I’ve been doing swings and get-ups for a couple of months, I’ve noticed a real improvement in functional strength and balance.

I’ve a Tacx Satori which I have put together and never used, comes with the handlebar remote and the front wheel guide, £120 posted?

On a related topic, does anybody have any guidelines for building regs/insurance/liability? I own the land and I would like people to be able to enjoy themselves on it, but I don’t want to have to worry about somebody wrecking themselves and holding me liable.

Great thread! I’ve a sloping field about 100-150 yards long which is crying out for something like this. I was a bit daunted about starting from scratch so I’ll definitely get that e-book bought.

Mikey that is the impression I get. If I was buying one new and I didn’t have other bikes I would worry about getting a wrong’un. As it is, I seem to have a decent one, and I’ve a Blue Pig and an SX Trail as well so even if it goes pear-shaped I’m not going to end up sitting in the house waiting on a replacement or spares.

As it is, its still my favourite bike that I own, by some margin, I’ve had so much fun on it already on all types of terrain, over all kinds of distances.

No problems with my Spitfire so far, I’ve done a bushing service (with instructions from MTBR) and everything is back working perfectly – no problems with play or flex in the rear end. As has been mentioned above, they are designed as a “downhiller’s XC bike” or whatever, so they are biased towards being fun downhill, you can still do big miles on them no problem.

I am looking at the minute too, the list is GSP (my choice), Weimeraner (wife is in love with them), Springer (grew up around them), Vizsla (heard good reports). We’re only considering these breeds now as we’re going to have 10 acres of fields beside the new house. At the minute we have a Cocker who is in decent nick, she can keep up alright off-road but a long stretch of towpath really starts to drag the legs out of her.

NZCol you might find the club fields are a bit more sociable and laid back? I enjoyed my boarding in NZ but the hills are smallish and quite busy and there are definitely a lot of people who take it all a bit too seriously or get too aggressive.

Maybe a Cinquecento and a trailer?

Body Pump or Crossfit are both good ways of getting into free weights movements with supervision.

If you are training for general fitness and injury prevention, range of movement, posture, flexibility and core strength are all very important. If you are new to strength training I would work to two strength sessions per week. Prioritise these, so even if you only do two sessions, do strength. Start with light weights and ensure you can do all the movements with a good range of motion and smooth movements.

Then add in conditioning, circuits, spin class, intervals on the rower, etc.

You will get better results training 4 or 5 days a week, eating well, and resting/stretching, than you will flaying yourself 6 days a week from the get-go. As others have said, mixing things around every 4 weeks or so, and having a rest week, is very important.

I did it on a 5″ full sus last year. It was fine, I did 10.48 after being a bit too reserved at the start and gradually overtaking loads of people in the first 20 miles or so. Some of the trails are quite rough, suspension will soak this up, but slow you down elsewhere. 120mm full sus and a light set of wheels would do nicely, the event is only 1 day so buy something you will use all year round.

Probably not seated or a bulge in the casing. Anything else would have caused problems with any tyre on it.

Try exhaling slowly as you swim, you should have exhaled fully just before your arm starts to come over for the breathing stroke. This gives you more time to inhale steadily and gets rid of that feeling of having to exhale and inhale very quickly, and then hold your breath. It should feel more relaxing and eventually you won’t feel like you are having to “hold your breath” with your head in the water.

There aren’t any good wrist guards to be honest, you just can’t break your fall with your wrists safely. You are better off getting a big beefy pair of impact shorts and a helmet and learning to bail out safely when you fall.

I swam loads as a kid and got back into it with Total Immersion, the book is about 6 quid or so. It gives you a decent basis for a very efficeint technique which doesn’t take a lot out of your legs. I took a couple of minutes off my time for 2000m after I got the book but the biggest difference was efficiency, I could do the same times for way less effort.

I’m sure Assos produce great gear, and I quite like the look of some of it, but “sponsor yourself”, seriously?!

I have the dual ply 2.4s. They are similar to the High Rollers, they tend to slide more gradually where the High Rollers are more all-or-nothing. They also roll slightly quicker than the High Rollers but the smaller tread means they give less traction in thick mud.

If you don’t let your kid watch DVDs and they turn out distinctly average in the long run, have you wasted your time?

Do you do this whilst driving a Transporter van by any chance?

I know best about everything and am entirely dismissive of all your parenting efforts.

Anything with Pooh/Tigger
Aristocats
Up
Monsters Inc
Lilo and Stitch
Toy Story
Ice Age

You should be able to get it rolled into her next tax code to avoid havig to pay the lump sum. If HMRC are being unreasonable about that her employer might make the gesture of loaning her the money over 6 months or a year, to save you forking out a lump sum for their error.

I had to troop around town in a thunderstorm last year to try and find a Shimano front shifter, the shops are not as well-stocked as you would think. It looked like I was going to get stung €45 for the last SLX shifter in town, then I found a nice shop owner who had split up a pair of Deores from their box and sold me the remaining one for €15.

I had a lot of problems with it as a kid, and have had a couple of legs injuries since. Rest and then cycling again isn’t the most proactive approach to rehabbing an imbalance originally caused by cycling. As 29er Keith says once you have an imbalance somewhere it tends to move around and be difficult to shift, or to be exacerbated by problems elsewhere. If you are doing a lot of spinning stood up you might have tightened your hip flexors and/or IT band, both of which will affect your knee.

I would look at getting a balanced strength and conditioning programme from a decent physio/PT, doing plenty of stretching, and investing in a foam roller. A bit of cross training will go a long way, even if you hate the gym it beats the frustration of doing nothing.

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha.

I went in to look at road bikes and some Oakleys last summer and the guy was very helpful.

Its not hard folks, my Granda is an excellent driver and he can hardly walk without his rollater.

If you are pre-occupied with safety it is probably taking a lot of the flow out of your skiing. You seem quite experienced already but an avalanche course might just reassure you that you are going through the right processes, reading the weather and terrain etc. You might also just need to take a bit of time and focus on something else, and wait until you are feeling positive about skiing again.

I have had a lot of ACL problems which coincided with going from skiing 100 days in a winter to skiing about 10 or 12. I spent a lot of time rehabbing and trying to get my knee back to the same level for skiing. I didn’t enjoy my skiing because I wasn’t performing at the level I had become used to. I have taken a full winter off this year. I’m going back to snowboarding to take some pressure off the knee and my only expectation of myself is to enjoy my time in the mountains.

http://www.compagniedumontblanc.fr/pages/horaires_chamonix_tour-vallorcine.html

That is last Summer’s, it’ll give you an idea but you might want to ring Compagnie du Mont Blanc to make sure if it is vital to your plans.

First week July is later than I thought it would be.

He really is a poor driver. There are millions out there and even the ones that passed their test last week are probably better than him.

If it was difficult there would be loads of crashes, but there isn’t. Its really easy. There are systems to avoid crashing into each other and everything.

So the best driver would be someone with no concern about the quality of their driving who jumps into a car singing?

What has that got to do with anything?

I’m being offered 2.65% fixed over 2 years so I presume the bank feels that rates will stay low for a while yet.

What’s the arrangement fee on that, out of interest?

£495

He is quite clearly a terrible driver, currently, which is why the statement saying he was one of the better drivers on the road is complete drivel.

Fortunately driving is incredibly easy for anybody with half a brain, so he will probably find it very easy to learn.

What? Get a grip? What ARE you drivelling on about? I’d agree with the senitment of the statement entirely. Have YOU ever taken any extra training, or are you just perfect?

It was a completely illogical statement, but its the kind of trite nonsense that goes down a storm on here.

Being worried about getting into the car until you have had a lesson does not make you one of the better drivers on the road, it makes you one of the worst.

The fact that you see yourself as needing lessons already makes you one of the better drivers on the road.

Get a grip.

I’m being offered 2.65% fixed over 2 years so I presume the bank feels that rates will stay low for a while yet.

ocrider I couldn’t agree more, it has been a terrible decision from Munster and Ireland to try and turn him into a 13, all it has done is set back his development as a wing.

He is prone to trying to rush inside on defence, its a decent tactic from a 13 if you have good judgement, but he has nae wit and he is now rushing in off his wing like an U13.

There are always a few players like Cueto in every good international side. He does the basics very well, his decision making is sounds, his error count is very low. Weaknesses are always going to be exposed at international level, especially out wide. Look at Earls for Ireland, gas to burn but he was all over the place in defence. The French just got nice a deep and spun the ball out to his wing and waited for him to give them a chance.

Sounds good, thanks Rorschach. I am planning my Alps trip for the Summer and including some pretty big cols. I didn’t have many problems last year but Joux Plan after a long day gave me a very hard time. I’d like to have an extra gear or two up my sleeve in case it all goes wrong. 😆

Wise up don simon, they’ve beaten two of the worst 3 sides in the competition, world domination is the next step.

England are the team to beat 😆