ages. i think we maybe had the 'i can't run because…' conversation the last time i saw you but if not the short version is all around the fascitis. hamstring definitely involved, particularly related to cycling. see what your podiatrist says. get stretching!

by a mad coincidence this very thing happened at my work not so long ago though it was 'human slurry' and the fellow combined it with a bit of a dirty protest. well, not a bit of, more just a dirty protest. not forgetting the spanking of course

no police tho so i guess some public places it's more acceptable than others..

27th looking good for me. inners is good but if you were to suggest gypsy glen again – ingine that in frost or snow – i'd be even more up for it!

okay so maybe that wasn't the most helpful! in which case, assuming you want to keep the driving to a minimum. what about dalwhinnie ben alder one day then follow it up with the kinloch rannoch loch garry loop the following day.

good stretch of the legs, nice countryside. i'd fancy it myself if i wasn't leaking all my body fluid thru my face..

go to the bookshop. buy kenny millar's book or one of those things and the country is your oyster.

i would go and look at routes but mrs swiss has returned from englandshire chock full of the cold which she's generously shared with me so looking at routes i shan't be able to do this weekend would just plunge me into further depression…

i did a job once that involved analysing the skid marks (or lack of) in special 'trial pants' in the human phase testing of some new margarine.

it's a basic trust issue. i had a mate once i loaned a bike to, not my bike of the moment true, but a bike i'd spent time and care on. no hurry for it back i said. and got it back two or three months later rusted solid and needing a complete strip down. our mateship was never the same again.

one place i'd be very careful about if you're out and about is the freedom monument. new year or no new year latvian patience with drunk people cavorting about round there is very, very thin. show a 'lack of respect' and it's very easy to get arrested!

what keppoch said.

me and mrs swiss were there a couple fo years ago and we loved it. and returned with all our kidneys and without a beating. i suppose you could get yourself into some well dodgy nonsense if you wanted to but that's the same anywhere.

previous posters are utterly correct about the local women…

i have some of the altura ones of these and i swear by them. also possibly the only decent piece of altura kit i;ve ever owned

sounds great, even if the weather forecast looks less than benign. even so whatever it's like i'd rather be there than at work, which is where i'm going to be both days. he said. glumly

i've got a pair of specialised defrosters. so far they're pretty snug and cosy but i don't think they'll be as good as the northwave's come the winter.

also, aside from being dearer, they're very narrow which is fine if you've got wee feet like me but if you're waddling about on a pair of spades you may have problems with these

jd, these are odd questions to be asking for someone who works in the nhs, esp if you're 'getting exposed' every day and moreso if you've got an outstanding respiratory complaint. i have one colleague with assume and for sure she's going to take it.

me, no but mainly because i've already ahd it and as a result get treated like some sort swine flu canary. i will have the seasonal flu jag tho

will send pics tomorrow as it's too dark to go fannying about in the shed tonight

it is a medium, well it fits me. the frame's chrome, it has some form of very primitive rockshox on it, i'd have to go down the shed to see what the other bits are. wheels, stem etc are all original.

i have a vaillant. by and large reliable. did have a contract with vaillant but their engineers? idiots. had a problem a couple of years ago that they failed to sort in four visits. local plumber, five minutes, no problems since.

not only did i have one i still have one in bits in the shed where i've never got round to rebuilding it. some retro type can buy it off me if they want.

i have a scale 30 i've been riding for a couple of years now and it's easily my favourite bike. this year's one is, if anything better specc'd (no avid brakes), aside from the tyres which should go at the earliest opportunity.

i'm sure the giant is great too so maybe a test ride? tho with the money off scotts at the moment i think the scott will be cheaper.

one of my workmates is currently mulling over whether she's going to be off sick next week but assuming i'm not covering her shifts i'm definitely up for it

what stevie said.

i have a mate out that way and when i get keep him off the booze and fags we always head out there. it's great fun and it'd be a bit of a shame if it was getting overgrown. bit of a fire road drag, but a lark once you get going. definitely worth a visit and a few laps

geda, i forgot you were in sweden. that makes everything clear! i think you're down in skane? when i've been out wandering about around stockholm (without bike, all the family fishes) i've often thought about the tricky, rooty, rocky nature of a lot of the tracks, esp as i've never seen anyone riding them which in itself might be a clue!

that said i'm used to riding this type of terrain where i am and, most of the time get along with it, usually on my xc ht but these days i'm succumbing to the darkside that is fs. tyres are an issue for sure but not as big as rider style. i ride with what my regular riding partner describes as 'ridiculous pressures' but i ride on the road a lot so low pressures just seems un-natural! he, on the other hand, rides v low pressure and tubeless and while he may be slower on the straight uphill on the technical section he gets to show off just how much better he is in the skills department.

i've always had light xc bikes, never felt the need for anything else as my manly girth is enough weight to carry. what the magazines say? who cares! there's a bike out there for everyone

i think the cable test would've been cool and if i was in englandshire i'd have been up for it. of course what you could do is find yourself an audiobooth somewhere and see who's really got the 'golden ear'. Me, while having some lovely, and stupidly expensive, kit in years past age and noise have left me with little in the way of top end hearing. much cheapness has ensued.

and while i neither know nor care if cables are directional, i'm prepared to admit my cable buying purchases in the past have been more motivated by the way they looked, i'm curious about this gem

people's perceptions of the value of a product really are directly proportional to how much they have paid for it

what proportion would that be exactly?

well i managed no laps at relentless because jo and goan poisoned me with their colds. that's my excuse and i'm sticking to it. happily!

i've got a particularly desperate record at relentless and that was weighing on me a lot this week – i couldn't face another abandonment basically because of the jitters. i think a lot of it has to do with cycling round and round the same course. i got this last year at puffer – did a fabulous lap, then quit because i couldn't see the point in doing another. i completely agree that a point to point, tho not necessarily easier physically, would definitely be much more do-able psychologically.

i id my first pain at ten under the ben and it's further ruined me for solos. my so is my support team and does a wonderful job but this was the first year i've got to kick back and watch her doing it while getting that thing called rest. my pairs partner was similarly complimentary esp after he quit and she was waiting for him with a beer! but as my so says, all of that is fair and good but it doen;t get you up the hills (or in my case down them)

i'm waiting to discover the psychological knack. or maybe it's just because i'm old and fat and lazy and the call of my sleeping bag is just too great!

was supposed to be doing relentless but have been sitting on the couch coughing up lung butter instead. not happy!

i feel much the same about people who sit and watch tv as they do when i tell them i don't. that said i've managed to get a fair few at work out on their bikes, albeit for epic treks of up to ten miles (tho we have to stop for lunch)

i feel envious of the germans, not just for their network of cycle routes, but the numbers of people cycling generally. we should look to emulate….

depends which trail centres you're riding but, more or less, it's pretty easy. unless fraser changes it drastically from what he's proposed on the website, something that let's face it may happen, the course is reasonably easy with only one tiny steepish climb.

as to bikes – you're cycling for 24hrs – ask yourself, do i want a heavy bike or a light bike? i'd definitely take two tho.

how hard!? anytime i catch myself bitching about my lack of suspension and my little girl handling skills i look at the following to get myself to mtfu, back in the day when cyclists were men, smoked and finished the day not with energy drinks but wine and brandy.

absolutely legends

http://www.blackbirdsf.org/cx/2007_01.html

a ducati

all the people i know with those shimanos like them.

me, i've got northwave celcius's and i wouldn't change them for anything

ten past. waiting list. not happy!

that is a lot of climbing.

note to self. if going out for a couple of days don't, on the first day, say anything along the lines of 'i like climbing'. these words will come back to haunt you!

two great days riding, esp the glen descent today. cheers goan

packing my van as we speak. weather looks great. switherers should get be getting out the door!

i rather liked the weather! top fun, see you tomorrow unless the effects of my ginger singletracking at the end there prove more irksome than they currently appear…

there's more than one car park? i'll be somewhere…..

pitmedden stop start? you're missing something

i'll be the the one milling about in a blue volkswagen van

saturday for me. i've been to innerleithen so that should be a novelty. and, assuming ilve the legs left, gt on the sunday, where i've only been three times. i look forward to this journey of southern exploration!

just saw the glasgow bit. i'm not a million miles away from there. ic ould arrange a couple of things for you if you're up for it

i've been doing it for 25 years and well, much of the above. i've worked pretty much in every field i ever wanted to and while that's trickier now than it used to be it's still perfectly feasible.

i've been round the world with it, worked both nhs and private sector. and while i've bitched like a little girl about my job, and still do, i can't think of anything else to do that'd be anywhere like as interesting.

upside is you get to do a job that actually makes a difference. down side is that, particularly if you're working on the floors, it's easy to forget that. working with the public is always…er….challenging! the only other thing that bothers me is my perceived lack of weekends off. so far this year i've had three outside of holidays. tho i do get so many holidays it's the perception that bothers me rather than the actuality. time off away from the weekends is great and my other half works part time so i see her frequently.

the training, such as it is, is easy, at least from my point of view seeing as it consists more of writing essays than actual patient care. the first couple of years post-qualification are the tricky ones and rely on decent mentoring/not working with too many people with personality disorders in order to get your work methodology sorted out. like most jobs i guess, more or less, it's just down to luck.

would i do it again? my daughter asked me not so long ago if it was a worthwhile profession to go into. i said i'd rather see her go into physio
or even medicine. that said i get to work with loads of great young staff and encourage them on their way but they tell me that is not the norm!

go to sweden.

easier to get to. cheaper (relatively). language doesn't like someone gargling (i do apologise to any norwegians but that's how it sounds to me). plus if you really do want to go to norway you can jump on a handy train, cut out the middle man and set fire to all your money and come back again