good pics! One of my fave centres at the moment think its ace cos it has lots of features and not all swoopy smooth!

Jova54, got ya Try http://WWW.sigmasport.so.uk they have em all in all colours.

I checked these out too this week on the net but where now I forget. 'Biketart' rings a bell… Now this is annoying me……. They had all colours too. I will get back to you if I have any luck.. Sorry

Very good about 10 years ago when lancaster's had them. Got crash replacement for trade price though the damage was all my fault! Surely the importers can do the 'right thing' even if its just good publicity/service

yep all good experiences mail order

i too have ano black (07)with lots of red ano bits. Personally my fave colour for any bike would be metallic British Racing Green. Very rare indeed.I was inspired by my old Rocky Mtn Eqipe in this colour. get posting some swatches for us to see.

Coopers Camp Site is great top of main village road, has onsite shop and pub opposite. Also others do exist around the area, mainly farm types with basic toilets etc

whoops well spotted Simon, was saturday for glentroll and sunday for mabie. I mean glentrool or maybe glendrool!! or even glencool?

I would love to but was only up there last weekend. first time to those few centres. Did Kirroughtree Friday, Big Couty Ride at Glentrool and Mabie red on Sunday. Very very impressed with Mabie! Ya lucky if ya live close by!!

what gets me is if someone had invented Boardwalk Biking then everyone would have laffffed and say what a stupid hobby that is'so whats the diffrence? I really dont get it. Would be understadable in urban areas but when everyone raves about them in areas where there is so much MOUNTAIN BIKING then eh? Same with all this Norf Shaw stuff. Why when there are always MOUNTAIN BIKE TRAILS all around? Comments like above 'wood still becomes lethal when wet/damp' a bit like tree roots when I go mountain biking then? Oh its all rubbish! Go ride on the dirt and put all that 2.35" of rubber to propper use…. Sorry for the rant. Oh then they go and put chicken wire on it all for grip! Ya dont see that on ya wet tree roots!!!

I have '07 575 model and i echo comments here. Truely a great ride. As its done the miles i can say it did develop play in bearings sooner than i had hoped, but replacements are holding up better. no other probelms.

Rubbish! Mine lasted 3 weeks then blisted. Also very hard to keep clean. Have tried almost every brand over the years and recommend Deda or Fisik

Camp at Hawkeshead or the Anchor BnB in Ambleside. They do single rooms and bike friendly.

Raw Ride
Getting a Leg Over (Cycles)
Gear Up
The Wheelie Bin

see my post from a few days back re Shabby stitching! 661 Kyle Sts dropping to bit after 2 rides! And others had similiar problems. When I got mine from JE James out of 5 pairs I checked over all were dodgy stitching except the pair I got, until…. Inspect before you buy is my advice

Ya parked it outback o' Les Battersby's there or is it Emily Bishop's? Just kidding… Looks great and bet it goes well. Enjoy!

been running mono minis on Yeti 575 for 18 months and never a hitch. Had minis on superlight for 5 years and no real isues (only needed bleeding). Found reliable and good enough for lakes, Peaks and trail centres uk wide…

Great pics yet again. Can never get bored drewelling over quality riding pics. Cheers

thanks for the replies. I will take note. For your information I was descending Hope Bank. This leads from Hope X and runs above the Roman Road down to Aston almost. It was just befor the flat section. Cheers folks

hi foxychick, was it the good ol' karrimor series? I was there and raced in the xc. nodoubt im 'just out o' shot'… That is hiding at the back as per usual. Lots of tank tracks i remeber.

I have long had problems with stitching on many items. I did black list brands for a while only to find they're all as bad as each other. Names include Endura, Altura, Pearl Azumi, Shimano, Specialized, North Face, Lusso…. Currently trying out Mavic roadie bibs and at a Price! Have found stitiching particularly bad on Endura and Altura…

oh yeah remember the dark blue principias. Not sure aboutseeing Nicolai… no doubt others will flood in now…

great post and thanks slacks for utube bit. Absolutely amazing skills

If ya like Crumpler (well recommended) Try ‘World of Bags’. Check website then phone if ya not keen t’net. They were the cheapest in uk by a long shot when i got mine. May do other brands too….

Talking of old mags then, anyone remeber MTB Monthly? Lasted about 18months and too changed format near to its death, (I was owed some money for an article I writ for them and got only a few quid from their liquidators!) Andy Bently was Ed and Paul Smith did all tests/tech etc. Very ‘northern’ too. Was always my favourite til STW ofcourse. I would be interested if anyone knows what happened to the staff?

Did l’alpe some years ago and frequently ride in the peaks. My best advice would be to do a ‘ride-in’ warm up ride! ie do not start from the bottom as we did straight out of the campsite. At least start from Bourge d’oisson (ignore spellings). I will be doing ventoux this year and have stepped up to a compact ch/set. As for similar rides in peaks… Winnats is steeper maybe the hairpins on l’alpe are similar. Mam Tor is more like though its the distance on l’alpe not the steepness i think that counts.

washing up liquid with a small hand of sugar to work it into your skin.

my computer skills dont allow me to join in so ya can all use your imaginations for my ‘image not photo’…

I have been a Litespeed fan and owner of road bikes for some years. From time to time ya hear about cracks/creaks/faults etc but ofcourse! Nobody will/can tell me a carbon road bike has not (NeverEver!!!) suffered in any similar way!!Buy Ti and buy Litespeed………

yeah we rode it first time a week ago. Miniature version of a welsh/scottish trail/centre. More jun/technical than Dalby and a ‘big mountain’feel to it all especially on the last descent of south loop

yeah just seen that announcement. Now that is tallent! Reckon she will do well on 26″ers. Good luck to her.

30 limit on steepish descent with speed camera in Rotherham passing Corus steelworks. That would be easyily done

jimmy, what happens if/when you dont ride at all for lets say 2-4 weeks? Still feel depressed? There maybe other events in your life that you kind of expect MTBing to sort out but unfortunately our beloved sport is not a panacea. Are you noticing any other changes ie, sleeping, eating lack of interests in other pastimes etc… Not wanting to look at things too deeply but its worth looking at the bigger picture.(Depression is my livelyhood by thec way). Other comments here could be true too especially those about your physical wellbeing, blodd sugars etc. Keep batting!

Wheelie good that is! But how the hell did she get off? Was she pedalling or doing a kind of track stand?

try the montanes for size! They come up very big in my experiences and therfore ‘Sail’ like when windy. I have M and could have gone Sm i think

argh!! Thanks for that one nosemineb.

yeah Mr Cavendish will be laughing all the way to the finish line! Just like he did today in le giro! The last laugh goes to mark then. His team have banned him bye the way..

a few more tit bits: JMC died on the Woodhead Pass and there stands a fine memorial, anyone got the free copy of dirt with MBUK- find extra bit when letting tape run to end (slightly emusing shinanigins), often wondered who chose the sound tracks for Dirt and was he/she a Play Dead fan in the 80’s (like myself) Re: This Side Of Heaven and finally would he have been better than Steve Peat had he lived on???

thats true too tandem J but surely there are other things going on when out biking? What about our inherent human needs? Back to nature and all that? Your spinny bike indoors or any gym work would give you the same/similar chemical changes = destressingness…

thats true mat but what changes/interactions are bringing you this therapeutic change/’being chilled out’?