Voodoo bizangos get good reviews. Spend the change on a dropper or some other upgrades (lighter wheels etc)

Been in exactly the same boat! The radon slide 130 and the canyon spectral were pretty high on my list. The canyon spec is ridiculous. Pikes and full 11sp xt for 2100 (I think). Then started looking at the Whyte t129 scr (the 2200) one. Wheelbase are doing a demo day in staveley on the 12th if you’re in the area. The thing putting me off was the stand over height, 33 inches on the two germans, was worried about a painful testes toptube interface.

In the end threw caution to wind and bought a fatty trail in the liquidation sale haha

I love just north of Preston in Broughton, never used to like the place growing up but living here now it’s not so bad. The town centres pretty run down but they’ve just started chucking money at it this last 18months or so. As others have said you can be in some pretty awesome riding spots within an hour but the focus locally is mainly road and with good choice, the flats of fylde to the west and trough of bowland to the east.

DTF, I actually bumped into that guy from the vid one night in town. He was a pretty sound guy, but in a much better state than in that vid haha

chakaping – Member
I’ve been impressed by Superstar’s carbon bar…
http://unduro.co.uk/mtb/review-superstar-lithium-handlebar/
They claim each one is tested at the factory.

In that article they claim they’re load tested to 200kg which is ‘far in excess’ of what they’ll be expected to cope with. My question is, as a 100kg plus guy, is it not unreasonable to suggest that a big crash would generate forces of over 2g? Therefore the load on the bar would be in excess of that 200kg? Or have I got the physics completely wrong? This does of course mean all my weight going through the bar but if I hit a tree or rock square on and stopped dead it doesn’t seem implausible.

I’m in the camp that being a tw*t can be a good thing if you do it right on the rugby pitch. Farrells problem for me is that his aggression leads to him shooting out the line to smash the player and leaving a dogleg in defence, means everyone else has to compensate. This is fine if he smashed his man every time but he doesn’t.

Re. Mike Brown I’d never noticed it before but someone mentioned it to me against Italy, he’s so easy to read. He never carries the ball in two hands, therefore he never looks like he’s going to pass it and that’s why he doesn’t draw defenders in. To his credit he’s pretty good at wriggling through but he’s never gonna put other people away until he learns to carry in two hands and at least look like he’s considering using his support runners!

I do think we’ll see Ford and Farrell again, I think our only hope is that Ford plays himself into some form in the next couple of games! I do feel for him a little, a couple of times against Italy I could see him looking for the pass only to either have a lumbering idiot (Haskell and Robshaw) jogging alongside him with no arms up to receive the ball and blocking him from passing it to anyone more useful, or there was simply no one there at all, hence why he got smashed a few times.

It might be symptomatic of whats happened at Bath but last 6Ns Joseph was running really good lines off Ford and just ghosting through gaps thanks to Ford’s flat passing on the gainline, this year there’s none of that. Have they been worked out? But it doesn’t even look like they’ve tried anything like that in the past 2 games.

I don’t think Burrells playing at his best.

He’s been very good indeed for the last 3 games.

At 13… which is where he was pretty impressive for England when he first came on the scene. I don’t think he’s a 12, he’s a big, quick guy but doesn’t break or bend the line enough to be a out and out bosh 12, and he doesn’t seem intelligent enough (as a player) to be a ball playing 12. His strengths seem to be out wide where he can use his size and pace a bit more, so for me he’s 13 or bust, and I can’t see him ousting Joseph.

I’ve not seen much of Saints’ games recently but have seen plenty of praise for Henry Mallinder, with some suggesting that its he who has brought the best out in Burrell again. Can anyone confirm?

Either telling her I’m just going to see my mates and not coming home that night (can never just have one!) or when I do come home waking up in the middle of the night and peeing in her shoes/down the stairs/in a cupboard. Last time I even tried to take a number two in her shoes. She came into the spare bedroom to find my crouched down over her Jimmy Choo’s preparing to curl one out. I remembered nothing the next day and wondered what I had done wrong!

I have issues.

Aaaaaaaaabsolutely not. Haven’t seen anything that would suggest it yet anyway. But I don’t think we’ll see where Jones really wants to take this team until summer.

toys192 – Member
Ummm, that was shite. The problem with games like this is that Joseph will be seen as the hero when in fact he butchered umpteen chances, that against a better side (no disrespect to excellent Italy) he will just be hammered. Must have been three chances to offload to a guaranteed try in the first half where he kept the ball.

When were these? I saw a couple of times where he could have passed it out but they were nothing that the cover defence wouldn’t have sorted out. And it’s better to keep the ball in play than concede a lineout (although maybe not with our breakdown work)

I was fearing the worst at half time but did remember thinking that despite playing absolutely awful we were still in the lead. Second half was as expected really, we unloaded a strong bench against a weakened and tired Italy side and ran away with it, nothing to write home about. We’re playing some nice stuff when we get chance but the breakdown is a shambles at the moment, barely getting any clean ball! There was one particular incident where I think Joseph took it in, and nowell and Farrell cleared out over the ball (fair enough) but then the ball was just left open and out! Just stupid play.

Also what happened to our lineout?! Borthwick will be giving them a roasting over that!

Went from Preston to garstang once to watch the rugby, came back along the A6. Apart from a small section after owd nells (bilsborrow) it was all or largely unsurfaced until Garstang itself. Have also done from garstang to Galgate before but was with an old girlfriend and had to abandon it at winmarleigh as it was unsurfaced, and with long grass pretty hard going even in the dry.

There’s a decent cycle path from glasson dock that runs right up to crook o’lune that I used to do with my dad as an out and back, nice and flat gravel surface along an old railway line. Me and a few mates did a short pub crawl route last year using that, between Lancaster to glasson dock, then the canal to Galgate, and then through the university back to Lancaster. Was quite a nice little loop that was largely only on quiet roads or paths. But could just as easily stick to the canal from Galgate back to Lancaster.

Edit: just re-read the op and seen you want a bit of a challenge, none of my routes probably count haha

Course it does aa! Swapping the shirt numbers round fixes everything! :(

Hopefully this is a short term fix. I wonder whose chips kvesic constantly pisses on to never even get a look in with either coach? He’s standout in the league as the kind of seven we’ve all been looking for but for whatever reason cannot seem to break into the England squad!

Yeah although I’ve a horrible inkling Haskell will start at 7 :oops: but I hope I’m wrong!

It’s not really that bad a team, very similar to the one that did well in the 6Ns last year. Hopefully Jones can instill a more ruthless streak and make them mentally stronger. I am loving his approach to dropping players though by telling them they need to go and work on the things that they do well and not the things they don’t :lol: apparently he’s told TomYoungs he needs to work on his carrying and tackling and Wood on his workrate (which is about the only thing he has going for him!)

Whilst on paper it’s somewhat disappointing to see some of the names being sent home, I think he’s had to go for a result more than anything, win ugly if he needs to but it has to be a win. And in what’s likely to be a very close game do you really want any more than 3 debutants in the 23? If it is close going into the last 20 mins you want experience coming off the bench not young kids making their debut. Hopefully this is a win at all costs mentality for Scotland, blood some of the other youngsters against Italy and then select a bit more of a mix for the remainder of the tournament. Worth bearing in mind that Jones has only had the players for two sessions (mad I know!) so he hasn’t got much to go off first hand.

I was also a bit disappointed to see some of the names going home but I can kinda see why.

Exeter are through to the QF!!! What a match and a result! Took everyone a few minutes after the game to work it out but they effectively went from 3rd in the group at kick off to winning the group By points difference (I think that’s it?). Clermont out by 3 points, and Parra tapped and went under the posts in the 79th minute :lol:

I think Eddie ran out of changes to make to be honest, hence the inclusion of Haskell and non-inclusion of Simpson. But overall I’m pretty happy with the squad, certainly a team that fits with the idea of wanting to play a fast paced game. That back row has the potential to be the complete opposite of the WC back row, Beaumont, Clifford, Kvesic, Itoje are all capable of being getting about the park and playing at speed.

A little surprised at the inclusion of Devoto, but we’ve not got 12’s coming out of our ears and Devoto looks like a good candidate on paper, big, skillful and can play a bit but sometimes lacking in confidence and decision making. I assume Eddie has seen him as something he can work with.

Surprised at Tom Youngs omission to be honest but again, Eddie must have seen something he can work with in LCD.

Don’t think Cipriani can be too put out, only picking 2 fly halves was always going to mean he was left out, he’ll know he’s next cab off the rank if injuries happen to either of the incumbents.

Still think we’ll see a 10-12 of Ford Farrell against Scotland though.

Interestingly the average age of this squad is something like 23/24! On paper this has the potential to be an awesome squad but for inexperience alone I’m not expecting too much from this 6 Nations to be honest. Would be happy with third and a notable step in the right direction. With France now under Guy Noves and Scotland’s resurgence I think we could see one of the closest 6 Nations in a while!

That was a worse pain than the initial ACL rupture or the dislocated patella, they had just felt like a bad growing pain.
How did you dislocate it out of interest?

I was playing rugby and kind of step/twisted off my right foot. The foot stayed planted and the rest of me twisted. Tbh it didn’t even cross my mind that that’s what I’d done, I heard and felt a crack obviously and immediately assumed I’d torn my ligaments given the movements involved. The physio came on, put my leg flat and flicked it back in place before she’d even told me what I’d done. It was probably only out of place for about 2 mins tops. Hence why the pain wasn’t maybe as bad as those described earlier in the thread, like most dislocations I imagine the quicker you get it in the better. There was no impact involved either which I imagine reduced the pain.

The worst pain i can think of recently was a few days after having my ACL reconstructed last month. At the point the anaesthetic had worn off and the codeine seemed to making little or no difference, this coupled with the fact I’d had very little sleep in 3 days meant that I just broke down to tears whilst trying to put clignfilm on the dressings for a shower. All the blood rushing to my leg made it feel like it was going to explode. That was a worse pain than the initial ACL rupture or the dislocated patella, they had just felt like a bad growing pain.

The few weeks after were fairly miserable, led around unable to do much apart from pretty painful physio exercises. Feeling a lot better a month in though now I can walk and move about again.

Went over last year, took the ferry from Heysham (about 30-40 mins from Preston where I live) and got the 2:30am ferry which got us to Douglas for half 6am ish. We went as foot passengers and took fold up bikes to get about on. In the end we could have just taken full size bikes as they put it in storage. Did get us priority boarding though! The bikes were great for getting about on and allowed us to see loads more. We spent the day at the start finish line, then got the tram to the top of Snaefell for a while. We eventually got the early evening ferry back and was back in Heysham for midnight. For senior day though I’d imagine it’s already booked up?

Great day! The only downside was that I’d booked the ferry in December, wasn’t aware of the race days and we ended up going on a day with no racing! Still a really nice day though, the island is lovely and everyone was really friendly and we left the bikes locked up for about 4 hours with no issue.

Talking to the man on the ferry on the way home and he was saying that it’s mayhem getting back on seniors day though. Said it can take until the following week to fully empty the island!

To which Joe Marler and Mike Brown responded with the below

Joe Marler ?@JoeMarler 7h7 hours ago
.@Jamiehuwroberts nah mate, the Welsh have it right, he’s a sh*thouse bloke.

mikebrown_15 7h7 hours ago
@JoeMarler @Jamiehuwroberts the Welsh only like you because you helped them win a championship in 2013 #LickedOut @adamjones3 says thanks!

Jamie Roberts @Jamiehuwroberts
Dear the Welsh.This guy wants you to know he’s actually an alright bloke.he’s keen to improve Anglo-Welsh relations

Being a rural chap for me it has to be Tractor Pulling. Who doesn’t want to see two rolls Royce griffon engines converted to run on methanol, strapped to a vaguely tractor-like chassis, attempting to pull a dead weight down a 100m track? Whilst competing with another local man with his 5 v8 Chevys doing the talking. Oh and the helicopter engines as well. Great engineering and the noise has to be heard to be believed. Love it!

Old next door neighbour designed, made and let’s his son drive this, whilst he drives the other one.

Not so much a centre, just a big carrying option. They had a couple but it completely backfired on them and they both left (Fearns and Burgess). Floew is an awesome player but not a big carrier and Houston isn’t quite the same this year.

Yeah Hughes looks unbelievable, but as this was a 6Ns dream team I couldn’t include him! Haven’t got Billy V in as I think the back row will need to be more mobile than it has been and Beaumont is a good compromise until Hughes qualifies.

I echo Wreckers concerns about Ford but I think I lot of his issues shouldn’t be there in an England shirt. He SHOULD be behind a fairly dominant pack and he should have options to get front foot ball. I think baths biggest issue at the moment is not having anyone to take the ball up in midfield and get quick, go forward ball to suck in defenders and create a quick platform. Baths midfield are awesome at broken field play but when there’s no options they don’t have anyone to truck it up and go again. For England Ford should have that. It doesn’t even need to be the 12, a quick mobile back row could answer that.

M Vunipola
J George
K Brookes
Attwood
Launchbury
Itoje
O’Connor
Beaumont

Simpson
Ford
May
Nowell (I know I know but I reckon he could do a job there, and the alternatives aren’t exactly demanding selection)
Joseph/Daly
Watson
Brown

12 scares the living daylights out of me tbh. Burrell is in awful form, 12Ts isn’t even playing 12 for his club that much any more and in the games I watch in the AP no one else is really putting their hand up, apart from maybe that chap at Irish (Williams is it?). Hence my selection of Nowell, everyone moans about him not having the pace for wing but he’s tough, a strong runner who always seems to beat the first man, defensively sound and seems to make the right decisions all the time. Really impressive at 13 for the Chiefs and see no reason why he couldn’t make that move inside.

Tbh at the moment the way Farrell is playing I wouldn’t even be too bothered if Jones played him at 12.

Nothing this year. Was home at a sensible time and in a sensible state, mainly due to my knee surgery only being the week before.

Beats last year being unable to remember the meal, being stripped on the dance floor and waking up at the apprentices flat the next morning!

Just to clarify I’m only 24 so still feel this is acceptable behaviour for a couple more years.

Finished on the 4th December and not due back in til the 11th of January. Mind you I have had to have my ACL reconstructed for the pleasure of all that time off.

Think I’d rather be back in work tbh. Only been a week and a half and I’m stir crazy!

From what I’d read Catt lost the players a bit over his tiff with Cipriani, which is saying something! Apparently the players defended Cips and I think it’s game over from a coaches point of view if youve lost the players.

I’d also heard about Alex King but then heard conflicting stuff about Eddie wanting to be a bit more hands on with regards to attack. Saints attack isn’t anything to write home about at the moment though but I imagine Eddie will have a very good idea of how he wants to do and if King is attack coach he’ll have to finf a game to fit that.

Be interesting to see what Eddie does with regards to the squad, as far as I’m aware the EPS agreement means he can’t have a wholesale clear out but we’ve not got many retirees to replace either. 12 still seems a bit of an issue with quite a few decent EQ players knocking about in the AP but not many actually demanding selection.

It was a pretty boring game but Roberts was taking 3 or 4 players with him every time, injured the Oxford captain with his first run. I watched the whole thing in the hope my mate would get on the pitch for Oxford but although he was warming up at about the 70minute mark he was never brought on. Guess I should have just watched the 3 games he played for Cambridge in previous years ha.

Also won his first marathon at the start of the year. After two weeks training. And by first I mean it was his first ever marathon, and he won it.

Not jealous me, no way!

On the forgetfulness theme.

With the white Room in 2014, I’d forgotten something for most of the days so as we were going to Pila I made s big effort, got all my kit ready and in the van and even saved a space for my buddies. Just cross over the col du petit St. Bernard and I got the sickening realisation that I didn’t remember putting my bike on. Sure enough I turn around and it’s not there! Followed by me frantically turning on my data roaming on my mobile and seeing what hire bikes were available. Every cloud though, spent the day riding a transition tr500 which was awesome and led to me buying a DH bike when I got home.

Also managed to leave my front wheel in the car park at rivington.

I’d lose my balls if they weren’t in a bag!

As luck would have it im led in bed reading this and the missus has just let an absolute ripper off! She’s now rolled to face away from me to ensure maximum exposure!!

They used to horrify me but luckily they don’t smell.

I’m not defending his performance and I was absolutely gutted that Scotland lost in such circumstances but apparently Joubert ran down the tunnel because he had bottles thrown at him. If true that’s a disgrace and there’s no room for it in this sport.

Had this the last couple of weeks. Went to the doctors on Monday and they diagnosed it as a virus. So the good news was I didn’t need antibiotics. The bad news was it could be another few weeks til it goes. Eurgh.

+1 for the torn meniscus. When I had mine it was agonising, couldn’t put any weight on it and knee felt ‘locked’ and unable to straighten, had to kind of kick it straight which caused a big click and then everything was fine, like nothing had happened! The first time was pretty scary though, after a while I was having to do a few times a week until I had the op to tidy it up.

Shirley his assist for Watsons second try belies the theory that he fails to support other players, it was in the opposite wing looping right round the back, a nice little show and then a well timed pass out.

If we weren’t capable of creating holes in opposition defences I’d completely agree with you because nowell and Watson are better in traffic. But with ford pulling the strings if May can hit those gaps he’s gone, in situations like that there’s no substitute for raw pace.

I think all three will go anyway tbh.

i think it could be last chance saloon for 12ts myself, he’s had chance afte chance to prove himself and then Slades come in and done everything the want from 12Ts on his debut.

Only taking one hooker Kryton?? Youngs and…

I’m not sure where all the hate for May has come from? I thought Saturday was his best game in an England shirt. No defensive blunders, chased well, scored a well taken try and also had an assist. I’m not sure what more he could do?

Also I think they’ve been quoted as saying Brookes will be ok. And given the fact he can play both sides of the front row I think he’s in with a pretty good chance.

Has to be richmtbguru, formally of this parish.

Without him, none of the riders mentioned previously would have got to where they were. His tuition and mentoring paved the way for British cycling to become what it is today.

The word ‘Legend’ is bandied about too much nowadays. But he is someone that truly deserves such an accolade.

/End Thread

As a bloke from work always used to say “never let the truth get in the way of a good story”.

The SLX will still look new in 2 years time, whereas the finish will have rubbed off the Zees in 3-4 rides. In 2 years of owning the slx they still look box fresh and this was on my go-to trail bike. The Zees on my downhill bike have worn through to the metal and look awful despite only being ridden 9-10 times in 6 months!