Ali C

cramped!!! it was lanky as fook, far too long for my liking.

+20mm ashton or a +30mm czar, both lush. Controls are nice, cant complain about them

Thats no problem, just pull both brakes at the same time, I had a ride on in on the warm up area, its a nice bike!

now I have some time to myself I'll say more about the trip. I went with stan in his van, the traffic was pretty bad on the trip to dover and we missed our ferry, we got on a later one though which was cool. We ended up in belgium pretty late, we didnt have a map though, only some vague directions to our hotel, at 3am we found it! that was a pretty stressful drive!! The next day we had to get up early and go sign on, this also gave us a chance to look at the sections. The layout was cool, 6 sections all very close together on the beach with a grandstand, music playing and people already sitting down ready to watch...there was a cool warmup area too made from a demo rig and some pallets/cable reels, that attracted a bit of an audience too (especially when the top guys were on there!) The sections were all rocks placed in the sand except for one section made from concrete tubes, I was a tad dissapointed in no wooden section, but I cant complain really. Qualifying was on saturday with over 30 riders in 26", the top 10 get moved into the semi finals, my goal for the weekend was to get in that top 10, I wasnt sure if it was going to be possible, especially as its my first ever uci world cup. The sections were very techy, there were a few big moves, but it was mostly balance that was needed, I cleaned a few sections, but it was very easy to get a five, too many dabs, time, tape boundaries, pedal dabs, they soon racked up the points. It was awesome with the music and the crowd though, they really supported the riders and cheered when they got out of a section. I rode ok, I didnt think I had done well enough, but fortunatly I had just about qualified!! I was REALLY happy! I saw the sections for the semi that evening...they were HAAAARD! such a difference between qualifying! You needed power as well as balance and endurence, I think I remember ben slinger saying it was the hardest world cup semis he had seen. I seemed to ride a tad better, I guess that was the time to do so too. I got out of a few sections, but I also 5ed a few too. I cleaned the concrete section both times which was cool and I beat Vinceant Hermance in a section too!!! I got 1 dab, he got 3! Thats my highlight of the comp! I was also happy to beat Joe Brewer too and I was 1 dab off Wes Beleay (though he did have the worst ride of his life!) I ended up 11th, I am VERY happy with that, the top 8 got moved to the final....my future goal is to get into a final, although, the finals were sooooooooooooooo hard its untrue! Kenny is a beast! I cant believe some of the stuff he can do, its amazing! I hope Andrei's hand gets better soon, it was a pretty harsh crash! PHILL AND JOE, get your pics up!

06 adamant a1, 06 czar, 06 pitbulls, GUs, HIFIs!!!!! Anything with a bb hight over 40mm really....oh, and mods!

Ali C 11th, slinger 12th best comp ever!

yes! Can I have a go on it at the weekend?

yes, as long as the adaptor for your avid is to suit a 185mm rotor, then any 185mm rotor will fit, obviously some will work better than others. I reccomend the hope saw rotors, you would need the 183mm virsion, the depth of the braking surface is perfect for avids!

built 5 (I think) wheels at work the other day, I am not yet perfect, need to get my up/down truing a bit better, so at the mo I get Adam tart to finnish them off, he is the perfect wheel building teacher! I did cock one up today though, had to start again, but it was cool in the end (dam two cross!)

in singapore there was a spider on its web about the size of my head! it was dam big. I love spiders though, they are awesome, except the nasty bastards like the recluse spider, black widow, funnel web and wandering spider (<most deadly in the world) they are nasty!

I love it!, so swoopy, looks so nice to ride.

they are pretty bash happy, I know iolo landed on his alot and it took the hits pretty well.

sweeet! I havnt seen dan since I helped lay the concrete base for his shed (he still owes me )

went well, bit of a shakey start with heavy rain, some of the sections needed modding as they were set in the dry and became too dangerous in the wet, also the ambulence people were making excuses to leave, but we got them to stay....which was nice. The sections were haaaard, they were set in the dry when the rocks are uuuber grippy, but once they got wet they are as slippery as ice, it was good practise for those off to japan. I cant remember all the results, but heres the ones I did remember. Expert: 1st Sam Waddington 2nd patt donoven 3rd Phil Williams Elite: 1st Joe Seddon 2nd Tom Astbury Master: 1st Andrie Burton 2nd Nick Goddard 3rd Ali C I think the day was a sucsess, some of the councilers were up watching and they were impressed, building for the UKs (possibly the worlds) largest trials park will start this winter ready for next year.

was the legend that is Danny Smith there? I heard rumours he was going!

10.8kg/23lbs ish?

low bars are shit! low bars gives you a hunch back!! low bars makes kittens cry!

atomz or viz

Martyn Ashton and Martin Hawes My first ever issue of mbuk had them riding california with hans rey (chainspotting stuff) I didnt know what the hell they were doing but it was cool! After watching chainspotting I was hooked, cheers guys! Aran Iolo Cook Been my main riding friend for a number of years now, last years british champion in expert, always happy, always seeing the different ways of getting up things. Sam (wad) Waddington Been riding with Wad since he was small and shit, now he's tall and good! He ownes me at a few moves, I like to feel we both push each others riding. Stan Shaw SOOOO under rated, he is the smoothest rider ever, can go bigger than anyone I know, it sickens me! If he was quicker in comps he would be up there on the podium everytime. Danny Mac totally sorted geezer! can do anything he wants on a bike (except sidehop lol) and is always smiling Chris Akgrigg first person I saw with such a unique style, owned on the comps and the streets, inspired me! Waynio One of my longest riding buddies, nice guy, great riding, always ready to help too. Danny Smith was REALLY good! better than most people today, he taught me a lot and took me to a lot of places, shame his elbow hurts too much to ride (but he ownes on a mototrials bike!) Tim Stedman Also another unique rider, mucho power! mega underrated Adam Wilson Another rider really good for his time! on a short bike with short stem too, still trying to do some of his lines 4 years on! Andrei Burton One of the best riders I know, one of the few riders making a living from riding! Dan Butler Uks best uci rider, a laugh to be around too. James Porter So good and so young! totally random guy, pretty funny lol Damon Watson, Tunny, Craig Scott pushing thepower limits! insane stuff Nick Goddard has the balance of a squirrel, the face of a chipmunk and the smoothness of a puppy. Rowen Johns doing all the cool lines I would like to do I will add more later

I was there when Barry congratulated Ben. I wont go into your banning as I dont know the full details, all I'll say is it was a shame you didnt ride, I am sure you would have done pretty well! also, ben ripped off some of the lettering on his shirt to say somthing different in the opening ceromony and then wore the shirt backwards in the awards ceromony so you couldnt read the writing, to be frank, that pissed me off.

you need a BIU license to enter the worlds, but you also need to enter the british champs and get some ranking points (is that true?) in which case you'll need an acu license too...you should be able to get info off ukbiketrials.co.uk. Entery forms get sent out to people if they have these licenses otherwise they can be downloaded off that site < Anyway.......Got back from Czech at 3.30 this morning. It was a great trip! I travelled with Pat the Don, G Unit and Tom Astbury. We stayed with Andrie Burton and Joe seddon in a hotel opposite the Aqua Park (lots of perving over sunbathing women went ahead), it was a bit tricky getting the room, but some sign language and finger waving got us a room. pat was gay and stayed with Scott Wilson in a different hotel, unlucky Scott!! On friday Myself, Danny butler, Ben Slinger, Nick Goddard, Tom Astbury, Andrei Burton and Joe Seddon had the water park to ourselves! The two young (hot) lifeguards didnt seem bothered what we did either, going up the water slides the wrong way and stopping halfway down and causing a jam was awesome! The weather was amazing (37 degrees yesterday!) almost too hot to ride, sweat was pouring off me! We went for a cool street session on friday, there wasnt much but it was still good. We then checked out the sections.....they didnt look that bad, all were doable and most were cleanable if you were skilled in the art of going to pedal (somthing I am not!). The man made section looked tough though! not a lot of room for mistakes. I was feeling pretty confident before the comp, but it all went a bit tits up once I started! I dont know what was up with me, I wasnt in control of the bike at all! I was mega sketchy and was just falling through the sections and getting a lot of 5s! I did a can opener on the man made section when I fell back onto a tractor tyre knobble on my arse! That hurt! My 2nd lap was a little better, I managed to get up the cliff uci clean on section 4 that Last years Expert champ Brumotti's minder thought was "impossible" only to missjudge my final move and fall back down the whole lot, crushing mr Burton at the same time! I fell onto a rock on my back which REALLY hurt, but I could still ride. I dont know what my final score was, but it was a lot more that I wanted, I have never ridden so badly in my life!! I am not that bothered really, I was not there to win, only to keep my World Master Ranking, which I have sucseeded in. Well done to Ben Savage on 2nd, though I am disapointed in the petty team shirt "modding", no need dude! Haha, we also left a nice tip for a waitress in a restraunt, the only drawback was that it was inside an upsidedown pint glass containing 12 wasps we caught during the meal, she gave us quite an odd look! Cant wait for my next trip!

a tranny would be the obvious choice, lots of cheap spairs, cheap to buy, roomy BUT are they too big for everyday use? I wouldnt be able to fit one in my carpark space at home either...what are they like for mpg too? I would like a deisil, but I am also tempted to comvert to lpg if I get somthing roomy like a transit.

I would really like a van, I travel the country to ride and I am fed up of sleeping uncomfily in my car, camping or paying for a hotel. I would really like a medium sized van that I could put some sort of bunk in the back to sleep a couple of people. does anyone have any ideas on what would suit my needs? I have seen the VW Transporter, I think that would be sweet, but I am worried they are too big for day to day use, also I have no idea what they are like for fuel effinciancy. I recken I could get 3 bikes and maybe 3 (cosey) beds in a transporter, anything smaller would be puching it and would only sleep one person. Anyway, I am open to opinions. Also, insurence, I am 23 and have 2 years no claims and my 306 turbo D is currently just under £500 a year, any ideas on costs of insuring a van? Cheers guys Ali

I like it, saw it yesterday in the flesh and its pretty cool, shame its a mod!

cheers guys, setting off tomorrow, not packed yet, still sorting my bike out...its being a royal pain!! (took me an hour to find a bolt I dropped!) I need to get my gears sorted, but I cant find my trusty 5 yr old thumb shifter that I always use, I cant gt my gears to work without it!