standards just seem to be getting worse.  lack of police enforcement must be up there with the reasons why

I disagree. That traverse across the rock face with a jump looked pretty unrideable to me.  Not sure the majority could have managed it.

also thought Brandon s’s run was probably deserving of winning up there despite everyone moaning. That lilypad was wild.

we appreciate how hard these tech sections are. But big gaps and flips gets more views from the general public. That’s just being cynical though.

shame Tom I didn’t get a second run.

the narrative of the event has been taken over and i can’t see that being good for anyone involved.

I said elsewhere that the classes of amplitude and tricks is weighting it towards a slopestyle run.  If it’s a slopestyle competition then so be it.  Maybe Brendog should have realised what was needed if that is what the comp is about and just mainlined like quite a few of them.

But i think that would be robbing us of variety.  They need to rethink the categories so a run that we can all see is epic isn’t worth 10 points less than sorge and straight who were average.

my partner broke her wrist snowboarding and when we got back to the uk we phoned 111 and then went to minors to get into the system.

can’t see it being someone else with his sock.  no one else died on a summit attempt around the same time.

I reckon I would have been gutted not to be able to get around.  We were staying in land a bit anyway so needed to be able to get to the beach.

Also visited a couple of gorges.  One called ‘big waterfall’ (Kourtaliotiko) on google maps which required a short swim in a gorge to the waterfall.  Think it was too hot for Samaria gorge.

driving over there in the dark was scary.

Hire cars at chania were a lottery.  picture was of a newish 4 door small hatch but ended up with a 10 year old micra.  A/C worked and tbh, it meant nobody was going over it with a fine tooth comb looking for scratches.

rather than focussing on a prize/incentive for a weeks worth of change that will shift back to normal as soon as the week is over, do some travel planning with the staff.

Most transport consultancies should be able to help but in essence it is talking to each employee to understand why they travel how they do.  Help them work out what other options there are and encourage a change which could be one day a week by bus/cycle/train.

Maybe you can introduce an incentive to go with it.  Like £2 per cycled journey.  Needs company buy in but I’m sure you could make the case with fitness benefits and saving overheads with parking.

That’s the carrot approach.  The other would be do limit your car parking but it doesn’t sound like there is much transport links to your site.

thanks – well summed up

@Snotrag would you mind putting it into a sentence please?  not sure what bit to listen to

Is this series some sort of severance package or did they have a contract for another series of TG?

Enjoyed it I think.

Had a headshock on an xc race rig.  it was shite.

they sure did try to innovate and it looks like those sort of days are over.  Guess we settled on what works whereas back then full suss was new territory

The Ukrainians I hear from have no love for him.

Polls suggest it’s a bit more evenly split than your anecdotal poll.

Making out like Russia is inevitable but what you forget is this ‘super’ power has an military that is a paper tiger.  Kursk has been invaded, begging for weapons from Iran and North Korea.  Running out of most things.  Doesn’t sound like a military where most of it’s stuff is untouched.

Any truce will embolden Putin and it will be a matter of when and not if until the next foray.  The west simply need to step up.

how much is Putin paying you dazh?

They’ve surpassed my expectations.  I ride a FF and for my 2-3 hour blasts it is great.  Don’t notice the weight downhill and I can get back to the top quickly for another run without having to catch my breath.  I can basically do my pre emtb entire day out in 2 and a bit hours.

Also more motivated to ride more because climbing back up by myself on the obsolete is really boring and it is easier to fit in.

Fitness.  not noticed a drop off, if anything I’m fitter but I was riding so infrequently before that biking makes up a tiny proportion of my activities anyway.

Would like to try a SL but for me, riding as much as possible in a short as possible amount of time is key for my home life.

Didn’t realise it was going to be 2 hours. Was quite the effort to watch it….

take the battery out when not in use

Don’t pay too much attention to how a shock performs on the ups.  too many things going on including pedalling, sitting etc.  use the climb switch if its bothering you.

You mention not bottoming out…  25% sag (how are you measuring?) is getting on for minimum sag on most bikes so more air pressure will make you possibly use even less travel.   Don’t know what bike you have but sounds like your air pressure is in the right ball park.

Maybe a tad faster rebound to help it feel like it is packing down less if you want to make a change.

but the beauty of air shocks is the almost infinite adjustability.  give it a go!

BTR then.  An object to cherish as well helps validate the decision.  so much detail and time goes into them.   seen the build videos?  I got to recommend a friends work though…

You know you can do that on any bike, right? In fact you can do it without range anxiety or whatever it’s called. I don’t really have an axe to grind, but really, you can do all that stuff with or without a motor. I guess with one you can do it more quickly, but is that what mountain biking’s about?

Sounds like you do.  Of course you can but you’re more likely to see where something goes when you can get back to the top quicker than you would if you’ll end up having to pedal for ages, having wasted time.  range anxiety impacts unassisted too.  what is mountain biking about exactly?

Not sure I understand how people think they are used.  I use mine to go faster.  not to supplement effort, if that makes sense

riding bikes is fun.  looking at them less so.  Go for what you’ll use most.  maybe even a kenevo ff with triple clamps that you can take the battery out of for uplift days.  Neil Donaghue runs that canyon thing as a dh bike.

DH bikes don’t make sense unless you’re racing imo but that’s a whole other discussion.  How many full day out would you actually do?  If you had no commitments then plenty of weekends i guess?  Friends to do it with?

I stopped DH’ing because enduro bikes got better, The places to take DH bikes  back then in the uk with uplifts was limited, too far away and racing was mostly queueing and decent series were getting fewer.  Part of me thinks I’d love to take up DH racing again but I was only any good when I could ride and race often.  I’m too far south to get involved properly.  The Enduro bike let me spend more time on the bike riding UK DH style trails in Surrey and then adventuring to Wales etc.

The ebikes lets me enjoy that with my time constraints.  Still try to ride as fast as ever but i can get to the top quicker and go again.  so more descending.  And I don’t think that’s giving up.  It actually gets me out because slogging up a hill by myself is boring and tbh, i just would not ride (I don’t need it for the fitness).

And then why does every thread that mentions ebikes get the same old crap added by those who have no clue.

All the stuff about not earning your turns, challenge of uphill’s, fitness etc.  just wilfully ignorant…

Get off STW and go riding and see what most people are riding.

thats what i thought.  bung up any holes and add a straw to the top tube?

think people still think it’s a car show and not 3 old friends having a trip to some far away place in some vehicles.

unsure why you would compare it with youtubers who quite frankly, produce boring content because the car is the content and cars are boring

scheduled maintenance is far different to what would be needed to create high quality active travel infrastructure.  It’s usually surface dressing, resurfacing  and lining (relatively cheap).  Does not usually extend to improving i.e. kerb line changes.   Those sort of changes need a lot of thought and money.

that is also forgetting that maintenance is cut to the bone so re doing whole stretches of road as opposed to minimal patching is even less likely.

The local highway authorities have the powers and tools to make the changes, what they don’t have is the money, or perhaps the political will.  This government seriously need to  up the funding for active travel.  Delivering on the original Active Travel England promise with funding to match.  They were originally talking about a £5bn settlement.  this was reduced down a lot in the end but the principles set up by BoJo are still there so they don’t need to reinvent things.  just fund it and push it as an agenda.

they can also look at the way planning affects transport.  if they are intending to build more homes they need to let us know how they will fund better infrastructure to make better places as opposed to piecemeal delivery of housing that leads to locking in car dependency.  Really need a land owner tax so there are higher contributions and obligations that can fund decent infrastructure.

Likewise, if you double the cost of driving but driving is the only way to get to work then you aren’t going to cut the number of cars.

I think it only works if you increase the costs of driving and improve the attractiveness of the alternatives.

Transport demand is usually derived from comfort/convenience, time and cost so you are partly right.  it’s those trips to non work destinations that will reduce by higher operating costs.  plus in the long term that will impact where people work and live.  i.e.  30mins avg travel time from work has been fairly constant for years.  the car has just enabled the distance to grow…

Surely thats largely on Angela Merkels shoulders. German govt could have acted in 2014 after the Crimea and Donbass invasions but chose not to. To be fair the Schultz gov’t has totally got with the programme now.

It was systemic though.  The whole west’s idea seemed to be to bring Russia closer for better cooperation etc.  I think the collective international community should have done more at that point in 2014 and realised the writing was on the wall about the type of state they were dealing with.  Certainly not going to Sochi…

certainly seems that they’re exploiting a breakthrough.  to where or why I don’t know.  There’s a railway a bit further away that’s a key logistics line and an airfield near kursk but I always think these things can be disrupted without physically taking them but moving the front line extends the distance russian bombers have to target from.

useful article:

https://newlinesmag.com/spotlight/how-ukraine-caught-putins-forces-off-guard-in-kursk-and-why/

elbow grease for a couple of quid and water usually does the trick and it’s safe

I don’t think the engines are that bombproof and certainly need regular care with the right oil specs (cam shafts and crank shafts are vulnerable..

Then there are the ancillaries.  Turbos, EGR system, injectors etc etc.

I sold mine last year.  Was ok for my self as a bike van.  But add in two people plus dog and the space was irksome.  Was fine for a night. but more than two nights and we’d struggle as there was always stuff to move to make the bed..  A pop top may have fixed that (expensive but worth it) but came to the conclusion we’d rather have a bigger van.

I didn’t need it as a daily so not sure why i was limiting myself to that size.  Do you need to use it every day?

Can get quite a nice self converted ducato type van you can stand in for less than £18k.

I popped round a mate’s house and he had the MTB race on the telly. It was just on in the background as we chatted, but the last few minutes were very exciting! Great overtaking move up the inside from Pidcock; Senna/Verstappen style. The French rider can’t have any complaints; it’s racing and you have to be on the lookout for such a move. Pidcock holds his line, he has nowhere else to go, and Koretsky veers left into Pidcock.

I thought Koretzky was more like Verstappen.  turning into the apex regardless as to whether someone is there or not. ;)

yeah not sure equestrians should be in the olympics.  completely uneven playing field, immensely privileged people due to a huge cost associated with entry.

But I’ve seen the video.  It doesn’t look like a momentary lack of judgement.  That would suggest some kind of anger/frustration towards the horse but her behaviour was fairly calm while smashing the horse with the whip and suggests that it was fairly normal behaviour for her.

It’s not really a surprise given some horse owners and dressage riders that we see.

cant believe how easy he made that look!

not sure i could do that so you must be feeling shit. got no advice but wish you all the best.

I’d start with whatever team was on for Kanes goal but that would be too risky no doubt.  would like to see Gordon on for someone else .

Eze was great.  love to see these players as they’re fighting for their spot and have the confidence to go one on one rather than backwards

spain were great too.  hard to look past them at the moment.

Probably worth making sure your before is fairly plain and low on fibre so your picolax experience goes a little easier.  They should give a list of foodstuffs for the prep for 48 hours ahead.

edit – maybe try the above next time

I like the Union coffee too.

I have a Sage barista thing i bought for around £300 rather than getting separate grinder and espresso machines.  It’s probably 95% as good as say a a gaggia and grinder set up but it’s packaged well and easy to use.  Not a bean to cup one button job but easy as and as far down the rabbit hole as i’m prepared to go.

We rinse through it – 6 cups a day between us maybe?  I found Tk maxx sells a kilo for about £10 – £15.  had some rotters but some good ones too and the roasting dates arent too far out.  Occasionally buy some nice stuff from local roasters for about £30 a kg.

So I think it works out at about 18p per cup for cheap (tk maxx coffee lottery) to about 50p for the really good stuff.

At the moment you’re paying 50p for Nespresso.  They are foul.

i have one of these i keep in my day back pack https://www.freewheel.co.uk/madison-roam-men-s-lightweight-windproof-packable-jacket-varmcl24s14

Packs down tiny and lightweight and waterproof.  probably not very breathable in the rain but i think breathability in rain isnt achievable anyway

if they caused a collision then it should be at least a drive through.  Hypercar is great though.  Apart from the useful SC interlude to get some snooze there was stuff going on all the time.

Spectating is easy provided you’re prepared for the camping side.  that was one of the worst weather weeks I’ve had there but it wasnt even that bad with the worst weather over the race.  But we have a gazebo to hide in and wet weather gear for when it rains trackside.  the last couple of years have been mid heat wave and have been unpleasant in other ways.

^We were looking at Disco’s and ended up with a newish Navara to tow a horse and trailer.  Too many stories of snapped cranks shafts etc.

Kerb weight is important, maybe more so than towing capacity.  The truck pulls and stops as if no trailer was there whereas a car based SUV would struggle for stability. perhaps something like a Touraeg would also be good if a pick up isnt favourable.

Fit is the most important.

Some boots are narrow, some are wide, long etc.  If it doesnt fit when you first try it then an hour of sweat and turning is going to leave blisters.

Its taken me a long time to find some that dont leave blisters. Adidas Mundial Teams.  seem to have good support and fit for me.  Expensive as they’re leather but I use them twice a week.

Had a dalmation that had to be protein free or it had urinary stones which was expensive and painful for him.

got a lab.  immediately jumped on us when we met him as a pup.  turns out he’s like that for anyone and over exuberant.

Both lovely dogs for their own ways.  think you got to go with your heart and what sort of dog you like the look of rather than a box ticking paper exercise

mental: