yeah, a pickup won’t really work for me.
we already do have one big estate, a pug 406. my partner drives that more than i do. i’m inclined to go crossover or SUV still, i think (with roof box to supplement the slightly smaller than a big estate boot space)…

my only real reservation with vauxhalls is that my dad’s had 2 merivas and a zafira, all of which spent almost as much time at the main dealers trying to sort out various niggles as they did on his driveway…

yeah, a roof box is definitely in my future regardless of what I go for I reckon.
some decent 2008s on motorpoint too, actually, and I hadn’t ruled those out either. got my eye on a nice looking exeo, but rear space/legroom looks a bit crap compared to some of the SUVs i’ve seen?

russ, is your 5008 one of the latest newest ones then? the icockpit version?
i’m looking at probably a 2014/15 3008, plenty of space for my little legs in there!

If there are people standing at the outer edge of a fast, flat out corner, and you as an 8 stone marshall with a high viz vest on ask them to move, and they refuse, would you red flag it?. You’ll be doing a lot of flagging.

Should be covered in a briefing but sign it first. Then flag it, then call the boss. There should be process and procedure.

should be raised in risk assessment, and signed by race organisers when setting the course up. covered in marshal briefing with specific mention to anything deemed higher risk. red flagged for any and all refusals to move or ignore signage.

lots more to think about! yeah, 2 kids, both v small currently (6yo and almost 1yo) but i’m somewhat planning ahead i think. i probably don’t need a massive car right now, but looking at probably 3 or 4 bikes plus kit plus bodies, and i don’t really think a van would cover all my bases (won’t fit in the underground car park at work for a start).

i don’t really want another auto, my citroen had an autobox and it was a hateful piece of crap!

in terms of estates i quite like the look of the seat exeo; anyone got any experiences?

lad at work did just get a c4 picasso and he loves it, but i have reservations as i’ve had a citroen and it went absolutely mental electrically, which has put me off them somewhat.

That’s surely exactly the role of the Marshall though – to report to the chief Marshall that there is a hazard on or near the course not included in the race risk assessment and that the course should be closed until the issue is resolved.

well yeah, and we did halt a race once (or twice) because of course encroachment (not from spectators, but a local horse riding group who felt that we were ruining their lives/enjoyment of the quarry by having 4 o 5 races a year for a couple of hours on a sunday morning but that’s another story).

this has the potential to get very messy indeed.

yeah, used. £15K is absolute max budget, i’d prefer to stick to nearer 10 really. i kind of assumed running costs would count out most big german marques.
plenty to think about here though, thanks!

i’ve raced one of kev and mike’s events and can’t say i noticed anything lacking re the marshalling of it all, but then again i was riding (arguably) as fast as i could so probably wasn’t taking that much notice!
i’ve marshaled, race organised, been involved with risk assessments and held marshal briefings for the Brownbacks race series up at lee quarry too, and despite the fact that we briefed our marshals as thoroughly as we possibly could (and had BC commissaires commend us on how thorough we were), you simply cannot legislate for spectators or other non racers at events doing whatever the hell they want, short of halting the race itself.
i can only hope that a decision is reached based on facts and not emotion/bias.

Most estates have more interior space than those mid sized SUV’s

At that mileage either petrol or diesel depending on the deals. I do around 20k miles and diesel makes sense (large estate) while wife does 10k miles and we’ve stuck with petrol for hers.

yeah, i’m torn between fuel choices for probably obvious reasons.
kinda want to go back to petrol, considering i often need to drive into central manchester and the potential pollution charging that’s being mooted (the current fiesta is my first diesel).

what tomhoward said.

That’s interesting – just been looking for quotes on a new pickup, like for like on a cat d truck was about £50 more. Is it something some companies do?

Don’t fancy quoting on an Isuzu Rodeo do you?

yeah, probably varies from one company to another how they’d quote on it- i only know ours cos i was looking at a cat D recently and asked our underwriters, they told me they’re not bothered.

total loss payouts would be book value minus a percentage, i don’t know exactly what off the top of my head.

we won’t quote on vans or pickups at all though, sorry!

i work for an insurance company. cat D status doesn’t affect how we quote at all.

Though it does appear that PETA are outraged by this.

PETA are idiots though.

vegan for almost 30 years here; don’t see the issue of a pig farm that happened to have had a fire making sausages from its pigs. they’d have done it, fire or not. people (vegetarian, vegan or omnivore) being outraged by this are stupid.

yunki- stick with anything El-P and Killer Mike do then. you can’t go wrong there.

i went to kefalonia during the first week of october a couple of years ago and we only had storms on the last day; the rest of the week it was still hitting high 20s/low 30s, with the sea being very warm all day long too. it was the last week of their holiday season though, so a few bars and tavernas either had very limited options or had closed completely.

looks unlikely i’ll be out, as f@*king usual. getting really really sick of this now.

PICKLE RICK!

i replied to this earlier. it’s been deleted. seems apt, i wish someone would delete me from the world.

i picked up horizon zero dawn for 25 quid about a month or so ago, and it’s ruined my life, it’s so immersive and addictive to play! and yes, looks absolutely stunning, even on ps4 slim/32″ 720p telly…

nope. sore plums. no riding for a couple of weeks or so.

had mine done this morning, all went without a hitch and i was back home within 2 hours of arriving at the hospital. it’s a tad uncomfortable now, and my knackers are pretty bloody swollen up, but i can handle that!

i used to get a lot of stuff mailorder from alan’s in wigan, and also rough trade, either covent garden or latimer road stores. mostly though, just Volume in newcastle, and subsequently sunderland once that shop opened. prior to it being volume, it was a shop called Chartz and i worked weekends there when i was in 6th form (so that was 1985-6)…

pretty sure it was the next one down that alley, yes.

When were you at Durham?

I was there ’88 – ’91 but have no memory of a Volume Records

Volume was in a weird little corner/shopping arcade just off silver street in the city centre, but i don’t remember how early it was since the OG Volume was on ridley place in Newcastle before they expanded to open more shops (Durham, Sunderland and Washington in that order). might not have been as early as ’91.

Woodn’t be connected

network provider could check their logs to see why.

nope. not that anyone will be surprised by that!

mtb’s in rebound/horwich cycle service centre for total rebuild/service, in the hope that it’ll motivate me to get out more. none of the others are in a working state (except the arkose, but i only have road tyres for it currently, schoolboy error).

my dad’s in italy on holiday with my mam at the moment. he just finished a course of chemo a couple of weeks ago after having his bowel removed last year. he’s played golf at least once a week since recovering from the surgery though. he’s 76, and ace.
this is my first one as a dad, i’ll be spending it in the lancashire sunshine watching bike racing at the horwich festival of racing with my little lad, and shall raise a (non-alcoholic) beer to all those great dads who have left you guys.

i don’t wish to ruin anyone’s day here, but since i was reminded of their existence whilst reminiscing i felt it was only fair to bring them up here… but do any of you lot remember the bailey brothers?! what a pair of utter turds they were! are they mates with anyone here’s dads?!

what ned said up there- krusher was ace and introduced teenage me to loads of great heavy music!

unlikely, but maybe.

haha, yeah, all good to know! my boss has said i could take time off if absolutely necessary (my colleague already has that entire week off and there’s only 2 of us in our team) but i reckon i can just use it to have a cushy few days. got my running shoes and tighty whiteys all set to go…

i can use the train instead of driving easily enough, so that should be fine.

okay, sounds do-able then. i (rather surprisingly for stw, i know) work in IT, 2nd/3rd line support so can avoid anything physically demanding with ease.

thread resurrection ahoy!
got my op date through finally, but it’s in a week where i can’t take any time off work at all and tbh i don’t want to postpone as it’ll add another 2 month wait on. the op itself is at 6pm so i don’t need time off for that, but in your various experiences would i be fine with going to work the following day? i can either drive in or get the train, and my job is largely desk-based- what are the chances i’ll be okay to do this, and roughly how long would any discomfort be likely to be present?

nope. for various reasons. at the moment, i can’t see when i’m going to get out on a bike again, got far too many things going on that need to take precedence and tbh it’s getting me down massively.

i had a fit with saddle mapping there a couple of years ago, and honestly it was brilliant. Matt was very comprehensive in testing all sorts of things, both on me and my bike, and the little tweaks he made plus recommendations for new saddle totally transformed the comfort of my rides.

ramsbottom’s very own Chocolate Cafe[/url] make their own, and have a very nice large selection to choose from…
just down the hill from chez binners too…

haven’t decided whether to enter or not yet, but i’ll be there regardless, probably with kids in tow (mrs lives right opposite the running track in leverhulme)…

that blue 120 up there is giving me strange thoughts! what i lovely looking bike. i think that’s my next purchase sorted.