thanks guys

ride with mates! and make new ones

Bummer dude, will keep eyes peeled in stafford area while "ayt and abayt"

what bike?

where in stafford?

keep posting mate….dry trails, ride 'em!

"Professional Driver"

Hmmmmmm….. Boll@cks!
sorry, but the way that people who drive a white van/HGV/taxi for a living describe themselves as a "professional" is just something that, rightly or wrongly, gets my goat.
A Professional is someone who has undertaken a serious course of education/training/skills building/apprenticeship over a serious period of time (usually years). They then have to continually retrain/re-educate themselves for their entire career in order to keep up to date with the latest advances within their profession. They are faced with regular stringent revalidation exercises to retain their right to practice their profession as it evolves over the years. They are assessed by their peers regularly and brought to account of they fall short of required standards. They may be brought to book for having brought their profession into disrepute even if they have done nothing wrong within their particular line of work. And if they fail to do all this, they have their right to continue working within that profession removed, regardless of the effect on their livelihood.
This means Doctors, Nurses, Lawyers, Teachers, Police officers, Paramedics, Pilots, etc.

Being a full time driver does not make someone a professional. They may in fact be a consumate profesional in their approach to their employment/career, and may meet many of the above criteria, but they are not professionals. .
I'm sorry, but over the years, somewhere along the line, doing something for a living somehow became synonmous with being a professional. I blame footballers!

I'm sorry if this gets the back up of the many experienced, considerate and responsible full time drivers on here, but I'm afraid it's true. A few weeks of HGV training, a test, and occasional medicals don't make you a professional i'm afraid. Nor does "doing the knowledge".

Most taxi drivers that i have come into contact with are very good though, and have always exhibited a professional attitude in a less than perfect environment. Delivery drivers though, thats another matter!

Stands back and awaits incoming!

You two stay strong and together, all my thoughts and love are with you,
Drillski

nice one

Thanks everyone who donated, and everyon ewho supported, espesh the Loughborough guys who i think were by the litle jump in the woods on saturday, and the folks by the horse jumps/bombhole all weekend!
managed to do it almost nonstop, apart from two shower/kit changes, and 17 laps by the end. Great support from pit crew who kept me going, especially at 5 am, when the sunrise failed to deliver the mental boost i was counting on all that lap.
Biggest problem I had is the slight ulnar nerve damage to my left hand which has left me with some sensation loss on the palm side of my outside two fingers of my left hand, which is kinda irritating now.
Raised a loada moola for the Donna Louise trust and the terminally ill children they care for, headline figure is £2976.41 . Anyone help us to get to £3k?? just 23 quid needed!

entry level anthem and upgrade later

Go Army!!

hmmm, i replaced my top hats and within 6 months they needed doing again. After a probelm with the frame (08 anthem) the replacement frame ( many thanks to Giant) developed the same problem, worn bush and top hat spacers within 4-5 months. Switched to the BETD strong link, as i had with the previous frame, adds a few grams of weight, but problems solved.

Great weekend, another classic from the Pat Adams crew!
Great crowd of riders and spectators to spend 24 hours with

Well Done Mrs Flash
Mr Sparkle pipped me in the solo vets on my first attempt, managed 17 laps, happy with that considering the conditions.
HUGE thanks to all the spectators making a noise, and all the competitors for being such a great bunch of people to spend 24 looooooooong hours with.
Big thanks to my pit crew, especially wifey , who said at around 5:30 am, when the sun coming up hadn't lifted my spirits as much as I'd hoped, "well, you knew you'd feel like this around now, so that's normal: If you didn't think you couldn't hold out for another 9 hours that'd be abnormal and you would be worried about it! It's unarguable reasoning like that that had me back on the bike!

Did anyone else find that around 7 am, along the first level bit before the first proper woods they were closing their eyes "just for a few seconds" to rest them while they were riding along, hoping to rely "on the feel of the rut" to keep on the trail, or was that just me!
Off for a nap now

I don't suppose i could change the charity to "buy Drillski the new blingy carbon anthem X" could I?

£3,000!!! ( inc gift aid) thanks everyone! just gotta ride it now!

disc pads yes, your specific type, almost certainly not9 no matter how common they are), according to sods law!
Sort it before you go, dont rrive at an event knowing you are missing something before you even start!

yeah…… follow through…… be sure there isn't a round in the chamber when you drop the hammer!! Post curry russian roulette is a dangerous game!

end-your-arse-boil-voodoo-attacks-here
TJ, pay up and we stop dunking the wax manekin we made of you in chip fat every other night!

Virgin solo, (you know what i mean!)
BIG green tent,
laps errr, 15, aiming for 20 if its gonna stay dry ( wildly overoptimistic, on both counts??)
Beer – been dry ofr 4 months, but ogt my eye on a nice chilled sav blanc at the finish
Bike – Giant anthem with razers, GT aggressor with mud x or blacksharks for dire conditions.
Car,
lights,
Mrs Swinnertons Flapjack
loadsa lights.
proabably going down thursday night, can you pitch then?? Got friday off (yippee!) so if can't pitch thursday, then will be back friday morning ready to pitch and chill.
Bring it on!

Bonty mud x 1.8, but for flipsake don't keep em on too long if it starts to dry out, especially on the rear, they're pretty draggy due to those lovely soft well spaced knobbles.
I've got some conti cross country's 1.5, which look like they will roll faster, and also some 1.5 mud sharks, which look grippier, but slower.
(yeah sounds like i robbed a tyre shop don't it…… it's a long story…. one that mrsdrillski better not hear!)
Thinking about mixing and matching a bit depending on the conditions, epsecially if they change much as the event goes on ( last 2 mayhems anyone?)

Bingo, there you go, sorted!!!!

Thanks everyone, and huge thanks to my new title sponsor

Air and Ground Aviation Ltd

who have stumped up a whopping £1000 for us, taking our total so far to

£2,568.00, plus at least another £200 in gift aid from the taxman!
Fantastic! anyone got a spare 50p to get us moving again towards £3000???

Fantastic response people, you are so kind. Most recent donations and gift aid take my total to just shy of £1500 when you add in the gift aid, with 11 dasy to go beofre the event, and my solo cherry is popped!
many thanks, your generosity is touching.
Ps – also one in the eye for MissusDrillski when she says how much time i waste on STW!

Nice one mick.
in order to raise more funds, 'cos you'll be amazed how generous people can be, have you:

1- sent a text with a link to your page to virtually everyone in your mobile phone's address book.

2 – sent an email to everyone in your email address book, especially business contacts with a link to your page( i amazingly recieved £100 from a a travel company based 200 miles away we had used twice!!!!! amazing!!!!!!)

3 – don't worry if your emails and texts duplicate, all's fair in love and charity fundraising…. plus many people mean to donate but then forget and appreciate the reminder,

4 – update your JG page.

5 – bang in a simple press release, pretty much what you wrote in your initial post would do, and email it to the editors of all your local rags, you know what they are, look em up online and get the email addy's, including the free ones, and send one of the photo's of yourself on your bike: they love free copy that's ready to cut and paste straight in to their pages when they're a bit slow, and during the holiday season they are ususaly slow and understaffed so you're a shoe in to get published and help raise support.

6 – Do you patronise a local corner shop/pub/postoffice? ask them if they would put up a poster for you, and if they give a positive reception, ask if they would even consider having a sponsor form on the counter, and or tin. Many places love to do this, and my local spar shop have made me over a ton on their own so far i reckon.

keep smiling and keep it up matey
Drillski

Royal Mail!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks everyone, you are all fantastic. Totals now stand at over £1100 plus the gift aid that we get because most of you donated via the justgiving website. Thanks so much. Looking forward to the event so much now.

done mate. Good luck to you, and stay positive.
over Bumping can get gratuitous, but if you were to update your thread with news of how your totals were going, and thanking contributors, I don't think anyone would take umbridge over that, would they chaps?

bleed your brakes, do you know how? Avid's are easier but XT's aren't much harder

Dan was singled out for mention in particular on BBC radio news today.

RIP fella. You crashed out trying to do the right thing in a place where too much is wrong. Dusty trails forever.

thanks tankslapper! Though less of the "old" bugger, i prefer "post whippersnapper" or "pre-fogey"!!
Cheers mate.
Off for another 6 hour training ride in the rain!

Panaracer razers instead, much grippier and lighter than the XC2's that came on my anthem, and they do PR version too. Faster on the road too. Brilliant on cannock chase ( most of the red route is surface with a mixture that wears to a belgian cobble like surface when even slightly moist!) so ifi t'll stick there, it'll stick anywhere.

RIP buddy.

saw this for "help the heroes", anyone else want to show support for those that make these sacrifices for us?
http://www.justgiving.com/Jason-Rowell/

Huge thanks to Epicyclo, you are a dude! thanks to you and everyone else we are now just short of £1000 !!!!!!!!!
I'm getting more money handed over than Lee Anderson!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

thanks to everyone, total now up to over £800, just need to keep training now……..
any tips?

On the XBOX it’s actually quicker just to fly across the sand

yeah, but didn’t rossi pretty much do that last year anyway!!! Stoners face directly after the race was a picture!

Thanks also to Spawn, cheers mate.

Thanks Mrs Flash
you are not only a babe, but a saint too! 8)

hey thanks guys,
the STW massif shows its heart! You know who i mean, and thanks again!
Keep those donations coming, even 50p would be a help!
and if you can send the link to anyone you know, with a recomendation about the challenge that is 24 solo.