If there’s going to be a memorial run then I’m gonna go up to Ashton Court for 9am next Saturday morning and do a few laps on the bike.

I rode in some local races there years back and found out Steve had also been there when I saw the results.

Obviously he finished way in front of me.

RIP Steve

Not a mobile mechanic but Westerleigh Car Centre in Downend Road are pretty good from my experience and not far from Fishponds.

Had different jobs done on two different cars and the final bill was lower than their initial quotes both times.

Not sure if they come out to it or collect mind you so this may be useless info

Cheers. I might have a look into that.

Yeah I did wonder if it was worth waiting.

Slightly concerned there won’t be any more reductions though as a sales guy I spoke to said they were reduced due to the SX280 being released.

Another Topanga here in purple.

Nearly bought a Giant but got a good deal on the Diamondback for an extra £20 more than I was originally going to spend.

I regularly see the vans working in the dark – at around 21.00 last month – on the A4174 ring road near the M32 and on the Badminton Road near Bristol.

I was told around 6 years ago on a speed awareness course that Avon and Somerset SCAM partnership (as it was back then) were very keen to develop this technology back then.

In true stw fashion I recall being told by a friend in the bike trade that there were quite a lot of conditions that needed to be fulfilled by any shop owner that wanted to operate at the new cafe although Mr. A will probably have a better idea of what conditions were being laid down.

I remember being in the Lantern Pike in Little Hayfield one night about 15 years ago and Fred Salmon came in. Bought everybody a beer and kept us all entertained with his stories all night. Proper good night and he was bonkers.

Great memories of watching Nick Craig and Barrie Clarke racing around the cyclo cross course in Ashton Court for the finals of the British Champs I think, a few years back. They stormed up the gravel track quicker than I ride up it I reckon.

Wasn’t Ned Overend racing ultra Ironman for Specialized a few years back and winning?

And I’m sure I saw an mtb program a couple of weeks back on Eurosport that showed Frishi running a team that his son rides for. I couldn’t believe when he snapped his chain at the Grundig in Plymouth in the 90’s right before the stream crossing on the first lap then calmly repaired it and stormed round to go from dead last to third I think in 5 laps. Absolutely awesome.

South Bristol is ok but driving to Swindon will take twice as long from south of the river than it would from somewhere like Downend, Mangotsfield or Emersons Green.

The first two of those have a proper mix of housing from proper old (c1900) to more recent. Most of Emersons is less than 20 years old. From either of these – or yate / chipping sodbury – you can be up to junction 18 on the M4 in around 10 minutes and Swindon in another 30.

I was born and brought up in Ashton which is fine but North Street and Southville isn’t all that IMHO, just currently a couple of “the” places to be if you believe the hype. For interesting local shops read estate agents, co-op, banks and a couple of ok bars.

For me if I didn’t have to travel and didn’t have kids I’d live centrally. If you want to be in the “right” place it’s South Bristol atm or if you need easy motorway access I’d live North side.

Four of us did the 140k ride. Me and one of my mates finished with a ride time of 5.5hrs and were well pleased with that.
After the first two cobbled sections I wasn’t sure if I fancied the rest of it but I managed to find some sort of rhythm that worked ok for me. Actually being able to see the top of the Koppenberg and Paterberg and the gradient from the bottom was a bit intimidating to say the least.
The other two guys we rode with took almost ten hours to get round and they were proper on empty by the time they got in. Huge respect to them for plugging away all that time.
Yesterday we watched from the Valkenberg, opposite the bar with a tv inside and out and I’m pretty sure we were stood next to one of the Green Edge riders family.
Absolutely brilliant weekend.

I’m thinking Burrington and Cheddar area but it’s over 10 miles from Weston.

Done

And fair play to the guy. The first report of this was on Tuesday and it makes for proper scary reading. http://bit.ly/sJrvSJ

I can’t believe the guy involved doesn’t blame anyone – well except the way the road is marked out.

Cheers zangolin those 105 SL’s do indeed look like a cracking bargain. I’m liking the look of the Ultegra’s as weel but not sure if I want to pay an extra £40 to save 20 grams.

Coolness is the least of my problems and smooth concrete and any sort of cleats are a disaster waiting to happen with me.

What’s important is staying upright and clipped in when I’m up there with 30 to 40 other people doing drills. I’m not in a hurry to get a bollocking for causing a major pile up.

And I don’t fancy going back to any sort of straps on pedals.

Yeah, I like the speedplay’s but was more tempted to go with the Keo classics as they have tension adjustment too and they’re about half the price.

Don’t see myself as a powerhouse sprinter :lol:, I just enjoy the structured sessions

I think I can use any pedals I like as it’s my own bike. I suppose checking with them (Newport) would be a good thing to do just in case.

I thought about using Shimano’s but have never used them on any of my bikes ever since I’ve ridden clipless and that’s nearly 20 years.

I wondered if there was a reason so many people seem to use Looks and looking on a few track websites they seem to offer very few pedals from different manufacturers.

rp16v are you asking if anyone’s done LEJOG ss or the round Britain thing?

My mate did JOGLE on a ss earlier this year, solo and in about 10 days on natural food only – no gels or energy drinks at all – and absolutely loved it.

I always find that any enduro event settles down after the first couple of hours, possibly due to a lot of the adrenaline coming from people trying to put in a fast first lap. Obviously with teams it takes a while for everyone to do a first lap.

I had a “difference of opinion” with one ignorant **** on the lower quarry trail who tried to push past me with no warning even though there was about 8 riders in a line and he nearly had us both off. I don’t have a problem with close racing but I really don’t like ignorance.

As has been said before the proper fast guys will either be patient and wait or be good enough to pass anyway. IMHO it’s the people who think they’re proper fast that cause the problem.

Great event as always anyway. Congratulations to Paul and his team.

I’ll be riding the morning 4 hour solo with my mate.
Hoping the start will be less chaotic than the bikefest although it always amuses me seeing spectators panic as loads of bike go charging towards them.

Yeah I saw that. If I do see anything being abused I’ll either find a ranger or let you guys know.

Mr Agreeable is there any plans to replace the direction signs or make them more permanent.
It all seemed to be looking pretty good before the balloon fiesta but the couple of times I’ve been there since it seems like someone’s on a mission to remove all the new signs.
Personally I wouldn’t have thought it would be bikists as the trail flows better the way it currently runs but you never know.

Also are there any plans to put bigger signs up to try and deter walkers / joggers / dog walkers et all from using the trail as the female jogger running up from the gate house had a proper panic when she saw us (she did have headphones in mind) coming towards her and I’ve also seen a guy go over the bars trying to avoid a couple with their dog walking up the red downhill in new barn wood.

Basil

You don’t live in Yate by any chance do you?

Thing is I can’t see sky broadcasting 1 hour 45 minutes (plus more at times) without an ad break and ITV proved that didn’t work.

The highlights might be fine for some but I like watching the whole thing not someone else’s idea of the best bits.

Still I guess by not paying Bernie and saving on Jake’s easyjet fares they can carry on paying for loads of staff to watch the olympics that no-one could get tickets to and sending hundreds of people to lots of music festivals will all be fine.

Guess I’ll just enjoy this season then forget about it in future.

Drac, what returns do they get from showing any televised sport though?

Didn’t see the website thing either.

It’ll be exiting to watch listen to all the attempted overtaking manouveres on radio 5 though. :cry:

45 for most of this year anyway.

Read this over quite a few times now and still keep coming back to the same things about Ashton Court as a whole and not just the bike trail.

There’s concern over SSSI’s and land that needs to be protected. I would love to see a map of the whole estate to actually find out where these places are as there are no signs/maps I can ever recall seeing (and I’ve been a regular visitor for getting on for 40 years – South Bristol lad me).

The powers that be were quite happy to cut down the big Redwoods in front of the house (aren’t trees protected) because it suited them. Oh and it made the views better from the outdoor seating area from the new cafe.

New car park at the top of Kennel Lodge road – next to cafe.

New family cycle trail- accesible from top car park – next to new cafe.

If I was being cynical I’d suggest someone has thought about where a new revenue stream could be generated.

I really do hope that when the new trail has bedded in it becomes more interesting beacause after 11 laps at the bikefest I was properly bored of the twisty lower quarry trail.

I’m also aware that it couldn’t continue as it was and I don’t think you can praise the Bristol trails group enough for the work they’ve done but at least with the old muddy trails you had to think and pick a line.

Sorry rant over.

Bump.

He’s doing really well and only has a couple of days left before if gets to Lands End.

Cheers

racemonkey

Cheers for that epicyclo. I’m sure he’ll appreciate it.

Cyclists should be able to ride safely anywhere they are legally allowed to otherwise they should be barred from doing so as on the motorway.

Drivers should take care when driving but plenty think they’re safe in their tin boxes with all the airbags and other safety features most cars have now.

I fully support the idea of manditory re-tests for drivers and if you bring it into a conversation it’s scary how many people admit they’d be worried about keeping their driving licences if this was the case.

Ro5ey stop trolling. Driving can be enjoyable. IMHO the reason it’s normally not is due to other ignorant/aggressive/careless/don’t give a shit drivers who only care about themselves.

But to answer the OP’s question, surely if the riders have any care for their own safety they can stop chasing a personal best, inform someone of the (changing) conditions and try again another day.

I’ve entered the 12 hour solo on Saturday and one of my mate’s done the same.
We’re gonna be using it as a social ride rather than racing.
I hope the new stuff doesn’t disappoint but I agree it’s not going to have much time to bed in.
Should be enjoyable anyway.

My ex neighbours grandson bought one as his first car.

Strangely enough I saw one at the weekend in Bristol and another today near Tiverton.

Weirdly I thought they’d all be a bad memory by now.

From what I can see of the proposals the official route in Ashton Court will become easier but the (Timberland) trail in 50 acre wood isn’t being touched.
As I understand it Leigh Woods has always been officially a prohibited area for cycling but it’s never been rigourously policed so to get a proper trail and a skills area in there is good news.

I personaaly like Ashton Court as it is as I think the slippy muddy sections combined with all the roots that criss cross the trail make it interesting and just technical enough make you concentrate when riding without needing armour and as was pointed out above it’s not got enough height loss / gain for some techy black downhill route.

Saying that my daughter wants to ride around the loop at Ashton Court and as it is I think there’s some sections she couldn’t manage (I maybe being an overprotective dad though).

If protecting / rebuilding / re-modeling the current loop a bit encourages more people to ride then it’s got to be good surely, as in my view, once there was a dedicated route in place people would be expected to ONLY ride this and not the other places like the downhill by the “summer house” and that’s why I think the current route is so heavily used and worn out.

I think it’s quite a complex issue and in this case it’s not been helped by Bristol being a “cycling city” as the council etc have to please everyone and justify money spent and probably need to show that “their” off road route through their favourite public park is accessible to all and not just a few scruffy mtbers.

Oh and seriously a BIG thanks to the BTG for spending their free time to keep the trails up together.

I used to race lots but not sure where the monkey came from. Just seemed to fit well.

I took my daughter to see Miss Goulding in Bristol before Christmas working on the theory that I like live music and will listen to pretty much anything even if it’s not my choice.

I spent nearly the whole gig in the bar in a different room!!

Unfortunately I could still hear her. :(

I’m in today and tomorrow. :(
Currently sat around in Cardiff waiting for 3pm to come so I can get home.

Bored and drinking far too much rubbish coffee.

I think I guessed as much. Just wanted to hear someone else say the same.

Shame really as I liked the camera and the ability to play with the settings.

Any suggestions for a replacement with similar features would be great.

Cheers

I spoke to customer services after talking to a guy trying to sell me sky and ended up with a £20 per month reduction in my bill.

Can’t say that’s bad. :-)