7lbs loss here, I think the majority is attributable to a change of habits post Christmas, much less booze and food. I think the real test for me starts here, with business travel ramping up and the first few kg slipping off relatively easily.

Yes, me too. For the last coupe of years I have been it’s been pretty busy, even some of the smaller teams had their camper vans parked up there. It’s a great location to get up the hill quickly too.

There is free camping by the DMC lift is there not?

I’ve just entered. I’m doing this rather than the Mega this year due to time/financial limitations. I’m really looking forward to it though, I go to the Fort Bill World Cup every year and I’ve still yet to ride the track.

Its finally confirmed, Ratboy is not racing World Cups in 2017:

Josh Bryceland not racing World Cups in 2017

Just emailed you Jon, I am the heaviest I’ve ever been at 99.8kg (6ft) but have had 6 months laid up with a broken ankle. I’d like to drop to 95kg by the end of Jan, 90kg By the end of March and 85kg by the end of June. And to think I was 68kg 10 years and 2 kids ago 🙁

Gary_M – Member
presumably left in the car with his wife
Wife was carrying child, op was too lazy, plus he couldn’t carry as he was looking for a fight
I do think there’s a bit more to this than the op has told us though.

Gary_M, I’m puzzled by you thinking there is more to it, I might see if my wife will post to verify I’ve been accurate in my description of events. I’m currently on crutches after a bad ankle break in the Alps at the Megavalanche, and numerous operations and early removal of metalwork due to infection, which means I can’t walk unaided at the moment, I wasn’t being lazy!

Agent 007, my wife and child were with me, which makes me even more embarrassed by my actions.

Was the perp watching you so knew which car you came from, or did he hang around and wait until you came out the store?

I’m not sure Gary_M, we parked in an area of the car park with no other cars immediately close, so I think he just clocked the only vehicle in the area. My wife was carrying my daughter as was asleep and I think perhaps he may have seen the lights flash as we walked away and locked it. The car also has child seats in the back, so its a good indicator it was ours.

+1 on how did the feds track you down?

Number plate I think, they asked if it was my car parked outside.

So what “more to it” are you suggesting I would want? Isn’t that plenty?

Apart from you accusing me of racism and physical violence here?

outofbreath – Member
“It’s not like the op lost his temper, started screaming some racial epithet at the guy while frothing at the mouth, ripping his shirt off demanding a fight.”

Given the recipient of the abuse decided to call the police it seems highly likely that in the perception of the recipient that’s exactly what happened.

outofbreath – Member
I’m sorry to disappoint you outofbreath, its clear from your earlier assertions you are desperate for there to be more to it than my version of events.
You say that as though somehow what you already admit to doing isn’t already bad enough!

I accept all the criticism for name calling, I deserve it and if I had not pulled him up initially he couldn’t have suggested that he park the car and sort me out.

greentricky – Member
How old is your kid Op?

As you said you had to explain to them why the police came around so I’m guessing not toddlers or babies, in which case why was a parent and child space really needed?

We have two kids. Our youngest is three and the eldest is eight. We were with the youngest when the altercation happened. It was the eldest who came to answer the door with me at home.

outofbreath – Member
In the OP you said you had parked elsewhere, and were on foot when the argument happened, and then the other guy drove off and you went into the shop. So how did the police know which door to knock on ?
Reported by a witness who saw where the car was?

I’m sorry to disappoint you outofbreath, its clear from your earlier assertions you are desperate for there to be more to it than my version of events. The only witness was my wife, and she is not the kind of person that would support me lying to the police if I had been physically threatening or using racist language. I’m guilty of nothing more than childish name calling and perhaps sticking my oar in where I shouldn’t. Sorry.

The police didn’t accuse me of anything, they said the driver had called them, didn’t want it to go any further but asked them to have a word with me about using racist language. Once they saw my reaction and spoke with my wife, they left within I’d say 2 minutes at most.

In the OP you said you had parked elsewhere, and were on foot when the argument happened, and then the other guy drove off and you went into the shop. So how did the police know which door to knock on ?

My wife had parked in a bay with no car either side of us, and he had to drive past our car to leave the car park. Its possible he saw my wife locking the car as we walked across the car park, or saw the child seats in the car and made an educated guess.

Is there a chance he honestly misheard you for another word starting with P and including a K and I?

I did wonder if this was the case Chapaking, it occurred to me this morning. I did ask the police what word/s I’d been accused of using, but apparently they can’t repeat it.

I hold my hands up to the name calling, it was out of character and I acted like a petulant kid. I didn’t jump right in with it, he told me he’d “park where he wanted, when he wanted”, and I responded with “thats because you’re a selfish prick” and I shouldn’t have, its not the impression I want set for my kids at all.

I accept all the criticism for name calling, I deserve it and if I had not pulled him up initially he couldn’t have suggested that he park the car and sort me out. I’ll reiterate though, I didn’t and wouldn’t say anything that could be construed as racist and the accusation is even more laughable if you knew my family situation.

What’s even more mystifying is that when the police came round to discuss, the op took a while to realise what they were talking about! You had an altercation with someone and forgot all about it?

Of course I recalled the argument, I absolutely did struggle to reconcile what was essentially two adults acting like kids with the police standing on my doorstep.

I’ve only read the OP, just very surprised you’re devastated at the police at the door but you’re quite happy acting up and calling a stranger a prick in front of the kid.

My daughter was asleep, but it doesn’t take away from the fact that I have (as referenced numerous times) acknowledged by improper behaviour in the matter.

`I’ve parked in these spaces plenty of times when I’ve had to load something heavy and bulky (that’s not a child) into the side doors meaning that they need to be fully opened. If the OP had seen me getting out of the car in this situation to go into the store would he have called me a prick too?

I doubt it, on any other day I would probably have been more reasonable. He carried a small carrier back to his Porsche 911, so I don’t think it was heavy lifting. As I said above, I regret my initial hissy fit but I don’t think I deserve the police around and accusations of racism.

project – Member
just perhaps he had a dash cam or recording device and recorded the whole thing, soon to be on youtube probably,

I hope so, I was a bit if a dick about it but nothing compared to what followed, and certainly not racist.

CaptainFlashheart – Member
if only they would charge the other guy with wasting police time!
By the sounds of it, he’d just scream RACIST at them, and they’d simply back down. Sadly.

OP, just bin this one to experience. Perhaps use it to explain to the children why A – Daddy was wrong to have “had words” and why B – The other bloke is a massive (expletive deleted).

I suspect this is the best approach, I’ve just never been accused of this before and it makes me sad.

twistedpencil – Member
Let it go. Not worth the trouble.

How’s your ankle? Riding the mega again next year?

It is getting there twistedpencil, unfortunately the surgery got infected and I nearly lost my foot, so only just off crutches and still on medication. Which is probably why I was a little precious about having to carry my little girl further than need be. I might ride again, its own to recovery and my wifes permission for next year!

curto80 – Member
Hmmm, popped out for some new cleats and seem to have accidentally bought myself an ex demo T6 SWB Kombi.
Whoops

That’s a posh LBS you have!

ABS brakes for a mountain bike

bodgy – Member
She has a bit of a track record of ‘borrowing’ without asking (petty stuff – clothing, stationery, make up from my wife) but things have become more serious with the disappearance of some expensive (£1500+) earrings that my wife inherited from her late Grandmother.

I’m sorry to hear that bodgy, it must be really tough and I have nothing else to offer other than I don’t think camera surveillance is the answer.

Have you asked her if she has taken the missing items?

jambalaya – Member

@kimbers how on earth can the writer talk about the failire of the Brexit project when it’s hardly begun

Says the man forever telling us the ‘data’ is good for a post Brexit UK economy! If it’s too early to talk about the failure, it’s also too early to talk about signs of success, as you have continually since June!

This is my new (to me) van, picked up last week from Salop Vans (highly recommended) and I’ve been in hospital ever since so little opportunity to spend time in it, grrrrr.

Previous to picking up the T5 I did the cheap van thing but after a couple of years it was effectively junk whereas if I look after the T5, it should still have significant value in it when I move it on. It drives very well, not too dissimilar to our car and the kids and wife really like trips away in the van, so we tend to go on more weekend trips to the Lakes or Welsh beaches, the new van means we can do this in comfort. I love it , and I’m not particularly bothered whether or not people judge me for driving it, I tend to do things for me, not strangers on an Internet forum.

I’m in, just the 130km route as the 220km route diminishes the opportunity to partake in the main objective of the trip, significant consumption of Belgian beer.

If I was going steal a car I wouldn’t go making myself known to someone associated with the car. Anyone remotely curious is going to check to see if the car is/has been stolen and then could provide my description to the police.

Similarly, if I was going to rob you I’d knock on the door and ask if Dave was home then apologise for getting the wrong house, or I’d knock asking if you needed a window cleaner etc… A memorable story about having a car stolen is going to be remembered if you arrive home to find your possessions missing.

CaptainFlashheart – Member
Black shirt and a necklace?

Erm…..

I thought we’d stopped taking sartorial advice from you after ‘shoegate’ Flashy?

To be honest, anyone critiquing that shot of Jake Gyllenhaal better be a good looking, exceptionally well dressed fellow…

Note his member status there…

Yes, it did make me chuckle.

I was wondering if it was the same guy. I used to post on ClubGTi for years, there was a poster on there who supposedly had a MK4 R32 back when they were new and worth fortunes, lot of posters were asking for pics, details etc – they were very special back then when most of us were driving around Mk2s worth about £1500, word ‘got around’ that he was fibbing about it – eventually a story emerged that some hoodies broken into his house in the middle of the night and threatened him for the keys etc.

Horrible story, but I think it started to fall apart, he flounced, took up MTB and went over to Bike Radar about the same time as I stopped caring about old Golfs and started to ride myself. Unmistakably the same guy on Bike Radar, same stories, same sniff of the Walt about it.

Don’t know for sure if Surf-Mat is the same guy, but similar name, similar way of winding people up.

My money is on the same guy, this is a recentish post on e90post.com by Sufmatt:

I had a mk4 Golf R32 years ago and that was quite good but since the introduction of the 2.0 4 pot? Just no.

The M135i is the only true enthusiasts hot hatch.

Guess what he drives now 😀

I is still awesum!

renton – Member
Yep it was sprung onus Friday that they want to complete this week.

We had originally said 1st Dec so we wouldn’t have to pay the early repayment charge on the mortgage.

So now we will be down 3k. Oh and an extra 240£ for the solicitors for completing out with their timescales.

You’ve done the honourable thing by continuing with the sale despite your reservations, there is no way you should be £3k down for their last minute change of plan too.

Looking good cyclelife, I’m picking up my 275 Team on Wednesday, I can’t wait.

What problems have you had Wrightyson?

This thread hits a new low, even by Singletrack standards. I’m not sure how someone can get away with calling someone a retard, or make clumsy accusations of paedophilia and not be pulled up on it.

In today’s news a Belgian region blocked a EU trade deal with Canada. I imagine the Guardian will plaster their news with this?/…..

Eh, it’s the first story on the Guardian homepage Hora.

As for funding its all our money with a 45% EU skim. Do they fund anything significant we wouldn’t ? I’m not so sure and in any case is that worth such a massive skim off the top ?

The reputation of British science is second to none, and a significant factor in this is the net contribution the EU makes to The UK science sector. Do you think the Torres will continue to support investment to this level Jamabalaya? We’ll also be making it harder for taltneted scientisits to come to the UK for work, and as a large proportion of medical and pharmaceutical hardware is made in Germany, we are going to pay more for our r&d and manufacturing.

Britain’s science sector has done increasingly well out of the EU in recent years, receiving €8.8bn in research funding in 2007-2013 versus the €5.4bn it paid in over the same period. And UK-based scientists have won about a fifth of all the grants, in terms of value, from the top-tier programmes run by the European Research Council.

“In the upcoming negotiations, we must make sure that research, which is the bedrock of a sustainable economy, is not short-changed, and the government ensures that the overall funding level of science is maintained,”

Source: BBC

Jamba, you keep banging on about this 45% haircut the EU takes from our membership, but this doesn’t take into account the economic benefits of being in the EU. Which clubs worth being a member of don’t have a fee attached?

“Our annual contribution is equivalent to £340 for each household and yet the CBI (Confederation of British Industry) says that all the trade, investment, jobs and lower prices that come from our economic partnership with Europe is worth £3000 per year to every household.”

I thought it was great, I loved the section with Casey Brown and Rachel too. its great to see more female coverage in films like this. I still think Strength in Numbers is my favourite Anthill film.

Tracey – Member
Got a new set of Guide RSCs with all fittings been taken off a 2017 S Works Enduro 29r in the next couple of weeks if anyone is interested. Only removing as all our bikes are standardized on one type of brake

Hi Tracey, I’d be interested. I’m doing exactly the same thing regarding standardising but with RSC’s.

Chris

kimbers – Member
Brexiters arent the kind of people that care about science and stuff like that

“European Union money accounted for 40 percent of funding for cancer research in Britain over the last decade, according to Digital Science, a consulting firm based in London. In nanotechnology research, that figure is 62 percent … Those resources have plugged the gap in falling British government funding, adjusted for inflation, and low levels of investment from Britain’s private sector.”

Yeah, but we’ve had enough of experts.

If you think about it though it does make sense, it would be daft to start a series as a Master and end it as a Vet, so you get put into Vets at the start of the year instead, keeping it consistent. I raced my last Masters race this year! Onwards to Vets for 2017!

Yeah, I’d never thought about that Ben, it does make sense. Oh well, guess I better pull my finger out in regards to training for 2017 then!