I'm not a doctor but I was diagnosed with asthma 25 years ago.
Sounds to me like you may need a more effective steroid preventer?
I suffered with asthma all through school and my teens because I wasn't told to take my preventer correctly. Like muddy@rseguy, I've found that taking my preventer (Becotide) regularly made an astonishing difference. I used to use my Ventolin all the time, because I wasn't taking my preventer regularly. Since I've been taking my preventer every night I've had to use my Ventolin only 7 or 8 times in 5 years.

Have you been allergy tested? If you are allergic to something you are exposed to regularly your histamine levels could be elevated, making your asthma worse. When I had blood allergy tests (and did an exclusion diet) I discovered I was allergic to cows milk, amongst other more obvious things like cats and dogs. I since found that a lot of the medications I was taking (the old style powdered Ventolin and Becotide, all antihistamine and most other drugs in tablet form…) contained cows milk so they were prolonging the agony!

It may be worth having another chat with your doctor. Does your doctor even know you're a cyclist, who's thinking of racing?

Happy birthday Jeremy. Don't worry, you're not alone. It's my birthday today and I'm definitely further into debt because I bought myself a new guitar on Sunday!

If it was the 120 TPI, 62 shore version it would have "eXCeption Series" on the sidewall, like this:

So it looks like it's the 60 TPI, 70 shore version.

I've been thinking of getting some 100mm Minutes, probably from Jenson, to replace my lardy Pikes. Have any of you had any issues with the bolt-up thru axle? I love the Maxle on Rockshox forks and the (antiquated) four bolts on the Minutes has been putting me off a bit.

Lamborghini Gallardo LP570-4 Superleggera. When I win the lottery ;o)

Good stuff. Glad the album is getting played and you like the comedy cover.
Oh yeah, it was cold that night. The headline band was Sons of Albion. The singer is the son of Robert Plant, would you believe. I liked his vocals a lot but thought their songs all sounded the same. Still don't remember seeing you there. Come and say hi next time :o)

singletrackmind, thanks as well.
Where/when did you come and see us again? Don't remember seeing you?

I will be talking to Thinking for Tuesday… They are amazing album in Itunes now.

Hey Rich, just stumbled upon this thread. Thanks for the comments. Just looked at the band calendar, one or two of us are down as 'out' that weekend but I'll ask the question…

The 16" Breath has a 23" top tube. I'm 5'10" with 31" inside leg. The 16" is perfect for me. Picked mine up new for £225.
More details HERE.

Another vote for the Sanderson Breath here.

Mine's a 16". Feels like my old Explosif, only slightly heavier but more fun.

Just signed. My aunt-in-law has recently been diagnosed with MND.

Suits some, not others (most it seems from this thread)

I like the way Verts drift too. I hate the way they don't even try to grip wet roots and rocks.

Clubber did ^

Yeah but he didn't say it the way it used to be said! ;o)

Seriously though, I particularly like WTB Weirwolf Races and (Black Chili flavour) Conti Mountain Kings for trail centres.

Can't believe no one has said "Conti Vert Pros" yet!
They might actually be quite good now they're available in the Black Chili compound.

Oh yeah. Should have looked harder! Hope the negotiations go well ;o)

Uh, not carbon?

Just signed, the proposed trail goes right through my "patch".

According to THIS premier users are supposed to appear in bold. No mention of the wee arrows though.

Oh yeah, and there are some in bold in the classifieds too…

Don't they just show threads started by Premier Members?

I've been OK using a 32 x 11-34 for a few years now, on a couple of different hardtails. Most of my riding is local north downs, Surrey hills area but I've done a few trips to the Welsh trail centres and to Glentress without too much difficulty.
Might be a bit different on a Helius AM in NE Scotland though! :o)

Ordinary blade works fine for dough in the SD254.

I use the one in the Panasonic book but don't let it prove after rolling out, just put on the toppings and straight into the oven. Yum.

Finish Line Teflon Grease

My mother-in-law once rubbed a freshly cut chilli onto my father-in-law's "little man" because he claimed "it wouldn't hurt". He was wrong.

Just got back from 3 hours in the freezing wastes of Hampshire and West Sussex. Good fun but I really hurt now. Still got to wash the bike…

Aspire Velotech

guitarhero, yeah, i've still got 5 more of those in my shed 🙂

Razor by Foo Fighters. Wakes us up every morning.

Good stuff Earl!

Which part of the above do you think I don't know

I think Jon was explaining for everyone's benefit.

If you can't play without looking something is amiss.

I'm sorry, the looking/not looking at the fretboard argument is so old. Personally I'd rather play something right and make sure it sounds good than look like an 80s c0ck-rock hero. If that means looking at the fretboard whilst playing the difficult bits then fine.

judging from the 1-4-5 nature of your music I can't imagine too much trouble

That's half the point of our music. It is simple in structure so that it's catchy and accessible. The structure is not what's making me look at the fretboard, at that particular point in that song! :o)

Problem is, take n guitarists and you'll get at least n+1 opinions on amps/guitar/tone..not to mention they can be a fickle bunch about gear (myself included). So trying to get a consistent opinion on a 'better' option is gonna be as successful as herding cats, I suspect.

Spot-on. It's about what each player feels confident with. If your set-up sounds how you want it to and you feel confident playing it then it's the right set-up.

If you were playing what I was playing at that point you'd be looking at the fretboard and wouldn't be jumping about either! ;o)

The valves you can see aren't mine, they are in the H&K Triamp that my Mesa is on-top of.

Sorry for the hijack Oldgit :o)

Thanks John.

I'm the one holding the flare:

Playing:

To the left of the hot singer:

Another vote for Maguras here. I've had a set of Louises with 180 and 160 mm disks on my bike for almost two years, bloody brilliant. I've had experience of almost every other make of brake and Maguras are by far the best IMHO.

[pedant]
Plural of genesis is geneses.
[/pedant]

Plumb, when/where can I come and hear/see you play live?

Pic?

make sure it has a line out to connect to a PA

No, no, no! Always mic the cab! :o)

How about we all post some tone from our rig?

Listen to our album[/url] and you'll hear lots of my rig's tone.

Just to add, make sure there's an effects loop. Reverb and delay, in particular, work/sound much better when put in the loop rather than straight into the input.