September ’93 at Great Ayton North Yorkshire. It was part of a summer sports development that the local council were doing. Like a summer club thing six of us were took out in a minibus by two council sports development staff and coached/encouraged us to cycle off road. Unfortunately the programme no longer runs but here i am still mountain biking nearly 20 years on!

RaceFace SIXC 720mm 8)

One of my favourite trail centres actually, they’ve done fantastically well with what elevation they’ve got. Can be a bit ‘greasey’ so be aware lol.

Don’t be expecting long rocky downhills but instead enjoy some sweet old school singletrack!

Quality ride today with vortexracing, really wet but we had the right kit on and decent mud tyres, job’s a good’un!

I’m out tomorrow afternoon either way, but the wet gear and mud tyres are coming out!

Blur ltc :)

What so wash like a merino base layer? How do people treat them? Its the power stretch top so seems massivley practical, just don’t want to ruin it.

Cheers Darren I’d be interested to hear the results. My blur ltc will need something similar soon :S

Keep it, but then again i like retro bikes and would love to have a selection of bikes from that era. But, the bikes from this era keep much of my money tied up :roll:

I can only pre warn you of the complete lack of customer service back up from Pace. Do a search on here on them. They are one of the few companies i would think twice about using/purchasing from.

Oscillate Wildly makes an excellent point, and this is the main reason lbs are loosing trade to the bigger chains/online shops. Most shops show flexibility on price but if you don’t get the service right, people don’t go back.

I can’t tell you how many shops in the North West i’ve been in once because the service has been s**t. The bike shop i use now (Stif) is 1hr away but i use it because the service i recieve is first rate, to back this up even the wife likes it as the staff talk to her in a proper way, without being patronising when she gets birthday/christmas stuff, she’s gotten stuff there for the last two years running because of it bearing no attention whatsoever to pricing.

I will also agree that places like Loco/Thebikechain/2pure et al all seem to be excellent at talking to people and providing a service that people appreciate, these people will succseed.

I don’t ask for discount in bike shops, i just expect good service in return which i must be honest, in the area where i live i very rarely get. If i’m paying top $ for stuff i expect the highest standards and care with my bike, like i say i’ve rarely had that (although maybe its my standards that are out of whack).

I’ve worked in the cycle industry and that approach i took was that if i provided the best quality of service, i would get the sale. Now this didn’t always work but did most of the time. Now i’m out of the industry i expect the same.

Nothing wrong with shiny/slick looking bikeshops, they just need the service to back it up! Stif are the only ones that so far have managed to archieve this for me.

Straight on to SSP

it is a personal choice as you say, i prefer to limit damage to the inside of my car, get changed quicker and have the luxury of still having a boot to use instead of the back of the car being full of bike.

And yet i can put it on my roof with little to no chance of marking the car in two minutes………. Handy when its raining and people are faffing about trying to get the bike in the back :roll:

Why would you take time over picking the right car, then put it in the back scratching, marking and shitting up the interior? :roll:

As someone has said before the roofboxco are very good, i got all my roof racks and accessories from there and they were extremeley helpful.

p.s i have an Octavia estate also 8)

Mine is washed after every off road ride, but to be honest i’ve got it down to around 1 hour now :oops: secretly i enjoy the cleaning, its all part and parcel of mountain biking to me. To be honest i’ve got things like a Joplin on my bike so i HAVE to be into maintenance :roll:

Conversley my commuter (cx bike) gets washed around once a month. It really should get better looked after as this is effectivley my main form of transport during the week. Yet it sits there in the shed, unloved yet totally reliable. :roll:

Also, where would protein shakes fit in with this?

Idave, may applogies as i know you’ve sent me the details before, would you mind doing it again?

Another question is that i ride circa 4-5 times a week inc commuting, is this still suitable for the idave diet?

go on then
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new bike 3[/url] by 99c5faa01725362d73494aff686e3664[/url], on Flickr

Would never by from Rutland, Wiggle have been excellent however, stick to Wiggle.

-4 Around edale, awesome ride though. 22 Miles of fast, dry crunchy goodness :)

hmmm mine also

Shimano, Mavic, and Rockshox are the three brands i’m loyal to and have been for nearly 15 years.

will ring you tonight mate, thats hit the north out then?????

My southern friend providing the humour……..

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france016[/url] by 99c5faa01725362d73494aff686e3664[/url], on Flickr

My southern friend providing the humour…….. :roll:

I have to say that an Octavia TDI (yes i have one). Over 50mpg, reliable, comfortable, cheap to service, cheap for parts and relatively cheap to buy.

Dead easy to drive too according to the mrs

I got a mobi (wired version) for xmas off the mother in law and i have to say i’m very pleased. Its not amazingly powerful but as someone says its not going to ruin bearings either. The thing is though when the mud is wet it comes off really easily. I’d recomend them.

Suunto Core All Black 8)

I went for Fat Alberts 2.4’s 8)

I’ve fitted some swampthing recently and have been pleasently surprised, they’re a bit draggy mind but the grip on most surfaces is impressive

I feel that way about my commuter (boardman cx pro) its just a tool for a job, and yet its the one i rely upon the most :roll:

My Blur is treat like its on life support yet that one hardly gets washed…..

try again
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new bike 9[/url] by 99c5faa01725362d73494aff686e3664[/url], on Flickr

This was mine that i built up in the autumn 8)
<img src=”http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5047/5345840412_08a0a4fae4.jpg&#8221; width=”500″ height=”375″ alt=”new bike 9″ />

Not so much money no object but certainly on the limit of what i could afford…

Have you seen how much most people on here spend on their bikes and accessories?

I see your point but i don’t/can’t afford to spend another £300 a year to race it, and then on top of that pay for accomadation and fuel costs.

My post may have read like i was somehow putting the team and their efforts down, i’m not. Its just the entry fee would put me off from entering more than say one or two events at a time.

I can’t decide which one to do between the Ae one and the Innerleithan event

Interesting, I’m looking at one which will be a personal and work phone so sync’ing wiht outlook and office would obviously be useful and i’m sure are good with these. Only thing is i’d like 720p recording and the Mozart doesn’t have that :roll:

I think what the guys have/are doing with this series is fantastic, creating/introducing a new racing format is brave and i wish them all the best. I must admit the price is a bit of a stumbling block but i’m going to try and do one round. Hopefully when the series is a succsess and has been running a while the costs may come down. I don’t think a series with an entry of £60 per event is sustainable, its just too much to block book unless you’re supported by a sponsor or extremely affluent.

8O

I’ve entered :D