It was a fantastic event. 39th in the All mountain event on the saturday so I am not disappointed, I have a stupid crash on the flat trail to the top of stage 5 which robbed me of a few mins I reckon. I have no idea what happened. It was nice to do it in the sun after last years misty damp affair, however seeing how far you have to climb on some of the long climbs was a bit disheartening!

The event village was brilliant and really nice to not have to pay over the odds for food from the catering van. Well done to all involved. I will be back next year (with bigger wheels for extra speed- possibly).

Beginner, intermediate and advanced surfers can all use the same wave I think. It just depends which bit of it you line up on. Well thats my understanding….

I think its brilliant. Cost wise its pretty decent value for money and as £45 in peak season and about £30 off season mean you get a fair few waves compared to the time and money spent trying to find that on the beaches of north wales in summer!

This kind of thing will only encourage people to surf in the sea. I think comparisons to trail centres and bike parks are justified but I do not see that as a bad thing! I love trails centres and bike parks. I also love surfing in the sea but given how inconsistent it is in North Wales and working full time so cannot drop everything when there is a wave, this is a tremendous option. I am sure it will get a lot of use and rightly so. I read a lot of negative comments on magic seaweed about how its bad and its not real surfing and how its missing the point. Well I don’t think it misses the point. It will be a lot of fun, people will get a lot out of it, how is that missing the point?

Apparently Seth is a collie / saluki cross. I have my doubts. He is a lot of fun whatever.

He looks like the puppy version of my dog! What is he?

Cannot help with the puppy issues as Seth is a 4 year old rescue dog. He is scared of crates and sleeps on a dog bed in the bedroom as he is scared of the dark, the cats, his shadow, the wind, crisp packets and pretty much everything else!

should mention they are 150mm and all the internals are good. They are just taking up space with me at the mo!

I think I am the only person in the whole world who didn’t get on with their Sov! I wanted desperately to like it but I just didn’t.

I have a set of spares and repairs revs you are welcome to. They stanctions need re-coating and the mount Is mount on the lowers needs re-tapping but if you want them they are yours. I bought them as spares and figured I would fix them up but all my bikes have tapered or 44mm HTs so they are not really necessary and if your need is greater etc.

Drop me an email if you want them or have any questions.

Rhid

I had an 06 one for a few years and it is a great car. Fitted a roofrack to carry bikes as its a bit small inside but bikes in bits will fit. Dog fitted in the boot no worries. Easy to park, alright to drive, I really liked it!

Mine may be for sale if anyone is interested…..

Student lets?

There is a nice house in Menai Bridge going to Auction soon with a guide of £120k.

Menai Bridge has good rental potential due to the uni there etc.

It would buy you a 3 bed apartment!

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/overseas-property/property-53001359.html

I know its not the UK but Morzine / les Gets would be brilliant. Rental in winter to skiers and summer to MTBers. You’d be everyones best friend!

I did the all mountain challenge last year with a jacket as it was foul weather, 2 tubes, a pump and multi tool. It’s well marshalled and and only 35km so no need to carry much.
Will do the same this year too.

which Saturday race? I thought the all mountain challenge started at 13.30 and everyone started together?

I love those preview videos! I always watch them if I am up before anyone else on the weekend, Claudio has become a bit of a fave in the house now!

hahaha yes my thoughts exactly!

Yeah that’s it really! I assure you its not me, some guy at work!

I agree that saying you will be resigning in x months is not necessarily the best idea.

It was just a question of whether saying you intend to resign is actually legally/technically the same as doing it. I suppose it depends on your contract what a resignation actually comprises!

Ninfan – That’s an interesting point. So even if someone verbally states and intention to leave at some point (and nothing else) then the company can kind of encourage them to go? I assume there are many hoops to jump through and its not as simple as they would need proof that there are issues etc, but in simple terms they can do that?

Yeah, that’s whats confusing really is the stated intention to leave at a future point the same as actually saying I am leaving at this date in the future? Is there any managerial discretion in this?
Having stuff in writing is binding I assume but just saying I want to leave has to be different?

Imagine you said (verbally) I only want to do this job for 5 years. I Can that be interpreted as I am officially resigning in 5 years to this date?

I am glad she is back. Hopefully she will make a full recovery!

It sounds like you are doing the right thing. There are a lot of missing pets groups on Facebook which can be useful. Walking around in the evening with dreamines is also a good one. I read somewhere that dumping the contents of your hoover bag in the garden can help (true story!) as it smells strongly of home! Never tried this but I suppose it make sense?

Mine are terrible in the summer as won’t come home for nights on end, they are probably in the house during the day but due to being in work its impossible to know! They usually turn up when it rains or when they are really hungry. Ed the fat fluffy ginger luxury cat disappeared for a few days once, he never really left the garden before! I saw him a few days later sat on the neighbor’s sofa with the neighbor, they both looked very guilty! Apparently they had been hanging out for a few weeks!

I have had 2 cats up and disappear without trace and feel your pain. Hopefully they are just down the road getting fed though. I even bought a pet GPS tracker to see where mine go! Molly does wander pretty far while Claude is a bit lazier. The other 2 barely move from the garden!

Keep us posted.

Rose were cheaper still last time I check at the beginning of the week.

I have a DH bike arriving in the next day or 2 with Hope brakes on. Was going to swap them for SLX but all this talk of ZEE is making me reconsider!

How well to the SLX cope with long Alpine descents? Never had any issues in the UK with them or my XTs but not tried them out on a big bike on a really long descent!

Currently Rose Are doing SLX for something like £31 and £38 so its very tempting….

Me too! I love the howies cycle stuff. Got a couple of their jerseys too and they are great. I keep checking that site to see if any more howies related bargains crop up!

I was down there on the weekend and the trail marathon was on. I wonder how many of them were staying locally and where they were staying? There is not much round that area, its pretty empty. There are a few bunkhouses scattered about the place and they probably do great, but a simple campsite would be a fantastic thing to have! However I have no idea where you could put it!

tree houses?

That 2nd one looks amazing! 5 acres for a bit of camping too if possible!

Yeah I know where you mean, I think I passed in on the antifreeze in March.

Lovely spot. £25 pppn would be decent if you could fill it for 4-5 nights a week!

I always thought a campsite at CYB or very near would be great, something just next to the trail centre so you don’t have to ride down the main road to get to the trails.
However that looks good too. I reckon you could fill it most weekends of the year. I have passed it before but cannot think where it is in relation to the trail centre. It is just past the new Adam and eve bit along there somewhere?

Yeah that’s my worry too, I have always been up off them too. I think I will not risk it.

I will give them a go for a month and see. You aren’t tied into contracts so no big deal if it’s not great coverage in wildest north wales!

Nice one! Refer me! I didn’t think any signal or even mains electricity reached Penmachno…?

Sounds like it will be perfect and by perfect I mean cheap.

Well it wont be too big anyways!

Oh well after all my deliberation I just picked up a bargain specialized Status on Pinkbike…in small….

It’ll be fine.

Ok that’s a good general rule to look at. The Voltage still seems to be a little shorter then my tek so it could work well.

No real reason behind a Voltage. I can get one 2nd hand for decent money and there are a few local to me. I don’t really want to race DH so don’t feel I have to have a full on race bike. All the other options in my budget seem to be older Glorys and demos and while there is nothing wrong with that it seems the voltages are better value.

All the things I have read about them show them as very capable DH bikes. I had a 224 Evo before and that was good but again don’t feel the need to get another one of those. I think for what I want it for it will do the job well. I live in Snowdonia so have a fair few tracks locally and figure it would be fine on them. Plus hoping to go to Andorra next year and last time I was out in the Alps they were the local ripper kids bike of choice. Yes, I know Andorra isn’t in the alps!!

I don’t really wish that the trek was shorter. I could go for a shorter stem as I am running a 55mm one at the moment. Climbing is fine as it its. Its a good compromise really, I have been running it like that for 3 years without any real issues.

I think the reach on the Voltage is a few mm shorter than that of the Trek plus I could always run a shorter stem on it. To be honest I think the same or shorter is the right answer for me, not longer.

Yeah the short Voltages are tiny! The Longs are in line with many manufacturers smalls and mediums!

My GF picked up a morso squirrel refurbished on ebay for £365. Perfect condition and there were multiple options for decent money. Its wroth a look.

I keep looking at Voltage FRs too. Its the sizing that is confusing me the most. The Long looks like the one to go for as the short seems really really short. The thing is that I’m 5″6 so according to Scott I should be on a Short. I do have long arms and seem to get on better with longer bikes though.

Still if I can work it out I would not hesitate in getting one.

I just bought some Sweet protection Bearsuit lites as my POCs rub on longer rides. Its a huge shame as they are very comfy otherwise. I’ll report back on what the new pads are like.

The best pads in terms of comfort I have had are 661 Kyle Straits. Great fit and never rubbed once. They are looking a little worse for wear now though

I ordered a pair of mediums as im medium in POC pads and according to my dodgy measuring I appear to to mid to top end medium in their measurements!

The one thing I found regarding them on the internet mentioned they were tight so hopefully all will be good.

Thanks for the input Tom and I will report back on the fit when they arrive. I got them from Leisure Lakes so returning should not be an issue should they need to go back!

I am awaiting a new battery for the iphone so I will put that in, as the current one last about 8 hours, and give it a week. I think part of it is its new but I assumed the iphone would be super easy to navigate and intuitive, but its not (for me anyways).

It is the first iPhone I have had so maybe I am being too hasty.

In the meantime I will keep hold of my Sony but search out a android bargain incase the iPhone does go. I like the look of the Nexus 5. Maybe I like bigger phones to match my clumsy man hands.