Love the shorts, they would clash fantastically with my purple tartan Nike Air Morgan's.I've been told I have the arse for them too! :-)

That's great, cheers. Just goes to show how little I know about gears!

For something more traditional, Jackson's on the Royal mile is pretty good, but not cheap. Edinburgh is my favourite city, beautiful, you should have a great time, although Princes street was full of road works a couple of weeks ago. Monster mash is great for a big stodgy lunch.

I just ordered one from wiggle and using a £15 voucher got it for £173.99.
That was for a 4" multi with remote.

Even though I bought my now wife the ring she wanted, I still occasionally find it laying around on the bathroom floor. I'm sure it's only a matter of time until the dog eats it!

5.10 freeride
Nike Air morgan 6.0
Vans waffle sole
Shimano whassaname 'special' shoes

I'm going to have to agree with MisterGnar, for full on DH riding nothing compares to the 5'10. I used Vans waffles before 5'10's were available, but the soles would wear out in around four months and the shoe body offers little in the way of protection. Maybe some people are sheep for buying them, but when I got my first pair five years ago they really were the answer to my foot slipping worries, even if friends did laugh at my 'special' shoes.

For all other riding I use my Air Morgan 6.0 as the 5.10's are a bit hot and bulky. The new freeride version are a good compromise though and will be my next shoe.

A decent thickness of sole is pretty much essential for hardtail DH (IMO)My feet were killing me after ten runs of the mojo track in very old, worn out 5.10's a couple of years ago. My pedals had some pretty lethal pins mind you.

Mine is 13.5 miles each way, but I only do it a couple of times a week

I use some Nike Air Morgan's for non DH riding. The grip is similar to Vans waffle soles, but they last longer. Only problem is finding a decent coloured pair, some are nice, but some are awful. Mine cost me £45 a couple of months ago. There is a review of them on southerndh.com

Most of my riding is DH based and I find the Alpine to be better at DH style jumps than a 14" jump bike. It was bought to reduce my three bikes to two.

Demo 8, .twofourthree sl and on-one 456. I still have the Demo, but the Alpine does pretty much what the other two did with. Lighter and more forgiving than the .243, more jumpable and bomproof than the .243. My 456 (18") had a silly long seat post on it too.

The Alpine is a bit of a compromise, but it has been able to lend itself to pretty much any type of riding. It's doubtful I will change it any time soon. Being around 15 stone (but still lean) I would always err on the side of strength over lightness, well within reason.

I really like the bike, but it does spend most of it's time with the saddle very low for jumping/messing around, but there is no getting around it looking silly fo xc.

My GT ZUM commuter has a 20" frame and I have loads of seatpost showing on that, so I guess I must have fairly long legs.

Large frames look like getes, but then smaller/lower frames look silly with long posts. Ho hum!

tumnorkoz,

pretty long, but still acceptable. I will have to sort a pic somehow to show the silliness that is my Alpine.

Yep, pretty long, but not as silly as mine. What frame is that?

I guess I must have long legs. A friend of mine is 6'1" and his saddle is a little low for me. The low top tube of the Alpine just makes it look even sillier. 260mm doesn't sound like much to me.

I have had many big stupid nights out involving drink and possibly other stimulants, but I can't help but think it was an intentional act rather than he 'happened' to be by the memorial and needed to pee.

i think cleaning the memorial with a toothbrush or a day in the stocks is in order.

Home-ish, The Matador in Innerleithen, a bit of everything.
Away, The woods section at the end of the Megavalanche, Alp D'huez. Flying through some of the best singletrack ever in a train.

Bagstard

It all comes down to the route you take. My commute is either a horrible grind along dual carriageways with lorries rattling past me or a much more pleasent route along bumpy country lanes and rough, wet leaf strewn cycle paths.

I tried a boardman hybrid on the roads which was pretty quick, but opted for GT ZUM hybrid and my usual 710mm sunline bars for a much more enjoyable and confident journey. This also means I can use my ipod when I get to the cycle paths.

Bagstard

I had a wonderful wedding September last year in Comlongan castle near Dumfries. We could never afford a venue like that down south and there is great mountain biking near by. My sister was married at Mabie house hotel, also great.

By getting married in Scotland you really cut the numbers down as only good friends will make the effort. Also staying in the castle means no fancy cars needed, everything is in-house. Also no evening guests, perfect for a more intimate wedding in beautiful romantic surroundings with people you actually care about. Oh and with it being a Wednesday it was cheaper still. Friends and family just made a mini break of it,perfect
for us MTB riders!

The food was amazing, staff amazing, venue amazing. We actually stretched our wedding celebrations over two days, with a buffet lunch, laser shooting and castle tour on the second day. The staff even let us order in takeaways to eat in the bar on the second night.

I can't remember what it was per head, but it knocked the socks off any hotel type wedding I've ever been to in price and content. We had 48 guests.

Bagstard