183rd in the affinity, and about 850 overall by time.
How did you miss your qualifier? Surely you must have realised there would be a hell of a lot of people up there.
We got up there at about 9ish and sat outside the cafe at the quali lift station for a while till we could be bothered to go up. were still up there early though

best way is to camp in allemont, that way you can get the free bus up to oz and the lifts.
It works well as on race day you can roll down the road to you stuff rather than have to queue for ages to get on the bus to the lift station.
Depending on how happy you are riding stuff like the race will depend on how long you want to be out there, we went for the whole week before this time and it was worth it.
Our campsite was le grande calme in allemont, great place pretty cheap and got a pizza stall on site if you really can't be bothered to cook one night

hmm second pick down looks surprisingly like me, I was 183rd in the affinity races (both of them), Chris yours will be the place out of both races (i.e. 800 people).
I worked out on time that I was in position 850 for the entire race. Quite chuffed with that.
Just wondering if I could get an additional week off to do the mega next year too and go to verbier……… hmm, if not 2011.

steveh, hmm sounds good but unlikely to happen until next year sadly.
But yeah exactly what I am looking at

this is the sort of thing I am looking at

I Like the idea of having a place inside the van to dump all the stuff, although some I have seen have a bed above the garage which looks worthwhile

is he the balding one?

just had a conversation about quantum and biocomputing, was that one of you?

looks like I got him too

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this is so childishly funny

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CyB is good fun, go there without any expectations and its a laugh. I found most of the trails to be entertaining, love pins and needles.
But yes a lot of the trails can be just blasted on a decent FS, kind of point and shoot stuff. Fun however but anyone used to there would get a nasty shock riding in the peak and other natural places.

not complaining, just think warners commentary is better, not really going to work on BBC2 though.
Love the adventure show

some scary people on there this time of night, frightened me so I gave up

commentary isn’t as good as warner

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You: he is an attack monkey
You: flies too
Stranger: :-P your a wack job
Stranger: Probably hit on the head as a infant
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Stranger: Yes you love monkey dug

LOL

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Dumbass

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Clearly not a paddington bear fan

Commencal MiniDH with dual ply minions. Somewhat ugraded from last year out there with better forks.
Put an 11-34 cassette on it as the only concession to going uphill, would rather walk.
Its going to be great fun

Hate uphills, my rule is if I can walk fast then I am pushing.
Flats are ok if they are fun singletrack, if that then they are fast too. Boring stuff is slow.
Downhills as fast as I can possibly go, getting quicker too training at cwmcarn DH and aston hill help.
All of the above is probably why I am doing the mega in a week or so

You can ride it all.
Go down to the check in site on the correct day, not sure which one and you might get into the race, can’t hurt trying. It might not be full, don’t they close entries a short while before the race anyway?
I can’t wait.

sofaking – cheers will get some ordered, doing the mega and need all the help I can get

tried the SIS go, it tastes foul, bit like bad sherbet

these ones?

the axles should be easy now, just give it a tap with the hammer

thats cause you have got weedy hands kimbers :D

oh ok then, its that I thought might be holding it on.
not sure then really, it really should pull off, I took mine off last night and it was easy as.
Sorry not more help

the one thing you can try is to give the axles a smack with a rubber hammer or similar, it will loosen the end caps, and the freehub will pull straight off

why does rossi keep sticking his leg out going into corners?
I can’t work it out

Don’t know why your set is fragile. I have got 2 sets of K18’s and a set of K24’s and they have been perfect, except when I screwed up and pinched the seal on the hose at the lever (that did not help) my fault though

l agree with blazing saddles, its great. Mad what some of them had to do in the early days

Thats fair enough. Chances are that the tyres may be having an effect then. In that case i recommend panaracer rampages high volume and still fast

Maybe i am missing something but are you wanting faster tyres because you are slower going downhill? Rather than uphill. If that is the case then is it not possible that it is you not the tyre that is the limiting factor. Uphill sure faster tyres will have an effect. Downhill its grip and skill you need

I’m taking EBC reds to the mega, won’t go near sintered out there, my mate had his brakes go completely using sintered with hayes 9s

Rossi when asked about the TT on the coverage last week said he thought it was mad. He also said he was glad that it was no longer a part of the superbikes champs.
That said a lot to me

Make sure you are running super tackys at real low pressure and you will be sort of ok.
The wet roots there are amazing fun, full on drifty bu without the reassuring knowledge that you will get grip at some point…………. you wont

Doing it this year, went last year but didn’t do the race – that much rain was not appealling.
However now kimbers is going no excuses this year.
Going to be amazing

6′ with a medium, I think the large would be slightly too big

roddersrambler – i agree totally, if immigrants want to come here to improve their lives great, they are the ones that keep this country running as the most of the unemployed here wouldn’t do their jobs for anything.
There was a program on tv here a while back interviewing people in peterborough. The local scum refused to work on the land have seemed particularly interested in the good wages. Once they found out what the job was they said they would rather be on JSA.
In my mind can we swap immigrants for the ones who refuse to work.
Those who cannot work for real reasons are entitled to help, it could happen to anyone.

Much better than the cinders, faster rolling and feel better (well to me).
Trailrakers there isn’t much comparison, trailrakers great in mud, rampages distinctly less so. However they are not designed for it.
I run them as rear tyres on my meta and PA, only reason being that i really liked them that was and had a couple of intense edges to stick on the front.

Overall very good tyres, but quite thin sidewalls, run good pressure and you are fine

I guess you are right, looking at a bit of everything really, love DH, but am happy enough taking the xc ish bike out too.
Will still have a look at guiding stuff, but yeah should be able to cut together a bit of money to make a 10-12 week trip.
Any suggestions?

You are right, france is pretty much out, was thinking maybe, spain, italy or further afield.
However if I can’t do it guiding I may head out somewhere anyway