Pretty sure it’s legit as it’s being sold by a guy on my club’s facebook forum.

Too true. We’re house hunting currently. Wife looks at the pictures, I go straight to the floor plan to check out internal access to the garage.

Too many garage thefts here, mine all live indoors*

*my girlfriend is extremely tolerant of my hobbies.
**a terraced house was the extents of our budget so there wasn’t a huge amount of choice in the matter

When purchasing a house, one of the most important criteria is where the bikes are going to live.

id vote green if their science policies; animal testing, gmo and nuclear werent so backwards

No party is perfect but I’d rather a dodgy policy on GMO and nuclear power than the neo-liberal shower offered from the other main parties. The faults of the Greens are minor when compared to the ‘carry on as normal as we’ve learned exactly nothing from recent economic clusterf**k’ policies of Labour/Conservative/Lib Dems and the ‘forward to the 1930s’ drivel of UKIP.

Ashton Court and Leigh Woods are you best options for easily way marked trails at night. If you’re quick you can do both in less than an hour easy. There are usually quite a few riders out at night and it’s all year rideable without getting totally filthy. There is much better riding to be had in the area but the weather takes it’s toll and you’d need a local to show you. If you’re about in the summer time then there are loads of Bristol folks here that will be happy to show you around I’m sure.

http://www.pinkbike.com/news/intense-spider-pro–review-2015.html

Just to throw something else into the mix. It’s rare that I go weak at the knees for a full suss bike bike this does it for me.

Valencia is a really nice city. Not too touristy, nice and sunny, good people, plenty of culture. I highly recommend.

As many have said, the only way to know is to test some. I was a 29er skeptic until I rode a one and was amazed by the amount of grip and the momentum I could hold out of corners. I didn’t like the high (perched on) position on that bike though so I rode a few more until I found one that I felt totally at home on and bought it. I’m only 5ft 7 so I wouldn’t say that 29ers are exclusive to tall people. I wouldn’t go back to 26″ now, though I’d be interested to try 650b.

As far as I understand, people that claim to be spiritual are just afraid of death but don’t fancy all the rules of religion. There needs to be something more than just the life you live and death can’t be the end but they don’t mind the gays, hell doesn’t sound very nice and praying takes too much time in their busy schedules.

The FiL is gone, after 11 days! Saying it’s a relief is an understatement.

Zealous for loaning me a prototype frame to take on holiday when mine was still in transit.

Bike UK in Bristol for having the random selection of bits I needed in a big hurry and at sensible prices.

That’s probably a better way of putting it.

Look where you’re going.

Another Zealous Division vote here. Top notch fun that can take a hell of a thrashing.

I’m stuck here til 5pm. Got some tunes on and not done a spot of work all day.

In that case I would have bought a better crank puller and learn to screw it in far enough.

Orange/EE kept ringing me from weird numbers. It’s a sad state of affairs when you have to block your own network provider as they keep pestering you to offer ‘deals’, all of which seem to involve me spending more money with them.

Two recent gems at work.

A colleague chatting on the phone describing someone as being “Sharp as a monkey.”

Another colleague explaining to a lost visitor in our building how the floor numbering system worked. “We’re on the first floor, then comes the second floor, then the third and then the fourth.”

Monthly toric lenses from Specsavers for me. The quality of the lenses can vary somewhat. Some are excellent and really comfortable, then you’ll get a batch that make your eyes feel like someone poured sand in them. I wouldn’t be without contacts now though (barring me being able to afford laser surgery). Riding with glasses is just horrible.

Another vote for Newport. Now that TJs has closed there is nothing redeeming in that hole of a place.

If towns are allowed, Yeovil and Dudley have to be up there.

In no particular order:

Prague
Oslo
Stockholm
Valencia
Budapest
Bristol
San Ignacio (stretching the limits of a city though as it’s pretty small and as a city it’s not great, it just acts as a place to stay to get to amazing places)
San Francisco (though I haven’t been there since 1993 so it might be guff now)
Berlin
Vienna

Dallas Buyers Club could hardly be considered funny or christmassy.

I’d recommend Frank and Robot.

People say – “it promotes risk taking” well banking is all about risk – if you risk nothing, then you gain nothing – it’s about taking educated risks, but more importantly spreading those risks to try to ensure no-lose-gamble situation

The only problem with that is that it’s not so much of a risk when the business is deemed ‘too big to fail’. Those few that have taken all the risk can pass the consequences of failure onto everyone else. It makes a mockery of the free market.

I’m quite fond of Myriam Nicole

Just place an advert with the number in the ‘personal services’ section of your local free ad paper (or Craigslist). See how much they enjoy it.

Velopost are in Bristol,

Either I’m really stupid (totally possible) but I can’t find anyway to apply beyond just pinging an email to a generic info address.

You have my sympathy. I got flattened with this last week and it’s not pleasant. Scrambled egg on toast or chicken soup was all I could stomach. I lost all appetite but my girlfriend is a nurse and insisted I ate something.

Cheap Chinese lights. Of the last four night rides I’ve been out on, three have had other rider’s Chinese retina scorchers fail, meaning I have to give up my bar mounted Exposure light so they can carry on the ride. Buy cheap, buy twice!

I plan to visit Umeå next summer if I get the chance

Is that purely so you can see where all the good Swedish bands (Refused, Cult of Luna….the list goes on) come from?

+1 mince pies. I didn’t even like them until a few weeks ago when someone left a pack in the office. Not sure what happened.

I can’t believe no one has mentioned chocolate covered coffee beans. Those things are like crack.

There were loads of commuters on bikes when I visited Stockholm in the winter a few years back so I’d say go for it. Pretty good infrastructure in the capital at least and the Scandinavians are hardy enough to use it all year round it seems.

Zealous Division Frame – so much fun to ride
X-Fusion Slide forks – pumped them up to required pressure, not worried about them since.
Race Face Narrow Wide ring with XT clutch mech – Not lost the chain once despite having no other guide or guard.
Reverb seatpost – I never thought I’d find it so useful.

Specialized Ground Control S-Works tyre. Cut on the first proper ride and now useless tubeless. It’s all well and good making a tyre light but if it’s flimsier than clingfilm, it’s pretty useless.

I don’t understand perfume adverts. You have no idea if it stinks like dead cat and piss but here’s an extravagant advert to convince you of something you can’t verify while sat on you’re arse watching it.

To those who didn’t vote, did you also ignore the referendum on changing the voting system?

Normal XC mtb gloves and a pair of silk liner gloves for about £5.99 on ebay. I’m surprised how good silk liners are. My fingers are nice and toasty despite having pretty awful circulation. I don’t like thick gloves as you lose a lot of tactile sensation on the brakes/shifters so this combo works two ways.

I’d like to vote green but that would be as pointless not voting at all!

That attitude really annoys me. Vote for the party you want to vote for and the policies you like. If you believe in it, say it, campaign for it. If everyone did it things might just change. I voted Green at the Euro elections and, low and behold, we have a Green MEP amongst the mire of blue and purple. The Greens are now actively targeting the sitting Lib Dem in my ward. For all UKIP’s faults, of which there are oh so many, at least they’ve managed to get people to believe that their votes aren’t just wasted protests.

Why did the chicken cross the road?
To see the ugly bloke

Knock knock. Who’s there? The chicken.

I’ve hammered my HT 29er at Bike Park Wales and FOD downhills and had a great time. It’s also the most confident bike I’ve ever attempted to get air on, which is saying a lot as I’m fuggin useless at that kind of gnar. Modern mountain bikes , even XC ones, can handle a hell a lot more than most people can throw at them and still be fun.

Another Power Amp user here. Can’t fault it.