oops double post…

so is there that much difference…

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/8223760.stm

so whats changed here – there was a NPS race here around 95 and round of the mtb tour of britain too, from memory it was one of the hardest courses Ive raced on (the 92 degree heat didnt help either whilst riding through the BBQ area!)…

Hi guys,

I was away from a computer last week so missed this post…

In 1996 I was diagnosed with testicular cancer and reading through this lot has bought back a lot of memories and feelings I had at the time… I was scared, scared for those around me but you sound just like me, I took it head on, your comments last week – With regards to the cancer, I don't know how the hell I'm going to deal with it, but I will. I intend to nail this mofo to the floor, or at least go out kicking, screaming and getting my monies worth. – was my attitude exactly. How I got through it all, well at the time a young american cyclist had just been diagnosed with the same thing and (remember this was almost prior to the internet!) I used to send people out scouring everything for information on how he was doing and coping with the treatment. Also I used to do a lot of kickboxing and had been taught by a very good experienced professional fighter, and I took my ring experience into the hospital with me, as far as I was concerned cancer wasnt going to last the first two rounds, mentally I was very strong to take this on.

As it turned out I was incredibly fit and the surgery and the first couple of rounds of chemo went without any problems (other than me bouncing off the walls in the hospital – I wasnt made to sit still…) the third rounmd was the only time it effected my in the traditional feeling sick kind of way but even that wasnt as bad as the people around me. I got through the chemo, responded very well to all th treatment ans only then had to go back for check ups and 4 years ago I was given the all clear. Id beaten the bastard. When I walked out of that hospital that day I sat outside the hospital and wept like a baby, and only later realised this was the only time Id ever shed a tear over it….

Today I havent seen the inside of a hospital (other than the birth of my son) since have a georgous son and another due in a month, and a beautiful girlfriend who was my rock all the way through. I truly hope your experience mirrors mine with the same outcome… My thoughts are with you…

If you want any other info, whatever let me know…

steve

finally worked my way through the pics – some good ones in there…

Just checked my hrm/speedo from sunday – av spd 8mph, max 22 – calories burnt (and this is usually pretty acurate) 2500!!! no wonder I havent stopped eating….

And is anyone else still finding mud in odd places…??!

found half a dozen of me (no 505 with blue sleeveless jersey) but everytime I try to open up a main picture my computer 'says no' and just stops….

Should be at langdon hills (g/friend giving birth on time allowing…) and usually wearing a brooklyn cycles jersey

thanks for that Im on an incredibly slow computer so it takes about an hour to load a page…

Tinsey Ive been moaning about racing for nigh on 15 years – I coulda been a contenda ya know…

working my way through them trying to see me… are the 2 hour ones at the back??

That 5th picture down though brings back horrid memories…

the only bad point (imo) was lack of signs getting to the event – a lot of people I spoke to were driving around looking for 'MTB event' signs – but other than that a really good venue…

Although if theres the slightest sign of mud next time I may be tempted to do the 1 hour race (which on my 2 hours times I would have come 3rd overall in :D)

it was good fun, but I notice the mud in the 1hr race was nothing like the swamp we had to get through…, by 90mins it was unrideable…

fun…. on what planet can that mud be described as fun…?!

the rest of the course though was awesome – but I did hear someone complaining about the bottom of the woods being 'wrecked' – the slidey muddy bit – so I dont know if we'll be aloud back.. I think he might have been something to do with the land owners…

and while I'm prepared to believe that people may try to cause crashes in slow, urban situations, trying it at 70mph seems more like attempted suicide

you obviously didnt seethe programme on about this the other night then. On motorway the 'trick' is to disable your brake lights and then cut in front of your victim and slam your brakes on (also on motorway slip roads) – they showed cctv footage of some lunatic that that chose a royal mail hgv, cut right in front of him and slammed on his brakes. In theoury he would have said he was just driving along when nasty mr hgv ploughed into the back of him, without witnesses it would have been hard to disprove. Also another favourite place is at a roundabout car in front starts to pull away and brakes suddenly (with no brake lights) person behind is usually seeing whats coming round the roundabout rather than looking at non working brake lights.

as I understood it he was in a different country to the one he stipulated on whatever form he had to fill in a year in advance, and his team were fully aware where he was as they paid his travelling expenses – which I think is why he got the unfair dismissal money…

unfortunately the rules are the rules and after 2 years hes free to race as was millar, vino, that italian bloke who's name Ive forgotten and mr t hamilton (who really is a complete idiot…)

this is it, quite interesting…

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/5901936/James-Cracknell-I-broke-down—and-I-cant-bear-to-watch.html

I think it was in the telegraph yesterday but a film crew dropped by for an hour or two every four to five days, hence the footage of cracknell breaking down and wandering off into crevace land…

I think people are forgetting Missing Link were/are Norwegian special forces that spend their entire lives in similar conditions, this was probably just a literal walk in the park for them…

Ive just part ex'd an old Fiat Punto GT that had 204000 on the clock – I must have got the good one… 😀

I picked up a load a couple of years back in a bargain bin for £1 each, and then found out they were all schraeder valves…

Think they were great shame they stopped making them

RichPenny – Member
I seem to remember that the height difference on the Beijing course was similar, about 70m or so. That looked OK to me.

I personally don’t understand why it’s not on the Surrey Hills, too many NIMBYs maybe? Anyway, an area which previously had very few facilites for MTB is about to get some, that is a good thing IMO.

Unfortunately most of the planned course is on private land of a working farm – I doubt there will be access to it after the games.

OK i ride at hadleigh at least twice a week, have done for hte past 15 years or so, I know it like the back of the preverbial hand. The Downs are good enough for a world class mtb course giving prob a 30 min lap at world class level. This is why Ive always supported the downs other than the fact its on my doorstep so to speak. However they are not using the full scope of the down they are using one field and one hill at world class level I cant see this taking any more than 10-15 mins a lap if you threw in every obstacle going and created a slalom to climb up, they are only aiming for a 15 minute’ish lap, which apparently are the requirements set out by the olympic comittee and the UCI. Ive questioned this with the local council bod in charge of whats going on and he seems to think that after attending the bejing mtb race he knows more about mtb racing than someone whos been racing for nigh on 15 years… In fact Ive also complained about the signs he’s put up for the event apologising to other users for the slight disruption possibly going to be caused by not actually using any of the decent parts of the downs.

Id love to get in touch with the course designer as I could show them half a dozen good courses that would melt the legs of seasoned xc racers in one lap…

Hopefully the proposed course will be slated in the ‘practice’ races that are supposed to be taking place…

all the races are in july too… Can only do two of them because of that…

there was cover in force – but not a lot…

http://www.insurancetimes.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=13&storycode=379183

I seem to recall a few weeks back that there was areport that 10 shows were arranged with Jacksons knowledge and then 40 were added and he was told about it afterwards – he wasnt happy and even he said he couldnt have done that many shows…

thats crap – its manual work or labour thats ‘banned’ on the sabbath (saturday to them) – Ive been to israel loads of times and never seen an orthodox jew not turn a light on when it was dark – on saturdays most of the lifts in israel just stop at every floor so they dont have to press the button – an automatic light is probably used in half of israel on saturday in winter…(which by the way is around 20 degrees)

did the buyer have low or no feedback – I had this a few months back with a snowboard I sold – I think they were under the impression the buyer was dodgy – used his g/friends card on paypal, names didnt match etc…

Get on the phone to them and find out whats going on…

find the serial number im sure the frame size was incorporated into that…

did a price get agreed on fir this – it is gorgeous…??

ade I remember that year very well and on those bikes it was incredible, not a patch on todays bikes.

Rossi at the TT, we’ll never know – theres a reason the top riders dont ride the TT every year, theres only a certain type of rider that can ride it fast. In the past Rossi, Edwards, Bayliss, Lawson, Gardner, schwantz and a lot of top guys have all ridden it, and theyve all said the same thing – no way… run offs are replaced with brick wall, rumble strips with kerbstones and in the mountains if you make a mistake youll fall down the side of it…

It was a good last lap but for my money still doesnt beat imola 2002, the lasp few laps of the last race bayliss and edwards, winner takes world champ – most amazing race Ive ever seen

for some reason Ive always had metolius harnesses, but they fit they feel comfy and thats whats more important. Go to somewhere like Rock On where you can pester them for a couple of hours and get to try loads on…

nope that was the end, no more of that – Michael Chikils was the either the producer or director of the show from early on and he said that there would only ever be 7 series.

Great ending everyone expected him to get shot but that really was a fate worse than death for him – the shane story was a bit of a shock though…

i nearly ran over Rav (crimewatch / one show) on monday – he was filming something whilst walking along a cycle path…

he’s **** mahoosive by the way….

weve been using bambino mios for 16 months now. I dont get the theyre to fiddly to use argument – they work the same as a disposable.

Number 2 on the way and will be using them all again for him/her…

It might be a big initial outlay but weve literally saved £100s of pounds because of them and your rubbish doesnt consist of 2/3 used nappies any more…

+1 on TM Lewins and you can get 3 shirts for £50 from one of the shops near lime street – Pink shirts done seem to last me much more than 6 months before they start fraying or elbow splitting…

i got the exact one you want from stonehenge cycles a week or so back (they were 20% off!!) – dont know ifthe sales still on but they bent over backwards to sort it out for me (the website crashed) and got it ot methe next day.

I looked at pretty much everything and got the hamax sleepy – over the rear wheel nd it reclines for when the littluns asleep and his head doesnt bob everywhere…

Those top tube seats – the wee ride and equivelents I couldnt ride without smashing my knees to bits and couldnt touch the bars and the loct I was virtually leaning on my little boys head and I wasnt happy he wouldnt slip off…

The change of ownership is far more of an issue. They went bankrupt a few years back due to an ill-advised foray into motorcycles and were taken up by a venture capital firm

dont know how to quote, but this was 2 different events for cannondale. The bike company went into liquidation due to sudden realisation that they were about to have to recall every bike and replace the cranks, internal bolts and a few other bits on every bike made, it was the cheaper option – the bikes however when fixed ar still (7 years on) amazing pieces of machinery way ahead of their time – Ive got one and have been riding it for 4 years now. It was however only the motorsports co that went into liquidation.

A couple of years later howeverthe original owners of cannondale sold the bike company out (for $xmillions), I gues theri retirement fund. IT had nothing to do with motorsports.

Personally I think its a bit sad. If you rode in the early 90s bikes were made (properly) in america (incl kona specialized etc…). It was just the way it was, IVe still got a 1994 cannondale that I still ride to this day – its a fantastic frame. What it doesnt say is if the bikes are still going to be handmade or just chucked in a jig and welded by machines…

depends how early you want to get up…

open cat isa dream for me as travelling 1/2 round the m35 and getting to a venue by 10am on a sunday morning was a bit of a hassle…

dont rush this, make the most of this time youve got together alone – itll seem like rarity in 12 months or so..

Little BD was tw oweeks overdue and was induced, popped out in the middle of The Bill…

bizarrely when littledawg no 2 appears Joe and Leo were two of the preferred names on our list…

they did introduce it in london a year or two ago – halfords supplied a load or yellow heavily liveried bikes – I think after 24 hours there was one left which lasted another day.

bit OT – but can we subscribe to topics again? Ive had this page on refresh all day now!

Youre totally missing my point and before I go any further I just want to add my little boy has had the jab last month.

All Im trying to show you is why people are not having the jab and their reasoning behind it. I doubt 95% of the UK even know what a peer reviewed journal even is or where to find one. You could show them 100 studies saying its safe, but it only takes one to say it isnt to undo the work of the previous 100, and thats the one thats going to make headlines and people are going to read.

As I said my little boy’s had the jab and to be honest the literature thats sent through regarding the MMR is not very good, relying on scaremongering rather than any facts.

Oh and if mercury isnt the most toxic substance on the planet blame that on my old physics teacher who told me it was when I broke a thermometer and he started acting like ebola had just been released into the classroom…