People complain about the fireroad at Dalbeattie but then they are the ones that who have never gone exploring. Same for Mabie too – Mabie is littered with top singletrack and you can ride there for a good few hours looping around, ending on their mini 4x track for some jumpy bermy fun. 🙂

Drumlanrig is old school but top class all the way around, and Ae is going through a revamp, making it less of a slog. Also, you can actually add to the red the DH red too, which is do-able on a HT and can be ridden as both an all out DH track, or a fun filled black addition to the red.

What could work could be a week in Sierra Nevada and then another week based in Marbella so you can do some top chilling on the beach after your rides

You could buy the Bikefax book to do some research about routes and the terrain there, although obviously the book only has some routes and not necessarily the very best that is available.

http://www.bike-fax.com/Mountain-Bike-Southern-Spain.html

Here is a little sample of routes from the book:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/simonralli/sets/72157609067194407/

And an experimental route:

All your puns are terrible, I’ve heard them all before 😕

It’s 8.30pm here and I’m drinking nothing tonight as I have to be up early and on form tomorrow : (

You can get leffe here, which I love, but to be honest I am now into Bohemia and the like.

Loving the bike 😀

I am an advisory board member (volunteer) for a social enterprise in Brazil who are working on fair trade, ethical business and sustainability-related projects.

There are thousands and thousands of projects out in the world that need volunteers, I am sure that you will find something that matches your own interests and time available.

I am about to start teaching English next week in São Paulo. Before coming to Brazil, I did some TEFL classes. As I was unemployed and Scottish, I was given a £200 voucher to contribute to the lessons.

I did the 120 hour course with these guys, which included a 2 day course in a hotel in Glasgow:

http://www.onlinetefl.com/tefl-course/

I am now working with a friend teaching corporate English to business executives at their offices (and I will probably have 2 or 3 private clients). Although I will not have a massive income, it is enough to get by on seeing as my partner is also working.

Much corporate English uses this set of books, called Market Leader:
http://www.market-leader.net/about.html

To be honest, although I did not need TEFL etc to get this job, I found it really helpful for learning about the teaching of language, and I will have one or two basic level students. Most corporate students are pre-intermediate or intermediate, and are looking to improve their English for work purposes.

Just had a look at the web article. I am sure this is quite a widespread phenomena. Our family felt that my gran was bullied in one home, and so my parents got her out and into a much more friendly one as quickly as possible. Terrible.

Well this is true. On a slightly less silly note, I can report some good news in Sao Paulo for once when it comes to safe biking for everyone.

There is a new scheme whereby on a Sunday, a few roads where we live are totally closed off to traffic, and opened up for cyclists who can then ride between three public parks in total safety. That can only be good news and helps to create a safe environment for city riders, albeit only on one day a week, but it is a good start.

While you may have somewhat deflated me by pointing out my lack of niche andrewh, can I just point out that that mini is still very much above the water?

For those of us on the other side of the North Sea – can someone give a brief run down of why Wayne needs castrating ?

Or south of the equator 😀

I can’t even do any bombs into the pool Captn, just in case you know! Although maybe I should add some inflatables to the bike, so I can at last get some phat air into my riding in a somewhat safer environment than at Ae.

Lots Jedi – and although I wasn’t wearing a helmet, I had my goggles on 🙂

* cough * [/url]
🙂

It’s not just Fantasia[/url] 😀

(Although the review does not really go into detail on this particular aspect!)

I assume it is Ok to link to these two stories : )

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1384757/Your-Secret-Life-So-mention-wife-Hugh—fact-drives-Volvo.html

Note the final sentence of the Daily Mail article!

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/twitter/8502585/David-Schneiders-fans-clamour-for-his-return-to-Twitter.html

Hiya

I am getting more movement back and able to walk a little without my stick! Just swimming right now although the pool where we are has an underwater bike as they also have physio sessions in there!

Well my main requirement is something along the lines of not too expensive and eco friendly – although I am always dubious about believing claims about eco friendliness.

I guess I also need to worry about the viewing angle a little, and will go back to the shop to check these things.

These are the TVs I think we are considering:

http://www.fastshop.com.br/LINHA-2011-SMART-TV-LED-SAMSUNG-D5500-COM-32-FULL-HD-WI-FI-SMART-HUB-SEARCH-ALL-E-SAMSUNG-APPS—UN32D5500RGX,product,SGUN32D5500RGX,2432.aspx

http://www.fastshop.com.br/LINHA-2011-TV-MONITOR-LED-LCD-32-HD-COM-CONVERSOR-DIGITAL-INTEGRADO–VIERA-LINK–VIERA-TOOLS—VIERA-PANASONIC—TCL32X30B,product,PATCL32X30B,2432.aspx

http://www.fastshop.com.br/LINHA-2011-TV-MONITOR-LED-BRAVIA-32-FULL-HD–COM-CONVERSOR-DIGITAL-INTEGRADO–INTERNET-VIDEO–DLNA–X-REALITY–SKYPE–4-HDMI—SERIE-EX525—SONY—KDL32EX525,product,SOKDL32EX525,2432.aspx

I love Kirroughtree and always have a good time there.

As for Mabie, well all the Drumlanrig groupies I feel have never really ridden all the off piste sections of Mabie. Once Mabie opens up its secrets too you, well you then have all these combinations and permutations depending on what kind of mood you are in and how much time you have. I don’t know why, but I do love Mabie.

Dalbeattie for me is always a bit of a challenge, but again it has some gentler off piste grin inducing downhills which are just fab.

I am a kind of local though, so hailing from Dumfries I never have to travel too far for any of them. I also though love to get out and about on the back roads which are great too, as well as my local ride which is a mixture of fireroads and back roads.

Oh and I love Ae too even though it does beat me up a lot of the time. I now can tack on The Shredder when I am there mid week and the DH kids are not there.

So much choice in so little an area, and just in case people do not realise, I am a Drumlanrig groupie too – love it.

Well obviously I am interested in energy efficiency – that is a good point about the LED tvs.

Also, I had seen some talk about LED tvs not being real LED tvs, so again that is useful info as I had not quite grasped the point.

No – I am after something simple that will last for as long as possible but that has a good picture quality. I wanted to buy second hand but was told that in Brazil there is just no history of buying second hand, so we have to go for pretty much everything new (we are moving into an unfurnished apartment next week).

Did someone mention rave? 😀

eggs

Most excellent photos sir 🙂

Don’t forget that Glentrool has an absolute cracker of a blue descent – most people seem to forget this bit of singletrack when discussing the Stanes.

Thing is, compared to the amount of natural trails in the UK, the amount of blue type swoopy stuff is pretty minimal. So those who like natural can get out and enjoy that, and people who love this kind of swoopy bermy stuff can enjoy it no probs yeah? What’s the problem? 🙂

I forgot to say great little video – shows the trail well.

Well given how ill he was in 2001 and how he died in 2001, this seems pretty miraculous to me. We should be celebrating his resurrection. 🙂

http://edition.cnn.com/2002/US/02/01/gen.bergen.cnna/index.html

This is a man who was clearly not well. I mean, as you see from these pictures here, he’s really, by December he’s looking pretty terrible. But by December, of course, that tape that was aired then, he’s barely moving the left side of his body. So he’s clearly got diabetes. He has low blood pressure. He’s got a wound in his foot. He’s apparently got dialysis … for kidney problems.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,41576,00.html

Bin Laden, according to the source, was suffering from a serious lung complication and succumbed to the disease in mid-December, in the vicinity of the Tora Bora mountains. The source claimed that bin Laden was laid to rest honorably in his last abode and his grave was made as per his Wahabi belief.

[/url]
August 16th[/url] by simon ralli[/url], on Flickr

Very rideable but you may want leg armour for all those thorns – ouch!

Looks like a great little section.

Fantastic news. Well done Pook.

Well no shouting but me and my Mum were talking about David Beckham’s hairpiece. Mum was telling me how the man who supplies him was selling the same pieces on one of the shopping channels, and I would have thought he would have signed a non-disclosure form preventing him from telling his potential customers that Beckham wears a wig. Funny old day today.

Ah Roper great call! This has to be the illest thread of the week on STW.

Yep cheers – just a little day surgery keyhole thing so nothing too major.

The biggest downer is that I will at my parents stuck on a sofa and unable to get out on my bike and away from all the wedding stuff on tv. 🙁

Sorry to disappoint about the drumming, but if it is shamanism and biking in one single story you are after, you could check out a recent blog entry here about my final ride of 2011:

http://shamanicdrumming.wordpress.com/2011/04/25/a-walk-around-the-twelve-apostles-stone-circle-dumfries/

Well if something causes offence then that is what I was apologising for. I was just watching it thinking flippn heck that was a rough landing on what seemed like a tree stump or something.

I am probably projecting issues right now anyway as I am about go to in for a minor knee op today myself 🙁

Yeah – I guess I should not have posted this ay?

I think I have too much time on my hands right now obviously so sorry if this has caused offence.

Obviously people are free to email the mods and remove this post if it has crossed the line.

That’s not nice, why would you post that? Was it you?

True, but these chaps have posted the video so normally one assumes that the rider did not complain that the video is up, and you can not tell who he is.

This just seemed really notable as a video for the actual sound of the crash. Of course it isn’t nice. When I watched I was thinking dang, rather than ha ha ha. And it does show the dangers of jumping near protruding objects ay?

And actually, I do watch videos of people’s crashes every so often. Maybe I am the only person that does that though.

Those of you who are all bigging up Dalbeattie have probably not fully explored Mabie in all its hidden off-piste glory. Mabie has some cracking descents, big berms, a jump park, and lots of flowing singletrack. I know you are local, but it also has the double black darkside for those who are core like that. And I guess you have to mention the cafe too, which does a cracking coffee, as well as other nosh.

I do love Dalbeattie too, and Dalbeattie also has a lot of off piste gems too, and some classic sections.

Yeah, maybe Drumlanrig for the win, but for me I love them all in their own separate ways you know? 🙂

Even Ae has its moments and is fab in the sunshine. I guess you have to remember that even on a XC HT like my Caldera, you can do the red, and then climb and make the Shredder a pretty excellent addition to the Omega Man descent. And it has a top cafe too!

Gibraltar

Night time

Filmed on high adrenaline and three cans full of attitude.

No editing needed – my riding just flows naturally.

I do like the angles and shots, but not really the silence. The sound of you whizzing by would make a big difference. But some good direction there I feel and looking forward to the finshed article : )