Yup mine has dropped by about £130 this year.

I always put my right hand knee pad on first. The weirdest thing I do is never walk on cracks on the pavement, or in line with drainage/manhole/BT box covers….no idea why!

Yeah that’s what shocked me as well, you cant make all these fundamental changes to the WC series without at least consulting other race organisers to look at the viability of a feeder series. There is going to be a massive gap/shortfall in talent if these series’ aren’t ready to go once these changes are implemented. Pretty selfish and short sighted from Ball et all.

Meant to say, the likes of Bernard (I mention Bernard as he’s by far the most outspoken) want reimbursement from WB etc as the footage is now behind a pay wall. The thought of WB pocketing (potentially) a lot of cash off the back of the riders who provide the entertainment understandably doesn’t sit well with a lot of the riders.

This^

Agree. Aren’t there are still rumours going about that the teams will have to pay to race…how this translates to more money for the riders I don’t know.

Also, Ball himself once rode in his boxers as a protest to the organises, kind of ironic given the absolute sh*r show lately.

Its seems that you’ve been pretty lucky in that you haven’t taken a dive over the bars and landed on your face. Generally lift assisted riding means the riding that you’re doing is of the DH variety, increased speeds mean increased risk of decking it. I rode Dyfi on Sunday and wouldn’t even consider doing it without a full facer (not that you’re allowed to anyway).

Out of curiosity, where are you seeing the Chisel FS for sale?

My Patterdale is called Ren, or Rendog, or Rendogmillionaire, or Woofer, or Wooferson, or Twatterdale

We had our first child through IVF (ICSI) and totally agree with the others in that it was a total emotional rollercoaster. For us the disappointment every month from trying had kind of pushed us to almost giving up entirely – we went into IVF with little to no expectations but amazingly were successful on our first go. I was obviously over the moon but going from basically accepting it wasn’t going to happen to ‘holy sh*t I’m going to be a dad’ was hard going emotionally. Being there for each other is the best thing you can do and its clear you’re both really supportive of one another. If it doesn’t work then your life will go down another path and will likely be a positive one given the support you both have for each other.

Best of luck!

Another vote for Geometron, had my G1 for 3yrs and have been to the alps, raced DH/enduro and done big XC like rides – no issues at all with it. Its robust but rides fairly light IMO – awesome machine! The RAAW is another bike I’d consider.

He definitely does come across as a bit whiney but in his defence he had more mechanicals last year than the previous 2 or 3 seasons combined. Also if your mechanic is not on the ball before a champs race run then Greg is quite right to demand a different mechanic, its their job to be ready for changing conditions, the rider shouldn’t have to even think about it. I think the relationship between him and SC was getting more and more strained as the season went on and SC called it quits  – don’t think Greg was as blindsided as he made out.

Certified mouth breather here. Tried to breath through my nose on my lunchtime ride today and its nigh on impossible if I’m even moderately pushing. I do have a permanent sniffle….perhaps sinus issues? Any hints or tips on how to improve the nose breathing?

I wouldn’t judge a pub because it happened to have a bouncer standing outside, they’re generally stopping any ruffians from entering which is a good thing.

As for recommendations, Stereo and Bierre Halle as already mentioned and also Tabac – all will have doormen/bouncers btw.

Agree @somafunk! Hes seriously talented, shame he doesn’t play live very often. I saw him Glasgow about 10-years ago but not sure if he’s been up since.

Love that Roy of the Ravers track @trickydisco!

Nice downtempo live set, gets pretty dark and hard, nice pace though.

(24) Andy Stott Boiler Room London Live Set – YouTube

I’m on a 42t ring with 10-44t cassette and the majority of gravel rides I do involve a fair bit of road as well. No real issues with spinning out tbh but I do notice the jumps compared to my old 2x road bike. Have flung light road wheels with a 10-40t cassette and found it to be similar overall in terms of speed as my old road bike as well.

And my XT cassette…

 I had a Omega Speedmaster to scratch my magpie itch but sold it because it seemed even more ‘out of place’ now that I am not working in London.

I’d say that is the one luxury watch that has a bit more to it than the others, besides the history I think it’s a lovely looking thing. Love mine and I’m weegie who drives a Ford!

No way would I pay the £7k they’re asking for nowadays right enough.

Think all my best meals have been in SE Asia like a lot of others here. A standout is fresh crab and kampot pepper in Kep, Cambodia in 2009. So simple but amazing.

Wouldnt say the NHS is much better up here tbh. My mum fell out the front window (she has Alzheimers and was trying to get out to see her pal while my dad was upstairs). Badly swollen ankle, went to the docs 2-days later who promptly told her and my dad to go to A&E, 8hrs later saw a consultant who told her it was just a bad sprain and sent them back home. A week later the swelling is still there, back to A&E, xray after a further 6hrs waiting and she has a broken tib and fib. Absolutely sh*te. Understand the pressures these docs and nurses are under but that is seriously poor.

You’ve 100% done the right thing OP.

Also a timely thread for me. My mum has Alzheimer’s and has been in care for a couple of months now. It’s hard to get my head around how quickly she deteriorated and its also hard as she’s relatively young – 69. My dad who is fit and mentally astute just couldn’t cope with her though, he didn’t have the tools and it put a tremendous amount of strain on me and my sister. 

Its a truely horrific disease, anyone dealing or suspecting to have to deal with this in the future has my sympathies.

I entered my first DH race in 10years last year (been racing Enduro in between) and did another earlier this year. Vet category…..started racing in youth, jeeeeez! Attempting ballsy lines definitely makes you feel rad, even if you’re not nailing them!

Nice one, cheers guys.

Does anyone have any hacks for removing the bushings without the DMR bushing tool? Cant find anywhere that has them in stock.

1) Geometron G1 – Bought this based on a ride with Chris P on his locals and having a shot of a couple of mates G1’s. Really bought into the support, the build quality, geometry and the way it handled. Not many bikes out there that you can ride XC and race DH on.

2) Pipedream Sirius S5 – Have always liked hardtails and wanted something a bit more XC orientated (plus I thought it looked ‘right’ from the pics online. I ride this like I would a hardcore HT though…probably because the geometry allows you to.

3) Vitus ZX1 – Used to have a Planet X road bike but felt it was a bit small for me so went for this – was on sale and bought through C2W.

I want a bike for commuting now as I need to be in the office one day a week. Not sure whether to move the Vitus on and go for something more gravel orientated with a spare set of wheels for road stuff. Also quite like the idea of a Specialized Epic Evo….N+1 isnt it!

We have newish neighbours, moved in a year ago. I’d say they’re early to mid 30’s so I initially thought they’d be fairly outgoing but no….Have spoken to the guy literally 3 times and his other half has purposely avoided me for some reason. She wanders about the back garden with headphones on and when I or my wife go into the garden she disappears. Both will ignore my 5yr old son who’s as polite as they come which kind of p*sses me off. Thankfully its not just us they ignore, its the same for the neighbours on their other side.

Sorry for the the thread revival. I’m in exactly the same place as the OP. My mum was diagnosed with Alzheimers 10-months ago and I guess was on a steady decline until 3-weeks ago when she seemed to deteriorate rapidly. In the space of 3-weeks she’s started wandering at random times, to climbing out of windows to ‘get away from the strange man in the house, who’s creeping me out’ – my dad. She slipped off the window sill knackering her ankle but still tries to get out. Banging on windows as people walk by saying she’s locked in and she now seems to be incontinent. My dad is done and it looks like she’s now going into a home…she’s not even 70 yet.

It’s a truly evil disease.

Thats right @poly…..and also stopping a certain shop on Argyle st from selling machetes to random folk. A mate of mine who was going through a torrid time in his teens (bullying, parents splitting up etc), completely lost the plot 1 night and appeared at a friends house carrying a machete that he purchased from VM on Argyle st, we managed to get it off him thankfully but it didn’t stop him disappearing and causing a massive ruckus in an off licence in Bearsden Cross. That night set him off on a path we couldn’t get him off and he’s now no longer with us.

90’s Glasgow was pretty bad as well – lots of gangs roaming the streets. Used to go to the under 18’s and everyone got searched yet there were frequent stabbings in the place. Ned culture doesn’t seem quite as bad these days, the city is just full of junkies instead.

Easy now, we know the people who were buying our house – they were aware of the situation as well, thankfully they weren’t in a chain otherwise it would’ve been horrendous.

@thisisnotaspoon – brutal mate, that’s a lot of cash to lose for very little effort on their part.

Paying up seems to be the general consensus, cheers all.

Cheers for the responses guys. I cant locate the copy the contract signed, it must’ve been lost whilst packing – will request a copy.

@dmorts, I see what you’re saying but we sold on the proviso that we were only going to buy that house, we were really explicit about that – the seller pulled out therefore we aren’t moving.

@grantyboy We paid the £500 marketing fee, did viewings etc ourselves. Not saying they haven’t put time against the sale of course but the amount of work they themselves did was fairly minimal.

Probably my 2001 Intense M1 and my 2006 Iron Horse Sunday. The Sunday in particular was a phenomenal bike, my race results improved as soon as I got on that thing.

That’s basically manipulating the price which will drive prices in that particular area up, can’t be allowed surely?

What Argee says. We’re on the southside of Glasgow in what is regarded as the best catchment in the country – prices are nuts and continually increasing. House round the corner (3-bed semi, extended) went on the market at offer over £365k, sold at closing a couple of days ago at £485k…13 offers I’m told. Crazy. We just sold our house, offers over £285k, HR £315K and it went for just under £340k. Interestingly when discussing the fee’s with the estate agent you could have it fixed or a %….without going into too much much detail he said that going with a % meant they’d try harder to get a higher price, how they’d do that I’m not sure but it definitely tells you that they’re at it.

Yeah my Sirius S5 is great fun but springy it is not, think it might actually be stiffer then the alu HT it replaced.

Agree Bob! We’re in Clarkston and even 3-bed bungalows that need a good £100k spent on them are going to closing dates, pretty crazy really.

We’re in East Renfrewshire and prices seem have increased a bit, houses are moving fast. Currently in the process of selling our house and it looks to be going to a closing date next week.

This is a beauty

Ralph Falcon

Enjoyed the race, shame Marc can’t contain himself though. Totally agree with @theflyingox, if he was as amazing as everyone says he is he’d know the limits of himself and the bike. I’m actually wondering whether a lot of his skill is essentially just him getting away with it. I think that as the bike has got worse, he’s had to put a lot more emphasis on luck. As for Puig, well he’s such a knob, always has been.

It’s mega early in the season and I think once we get back to Europe we’ll have a better idea of where everyone’s form lies but Bagnaia looks ominous.