I really miss riding around Dalby. Some great pics there.

The trails out here are just so sweet as right now huh? Sunny but air still fresh. Glad you had a great time.

Rudeboy

I think you make some useful points. It is probably unlikely that Ms Smith will be found to have broken the law, and will simply be found to have “made a mistake”. And in fact, maybe she hasn’t broken the law.

But the usefulness of the story will be in the fact that this shows just how much MPs are allowed to claim for, and given how this is an embarrasing situation, as opposed to maybe an illegal one, then more and more people will be less inclined to vote for her at the next election.

Also, don’t forget that her husband is being paid £40,000 a year as her assistant, so you would think that he would know the rules of what can and cannot be claimed for.

Zaskar – absolutely but I am not aware of either telling others how to live their lives while doing the opposite, nor getting taxpayers to pay for my tawdry sad drunken karaoke nights for example

Oh you’re such a lag

Well any third party submissions for coolness need photographic evidence supplied in this thread before being accepted for consideration.

This any help?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXc1_UF6xXg

Graham

Don’t panic. Both RocketDog and myself can handle it. Just a bit of Sunday afternoon fun heh.

What about Scotland footie tops, or is that a no no too?

Yep – so long as the trails dry out. Did you get my email. I am also thinking of doing that Sierra de las Nieves ride but as it’s 1800 metres and pretty gnarly was thinking a solo ride may not be the best thing.

Also, do you still want my brakes given you are selling the kona??

I did Alcadeisa again, this time with the added climb by the fire station, but didn’t make it to the woods. I was trying to get to Pinar del Rey but ended up on a track going back towards San Roque.

Well at least I was out today Roper unlike some people with their feeble “I have a slight cold” excuses 🙂

You only have to choose between me and RocketDog. I wasn’t inviting comparison with the entire population of planet earth 😀

Totally. That’s why I have to wear a bandana – purely to try and keep them tied down as you’ve got to look cool huh, even in the middle of nowhere 🙂

Had you finished drinking the bottle when this shot was taken, hence you needing to prop yourself up? Bottle of cider rather than camel-back energy drink is actually quite cool in iteself in an anti-cool kind of way 🙂

Anyway, the STW masses will decide (unless of course both of us are so uncool they totally ignore this minor spat in a tea cup heh).

Final ride of the month

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Well it’s these politicians who keep telling us if you have nothing to hide you have nothing to fear from their intrusions and decimation of anything approaching privacy 😀

They are spinning it as a “cock up” and I quote from Sky news right now.

The sun is out here too, but there was one heck of a wind!

Foxychick – consider it already beaten. My one big achievement was cleaning the Scorpion Tail climb without dabbing on probably the tenth visit. I love Mabie – it just flows and there is nothing too hard or monster drops *cough* that can’t be walked over. (Although I can now ride them – Mabie was where I first discovered mountain biking).

Have loads of fun – I’ll be riding mabie loads this June with luck.

Yep – they’ll love it. I can do it in around 2 hours and can even get over the roots *cough* never had my wheels stuck on em *cough* so I am sure they will be fine.

Ok. Well it is less urgent now as I have just had an email from Roper who still has a virus poor lad so i don’t need to worry about meeting times. Another lonely day’s ride for me then tomorrow 🙁

Does anyone know if European Central Time changes this weekend too?

Rocketdog,

Don’t forget that Gibraltar has the honour every so often of having Royal navy ships dock for a day or two with their crews out drinking.

I’ve not lived there but have stayed there on extended visits with friends. Believe it or not I miss the place and I really miss being in Snowdonia.

Anyway, back to everyone else’s plans.

There’s a big one just near Rhonehouse that my girlfriend used to be a cleaner at. It has a big games room with pool table too and has plenty of bedrooms. Can’t seem to find it on a quick Google search but is good for Dumfries, Dalbeattie and Kirrie.

Si

Ahem – it’s a beautiful place and I really mean that! I still remember one New Year’s Eve there and went for a night time walk in the snow with a full moon and cloudless sky, air crisp and magical.

It also makes a brilliant base for mountain biking and is very close to my beloved Dinas Emrys.

I also used to live in Holyhead and yeah, in amongst the drugs and unemployment and stuff, there’s some lovely people there and megaliths and beaches and things too.

Nick

Hi – my best mate lives in Milton Keynes and also I knew Trimix from when I was at school so yeah, I may be there for a day or two so yeah, never ridden there but would love to.

I handed in my notice at work yesterday and it seemed to go well with my boss. I have asked to leave end of May but I am on 3 months notice so will hear in a week or two when I can leave. I’ve been quite stressed out and not too well these last few months so really just wanted a month to chill, get out in nature and be back in the UK.

Oh – and if I do manage to get 6 weeks off over the summer, goes without saying I’d like to meet loads of STW riders and go on some social rides but I will be mainly in Scotland and could be in Wales for a week or two too staying in Blaneau Ffestiniog (spelling?)

Oh, and maybe I shouldn’t admit to this but one day I’d like to actually get 2 wheels off the ground at the same time. I haven’t actually done that yet in something like 4 years of mountain biking.

Well I am hoping to have a few weeks free in June/July and if I can meet up a few STWorlders in the Borders region hopefully I may be able to pick up a few skills or techniques.

But I think I have been getting a bit more confident, and actually made it down what we locals call “The JanetStreetPorter descent” without too much dabbing. Just that final 100 metres got me last time!

In the making of my Gib Descent video, it was the third time I had ridden that route and did actually clean a section that previously I had walked down (it looks lame as heck in the video mind).

So yeah, maybe unlike Jedi though I don’t lose sleep over these things, but yeah, would love to actually get something approaching “skills” on a bike.

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Not read the mag in ages!

Err Gibraltar? That’s not very helpful huh?

Yeah – can’t argue with that heh.

Ton

This is a really good photo as it captures the steepness of the chute. There is no way I would ride it.

I am hoping to spend June in Dumfries depending on if I am allowed to leave my job, so hope to see a lot of you guys up there some time.

Wow – March seems like such a good month for everyone riding wise. Some great pics up here.

In March I seem to have overdosed on riding with other people as opposed to mainly riding on my own so all’s good on the biking front for everyone yeah?

Heh the drinking part. Weekends have been pretty quiet but as our company are now relocating here, for the last few weeks friends have been coming over with wives/husbands and partners in small groups to scope the place out, so week days we take them out for a meal to discuss living and stuff. I think we just hve 2 more weeks of this then everything should calm down a bit.

Jammer – have you ridden it with all sections open? I think it’s a cracking ride, but when I have ridden it I have been living in Dumfries, so not had that huge expectation when travelling a long way. The only downside for me were some monster berms that seems to be ridiculously damaged with a lot of loose rubble on them towards the end.

Tsk. Do British dependent territories count as British then?

This is how to do ultra-banked northshore[/url] 🙂

There are old bikers, there are bold bikers, but there are no old bold bikers by the looks of your photos SFB….

Because he has wasted billions upon billions of taxpayers money, via unelected quangos who destroy public services, awarding corrupt contracts to their crony friends in industry, while voting for an illegal war, anhilating personal freedoms via a bogus war on terror, and taking full credit for deregulating a fiat banking system, which has systemic failure built in, yet failing to take any kind of responsibility for its subsequent and fully predictable failure?

That’s my starters for 10.

It’s not necessarily all that out here. I’ve been pretty unhappy really and am looking forward to coming home in a few month’s time. That looked like a cracking ride yesterday in the Quantocks and to be honest I think I will have some much more enjoayble rides around Dartmoor and the like.

I really enjoy my rides out with Roper, but all the really good riding is up from Marbella onwards really. Maybe if I was based in Malaga it would be different, this was just a chilled ride with some fairly enjoyable new singletrack. It was just a local ride on my second bike as my Kona is at the shop getting new gear cables.