almost completely ruins the ride despite the lovely bits either side of it. I reckon £5k could sort that one out, let alone £500k.

But of course, that isn't near any tourist honeypots/purpose-built cafes, and isn't likely to bring wads of cash into the FC. Can't blame them for it really, but there must be some obligation on the LDNPA to actually fix up ruined paths?

Ah well, I'm over it. At least it might be ok for winter night rides.