I’ve done 3 courses now – 1 and 3rd were really worth it

Second one not so much but the riding was really worth the cost of admission

I’d be willing to sell my kona sutra 2005 for that sort of money if you’re interested

Plum

A bike with no scratches! – how strange

Take a look at yourself and make the change

Michael Jackson apparently

4 dates in one day or you’re a loser

Just to add to the mix.

I did a trip in the car/hotel which was great but saw quite a few motorhomes on the trip. All from the same company heading out of Vancouver (cant remember the one but they had the same massive logo on the side).

If it were me and I’ve spent a lot of time around calgary – banff – revelstoke – golden etc

I’d set off from Vancouver, head out via Squamish, Whistler, Pemberton and drive the 200km back road (summer only!)toward kamloops (which is the most beautiful drive i’ve ever done) then head into the okanagan valley via vernon and kalowna – see if you can get to Nelson too as it is lovely. More scenery changes than banff area which although amazing get a bit samey after a while

Vancouver is infinately better than Calgary if you fancy spending time there, Banff is like blackpool for the rockies and not in my opinion particularly nice.

I’d certainly recomend thinking about car/hotel as well as its much easier, probably way cheaper but then the camp sites are really well set up too

Plum

£73 on spelling lessons would be a better idea

‘are lass’ FFS :-)

Yes I’d say fine for kids

looks for philips park road in whitefield north manchester

use google maps

40 mins in and one short bmx race – FFS get on with it

Sound like a plan :D

I found nothing too difficult there to be honest and i’m more gay than a gay thing. clearly if you like your tyre to leave the ground then things would be go up a few factors

That said I only did a few black runs – mostly blues and reds

I found one route in squamish off the top of a small mountain that really focused my attention though

From my yoot

3/4 pint glass of diluted vimto cordial
add one saspirella tablet and put in fridge for 2 days to desolve
top up with full fat coke

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

In Calgary I rode in anything down to minus 20 but only if the sun was shining. it was still bitter though

Took my single speed out twice but the free hub refuse to cooperate after 200m – Twice!

Takemine for me

I bought a really cheap 12string as it was the only left handed one I’ve ever seen – still a revelation to play

Natural chorus is an addictive thing

Plum

I still love ithe italian series he did and the recent 30 minute meals was good too

I saw him on Iron chef america which is the only time I’ve seen him show his real skills – he lost but not by much – more respect for his cooking after that

This all seems based on the pemise that relationships between humans are in the natural state monogamous which I doubt is the case.

We are subject to such extreme conditioning on this matter that it hard to break out of the ‘victorian’ mind set we have inhereited.

Its not to long ago that Julius Caesar spent more time with his gay lover than his wife over the course of his life or that Hannibal took his boyfriend on his escapdes or Achilles took a boy as his interest in a Troy (though this is a fiction?)

We are currently so dependant on an ideal imposed by others that its hard to think that its as arbritrary as wearing a wedding ring on a certain finger or that father christmas exists.

I used to be very monogamous, thinking it was the highest evolution I could attain of myself. Now not so much :D

Plum

Ride planned – just waiting now – tick tock

Slept in my hunka many times from -7 to plus 20

Had a small issue with condensation only once otherwise all good

Especially for the price

new drop of snow meant I was out for the first time in a few weeks

complete freshies almost everywhere at 7am – some comedy dismounts

Fantastic

d s – nope

it was exactly the same animation style as Captain Pugwash but set in a castle – I remember it clearly having classical gas as the theme tune

no one ever seems to remember it though

Bugger

G Force – Battle of the planets
Banana Splits
Double Deckers
Arabian Knight – Size of an elephant!
Life on earth (used to run home from swimming club on tuesday nights to watch this)
Captain pugwash (can anyone remember a very similar series set in a castle? – not cloppa castle)

Se7en
Passion of the Christ
Amadeus
Troy
Bourne Trilogy
Magnificent 7
The Great Race
The Great Escape
Alien and Aliens
Butch Cassidy and the Sundancwe Kid
Batman begins
Master and Commander

:-)

I’m loving it so far

Just had half an hours worth :-)

Not sticking though :(

not nearly dirty enough

Some years since I went but liked it at the time

Keeps head warm
Keeps headphone speakers in place
Keeps brain in skull
Keeps googles in place

its all good

I was severely over christmased by my Mum when I was a kid and subsequently have no interest

For the last 10 years I’ve been away boarding over the christmas period, unfortunately this year I’ll be here but I already have a route planned for my ride and am farly certain I wont be bumping into anyone other than a dog walker or two right up until 12 noon

Plum

As above

In Calgary in that there famous Canadia they do use gravel – which is swept up during the spring from every street in turn – you have to park somewhere else on the day or you get towed f’sure hey – also most people drive with snow ‘tires’ though its not mandatory to do so

they also used an alcohol spray last year on the highways which did seem to help

I also found that because it was so cold/dry the snow was pretty grippy and had no real problem driving day to day

Ice was an issue but it didn’t really stick around for more than a day or 2 because of the chinooks

It wasn’t better than the UK because of the measures they took it was more because the snow is different and it certainly wasn’t uncommon to have 100-200 fender benders every day, especially with new snow fall around 4-6 inches

Plum

probably won’t get much for that sort of money

Though I will recommend line 6 micro spider amp for £99 as pretty good for the money

Last year in Canada I experienced -38 I have never experienced anything like it, truely a mind numbing day.

That said I was happy to walk about all day in -25 if it was sunny and I had the right clothes on

Plum

Shaun isn’t a legend in any shape or form

Merely a mascot for the drug addled to focus their confusion on.

Actually he’s a complete ****. Same as a million manc idiots that you really wouldn’t want as a neighbour

or something innit

Plum

The Rembrandts only one marginally poor song in the entirety of their output

Runners up
Chroma Key/Kevin Moore
Mew
Mansun
Dream Theater up to awake

I’ll do it

@ tom – happy to have a crack at singing if you need it

Plum

Riviera bike just up the road in Molini

For my book the best ridng I’ve ever done – perhaps Squamish was equal

Radio 4 – started listening in my late 30’s and as above – it does make you more informed and I LOVE WOMANS HOUR

innit LOL FTW etc

Gigs

Stage Dolls at Firefest
Nelson at Firefest
Europe in Manchester

Zingy = Taylor (and new strings) in my head

IMHO of course

I have taught Bubbles St Clair – true name

and last year worked in an office next to Neal Thunderchief head

Emsz

Depends what youve heard or played

I have found the Takemine ‘sound’ to be much more ‘plumby’ and full bodied than say Yamaha

I personally find the likes of Taylor and L’arrive too zingy for my ears

and Martins way too dull and ‘bashy’

I’m talking about brand ‘sound’ as different constructions which will give a different sound within the brand

Hope that makes sense

If I were buying a steel string acoustic around £500 for myself I’d certainly be looking at a Takemine but as mentioned above if you have time and inclination then you should try others too

Plumb

I have one Takamine and have played quite a few

I find them consistantly nice and I like the ‘brand’ sound

Usally more rounded than something tinkly like taylor in my experience