Get Kielty a bike and get him doing some testing – I reckon he could be fairly handy.

This is a man who sobbed for hours and hours after his first ride and ever subsequent ride.
This is a man, who when we saw him on the test equipment was making such a meal of it, he was neither dripping with sweat nor even flushed with effort.

The man's a complete nancy-boy.
With something of a drink problem.

Kielty may have gone up in some people's estimation

Who? Only a woman would find any pity in his behaviour. Ever time he appeared my hackles went up.

They raised lots of money for some seriously deserving causes and people in real need, but please, spare me a man sobbing for hours on a bus 'cause he's away from his family and cycling a bike for an hour or two!

That's the reality of what we were shown, you just need to read between the lines.

I thought R1 did a fantastic job of raising soooo much money. Very, very impressed, but spare us a grown man sobbing because he's riding a bicycle up a hill.

Why did they have Jimmy Carr there at all? Did every other celeb say "No" to the project?

I've found the XTR rings a wee bit too much like cheese!
I swapped the front-middle to a Middleburn after about 18 months and it's saved me time, money and effort as it simply doesn't seem to have worn much.

Thanks all.

The XTR is away being looked at – it's presently somewhere in the maintenace dept of the 747 fleet at Heathrow, as many of the LAE's have a take on what's the best solution to the stripped and oval-ised thread! However, I may never see it again – soon to be appearing on a 747-400.1 for the co-pilot to use in emergencies!

I which case, I will in deed have a spare LH crank, which I'll let you have.

The XTR kit came on the eBay Turner Flux, & weighs about 24-25lbs. I need it for the 1st Merida / CRC in about 3 weeks time. SLX look fav' since it's 2/3rd the price of XT kit for no real weight penalty.

Veggie food is inherently low in protein, unless you eat eggs all day.
It might tell you pulses or legumes have a high protein content but this is not the full story.
What you need to be aware of is how much of the protein can be utilised by the body, and there are books on just this subject.

Now, I’m dredging my memory from 25yrs ago when I used to fling weigths about, but most athletes and anyone looking to build their bodies needs quality protein.
My concern would be that what little protein is consumed will not satisfy a growing child’s needs very well.

Example: One boy, 3 doors up from me here in my street went veggie about 18 months (?) ago, aged 10. He is still riding the bike he had many years ago, his voice is noticeably shriller than the other boys of his age group and he seems not to have grown at all.
At this age group, it’s something that becomes quite obvious.
This is not good news as the world tends not to be overly kind to small / under developed men as a general rule!

Just a cursory look at veggie food stuffs tells even the casual observer it’s quite often very high in fat too, be they veggie burgers or cheese, you name it, I suspect veggies typically consume considerably more fat in their daily lives than a fish / chicken / turkey / lean meat carnivore.

Just my £0.02 worth.

Glad to be of service…

Further to this, I've put in some more research and the High5 4:1 Energy Source powder sachets 47g – uses fructose as the other ingredient alongside the maltodextrin.

I have not yet investigated the Torq powder yet, but assume they have something similar.

Having just had a full breakfast at Tesco I'll let you know once I can move again! 😉

The winner of the vets category at the Montane Kielder 100 was consuming enery mix in his drinks, 3x gels and 2 (?) energy bars per hour.

I think if you are competitive, then you should be pushed to win win win

There can only be one winner.
Therefore for every race, say at the Gorrick, there will be 60 losers.
You try telling the rest of the field they've been wasting their time and they've achieved nothing of value and should not be competative and just play!

To say your comments completely misses the point is the only truth in the above post I'm afraid.

But if you're not (winning), you should be pushed to play play play

I don't think you get the competative instinct at all! 🙄

And make no mistake, this translates fully into business. It's not just sport where people want to win, to be better, faster, achieve more & better results, be more than they were at the start of their journey.

Interesting that the recovery vehicle's driver (I was unaware it was a recovery vehicle) did not use his horn either.
He's happy to tell his passengers there's about to be a huge pile-up / crash so get some footage, and did not think to act himself other than to keep on driving and in no way try to alert the lorry driver.

I appreciate the fact that he has clients on board but my instinct would have been immediately to re-join the carriageway if possible (I did note he was on the slip road), he's seen the "incident" in his mirror so may have had ample time, there's no traffic between him and the lorry, and not be a witness but try and prevent what could have been a far more serious, even fatal event.

Velcro straps are better, especially as some over booties can loosen the ratchet (always on my R shoe!) on occations.

Think through the actual mechanics of getting this footage.
The phone that is recording the footage starts well back and the car with the videographer is some 2-3 lanes away and ahead of the lorry.

The videographer saw this, the driver sped up, another got the phone readied, the driver moved into the correct lane, slowed down, his mate shot the footage and then chose not to speed up, not to put their 4-way flashes on and not get in front of the lorry, slowing their speed, alerting the driver to the car attached to his bumper.

Crunchy Nut Cornflakes with lashings of Heinz salad cream.
Yummy.

Horseradish sauce in tomato juice with a couple of raw eggs is lovely once mixed.

+1 for the Tomaoto sauce sarnies.

Don't knock it, but Beef Goolash mixed with processed cheese and Frosties.

My advice – as I have 2 pairs – is order 1 Euro size up as they tend to be a little narrow initially.

Overbooties in the winter.
Lizard Skinz merino socks all year 'round.

Sorted!

Go to any horsey event and tell me that the ladies aren't mad-keen!
It's the blokes who do the behind the scenes stuff but they're massively out-numbered by the ladies when it comes to the actual riding (in the UK).
Two of my ex's worked with horses, so I can spot a Dandy brush at a 1000 yds!

As Prince Philip wryly observed when asked by his / the pilot on the Queen's Flight if HM Queen would like to have a tour of the cockpit whilst in mid flight, his comment perhaps summs it up nicely, "She's not interested unless it can bite & fart".

The only complaint I have with the local council is that for some reason they won't collect glass as they say it's too dangerous!

That can't be the "norm".

Go 3 miles down the trail from Watford & you're in South Oxhey, a BNP held seat. If you like your BNP / Nazi slogas daubed everywhere, this is the estate in the south o' England to came and visit!

Bonty X lite rims.
RRalf 2.25 (now / summer) and the Bonty MudX and Bonty ACX tyres (winter).

Einstein coined the term 'lichtaffen' or 'light monkeys' to dismiss photographers of his day who he thought were unimaginative and did nothing but copy light

Ergo, anything remotely similar involving a monkey reference would in today's parlance, as in Einstein's day, suggest a distinct lack of imagination!

Depends a little on age.
Mother broke hers in 3 places in May.
It'll possibly never be quite right.
Almost a year on she'd still hobbling and can't manage more than 3-500m without some assistance.

Neutrino
400 920g
(32.5oz) 3/4 Saffron 2?C
(36?F) -4?C
(25?F) -20?C
(-4?F)

Unless you have anti-freeze in your viens, imagine for one moment the difference between "comfort" at + 2 degrees and even -4. Then contemplate minus 20 degrees, in a bag that light.
I think you'd be long gone by then!
Have many of us even been in conditions of -10 or under?
That's what it was on top of Kili before dawn, likewise at the climbing hut below Mt Kenya's 2x summits.

Don't get me wrong, I love Rab kit, I have an Atlas 600, but these sorts of figures are just rubbish.

EDIT: Just look at that! -10.6 FFS how stupid and misleading is that! Is that when the crash test dummy shattered? Point anything of a degree is indicative of some stupid figure plucked out of thin air by some 1/2 baked marketing dept.

Marketing is everything that a company does

Correction:
Marketing is only the warm-up act.
Sales is all a company does.
No sales, no turnover, no business.

Wish it'd been my collar bone.
It didn't, and the force impacted into the AC joint taking with it part of the cartilage, and it's one part of the body that doesn't re-grow cartilage – so that's my swimming days over.

Merlin – he was a soothsayer & it's come from a bike forum afterall.

Just wondered as it's a walk I still have to tick-off.
Not very interesting I'd imagine though!
Much of the NYMoors is pretty exposed, flat and devoid of trees on top.
It's the fringes that tend to be interesting, for me it's the southern edge that I'm more familiar with, say Sutton Bank to Dalby-ish as I lived at Nunnington.
The NE coast line is very rugged and wild, anything up from Filey towards Redcar-ish.

Don't forget Shimonao have a new rear casette: 12-36, partly in response of the 29er evolution.

Personally, I think it looks like a very good, logical evolution of the whole 3-9 set up we mostly have at present.
I assume the chains might be a little narrower (?) & therefore lighter (?).

TJ – that's how businesses make money afterall (nothing wrong with that at all) & it'll sell like proverbial hot cakes!

Is the LWWalk a ride-able path?

I know one guy, who bought some small flats above a parade of shops in N London.
He then let them to mostly immigrants via the local council who needed to house the finflux of people needing a roof over their heads.
Not sure of the details as such but within 5 years he had something like 150 or so properties, all let through the council.
He bought a purlpe Diablo (Lambo) just before his wedding day – because he could.

Color being in the second cull.

I'm hoping that in 2011, there will be a law that bans outright all Americanisms from the English language!

Gonna being THE prime candidate for the initial cull.

I am glad you're not one & the same, or even twins seperated at birth as the one picture we have of you suggests a natrually very beautiful woman.
We can't have two of you competing for honours!
Besides, you're only 30 (?). (waits for a slap).

Wait 'til you get the other side of 40 & are still single, then you'll either revel in your single-ness or have been consumed by self-doubt!
😉

Is it my imagination, but in that 1st picture, are you sitting way back over the rear wheel and by the look of things, the saddle set quite low, although this might be an optical illusion?
Do you have the rear shock set up for XC pedalling or soft / DH stuff?

To say anyone is non-competitive is complete baloney!

That day, you are the very bi-product of the very best, the strongest, the most forceful, the most competitive, simply the most able & capable sperm that your father could produce.
You started off being highly competitive, you will, without knowing it, continue to be so every day of your life, in so many ways, until your dying day.

So it's a false account of your life if you believe, in error, that you are not competitive. Just being you is testament to that fact – you are a living testament, a marvel of evolution itself!

Which possibly makes your thoughts and ideas about competition a little pointless if you don't understand the meaning of the word!

I don't think Simon's got the jist of competitiveness at all.
I personally have set times on most every ride I do and as the weather gets dryer, the fitness improves I have to be bettering those times every ride.
That's just my competitive nature.
Not coming last at a race can be just as competitive as trying for the podium.

But really, this has deviated away from the OP.

Like the video.
Oulton is a great course, late apex's, double apex's, running wide under power – it's got most things, inc' rough tarmac on the inside of some, positive camber on others.
Always rewards some courage and being smooth (and fast) on the turn-in.
Also good for overtaking as many corners have two very real & possible lines, or whilst racing, an offense and a defensive / blocking line.

Reggie- with whom do you instruct?

As an aside, competition is very good in all walks of life at every level, especially school as it prepares you for adult life.
If not, you'll fall into the wet-liberal approach that insists that no one should fail.

Cue wet-liberal school's approach:

"How about sponsoring me on our school sponsored walk Mister?"
"Sure" I said. "How far and where?"
"Several laps of the 400m running track"
"What! No thanks".

lusting after women's arses is needless and immature but since it's fun

I don't know about anyone else, but as a hetrosexual male I find myself scratching my head over this strange observation.

There is one advantage to this lack of ladies out on the trails.
I find my eye-line wandering to the rider in front of me if it's a lady.
This can be exactly not what's needed on technical single track or on a decent as I need to be looking ahead not at what's perched on the saddle 3m infront of me!

I had k05 (one before the oval cans).
Massively capable bike in every way.
Just prefered the Duke as it had more "soul".

One came under me at Barn (Cadwell), only to see it, seconds later, bounce its way across the grass at Coppice.
Careful whan opening the throttle, fully cranked over as it might just catch you out!

Chris Boardman road bike seem astonishing value for £1k.
The CF bike is THE one to buy.
If you've not felt the difference in how CF bikes take the sting out of the road / trail you'll be an instant convert once you discover what CF can really bring to your riding pleasure.