Fair point, but 26ers just feel wrong now I’ve seen the Big Wheeler light. Just doesn’t seem be any Enduro 29 options, only XC and ‘Freeride’ options, with nothing in between.

Will the Sultan handle drops? Was thinking I’d need something with a tad more travel than 120 mm to compensate for my lack of ability…

Aren’t Ignitors a bit fragile though?

Graham – That’s an impressive record, I take it that’s tubeless?

Been wondering the same thing myself, as I haven’t found much of the current stuff stands up (though despite the rampant homophobia, I find myself listening to Beenie Man quite often)). Instead I’ve been trying to expand my taste by listening to some of the less famous stuff from the 60s and 70s. I can’t stop listening to / laughing at King Horror at the moment…

I hate jazz, my missus loves it. I used to pretend to like Miles Davis at Uni to lend myself an air of sophistication. It didn’t work.

Oh man, yeah, forgot about Swansea and Liverpool, that’s the two worst places right there. Had a few nights out in Swansea, each time there seemed to be some kind of charity fight-athon, with hordes of bleach-blond, spiked-hair yoots laying into each other.
Still nicer than Liverpool, mind.

Lot of people talking rubbish on here. I live in London, and there’s loads of greenery in the city. To say there isn’t is just wrong. Also, I live in zone 2, and can be in the North Downs in 40 minutes.
I’m from near Inverness, and have lived in Southampton, Aberdeen and Edinburgh, and London is the best place I’ve ever lived. Mind you, the traffic is christ-awful. But is any city any different?

I’ll feather the Northern Line between Colliers Wood and South Wimbledon. No nerdling in response, please.

Anyone? Can’t find much info on the net about them. I thought STW was basically a modern Great Library, storing all the world’s knowledge?

Workmate has one, a Monza singlespeed, I think. He loves it, and he got it through C2W. I’ve had a quick look, at it looks like a decent piece of kit. Frame looks well finished.

Jesus, STW at its worst. Who cares if people wear huge packs with armour? Are you only a real Mountain Biker if you ride a rigid singlespeed 69er over secret (and most definitely not in a trail centre) trails while punching yourself in the face. Yes, a lot of new technology is overhyped, but a lot of it makes riding more easier and more enjoyable. Is that a bad thing?
Sneering on forums is big and clever.

You can be in Dorking for easy access to Peaslake, etc, in about 40 mins…

Loddrik – People don’t actually think like you do they? This is a wind-up isn’t it?

Yeah, I'm leaning that way too. Though, what are the full-sus 29 alternatives?

His biog recently came out, it's definitely worth reading.
I used to hate him when I was a kid ('cos he wasn't Greg Lemond), but really came to appreciate him and his achievements in the past few years. My missus was in France for a lot of the Tour this year, and apparently his commentary was fantastic.
Really sad.

Jesus, a fella just says he didn't think the Chase was all that great, he didn't insult anyone's mother did he?
FWIW, I found Cannock a bit boring as well. We met a local and paid him to show us round who was a bit of a knob (which did spoil things slightly), but he did take us to some nice natural bits, and parts of the new trail are definitely fun. However the cool bits are all too short lived, and most of the natural stuff was slow, flat bombhole stuff, which got boring very quickly.
Sorry if anyone is mortally offended by this.

Mrs Grips – However on the agent front it is considered really bad matters to send out multiple copies of your books at once…basically you can send one out wait for the 'No Thank You.' Then can send out another

Honestly, it's not bad manners, it's the norm. You should cast your net as wide as possible. Submit it in volleys if you find it more manageable, but you have to be very proactive.

I work for a large publisher, and have been a book buyer for High St, supermarkets and book clubs. And I can honestly say getting pubbed ain't easy.

You're highly unlikely to sell anything that's been vanity published to any retailer other than Amazon, who will list it, which in itself won't help it sell. Plus most vanity company's editing, design and marketing efforts are minimal at best. However, if you're happy to pay the cost, you will end up with a bound book in your hand.

Your best bet, as Practical Matt says is to get agent representation, though that in itself is tricky, as they're drowning in submissions themselves. You could try some of the smaller publishers as well… I would also try a site like Authonomy (associated to Harper Collins), which is a peer site, and if something gets enough attention then it may get picked up by HC. Persistence without being annoying is key. Really polish up and self-edit the first chapter of your story, and send that out to agents and publishers. You'll mostly get ignored, but if it's well written, it's got a chance.

And as Corroded says, short stories aren't exactly commercial at the moment. Are you able to expand your novella at all?

Chap spits the dummy and is temporarily banned from an internet forum; comes back onto said forum to bait people in self-important manner, presumably for his own amusement. By pointing out that they're on an internet forum.
You come across really well, ro, really well. Not petty at all.
I'm sorry you were banned form this forum, and people were unpleasant to you, but do you have to get all weird about it?
And you lectured for Suunto? Awesome. Any other fun facts you want to share with people on here?

Man, I've seen some pathetic posts on this forum (my own included, obviously), but someone starting a topic to bait people, by accusing them of being boring for posting on a forum, takes the biscuit. THEN making out like they're intellectually superior for doing it…
I don't know which would be most sad, doing it for amusement or out of genuine belief.

Jeez Buzz Killington…

God damn, people like some right snorters on this forum, don't they?

Salted nuts and M&Ms?!

I've had a Nomad for 18 months. I've got two Camelbaks as well, and I think the bladder on the Dakine is much better than the Camelbak. However the bite valve can come loose a bit, but it's easily remedied on the go.
In terms of storage it's great. It's survived numerous stacks unhurt (unlike my ribs, wrist, kidney, spleen…), and actually cushioned my phone during a high speed tree stump/my spine interface as well.

Yeah, Torq need to sort that Cheddar Energy Bar. They could have a whole cheese series. Stilton, Yarg, Morbier…

I got a pair of Adidas shades which have seperate prescription inserts, which I have found great for the past year, with the slight issue of misting up slighty when winching myself up steep singletrack.
However I'm having laser eye surgery tomorrow, as I hate wearing glasses anywhere other than on a bike, wierdly.

Whenever there's multiple posts on a forum topic I now skip to the end to see who's being a knob, why they're being a knob, and what they're bing knobby about. Just in case I'm missing something vital, like.

My mate Clare once asked "Have people reached the centre of the earth yet"?

I can definitely see a book on the Great Divide or Iditarod, being of interest. It's a bit niche, but something about the Cape Epic would be of interest to some as well.
I don't buy the argument that 'cos it's not extreme, it can't be written about well.
Is it the case that:
A) As a participation sport mountain biking (to use a catch-all term) is just too niche to justify a history, biogs, whatever?
B) As Buzzlightyear says, anything that attempts to convey the sensations of the sport will be dismissed "flowery w@nk"?
I'm pretty sure I've read some articles in STW that could come under that heading…

Also, doesn't have to be an auto-biography. In search of Robert Millar, Put Me Back On My Bike, Mr Tom, Sex Lies and Handlebar Tape are all great non-auto biogs.

Yeah, Tomac and Palmer would both have interesting tales…

MSP – There's LOADS of great books about cycling! Like boxing, something about the sport lends itself to great writing. Also, road biking is abut getting out there and doing it too, but we all have a bit of downtime, no?

Is a guide though, innit?

Aside from his self-written book, if you want something that ignores the drug debate (not really sure why you would though…) Daniel Coyle's Tour De Force is very enlightening, well written, and not to propaganda-y. It's recently been reissued.
LA Confidentiel is the original French book, I think, most of which has ended up in From Lance to Landis.
Currently reading Landis' Positively False book, for amusement…

Got married last year in the registry office in my home town, only invited 3 bezzie mates plus v.close family, and we all then went to our hotel bar for afternoon drinks before the meal, which me and the missus paid for, was about £700 for the 14 guests. Then everyone else bought us drinks.
…and obviously got Ti rings…

Corden showed his belly? HILARIOUS! Truly the natural heir to Bill Hicks.

I've got Veloce on my Wilier, and it's fine. Nice clean 'clunks' when it shifts, which I like, though that's obviously a personal thing. Had no issues with it whatsoever in 14 months, looks nice too.
However I doubt there's any perfomance advantage over 105. In fact the new 105 is meant to be excellent…

T666DOM – Jesus Christ! WTF caused that? Am now paranoid…

Thanks, thats actually pretty encouraging! Currently in the too sore to move / breathe phase, so good to know it's not going to be this way for ever!

How did a thread on that get narky?!