If anything Scotland could do with some more, particularly one that is more accessible from Glasgow.

Carron Valley is the closest but if you are in the southside of the city (or Ayrshire, Renfrewshire, Inverclyde, etc) then it can be a bit of a trek to get there and it is difficult to access without a car. So if you are going to be driving for an hour then you feel you may as well just take another 30 minutes and go down to Peebles instead where the trails are considerably better. Not expecting another Glentress built here but something comparable to Carron Valley either at Cathkin Braes, Glennifer Braes, Clyde Muirshiel would be pretty awesome and make things much more accessible for a fairly sizeable chunk of population.

Would also be quite handy for me 😛

Saturday for me

McConaughey was alright in the Lincoln Lawyer and some of his other films like Sahara are enjoyably shite. He rides bikes too so thats got to be a plus point plus there was the whole getting arrested for playing the bongos naked thing.

I share the dislike for guys like Gibson, Cruise etc but i’ll also add Michael Cera into the mix. I dont know anything about him as a person so just going by the roles he plays (well the role he plays every one is exactly the same) and he winds me up no end. He’s not a big cinematic knob though more of an insufferable nerdy little prick

Going home from a festival because of a bit of mud? The ferries carrying the hipsters back to the mainland should be sunk.

I rode the Etape Caledonia a couple of years ago for Macmillan and raised a fair chunk of money, i’ve also ridden it another couple of times just on the regular entry. My decision to ride wasn’t taken due to the charity aspect but due to the closed roads nature of the event. It is a bit expensive but i dont grudge paying it compared to the price of other sportives.

I dont think it is strictly true about the other events mentioned that all the entry fee goes to the charity. The Trossachs Ton and Glasgow 100 are both Action Medical Research rides and to enter either you need to pay a minimum of £50 – the fees the event organisation take on that is about £30 or so. Like Macmillan Action Medical are a good charity that i’d be happy to donate to and the events are well organised (I rode the Trossachs Ton a couple of years ago) but frankly im not spending £50 on a sportive which doesnt have something a bit special to it like closed roads when there are other charity events like the Drumlanrig Tearfund challenge where all of the entry fee goes to the charity in question.

Its not like the Drumlanrig event is a basic event either – good route, great cakes, well signed, feed stations, motorcycle marshals, free photographs, parking, toilets and so on. It is really well organised and the only thing it doesnt have is chip timing (it does have manual timing)

sad news, condolences to you and your family

Worth a try to see if the NUS code still works too

Wiggins is going into it too much of a favourite for my liking, would prefer if he was more of an underdog.

Evans is the man to beat for me, normally i’d be pleased with him winning but not this year, would love to see Wiggins do it. Is Froome totally over the health issues he had? Could be in with an outside shout as he got stronger as the Vuelta went on whereas Wiggins tailed off a bit.

A fistful of dollars and yojimbo
The magnificient seven and the seven samurai
Heat and la take down

Cape fear, has had two remakes if you count the simpsons episode with sideshow bob…which was back in the days of the simpsons was essential viewing 😀

Meant to do it this year but have got other stuff on. Shame the weather forecast is not looking great

btw god cakes in the stop at Freuchie

A good challenge to liven things up a bit is to view the torch at one place and then get on your bike and try and race ahead and see it at the next. I did that for the Dunlop – Beith – Barmill – Lochwinnoch – Kilmacolm – Port Glasgow section.

You can even cycle behind the torch when it is being run or walked with on the closed roads (so long as you dont try and push into the security ‘box’ around it) and experience the atmosphere with crowds all cheering the torch and the runners the fat guy at the back attempting wheelies for his adoring fans.

On reflection though next time i’ll leave out the Contador style pistolero celebrations.

The Winstons – Amen Brother
(about 1.25 in)

Perhaps the most influential sample ever and i reckon most people who have heard it wont know where it came from.

Due to circumstance (aka me being an idiot when ordering) i’m currently having to use 2.5 highroller 42a dual ply supertackies on my xc bike. I used to think people exaggerated a bit about how draggy a tyre could be…but bloody hell it gives a right good workout 😀

the road.cc one is pretty good – it is more of a whole season thing but you can also see the results just for a particular tour or race.

I joined myspace back in the day and it was utter shite and i dont have any reason to believe facebook wont be more of the same

It really impacts on my mood – just a couple of weeks ago it was about 28 degrees, no clouds in the sky and i was taking the long way home every night so i could go down the coast for an ice cream despite it adding 40 miles onto the ride. Today its a sprint home feeling miserable and fantasising about a warm bath to try and heat up. 🙁

Think im going to have to dig out the winter gear again!

the sizing varies depending on the cut – goes something like race, slim and relaxed

my gore gear ranges from medium to extra large. i like to think only the medium is measured accurately and im not really a fat bastard 😀

Jamie is right – no discount unfortunately

excellent

My local trails just look like one big blob 😀

i cant even begin to think about any of this shit without melting my head 😯

Not sure

You can get a bracket / mount thingy that clamps onto the bars and then holds the edge in front of your stem. Looks quite neat but not sure if it would be suitable for mtb use with the added crashing potential!

Pretty poor show when they said it would be 2 weeks

However upgrading you to the next model up is fairly decent, i suspect there are alot of bike shops who would just have blamed it on manufacturer delays and not bothered upgrading.

is it possible to cycle on the closed roads in front of the torch?

Was on again last night, very good programme.

The Swiss guy was seriously impressive. He was up Everest a few days ago but i dont know if it was a speed ascent or not, i’d be surprised if it was possible at that sort of altitude.

Its worth giving the customer services a call – garmin replaced mine when it stopped working and it was outwith the years warranty

Prefer the feel of the premium one to the plastic one as i can forget im wearing it whereas with the plastic one i tend to know its there.

Pacino is the same, both great actors in their day now just resorted to a mixture of nonsense and parodying the roles that made them great.

Something very similar happened to me once – only difference was it wasn’t due to a laxative but some Indonesian food i had. Never spoke to the girl again after that night 🙁

sad news RIP

I was going to say i came for the bum but was impressed by the other pics too. But that would be unfortunate phrasing 😀

If you dont mind me asking what injury did you have that kept you off cycling for a year but still able to do climbing?

I go fairly regularly during the day time but wouldnt do it at the weekend / busy times at the multiplex

Only time it has been awkward was during the sex scene in team america where i had a giggling fit which got worse the more i tried to suppress it turning into a choke- laugh- hyperventilating thing., it got so bad people were turning round to see what was going on!

I’m just taking my road bike with no guards.

Part of my strategy to get a good sprint time against the guys im riding with – hopefully find someone fast who has guards on and wheel suck like a mofo while creating enough spray that no-one will want to get on my wheel 😀

Is Dawkins the guy that shagged Mr Garrison when he was a woman?

I’ve noticed this happening in the last week or so, have managed to set up segments in the past fine so presumably a fault at their end.

sad news RIP

1989 and 0 are my favourites so far

excellent 😀

If you’ve just started doing kicking then that will explain it mostly.

However i always found fins to be pretty bad for giving cramp so might be easier to avoid them until you practice more without

Dolph Lundgren would easily kick Chuck Norris’ arse