I enjoy my job, 11 years and counting and looking forward to another 11 years….still get that feeling in my stomach (a mixture of excitement and fear) when a serious sounding call comes over the radio….there are better paid jobs out there but i’ve tried sitting at a desk and it bores me to tears.

That said, i reckon i would be just as happy (if not more so) if i’d scooped that 100 million+ euro jackpot and spent the rest of my life playing around and indulging myself.

I must be very tight because i consider £400 on a hardtail frame to be expensive…if i was going to take a punt on carbon i’d get one of these:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Full-Carbon-3K-Mountain-Bike-MTB-17-Frame-Headset-/370529734698?pt=UK_sportsleisure_cycling_bikeparts_SR&hash=item56454b102a#ht_1585wt_1139

£169 + £45 postage

I started Thai boxing at 30 years old….thought i was fairly fit as i’d played squash every week since school and lifted weights 3 times a week throughout my 20s….my first ever session i had to walk out of the club and sit outside for a while as i thought i was going to puke!

Fitness increased very quickly (within weeks) and to this day the fittest and most healthy i feel is when i’m attending classes regularly….cycling is good but fighting sports are more of a whole body workout both aerobically and strength wise.

I would like to get on of these but like somebody else said, why does it seem to be so hard for the manufacturers to make them reliable?….office chairs have had the up/down function for years, why cant that mechanism be used on a seatpost, seems to be more reliable than a lot of the offerings people post to moan about.

Yes! in his reflective/mirror suit at all the Helter Skelter events….very good too.

While we’re talking techno, always loved this….an acquired taste for some though:

What to do in Bangkok?….i’d have thought the answer was perfectly obvious.

You’re in one of the sleaziest cities in the world….use your imagination.

I have the tyre decals opposite to the wheel decals….i’m big on symmetry and balance….my other half calls it OCD.

Wide open after this weekend….France played well…for 50 minutes then got sloppy….Ireland are looking lost, O’Driscoll possibly past it now?….South Africa beat the All Blacks….still think New Zealand at home should win it but France are more than capable of beating them (see 1999 & 2007) when they feel like it….England dont have a midfield pairing i’m afraid….Tindall (kudos for boning Royalty) is past it and Hape is garbage….oh for the days of Will Greenwood in the centre….i reckon Australia could sneak this.

Sterns!….now theres a blast from the past.

Carl Cox was local to that area wasnt he?….always wondered how they got him to do so many smaller gigs down that way.

As much as the big events of the 90s were fun, there was a lot to be said for the small, dark, underground clubs like Sterns….in my area it was the Rhythm Station in Aldershot….those up north had Shelleys….

**** me, i went to that Universe do in ’93….i was 16 years old! Hahaha…what a tune to open with ‘Fall Down On Me’….

Lenny Dee?…yep, didnt get the exposure he deserved…i got into techno a bit later than that….the good DJs for me were Scorpio, HMS, Producer, Bass Generator, Loft Groover etc….loved a bit of Gabba in the mid to late 90s….also liked Mark-EG, he is proper nuts.

Yeah, you’d think a lawyer somewhere would’ve been all over that….i find it a little bit mad that a whole music genre built up around a sampled 5 second drum loop from 1969.

Not even close….try 1969!

The D&B break that 99% of tracks are based around comes from a 6 second drum section of a track called Amen Brother in 1969….hence the description of ‘Amen breaks’ when somebody (usually a producer or DJ) is trying to describe a track.

Listen from 55 secs in.

The original Metalheadz label album is still a good listen….most of it was too mellow to be played at the parties i went to from 94-98 when i really liked D&B….the obvious exception being ‘Pulp Fiction’ by Alex Reece….best B&B track ever.

Club tracks from that era that just had to be danced to….Bad Ass by Aphrodite & MIckey Finn…..Super Sharp Shooter….Helicopter Tune….Origin Unknown – Valley of Shadows…..The Lighter….Shy FX – Wolf….

….so many good tracks, i still happily stick on a D&B mix in the car much to the annoyance of my girlfriend!

EN521s on my bike too….not glamourous but cheap and very solid.

Depends which industry you work in….if you can get involved with natural resources then you’ll be laughing.

My old crew mate is a Paramedic with an agency that supplies staff to the mining sector….as quickly as they can get anything out of the ground China and India want to buy it….he’s on $1000 per day, 2 weeks on and 2 weeks off.

I would like to see the introduction of the ‘3 strikes rule’….after an offender’s 3rd appearance in court they are jailed for life.

Beautiful in its simplicity.

The offender would clearly be a serial criminal and hasnt learnt from the previous 2 appearances in court so deserves to play no further part in society.

Cant stand all this rehabilitation nonsense, prison is there to keep the idiots away from law abiding society.

Knocking off at 1400 and going to test the newly made trails at QECP…..may have a few cheeky beers after too

You forgot “where are you from?”…..great days indeed.

I use Mytracks. Shows distance, time, elevation, avg speed, top speed and loads more…also plots the route on Google maps and saves the route to the phone for future reference and comparisons.

Ipads….is it not just a laptop in pretty Apple packaging?…..or am I not Hipster enough to ‘get it’….

Dubstep……pure shite…..I’m old enough to remember the late 80s and the emergence of house music, I’ve passionately defended all genres of dance music and still love house, early rave stuff, Techno and drum & bass….but dubstep is truly awful.

Skinny jeans on men…..no no No!….you instantly look like a bender.

I had a front disc come loose on a ride but that was down to me not tightening the rotor bolts correctly. Made me feel slightly sick when I noticed, didn’t have any tools with me either so rear brake only and a fair few ‘moments’ until I got back to the car!
You live and learn.

I’d echo the sentiment about broken frames, its not an uncommon thread on most MTB forums but I have yet to read about a snapped QR or even of one coming loose.

Life plans are one of those horrible Americanisms that makes its way into British language every now and again….same as 5 years plans and 10 year plans etc….previously we’d have said somebody was ambitious or simply wanted to do well in their career.

I started young in my chosen field and then took on a mortgage at 26….i like my job and my little house….i am fortunate enough to have a small disposable income that allows me to ride bikes (both pedal and motor)….and thats good enough for me.

The problem with making firm plans is that if they arent achieved then disappointment and a sense of failure can set in….who wants to make themselves feel like that?

As a baseline i try to maintain the above (my career and my mortgage)….if i go for a promotion at work then it will be a nice bonus but i wont set it in stone when that will be….i like to do one big thing at a time….life is simpler and more enjoyable for me like that, i see friends trying to do too many things at once and they even look stressed on a night out….not for me thanks.

One of the most liberating things i learnt shortly before turning 30 was the expression “get f##ked”….provided my actions wont jeopardise my job or my mortgage then i am more than prepared to tell somebody (or metaphorically speaking a situation) to “get f##ked” and then walk away….its the beautiful simplicity i like and its made life so much easier.

Great work….i rode QECP last week and loved it, very short but did a couple of laps instead to make the mileage.

I remember riding there 10 years ago and it was rubbish….will try and come along to the dig days when i’m free.

I wear these:

http://www.sportsdirect.com/airwalk-n-crawler-mens-241188?colcode=24118844

I know a lot of others do too but probably wont admit it on this forum!

Anyway, they’re £20 and skate shoes so the sole is flat and grippy, stiff enough to pedal but soft enough to grip the pins (i use flats)….i refuse to spend top money on shoes that just get wet, muddy, stinky etc….they’ve lasted since April so far with no signs of damage, will likely replace with similar.

Sorry to disappoint but it may well be full of ‘cage fighter types’….after a few years of kickboxing i decided i wanted to try MMA (mixed martial arts-AKA cage fighting) and contacted the local BJJ club which also ran a once weekly MMA class….their response was matter of fact, no MMA until i had attended the BJJ classes first.
BJJ was proven effective by the Gracies in UFC some years ago and is now the foundation of virtually every fighter’s ground skills….occasionally somebody with a wrestling background will make it in MMA but BJJ is the ‘go to’ skill set these days.

Depends on the club i suppose and whether they have any links to MMA clubs or hold their own MMA classes as to whether their will be cage fighter types around….i’ve always found these guys to be sound anyway, usually good banter at clubs like that.
The only problem i ever had was when i briefly tried boxing and was a total novice and was asked to spar with a lad who was significantly better than me and he didnt hold back, the instructor watching didnt intervene either as i took a hiding for the longest 3 minutes of my life….i didnt go back.

As others have said, they’ll go easy on you or you wont come back again.

There are loads of good tyres out there.

I’d hoped MTB’ers wouldnt go in for this kind of thing….there is loads of tyre nonsense spouted on the motorcycle forums i frequent too.

Tyre choice has as much to do with confidence as anything else, if you think a particular tyre is good then ride with it….you’ll probably have a really good ride….if you think a tyre is crap you’ll probably tip-toe around, have a crap ride and blame the tyre….its all in the head.
Much more important is how suitable the tyre is for the riding you do. Dont put a shallow treaded tyre on in the middle of winter and declare it a crap tyre because it wouldnt clear the mud….likewise dont fit 2.4 Muddy Marys for mid August hard packed trails and tell people they were ‘shit’ because of the huge rolling resistance!

Only rarely will a modern tyre genuinely let you down, more often than not its rider error that causes any kind of crash or near-miss.

I think the idea (ideology) is that even those coming last in his world would at least be independent and less of a burden on the state….

….whereas those who come last in a socialist world are usually not doing anything very much at all except being supported by the state.

For what its worth there has to be some kind of middle ground but people most motivated to get into politics usually have firmly held Left or Right wing beliefs and dont want to compromise.

The reservation i have about ever going down this route is when people say (like in the post above)….”and sometimes i had to walk”

To me that defeats the point of having a mountain bike.

Wasnt the original concept for mountain bikes to be ‘go anywhere’ machines?….having such a limited range of gears that i then have to start getting off and walking up terrain i would otherwise manage in the granny ring baffles me.

Each to their own i suppose but i enjoy the satisfaction of staying on the bike during a ride.

You may well laugh but when me and some mates were weightlifting regularly about 10 years ago we always had our best workouts on a saturday morning when we had been out the night before….we felt rough as a bears arse but seemed to be as strong as an ox….we put it down to the huge amount of calories consumed in lager and kebab form from the night before.

Northwind….spot on.

Sports motorbikes went down the stiffer is better route for years and then became rock hard, too vibey and would let go with little warning….now motorcycle manufacturers spend millions trying to build in flex so the rider has more comfort and more of a clue as to what the tyres are actually doing….i believe fans of steel hardtails enjoy the flex and spring their frames give them, you dont ever read posts from them complaining about lack of stiffness.

The trick is to match the frame flex to the supsension components to the tyres for handling nirvana.

Giro Hex

‘Session’ for me too….

….occurs in just about every MTB magazine now.

“we went back to session the drops”….no no NO.

‘Practise’ is what should be written.

Having come back to mountain biking after years of motorcycling i was frankly shocked to see very old fashioned forks on current mountain bikes….i’m with those wanting to see a proliferation of upside down forks available for mountain bikes.

Did Queen Elizabeth country park the other evening, both trails are short (6km) but the advanced route was fun.

Last went about 10 years ago and it was crap…all fire roads and nothing interesting but the trail builders have been busy and the route now features drops, jumps and berms….theres some technical climbing with switchbacks and rooty sections too….liked it so much i went back the following evening, it cant compete with the large Welsh trail centres but for an evening blast i was pleasantly surprised.

Absolutely.

….and 160mm of squishy front end wouldnt have helped me, never ridden anything that steep and loose, severe lack of talent had me off….a 14 year old on this forum (getonyourbike) rode it with a hardtail….like i said, not the bike.

The whole long travel thing and the attitude that it is absolutely positively necessary….bollocks.
I was riding the same sort of terrain i ride now back in the 90s as a teenager on a rigid GT Avalanche….i was probably making a better fist of it then too!

Noticed all those trials riders taking jumps, drops and negotiating far more technical obstacles than you’ll find at a trail centre?….they’re doing it without 160mm of suspension travel at each end….is Danny MacAskill riding full suspension?….is he bollocks, its down to rider skill….if you genuinely feel you ‘need’ 160mm of travel then i suggest you take a long hard look at your riding techniques.

Lovely, cheers guys.

Got Superstar organic pads in my Shimanos at the moment, much better than the OE items i have to say.

This is interesting. I am building up a Kona Caldera which already has a fairly slack head angle of 68.5 on a 100mm fork, speaking to other owners they’ve put 120mm forks on theirs and found the bike to be ‘fine’ and enjoyed the slacker head angle this creates but as Brant pointed out this shifts weight rearward and can make the bike a pig to use up hill.

Quite interested to see any reports on these headsets from owners, if they’re as good as Brant reckons then i’ll not be needing new forks and shall just plump for an additional couple of degrees slackness courtesy of Workscomponents.