Here's mine, its a keeper

Oh no I have forgotten how to post photo's.

Just wait they'll be along soon saying that you shouldn't have more than one gear and your wheels are too small….. 🙄 😀 I thought the picture was very nice!

Similar to ridung in the UK, if I'm just riding DH then Full face and armour, if I riding up a lot then not a FF. When in the Alps the availablitiy of lifts and big DH runs means I ride that way more than not, so the DH lid gets used more…

+1 for Topeak Alien, had mine for years and its still mint. Very good chain tool on it.

Heavy tyres?

I doubt you will you get 1.8k to 2k for it. Sorry but I'd be amazed. Break it down. Frame £800, Forks £250, wheels £150, brakes £100, the rest £150, I make that £1,450?. It will probably be easier to sell in bits..

Yup sensible lad. My first car was a Ford Cortina Estate. I've no idea what I was thinking.

"Ie mincing and avoiding all the interesting bits"

Not really, its was a local xc track and I rode all the same stuff I usually do. If I go to a DH track I'll take a FS. I'm not saying that one is better than the other, just that it was a good thing to try having never tried it before. 🙂

Ooh goody, just round the corner! I'm in.

Blackspire stinger on my bike, works a treat.

Yes climbing, getting out of the saddle has never been so appealing.

Hmmm… can't imagine riding fully rigid in the Alps!

This was always a nagging doubt for me, I've seen a few with stress cracks in my time. Around the shock mount? One of the guys I did the mega with had his frame crack like this.

Take your point re the same being possible with suspension and I'm not saying I will stop using suspension, just surprised at what a refreshing change it made really.

Yeah – the positives for a general XC type ride easily outweight the negatives it seems. I've put some carbon 69er forks on my inbred and have only used it for road stuff until last weekend. However jumping around is right out, caused my knees all sorts of gyp and I packed that in pretty quick!

What type of riding are you after? There's plenty of places to muck about nearer to North London but not a good as those already mentioned really. Swinley forest is fun but a bog at the moment by all accounts. I've never been to Epping forest anyone got view on that?

Chicksand fun, not been to Woburn I'm going next weekend. Aston good but shut for racing on Sunday.

Be there at the moment, don't miss it. Its amazing when the head starts to appear and then out they pop! First took about 8hrs from call to hospital, second was fast 2hrs from making the call to the hospital! Also its hard sometimes to distinguish real contractions from what you think are Brackston Hicks…..

Yeah agree with Doug 100%, set up of brake levers and relaxing on the bike is key, and tip about getting more weight through your heels is something I worked out doing the Mega, I also ended up alternating my braking fingers. Try moving your brakes further inboard too if you can? Having said that your arms will still hurt if you are not used to it, especially on the Pleney where the braking bumps get silly.

BearBack – my house is built on a concrete float foundation / base with weatherboarding that some people have replaced with UPVC cladding – its a 60's box in Bucks. That said it looks v cheap, maybe the guy has gone to HK for work, not sure why he'd advertise if on a HK site if its in Bradford though….

Depends how hard I'm working but 2hrs without food is the limit for me, and I'll start to eat little bits after about an hour if I know I'm going to be out longer than 2hrs.

Homemade flapjacks are rocket fuel, especially if there is dried fruit and chocolate chips in them!

Otherwise wine gums and jelly babies rock for a quick pick me up, also Dried Mango and soft dried apricots are good too. Still mainly sugar. All tasty but need a bit of water to wash them down quickly, can gum your mouth up otherwise.

Oh is it South Downs Way? Der….

Excuse my ignorance whats the SDW?

Don't sell them, ride them!

I now have a rigid inbred, a burly inbred with pikes and a blur 4x. Don't think I'd part with any of them. Love riding them all!

Love to but the Mrs said no! 🙁

If its the same as last year I'd say a Cyclocross bike. Boring boring track, just climbing in fields. There was one good techincal descent that they took out when the roadies moaned.

EDIT Sorry having been that negative I should add that I did enjoy the event overall, was riding bikes afterall and the night laps were lovely. I'd say hardtail is defo the way to go but you can ride around on anything as long as you are prepared for a lot of climbing.

My Grandad was based at an airfield in WWII when a Lancaster with one of those underneath lost an engine on take off, nearly swung off the runway and headed straight for him, then managed to creep off the ground, just miss some building and climb out. Got all the way to Germany and back. Pilot was given a medal. They could only just take off with one of those as it was with all four engines so how they managed it when one engine gave out I've no idea.

😆

My Thule 3 bike rack is good but it can be tricky actually load three bikes onto it and get the grippers for the top tube to reach each bike without one of the top tubes interfering.

"There are no reports of any injuries"

Give it a chance, its not gone off yet…

Bang?

Video on this on Dirt site at the moment…

Barca2 if you don't mind me asking what went wrong in NZ? Have toyed with the idea myself a fair bit.

I am fascinated by the psychological assessment here, how does an individual so damaged as a child that they can torture and kill ever prove they are safe to be released into the community? Or did these two boys through the accident of their upbringing not know any better (hard to believe they didn't know what they were doing was wrong, just like the recent tortue case involving children)? Either way to think that a child should spend his whole life behind bars is horrendous but if that is the only way to ensure they do not re-offend then so be it. Whichever way you look at it the whole thing is tragic for all concerned.

I'll go halves with you?

Lets face it there are now so many people around that if things do kick off there won't really be anywhere to run and the outcome is going to be pretty poor whatever you do. I don't think squirrel stew and rabbit snares are going to cut it as long term survival strategies I'm afraid….

A harmonica might be good for keeping your spirits up though? Anyone can play a harmonica!

I go for a ride on my bike.

What tyre with . ?