Titter ye not.

…just waiting on my 2006 Reign turning up, would they fit a good sized 2.5″?

The chap who I go to the Alps with has an ’07 Reign and he fits a WTB Weirwolf 2.5″ tyre on the back with no problems at all and they come up big for a 2.5″.

Nowt niche about Islabikes, just better designed and built with children in mind.

My mate Dave on the MBR, looking towards Moel Hafodwen.

Didn’t get many more I’m afraid as we were too busy riding!

Oh I miss that trail at Swinley. Great fun, although it can easily coax you to ride beyond your skill level (as I found out once painfully).

Isn’t ‘scotch’ a drink Scruff?

Constipation?

Not that I know of but French food is very rich.

Nasty, itchy rash?

Once again not that I know of, but I had a fair bit of trail rash from over-cooking it a bit too much on my first day combined with a little sunburn on my legs.

Worrying if your boss will find your internet history?

I don’t use the internet at work for anything other than work, strangely.

Vic, you’ve got the look of someone who’s wondering if they left the gas on…

In which picture?

😉

Nah, although I believe that Crisco is quite popular as a lube in the scene that generally favors the hanky code system.

A few from Les Arcs last year.

The required ‘chairlift shot’.

Trying (and failing) to look cool.

If only the hanky code were that simple Mr Agreeable.

I believe the yellow (or mustard) is something to do with size, the navy blue to do with giving or receiving and the red something to do with hands.

Cultivating the chip harvest.

Damn, Godwin’s on a thread about Rapha. Has that happened before?

Well my daughter is 5 at the moment (though turns 6 on Friday) and has managed some of the singletrack trails at Sherwood Pines no problem at all. I do get a bit nervous if she is riding near water though as children seem irresistibly drawn to it.

When I go to the Alps/Spain I usually take spare brake pads, spare inner tubes, a spare chain, a spare rear derailleur and a spare derailleur hanger plus a spare pair of tyres and a decent tool kit, but I usually drive down so weight isn’t an issue.

If I was flying I’d probably take everything above but only one spare tyre and a smaller tool kit.

It’d be incredibly frustrating to go away on holiday and damage something on your bike on the first day and be unable to ride for the rest of the week. Whilst you can’t cover all eventualities sticky-out bits (derailleurs and hangers) and bits that wear (pads, chains and tyres) are quite often easy pickings for rougher terrain taken at higher speed, as quite often is the case in my experience of MTBing in Spain and the Alps. Indeed when I was in the Alps last year the guy I went with damaged two rear derailleurs and snapped two chains and by the end of the week my DH tyres were looking decidedly tired.

retro83 – From the script,

….but I need a nuclear reaction to generate the 1.21 jigowatts of electricity…

So we’re both incorrect. Though in the films it actually varies between gigawatt, jigawatt and jigowatt.

(Yes, I have the script behind me on the bookshelf. My wife is a BTTF geek-level fan).

Commencal, of course.

Damn spell checker.

Junkyard – You’ve worked out who I vote for based on a few garnered snippets on an internet forum? My you must be one of the great sleuths.

Actually, whilst I see eye-to-eye with CFH on a few points they are very few. I’d suggest we have differing views over more than we agree on.

Ah I see what has confused you though. I’m sure in your little mind any criticism of the current version of the Labour party must mean I’m some love-child of Thatcher and in no way could I actually have more socialist leanings than the good Captain.

Isn’t it easy, this black and white politics thing?

Oh and BTW, do the ‘we’ mind you speaking for them or is it the royal we you refer to?

…. but I don’t know if they classify as a mountain bike as I assume they don’t have gears etc.

My daughter has an Islabikes Benin 20 and its a fantastic little bike and fits the ‘first mountain bike’ category perfectly.

Either order it with the Conti Explorer tyres or order some separately to give on and off-road options.

One point twenty one gigawatts

You don’t say if you are transferring parts from another bike or building from scratch though.

If you are looking at a Trance then if you shop wisely you could buy a complete bike for £1000.

Sell the bits you don’t want on eBay or on here and build it back up with your own bits.

The £22.5bn raised actually went straight to pay off the National Debt.

Aye I’ve seen that trick before, pay off the credit card then hammer it again the next month.

No more 3G licences to sell off now though, and no gold stashed away for a rainy day and my god, its belting it down now and oh my, look how the price of gold has climbed.

You don’t have to be posh to go to a private school.

(sootyandjim – Formally of the Mountbatten Estate in Lambeth and the Royal Alexandra and Albert School, Gatton Park.)

Of course I don’t play rugby for England, no doubt due to my non-poshness.

🙄

I went to Hamburg on a Stag Do. Plenty of activities, though I don’t believe of the variety you are talking about.

Aye, should be interesting.

With train fares from Nottingham to London being so cheap it might be worth popping down for May Day this year.

There is a bike shop at Arc 1600 which I can’t remember the name of but they had a very good selection of Commercial bikes for hire including ‘all-mountain’ type bikes as well as the usual DH ones for those wishing to partake of the adjacent Cachette DH course and Black 8 trail.

But therein lies the problem.

You should vote for who you want in, not who you need to vote for to keep someone else out.

No wonder their is so much disillusionment of the democratic system in this country when people ignore policies of the party they are voting for purely to keep a rosette out.

Not like that rosette would tell you anything about their poilitics now is it?

Jacqui Smith and Dennis Skinner both wear the same colour rosette when pressing the flesh but Jacqui Smith is far from being the type of Labour politician I respect or support the personal policies of.

…. than people who refuse to vote the way that you want them too.

I’m not bothered for who people vote, just by what means they use to determine how to cast that vote.

How many die-hard socialists do we hear bemoaning the current Labour party for their lack of socialist values?

Whilst the idea of “anyone but Tory” may sound good, by voting for a Labour party that is basically Tories in red ties those self-same die-hard socialists who disapprove of Labour’s swing to the right are also approving of them. Far better to vote for policies that you agree with than “well I’ve always voted for them”.

As we have seen with Labour (and the Tories to a small extent), policies change.

…. and out of the two, I would nevervote Tory.

Ah, so you’re one of them.

With my upbringing and background it would be assumed that I would vote nothing but Tory yet I have on quite a few occasions.

Voters who vote based purely on the colour of the rosette the clown who knocks on the door is wearing are by far the biggest single problem with the democratic process in this country.

I also think there is a lot of moronic bitterness and blaming of Gordon Brown for things which are entirely beyond his control.

Such as selling off the gold reserves after announcing he would be doing so and hence devaluing the market, p!ssing the 3G licence money up the wall and generally falling over himself to protect the votes, I mean jobs, of employees of Northern Rock?

Aye, completely out of his control.

I will again given the alternative.

Ah, so its either officially a two party system or you are a defeatist.

Neither did I.

Aye, there is a big campsite in Bourg St Maurice just a short walk from all the restarants and bars in town, just over the road from a couple of supermarkets and a short ride from the Funicular which whisks you up to the Arc sites from where you can catch the chairlifts.

Thermite is your friend.

….are you vertically challenged?

Lol, ‘small man syndrome’.

Considering you can buy a new complete 2008 model for £800 I’d say no more than £300 max but more sensible about £250.

I wouldn’t be upset if England lose against France.

They are a fantastic team and their fans are a cut above the boo boys found following some of the slightly more bitter nations, which unfortunately have crept in and sullied a sport which has always had fans that prided their sense of fair play and sportsmanship.

As for gloating, kettle pot black? “Anyone but England” are the words uttered from many petty and bitter folk from the home nations.

Aye, ‘ot gravel. Brought back from t’ foundry where as a lad of 6 I were forced t’ work 38 hour t’ days.

It were hard in t’ our house.

Ah, the joined-up policies of the NHS.

So basically yes, it was some crumbling former Soviet state-a-like you were dealing with.