Earplugs . For between 3am and 9am

Alcohol gel for your hands

Bananas and carby energy bars

Hide your cash / stash / booze when you are not in your tent

3-0 IMO

Chicken in cashew nuts. yum yum.

OK Pete, I am having lunch with the familly in Ockham today from 1 -2.30. Will be in the area so thought i would pop over to Pitch etc. No worries, didnt want to waste this cracking day sitting inside.
have a good one

Rob

Peter, What time you getting there???
Steval car aprk or the one above BKB??

Yep, And I intend on being there, if its a nice day. Lets hope they sort the fiasco of signing in on the day I queued for about an hour to do the cool challenge. Get there at 0800 is the answer, or pre pay is the obvious solution.

Where are you based ?? How far do you want to drive / ride ?
Its my 40th B’day weekend and DB ^^^ is out of action with a broken hand. Doing the family thing this lunchtime in Guildford so I might do Leith / Pitch for an hour this afto.
Can do Swinley / TH / Winch / QE / Andover TVT route / KVale/ Whiteways / Surrey Hills
Pm me
ta

I really liked them, had a ghettto blow out which ditched me off, apart from that I think they are a good 1 tyre for all year. No they are not a mud tyre, but they aren’t advertised as one, I put on trailwreckers when its bad, They also shed the mud they do pick up very quickly. Good cornering and predictable breakaway, didnt puncture any worse then anything . Used mine with slime tube s and didnt pncture for months.
light for the size although not a full 2.3 , roll well at 25 psi if your not a tubber or into smashing through rock gardens

My front ‘ghetto’ blew out on a tiny jump on sunday. I popped the bike over a small rise, probably no more than 12″ in the air at most . On landing the front wheel lost all of its air instantly and made a machnie gun clatter noise, like whn your trying to unsucessfully ride out of a deep tractor rut. The loss in handling then caused me to crash , rather luckily into some deep leaves, could have been much worse. Conti Vert Pro Kevlar bead in 2.3 , non UST. UST mavic rims I reckon the stretch soomehow, or maybe the bmx tube makes the bead well that littlebit smaller It was at a fairly low 25 psi, so that might have had something to do with it.I did build up the rim with a few layers of insulation tape as well.

Fitted a UST Racing Ralph , still with the BMX tube, so will be testing that combo out to see if it holds up

How about a lap of Hayling??
Start at the Ship ( how ironic) on the ebb and get ferried down Langstone, cut across the sandbar and past the gays on trays ( kitesurfers ) . Stop at mine for Tea and Biscuits, just shout and I’ll bring them down, with some traditional Lemonade. Then catch the flood and get whisked up Chichester harbour, quick drinky in HISC ,, then back to TA Daaa The Ship. Im not a canoeistist, but maybe 5 -6 hours in total, all within swimming distance of land in case someone has a little accident / drops paddle / sinks etc

Yes , you could. Or you buy the proper stuff ‘Slime’ and squirt that into your tubes. Its thick and gunky and makes your wheel out of balance, and really rather heavy. If you go ghetto you can use less latex, and it doesn’t bunch in the same way. As for the OP, Defective bead, or tyre perhaps. I bought an ADvantage to look at using as a ghetto tyre , but it seemed to fragile in construction . I have never had an issue ucing Vert Pro’s so far , even as low as 28 psi.

Thanks , will give it a go tomorrow morning.

I wish they would suff the whole Marmaduke duke idea in the bin and get on with releasing the next Biffy album.
However ‘Rubber Lover’ or whatever its called is annoyingly catchy, but not a patch on Blackened sky

Are we talking ‘Deliverence’ level of extreme, with the steep ramp to a pallet gap jump about 30 meters to the right of ‘Oh my god , I can see why its called Deliverence’ type of build?

I got some from UK Bikestore. They have adapters to fit X9 and X0 . I can’t remember the make off the top of my head. They were £16 give or take and seem to be of accaptable quality

I have a black lever going spare if you get desperate, or dont want to get shafted for a 4p bit of placcy. Mail me if needed and I’ll post it ,

D’ya want the plate and pin too?

Hey ! You forgot me.

Think really nice bottles of beer. .

I have to go on one n a few weeks. It will be about £300 . Tank driving (done it ) clay shooting ( I am utterly useless) and a night out in Nottingham ( stab capital of England).
Then theres the wedding in Eire, accept its not as simple as that. MAtes getting married in Norn ireland, then the reception is 50 odd miles away in Eire. No coach , so I gotta have wheels.
Most of the guests are arriving Tuesday and getting right on one for the entire week .
Reception hotel is out of town and its Eu125 a night.
I reckon about £500 to go to the stag and wedding .
TBH I’d rather bin it off, donate some cash to Help for Heroes and buy a ticket to the BBB which clashes with the wedding.
I have a secondary plan which involves a 8.15 flight, 1 days car hire, wedding at 12.00, reception at 13.00, depart 1800 for a 20.30 flight home. Bad form apparently, but I will be £200 better off.

I guess the key to stag weekends is to structure it so people can choose which events they come to . Like Clays in the morning , go karting in the afternoon , then beers followed by currey after. I reckon keep it cheap, most people will thank you for it. There will always be 1 or 2 who ‘want’ or ‘need ‘ to spunk vast amounts of money (insert small penis joke / anecdote here.- ), and encourage all others to do the same. I see it when skiing, a blokey bloke with slightly too loud a voice will get everyone a Jagermaister as a chaser, when its like disgusting cough syrup that no-one really likes, and expect either a round of Samooka next up, or everyone to pay into a kity for a load of carvonia.

I have different strength bands that I wrap around the door handle. I then have to stretch them out , hold them under tension, then slowly relaease them. This works both ways, like extension and compression.
Supposed to do 3 sets of 10 every day. but I never do the whole lot.

Driven it , spannered there and spectated.
Its a good circuit as you can see the cars for alot of the lap. Might be woth getting seating as the little ones will be up higher. DFeffo try to get into the PAddock area. Most drivers / mechs will have 2 mins for a chat. Beware the cost of foodage tho, so wirth taking a pic-nic.

Had to ring my mum and dad when my sister sledged into a goal post smashng her tib and fib out the side of her leg. Went something like “Yvonnes had an accident” . ” IS it bad?” “Hospital bad” I replied.

No fun for any parent, She will recover quickly and be herself in no time at all

You can even see the knife in her hand!

CAn do Pete, let us know when and we can cook something up. Its OK , if you like off camber roots . The new switchbacks are waaaaaay to tight and built from slippery chalk. I think the builders must ride BMX ‘s round when they sort the lines.

Rob

HHmmm CLIC24 or Merida for me unfortunatly. Enjoy the ride and be sure to take some piccies.

STM

I can help. I have a spare one . I can also talk you through the re -assembly process. Thye normally turn themselves into zebedee once the 3 screws are removed. It is fairly straightforward .
Silver and grey , 9 speed with the veiwing window version?

Which side front or rear?

Just wondering how many people actually have a carbon bike? All the rubbish about carbon failing and not taking loads, plus the tosh about structual strength. Carbon is one of the strongest materials by weight , and retains its strength even whilst flexed. Have you picked up a high end fishing rod recently? Way lighter tha your old glass fibre poles , and will repeatedly flex through 90′. Most break by being shut in car boot or door.
Windsurfing masts are also high carbon content, Yes you can buy a 20% carbon mast , but 90% one is stiffer /lighter/ stronger . Anyone who has seen what a mast goes through every time you rig , then go out in a F6 and stuff them through waves and shorebreak wouldn’t bleat about catastrophic , brittle structures that instantly fail.
Wind farms blades are carbon fiber, and designed to flex and last years.

Admitadly all of the above will not have stones catapulted into them but will all take a pounding. Carbon is possibly not the best for full DH bikes, but for XC and general trail riding they are fine.

It never ever crosses my mind as I ride along that my bike is about to instantly fail and kill me. I will break before my bike does. And my bike was made in 1999. Not in the same way as modern carbon bikes, but as a thermoplastic lay up method squashed on a mandrel under 5000 psi , leaving a destinctive ‘spine’ . They do fail, but only where aluminium is bonded to carbon, where over time the epoxy glue fails. In most cases its a 20 min job with araldite to refix the seat post insert, or head tube insert back in.

I had a groove worn into my frame by my flak jackets as the cable crossed infront of the downtube. I filled it, and raised it about 2mm with epoxy. Seemed to work OK , not that long ago tho,so cannot comment on its longevity

Try some Tacx ones from UKbikestore. £16 give or take. Proper sealed bearings , and come with several sets ofend plates. This makes them universal fit fot X9 and X0 rear mechs. I always fill the gap between the bearings and the end caps with white grease, so that it squeezes out when tightened.
Not used them long enough / over winter so cannot give you a guarentee on longevity

CO2 alledgedly cures the latex quicker than air. Try to use air to fill the tyre where possible.
Remember to refill your trye with a few mls of wheel milk every monthas it does dry out.
Always carry a spare tube, and a latex top up.

I hope all who attended enjoyed the loop, and the tour that followed. Sorry if it was abit rushed, but I think most of the key points got across.
There was a more lengthy route which I will try to run in a few months, hopefully followed by another ‘tour’ . Maybe June when i go ‘over the hill’
Managed a 30 miler on Sunday and my legs are feeling it abit today.
Plus that PG was not at its best, its normally better than that. When its at its best its sensational.
Thanks for the crisps CG, started on them today.

Oh and Happy Birthday to you both.

you probably have some air underneath the piston in the piggy back chamber.

Or the Piggy back valve is stuck.

This will accelerate the rebound so it ‘tops out’ with a hefty clunk. There is no elastomer bump stop inside.

Try opening the piggy back chamber with an adjustable spanner and ensuring the piston is free, then dunk it into the oil bath and re-fit the end cap

Well done you. He sounds like a complete to**er.

” If you go out on your bike I will find something else to ride”

Jesus.

He should have been over the moon to go out with a young , fit , fast, lady. Its his loss. Sounds like he wants a pathetic little woman he can dominate. Looooooooser
Nice bike by the way. Carbon Mech protector…oohh eeerrrrr

See, the wisdom of the STW massiv will help in all social, work and relationship matters.

TAke care tomorow , .- He’s not worth it

Simon Ralli.- Very interesting, New manager at work I cannot respect or trust. She asks stupid open questions with possibly dozens of correct answers. Imagine someone asking ” Name a day of the week”, When they actually want to know your favourite day of the week.
I fail to communicat on a daily basis with her.
My collegue also says I should write books, on my daily work issues dealing with the window lickers, and my night time antics.

Something just occured to me , the other day I was pondering on how I was gong to die, as a significant birthday approaches.

Filthy , Which bike you got dibs on Ht or FS?

Police, ambulance etc allowed to use 2 way radios on the move as they are a ‘Give and Take’ system. Therefore sort of not a conversation, more of a set of statements.
At least that is my friend Rob the plod’s understanding of the law.

Will they photo people who drive with Ipods on ? Almost certain its illegal.
I don’t have a problem with it, although its all about revenue generation. When I first got my licence I was a proper hooligan and got stopped regualaly. This ensured a need to keep the car legal and me sober. A camera car will not be able to tell if the front tyres are down to the chords.
Sometimes its like the fast and the furious outside my flat, its a 30mph speed limit, and maybe a camera car cruising will stop the idiots who do 60 up a residential street.
I can see every driver from my kitchen window, and a considerable number still drive and use the phone, and where I live they can only be 2 mins from their home, otherwise they will be in the sea.

Start your day with a mahooosive bowl of Shreddies. Higher in carbs / lower in sugars than Porridge oats. This will give a long slow release of energy. Then top up with PB and J Bagels. They are fairly carby, quite dense and wont disintigrate like sarnies.
Keep your hydration topped up , try a pack of those Lucozade sport tablets in your camalbak, with a tiny amount of salt. They contain Malto -dextrins , which are a complex sugar chain, so not as easilly converted as Glucose. At 39p a pack way cheaper than any Gels on the market.
Keep Tangfastics as a back up along with a caffeinated Gel, and scoff bananas every 30 -40 mins.
Its always harder to re-hydrate or refuel when you crash than keeping your energy up. Its possible to burn 500cal an hour plus, But the body struggles to release this much energy at the same time

Aleigh ,You really shouldn’t. . ..

Me, I give it the Michael Jackson ” Hee Heeeeeeeee” on singletrack when caning it.,
On downhills its more “oh my Gaaawwwwdddddddddd”

I posted on Sunday ” Just went Ghetto” . Been on three rides since. Bike is definatly faster. Very similar to taking off nobbly mud tyres and putting on faster summer tyres. Also the bike seems to ‘ pop ‘ more easily , and slightly more stable. Bear in mind I used to run slimed tubes to keep punctures at bay. The poster who weighed everything did not allow for 100ml of slime, plus the tube,when with Ghetto you can use less latex. Slime in tubes seems to bunch up and you can feel it when you spin up the wheels and sometimes in the corners.
So far with my Gheeto’d wheels I have not noticed this effect anywhere near as much.
Initially I ran them at 35 psi , but it was obviously too firm. Dropped them to 30 psi and its closer, maybe another 2 -3 psi less will be spot on for me.
No problems fitting them . I got them up on the bead , deflated then carefully injected the wheel milk.

Got to thinking maybe a turkey baster might be the right tool for the job.

STM

Load of twoddle.
Being a bit of an expert in hagovers ( we call it product evaluation) I have some really good hangover remedies.
To start with take 2 Ibuprofen , 2 Multivits and 2 pints of Squash before you go to bed. You will have to get up 3 times to go to the bathroom, but thats a good thing.
Next morning do not lie there thinking you are dying. You are not. Your body will have nicked the fluid from aroun your brain to flush the poison ( alcohol) out of your bloodstream, so now your brain is bouncing around inside your skull. Drink more water / Juice. Try to eat sensible food like a huge smoothie, followed by scrambled eggs on toast.
Shower / Shave etc more Ibuprofen plus multi vit tablet.
Then try to do something outdoors , even a hike / bike ride/ surf etc will bring you back to normal , if you can get past the first 20 mins on your bike you will be OK. Take gels as they contain salts which will help too.
For some more off the wall, but tried and tested , by me, cures. MAcdonalds Strawberry Milk shakes
Calipo Orange flavour ice creams
Bananas on toast
Afternoon power nap ( 15mins max)

Alternativly stop drinking about 1 hour before the pub shuts and switch to soft drinks. Your blood alcohol will peak 20 mins or so after you stop anyway .

Jonb.- MAvic Crossland .
Actually a UST rim, but I own about 5 sets of non UST tyres So I thought i would give Ghetto a go first.

I was also going to try a Gravity ,as I have a pair of these too, but they are not the Protection version. They clog a little quicker IME , but hold a good line when cranked over and are good on roots .