spode@thinkbikes

I've just moved to Egham, so anyone who is still in the area, my MSN is spode@spunkyspode.com

Hi Guys, Not been on here in a while as I've been uber uber busy. One of those busy things being that I've moved house. I've now left the garden of England and found my way in to Sunny Egham. Egham looks a bit crap, but Staines looks like it has some potential. My main question is, does anyone here ride in my area? Time to meet some new riders methinks! Laters, Spode

If you're ADSL doesn't assign you a static IP address, as said above - try just resetting your router. You may have a fixed IP, or a long-life dynamic, so it's not gauranteed to work - but you haven't said if you've tried it or not, so I thought I'd reiterate it as the best possible solution. Of course, if you've been banned - there is a high chance you did something stupid anyway and deserved it. In which case, I would just take it on the head and move on

I can think of one reason that a lot of the "big movers" are limited in their moves. Everyone seems to run their tyre pressure so low. Anything that involves spinning is pretty much out of the question! Low front tyre pressures make G-turns almost impossible and 180's over gaps it will tend to squirm out. I love spins, and one of my favourites is static 360's off walls. Yet without a decent pressure, you're squirming left right and centre. I've tried lower tyre pressures and you can definetely get bigger heights, using the bounce to help. I guess It's a matter of choosing what style of riding you want to be doing!

That aluminiweld stuff looks good. Pop it on to a crack as it starts to develop...

There will always be someone bigger, better, younger, more attractive than you. Doing big side hops or whatever are great, but one shouldn't base a whole career around that fact. Because as soon as you lose that position, where are you left? I think it's really sad that this is what trials seems to have become. Think about singing. There are some people with some insanely large ranges singing pretty much any note thrown at them. That's all they practice, going higher and higher and higher. To them that's what singing is all about. It's impressive, but it's boring! Some of the best singers don't have the best technique and don't even have much of a range, but they are a damn site more interesting to listen to. Singing should be about the song. I think the same with trials. I watch a lot of these videos from the big names I see dallied around here, and I find it usually quite boring to watch. As soon as you've seen one side hop and one drop gap, you've seen them all! Filling a whole video with them is just like listening someone sing high notes for 15 minutes. I guess what I'm trying to say is, who cares about the limits? Make trials more interesting.

Merry Christmas!

Just got back from this. Pretty good ride. Darren snapepd his rear hanger, I broke my chain and punctured (fixed both!). And Tomm punctured too. Everyone rode my KOT and liked it Fun was had and we certainly didn't exhaust Ashfords riding spots! Merry Christmas - One AND ALL!

Ouch. The amount of times I've removed my Kool Chain I bet I've weakened it. I'm tempted to get a new one

Count me in. I'm still christening my KOT

Hey, i started on a Univega XC bike!

Right, I'm leaving now. I'll be at the shell centre around 3 if anyone is up for it.

Anyone up for a London ride today? I need to pop in to see my Brother, so I figured a ride before hand wouldn't hurt. Anyone up for it? Spode

"Do you you like Jewellery?" "Yes" "Great, then suck on my cock, it's a GEM"

I enjoyed that more than some of the other CLS videos I've seen.

I was in a club with my mate Darren and he bet me a drink I couldn't pull in the next 5 minutes. So I turned round to the nearest fit girl I could find and said "Do you like my hair cut?" and then she tried to eat my face I had a Mo-Hawk at the time For two days only

If I didn't ride a rear disc, that frame was close on my list. It certainly does look nice.

It would also be a waste if you happen to have a decentish hub - I have a Hope. But I have been thinking about the whole FFW thingy. Perhaps I should ride one first

Yeah, I will do. I think I want to get Christmas out of the way first. To be honest, this hanger set up seems to working a lot better now I've adjusted the angle of it. Now if it gets hit, it shouldn't come out.

Wouldn't you have to rebuild your rear wheel with a fixed hub to have a ffw, or am I mistaken?

The plates I had welded on that Orange are still going strong. But when I had a straight forward weld redone, it went again in under a week..

Well done, you can really see the improvement in your precision! Keep it up. The fact you have all that stuff a stonesthrow from your HOUSE makes me a little jealous mind you

Sorry, I didn't think I came off insulted It's quite a complement really

I went riding in Folkestone with Darren Hill and Dave Lowe. It was a good ride. Although It was my 2nd ride with my brand new rear disc rotor. I fell off and TWATTED it against something and bent the **** out of it. Took me a while to get it back in to shape. It rides fine, but rubs a little. Kind of annoying as I only just got it I never bent the 160mm I had on their before - the move to 185mm obviously makes it more of a target Still, an all around good ride. That month I took off for injury made a big difference, I've lost a lot of muscle (probably all the booze..). But things are getting a lot better.

Not at all. I had been going to a gym for 2 months for the first time in my life when that photo was taken. I just rode and a did a bit of free running! I'm a generally energetic guy!