London Calling

Anonymous

Cool. They're a cheerful bunch out there. Always happy to help out. Even the walkers round there seem a happy bunch generally.

Naveed

Dubcat wrote:

naveed bhai, really sorry to hear about your bike feel a bit silly for raving about my day today given your theft news but i cant contain myself. Hope you dont mind.

I did my first off road ride today! What a buzz! I got to the car park 5 mins late after spending ages trying to work out if hoe lane was a real road or someones drive lol. Thats when i realised that even if i had been there on time i wouldnt have know which of the many riders you are! Post photos or wear a carnation or something next time

Had a brilliant time! Did yoghurt pots, telegraph road and barry knows best. Had a coronary on the long ride up, was dizzy and feeling sick from exhaustion, forgot i had spd pedals on (my first time ever on spd lol), and the rest is history. Large audience to appreciate my graceful fall

Mountain bikers are such a helpful bunch. Hooked up with another rider who showed me the trails and waited patiently while i made my way down with a terrified look on my face

Will be eternally grateful for that guy showing me the ropes. Im hooked! Its all a bit scary but i will get used to it i guess. Have to admit, yoghurt pots was a bit of a rude awakening for my first time on a trail, as was a rather steep bit near begining of barry. My guide actually walked back up to where i was ******** myself and showed me how easy it is. What a star!

Sounds like an epic day mate and you'll find that mountain bikers are indeed a special breed of quaility folk, and you did it all on SPDs! As a member of the flat pedal brigade I salute your courage.

popstar

Dubcat, top man. Now is the time to join Popstar and do some more enhanced feautures of YogPots and some various KNARR on trails! I even could film you in wonderfull HD as a present welcome to group rides.

On serious note, glad there are top riders willing to help sunday warriors. Had a socializing ride with Rich getting some heat into my cramped quads after so much of riding in the week. No single drop of rain down in SH.

Naveed, your bike took you through some vicious battle on trails therefore it was special to you. Sorry to hear that, it's difficult to hold onto your bike against organised scrots but hope you did have insurance on it.

supra-man

Ah you guys are all lucky to ride... Im just itching to get out and ride again...

In the mean time i set my self to video making. got 2 weeks of vid in france to do something of.

http://vimeo.com/15094020

part of the mega qualifier.. atmosphere on start grid would be something close to the film apocalypse now with the chopper in the air...

Naveed

popstar wrote:

Dubcat, top man. Now is the time to join Popstar and do some more enhanced feautures of YogPots and some various KNARR on trails! I even could film you in wonderfull HD as a present welcome to group rides.

On serious note, glad there are top riders willing to help sunday warriors. Had a socializing ride with Rich getting some heat into my cramped quads after so much of riding in the week. No single drop of rain down in SH.

Naveed, your bike took you through some vicious battle on trails therefore it was special to you. Sorry to hear that, it's difficult to hold onto your bike against organised scrots but hope you did have insurance on it.

No insurance, which is my bad, got quoted a ridicoulous premium for two bikes which put me off, never had anything stolen from my garage before so thought it would be ok, lesson learned. Suppose the steed has a special meaning in terms of the mega crash - lol

I've got a steel fully rigid 29er which I'm going to have to adapt till I get a new bike prob in December if I'm lucky. Anyway just want to say thanks to everyone for your empathy but it's time to move on and find a way to get out and hammer some trails rigid style - ouch...

I wanted to keep the bike in the flat but the missus insisted that bikes live in garages - arrghh!

dubcat

Hmm i bought spd because a friend told me to. Wondering if i wasted a whole bunch of money on shoes and pedal now since it seems you all ride flats! . Argh the wife will murder me if I go back saying I need to buy some new pedals and flat shoes... Are spd really a bad move?

popstar

Dubcat ride platform you like. Don't worry too much about others. Especially if your aim to get fit, most probably you will ride XC and tonnes of uphills. Therefore SPD live in that territory, by the time you build your fitness and skills, who knows maybe you would want to attack some KNARR? Thats when you may or may not struggle with SPD, anyway by that time your wife wouldn't even notice you having some 5.10s and flat pedals. Rest in piece doode.

Naveed, you are not left out ... honing skills on rigid is the best idea to feel the balance of a bike. Especially as winter season approached you would choose HT or Rigid platfrom over Full-Suss anyway. Do post pictures of your bike on bike forums, there are helpfull folk who may actually spot your bike on scrot forums. It is very easy to spot it as these bikes are rare.

Atz

Nah. Its preference really. I ride SPD from time to time (they're on my hardtail) and it just takes a little different technique. Give it a while to get used to them before changing.

Buckaroo

+1 what Popstar said. Horrible to get anything nicked let alone your own space being broken into, absolute toss@rs.

Get some pics on here if you have em.

S

dubcat

I liked the spd experience myself and will stick with them as per above advice sorry for hijacking this meetup thread. Still on a buzz from the ride

Buckaroo

Am a total newb too, its all about trying stuff, leave the fear behind, giving everything a go and practice. Have only been to SH once but did Yogurts like 4 or five times, horrible first run.... nailed it by the last.... Hope to get up there next wknd.

thel33ter

Dubcat wrote:

I liked the spd experience myself and will stick with them as per above advice sorry for hijacking this meetup thread. Still on a buzz from the ride

I used SPD's for ages till the Knar became KNARRRRRRR and then I went to flats, I still prefer SPD's for lots of stuff, mainly the easy bunny hops and moving the bike around easily, but the faceplants became a major downside.

Also got some 5'10's from my mums nectar points thingy

As for hijacking the thread, we would only be on page 12 of it wasn't for spam and whatever Popstar talks about

@Naveed - Hope those theiving scum can't reach the ground, get their balls stuck in the seatpost clamp and faceplant into a drain. I'll keep an eye out on eBay and stuff.

Anonymous

Dubcat wrote:

Hmm i bought spd because a friend told me to. Wondering if i wasted a whole bunch of money on shoes and pedal now since it seems you all ride flats! . Argh the wife will murder me if I go back saying I need to buy some new pedals and flat shoes... Are spd really a bad move?

Group I was out with today swore by SPDs. Only two of us in flats. Mind you, they seem somewhat fitter than me... or maybe it was the SPDs that made them go so much faster.

thel33ter wrote:

Also got some 5'10's from my mums nectar points thingy

Hmm, forgot about nectar points. I've got tonnes of them I've never spent. What shop do you have to spend them in to get the 5'10s? (or is it online somewhere?).

popstar

Dubcat as I hear you have been christened into MTB world, had you? We as a group may well see. I kindly on behalf of all would like to invite you to ride some tourist trails either in Swinley or Surrey Hills. Hope you do have transport to get your bike in places therefore it was about a time for you to get well trained for some Wales epics!

Since I started to MTB I have lost 9KG or something like 1.5 stones ! Was a proper fat bastid, not yet a lean machine but getting there. Beware, don't read too many magazines from now on as I have discovered there is a lot of b@ll sh@t thrown at readers with kitten faces. Therefore you sir will see everything with your own eyes. If not , Cooldad will fix your fashion need in no time. Slap those who tells SPD is for MTB-ing, hate them racing snakes* !

thel33ter

deadkenny wrote:

Dubcat wrote:

Hmm i bought spd because a friend told me to. Wondering if i wasted a whole bunch of money on shoes and pedal now since it seems you all ride flats! . Argh the wife will murder me if I go back saying I need to buy some new pedals and flat shoes... Are spd really a bad move?

Group I was out with today swore by SPDs. Only two of us in flats. Mind you, they seem somewhat fitter than me... or maybe it was the SPDs that made them go so much faster.

thel33ter wrote:

Also got some 5'10's from my mums nectar points thingy

Hmm, forgot about nectar points. I've got tonnes of them I've never spent. What shop do you have to spend them in to get the 5'10s? (or is it online somewhere?).

We gOt £82.50 of Amazon vouchers and they have Impacts for £75. I wanted the Sam Hill ones but they were £85. Its about 16k points for £80 of vouchers IIRC.

Naveed

thel33ter wrote:

Dubcat wrote:

I liked the spd experience myself and will stick with them as per above advice sorry for hijacking this meetup thread. Still on a buzz from the ride

I used SPD's for ages till the Knar became KNARRRRRRR and then I went to flats, I still prefer SPD's for lots of stuff, mainly the easy bunny hops and moving the bike around easily, but the faceplants became a major downside.

Also got some 5'10's from my mums nectar points thingy

As for hijacking the thread, we would only be on page 12 of it wasn't for spam and whatever Popstar talks about

@Naveed - Hope those theiving scum can't reach the ground, get their balls stuck in the seatpost clamp and faceplant into a drain. I'll keep an eye out on eBay and stuff.

Thanks mate, me and the Fish had some great adventures and some truly memorable crashes (may be too many) was a faithful friend who maybe deserved a better rider with more finesse, but she never complained not once.

Gonna take popstar's advice, with winter approaching it may be a good time to hone my skills without the benefit of suspension for a few months so when summer comes I'll be like, erm, a tall Sam Hill??!

Buckaroo

... Minor thread deviation while Sam Hill has been mentioned, I was hangin with Sam Hill's cousin a couple of weeks ago, (mate of a mate), they used to bike together as they were growing up, had some funny stories... 8)

Naveed

Buckaroo wrote:

... Minor thread deviation while Sam Hill has been mentioned, I was hangin with Sam Hill's cousin a couple of weeks ago, (mate of a mate), they used to bike together as they were growing up, had some funny stories... 8)

Sam Hill=GOD

thel33ter

Naveed wrote:

Buckaroo wrote:

... Minor thread deviation while Sam Hill has been mentioned, I was hangin with Sam Hill's cousin a couple of weeks ago, (mate of a mate), they used to bike together as they were growing up, had some funny stories... 8)

Sam Hill=GOD

[patriotism]Meh... Greg Minnaar's better [/patriotism]

popstar

Wow, Supraman's video is totally epic. Don't think I could with any wizardy match the level of epicness in that video. Supra you really had to elbow some of those Jessies out of the way, was I near you, definately would stop with them to give them weekend warriors a good old fashioned slap. Stoping at the race to have a look at steep roll off? WTF are these Jessies doing? I am fuming ...

I know that I would stop as well to have a look at wonderfull views. At least that epic movie gave me an idea how to progress with film making. Very good fresh ideas these.

Naveed

thel33ter wrote:

Naveed wrote:

Buckaroo wrote:

... Minor thread deviation while Sam Hill has been mentioned, I was hangin with Sam Hill's cousin a couple of weeks ago, (mate of a mate), they used to bike together as they were growing up, had some funny stories... 8)

Sam Hill=GOD

[patriotism]Meh... Greg Minnaar's better [/patriotism]

Gregg can't ride like this,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQo5UhE2GQU

cooldad

@Naveed bummer bummer bummer
@dubcat beware of Popstar his apprentices generally end up dead or go into hiding.
@Popstar I will gladly impart fashion tips. You would have been so proud today. I was wearing tights

Overslept this morning so missed DK's Roman adventure. Was going to make SH to meet Popstar and Richard this afternoon but got lazy and watched all three bike GP's instead.
Felt so guilty I decided to do some roadie (booo hisssss) stuff and drop thel33ter's science book off, which being a bit dozy he left in my car. Was really enjoying it until the mech got caught in the spokes in the middle of an intersection. Mech somewhat twisted, hanger bent into 90 degrees, and half the spokes snapped. Friendly MTB'r walking past lived nearby and had tools, so bodged well enough to get home slowly. Fortunately steel frame, so probably repairable. This whole bicycle business is getting expensive, anyone want to buy a kidney?

thel33ter

Thing is though, he did that backflip on this. It's got a carbon fibre gearbox that no-one understands, and the freewheel is in the bb.



And Sam Hill can't do this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9ARlglIUTE

Naveed

thel33ter wrote:

Thing is though, he did that backflip on this. It's got a carbon fibre gearbox that no-one understands, and the freewheel is in the bb.



And Sam Hill can't do this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9ARlglIUTE

Cool video, really enjoyed that.

Atz

Nav - Sorry to hear about the bike. Watch ebay closely and if you've got pics post them, particularly on your STW thread as people there often spot nicked bikes for sale.

cooldad

@supraman. Wow. Long way down over some of those edges. Scary.

Naveed

Atz wrote:

Nav - Sorry to hear about the bike. Watch ebay closely and if you've got pics post them, particularly on your STW thread as people there often spot nicked bikes for sale.

Thanks mate, will do

thel33ter

Managed to miss the first link, sweet vid Supra, I can't get over those guys stopping everytime the trail points slightly upwards. Definately on my to-do list in a few years.

supra-man

popstar wrote:

Wow, Supraman's video is totally epic. Don't think I could with any wizardy match the level of epicness in that video. Supra you really had to elbow some of those Jessies out of the way, was I near you, definitely would stop with them to give them weekend warriors a good old fashioned slap. Stoping at the race to have a look at steep roll off? WTF are these Jessies doing? I am fuming ...

I know that I would stop as well to have a look at wonderfull views. At least that epic movie gave me an idea how to progress with film making. Very good fresh ideas these.

Thanks Popstar, Im sure you'd be fine there, probably bardging guys and yelling at them.

very annoying the guys who stop every where... I got rid of them on the northshore section by putting bike on shoulder and running as crow flys through the rocks... :roll: But hey its open to all levels, you just need the balls.
There's all week to enjoy the views.

@ Naveed this is what you missed, as I recall you wanted to give it a go earlier this year.

@ thel33ter the big climb allows you to over take 15 20 people easy...

Naveed

supra-man wrote:

popstar wrote:

Wow, Supraman's video is totally epic. Don't think I could with any wizardy match the level of epicness in that video. Supra you really had to elbow some of those Jessies out of the way, was I near you, definitely would stop with them to give them weekend warriors a good old fashioned slap. Stoping at the race to have a look at steep roll off? WTF are these Jessies doing? I am fuming ...

I know that I would stop as well to have a look at wonderfull views. At least that epic movie gave me an idea how to progress with film making. Very good fresh ideas these.

Thanks Popstar, Im sure you'd be fine there, probably bardging guys and yelling at them.

very annoying the guys who stop every where... I got rid of them on the northshore section by putting bike on shoulder and running as crow flys through the rocks... :roll: But hey its open to all levels, you just need the balls.
There's all week to enjoy the views.

@ Naveed this is what you missed, as I recall you wanted to give it a go earlier this year.

Fantastic video Supra, it's def on my to do list for 2011, think I need to improve a bit but hopefully a solid winter training programme should prepare me. Was ready to try it at summer but work basically mad e me cancel my hols due to an emergency (World Cup)