Did it a few years ago. My tip would be to avoid the coach back as it leaves too late (unless it’s pre-1pm now…). Also you’re as well cycling to Ipswich to get a train back. We thought we’d be sly by cycling a couple station up the line, but the coppers were called when LITERALLY a billion cyclists got on the train near Dunwich and refused to get off.
Good fun though.

Ooh, handy post, I’ve just bought some Crests and was about to get some Saguaros. Now aborted.
So what tyres fit the feckers?

Used them quite a lot, and have been very, very good so far.

…aaaaand David Baddiel is currently chatting about 5 metres away from me.
My life is so interesting.

Oh, and Andy McDowell eating in Nusa Dua restaurant in Soho. All she had to eat was cabbage soup, when you could get 2 courses for £7.50. Time tough.
Matt Le Tissier once came into my office to say hello, but we published him at the time, so not that much of a surprise. Man is a legend though.

I had dinner with Kelly Brook in the Wolseley restaurant as she was flogging a lifestyle book at the time. She was very nice.

Bronto Reverend. Beautiful bike, meant to be amazing to ride.

If you’re ever down that way, there’s a bar called St James Tavern in Brighton that has hundreds of rums, and can offer guidance.
I’m sure they gave me lots of good tasting notes, but I was trollied, so can’t remember anything I tried or learned, so can offer no useful advice.
Enjoy the rest of your evening.

Walliams is very Dahl-esque, though he’s really 9+. I guess if you’re reading them.
For kids of your lot’s age the Dr Seuss books are excellent, and there’s looooads of them.
If the oldest is really keen then getting them into some of the long series is a good one. They’re not exactly high literature, but series like Rainbow Magic, Secret Kingdom and Magic Ballerina for girls; and Beast Quest for boys are really good. Kids get hooked on them.
Slightly older books that you could read them (but with slightly ‘older’ topics) are series like Wimpy Kid, Big Nate, Dork Diaries and Norm are really great and funny. They’re also illustrated to encourage the kids to read. One of the current favourites is a new one called Monster and Chips, which is brilliant.

I meet loads through work. None, to my knowledge, post on here though.
The coolest was when Matt Le Tissier popped into my office to say hello.
A mate of mine boffed Jordan. The celeb, not the country. Though he’d give that a go too, I imagine.

By and large ebooks get released at the same time as the HB (if there is one), the ebook will then generally drop in price just before the PB is released. It all depends on the the digital rights situation. Would dispute that the ebooks are more expensive the physical though. It’s a complicated situation, but nowadays the selling price is often set by the retailer.

…and on ‘official’ 2nd hand ebooks, you can’t just now. However it’s not outwith the realms of possibility that it could happen eventually, though it would require some very big changes in the industry. Though as Flaperon says, things can be de-DRM’d. Which is naughty.

I’m 6’3″ and ride a 56 (bought off ChunkyMTB from the classifieds as it happens) and it fits me fine, though he may have fitted a longer stem than was originally specced. More upright than my road bike, but it’s all good. Lovely bike, springier than my more expensive Wilier! Just hate the SRAM groupset.

Just had mine serviced by the St James Sq centre as well. £460!!! I’m sure it was ‘only’ £220 for a service there in 2009. Feel like I’m paying to make sure they can keep the amazingly fit receptionists in bling…

Yeah, wasn’t great. Happily the design whiz who created the loos on Southern Trains put the sink right by the bog, which allowed me to express my self in stereo.

Oh, I had it last month. Started feeling ill on the way into work, but came in anyway. Spent half an hour redecorating the loos at work, before making my way home and destroying every bog between Hammersmith and Lewes. The toilet on on the train looked like Passchendaele.

Looks amazing, very jealous. Will avoid a weak Al-Rainbow gag…

Philby – What was the riding like? Putting aside what would be the small issue of skidding round a world heritage site, I just remember thinking Petra looked like it would be a perfect place to bike.

Yes! Amazing place. For snorkelling your only option is Aqaba in the south. Eilat (Israel) is across the water and mega busy, but Aqaba is quiet. We had a day snorkelling (beautiful coral) there on a beautiful quiet beach, drinking cocktails brought to us by the waiters, while the Royal Jordanian Air Force aerobatics team practiced over the water.
Petra is the most amazing place I’ve been, you’d need a couple of days at least to explore it.
Amman is a really cool city, we wandered around it for 2 days seeing the many sights.
Loads of amazing places like Wadi Rum, Kerak, Jerash…
Food can be a bit hit and miss though. All the best restaurants are Lebanese.
The place would be AMAZING for Mountain Biking too. Not sure if anywhere does it.

Many thanks for (most of) the input, will give it a spin with SPDs, and write an incoherent rant on here about the haters when / if my knee pops out.

I’ve got Stealth Lights and H2Os. Stealth are a bit to warm and crinkly for me, but are very waterproof. The H20s are very comfy (except for the **** label in the back all my Santini shorts seem to have), but aren’t very waterproof, more resistant.

So do BRAINs work now then? Friend had one on a 2008 Stumpy and hated it.
Great photos of the event BTW, better than s lot of the press ones I’ve seen…

Did you start this thread to bait someone else? If so, you are a winner. Well done. Not pathetic at all.

Best Dirty Lyle ever too :(

I set fire to my mate’s Grandad. When I was 16 or so, me and my mate used to make ‘flame throwers’ by getting empty 2L plastic coke bottles punching a hole in the lid and spraying lighter fuel inside. Squeeze the bottle with a lighter in front, bosh, flame thrower.
Only issue was the lighter fuel would become liquid in the bottle, and would eventually start burning too, leaving you not very long to get rid of the bottle before it melts.
All good fun until we made one in my mate’s bedroom. Got it going, liquid started burning to I ran to the window to unscrew the cap and pour the burning liquid away. Unfortunately my mate’s Grandad was standing at the backdoor having a fag. He was wearing an old winter jacket that went on fire as soon as the fuel hit it. Cue angry old boy grappling with burning clothes, gets himself free he looks up and sees us at the window and legs it upstairs to get at us. We had to barricade the bedroom with the bed to keep him out. I didn’t go home till 4 in the morning when I knew he would be asleep. Never needed a wee so much in whole life…

I’ve got a Swallow on my commuter. Looks very nice.
Comfy, but not any more comfortable then any other decent saddle. As oldgit says, they almost melt in prolonged rain.
Other than looking lovely, can’t really see any advantage in ’em.

My missus hand to contact an American academic called Randy Bumgardner.

Just remembered the place in St Gilles, it’s called La Brasserie Verschueren. We got tanked up on Rochefort Dix and I was convinced I could speak French, attempted to test this theory on some friendly locals, tried to steal some posters off the wall, watched a paralytic man try to get on his locked bicycle for ten minutes, then sprinted back to the hotel; woke up the next day with no hangover. The magic of Belgian Beer.
La Porteuse D’eau is nearby too which is very pretty inside, but is quite touristy. Both have the required million beers to sample.
On a side, but related note, if anyone lives in London and likes Belgian Beer, you need to go to Nelson Wines in Colliers Wood. Just discovered it. It’s life changing…

Oh man, get beered up. There are some great old school bars in the St Gilles and Ixelles areas. Mort Subite in the centre is fun too. You’ll get chatting to the locals really quickly who always seem super friendly.
My missus studied architecture, so we’ve done a few of the Art Nouveau tours, which I found really interesting, despite not having much interest in that sort of thing. If you like that then La Maison Buren is great too, with a lovely restaurant called De Hoof (or something simlar) nearby.
Ghent and Bruges are fun to visit for a few hours. There’s a brilliant bike shop called Plum in Ghent which has a wee museum in its basement filed with old-school bike porn.

I have a 19″ Rock Lobster frame I’m going to sell if you’re interested?

Obviously I ride on the road too, however living in Central London, and working long hours, I can’t always get out for enjoyable rides. So I quite often have a quick blast on the trainer before work. Hence asking the question. Is that OK?

Ellsworth names are awful – Truth, Epiphany, Dare, Evolve.
Sound like Christian adult education courses.

I know it makes me a bad person, and it’s a pretty craven thing to wish for, but I reeeeeally hope they go out of business. Horrible club, with a suspiciously high percentage of horrible fans. Rangers and Celtic are part of (only part though, mind) the reason Scottish football is so utterly crap at the moment.
I’m a Caley fan, to declare my interest.

I’m from Scotland, so my exposure to fans of English clubs was slightly limited when I was growing up. So when I used to hear sweeping statements along the lines of “Liverpool fans whine constantly”, I never believed it. However, some of their responses to the whole Evra / Suarez thing have been UNREAL.
Suarez is openly racist – Liverpool fans deny it, concoting weired conspiracy theories, when the FA, a QC, and pretty much the whole rest of the world can see he was plainly being racist. Liverpool fans blame Evra.
Suarez rejects handshake – I saw the game, saw the million replays on Sky afterwards, Saurez is the one who refuses to shake hands, it’s as plain as day.
Denying this is utterly bizarre.

Ooh, good point. I could go in at ‘Le Weekend’, ask for a vingt-neufer and watch as they look confused as they’re know them twantee-nayneurs.
Still don’t understand how they can apply a gender to, say, an armchair either. The place is a fcking linguistic minefield.

Tiens, this is all juste le billet.
Merci pour the help.

Sexism is bad.
Lots of people have said it.
Personally, I find the self-appointed smug, faux-intellectual people who ‘police’ a f-ing MTB forum, administering their advice and wisdom from their cosy moral high–ground, take most of the joy out of this forum.

Yeah, they’re patently overpaid, but if they can get it, good luck to them.
Unions are obviously a good thing, but what the RMT are doing is creating a negative view (perpetuated by the media) of unions in general.
As an aside, I’ve always thought of myself as a lefty. However the smug arguments in favour of the pay rise on this thread are almost making the arguments I’m naturally inclined to disagree with seem reasonable. Please don’t make me agree with Tories.

Yeah, not very powerful. Got them on my Tallboy. Kept thinking the rear brake needed to be bled, and took them to two LBSs as I thought I must be doing it wrong, and changed the pads, but no difference. They look lovely though.

There is nothing more satisfying then overtaking a “look how speedy I am” lycra-wearing chopper while wearing baggies.
This is a true fact.
Lycra doesn’t mean you’re quick, it just means you think you’re quick. It also means you’re dressed like a complete ‘tard.
Another true fact.

IBIS 29er!?!?!?!?