Spies has done an amazing job so far, and that Yamaha – with the same firing order as the M1 GP bike – looks to be a real weapon.

Haga, like many Japanese riders, has a tendency to blow hot and cold. Although it’s only his second WSBK weekend, Spies looks to have brought with him the consistency that served him so well in AMA Superbike.

If I was going to put money on someone it would be Spies.

In World Supersport, the head says Sofuoglu, but I really want Ant West to do well this year. He has the talent, but the Stiggy Honda looks to be down on top speed compared to the Ten Kate and Parkalgar Hondas, as well as the Yamahas. Go Westy!

A bit of a crash in Spain while trying to do drop offs that where way past my talent threshold – despite being very small!

Over the bars and head first into the ground resulting in a smashed helmet and a separated shoulder.

Much to the amusement of my teammates!

Mountain Biking in Spain with Seasonally Unadjusted

A bit of dark side, grovelling up Mont Ventoux.

My favourite work photo, obviously I’m the one on the left!

Wilier Izoard. Like all my bikes this was built up using parts bought from Ebay and the classifieds, including the frame.

Was full Dura Ace, but switched to a compact crank for European sportives last year and haven’t got round to switching back to a 39/53 set-up yet.

Done two Tour of Flanders and two Liege-Bastogne-Liege sportives in Belgium, plus a few sportive rides here in Norn Irn. The bike is way faster than I am!

Front wheel washed out on boxing day on the local trails and I landed with enough of a thump to break my arm. Still not 100% right now.

My Daughter was in the Doctor’s the other day when a man walked in with a pony tail. At the top of her voice my Daughter announced: “Look at that man’s funny hair!”.

Wandering around the supermarket with my (then) 4 year old daughter, we stop to pick up some milk next to a woman in her early thirties who was wearing a black eyepatch and had quite a long pony tail.

Cue daughter, in a very loud voice: “Look Daddy, that lady’s a pirate!”

I smiled in that “Kids, don’t you just love them” kind of way only to be glared at. If looks could kill…

She did look like a pirate though!

Unfortunately, there was no Black Sheep in the Glan Aber hotel when I was there. However, the Tetleys, while in no way comparable to Thirsk’s finest, was pretty good.

I’d second the Glan Aber hotel. I was there for a couple of days last week and ate in the bar both nights. The lamb and leek pie was so good on the first night, I had it on the second as well!

There are plenty of places to stay in Llangollen, which is where I stayed last time I went to Llandegla.

I stayed at the Bridge End Hotel, which was cheap and cheerful, pretty basic but pretty good. It’s above a pub, which is handy.

No bike facilities as such, but they will lock your bikes in the cellar if you want.

Bridge End Hotel

flippinheckler – Member

Nice bike wheelz! shame you ruined it by putting a saddle bag and mud guard on it :wink:Looks brand new!

It is brand new – well, a couple of rides old anyway, which is why I decided to take it instead of the Epic. Didn’t really need the crud catcher in the end, but the tube in the saddlebag got used!

I was up at Penmachno on Thursday. Some of the fire roads were a bit deep in snow, but all the singletrack was rideable. Was a fun day out.

Okay, so it’s not a road bike, but it’s still one of the best looking bikes I’ve worked with.

Unlike the 2002 version, which was a bit of a munter!

Sadly it looks like we won’t see the Kawasaki on the MotoGP grid this year. Doubly sad, because it means I’m out of a job as well!

Watch out for pickpockets at Puerto Olympico. Two young guys tried to lift my wallet, but I felt it go from my pocket and managed to get it back. not 20 minutes later one of my work colleagues had his lifted in similar circumstances, but he wasn’t so lucky.

I work for a Japanese company and my boss got told on Christmas day that the project they had planned for 2009 was cancelled, despite having more than 35 people under contract. The rest of us were informed on 29th December.

It’s been a bit of a worrying time, but today we found out that they would pay out the contracts in full, which means I get a year’s money in return for terminating the contract early and I can carry on paying my mortgage for at least the next 12 months.

On one hand I’m disappointed because I’ve done the same job for eight years and really enjoyed it, and on the other hand it’s the perfect opportunity to make a career change and reduce the amount of time I spend away from home – 250 days last year – which is important now the kids are getting a little older.

I’m lucky compared to most, as at least I can afford to take some time out to look at all the options before making a decision about what I want to do in the future.

The worrying thing is that I’ve only been unemployed for three weeks and I’m already climbing the walls at home, mainly because I bust my arm on Boxing Day and can’t ride the bike at the moment!

I’d second the request for a ‘more’ or ‘next page’ button on the mixed forum posts on the front page.

mboy – Member

Eh? Who?

Anthony West, who had a lucky escape this year when he signed for Stiggy Honda.

I can’t think of anything worse than mincing down a hill being overtaken by hundreds of riders 😀

But I’m still going to give it a go.

Right, that’s me entered for my showdown with our gobby ex-MotoGP rider.

If I get to the bottom with no broken bones then I’ll count that as a victory!

Try these people [/url] Conor. They will even arrange collection from your workplace (usually by DHL).

Here you go Dave. Click here[/url]

Entry opens at 15.00 today.

I would have been up for this, but the other half has just informed me she has tickets for Oasis/Prodigy on the 20th June. If it’s a different weekend, then you can count me in.

I’m 16.5 stone, is that enough?

Another kick in the teeth for Mark Cavendish! After winning four stages of the Tour de France, but missing out on gold in Beijing, he can’t be too happy to see all his Olymic teammates picking up honours and being left off the list himself. Especially as he wasn’t the happiest of chaps about the set-up in Beijing, which he felt robbed him of the chance of a medal.