Take a stroll around Marina Bay and the gardens behind the Marina Bay Sands.

To err is human, to forgive is divine.

You cant replicate actually doing it but your fitness is pretty good so if you can retain that I would not be too concerned.

Looks forward to beasting BigDummy on climbs sometime in the future 🙂

“at the mo” meaning “anytime in the next 3 months”?

I am a slave to temptation and fads.

Monkey Dust’s rubbish terrorists did it much better ages OK.

The phrase “live by the sword, die by the sword” (or gun in this case) holds true for such people.

I prefer, “if you walk around carrying a feather, expect to get tickled.”

Expect this will go through the usual charade, be turned into race politics, have huge accusations thrown around by both sides and then in 16 months time the evidence in court will clearly point to the guys guilt and it will all be forgotten since something else will be stirred up.

I think from above its safe to assume that you have lots of choices and most are good, its really only your budget and component compatibility that is the question?
I ride a Patrol, love it, and it does most of what I want which is a mix of XC(15%), trail/AM(60%) and DH (25%) but I have friends who have just as much fun on SB6c’s, Enduros, Bronsons and Nomads, modern 150/160mm bikes are really capable..
Regularly ride my Patrol on 50km sessions without too many issues but If I was ever to look at another frame (which is doudtful at the mo) then I would maybe consider the new Medrida one-sixty, Enduro, Canyon Strive or the Yeti SB6c.

the catherine wheel.What could possibly go wrong.

I once took some of my old Aldershot buddies for a beer in there once, maybe 10 years ago, even they were shocked by the clientele, especially one women with a single tooth.

As someone born in Swindon, raised in Aldershot and having lived in Newbury prior to leaving the UK maybe I’m not the best person to be giving date night advice thinking about it?

Good luck whatever you choose.

Ex-Newbury person here (still have property there), for a 1st date night why not get out to the Winterbourne Arms or the Blue Boar/The Crab, great places to eat though admittedly may not have much in the way of Thai food?

I’m obviously being a bit dumb here but how do disk brakes work on a unicycle?

My dear departed Yeti SB5c (sold, nothing that bad), good for over 1300km this year.

An American about to became world leader will get assassinated.
Interest rates will be at 3% by the end of the year, the economy will collapse along with the housing market.
Russia will test NATO’s resolve by orchestrating trouble in one of the Baltic states.
As a result, Finland will request to join NATO, things will get very difficult.
Turkey will invade Northern Iraq in an attempt to fight the Kurds, Iran will join them.
Brexit will prolong for another year due to continuous legal action.
Queen Elizabeth will get cyborg enhancements to prolong her life but in and administrative error she will be mistakenly ordered, and delivered, to a Mr Mechanicaldope, who through being British will keep her as he is too embarrassed to complain about and return his new sex robot to Amazon.

Wouldn’t a parallel universe be kind of the same but an alternative universe be different?

Either way, wearing a goatee with style and doing something evil.

On the rare occasion that I catch someone and they don’t pull over for whatever reason, and where I ride it could be that they don’t speak English, I just sit back and treat it as a training run, trying new lines etc.
Unless you are in a race, chillax and just enjoy the ride.

Hmm, no wife stuff but does include another STWer, this is not good for my FB feed.

Been a good year for riding bar breaking my collar bone in June, which actually was not too bad as HK is horrible for MTB in summer (95% humidity plus temperatures up to 40) but the highlite was probably Dubai in December, a little bit of Hatta and Showka MTB parks plus camping out in the desert. Though not as fast paced or technical as other trips it was my first time out in the desert and good to catch up with an old friend who lived out there to ride bikes.

Video is here Showka and Hatta MTB Trip

Despite breaking my collar bone in June and not being a road rider, which in Hong Kong is the preferred 2 wheeled sport over our hot summers, plus I cant think of any other excuses and no more rides till the 1st so…..

Distance 2,537.1 km
Time 209h 44m
Elev Gain 68,298 m
Rides 105

Despite the break caused by a middle aged man taking on too big a jump, its been an enjoyable year for riding, some nice trips (Chiang Mai & Dubai) and a good healthy mix of people to ride with, here’s to 2017 and the 3k target.

Maybe a similar model to Hong Kong?

HK is an example of a reasonably easy system speaking as an immigrant under a spouse visa (my wife is from HK) and able to work under this etc and will soon be on my 7 year of residence and will then gain Permanent Residence as a result.

Sadly its too simple and effective for the UK government to use this as an example.

If it were true it would be sad news for everyone in the UK….

Apologies if I have posted some of these before and also for not having the photographic skills of all those above…

Christmas eve started with a pleasant 42km spin, half solo then I met up with a buddy for some relaxed trail riding.

Christmas day was meant to be a couple of us going for a relaxed spin but turned into a bit of a fast passed trek with a bigger group, hard work and my legs were feeling the 50km of riding, I needed that Christmas pud.

The day after boxing day was shuttling morning, managed to get a fair few DH runs in before having to leave early.

Managed a sneaky Tigers Head run yesterday which should be the last of the year until the New Years Day ride.


Been incredibly lucky weather wise, chilly but perfect for riding and no rain…so far!

All in all a jolly riding Christmas.

Perish the thought we might convey to the outside world anything other than insular, mean-spirited and small-minded nastiness

Living outside of the UK that is not the impression I see that the UK gives to the outside world, the UK seems to be incredibly fair compared for example where I currently reside?

My wife is also from outside the UK, although she holds a BNO I have looked at getting her a full passport but TBH it doesn’t seem to be worth the effort to get it as she is not that bothered.

As a British citizen, I had the expectation that marrying someone from abroad would automatically give them the right to become a British citizen

The level of expectation is high with this one.

Is this the article where the lady in question went to get her passport request processed but missed out a load of documentation that was requested and is unhappy that she is being asked to re-apply?

My treat to myself this year is a set of David Mellor Pride Cutlery

David Mellor and Pride, not a combination of words heard ever before

Any notice that Chuck Norris is clearly bucking the trend here, thus meaning those often derided ‘Chuck Norris facts’ must be correct?

If he drove his car into town why did he not just sleep in that, it would have been more comfortable than a shop entrance?
I suspect, sadly, its properly related to the storage bins.

On a related note: http://www.missingpeople.org.uk/help-us-find.html

Badnewz is making me re-evaluate my life, or more precisely, next Christmases present. That is a nice motorbike.

Since moving to Asia 7 years ago I do notice this more and more when back in the UK on visits, not as bad as the States but it is noticeable, especially by my wife (typical Chinese build).
I always remember a Japanese GF who visited me in the UK once being amazed by the size of the fizzy drinks in Sainsbury’s, she had never seen anything so large before and that was just 1.5 litre bottles, she was genuinely flabbergasted that anyone would need to buy that much pop!

@alex I dont treat the Naughty or Nice list as arbitrary when treating myself.
Those Fenix3 look nice, sadly no reason to upgrade my 2 yet.

Well, my wife wasn’t going to get me one!

It had its ups and downs but on the whole it was a bit ‘meh’, looking forward to 2017 and hoping everyone has a prosperous new year.

Don’t usual comment on these RIP threads but as a Star Wars fan I’m I little sad this morning, as well as Leia she will also be that mad Girlfriend from the Blue Brothers to me.

Suspect the Ice Cream bit was added to get the Guardianista’s frothed up, some free column inches and both parties get internet traffic, win/win.

I also like ice cream though I draw the line at lolly’s.

One of those ‘hard work but enjoyable afterwards’ kind of days for me, struggling to keep up and feeling the 50kms a bit but still good to get out.

Merry Christmas…..

Stuck in HK this year with a wife who has no interest or understanding in the spirit of Christmas and no kids, but still loving it as it means a day free to ride 🙂

If you are going to despise anything about this time of year, despise the crass commercialism that’s now associated with it.

In my own poll asking my son, niece/nephew and many apprentices at work I just get blank looks if I ask them if they think immigration is a problem

Lovely stuff, can I ask the ethnic original and religion of your niece/nephew and apprentices?
Also, do they get upset about cartoons?

There a lot of people in denial here.

Yes it might be useful to see how China deals with extremism

Well, they don’t have a Falun Gong problem anymore!

(said in the spirit of the guy hanging upside down praising the Romans in Life of Brian).

Thanks, perhaps you should have aimed it at Tom_W since he thought China was relevant to this thread

They too are experiencing a small problem from Muslim extremists so maybe very relevant, always good to see how other deal with a problem, you can possibly learn from others mistakes?

The Han form the majority of the Chinese ethnic mix by a large percentage, this majority is so big that if the rest did try to rise io they wouldn’t last long, as see by the recent issues with their muslim population.

RIP the pirate Bluebeard, died this day 576 years ago