There is a similar event next weekend in CANBERRA the 6 hour cycle rogaine (Rogaining is the sport of endurance cross country navigation in teams of 2 to 5 usually of 12 or 24 hour duration and usually on foot, but occasional cycle rogaines are organised). It will be 45 minutes West of Canberra in pine forest. MTB preferred but there is also an ‘on foot’ catergory. Mens, womens and mixed categories, plus veteran (all over 40) and junior (all under 18) subcategories. Cost $12 including a BBQ and refreshments at the end. You cant get much better value than that ! Start 10am finish 4pm. Entries closed last Wednesday but try phoning the organisors…

Well it appears that we have a new news group dedicated to Mountain Bikes and Mountain Biking. I thought it fitting to start with a post describing my first entry into an “Orienteering on Mountain Bikes” competition which happened yesterday. In Canberra we have events called Cyclegains (it is a version of Rogaining). Instead of having to go around a course like in Orienteering it is like a ‘score course’. Rogaining is a ‘score course’ over a period of up to 24 hours (a real sport).

The cyclegain is usually about 6 hours (with a 1:25k map)I don’t know why you’d need mountain bikes. All the roads are paved. I’d suggest renting road bikes, which are more readily available, or even buying road bikes there. You can rent a Citroen with a rack and throw the bikes up top, go anywhere, and ride. It’s fantastic for touring. GUILLAUME1 wrote: I am looking to tour the Loire in June of ’96 for two weeks; I will be biking with my wife and my 10 and 13 year old boys. Any suggestions re a tour company or simply renting in one central location. We are not looking to spend all our savings…but would appreciate any suggestions that would point us toward a fun time bikingYou’ve got a great tour planned. I suggest you might even want to take your bikes from here, pack them on the plane and then take the train to your riding area. No need for mountain bikes, as others have written. Touring bikes with panniers would be better. Also, some potentially useful books: Adventure Cycling in Europe and the Michelin green guide to the Loire. Have fun

I would sya it paid off to kick the cows out of Yosemite in the 1920s (though their stay totally changed the valley’s flora)? And what do you say to 14M willing, happy payers (not to mention, campers)? What did they eat when they got there? to people who have some little pieces of relatively untouched environment to sell… perhaps if Scotland was ungrazed, public land some people would have taken a shorter, cheaper trip there instead? So now add those, too, to the local economy… In britain, very little of the meat we eat comes from such ‘wilderness’ areas as Scotland.

‘Clearing’ the highlands of sheep (not cows much) would not actually increase the wilderness aspect much. Most sheep like the wilderness as it is. The overwhelming majority of UK (and pretty miuch of Europe) has been ‘grazed’ for centuries and suddenly removing all grazing animals would play havoc with the ecology. Please move on from this cute idea that we all eat vegetables and hug a mountain bike. : >have a thoroughly out of touch understanding of what people need and are >prepared to do for their leisure.

Most people don’t like wilderness. That People who have it, use it. People who don’t, don’t, though many would like to have some, specially after they have tried it once… BUT NOT ALL, AND NOT MOST!!! but, everyone likes less CO2 in their air (I am sure you will cancel this again..). where else can one store extra carbon, but in restored forests? I presume that people can read different responses as they go along. What is the point of re-posting everything you say? It is already there to be read (or can’t you remember what you wrote?) to pasture, and everyone should be doing their bit if the greenhouse effect is to be stabilized. Which means, since jumping steps is dangerous with you, that everyone in the world should restore grazelands into forests.

Nope. Why? Are you trying to say that animals are the biggest cause of greenhouse gases? Do me a favour. and, just to drive the point home once again, economic output would be barely touched by large scale dietary changes, just transformed… in one of your posts you mention something like quorn, I don’t know what is, but : looks exactly the kind of gimmick with which health shops go after people’s money. You are a cow to be milked, if it ever happens? I can’t remember if I mentioned quorn or in what context, but I can assure you that my money is very unlikely to go into the bank of a health food shop. I have better things to spend money on, like road bikes an