Oh and the DH course (with cable car) at Le Lioran is well worth a visit.

I live about an hour and a half SE of Brive, between Figeac and Villefranche. Plenty places to ride, some very, very good, not ridden much up in the Dordogne, but no doubt plenty to find. I mostly ride locally, but often take weekends in the Tarn gorge and in the Cevennes.

If you do come down and fancy a spin sometime email jusandrhiatyahoo

photojournalism at its best

Strangely enough I did a google image search for ‘keep the madness behind closed doors’ and came up with this…

I’ve got a normal 456 with 150mm Marz Z1’s can’t think how I would improve it.

Mrs Down thinks that just cos she wants to do all ‘her’ chores in the morning that we all have to get up at 6am, despite us all leaving for work/school at 8.20 – 8.25, I have learned to take the dogs for hour long morning walks…

…now I like to do ‘my’ chores in the evening, but any noise or movement (or stressing around in Mrs down speak)after 8pm is simply unacceptable. I used to live in innocent ignorance that life 20 minutes before leaving the house in the morning existed, ahh happy days.

shh dont tell anyone especially Mrs Down, but I couldn’t live without my morning walks anymore…

5thElefant – Member
How do you decide what you’re best at unless you compare yourself to others?

I’m not sure! I don’t do the competition thing, I often ride on my own, but I do measure my own performance against myself, subjective I know, but how do you measure feeling and thats what I am trying to get at.

Do it your way for sure.

Mrs smd’s father was not coming to ours 2 days before the day ‘cos he didn’t like our plans. He got over it. We are still (very) happily married, and have great memories of the day.

I REALLY like my 456, it climbs very well, is very comfortable, I rode up Pic du Canigou in the Autumn, a 3 1/2 hr climb, I was still comfortable at the top.
Downhill, if you are a bit of a slow wobbler then its probably much the same as many other hardtails, but go for it and its a bit special. I broke my DH bike during the summer, and so used the 456 instead, I was more than just a bit surprised that it survived, and by how capable it is.

The Collins Bird Guide is the best imo.
Has a black cover with an owl on it

Amazing.

6’5″ I ride DH as well as uphill, my 20″ 456 is the only bike I’ve ever owned that I haven’t broken (yet!) despite snapping my DH bike midseason and doing my very best to ride just as fast on my 456… it survived 8m+ long jumps and 2-3m drops. Oh and I rode up Pic du Canigou in the Pyrenees (1800m climb) Highly recomended

mrsflash, I treasure every memory I have of my mum, and know that life without her would be far harder without them.

***sends virtual hug***

mrsflash, yes very special indeed. A gift that my Grandmother had no idea she was giving me, it was my now 86year old (and amazing) Aunt who gave my grandmother the first journal to write in for Christmas in 1976 the last entry was only a couple of months before she died.

Albanach, what you are doing will not only be special to you, and I think its something we should all do.

My Grandmother died in 1981, when I was 10, so though I remember her, I knew very little about her. Towards the end of last year my cousin came to stay, and with her a photocopied and bound copy of my grandmothers memoirs. I have known she had written it for years, but has always been kept as something of a family treasure, and I never got the chance to read it during hectic family get togethers.

She was born in 1895, and to suddenly have such a close insight to losing close family members to the first war brought home the terror that that war was. For me the most moving part was the stuff written about my mother and my aunt. Mum died in 1992 so to read a Mothers perspective on my mum was very special to me, giving me greater confidence in my own memories of my mum, but also a new respect for how she handled problems I never knew she faced.

So what I am trying to say is DO IT! but ask questions to which you already know the answers, the recordings will not just be for you, but also your kids. I suggest you sit down with him some time before you do the recordings and ask him what he wants to talk about, and what he thinks are the interesting parts of his life.

You can ring my bell any time.

Sheep = woolly maggots

After the foot and mouth thing, Plas-y-Brenin had a photo exhibition of photos taken anonymously, within Snowdonia without sheep the number of flowers and saplings was amazing.

Many said this was why sheep were allowed back onto the mountains before people.

Its true! French girls kiss better!

Gaffa tape and Napalm, followed by valium for me sounds like a plan!

Bought a 456 frame to hang all the bits lurking in my workshop on, hardly ever ride anything else now…

…but seem to have upgraded many of the parts and now seem to have almost enough stuff to hang on another frame!