About 7ish but can go earlier or later if preferred?

Lowey, Thanks for the map, but we've ridden Rivi to death recently, so were hoping to get some info on rides that included the HTN race / winter sprinter.

Cheers anyway.

Try Technic – they are exactly the same as Bosch/Neff (same innards, made in same factory, same controls etc) but without the trendy name, so much cheaper. Seems to be good quality – 14 months trouble free use here.

Correct about SMM – often ride Thurs nights, but tonight they have ridden to the Oktoberfest thingy in the city centre.

I also ride with the Bogtrotters southern contingent on Wed nights, we often ride Rivington Brinscal, Darwen Tower, Longridge, Burnley, Worsthorne etc (all less than an hour from mcr).

The southern rides arent listed on the website but you can use any of the contact names to get the details or get on the mailing list.

http://www.bogtrotters.org

Chrome Grey all the way

Stoner – Im in a similar profession to you, but earning my salary from a big consultancy. I regularly work unpaid overtime for a number of reasons, mainly though because of the dwindling supply of work, (many of our clients have either gone bust, stopped spending, stopped outsourcing or slashed our fees), meaning that we all have to work much harder just to maintain any form of equilibrium! (lower fees, same work = less time to deliver) Despite this, its a long way off from being France Telecom stress levels.

Anybody in my position knows what they are letting themselves in for, and accepts that sometimes you will have to put the hours in, but makes a conscious decision that the returns justify it. If I wanted a guaranteed 9-4 with early Friday finishes, flexitime, easytime, don't-feel-like-working-today-time, more holidays, paternity leave etc Id go and work for a Local Authority. 😉

Neil glad it was resolved by the firebrigade without anybody getting hurt or your house being damaged. Earlier this year we were woken at 2am on a Saturday morning to my neighbour from 3 doors down burglar alarm, as the dipstick dad dropped a discarded fag (que Phoenix Nights jokes!) into his kitchen bin before going to bed…

I ran out and the paraletic dad and his mate were stood on the bay roof of the lounge, but couldnt get down. Luckily I had a set of surveyors ladders in my hall so grabbed them and set them up against the house to help them down, but the guys had so much smoke in their faces they couldnt see anything and wouldnt let go of the window, anyway, just then the fire brigade arrived and dragged them down!

Only after the two blokes were rescued did he "remember" that this was his weekend to look after the kids, and all 3 were inside asleep in the burning house!!! Fortunately the kids all woke up when the fire fused the burglar alarm cables and set the alarm off, but the dad didnt know this at the time. Scary stuff!!

Stoner I used Elmhirst Energy proformas and software for doing SAP audits, and from what I gather, it is the primary heating source and external wall construction that have the greatest impact on the outcome. It is however not an exact science, but that is my observation based on carrying out audits on multiple properties, inc for example a pair of semi detached houses, one with an old back boiler, one with condensing combi, with SAP ratings at opposite ends of the scale!

Im a chartered building surveyor, and my boss used to be a bricklayer, and our head of dept used to be a joiner (he started off making wooden frames for aeroplanes!). Both of them have the knowledge and skills that people can't learn at uni, and both seem to enjoy how their careers have developed. Neither of them are what you might call desk-bound, as we all spend much of our time out & about, on sites etc (and bikeshops 😉

Wow that's got to be at least 3 years ago Simon??!!??

I met SFB today but I doubt he photo'd my arse.

I dont have a shell card but I often fill up at shell near my house (at least 3 or 4 times a week) and there is always the same guy serving, no matter what time of day or night I go, and he always asks if I have a card. When I say no, he swipes his own card, claiming shell points for my purchase!! Seems a bit cheeky, especially if you calculate how many points he'll be collecting every day!!

Junkyards response is the most accurate yet.

On transferring to the new company, your length of service and T&C's (excluding pension arrangements) will continue and there is no maximum time limit for this, however at any time after transfer, if the company has an "ETO" business (economical, technological or organisational) reason they can begin consultations to change your T&C's. Harmonisation is not a valid reason.

It was a great ride, though I did have a bit of a sphincter-twitcher on the final downhill into Keswick – hitting the big compression at about 30mph and travelling for about 20 metres with my back wheel way up in the air!!

Bennyh it was £100 to get a colour thats not white or orange for the whole frame. Don't know if they could just paint the swingarm, don't see why not, but you'd probably still get stung for £100!

PS – The Rubber Queen tyres are sh*te so have been replaced.

I take mine skiing.

Ive only had it for 6 weeks but really like it. It weighs about 33lb's so isnt too much of a handful to climb with, and downhill it's a blast.

Properly mangled….

later, at home…..

CM – No, after the sharp right at the top of the singletrack climb, i got about 2km further on before it let go!!

You were going at a fair old pace, how did you get on?

First Merida for me. All was going well, got about 16km in, got overtaken Got a fair bit of sped up into the heather descent only for my rear mech to dive into the spokes….

I was the guy stood next to the upturned on-one summer season, kicking the bike over!!!!

I singlespeeded it up to the three brethran, stopped for a bit, then took the 25km route back.. On the way home, there was a young lad who had just crashed, poss broken collarbone???? Hope he was ok? I alerted the next marshal, but they already knew, and had an ambulance on the way. As it happened, I finished 32nd in the 25km, just wish I had the chance to carry on for the 85km route.

I'll be back next year!

Im in. Picking up the mud tyres on Sat morning then driving up for my first ever Merida.

1992 Nova SR
1989 Peugeot 309 GTI
1988 Cavalier
1990 Golf GTI Mk 2 8v
1991 Cavalier SRI 8V
1998 Renault Saffrane
2001 VW Golf GTI Mk 4 (company car)
2003 Audi A3 (cc)
2003 Ford Puma (cc)
2004 Toyota MR2 (cc)
2006 VW Golf GTI Mk 5 still going strong, just hit 100k…..

Handsomedog – I have lived on the ashton side of Sale for 7 yrs and never knew that shop existed! I'll swing by next time I need anything and check it out.

The magic of STW 😀

We've just completed a refurb of a Grade 1 listed building (bank) that I designed and PM'd, including re-slating the roof and replacing a large section of floor structure stripped out in the 70's, and apart from requesting a huge amount of detailed drawings (I suspect the Conservation Officer just likes to sit back on a friday afternoon reviewing my 1:2 sections through window heads and mullions….) the conservation officer (and EH) were quite pragmatic, and were even happy for a new steel / Metsec floor to go in to replace the missing one!

They also turned a blind eye to the suspended ceilings, surface mounted lighting conduit, air conditioning etc that had been installed over the years without consent…..

I have just gone through the same dilema – Alpine 160 or Spicy 516?? It was a tough choice, but I opted for the Alpine 160, and having just done the megavalanche on it, aswell as a couple of day rides in the lake district and yorkshire dales, I think Ive found one of the most capable long travel XC/ light freeride typey bikes…

Its a good few pounds heavier than my old Marin Attack Trail (3-4pounds), but it is in a different league when it comes to the downhills, and I could probably save a pound by swapping over the stock Truvative bars, stem and seatpost for lighter alternatives.

I opted for the upgraded hope M4's, Fox DHX air rear shock, and silver paint, so it cost a couple of hundred pounds more than the lapierre, but Im going to be keeping the bike for many years so its not a big problem.

Moe – yes, i think there are 8 or 9 with 200 in each.

Craig – Its a chemical brothers collaboration with the Flaming Lips called "Golden Path".

The bottom half of the mega course through the trees was great – my favourite part. A combo of tight twisty switchbacks, fast rolly bits etc, really good in the dust, but would be a nightmare in the wet because of all the off camber roots.

Oops, try it now:

Megavalanche

186th in the Affinity, so graham1980 you beet me by 25 seconds, and I must have passed Kimbers coming down through the trees!

We got back from the Megavalanche last night, after an amazing weeks riding, and great fun doing the qualifier and the Mega Affinity (same route, but for those of us slightly slower than the pro's!)

We stayed in Bourg D'Osians, which is a 14km drive up to Alpe D'Huez, in a campsite called Camping-Piscine[/url] Most people seemed to be staying in Alpe Du Huez itself, though there were quite a few riders staying at this campsite, as its quite easy to get back to after the race.

We travelled down from Manchester, collecting a mate from north london enroute, and returned yesterday setting off at 05:30, and I arrived home 18:30, so its quite a long drive but do-able in one go as long as you can share the driving.

I wouldnt say you need to be a hugely experienced downhiller, though there are rocky and gnarly sections, but nothing that cant be walked if preferred, and as the race is 32km long, walking a couple of drops didnt seem to put me back too far.

My biggest tip = when approaching a toll booth on the french motorway – don't forget that you have your mates bike on the roof and drive through the "cars only" booth – luckily no damage to the bike, but the toll booth was trashed (as we noted in the rear view mirror whilst zooming away 😉

Thats me on the right cooling off somewhat in shorts….

Try paging Plumber. He lives over there now, and spends most of his time mincing around on his pink singlespeed, but I think he does venture out of the city occasionally.

Thanks for the comments guys, yes the rotor is the wrong way round, I didnt notice, neither did Northwest MTB, or Orange evidently! I’ll swap it round before I tackle the megavalanche next week 😆

It doesnt climb as well as my Marin did, but I did forget to wind the forks down (I never used to with my old revs, and probably never will on this), and you can feel the exta couple of pounds in bike weight (maybe it was just the crazy humidity on Saturday?), so may swap over some of the Truvative kit for something a bit blingier and lighter when finances recover….

Clareymorris – thanks for the name suggestion. Close but no cigar, I’ll keep thinking of something!

You shouldn’t feel bad or guilty for buying yourself a new bike…..

New bikes in the bike shop are like a dog in a rescue centre, just waiting for somebody to take it home and give it a good home!! You are doing them a favour…

Plumb – Rotors wrong??

Riding Style – you’ve seen enough of it to understand. (Bingley….)

I picked it up on Wednesday, but have only been able to get out for a quick blast around Rivington yesterday afternoon. It just seems to suit my style of riding perfectly.

I had the first ride out on my new Orange Alpine 160 yesterday and was very impressed 😀 It seems to tick all the boxes you require, so I’d recommend you give it a try.

(Not sure how much the frame only costs, suspect more than a grand though)

I picked up my shiny brand spanking new 160 last night and it looks the business!!

Im 5’10” so went for the 18″ and it feels a great fit. I test rode a 16″ five which was great on the downs, but was just way too small for climbing.

Im itching to get out on mine at the weekend. Oh, and I’ll need a new username!

Mine arrives on wednesday, can’t wait!!!!