restaurants are rammed full

Can’t be to hard to find chips & mayo?!

It really becomes more like a festival

I’ve a feeling that’ll suit us.

I hope you like African / Latin music

Hell yeah!

Can I assume prices go up?

I think Matt Page was the SSer in 3rd

Yeah, I’m no Matt Page but we can but dream!

Was that the extra bit where they have the beer? I made an on the spot decision to do the extra, That climb killed me!

I’m only training on my SS! I’ll be riding my full suss this year.

A cramped old Bike workshop turned bar with a grumpy man that serves random beer?

SOLD!!!

are you driving

£80 RTN on Eurostar, International travel via train and it only takes two and half hours! Was never a question!

If you haven’t already booked accommodation I highly recommend here

Sweet! this is where we’ve booked! 12 Bed dorm, Is far cheaper than anywhere else and it looks great,
Out of interest, it says No eating drinking in the dorms (apart from bottled water), How strict are they on this rule?

Try and take/hire bikes if you can

It’s a given really!
Do you know if they do those gimmicky Beer/bar Bikes?

Oh and there is a bar in the square that will ask you for a shoe as a deposit if you order a certain expensive beer ( the glass it comes in is unique)

I love little quirks like this, do you remember the name of the bar/beer? I guess half the fun is exploring!

Can’t wait! What are the people like? Need to brush up on my dutch!

It’s not climbing you want to worry about its the traffic on the downhill,
good fun, great atmosphere and that mug!

Money taken from PayPal but no confirmation email, can I assume it’s a go?

Check online, Gumtree, Ebay, Pinkbike and the thousands of classified pages on facebook, “Push Bikes for sale Loughborough” “Mountain Bikes for Sale Oggaboogerland” Etc etc,
Check further afield too,

found my prince albert all over these pleaces about 3 weeks after it was stolen!

I would certainly take a drive over to the local estates and keep an eye out!

“The door is certainly not closed for you here”
– A unattainable opportunity that has helped clarify for me that I’ve got the skills to do what needs to be done.

Here’s to moving forward.

suppose i may have to marry her if i want to tag along.

Marriage and Tagging along, that sounds like a risk!

I’ve got old boys at college doing the nvq as they are been rejected on certain jobs for not having the paper.

The wife and I are considering Canada/NZ in the future, the NVQ will add a significant amount of points in any application.

Excellent idea if my college did the night course but they don’t :cry:

New Basford/ Sherwood area.

Limited, as I’d already be working almost all available workshop hours bar the Monday/tuesday I’m at college, potentially extra hour each morning.
5.30am start each day, maybe I should man up!

really struggle realistically meaning I can’t afford it.

To be fair after speaking to the boss today, he did say he understood my desire to stay at college, offering me a 32hour contract,
problem is even at 32hours I’m going to really struggle with the £7ph and added travel costs.
Said I’d call him back by tomorrow.

Bare in mind the last physical job I had was around 5 years ago, The last two days reminded me of those after work aches, First after work bath in a while!

Trial went well, I was part of the team fixing the segments together, installing fascias, hanging doors, repairing dents etc etc,

Not really what I expected but was interesting at times, Got on with the job, asked other folks for help when I needed it, Friendly and hard working team.

Workshop managers feed back was positive,
Expecting a call from the big boss today with details of offer.

Despite the work been intense I enjoyed it, Hoping I could move my way towards the wood side of the workshop in time but it’s all experience.

All this said, they seem to have one obstacle with me….College (Mondays & Tuesdays 9-4.30), They want me full time, I’m 2 months into my NVQ 2 in Site carpentry, there’s been talk of subsidizing me for the remainder of the year,

I’m really not happy about this, I’ve started the course and don’t want to rule out Site in the future, particularly as I’m very interested in the Heritage/ restoration side of site.

From my point of view I have an issue, Cost of travel,
If they can work with me around college, I’ll need to be doing 30+ hours weekly, I’ll have to get a second vehicle, something I can barely afford on my current wage let alone taking a pay cut and having added costs of fuel for the daily 40ish mile round trip.

Are we talking DeVol by any chance?

I’d wouldn’t like to disclose but I will say yes, this company is rapidly expanding.

Thanks for all the advice,
Basically summed up,
1. Be yourself
2. Believe in yourself
3. Be enthusiastic

I’m almost certain I can do these things!
Still bricking it!

1 – Believe in your abilities.

2 – Measure twice, cut once.

1. I’m not 100% sure of my abilities!

2. Standard!

3. Fearless – naff film but very watchable
2. Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon – Stunning movie
1. Game of Death – Although not properly finished, it was fascinating to see the passion from Bruce Lee

I know some working out there on a 5 year contract, big money and well…..camels? The temperature seems to be a steady 50*c.

Sounds like hell.

Thieves and Journalists,
Meh….

best to be honest and upfront and feel better within yourself.

Absolutely.

And?

£65 later and it’s mine again,

A great and somewhat surreal result even with the increased premium but the reality is that i’d simply prefer not have my bikes stolen in the first place.

I’ll no longer be keeping it in the shed, instead keeping it up my bum hole for added security. :wink:

So it would seem :(

Potentially looking at this myself,
Are there any books that anyone would recommend?

I’m far from academic and worry I’d struggle with the paperwork side.

Deuter Alpine[/url]
Fits laptop and feels like you’re been spooned all the way to work.

airbnb!

Those Radon Slide’s look good, wish I’d seen them 3 weeks ago!

Have you ordered a 2014 or 2015 model?
Mine took 7 days from ordering,
The first confirmation email said they were busy and could take 5-8 days before the bike was sent out.
5 days after ordering I got an email confirming the bike was ready,
My UPS number said it was waiting to be picked up, On day 7 the UPS status updated, almost an hour later the bike was here!

You said 48hrs yesterday?

So I did, I meant 24hrs,
Non the less they hadn’t any records of yesterdays call!

Oh! As skydragon has done, I’ll be replacing the tires, Mountain Kings don’t roll too fast and The saddle isn’t all that comfortable, Charge Spoon is only £20!

Also! The Chain stay protector occasionally got caught when my pedaling,
Annoying but possibly because I’ve switched to chunky Shimano AM45’s and just getting used to them!

First ride out the other day, unfortunately only around Sherwood Pines,
Please also bare in mind that I’ve come from riding a 120mm Prince Albert hardtail.
It rides well but as has already been pointed out, the suspension lets it down,
The Fox 32 Evolution is somewhat better than the Rebas I’m used to,
However I can feel it’s going to take some fine tuning to find that agreeable spot,
I had to set up at near 100psi, around 20psi more than recommended for my weight,
At 80psi the forks would bottom out (remember this is Sherwood pines we’re talking about!).

The rear suspension Fox CTD is pretty good but again I’m running much higher than my weights recommendation, The Climb setting could be better, I feel it doesn’t lock out as much as it could.

I have a Small and at 5’6″ it fits me perfectly.

The bike feels great, no play on any components,
I really need to ride it a few times to get a feel for it but I know we’ll get on perfectly well!

Only gripe! as mentioned, The Raw finish looks a bit shabby in places,
I considered the 2015 6.0 in Petrol but I can’t complain to much as the price was better on the 2014.

Will get back with a better report on how the bike rides after Cannock tomorrow.

Just got home, Insurer hasn’t followed up my inquiry that they said they would within the 24hrs from this time yesterday (poor customer service!)

I’ve replaced the stolen bike with the £1700 payout,
Its a completely different type of mtb so I’d be keen to keep both.

Just to clarify,
I HAVE contacted the Insurers to let them know of the recovered stolen bike!

Hopefully I can get some sort of resolve from them by tomorrow!

Be grown up about this

No humor in a period of heartbreak?

You are cruel.

I’m confused

Clearly.

I’ve a bike, I built this bike with my own hands, with love,
Events have lead for this bike to be no longer my bike,
A faceless company will offer me a price I’m unlikely able to afford,
Forcing me to hand back a bike I know they don’t want and in all likelihood won’t do anything with.

Regardless of the insurance system, it’s hard to see this bike disappear from my life because I’ve done the morally right thing.

You simply can’t put a price on love.

I don’t want anyone to consider me a thief, My OP was due to uncertainty and a naivety of the process,
I’ve done the right thing and I’m hoping that karma will work in my favor.

MrsTaco say’s I should cry on the phone, I’d like to go on Judge Judy with the thief and my insurer,
I’d build a worth while case,
Judge Judy would see whats right.

So why take it/keep quiet with someone else’s property?

because I built it with love and they don’t want it?
:?:

Called Insurance company, They’ll be contacting me within the next 48hrs with an offer.

They did say they don’t normally take back bikes, I suspect the £1700 valuation may allow them to make an exemption, although that is a valuation of a new bike and not the value of the actual bike itself.

The way I see it is I pay a premium to protect myself from bike thieves and the Insurer is there to replace the bike when I fall victim,
I now understand that the bike is the property of the insurer (or at least they lay claim to it)
but when I’ve been reunited with a custom built bike that I’ve spent many of my hard earned pennies on and gave many hours building and maintaining,
it’s very hard to see that bike in my possession, knowing I may have to hand it back (don’t have spare £££’s) to a faceless company that in all honesty isn’t going to do anything with it.

From what I’m reading I’m best telling the insurers,
It is after all their property and hope they will except a decent offer, maybe in installments included with my monthly premium?