that looks chuffing awful – I’m sure it’s steeper in real life than it looks on the vid…but from what I’ve seen I could ride down it (with the possible exception of that wooden double/gap jump thing…which is more of a ‘bottle’ thing, rather than a ‘skill’ thing)

and if i can ride down it it isn’t worthy of WC status!

it’s just partitions on the same hdd

mine’s almost exactly the same

his response was that he couldn’t go on the front as he didn’t know the way, which seems odd as the rest of us listened to the guy with the GPS and went left/right/straight on when told.

did he mean that or did he mean he didn’t know all the subtle hand gestures that confused the hell out of me on the first few group road rides I did?
Going on the front and neglecting to warn people of a ruddy great pot hole is worse than just sitting at the back – though maybe he shoud have been honest about it!

Maybe he didn’t think he was very good on the climbs – lots of magazines and websites suggest going off the front at the start of climbs if you’re not a good climber.

Try and get over the camelback. If he’d turned up without enough drink and had blown up he’d have been a tit. If he’d turned up equipped for a 3 week tour of the arctic he’d have been a bit of a tit. The fact that he decided to carry his drink on his back isn’t really any of your business
EDIT: aah, you were joking. sorry.

that seat tube was straight before rich stomped up a hill 😉

I got an email from the organiser on the 20th saying:

If you haven’t sent your entry
form in yet then you have about 10 working days to do so because the
entry deadline is fast approaching. Don’t delay. Do it today. Miss the
deadline and you miss the best charity 24hour event of the year (well
ok there aren’t any others, but you know the score).

so if you’re quick you should be OK 🙂

clicky event calendar thingy

loads on!
clic24 has a cracking course, a beer tent and a top notch laid back atmosphere, if you can down to zomerzet…

just a shame there’s so many races on at the same time – I’ll bet that hasn’t helped

Gritter – by pitchshifter

is this for real?!

😯
where?!?

i was desperate for a twister…i’d have made do with a 99 flake, but ended up with some (admittedly v tasty) flapjack from the coffee people

my crumpler bag is about 3 years old now and doesn’t have a mark on it, despite being treated with vast quantities of contempt 🙂

it’s almost irritatingly well put together as i keep hanckering after something new, but can’t justify it!

yeah
if you’re going to have weather like that you need to have an ice cream van there 😉

i thought the racing format was good, the course was good – just enough places for overtaking but enough singletrack and techy bits to keep everyone interested

maybe (and i have no idea how you could work this into a race) let the “have a go heros” opt-in to the tricker sections if they wanted to? As I say I don’t know how you could fit that into the race, it’s more of a pipe dream to get everyones skills progressing as the series goes on…

i guess it’s a shame the “arena” was down at the bottom of the access track away from the race course, but i guess thre’s not all that much you can do about that?

i’m sure the delay in the prize giving was just a one off hitch – the longer you wait the more people naturally filter off home, which is a bit of a shame. Awarding prizes for “having it large”, “muddyest bike” and the like are good ideas though.

well if you slightly ignored the 200-300 word thing (and, erm, quadrupled it…) you could use this

though i think it would put more people off than encourage them!

Definately do a pre race lap of the course.

Get the basic essentials sorted well before the race itself – something to drink, maybe an energy gel or two if you’re well up for it (which you should be, it’s a race!), your bike set up as nicely as possible (no start line faffing)

Best thing to do on the start line is feel extremely jittery, almost hyperactive and descend into a state of mild panic about everything and anything. That’s what I do anyway 🙂

Always remember that you’re racing and get as completely caught up in it as you can; chase anything in front of you and try and get away from anything behind you. Go fast. Really fast. The chances are you won’t be the fastest out there, it doesn’t matter, just go fast! – it’s one of the few times you can really do it

Don’t get angry though, people will want to get past you, provided their not in your cat let them (if they are in your category then it’s up to you; are they miles faster than you or can you ‘av ’em?! 😉 ) they should tell you how/when they want to get past in plenty of time, but remember that they’ll be just as out of breath as you so it might not come across very eloquently.
It’s not the end of the world for them to have to wait for a second or two to get past safely, then again don’t hog the singletrack, let them past when you can…and maybe even try and keep up for a bit, you know, just to see how long you can!

The feeling while you’re racing, especialy for the first time, will probably be a mixture of fear, excitement, near total confusion and a deeply uncomfortable feeling in your legs. That’s fine. The feeling once you’ve finished more than makes up for it. You won’t even realise how much you’ve enjoyed it until afterwards!

Aah, neighbours and parking spaces, always fun 🙂

We have a similar situatuion with a ‘mad old coot’ who insists on making sure she’s got 5ft of space either side of her battered old micra because she’s “not very good at manouvering and it’s not fair”…and woe betide anyone who dares park outside her house when she’s out driving. It’s “her space” and everyone else should just “bugger off somewhere else”.

I gave up trying to be polite when she demanded I move my car (this was while I was halfway through a turbo trainer session, pouring with sweat and gasping for breath) 2 car lengths down the road so she could park outside her front door…rather than just park there herself and walk the extra 4 footsteps

Oh – for comedy value alone, stratobiker’s suggestion is definately the way forward!

If anyone is riding at the Clic24 you will see me there (voluntarily) with a spanner in ne hand supporting everyone there riding,

even if they’re riding an on one 😉 😆

kidding
see you there

middleburn do replacement rings for most xtr chainsets, but you do have to get the right ones for your specific cranks

nevegals are a bit gripper, but draggier (i may have just made that word up)

i /think/ the nevegals are 2.1″ as well

I think they’re cracking tyres, they’re not too bad in mud (better than full on summer tyres and the like), don’t clog too readily, but will squirm a bit.

they roll faster than other tyres of the same grip and/or width and are comfy too

on one have em in stock

clicky linky

are those really your socks?

my valves and tyre logos never used to be lined up properly

‘what if it was badger’ (which you often see as road kill too). HTF do you off something as evil as that if you had to?

nuke it from orbit, it’s the only way to be sure

well, if drink is included in this then some lovely local(ish) booze from the bowland brewery always goes down well

there’s a local cheese maker out in the same countryside that makes chili-con-cheddar which is damn tasty too. many times the old camelback as returned from a ride stuffed with cheesy goodness 😀

AA aren’t the cheapest, but have been genuinely ace with me so far. They’ve been quick, polite, friendly, knowledgeable and have gone out of their way to help (as far as ringing their mates on a sunday night at home, to get them to open up a garage so they could get me a part i needed – then giving it to me FOC, including fitting!)

They also convinced me i should replace my first car when they showed me how to start it, using a crowbar 😯

and with quoting me at the top 😯

well, it’s a quarry so yes, it is a large hole in the ground (or really large hole in a hill)
but it is good fun for an hour or two

take the front wheels off and you can slot “normal” hardtails in straight – 29er need to have a puncture though 😉
take both wheels off and you can stack most bikes in sideways (most in mine so far has been 4 bikes and 5 people)

you’re right about hiding under the tailgate too – it’s ace for getting changed/making a brew under while everyone else is searchingn for trees to hide under from the rain

keep an eye on the weather for a few days before you do it – parts of it can be horribly depressing when it’s really muddy and churned up by horses

i can get a boxxered up bullit and a cross bike in the back of my berlingo without taking any wheels off and i’ve had no height issues with doing this (i’m 5ft 11), but they have to go in diagonally – i have to take one wheel from each off to get them to go in straight

they way the seats fold forward removing them completely doesn’t gain you much extra room

clicky for map

it’s pretty well signposted too

forget your bike did you? 😉

(actually that is quite impressive)

i had the same thing while i was on bikemagic the other day, took me ages to realise it was the ad for the royal marines making the noise!

presumably that means i don’t have “what it takes” 😕

got into fights and stuff at school/college, cos, well cos you ‘ad to otherwize you iz weak tho innit. was never very good at it mind you

couldn’t imagine myself actually fighting now. i think it would be hilarious to watch.

so Group 2 for me. retired bruiser lol

masters are just elites who’ve had more years to train, thus making them even faster 😉

maybne try the open cat for the first race or so to get the hang of everything, then move up if you reckon you can take ’em 😀

cane creek do one to IIRC

marzocchi (and others) do reducers cups that you run with 1 1/8″ headsets too – I ran one of those for a year or so with no problems, as an alternative

what’s the difference, in real terms, between ticking a box that says “none of them” and just not voting?

your is quite obviously a scam I’m afraid

I, however, have just been email by the FBI, telling me I’ve won $800,000 😀

Anti-Terrorist And Monetory Crimes Division
FBI Headquarters In Washington, D.C.
Federal Bureau Of Investigation
J. Edgar Hoover Building
935 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW Washington, D.C. 20535-0001
Website: http://www.fbi.gov
Telephone Number : (206) 201-2787

Attn: Beneficiary,

This is to Officially inform you that it has come to our notice and we have thoroughly completed an Investigation with the help of our Intelligence Monitoring Network System that you legally won the sum of $800,000.00 USD from a Lottery Company outside the United States of America. During our investigation we discovered that your e-mail won the money from an Online Balloting System and we have authorized this winning to be paid to you via a Certified Cashier’s Check.

Normally, it will take up to 10 business days for an International Check to be cashed by your local bank. We have successfully notified this company on your behalf that funds are to be drawn from a registered bank within the United States Of America so as to enable you cash the check instantly without any delay, henceforth the stated amount of $800,000.00 USD has been deposited with Bank Of America.

We have completed this investigation and you are hereby approved to receive the winning prize as we have verified the entire transaction to be Safe and 100% risk free, due to the fact that the funds have been deposited at Bank Of America you will be required to settle the following bills directly to the Lottery Agent in-charge of this transaction whom is located in London, United kingdom. According to our discoveries, you were required to pay for the following –

(1) Deposit Fee’s ( Fee’s paid by the company for the deposit into an American Bank which is – Bank Of America )
(2) Cashier’s Check Conversion Fee ( Fee for converting the Wire Transfer payment into a Certified Cashier’s Check )
(3) Shipping Fee’s ( This is the charge for shipping the Cashier’s Check to your home address and this fee includes Insurance )

The total amount for everything is $500.00 (Five Hundred-US Dollars). We have tried our possible best to indicate that this $500.00 should be deducted from your winning prize but we found out that the funds have already been deposited at Bank Of America and cannot be accessed by anyone apart from you the winner, therefore you will be required to pay the required fee’s to the Agent in-charge of this transaction via Western Union Money Transfer Or Money Gram.

In order to proceed with this transaction, you will be required to contact the agent in-charge ( Mr. Michael Bulfield) via e-mail. Kindly look below to find appropriate contact information:

CONTACT AGENT NAME: MR. MICHAEL BULFIELD

E-MAIL ADDRESS: mbulfield201@googlemail.com

Telephone Number : +44-7552439382

You will be required to e-mail him with the following information:

FULL NAME:
ADDRESS:
CITY:
STATE:
ZIP CODE:
DIRECT CONTACT NUMBER:

You will also be required to request Western Union or Money Gram details on how to send the required $500.00 in order to immediately ship your prize of $800,000.00 USD via Certified Cashier’s Check drawn from Bank Of America, also include the following transaction code in order for him to immediately identify this transaction : EA2948-910.

This letter will serve as proof that the Federal Bureau Of Investigation is authorizing you to pay the required $500.00 ONLY to Mr. Michael Bulfield via information in which he shall send to you, if you do not receive your winning prize of $800,000.00 we shall be held responsible for the loss and this shall invite a penalty of $3,000 which will be made PAYABLE ONLY to you (The Winner).

Mr. Bill Nicholson
Special Agent.
Washington DC FBI.
Room, 7367
J. Edgar Hoover Building
935 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, D.C. 20535-0001

Please find below an authorized signature which has been signed by the FBI Director- Robert Mueller, also below is the FBI NSB (National Security Branch Seal)

NSB Seal

Authorized Signature
NSB SEAL ABOVE
NOTE: In order to ensure your check gets delivered to you ASAP, you are advised to immediately contact Mr. michael Bulfield via contact information provided above and make the required payment of $500.00 to information in which he shall provide to you

richpips has yet to post his best work to date:

seemless

fair play to him, that’s a big ol’ ride.

in the same vein; fair play to the two women out riding for the first time who i met earlier today, they’d done about 20 miles and were shattered but absolutely made up with themselves

in fact fair play to anyone who pushes themselves. pushing your limits is awesome!