ah yes, i bought my car park ticket as soon as i got in there – made my day when i saw the queues on the way out!! :D

Thanks for replies.

we went yesterday (without fast-track) had a great day out. longest we queued was about 40 minutes for Wicker Man which has re-opened.

kids were a smidge too short for the big thrillers (1.4m) which took the stress out of queuing for those rides, although queue times were only about 30mins each according to the app (which is brilliant btw) we rode all the 1.2m min rides though; Thirteen, Wicker man, pinball, as well as a few goes each on the rapids and the runaway mine train which the youngest loved! Sealife centre is decent too.

in and out the carpark smoothly, short walk to gates, entry was quick and easy and we took alll our own food & drinks so the kids were allowed to spend a few quid in the gift shop.

less impressed with the opening hours tho, 4pm arrived far too soon! there were whole areas we never even made it to.

haha cb. tbh i think id written off the hotel idea even before reading that. looks ****.

just gonna day trip, without fasttrack.

did you use fast track?

was thinking of staying at the splash landings the night before, its only an extra £20 and you get early bird entry… if we checked in at 3pm we could have a couple of hours in the waterpark… but £40 is harsh…. maybe we just just check in at 6pm then its not my fault they cant go in the water :)

glad you liked!! wish id gone there yesterday, got hopelessly lost above Llangollen somewhere instead!

Betws-y-coed. park at the ugly duck. ride the the good south (good) side of the Marin then lap the steep tech tracks that drop down to the river as many times as you can. Win DH, Salmon Bridge etc (all on strava so not giving away secrets) steep climb back up but worth it. spin back long the forest road to car.

there was nowt in my van to nick either but they smashed a window!

**** took the power cord for my mobile jetwash ffs, and washbag with a used toothbrush in it.

If i found myself in Droylsden with an hour to drive somewhere i would 100% head over the hill and do a Ladybower loop. mix some of the classics with some of the steep tech on Win Hill. Doesn’t get much better than round there for me…

Failing that there is some quality riding above Dovestone Res on the edge of Saddleworth Moor? not far at all.

or just go back to Macc. wouldnt worry about closures, plenty to go at there.

Rammy is my local too and i love it but its hardly a destination… likewise Rivi.

Philips Park is good if you want liberating of your possessions or an unpleasant encounter with crossers.

went once, pieced a route together using strava and followed that with a few repeaters. thought it was really great and i was surprised how civil everybody i met was! i think yorkshire has a better bike tolerance than many places.

unfortunately i returned to the car park to find my van broken into so never been back and have no plans to either.

ok thanks. fair enough

i have already done the upgrade, but now i want to change the travel.

Anyone know its its possible to bolt the new debonair topper assembley onto a longer shaft or is it a whole new spring purchase?

i know you could take off the old style topper because i did it when i installed a lufftkappe on some old Pikes.

my swb partner van gets treated to a ten quid wash and hoover out maybe quarterly? when i can barely see through the wing mirrors! im not a mucky tradesman type, office worker (just like to always have my bike ready to go at every opportunity…) but i have never washed any vehicle ive owned by hand.

what andyrm said! get an E-BOXX and fill yer boots!!

although 3 days is plenty justification for own bike faff

rode it on Tuesday night during the only break in rain the whole week… apart from a few puddles i thought it was running fantastic. preferred it even. the steeper ones were spot on but it was nice to find some grip in all those flat turns too.

Bob Dylan film by Scorcese! great watch!

New Black Mirror. not as good as the last series but still quality.

re-watched all of ‘Master of None’ this week, love that.

‘When they see us’ and ‘Dead to Me’ next up

Scotland looks better than anywhere else weather-wise this weekend so id go for that.

plus there is nowhere better than inners!! although its probably disgusting underfoot atm.

or go and have a couple of nights at the Malverns shindig…?

im not there but i bet it is. tbf i lit the fire last weekend…

long sleeve jerseys are back too! although i was too warm in one last night (surrey)

this time last year i had a couple of months off work ‘in between jobs’ every morning was shorts, t-shirt, flip flops and straight outside for the day! :(

Endura Burner 2’s here. love them. wear them quite often – even when its not baltic…

also have the raceface agents. they do the job alright, totally waterproof and still going strong. (nevr been through the washer tho – i just hose em down) however the weather has to be pretty biblical for me to wear them tho because they are big, baggy and heavy! not too bad in winter with tights and pads on below but i wore them this weekend with naked knees and felt ridiculous.

if i had an ebike i would bloody delight in pissing stravabandits off!! infact id probably spend a day just mashing climbs! :D

seriously tho, Strava is poor. the powers that be obviously dont give a shite about off road activities. im astounded there hasnt been a mtb specific version developed yet!? you should be able to click buttons for group/solo, wet/dry, night/day, etc etc, (e-bike/normal bike) and allow you to make shorter segments and to filter out uphill ones… and more filters on leader boards. surely there’s a few quid in this for some boffins??

Well the reason i ask is i quite fancy an alloy bronson frame.

I saw this article about a Juliana Roubion franken-wheeler which is basically the same bike.

its all over pinkbike so i wouldnt imagine santa cruz (Juliana) have any issues with it?

she has maintained the travel too… i have a 150mm 29er lyrik.

https://www.pinkbike.com/news/staff-rides-sarah-moores-juliana-roubion-mullet-bike.html

i refuse to label myself Veggie; cant have this, cant have that – ill eat what i want thanks… but i choose to eat as little meat as i can. ive never been big on meat anyway, and the meat i did enjoy was the worst kind, processed. and pies, pasties, & sausage rolls were my biggest vice. so i decided to cut it all out at the turn of the year too.

ive lost weight and feel fitter than ever but the best thing is some the discoveries ive eaten since, ive had some fabulous meals out i would never have chosen before, but some vegetarian versions of meaty dishes that are so much better than their fleshy brethren!! I dont like going for substitutes either, veggie sausages are all awful!

There have been blips. i dont want anyone to go out of their way for me, so visits to elderly grandparents have involved a bit of roast beef.. and some countries ive been to id have just gone hungry without it – but i have survived the first few bbq’s of the season without it!

looks like you have got it pretty nailed. Sunday PM especially!!

id have to find time for a day at Rev’s personally, or even Stinky… but Cadair is a good ride, better than i thought it’d be – maybe tie in with some Dyfi stuff? The Marin is good too and has some of the best off piste in UK imo!

just looked on TF. la Bresse is a bike park, looks quite small but there is some more riding further south round Urbes and Mollau?

go to La Bresse? thats north east france.

if its good enough for world cup DH…

I have a lovely campsite in south Wale nr Brecon beacons but I am not posting publicly as over the years it has already become very popular.

wow :D thats the most kuntish thing ive ever read on here.

this is nice. i was expecting a torrent declaring madness!!

however, its turns out my current post is too long anyway…

not sure if its been mentioned, but i absolutely love ‘Labyrinth’ The Moving Maze Game!

ive enjoyed and defended this series over the past 6 weeks but im mortally wounded by the finale’ – it was absolutely bobbins.

As if Greyworm has enough clout to dictate what becomes of our glorious protagonist, the targareon king, one true heir, winner of a shit ton of tear-ups. sansa or bran should be like, eff off greywank, bend the knee or ill stick your head on a spike next to your mrs! besides, he slung it back to naath before jon got on his horse anyway so he’d never have known!

it was just stupid… oh, jamies brasshand sticking out of the rubble too! GTF…

i worked in Farringdon for a while, this website was my goto… https://www.spareroom.co.uk

im glad that big eared lass got fried for the way she treated DCI Hastings….

Dani didnt have a wobble, she decided earlier in the ep when snogging Jon, “okay, let it be fear”

i think Arya’s little yarn with the pooch made her realise she’d be better off out of all this nonsense so she galloped off back to Gendry…?

loved the white horse at the end too, and the little girl carrying a toy of it…

Dont think Jon has a future, he knows his bird has to go, and he was pretty appalled at the conduct of his own men during the battle. he’ll either die or piss off to live with the wildlings or something.

Sansa and Tyrion to rule 4 evs. although im not sure there is still an iron throne to sit on….

O M G

And why no close up of the be-heading? They’ve gone soft.

they wanted to show Greyworms reaction – got a feeling he’ll have a big part to play in the last few eps… just gutted we didnt get to see her bristols again!!

i really hope that slimey prick who is cersei’s hand meets a particularly violent demise!!

Well ive ridden round here a fair few times now, and had a good explore but im not a big fan. Its doorstep riding so cant be too harsh, but it’s a pretty boring and not even that nice to look at. At least riding round pitch and winterfold you are in a proper forest with big proud pine trees and there are a couple of nice viewpoints to head for.

The woods round here are scraggy, full of what feels like illegitimate bastard vegetation, and that nasty chalky dirt under foot. I did find a couple of decent trails, one called white honky (strava names) is alright? From the bottom of there I go along and drop into one i think is called ‘cheers tony’ which has some nice fast berms. Then I headed out for a lap of box hill and the recommended China Pig, I only made this mistake once! After that snorefest I climb up the steps and do one called ‘pink sock’? this probably the best one around, has a couple of features fashioned from fallen trees. Then it’s back up for another called ‘Seans Helmet’ I like this one too. I missioned over to Ranmore to look for the fabled ‘Ricin Beans’ trail, which turned out to be just a flat footpath… then I sulked of back to leatherhead through some fields.

Its all a bit too well established & trail-centre-ish, motorways. I hope there is some fresher cut or steeper stuff hidden about..?

i keep thinking about packing it in too. but its the thought of not drinking round the fire on camping trips or that quencher after a good bike ride or long walk that puts me off. i live for those moments!

i attempted veganuary after crimbo and while i didnt too well at that i manged to stay off the meat so decided to keep that up… it was the thought of not tucking into a bacon butty on a sunday morning or a steak & ale pie at the pub that put me off quitting meat sooner – but i have done and ive not missed it one bit, so maybe theres hope for the booze.

Remember kids, don’t get attached to anyone in GoT!

Everyone talks about this ‘in true GOT fashion’ but there have hardly been any unexpected deaths really. can only think of 3 shockers; Nedders, Joff and Viperman? oh and the red wedding too i suppose :D

all the other mainstays have survived far too long…

Also, didnt Cersei use all her supplies of wild fire to light up the sept? she has however got a big dockoff dragon gun!!

what binners said! except i did rewatch it again straight away!!

Nobody else get a feeling we might see Tyrion and Sansa on the iron throne now…?

ooh never seen a thread about my team on here before!! shame its not under better circumstances…

LB is obviously a shyster, watford fans have been very forthcoming in their opinions of him! but Ken Anderson is a bigger crook, a real slimy despicable rat, so im giving LB the benefit of doubt at the moment, because anything is better than KA and he’s our only real option of a saviour at present…

in fairness to LB, i wouldnt be handing over any of my own money to pay the players before the takeover is complete and ratified either. and i also understand its not as simple as doing that anyway as salaries must be paid from the clubs account which is currently frozen.

then again, why the hell has it not been completed and ratified already!? its about 2 weeks since we thought this whole shitstorm was over… and now they’ve entered into a public bickering campaign pouring piss & vinegar over each other which is the last we needed between two egotistical maniacs.

just glad i discovered riding bikes on a saturday avo was infinitely better than watching these pricks every week…