sounds like a good idea
/looks out window,decides it wont rain,bike and a beer mission underway

seal it on all sides in a very hot frying pan with a little oil before cooking….keep a lot of the juices in that way

I just wanted to point out that this actually doesn´t seal the meat at all.
Despite years of chefs saying that it does, its wrong. The meat will lose more water/juices the longer it remains in the pan.
What it does do is create a more flavourful outer crust.
Your recipe will work just fine, fresh food always wins out. As to cooking time, it varies depending on your oven and hotspots but about an hour per kilo at 180 degrees is the norm for meat joints. Baste it a lot and it´ll be jucier.

Nice guide emanual, I was wondering what Barcelona was like to ride in.
If you ever find yourself over in the basque country drop me a line and I´ll take you out on some of the trails round here.

Whats the plural for nemesis, since I have 2 of them?
I was at a party and thought that brandy mixed with baileys was a great idea, it resulted in 24 hours of missing time in my life. Theres a list of crap from that night that I´d only ever admit to in court.
And the hangover was like the return of the black death…never again.

thanks, I´ll try out a few of those in between pints ;)

one of the very few rider-cams that i enjoyed, nice ride

…stupid place to put a tree though

high quality and free :
http://centrodedescargas.cnig.es/CentroDescargas/cambiarMenu.do?destino=catalogo

I use them on the gps but I´m sure the could be printed out with the right program.

Its quicker to backup the files and docs you need and whatever internet bookmarks/emails. Then just do a clean format and re-install.
Although I´d suggest getting as far away as possible from vista, either upgrade or downgrade.

Basque is not Spain

Also very true but then, I´ve had to nutshell the basque/spanish conflicts to everyone back home. It´s not as well known as you might think.
It seems there are large chunks of Spain (outside the Basque Country) who don´t consider themselves spanish either.

I think a lot of it is to do with geography and climate, take Scotland for example, geographically its a different country despite being part of the same island as england and wales. I hear the weather is lovely there all year round too ;)

its suprising how often I´ve had to explain to spanish friends that scotland, along with wales and ireland, are not england..

Went for a 40k run today and halfway through broke an sram hollowpin chain.
Luckily I had the tools and links to fix it. I now realise I only bought it cos it was a bit bling, won´t be making that mistake again.

It´s easy to be drawn to shiny stuff but after its caked in mud and cowshit all rear mechs look the same. I´m gonna try and stick more to what works and less to what looks good.

btw I now hate my x9 rear mech, upgrade/downgrade or go to shimano?
I don´t ride as much as I´d like to but when I do it gets pretty rough, so I was thinking of just throwing on dh-proof gear. Any recommendations?

Another vote for the Sansa clip.
I don´t see why anyone would use any other mp3 player. Its cheap, small, great screen, plays pretty much any format including flac and ogg (Sony its you I´m looking at).
Sound quality is excellent, well above ipod levels.
It is worth changing the earphones/headphones for a better set but that will be true of most mp3 players.
And its customizable, it will accept changes to its operating system and menus if you know what your doing

hey bob,
I´ll be off this weekend til wednesday. So any day is fine, assuming I survive them steps ;)

Doug, you´re the only person I know mental enough to try those lighthouse steps all the way down, they really are as steep as they appear in that pic.
I can manage the first couple of sets then I bottle it and walk :(

I´m going to London for a few days in Sept. so I gave jedi a call to see if I could do a one-to-one session with him to work on jumps etc but he´s booked up with all the Stw´ers.

I´ll have a go at the steps anyway, and try and get a pic while I´m there, plenty of bemused tourists about to help with that.

Ok, I´ll have a go at it this weekend. Just waiting on some new cranks to arrive.

Where is it, looks nice?

it´s where I live, San Sebastian, Basque Country

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/16/donostiaigeldotik.jpg/

assuming they open the gate

yeah, its only shut at night to deter drunks from wandering up into the mountain, castles etc behind it

found a better pic:

So breaking while on the steps is not a good idea? Cos I´m sure I´d be tempted.

sorry bout that, try now, I edited the first post

This one: http://www.architectureweek.com/2011/0406/images_/14984_image_4.jpg

single pivot was fun but i wouldn,t go back to one now

I´d agree with the “buy the half price frame and sell it on”. Buy something with a longer warranty.

That kind of damage in under 3 years is suspect, it hardly inspires confidence. Assuming of course that you´re not hucking off 20ft drops.

Theres a Boardman Comp FS for sale in Classifieds at 500quid, thats a steal if its in good nick and seller says its as new….

Are you elite enough to really notice a difference while riding, without looking at the tyre?

Ha, I´d be doing well to notice if it was inflated or not (once rode a good 15mins on a punctured and deflating tire.
The only thing I did notice was, compared to my old xc bike with 2.1 nobby nics, this one (2.35) rolls like a tractor on the road.

Ah **** that, I can only make it about two mins into the video.
I cant finish it now, there´s too many people in the house.

Had to take my 9yr old rotweiller to the vets because she was in pain with skin cancer of all bloody things. One of the hardest things I´ve ever had to do. That was 3 years ago and its still an open wound, I´ve been putting off getting a new dog but I think I´m coming round to the idea now.

I´ve spent the past 4 hours reading through all this. I´ll be knackered for my double-shift at work tomorrow (later today) but f*ck me, thats the best four hours I´ve used in years. Inspirational stuff.

Since 2002 I´ve beaten a nasty disease into remission, and now I´m out on my bike every chance I get. But your story takes the cake, amazing stuff.
You´re a lucky man to have a partner that gets you, I know I certainly couldn´t have managed without my other half. I´ll have to stop typing now, tearing up again.

Quite simply you´re a legend, congratulations and my heartfelt best wishes to you and your (growing) family for the future.

3 wheels

Since I no longer bounce back like I did when I was a teen, I wear both knee and elbow pads. I don´t usually bother sticking em on til I start heading downhill or through rocky terrain.

Wearing them gave me enough confidence to attempt a few jumps yesterday evening, no problems…until I tried a double and came up short.
The right elbow guard and my camelbak took most of the impact.
I felt my collarbone twang like a guitar sting too but I was fine and kept riding after.
661 evos here, worth the cost imo.

I stopped watching TV for two reasons, the first being that I moved to Spain and tv sucks in spanish. But I´d already long since given up on the tv schedule because its a dated, inconvenient delivery format.

I prefer to pay for a proper fast internet connection (50MB/5MB) and download all I want to watch for whenever I feel like watching it.
I can actually watch live tv if I use a VPN but I don´t bother anymore.
Unfortunately due to the backwards nature of broadcasting, this is still illegal. Even Napster eventually led to iTunes, what are the tv companies so afraid of?

The BBC is easily the best broadcasting entity in the world. Just take a look at the local offerings next time you´re on holiday. The only thing that comes close is HBO in america (also paid for) and they´re a lot more limited as far as I know, just tv, no radio.

I also think they did right getting shut of F1, lets be honest, so far this year it´s been absolute shit. Button made it interesting for a bit the last two years but I´ve given up watching now.

It´d be great to see more minority sports given some airtime, loads of us love mtb,snowboarding,mountain-climbing etc but since there´s little money in in it they´re drowned in incessant coverage of football,golf and tennis.
At least there´s the snooker, nobody else wants that.

You might want to check out where I live.
It´s San Sebastian, in the Basque Country on the border between France and Spain. There´s Ryanair or Easyjet flights from London to Biarritz which is half an hour away.

August isn´t really going to be cheap no matter where you end up going.
If you stay in a campsite or hostel it should work out as a reasonably priced holiday. Plus it´s the best bike riding location this side of the Alps (shh, don´t tell anyone).

The beaches are great, although in August they are really busy but you can get a local train to the much bigger french beaches aswell.
And the food is without doubt the best you can eat anywhere.

I know I sound like a travel guide but check it out.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MzL4WjURV0I

southerners are strange it seems no matter what country you´re in ;)

Best riding in Spain as far as I can tell is in the north, Basque region and Pyrenees. Theres plenty of lycra clowns but enduro/am is well on the increase.

About 50ml of 7wt oil according to this:
http://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.php?t=650983

gotta be the Fulcrum for me

I remember the first time I saw one of those, it looked like it came off the set of terminator. Still looks great.

I used to brake my bmx with my trainers, would a bigger shoe-size have provided more torque i wonder?

I just got some maxxis high rollers, I wanted the lust ones but they weren´t in stock in my lbh.
I have xt tubeless rims and I´m looking at putting a 2.35 (its 2.1 really..) supertacky front with a 2.35 dualply rear. Haven´t fitted em yet and I´m wondering if I should. Theres some scary terrain around here to come off on in a blowout. Any advice?

sunset at mambo/cafe del mar then off to pacha.

Thats exactly what I did last year. (although the waiters in mambo are ****.)
Its a beautful island too, rent a car and take a look, Es Vedra is an amazing sight.

If you can attempt a bit of spanish, even just “hola” and “gracias”, thats always good when you´re out for dinner.

I had a front one done here in Spain, titanium screw and artificial bone graft.
It was expensive, about a grand, but totally painless.
If your going through any kind of pain then your dentist is crap. Even the injections, if done properly are barely noticeable.

@mogrim
You´re welcome here anytime.
I´d be more than happy to show you round a bit.
We could take a ride out with doug from basque mtb aswell, he knows the place inside out (plus he´s a lot better than me on 2 wheels ;) .

@bob summers
small world mate, I´ve been in donosti for the past 9 years. Want to meet up for a bike and a beer/sidra/vino this week? I´ll be off all day friday and on sat. morning.

working (workshy) chef here
I´d agree with: fresh baking powder (or better: cream of tartar+bicarbonate, dont open the oven door, sift flour from a height and fold in or use electric whisk and whip egg white seperately.

The only thing I could add is don´t use eggs straight from the fridge. Leave em out (if they aren´t already) for an hour or two.

It also depends a bit on the fat being used and your oven temp., it can vary a lot for domestic ovens depending on shelf/front/back etc.

If you need any foolproof baking recipes or anything else, let me know.

And good luck

Any part of the Camino de Santiago in Spain is well worth doing and not necessarily an expensive place to bike.
But, I´d recommend you just come over to the Basque Country and ride. There´s amazing singletrack and proper mountains everywhere plus the Pyrenees a half hour away.
Cheap easyjet or ryanair flights to bilbao or biarritz and the pound is currently kicking the euros ass ;)