Did mine about a year ago. Top tips?
Get a good nights sleep the night before your CBT. If you've no experience of motorbike riding it's a hell of a lot to learn in one day. It took me a second visit the following week to get a pass because I was getting very tired and wasn’t safe.
You need to learn to cancel your indicators as they don't auto cancel – it's an instant fail on the bike test if you ride past a side street with your indicator still going.
Before you make any manoeuvre check someone isn't trying to come through the gap (instructor's way of explaining was to say before you move ask your shoulder if it's safe to do so)
Be prepared to be travelling a lot slower than you are used to in the car or things come at you faster than you can deal with.

Above all, have fun and good luck.

Cheers for the tip off Haddock – I had spotted the thread thanks. From the way I read it, the problems seemed to be just with certain fork combos, whereas I'm looking at standard quick release.

I'll be there as part of the "Up Hill And Downed Ale" team. I just hope I beat the time limits – if you're really slow (I'm hoping not to take too much longer than 6 hours) and see a chattie hippy say hello :-)

Cheers guys, it looks like I'll be paying the extra wodge and getting a new wheel built on a Pro 2.

cynic-al – you're right that I don't like messing around with wheels which is exactly why I was thinking Pro 2 so I can keep them running til the bearings die and then stick some more in (although I have no idea where to get new ones from).
What's up with my XTs? Well after a couple of years of general abuse the freehub is noisey and the wheel is no where near as free running as it once was. Was advised by my friendly LBS to get saving for a new wheel as this was on it's last legs but they did a free re-grease of it to get me back running a bit better in the mean time and sent me on my merry way.

The results are in:
<http://www.penninex.co.uk/USERIMAGES/Penninex2009times.pdf&gt;

I got 161st

I was quite pleased with my 4:19.
I hope the chap that I helped out with his broken chain (at the end of the tunnel) got a good time – I was getting my karma points in early on this one.

The Answer were great, Subways were OK considering Thin Lizzy only dropped out on Tuesday but AC/DC were fantastic – show was amazing, sound was as good as it gets in an stadium.
Now looking forward to Thunder on Friday night :-)

Votchy, does this sound familiar?:
Pump them up hard enough to not bang the rims and there’s no grip at all, but let them down a bit to try to find grip and they feel squidgy and your rims take a pounding. Can’t find a surface they work well on other than good dry roads which is pretty pointless for a mountain bike.
This was my exact experience of Fire XC Pros and from your comments it sounds like High Rollers would give me a similar nightmare.
It’s basically due to the tyre needing to be run at low pressure to get the grip but this only works if you are light enough, either in weight or riding style – & I’m neither!
I ended up going old school and running a Conti Vertical up front with a Vapor on the rear. I find I can run the front at around 30 psi with no rim problems and predictable grip and a bit more in the rear to stop the pinch flats. This set-up also means the rear will just about always slide before the front which boosts confidence no end and they roll quickly too.

If you want remote have a look at Knoydart – just a short boat trip from Malaig but a bl00dy long way to get to the tip if you don’t take to the seas

Have a look at Kerrera – island in Oban bay so you won’t have to travel by car to get there. Nice place and with no cars to worry about – OK it’s not techy, knarley, woo-hoo type riding, but should suit the easy for kids bit.

Have a look at Kerrera – island in Oban bay so you won’t have to travel by car to get there. Nice place and with no cars to worry about – OK it’s not techy, knarley, woo-hoo type riding, but should suit the easy for kids bit.

I wonder how many of the bikers that ride the roads like they are on a race track “cos it’s much safer on a bike and non-bikers wouldn’t understand” would admit to liking Harleys?

If you’ve never ridden a bike, you’d be amazed that so many things that look stupid and letal from car drivers point of view, are actually very safe and easy to do on a bike, overtaking being the main one.

As a biker I’m amazed by the number of bikers who think they are safe while committing to stupid overtakes and pretending to be a MotoGP racer on public roads – I’m not trying to suggest you are unsafe Pete but I’ve seen a lot of people who are.
The problem is that all the bikers who don’t do stupid things and don’t have super loud exhausts don’t stick in the mind as much and the ones you do remember are the d1ckheads.

IAM will teach you to pull out (to get a clear view) and make your mind up if the overtake is safe before committing to it.

Don’t let them dry out and they’ll be fine. When it starts getting cold again bring them inside and they’ll survive the winter (one frost will kill them off).
Letting them grow outdoors will strengthen the stems but if they can’t support themselves thenuse a suitable stick/cane/chopstick.
A good size pot will allow them to grow into a nice bush and you should get loads of fruit. If you get too many to use then just allow them to dry out and grind them up.

Nice one.
Some of the times seem iffy 3 of us finised in quick sucsession but I’m listed as 23secs behind. Also 2 mates are listed in wrong order.
Yes, I know these things happen and it certainly doesn’t take anything away from the fact that we all had a fantastic day and I beat the time I set last year.

Can you book some rain this year as I got sunburn last year :-)

marsdenman – I bet you’re bored by the time I come through :-)

The Sanity Assassin – Is it the exact same course? Just so I can see how much more unfit I’ve become in the last 12 months.

As said elsewhere Bravia is quite nice. The biggest problem I find with 0% alcohol beers is that they lack bite. Some of the low alcohol ones are pretty good though.
There’s a low alcohol badger ale that’s ok.
Also as mentioned a few times mixing with full strength beers makes the alcohol free beers taste watery and crap.

What is the point of alcohol free beer? Do you people not drive or are you just alcoholics?

This year will be three in a row for me – rain or shine I’ll be there.
I’ve not done many other events but this one is the friendliest I have experienced and is very highly recomended.

When chopping chillies in future hold by the stalk and use scissors to chop straight into your pan. Once finished scissors straight into soapy water. Chilli oil nevr touches your skin or any work surfaces so no nasty surprises when you go to the loo.

Aplication form will be in the post today.
Is it harder than the CVMBC? (similar area and it’s where I heard of the Penine X)

As a few people above have said it’s a great place to go for some off road fun. The trails get harder the faster you go so if you think it’s boring you weren’t going fast enough.
There’s usually loads of macho willy waving on here suggesting you can get round in 10 mins on a unicycle with one eye shut while carrying a tea tray but go try it for yourself.

Cheers guys.

Stoney, thanks for the offer but I have a perfectly serviceable front mech and am just being a tart and wanting a matching SLX one

Anyone? Pleeeeeese :-)

Standard Kona hardtail frame. Using an LX triple chainset, nothing out of the ordinary.

Never thought of that, thanks :-)

Swello, I’ve heard good things about the bit at the back of Lochaline and along that side of The Sound towards Tobs.
Have you done it before? I’ve always wondered how intense it is and not got round to being anti-social enough to go across to explore (would be on my own unless it was easy going).

I’ll be back up in May for a week (23rd to 30th) too.
Mull is a fantastic place & you should get to see some wildlife too – seals at Salen is almost guaranteed & The fire road along from Aros is very close to where some golden eagles live :-)
Have a good trip.

Track north from Kilninian Church isn’t rideable – very boggy, almost non existant in places and some twastard has put a deer fence straight across the trail.
Dervaig back road (to Tobs) is very do-able via Glen Gorm Castle.
Fire road from Aros to Mish Lochs isn’t that interesting itself but is a good link.
The old road down the south end (starts somewhere near Lochdon) is amusing.
There are other bits that I’ve done but not managed to link them all together yet – looking at getting from Tobs via back road, down Loch Fresia, across from Salan, down Loch Ba, cutting through and picking up the old road. Looks vaigly do able.
Browns has changed hands an no longer does bike bits in the shop (replaced by guitars!) but I’m sure Bryan is still around.

Oh, and nice pics :-)

Only had good service from them – a little slower than some, but not too bad and for some things they’re great on price.

I’ve got loads of their stuff (jerseys, shorts, base layers & jacket) as it fits me better than any UK/Euro clothing I’ve found and they actually know how to stitch there garments together unlike a certain UK manufacturer that I’ve used before.
As ChrisHeath said they now include UK tax in their pricing so no more getting stung.

If you use one regularly you will notice an improvement in grip and will build up your forearms too, but don’t do it anywhere anyone can see you and if you take it into the office for gawdsake don’t hide it under the desk while using it as you will end up having to explain yourself to your manager should there be any ladies around!

I live about 10ins walk away.
The place Joe1983 mentioned is Wrea Green (pretty at the weekend nightmare round rushhour as the loons go speeding through to BAe) and the pub is The Grapes.
There is no mountain biking to speak of without jumping in the car so unless you fancy driving for 45 mins minimum I’d bring your road bike as there’s loads of quiet lanes around here and you can easily string together a nice ride if you head north and east.

Over the years I have used TSB, Lloyds, HSBC, Cahoot and am now with Smile. Personally I have found Smile to be the most helpful and their website is by far the easiest to use and can’t recomend them highly enough. However experiences of different banks are a very personal & subjective thing – I found HSBC to be terrible but other people have been recomending.

Is that a no then?
Does anyone have a copy of it?

Oh borrox, I was gonna get someone to record that for me!!
Does anyone know of it being available via the net?

Lots of people find Endura’s after sale service to be very good (myself included) the unfortunate thing is that a lot of people have reason to find out if their afterservice is any good.

I’ve been using the Imperial ones from MTB Direct for a few years now but they’re looking a bit tatty now. The original Shimano ones seem to last longer without going rusty, but then it might be that I’ve not looked after them as well as the Shimano ones.

MTB Direct do indeed kick bottom. I’ve ordered a few times from them now and really can’t fault the service – quick, cheap, good quality and you can get through to a real person on the phone who knows what they’re on about.
Some other shops could learn a thing or two from them.