+1 for http://www.switch-backs.com the trails are superb and at that time of year the weather will be sunny but nice and cool in the mountains.

44 next week and bored to bloody tears of my job (Architect). Its a crispy sunny winters day and I can see the southdowns (chanctonbury Hill a mile away out of my office window and want to go out there and ride, esp as weather this weekend looks so shite – again)

Dom, thats the nicest one ive seen so far, as its a 16" what height are you, I am 5'11" and was looking at a 18" but was worried it may be a bit of a gate but a 16" may be too small?

Ski, thats exactly what my 5 year old son does, hes going to put his fist/controller through the screen soon, have to keep dragging him back.

My 5 year old loves the boxing more than any of the other Wii games and its a good laugh especially when he beats me (most of the time).

Who's Chipps??

Argos have done a couple of SC frames for me, very good quality, SC decals from Jungle for about £15?

Normally ride a Curtis FR which I thought compared to my old Hummer and dekerf SL was a bit of a tank but rode a mates alloy hardtail a few weeks ago and felt every bump, root, etc. back onto the Curtis after an hour or so and the same trails on the Curtis were noticably more comfy, both bikes have pretty much the same set up (tyres, etc,) so for me yes there was a difference between those two bikes.

I freaking love riding hardtails so much so that ive ditched the full bounce bikes.

Hadge, that Merlin just looks so right, stunning bike.

Not lived in Lisbon but spent a fair bit of time in that area, can also recommend the Sintra area, only a short journey (on very efficient & cheap trains), as mentioned above there is some very good road riding outside Lisbon but beware the drivers in Lisbon take a bit of getting used to.

Theres also some world class surf on the coastal areas of Lisbon if your into that.

Get yourself down to Marks & Spencer they do some pretty reasonable suits for well under £100, ive got a couple that I wear every day for work, good quality for the money (if your not a lable snob)

Got my first MTB the day my daughter was born (31.01.87)a cheap Townsend with integrated bar/stem combo used it quite a bit off road although it was pap (really wanted a muddy fox courier that was the benchmark at the time but couldnt afford one), then over the years:
Spesh stumpy (steel)
GT avalanche (U brake)
GT Zaskar LE
Orange E3
Kona Caldera
Marin mount vision
SC chamelion
Spesh S Works M2
DeKerf Team SL (v brake)
Spesh Stumpjumper
Dekerf team SL (disc)
Kona Stab
SC superlight
Spesh big hit
Sunn road bike
Cove hummer
Intense tracer
SC heckler (x2)
SC bullit
Spesh big hit 3
Yeti asx
Devinci frantik
Trance X0
Curtis FR (still got)
Rocky mountain switch 2 (still got)
On one SS (still got)
Bianchi Nerone 7 road bike (still got)

29 in total, got my eye on the new cotic BFE.

Bunners, I always ride like a girl, but I wasnt the one who got lost?

MTBfix – love the Dekerf, had two team SL's a few years back and have always regreted selling them.

My blue Curtis FR, got pikes on now and a 70mm stem.

Subscription to National Geographic (what my parents get for me every year), its a good read, very informative with very nice photos.

Had a pair of AM SL's thought they were great forks but a bugger to set up (pretty similar to my 66SL's), can remember a setting that Windwave had on their site a while back, tried it and made the forks very plush, cant remember what the settings were but may still be on their site?

Be warned if your riding the singletrack round the back of stanmer 'the secret trails 😉 rode it monday night and someones put a lot of logs, branches, etc every 20ft or so across the trail, pretty much along the whole length of the second trail, cleared the bigger ones. One branch got into the front wheel and ripped out some spokes so now got to replace them and re-true the wheel.

Always worries me when someone starts sabbotaging trails as you never know what coming round the corner (esp at night)

Have had loads of bikes over the years from hardtails, light weight AM full sus bikes to full on DH bikes and have never been attached to any of them other than the two below:

DeKerf Team SL, 853 frame with disk mounts brought new from Recycle/Vince (anybody remember them?) such a nice looking and riding bike, really wished I had kept it, sold it to buy a Cove Hummer which again was a nice bike but sold to buy a Curtis FR.

Never again will I buy from Dell f***ing c%%%s.
Ordered a £1100 laptop for myself, was given a delivery date which came and went, this happened about three times, when the final date passed phoned them to enquire where my good where only to be told they were delivered last week. After loads of phone calls to Dell customer service (???) I found out that the laptop was made in Poland and had got nicked during despatch, told them I wanted a refund and got numerous e-mails and phone conversations saying that they would only refund my money once they recieved the laptop back?? Cut a long storey short, I waited another two and a half months before I recieved a replacement, wont buy from them again.

Bunners its well known you like a bit of 'brown', Mondays nite ride will take in Dukes Mound just to keep you happy 😉

Can vouch for the Curtis frames, very nice to ride and very well built, had mine (T45 FR)since mid 06 and still chuffed with it. Thinking of ordering another at the moment (smaller with a 69 deg head angle rather than the 71 deg Gary recommends).

Bunners, have checked mine over prior to the missus snatching it off me and it does look very good indeed, the inside of the seat tube could do with a clean up but generally the paints really good, my first On One so pretty pleased with the quality.

Got yours through yet?

Cheers on the chain tugs will get them off you on next mondays ride?

looking good fellas.

Yay, got my green sliding drop inbred when I got home from my night ride last night.

Boo, the missus has let me check it over but has now put it away till xmas (is a present from her), no amount of arm twisting is going to convince her that I need to build it now.

Must say for £135 it looks bloody well built, my Curtis costs almost 6 times the amount and I wouldnt say the quality of the welds is any better, but time will tell.

Had a similar thing, neighbour was a right misserable git and used to beat his missus and son, cleaning my car with the vacum one day he started hurling abuse at me from inside his house (didnt have the guts to come out and have a pop), so I lost my rag after 3 years of crap from him, pulled up his picket fence and threw it at his window. Long storey cut short Police gave me a ticking off and he never bothered me or my family again and moved out 3 months later.

Cant narrow it down to one but:

One flew over the cuckoos nest
Le Hain
Black Hawk Down
Bad Boy Bubba (aussie film, very bizzare)
Goodfellas
Saving Private Ryan

The Cribber! grew up in Bude and surfed that whole stretch of coast for 25+ years, much prefer surfing the North East/Thurso (not as busy but frickin cold!!)

The waves at Thurso and Brimms Ness when on are some of the best in the world (its just so one hell of a drive).

Been out with Switchbacks 6 times and love it, would recommend them if you prefer descending rather than lots of climbing (Switchbacks offer lots of uplifts).

Havent been out with Cyclo Montana but both companies ride the same trails, know others who have and rate them (although I understand they do a fair bit more climbing than switchbacks?)

Trails around Bubion, Cappilara, etc. are bloody brilliant.

Go for a leather bag and fill with cloth, material, etc untill your used to it and then fill with sand if the bags moving around too much, worth getting a good leather one over a cloth or plastic one if you can find one 2nd hand. If youve never tried it before either gets some lightweight mits and/or some boxing wraps, these will give a little protection to the knuckles and will also give a bit of support to the wrists (can pick up a set for £5). Focus mitts is another good stamina workout (if youve got someone to train with)

geetee1972, yes have a sand filled bag in my garage and does the job fine, have trained with one for years (3rd dan at kick boxing & boxing since I was a kid) tried a cloth version filled with lightweight material and just moves around too much.

Leather one filled with sand is best, although weighs a lot so make sure support is good. Light weight plastic/cloth ones tend to move around too much if your really going for it. Half hour on the punch bag is a great way of building stamina, if you havent already, look at also getting a skipping rope, another easy way for building fitness.

+1 Chichester, good call Tyger, only been here about 5 years after moving from Brighton, is a nice place to live (not too many chavs)

My rear garden backs onto the Goodwood race track and at the recent show there the Vulcan did a fly by, kids almost shat themselves when the Vulcan banked over just above our house, **** that thing is loud.

I want to move to Bristol, close to quannies & south wales for biking, an hour and half drive from good surfing, Bristol gets my vote.

fred dinage – THE LEGEND (the don of South East news reading)

7of9 – cracking body but a face like a slapped @rse

Kimbers – whos the second bit of crumpet in the red?

Chichester (now live there), enough there to keep me interested (biking/surfing)

Brighton (lived there as a stoodent), great fun, good biking.

Like visiting Edinburgh & London but wouldnt live there.

love Keswick but only been there when is busy

Would consider living in Taunton/Bath/Bristol as spent a fair bit of time there and really like them.

+1 Newquay – nice beaches if you looking out to sea, but full of pissed up staggers & hen parties & teenage stoodents and the place is an abosolute rip off.

Crawley – proper southern sh1te hole (chav city)

Yeh, meant the inside face of the external front wall.

Could be condensation, if youve got the old 'crital' style metal windows there is probably no trickle vents (little slidey vents at the window head), all new builds require background ventilation to help overcome condensation problems.

If its a steel frame it could also be cold/thermal bridging i.e. where outside cold air/cold frame meets warm inside air = condensation. From your description of the condensation being in the bedrooms and mainly in the mornings points to insterstitial condensation (warm air from body temp/breathing/heating meets cold air/surfaces). Almost certainly not damp if its visible all the way up the ext. walls.

Best get a qualified surveyor to take a look.

Same here, my missus ordered me a moss green slot drop out for xmas (also not allowed it till then), not had an e-mail to say they are on their way though?

Zafira for that sort of money, make sure you get a diesel though, brought my missus a 7 month old Zaf SRI petrol a while back and it only does about 30max mpg, urban driving its about 28mpg, wish I had brought a diesel.

All my winter suits are 5mm body (single skin neoprene on chest) 4mm arms (for flexibility) and 3mm side panels, thats the joy of getting custom made suits as you can spec the suit for your local conditions. Feel toasty warm at my home break (Bude) but suffer a bit surfing the North East/Thurso so use a 2mm rashie underneath. TBH custom suits are a little more expensive but the benefits far outweigh the extra cost.

TBH board length isnt as much of an issue as volume, thickness and width, I am 13 stone and 6' and ride a 6' twin fin or 6'2" quad which both pick up small waves as well as good upto overhead surf. As someone else pointed out I also dont like mini mals but theres no denying that they are ideal for learners, would rather have a mini mal than a 'big' thruster and would steer clear of a full mal to start with as its hard work getting a 9'+ plank out the back when its big/blowing on shore (respect to the guys who do it and still rip rather than hogging the waves and just cruising in).