I have the mini, wouldn’t swap for a large.  Think it’s just about perfect I have ridden in some proper South Wales much over the last few weeks and it’s spot on!

I wish I wasn’t so bloody slow with this PSA.

Another vote for the bolt on RRP. Much, much better than the Mudhugger guard which I have fitted to my hardtail both in terms of coverage, fitment and overall quality!  I’m super chuffed with mine…plus it came with Kashima Allen keys.  So definitely worth the money 😂

Second injection for Willow on Saturday, here she is feeling a little sorry for herself!  She is very ready to get out of the house now bless her.  Getting tough to burn off the excess energy in the garden! Bet is pleased with her growth, she has nearly doubled in size in the short time she has lived with us.

I presume HMRC aren’t so stupid as to pay me a tax rebate if I actually owe them?

They did for me last year, £780 rebate then a letter stating I owed them £780! I mean I feel for them as someone who is a recent SA tax payer thanks to the CB rule change situation. It’s horrendously complicated from a Tax payer perspective, so god knows how much of a mess it must be operating inside of HMRC

I love the soft ‘chirp’ of suspension dampening on fast repeated hits.  That and the silence of a well sorted bike coupled with the sound of tyres struggling for grip on proper natural trails

Happy Monday everyone!  Week 1 was full on, she has grown more comfortable each day.  Now sleeping nearly through the night.  We normally have to get up once to let her out.  But very few accidents.  Willow is proving to be a smart cookie!  She can sit and fetch already.  But my god she can be a little pain, chews absolutely everything and the Christmas tree doesn’t look set to make it until Christmas!  Or my slippers for that matter

Purchase of the year for me by far is the new RRP bolt on mudguard! No more crappy cable ties and works like an absolute charm!

Ah Boxers, my favourite dog breed.  Just full of character and incredibly loving dogs.  God bless our old girl we lost a couple of years ago now.  She was bouncy, enjoyed “boxing” but was never, ever a biter or a scratcher.

as others have said they are prone to ‘mad moments’ and never really grow out of it.  You are doing the right thing giving it some time out. Normally a loud sudden noise is enough to break their focus.  Like a big hand clap or a yelp.

She was suspicious.  But she has a younger brother we used as an excuse…he also (at 9) was a little less impressed with seeing Santa.  But I told them their mum had booked it and she would be hurt if she found out they felt to old.  So they both swallowed it.

And finally enough puppy spam from me today… Willow at home with her new toys

So..we had kept the new puppy a secret from our kids.  Told them we were off to see Santa on Saturday.  The only thing both had asked for for Christmas is a dog.  They have been through so much following the loss of our old Boxer who they adored.  We have been so careful to take our time, following an issue with a rescue dog we rehomed.  Anyway, we pulled up outside the breeders and gave them a little treat.  My daughters reaction is priceless and hopefully shows how much it means to her.

Sounds like a great continuation for this thread!  Every Monday will be a puppy update from me moving forward.  Be great if others could do the same! Especially Pocpoc! Please keep us all updated with more pics

Just for you Anono…who am I to restrict a puppy thread of pictures.

willow says Hi to Nala…no treats I’m afraid.  But I’m sure she will spare what’s left of dads slippers

Goodness me! That’s a big ‘Willow’. With the amount of energy she has at that weight and size, be one hell of a eating, shitting wrecking ball!

Another ahh butter wouldn’t melt photo, taken the week prior to us collecting

If I could work out how to post videos I could already share the absolute delight and potential horror I’m about the experience.  I didn’t like my slippers anyway and with Christmas around the corner I was due a new pair 😳

I’m in again this year, 4 of us in total.  It’s my favourite event of the year nowadays.  Nice stages and great atmosphere.  Without the size of Ard Rock events

For the record, I don’t begrudge any of the tax I pay and if I need to pay something back because of this that’s fair, however if I have to pay it in one lump it’s going to sting and if there’s a fine on top I’ll be weeing in George Osborne’s shoes…

sorry to say I had to pay mine back in a lump. I can’t remember how much exactly but I’m pretty sure it was something like £5700 which included interest and fine.  Which they reduced to the ‘minimum’ because they accepted I was not a fraudster, just perhaps a little naive.   I asked if I could pay monthly and was told the only way was to wait for it to go to court and then set an arrangement up!  I didn’t fancy that so paid up.  We were moving house at the time and Christmas was coming so it put us in a really shitty situation to be honest.

Read the rules, new rules inserted.  I no ideas I had to start self assessing as always PAYE.  So the rules changed, not denying I had not paid the correct amount of tax, just that I had nothing through the post to alert me to change the way I assess my tax situation and that as a family who claims CB I may need to check my tax liability’s .

To the point I was still receiving the same letter each year asking me if my circumstances had changed to notify them…which by the way I did, but nothing! There are thousands and thousands of people who have been caught unawares here, regardless of the fact the new process is clearly not fair as it’s based on one persons income alone.  It’s the fact if you are found to have underpaid you cannot agree a method of payment via an adjusted tax code or monthly payment scheme (remember you are paid CB monthly)

Just to reiterate the point that not all higher rate earners are snorting lines of coke whilst speeding in their Ferrari’s.

I’m also PAYE so assumed it was all done magically for me

Don’t post stuff like that in this thread the trolls will be out to tell you how much of an idiot you are…

I’m planning on doing more racing and away day stuff.  So far have 5’big events in the diary and will no doubt enter the smaller local enduros as well.  Hoping to have a couple of pilgrimages up to tweed valley.  I was planning on an alps trip, but had some crap news yesterday which will involve a pretty hefty bill to renew a roof.  So that’s depressingly out the window now.

Looks like a decent hardtail – what bikes were they riding?

Mixture of fat bikes, hardcore hardtails like orange Crush and one on an Identiti Metle.  Like I say, I’m not claiming the bike.  Albeit I’m going to check my bearings.  It’s me that’s the issue.  Feeling very tired and frankly broken now, so probably some kind of bug

I would agree, but I was being spat off the back of a group I ride with all the time… must have been sloppy for them too.  Not blaming the bike, I’m probably still feeling the effects of a cold…

Finally took a pic of my winter basher, really enjoying it but found it a bloody slog today in the slop.  Even with new Hunt rims which are about half a kg lighter than the standard set.

maybe an off days, maybe draggy tyres who knows

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Was going to do Gisburn, but to be honest it’s a long drive for us and given the amount of money I have dumped on entry fees in recent weeks decided a £50 entry was a good enough reason for me to not bother.

likely I’ll try and enter this one as well, blown some serious money on entry fees lately!

Yep, mine is now in a state of being “happy” with it.

Bought a 2018 Whyte 901- lightly used from Facebook, rode it a few times and absolutely loved it. However let down by the Fork, amongst other things.  Plus shifter shat itself first ride.

it now runs a set of boost pikes (albeit I need to drop travel down as it’s currently at 160) a Shimano XT shifter, SLX rear mech.  Fitted a set of XT brakes and ice tech rotors.  Hunt trail wide wheels with a Mary 2.6 upfront.  It is a tank of a bike and is turning into a triggers broom.  But great riding a bike in the sloppy mud and not having to worry about bearings etc.

I’m in as well.

I have just bought a pair of hunt trail wides for my winter hardtail.  I’m bloody impressed to be honest, not ridden yet but the service from Hunt was exceptional, they wheels look really nicely made.  Proof will be in the riding I guess.  Last pair of Hope wheels I had were 35w, but also had tech Enduro. Hubs were always let down by the rims, which were always heavy and dented easily.  I think Hope really missed a trick with their new range.  The weights seem extremely high, but maybe that translates to reliability and strength…just my experience with the previous iteration suggest not

I’m planning on entering…online booking dependant

No different to any other honest error made on a self assessment, I’ve been caught by this in the past. As for the “we didnt know” it’s been all over the press for years. Even I knew about it and I don’t have kids. Also everyone who is a higher rate tax payer really should be doing a self assessment.
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<span style=”font-size: 0.8rem;”>well it is, because I wasn’t making a self assessment at the time, I do now!  As for the ‘all over the press’ I didn’t know (call me a liar if you like, but given the number of people getting caught it suggests I’m not unique) I had heard about proposals in a budget years previously but no leaflets, letters or “press” that I saw? We receive  a letter each year asking if there had been a change in circumstances we even notified them of pay rises….nothing.  </span>

Also, why should every Higher rate earner self asses?  Genuine question.  I have for the last few years now, since this issue.

But yea……. moaning about how the benefits system penalizes those earning £50k+. My heart bleeds at the thoight of such injustices.

I think that is a little unfair and narrow minded, for many reasons already cited.  Whats unfair is expecting people who have always been PAYE to know of a change in the rules, then expect them to SA themselves.  Especially when the IR have all the details already.  Then when they finally decide to inform you 3/4 years down the line to expect an immediate payment, plus fine, plus interest…well that’s not fair.  I’m fortunate enough to earn over the rate where I have to pay back the full amount, doesn’t mean I’m lying on mattresses stuffed full of £20 notes, or wipe my arse with tenners.  In fact because of how they set the rules based on a single persons income rather than a families, we could be worse off.  For me the fact that I (my wife) had claimed CB inadvertently incorrectly is not in dispute, just why it takes 3/4 years to be notified and why; given in my opinion the System is also partly to blame, you are fined and expected to magic up around £5k (in my case) But yet we read all the time of people genuinely and consciously ripping off the benefits system in the U.K.

I’m a fan of the Pinned TV channel, very relatable UK MTB/grass routes enduro racing.  Most enjoyable.

We got caught by this a few years ago now.  From memory it was £5k+ in total which includes a fine.  Very frustrating as to be honest we didn’t even notice we received it!  Plus being PAYE I wasn’t aware I had to do anything different or that the rules had changed.  When challenged I was told there was a TV campaign and that negligence is no defence despite me saying I don’t tend to watch TV. I was interviewed over the phone, charged interest on the balance and fines.  Given 14 days to pay! The only option for a payment plan would be through court!! So I just coughed up.

as others have said what really sticks is, like many families, our income is heavily biased to the main bread winner.  I earn well over the threshold to claim, but my wife doesn’t.  So we actually could earn less than others who could claim.  The whole system is a bit of a joke and I suspect is forcing some people to borrow money to rectify their miss claimed benefit

Russ, next time i see you mate, If you’ve still got em, give me any defective tyres you’ve still got… I’ll see what I can do.

I’ll dig them out mate, if I still have em.  You know I’ll still run Schwalbe now.  Like you would give me a choice 😂

Same as my Hans dampf and 2.35 soft Mary.  2.6 Mary in soft has been superb.  Emailed Schwalbe didn’t get a response.

If you can make way without a car for a few days then call VWFS or BCA to rearrange collection whilst car is still covered under insurance.  It shouldn’t be a problem, they may even give you the option to off hire at a dealership…