Well done Plumz!

goes to show that minimal travel hardtail 29ers are betterererererer, gay or not gay!

For that course absolutely. They were definitely out in force, pedalled mostly by 68Kg race whippets putting them to good use.

As the Red Bull section was a slightly rough doubletrack, followed by a long pedally smooth track, followed by an uphill corner (that might have had a bump!) in to a slightly more interesting bit with a small drop and then a slightly steeper, slightly rocky double track, anything over 100mm was overkill.

It’s XC after all.

I went for a shower after my night laps and a guy told me there’d been bikes nicked. Walking past the main gate there was a guy getting very sweary with the two security people who were there. Came back from my shower and said guy was now outside of the gate… & still very sweary.

Couldn’t work out if he was a very upset competitor who’d had his bike nicked or someone who they were suspicious of.

<rumour>The security staff weren’t on the gate when the bikes were nicked overnight</rumour> I was told that buy the guy who told me about the thefts and had just been stood with “sweary bloke”. If that’s true that’s shocking.

As for the event, it’s amazing what some great weather can do. All the course was rideable for a lot more riders this year, but I don’t think it would have been any better than last year if it had rained.

There were some much better sections this year; like “Singletrack singlestack” and some of the shorter descents that added to the fun, as did some of the small jumps around the course. If it’s at Gatcombe next year you’d hope they get even more leeway to explore the woods with some dedicated trails. There was still too much height loss on fire roads though for my liking.

It’ll be a shame to loose Wiggle’s funding (no idea how big the cheque they write is) but it’s a soulless start area. They were back with the van with 20 items.

The trackside camping was brilliant. Abuse & encouragement in equal measure and the slightly downhill ride in to the finish makes you feel so much better at the end of a knackering lap.

Brilliant atmosphere out on course as well. Chatted to quite a few solo riders along the way and props to the guy on his 20th lap at about 10 am in some red shop kit who said “I’m dead”…he looked it but he kept plugging away.

I think I’ll return next year (I think that was my sixth) but if it rains it’ll be 2013 (or God forbid 2012) all over again.

However the biggest problem for me was the lack of the tartiflette van. Can we get some burritos next year, and the beer tent!?

Overall, in the words of Tom Paulin “I thought it was great”. (wearing appropriately rose-tinted sunny weather spectacles, and because of the atmosphere and course improvements).

Brilliant little event. Well organised, no congestion on the trails at all, and where else do you get a school band on a hilltop?

Also thanks to all who enquired as to whether I was OK fixing my bike at the bottom of the second climb. 30 mins wasted but enjoyed the chats going up there afterwards.

Got mine last week so its shipping

Reimo active rails are what you need. Have a search on the t4 forum. Bit scary drilling holes in your 3k roof but lots do it.

Crell, Would the rock guard have protected against the OP’s broken spoke?

Are you suggesting I should read the OP more closely ? Fair, but who knows…

Interested because I have a RG2 and I’ve never been convinced by it.

The Liteville does have a spare hanger bolt, it is threaded into the bottom bracket.

Really? … off to inspect the BB … so it does :)

The cube hanger fits and costs less than the Liteville / Syntace one.

Did you have the Rockguard fitted?

AJS 16c ticked all the boxes for the next week of tin box driving

That is a very nice bike!

Yes but be prepared to 1) go without or 2) end up paying more if the last minute deals don’t appear and you’re desperate to go.

Had the good times and the bad over the years with skiing hols.

Do a bit of online research about where you want to go & who goes there. We’ve used the likes of Iglu (they clear summer hols as well) for last minute stuff, as well as the main operators.

Plan B is book your own – it’s easy to sort flights (skyscanner) and accom online. Don’t forget the cost of transfers or a hire car.

nope

The Lidl one is made by / is a re-badged Waeco

It’s noisy (the fan) when on full power / running from the 12v battery, but for the money it’s great. You can switch it off when you’re sleeping.

When you’re using an EHU you can vary the fan speed (strange you can’t when on 12v). On the quietest setting it’s fine at night.

Fantastic walk over Chrome Hill & Parkhouse, then Longnor tearooms for cake, then the Bull at Monyash for a pint.
Just got back and it’s time to bore the kids with the Giro highlights.

All in all a top day.

Am I the only one who won’t buy a sealed magazine? Got caught out by content-lite once too often.

I just can’t reach all the way up there.

Stevious, how are you getting on with the VCLS 2? I specced one on my SLX but wondering if I should have stuck to the original.

I looked at the endurance and wondered about swapping my order. The top spec one is a great price but I’ve wanted a SLX for ages so I’m sticking with it.

just hope they are quick with the delivery now. I have read vastly different reports on how long this takes.

My (ongoing) experience of the whole Canyon ordering process has been a nightmare. Good luck, but I wouldn’t get your hopes up even if your bike is “allegedly” in stock!

I’ll write it up at some point for the benefit of others. Their communications is amongst the worst I’ve ever come across.

Brilliant stage, and this final climb has got to become a regular. It’s just nasty.

They are all absolutely spent.

Awe what? He’s moulded out of Vocklers skin that lad..

Agreed. He’ been a breath of fresh air over the last couple of seasons.

Brilliant shot of Rolland ” giving up ” with a massive exhale as he went round the corner.

Brilliant stage so far ( as well as bonkers ). Looks like PR, NQ and RH might get reeled in as I’d have thought they’d be increasing the gap at this stage. They’ve all worked hard last week. Waiting to see what Possovivo and Aru can do today.

Edit: Scratch that, that’s 20 secs they’ve put in over the last 2 km!

Disable the popup that tells you that you have new mail – very distracting.
Set up a rule to move / highlight everything that you’re cc’d on (lower priority)
Set up a rule to flag up anything from your boss (higher priority)
Don’t delete anything or bother filing it – archive it and use tags for really important stuff.
Use a good search tool like X1 if you’re stuck.
Don’t use “Conversation” view as your normal view in Outlook 2013 – you will miss important updates (but it’s really good when dealing with search results).

Lync / Communicator are OK IF people respect your status on there.

Get a PA / graduate to manage them for you.

I have had ~250 emails / day and it’s easy to get sucked in to trying to deal with them all. You can’t unless your job is just to respond to emails.

Talk to people rather than sending emails.

My current unread count is 1027…Work to the principle that if it’s really important they’ll ring you if you’ve not responded to the email. If they just keep emailing you to tell you to check your email they need to learn how to deal with people and realise that some people don’t spend that day being an email jockey.

Crema Loam
Falk Hunting Ti
Votec
Liteville 101

Sure there’ll be some more mainstream brands as well.

Excellent, though I bet they go through a lot of shoes!

That’s one lucky kid and one hard as nails cat!

*gets all light headed at the sight of crell’s lawn*

Ah Tom, to you it’s a “lawn”, to me it’s grass. I know this forum has standards but it’s next to a wood. I quite like it like that (I don’t live on a new build housing estate) :)

Here, give yourself a coronary…

P1010239 by crell999[/url], on Flickr

Ordered this when “in stock”
Email from Canyon UK saying it was shipping.
<24 hours later an email from Canyon saying due to demand it was going to be another two weeks but hopefully on its way next week.

Also just finished building this last week. Liteville 301 MK11

IMG_0054 by crell999[/url], on Flickr

In “gate camo” mode:
IMAG1505_BURST001 by crell999[/url], on Flickr

If we’re doing thinly veiled sales, I’ve got my used Formula Solution Pro cruiser you can have for £250 (imported from the US).

It’s a big version of this (which is a mini).

Like others have said a cruiser is a BIG bike for a 9 year old. (It’s all in the TT length)

and it’s all change again. I would like to see Boonen win but he seems to be flagging now :(

Ah the comedy timing of the Eurosport ads.

Boom ! Go Van marcke

Still critical in hospital after several brain operations. Her family were hoping Vansummeren would win today!

How the hell did that FDJ rider stay up after hitting the (metal?) sign.

Crash after crash…and now an inflatable penis. I love Paris Roubaix.

Bloody hell that was the worlds worst bunny hop.Im sure his team leader will be overjoyed

Jees watching Kenny de Haas bouncing along on the Arenberg… and then he punctures. How hard is that to ride on and keep a tempo.

Good race so far

Lemond was on the euro feed wasn’t he? Just switched to HD and it’s Kirby and Mr platitudes himself Matt Stephens (I really don’t like him). Why no Sean Kelly!

Sky have obviously heard the news Sagan is chasing

That mini rocket needs to be on my desk ! Brilliant, “simple” engineering.

I’m just pleased it’s AP and not Avid doing the braking.

I loved this

It’s useful to know because in some sectors it can give an indication of which “grade” you might enter a company on. Unless you’re in finance it’s unlikely if you’re applying for a role that a new employer is going to go much beyond a 10% salary increase for the same sort of role. It’s then up to you to negotiate your own rate.

What someone’s on is a starter for 10. Through the interview process they’ll get a feel of whether they think you’re worth any extra. Good candidates can always command a premium. It’s then down to your or the agency’s negotiating skills.

You may want to be paid an amount, they may not want to pay it.
If your commute goes from 15 mins to 2 hours, that’s generally not “salaried time”. You might want to bump your package up to reflect it, which is where most employers will do current + n% as “can we afford them for the roles we have” (and importantly what grade you enter at – which determines your internal cost and how easy it may be to sell on your services if that’s relevant) straight away.

Having said all that, I’d tell the agency what I wanted for any role (assuming your skills are in short supply), and what I’m currently on. There is a credibility / experience / “current perceived worth” view as CBMotorsport says. Believe it or not, it’s quite a good filter (in my sector anyway).

As Toys says, current (old employer) is normally checked when you send in your P45.

Isn’t it just that that one is the latest version (same as on my Pikes) ? Not sure about backwards compatibility though.

Nothing performance related 2013 to 2014 (except the stealth where they moved the internals). I’s all lengths and diameters as far as I know. Stealth also has the “connectamajig” option on 2014.

Less sure about the R2.

http://www.maguraspares.com/servicecentre.html

Not in Sussex, but this guy is excellent. Helped me out at mountain mayhem last year after Zyro let me down.

but letting Cancellara and Vanmarcke catch them was a mistake

Not sure they had much choice in that after 250 KM.

We’ve had one for about 18 months. Can’t fault it. Only downside is the lack of a hose if you just buy the air ram. We got a deal on a spare battery and yet to use it (from Costco I think). it’ll tell you how far you walked via a usb cable. Sadly no HRM or power meter :)