Self-treated with a pen-knife blade, pliers, a blow torch and some anti-septic cream when I was 13. I did have an entire box of antibiotics lying round in the bathroom cupboard/holiday bag if I seem to remember as well – probably why it worked and I didn’t die. Not as horrible as it sounds, just got the blade red hot, cooled it quickly and then dug around where the ends were pointing in until I worked them loose, then used the pliers to hold them out whilst I snipped the offending part off. Got no idea whether that’s the right thing to do but it worked. There wasn’t much blood at all so it was probably just at an early stage.

Cue horribly infected toe, frowny quack, limpage etc.

LOL’d :mrgreen:

Also the dude (edit: piemonster) with the falling off toenails looks like he has a serious fungal infection?

150 percent certain that you’re on drugs.

Butcher, I reckon he thinks they deserve what they get for being “maggots” (previous posts) that are racially inferior.

In the unfortunate event that Dear Leader is bullied or capitulated, the place will be thrown into some sort of anarchy and the world will need to come to their aid. Where do you think the aid or money come from if it is from the UK? The gov’t or the bank?

China and South Korea would, perhaps the US – I don’t think there would be any worry of insurgencies. We certainly wouldn’t be going all Iraq on them and unilaterally rebuilding the country.

Capitulated? Where do you get that idea and why do you have to go against the wishes of Dear Leader? Do you think you have the right ideology? Aren’t you supposed to bow and to show respect to other ideology especially in Dear Leader’s own home?

You’re on drugs mate probably at high enough doses to knock out a giraffe.

Why can’t they starve? What’s wrong with that? Many people starve. What makes you think Dear Leader is awful? Where do you get the idea that from? Are you reading interesting propaganda …

That’s the same as asking why I’m not allowed to murder someone….you think you’re being clever but your posts make it seem like you have a predisposition to licking windows. What’s this obsession with the “dear leader” that you have?

I once knew a Marine who became type 2 diabetic and **** know’s how he did it considering how fit he was.

Maybe dosed on energy drinks to much during training?

I thought this post was pretty good. I know I’d rather hang out with the latter. :twisted:

I think I am getting the hang of this writing gig

posted this morning on my blog

While prepping my tools and parts for this transition to a road bike for the next 6 months I have been putting away most of my baggy downhill gear and chuckled when busting out the bibs and skin suit roadie stuff and I started to think how one gets so entangled into opposite sides of the spectrum. So I thought I would write on the subject.

I have never been that much of a roadie over the years of my competitive cycling. My first road bike was a 80’s steel frame Schwinn that was way to big for me and had toe clips. Needless to say it was the start of frantically trying to get your foot out before sacrificing my genitals on the top tube and hitting the asphalt since there was no standover. The only differences I have noticed from the downhill MTB crowd vs the roadies is technology but the demographics seem to have staying power that rivals a Vegas STD. Since I am legitimately both I guess I can get away with the real details.

Demographics of the Roadie Stereo type

Granola crunching, Latte sipping, Leg shaving, Prius driving, weight weenie. These are the yuppies that are dropping major coin to shave grams on their water bottle cages. The tech nerds that hover over the counter salivating on the newest power meter gadgets and talking to each other in watts while slipping and falling in grocery stores when wearing their 300 dollar Italian bike shoes. They can usually be found at a coffee shop listening to nora jones on their iPhone and discussing the intricacies of riding on cobble streets and the dynamics of bruised bananas in their jerseys during a metric century. They will often be found riding 3 or more abreast off the fog line taking up a whole lane but will still flip you the bird for not “sharing the road”. They will always have a matching dayglo florescent kit from socks to gloves and wont buy anything that doesn’t match the bike. They will buy a 300 dollar helmet every year because the last one was 3 grams too heavy. They don’t smoke, would never stay out past 8 and have a single digit body fat percentage and will always be bragging of that one minor case of road rash. They ride in pace lines drafting each other staring at each other butt while leaving a trail of GU wrappers. They pretend they are cars when the light is green but will be pedestrians when the light is red. Dont even get me started on the whole Fixie/Hipster trend.

Demographics of the Downhiller/MTB type

This group is the sloping forehead, dragging knuckle, beer guzzling, pickup truck driving, vulgar mouth breathing, GED holding, energy drink and junk food addicts. These groms are the ones pushing their bikes for miles to get a 3 minute ride in and be on the brakes the whole time. They can usually be found at a chair lift operated resort in the bar slamming down 40 bucks of beers and shots while eating a 99 cent hot dogs and Doritos to feed the “munchies” before they get their 250 lb carcass and 45 lb bike on the lift for another non pedaling run down the mountain. You can hear the squealing of their brakes a mile away and there is no bark on the trees next the trails from constant crashes. The only time you will see them pedal is in the parking lots and they leave a trail of chains and derailleurs down the trails. They will always be shoveling new jump lines and hacking down trees to make the newest “Huck” in hopes they will be in a movie. They will always have their headphones in listening to Slayer at full volume and will have to buy a new 400 dollar troy lee designs helmet every year because the last one was demolished. They are usually missing a sock because they had to take a crap somewhere along the trail and can often be cracking joke about each others moms. They brag about the hardware holding their bones together and complain about getting stitches over the top of their fresh tribal tattoo’s. Dont even get me started on the Dirtjumper trend.

But in the long run it is still two people spending 3-5 grand to get out and ride. In my case I feel at home on both sides.

It’s not that kind of vertigo….

you wouldn’t understand unless you’ve actually had it….but it’s a bit like being put in a NASA G-force centrifuge….except you’re stood on solid ground.

There are two main pathways to developing such a disorder:

1) Peripheral vertigo – basically it’s ear related. Your ear’s send signals to your brain about your orientation in space. When these signals become dysfunctional you get vertigo. In the case of an inner ear infection, the inner ear is quite often damaged permanently and the brain has to go through a process of re-calibrating itself to the new dysfunctional signals being sent to it,.

2) Central vertigo is when the part of the brain that receives those signals stops functioning properly for whatever reason… brain tumours, epilepsy, basilar type migraines etc.

Seriously **** with my head because I knew what an inner ear infection was and I didn’t feel it was one. Most doctors I met had a “wtf” expression on their face when I told them what was happening as well.

My house diagnosis was that it was a Basilar Type Migraine. Although it lasted for a month so I wonder whether it was seizure related and caused by a head injury sustained biking a few months before.

Hope your little one get’s better.

Man been here.

Back in 2007 I was sitting outside a pub drinking a coke….having a nice time in hot weather…..

BANG! Sudden blurred vision….that lasted a fraction of a second and was almost like a white flash…. my whole body jolts at the same time….coupled with the feeling of a sudden violent spin….then a feeling like I’m hurtling towards the ground in a 400 mph uncontrolled vertical dive….which then subsided into feeling like I was on the high sea’s.

It kept happening over the course of a month, I was hospitalized and they never found out what it was….it cleared up and has never happened since really (although I find during exams when I get anxious I start to feel dizzy…I guess because I associate anxiety with a loss of balance).

I rather Dear Leader remains forever as I do not intend to feed his population …

Exactly how would you feed his people in the event the North capitulated?

Secondly, why do you feel the people of North Korea are somehow not deserving of food and that they should remain under an awful dictatorship?

Of course they probably can – elite mens can get away with riding DH tracks fast butt naked except for an XC lid. Why – because riding within 80 percent of their ability is still fast and unlikely to bring them off.

If a youngsters sole goal on a ride is to go out and section a downhill or hit some drops/gaps then they should probably be wearing a full face.

I’ve never seen anyone (except my brother who is an ex-sponsored rider) hit a large drop at speed on an XC hardtail with an XC lid.

My aforementioned brother did the biggest drop at Chicksands on a 24 inch rigid dirtjump bike with no brakes and no helmet….. he’s a different kettle of idiocy…..but he’d still usually wear his full face when he had days off from his racing and we’d go and mess around at trail centers in Wales or naughty trails that friends showed us in local woods.

The people that you should be laughing at are the people that judge others.

Not made better by my parents insisting I answered the phone for their amusement when I was younger .. I still dread talking on phone.

Nice!

How have you found the beast in general, reliability etc?

I think I’m gonna get myself a Pulse this year.

Ooooh a scalp with single crowns, that’s a first!

Meh I guess, I’m sure they have their reasons though.

Unless they’ve been using non-bikers to fix the trails.

Experience on a bike would say it’s often ott, I think that’s what the OP is getting, if it’s about trying to progress too fast I’d agree. OK some may need to stay injury-free for work, but for many I think it’s about risk perception and I wonder why they see it as such a high-risk sport. Pics of massive hucks and bloody injuries in the mags maybe.

I’m feeling old.. MTB was ‘wilderness racing’, adventure and rigid bikes that you were amazed could go off-road at all when I was younger. I guess if you get into bikes now there’s a different set of images projected. Chances of injury hasn’t changed though – or perhaps the bikes going faster more easily (full-sus and better brakes) has increased it for novice riders?

**** don’t get this thread at all, full of XC riders who’s sole idea of a ride is an XC loop.

The kind of riding I do doesn’t tend to be of the XC loop variety….. I like bike parks, downhill tracks or going out riding with the specific aim of finding interesting features to section. Whenever we ride we want to try and do something new that we haven’t done before. We go out riding with friends and goad each other into doing increasingly silly things, so yes, many of us like to go out with proper lids on.

I once passed a bunch of fully lycra’d cyclocross weirdos on a trail loop, whilst I was riding my 32.5lb Mega decked out with supertacky High Rollers. What was even funnier was that I had my seatpost slammed.

Were they XC walts? Probably not, they looked fit but we’re probably tired after doing a bigger ride. I gave them a smile and hello and they seemed friendly back! That’s what it’s all about.

I do get where you’re coming from though. Strange thing these days that “mountain biking” is such an all inclusive term and if you look a DH rig to an XC race bike they are miles apart and totally different sports/hobbies/call ’em what you will. Most mtb mags and sponsorship of events by red bull etc… promotes the more rad side of things so it is no wonder that folks who may be new to it, could have a tendency to believe that full armour and DH jimjams is the norm.

Lot’s of MXer’s are coming over to DH because of the expense, they’re used to wearing full faces – and rightly think that if you’re travelling at speeds that will see similar impact forces to a crash on an MX track then you should wear a full face.

I was riding the Chicksands dual once, it isn’t that hardcore but you can get some pretty good speed on it – most people wear half lids on it. It was a hot dry day and I was wearing my DJ piss pot lid, hit one of the berms fast and leant the bike over hard and low…..lost the front wheel in the loose stuff and the next thing I knew I was stumbling around feeling as if someone had struck a bell over my head. These days I just wear my full face for anything other than 10+ mile XC rides. If I’m out to piss about and section trails then I’ll take my full face.

Protection is all about whether you are pushing your limits – just because a n00bs going slow doesn’t mean to say they are not pushing their own limits and that is the time you are likely to crash. If your doing stuff you’re not comfortable with the first time, I think it’s a really good idea to wear a bit of extra protection.

Am I the only one here who likes nothing more than putting on a set of wet screams and hitting a muddy as **** dh track?

Wet, loose and so muddy that you look like a swamp monster at the bottom is where it’s at!

Once wore a full face at CYB, why?

Because I felt like being stupid that day on trails I loved. I was genuinely laying off the brakes and hitting speeds out of my comfort zone and whereby I felt I’d need maxillofacial surgery if I hit a tree.

Other people wear body armour and full faces when they’re starting out, which makes sense.

Let people where what they like.

Spinning brain? You sure it’s not a vestibular disorder?

I was (am) under the impression the death penalty still stands for those offenses other than murder (for which the death sentence was dropped), but is not used because it’s against the Human Rights Act.

No that law was actually repealed. They’d have to legislate for it again.

Colombia was still fighting the war against insurgents

It’s worked in so far as they’ve contained FARC and brought them to the negotiating table.

As for Algeria you got the wrong time frame – read the document because I don’t feel like getting done for copyright issues.

15 Good COIN Practices

The COIN force adhered to several
strategic communication principles

The COIN force signi?cantly reduced
tangible insurgent support.

The government established or
maintained legitimacy in the area of
con?ict

The government was at least a partial
democracy.

COIN force intelligence was adequate
to support effective engagement or
disruption of insurgents.

The COIN force was of suf?cient strength
to force the insurgents to ?ght as
guerrillas.

The government/state was competent

The COIN force avoided excessive
collateral damage, disproportionate
use of force, or other illegitimate
applications of force.

The COIN force sought to engage and
establish positive relations with the
population in the area of con?ict

Short-term investments, improvements in
infrastructure or development, or property
reform occurred in the area of con?ict
controlled or claimed by the COIN force

The majority of the population in the
area of con?ict supported or favored the
COIN force.

The COIN force established and then
expanded secure areas.

The COIN force had and used
uncontested air dominance.

The COIN force provided or ensured the
provision of basic services in areas that it
controlled or claimed to control.

The perception of security was created
or maintained among the population
in areas that the COIN force claimed to
control.

.
.
.
.
.

Bad Coin Practices (I’ve ticked the ones that cover ‘Stan with an X)

The COIN force used both collective
punishment and escalating repression.

X – The primary COIN force was an external
occupier.

X – COIN force or government actions
contributed to substantial new
grievances claimed by the insurgents.

X http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-14883253 – Militias worked at cross-purposes with
the COIN force or government.

The COIN force resettled or removed
civilian populations for population
control.

X (to an extent) – COIN force collateral damage was
perceived by the population in the area
of con?ict as worse than the insurgents’. (When yanks drop 2000lb JDAM’s into weddings on a more than irregular basis it tends to do this kind of thing)

X (to an extent) – In the area of con?ict, the COIN force was
perceived as worse than the insurgents.

The COIN force failed to adapt
to changes in adversary strategy,
operations, or tactics.

The COIN force engaged in more
coercion or intimidation than the
insurgents.

X (maybe more willing to die anyway) – The insurgent force was individually
superior to the COIN force by being
either more professional or better
motivated.

The COIN force or its allies relied on
looting for sustainment.

X – The COIN force and government had
different goals or levels of commitment.

But things like facts and logic won’t alter your right wing Daily Mail views will they Chewkw, just like they didn’t in the last thread we met in.

Nope, none of the tactics outlined in that document require the removal of hoooman wights. In fact they probably support the idea of human rights, see the tactic “legitimacy (government)” and “legitimacy (force)” – things that a lack of respect for basic human rights tend to ignore.

As Che once put it….

Where a government has come into power through some form of popular vote… the guerrilla outbreak cannot be promoted, since the possibilities of peaceful struggle have not yet been exhausted.

War is about eliminating and exterminating until one side bow as simple as that.

Counterinsurgency isn’t, note the statistics for the tactic “crush them”

http://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/monographs/2010/RAND_MG964.pdf

Has counterinsurgency actually worked anywhere in the 60 years it’s been in and out of favour?

Colombia, Ireland, Uganda, Turkey, Algeria, Peru and Chechnya to name a few.

Yes but it’s one of very few that’s worse than alcohol. Everything beneath alcohol and tobacco should be totally legal if we’re going to have a logical cohesive policy on drugs. I’d love to see someone put Sugar on this graph btw.

Bwhahahahahaaaaaaaaaaaar

Obesity outranks both smoking and drinking in its deleterious effects on health and health costs

http://content.healthaffairs.org/content/21/2/245.long

Right, let’s round up the fat **** and send them to prison.

That sounds highly questionable. Hospitals must be overflowing.

http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Hurtling+down+Whistler+mountainside+fraught+with+danger/7060926/story.html

“Dr. Annie Gareau, an emergency room specialist at the Whistler clinic and co-author of the study, said a general rule of thumb is that one in 1,000 skiers is injured, one in 100 snowboarders, and one in 10 downhill cyclists. That makes downhill mountain biking far more dangerous than skiing and highlights the need for more research on safety equipment and risk avoidance measures, she said.”

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22656660

At a quick glance 8.5 percent of 1/10 are critically injured.

Much worse than the risks associated with smoking.

Also, I can’t think of a single thing other than prescribed drugs than prescribed drugs that are illegal due to health reasons. Even then there are other reasons prescribed drugs are usually illegal to have without a prescription….eg because medics need to control their use in a population to be effective.

I didn’t say EVERYTHING, I said things, meaning some things.

Being fat is less healthy than smoking dope. Can we send the fatties to prison please and send armed police to kick in the doors of Cadbury world?

It was too cheap though as addicts increased considerably once into the 60’s – but there must be a better way than what we have now.

As someone studying medical statistics, have you ever thought that correlation doesn’t necessarily mean causation.

There was a massive shift in cultural attitudes during the 60’s – that probably led to a lot more drug use.

I’m glad you guys totally destroyed the OP….

I don’t have to respond to his massive insult to human intellect now.

Hmm, but the state DOES prohibit things that have significantly negative consequences.

Like what, apart from prescribed medicines?

1/10 downhillers sustain a life threatening injury in whistler compared to 1/1000 skiers. Want to ban that as well?

Are fat people sent to prison?

It’s still not up to the state to decide what you put in your body though – I’m pretty sure slamming junkies in prison affects families more than the drugs problem itself. Seeing as how most of the drugs except for alcohol tend to chill people out more – how often do you hear about pot-heads being wildly abusive in public when compared to alcoholics?

It should be treated as a health issue and treated as such, not a criminal issue.

Frightening how politicians can take us into these situations (not just Afganistan) without very clear and specific strategic objectives, an indentifiable end-game and a post-conflict adjustment plan. Given none of this is laid out in advance, no wonder none of them are ever held accountable at the end of it.

It’s because they’re not soldiers, who won’t listen to the advice of their top brass due to their ideologies/egos and the brass for the sake of their jobs then have to run with what their puppet masters tell them to do.

Politicians are civilians who expect the army to serve them – quite rightly so but then we come to one of the main dilemma’s in democracy…..we’re governed by professional politicians…human resources/public relations types…..with no real understanding of the subjects that they make decisions about.

It’s about time we had a war on alcohol then. That would solve the problem.

I LOL’d….. as you probably well know prohibition has never worked so Molgrips needs to realize that families of alcoholics pulled the short straw in life. Just like those people who are born into families with wildly psychopathic parents. It’s not the States or societies fault…..you just got born in the wrong place at the wrong tine to people with bad genes…..because the universe is a morally neutral uncaring place to be.

and Geetee is 100 percent utterly and totally wrong….to the point that I cannot even begin to be arsed countering it as I hope everyone else knows better.

Can you expand on that? They’re identical, structurally (09 was the first year or 150mm, bolt through, power bulge etc etc), and there’s only so many ways you can do an air spring.

The air spring really is quite different – the solo air model has a lot more bump compliance than the old u-turn and 2-step airs of old and the new Dual Position Air spring is supposedly almost up their with the Solo Air.

Your U-turn air is also based on a dual air system as opposed to the solo air system of the Solo Air/Dual Position Air model…..harder to set up to feel nice.

IMO the new Dual Position Air lyrik is the most coil like air fork that I’ve ever ridden.

That link is very interesting THX,

Heh, so Halal could potentially lead to fewer cases of vCJD then?

Gassing sounds like a good idea on the face of it.