I don’t trust people who don’t like animals. Get a serial killer vibe of these folk. Most serial killers start off with animals and then progress :wink:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPI6m2_8pCg

GENIUS!

Great mix Mboy!

oh and don’t listen to the old farts saying that house music is no good anymore, there is loads of good stuff coming out at the moment. Admittedly it went a bit pants in the noughties, but is coming back with superb tunes.

It’s all about filthy electro house at the moment. Check out lazy rich, porter robinson and of course the mighty skrillex!

If you want something a bit more chilled then look at blue six, booka shade, masters at work, miguel migs and of course st germain…….

My first proper board. Had a few before this and one was handmade and had no concave or kicktail at all!

Good bike. Chainstays were a bit long for me, but I like trying to manual and wheelie as much as possible. Also was a tad too small as I am 6’3 with a 35 inside leg. If you are under 6’2 go for it, it is great all rounder and loves to be thrashed downhill.

Pilates focuses primarily on the core muscles, which are key to helping back pain for a lot of people. Yoga encompasses the whole body and for my money is more fun than pilates.

Both are good for back problems. I would go for pilates if you purely want to work on your back and yoga if you want a more rounded approach. Also the women are hotter in yoga, so that is another bonus.

occasionally I will stop at the golden arches after a ride and stuff myself full of carbs and a bit of protein. As my diet is 90% clean and I have a fast metabolism I can get away with it.

Earlier in the year I had a go on a bmx. Tried to bunnyhop it and nearly went over the bars :lol:

As with yeti I spent my yoof on a skateboard so decided to go for a 24″ dj bike to start with. At 6’3 riding a bmx feels a bit silly. I am still tempted to get one though, as I’m sure it would improve my riding.

I’ve been to Gosport a few times, great track.

Might have a crack at some judo again or a bit of parkour.

dear god help me

The ellsworth was a beauty queen compared to that monstrosity.

saracen ariel.

Cheers!

Bump for the Friday night crew :-)

I honestly struggle to see how and why people don’t practice. Bikes, musical instrument, driving, sport, cooking..anything really. The more you practise the better you get?! If time limits, ten mins Evey now and then is better than nufink.

It doesn’t make a lot of sense to me either. I will often ride my 24″ dj bike round the village for a bit of fresh air. The ride might only last 10 minutes, but I am messing about, practicing manuals, bunnyhops and cornering.

I do find this interesting – in motorcycling practising technique, reflecting analysing and so on is a part of the game – people actively practice and look yo hone skills especially practicing braking.

This is the big one for me. I still have a bad habit of dragging my brakes, leftover from when I was younger.

It seems a lot of the other skills are pretty easy to fix, but braking is one that takes time to get out of bad habits.

yes and no

every time I cock a leg over a bike I’ll be reviving old and new skills but not always consiously practicing, rides for me last anything from 10-15 seconds to all day I rarely sit down and rarely do dull miles.
eg. I’m going out on a nightride later, it’s only one mile and almost entirely DH and on a very quiet road. I’ll usually try to manual most of it, drift the one loose turn, rail others without braking or cut in to hop a kerb and try to make a tight consequential gap without braking at all. I’d be bored otherwise. yes and no

every time I cock a leg over a bike I’ll be reviving old and new skills but not always consiously practicing, rides for me last anything from 10-15 seconds to all day I rarely sit down and rarely do dull miles.
eg. I’m going out on a nightride later, it’s only one mile and almost entirely DH and on a very quiet road. I’ll usually try to manual most of it, drift the one loose turn, rail others without braking or cut in to hop a kerb and try to make a tight consequential gap without braking at all. I’d be bored otherwise.

You can sometimes come across like a miserable sod GW, but you sound like you would be great fun to ride with.

@op. Constantly practicing, but rarely go out just to practice. Until I can do decent bunnyhops, manual for more than about 4 seconds and get the feeling of flowing down the trail consistently, I will continue to practice as much as I can.

Eh? Shouldn’t that be white, black, yellow? Or maybe English, Nigerian, Chinese? Or even Caucasian, Negroid, Mongoloid?

Strange mix of terms.

My mistake officer PC :roll:

I am neither white, christian and as alluded to earlier on, perhaps bisexual for most of the 94 world cup :wink:

I once was once kind of attracted to Roberto Baggio (strange times)

As long as it was early 90’s this is a sure sign that you’re a red blooded male. I can’t infer anything about your faith though.

After he missed that penalty at the 94 world cup, he no longer did it for me.

Because the subject of religion and homosexuality has come up on many a ride. Yes I ride with some oddballs :lol:

I’ve found that the vast majority of people I come into contact with, couldn’t give a monkeys about religion. As for gay, well I used to live in Brighton, so gay men riding bikes in not that uncommon.

I’ve ridden with white, black, Chinese etc and a few who don’t seem to be from this planet.

you’ve never met a mtb’er who isn’t white, hetro and christian? You need to get out more.

Yes. If you ride the whole winter on the FS, you will most likely have to replace the bushings/bearings and service the shock. This costs a fair bit. Ride the zaskar and you may have to service the forks, this costs a lot less.

If you are racing, sure lighter weight is better. The average joe who rides, probably just wants to get fit and have a decent physique.

You can of course hammer away and burn as many calories as possible in the calories in vs calories out way of thinking. This works, but does not take into account which calories you are burning.

Lots of people end up ‘skinny fat’ low muscle mass, while still having bodyfat that is too high to look good. They wonder why they still cannot lose the last bit of fat…..

If you are after something different ie burning fat and preserving muscle (muscle burns more calories than fat, makes your body more resilient and helps to make you look good :wink: ) then understanding how the body works with regard to muscle, fat and water, and how to manipulate them is useful.

Gaining An Understanding Of Muscle Versus Fat

As I have mentioned if you are racing then this goes out the window, but the vast majority would benefit from having a bit more muscle and less fat.

ignore any posts about slow fat burning rides, the posters have just read some magazine articles written by people who haven’t a clue or they’ve misunderstood what they’ve read. training to be efficient at burning fat as fuel during exercise is totally different from training for losing body fat

Oh jesus another know it all.

How many of you have actually manipulated your bodyfat, while preserving muscle and vice versa?

Probably only the few on here who have been into weight training and bodybuilding and understand the difference between losing ‘weight’ and losing ‘fat’

There is no specific ‘fat burning zone’ in terms of intensity.

Sorry but this is bollocks. It is proven that if you exercise at around 50-60% of max hr you will burn more fat as a percentage than at a higher heart rate or lower. Of course you will burn more calories overall if you exercise harder, but the overall percentage of fat burned will be lower.

The low intensity black coffee thing would work, as would the interval training.

Regardless of what you do, if you live off cakes and chocolate then you will probably not loose fat.

My vote goes to a combination of both intervals and low intensity to see which you prefer (intervals hurt, low intensity is boring imo), combined with a diet that is just below maintainance calories (high protein, low carbs, medium fat etc)

I normally shout ‘on your left’ at the top of my voice. That normally does the trick. Works particularly well with horse riders.

.

I guessed bottom left as it is too perfect. Without seeing them it is hard to tell.

I do and I don’t. The industry was great, however the owner of the company that I worked for was a total bellend.

I would go back for definite, but only if I could land a job that would lead to a half decent living.

Here is a picture of paddy doyle, who held loads of endurance records and is pretty damm fit. He also has a bit of a gut.

Fitness and bodyfat percentage, don’t confuse the two :wink:

Bottom left?

Actually I have no idea without seeing them.

When I started this thread I wasn’t really talking about natural fitness, as in innate biological/genetic fitness, but rather fitness as a habit that goes beyond MTBing.

As I’ve said, I’m way fitter now than I was because I ride, but if I didn’t ride I wouldn’t really have much of a fitness habit. I’m scared of gyms, I don’t run etc. I would be flabby. That’s it, really.

So what you are talking about is bodyfat fat rather than fit. As Ton mentioned in the post earlier, it is possible to bit ‘fit’ and still have a a highish bodyfat percentage. Fat loss is a result of diet and exercise and manipulating the two to achieve a goal. Being ‘fit’ is something different. The two cross over and are interlinked, but are not the same.

Bodybuilders have the lowest bodyfat of just about anyone, yet they are not cardiovasularly ‘fit’ as they do the vast majority of cv at around 55% of max hr. This burns fat, but does not do a lot for conditioning your heart and lungs.

Fitness is a bit misunderstood, as most people associate ‘fitness’ with being lean and having a particular look. This is not the case.

If I didn’t ride bikes I would probably not be as ‘fit’ cv wise, but I would still train in the gym and find other sports to play. I would still be lean if I didn’t do any training as I have a fast metabolism and eat well.

stanton slackline. I haven’t ridden it, but it looks like it would be great, from the geometry.

I’ve owned quite a few hardcore hardtails including the alpine and now have a sov. I’ve also ridden the bfe.

‘best’ is a subjective thing, for me the best is the sovereign as it ticks all the boxes for the riding I do (xc, dh, bmx tracks, dj etc).

Depending on how tall you are the other frame I would recommend is the ns surge. I loved it to bits, but it was just too small for me.

The frames you have chosen are all a bit different so i’d have a look at what you are going to be riding first.

Bfe and the sovereign are more playful and IMO probably better frames, due to short chainstays and general brilliant angles.

Bit of a strange question as I don’t think anyone is naturally fit, only some people have better genes for ability to be ‘fit’. People who lean toward ectomorph and mesomorph somatypes are always going to find it easier to get fit.

I have great genes for endurance sports, but piss poor for explosive strength sports. My diet is pretty good (not out of choice) no sugar, no wheat, no dairy, no caffine.

I can lose fat pretty quickly, but also lose muscle quickly, so have to eat a hell of a lot to stay at my ideal weight.

Great stuff, keep em coming.

I was expecting that picture……

I don’t hate the 5, just think it is and overpriced, butt ugly, heavy lump :)

I ride a chumba xcl which is lovely.

Not mine (it’s in bits) but you get the idea:

Just go slower and concentrate on being smooth. The speed will come.

I’ve had about 3 months off due to injury and have been riding like an old grandma due to my collarbone healing. I’ve been working on cornering, pumping, braking etc and I’m now regaining confidence on the bike.