I had a very freaky experience during final year of uni with a ouija board. A number of people around the board. Someone’s friend had recently died. To cut a long story short the board very, very rapidly and forcefully spelled out D-E-A-D repeatedly. It scared the crap out of us, and we never did it again.

Makes a change from the LARPers…! :)

Seriously though, this is nasty stuff. Where’s the conifer bit in relation to the top carpark?

You’re certainly finished as a senior LS…. ;-)

x

(Rich)

To be fair the Trek FX that was mentioned above is about 47 times better looking than these monstrosities though…

HOLD ON…I’ve just seen the trailers!! They look ACE :-)

You should still be able to pick up some ‘ex-racer’ canti-braked bikes out there second hand. Depends what you want to do with the bike. Race or do some of this new-fangled adventure/gravel crap ;)

Footflaps – do you genuinely think that about club level riders and EPO, HGH, testosterone etc? (That’s a genuine question, not some sort of sarcastic question!) :) Do you have specific experience of this?

It’s not subjective though is it? :) It’s a list

If it’s on the list, it’s banned. If it’s not on the list, it’s not banned.

If you don’t have a BC license you can do whatever the hell you want really.

Only thing on your list that might be on WADA list is your decongestant, dependant upon type.

I think she should be allowed to speak her mind on the issues of animal cruelty that obviously matter a great deal to her. She’s obviously not desensitized by the prevailing modern culture that treats many living creatures as nothing more than food.

However, if the town is allowed to vote against people for whatever reason they like, then that’s fair enough, them’s the rules.

They’re not races you know…. :wink:

We went a couple of years back. I did a MTB day around Reykjavik – some local trails etc, including up by the Pearl – really good. Wife went Whale watching while I did that – saw a massive amount apparently. Golden Circle is impressive, if quite a long trip on a bus. +1 for Cathedral – nice view from top.

Oh, and take ALL your money. :)

https://www.kitbrix.co.uk/ are worth a look too…you’d probably need two…

I recently got one of these from Polaris.

http://www.polaris-bikewear.co.uk/Aquanought-Wheelie-Bag-p/pol01-5224-p.htm

It’s basically a big, incredibly well built dry bag with a roller/handle. I bought it to use for holidays, but as it’s only a roll-top, I don’t want to stick it on a plane.

So – happy to sell it on to you. (I paid £35 in the sale for it) – opened it yesterday. Any good to you?

Rich

rtedgeAThotmail.com

Had a 2010 ex-AA Trafic for a couple of years as a daily and race van. Had no problems at all, other than the fact you won’t really get much money back on them when you come to sell compared to a VW or a Merc.

I’m now running a low mileage T4 as I now only use the van for racing and it’ll hold it’s money much better.

If I had the option of TVP vs T5 though I’d go T5. I think that’s something to do with me also owning a 67 Beetle, a 1982 T3 and a beach buggy though :wink:

I guess these are now ‘older’ models, but I’ve had a good experience for a year or so with one of these:

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/garmin-vivoactive/rp-prod132102?gs=1&gclid=CNrzocLaptECFUITGwodQS4MRw&gclsrc=aw.ds

The Sea Shepherd one is good…Cookin up a storm…

+1 for getting out there to explore. After about 10 years you end up with an encyclopaedic knowledge of every footpath and bridleway within a 50 miles radius of your house!

+1 for OS maps as a starting point though.

As a curve ball option, have a look at this:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Good-Mountain-Biking-Guide-England/dp/0956802907

I got it for £2.99 from a charity shop. Quite good, as it just gives an idea of the trails in an area in OS type format rather than routes…

I find overshoes never quite keep everything out, especially in the wet. In terms of cold prevention though, I’ve been using these:
https://www.roostersailing.com/pd/Hot-Socks_105321.htm?ne=AQAAABQAAAAECEZvb3R3YXJl

with these:
http://www.planetx.co.uk/i/q/CLPXSPOS/planet-x-flanders-oversocks

and then these on top!
http://www.planetx.co.uk/i/q/CLPXOSH/planet-x-neoprene-overshoes

Need roomy shoes for the hot socks though…I wear them over normal socks.

Needless to say, my feet stay warm.

Ref bib tights, I just go with normal bib shorts and leg warmers.

leffeboy – thanks for the Donnie Willow tip-off – they’re good. Mates of yours?

MTB racing? Cross season isn’t even over ;)

Remaining Notts/Derby events are Broxtowe (awesome, technical course with singletrack, cambers, mud, running etc), and Chetwynd (stiff climbs, fast descents). Both ‘within’ Nottingham to all intents and purposes.

Both guaranteed awesome ;)

You tried reading any Joe Friel material and self-coaching? It’ll save you the £100 a month proper coaching is likely to cost you (at a minimum)

Otherwise, BC Level 3 is a good recommendation – if you can get a Level 3-in-training they have to work with a rider for a season to gain their accreditation from what I understand, so that could be a win-win.

Cheers OP – nice recommendation.

Avoid complicated clearance questions by getting a jetwash :)

Isla Rowntree is racing Trophies SS this year, and doing rather well.

Have you tried putting ‘-‘ before words you don’t want to see?

Eg, if you search for ‘volkswagen -golf’ you will get volkswagens but nothing with golf in the title…

It can help to refine things sometimes….

Sea Shepherd one is good

Don’t go and race it. You’ll end up realising how dull and tedious MTB racing is and how awesome CX is. :-)

Love the way his ears flap when the video goes into ‘dogcam’ mode.

On that note, what cam for my dog?!

Have Whyte sorted out their weird geometry on their CX bikes yet (is that old news?)

If you’re anywhere near Eastwood, Derbyshire, pop down to their HQ. The bargain box of ‘slightly wonky stitched’ backpacking bags is very reasonable!

Wow. Seems like a load of overpriced, dowdy clothes on that site. I must really be missing something.

Very cheap ones at Planet X?

Edit – too small sorry

Pet Vegan? Sounds like a interesting career change for me. Pay any good?

Rockape63 – does this help with your theories? ;D

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolf_Hitler_and_vegetarianism

Yes I know that’s not vegan, but hey…

To balance that out I’m a radical lefty vegan though… :)

Alu Camino coming…..

Looks strangely like a London Road although geom slightly different

Rear pics please, and can we ask how much? Sweet van btw! :)

Are you dead-set on a VW? In rational terms 8K is a lot of money for an 11 year old van. Have a look at how much you could get something like a Trafic for as an example. (I bought a 10 plate Traffic van with 80k on it for £6K a couple of years back)

Having said that, a weekend-only vehicle doesn’t need to be as reliable as a daily-drive I guess.

Don’t just consider T5s of course – my 14 year old T4 was £5K with about 100k on it, and my T3 was less than £2k but it’s slow, leaky and cold ;)

I bought one for £14 off eBay. Works fine. Lots of accessories. Even works after if fell 30m off a kite I’d tied it too :)

I suspect they’re all much the same….

OP – that’s a really useful session for preparing you for the on-off-on nature of CX racing. I do the same but 15/15. I wouldn’t worry about the wattage etc, or whether your dying at the end, just keep pushing it. I’d probably try and do three sets in the hour.

EDIT – I wouldn’t be doing this session on a Thurs though if you’re racing Sat/Sun. Weds if you’re racing Sat :)