it is indeed Tony. Also the day you were looking rather fetching too seen here modelling the then new Demo 9 :D :wink:

Tony Doyle is hiding somewhere in this pic

samuri – Member

oh, and MTB_idle, your bike is too small I'm afraid

y'reckin? It's a 61cm frame and I'm 6'2"

It does look like I'm all over it in that pic but I just passed the 2,500 commuting miles mark on it this week having started in March and no complaints.

the transition is the bit where you land that is usually sloped to make the landing smoother as opposed to landing onto the flat which will give a bigger 'hit'

Leith Hill for a reprise of last week's ride

you are being rail-roaded into their money-making scam using a mix of guilt and exclusion.

Tell them to poke it and find somewhere else for the nipper to go.

I'm with stratobiker, I think you are confusing commuting/out for a fun ride with a professional race.

Relax, get real.

If you were in a car would you obey the rules of the road or act like an arse just because someone overtook you or got too close?

Hang on, don't answer that, I don't wanna know.

As someone once said, this place is full of bulls running around looking for a red rag…

a bit blurred but here's mine

don't worry about the bullsh*t, just ride more

so no-one found it then :(

tifferz – Member
Since begining of Aug I have been commuting 15 miles…

Tifferz, It's still early days yet, keep going and it will come. Your body is still adjusting to the change at the moment.

sounds great, i'll bring the SX ;-)

Nice video leeson, gives me that feelgood factor and has made me determined to get back out there again in 2010. I rode this trail when I went out to TA a couple of years ago.

Despite some of the above comments this is a great example of some of the riding available out there. It's not a "downhill" trail but there ain't a lot of pedalling going on and full facers and armour are recommended.

yes.

awesome. It looks almost like natural daylight in those first two pics….

or part of a storm trooper's costume department at the top of 'The Rookery'

someone dropped the dead donkey once on Pitch Hill

I agree with Muddydwarf, we are repeating many of the mistakes of the Vietnam war and also of the first Afghan War when the Soviets were beaten by a rag-tag army (or hang on, wasn't the first Afghan War the one in 1879 or whatever when we got kicked out the first time?).

War cannot simply be reduced to a matter of mathematics and body-counts is an insidious way to measure success. It encourages attitudes such as the 'if it's dead and Afghan then it's a Taleban'.

Sooty, I agree re modern weapons but in cases like that don't they just take the number of arms and legs lying around and divide by four?

See, it's not a pleasant business.

(The two quotes above are paraphrased from the excellent book 'A Rumor (sic) of War' by PJ Caputo based on his Vietnam experiences)

Well, base rate is not going to get any lower so there's only one way to go and that is up.

However, all the forecasts I've seen suggest that base rates will stay low, probably at 0.5% for the next 18 months (I work in financial services and yes, am aware that this sector hasn't covered itselves in glory recently).

However, as seems likely if the Conservatives get in next year it depends what their monetary policy is and that could affect rates as they have in the past raised interest rates in response to an overheating economy although we are well past overheating and now looking to try and recover.

Fixed rates are always higher than SVR as there is an element of cover built in there for the lender so if base rate stays the same you are likely to be overpaying for the next 18 months.

My recommendation is to go for the best SVR you can find. Happy with my tracker rate of 0.66% above base for the time being.

Of course I am not qualified to give you investment advice and rates can go down as well as up. any losses you incur are your own tough sh*t. :wink:

BTW. I've had a mortgage since about 1986. Not claiming to be an expert but i've seen my fair share of fixed rates, SVR's, negative equity (1992'ish), base rate as high as 14% and everything in between.

i dont know which biography but if you havent already seen it then watch 'When we were kings' which is a film about his 1974 fight with George Foreman aka the Rumble in the Jungle.

A really close look at Ali and his views etc. It's awesome.

More here on IMDB[/url]

Ali, bomboyer!

yup, a momentous ocassion indeed and worthwehile remembering.

My own grandfather was in the Desert Rats (8th Army, Artillery) and having fought through North Africa was killed in Italy in 1944 when my mum was just 4.

His brother (my great-uncle) was captured at Dunkirk in 1940 and spent 5 years in Stalag Luft IV having been marched from Dunkirk to Poland and witnessed other British troops being shot because they couldnt keep up on the march.

My grandmother remarried after the war to the bloke I knew as Grandpa who was in the Para's and for some reason was in Java during the war (have never quite worked out why) although they both died about 25/30 years ago.

My grandmother's brother (another great uncle) was in the boiler room in HMS Belfast all through the war and survived although he's been dead a while now too.

All fought and/or died for a good cause.

I wouldn't feel the same nowadays as I dont trust any politicians.

Have read countless material on the subject all through my life but have just finished reading "Italy's Sorrow: A Year of War 1944-45" (whilst on holiday in Italy) by James Holland which is superb book and details amongst other things the fine role the Poles fulfilled as well as 17 other nations forces on the allied side and how betrayed the Poles felt at the way things panned out in Eastern Europe.

I like Andy Parsons, Saw him in a show at dorking and he was pretty good. It's all personal taste tho and i agree that Frankie Boyle is the highlight.

His live at the apollo bit was funny but did appear a bit too scripted (they are ALL scripted but his sounded like he was reading it).

When I first left school i tried a bit of stand up myself. Not as easy as it looks.

My first gig was at an old peoples home.

They didnt understand any of the jokes but they all pissed themselves anyway!

My recommendation is not to lend it to him in the first place.

a group of young ladies in a car passed me and shouted "go the white dude!"

wasn't really sure what to make of that but i took it as supportive.

When i caught them up at the next set of lights and leant on the roof with one hand and asked what was that in a non-threatening manner they werent quite so talkative and were shrinking with embarrassment.

in answer to the original question then yes.

Before cycling I was into swimming. Pair of Speedos, goggles and a towel and that was it.

When I really got into it I splashed out (no pun intended) on a shower gel that counteracted the chlorine smell.

Very cheap sport (although a bit boring ploughing up and down 60 lengths face down in the water which is why i took up MTB'ing).

BTW, after a while the 'S' wore off my trunks. Couldn't work out why all the mums in the pool kept giving me funny looks :wink:

check this link out from enduroforkseals, specifically sections 31, 32 and 33. For 125mm travel read 130mm travel

yes, I have met him in the flesh a few times rather than just 'knowing' him as someone who posts on the internet

sounds about right

yup, housing costs are expenses.

Get some quotes for short term lets/hotel/staying with mates rates etc and then get onto them and check that these are ok.

I'm guiding a group around these trails on Ranmore common and The Surrey Hills and possibly meeting theflatboy who may be part of said group

what are you being paid for the internship? Most internees get paid housing/expenses costs.

I hadn't seen it before and that is pure quality. Very clever.

Pitch Hill, somewhere on Trail's 1 to 5

Summer Lightning, 3rd section

Swinley Forest

shame it's blurred but I love the 'feel' of this one

getting bored yet?

IdleJon wrote:

MBR don't strike me as MTBers just mag journalists who write about bikes

I don't know them but they seem to be riding pretty well here

north downs MBR session

Actually, scratch that, I know and have ridden with Roo who does the photography on many of their trips and he is one hell of a rider and would hand most people's arses to them on a plate.

sent you a few already Mike but here's my post-modern ironic cliched shot on Holmbury Hill :wink:. MkI PA

or on Deliverance later on that day

I think your first line is a bit sensationalist (OP).

The story is that they tried to clean the whole of Jacob's ladder without dabbing and couldn't.

However, whilst practicing for the final attempt they broke the climb up into sections and managed to clean these sections individually (with breaks to recuperate in between/pick the best lines, get advice from one of the few blokes who has cleaned it successfully etc.).

Seems fair enough to me.

You will find it much harsher than a Prince Albert, Even tho it's ti, it's a really, really beefed up build so you wont get too much of that ti 'taking the edge off' feel to it.