Ali C

MINT! it has a lot of me :) :D on my hi fi trying to get the gap at the beginning, and the last scene :D On the first gap, check out what foot I take off with, and which I land with :( Nice crash by savage too, nice to see even the world champs have their off moments :lol:

that tap was HUGE!! The object was around my shoulder hight, I remember measuring it like that as I was trying to hook it (unsuccessfully).

I did a few weeks at Orange bikes in Halifax. I was basicly building up frames ready to be sent out to shops. It was ace, you got given a box, and the speck of the bike, then you go into the wearhouse where they have lods of shelves with fancy pimp components. You filled up the box, and built up the frame (applying stickers an all) then I had to box them up and put them in the lorry. at lunch we went out on all the prototype bikes they had (oranze zero was only in prototype stage then) and went out the back and rode them, the dh bikes were well fun. I also went and watched the guy paint the bikes (he went and locked me in the oven at 150 degrees! it was well hot lol Steve Wade (co owner of orange) took me to the wearhouse where they do all the metal work, showed me around the machines and told me how they work and all about the heat treatment. Back at the other building he showed me his office where he designs the frames (showing me some secrete stuff on cad) I really enjoyed my time there, at the end they gave me loads of clothes and stickers. I have been to other places though which I hated, the most I lasted was 3 days, I just couldnt stand it! The main thing I couldnt cope with was the hours, one was 7.45am till 5pm, that was unbearable.

I have bob built up at the mo, but it seems the heat from welding softened the metal, so its no better than koxx, onza & viz rims. I am gonna try it again, but only get it tagged instead of a weld all the way round, that should stop the metal softening.

Every vee I have used hasnt had anywhere near the power of a disk, especially when wet. Then you have the issues of buckled wheels rubbing which isnt a probalem with disks. I knocked off the dial, unfortunatly I couldnt find it otherwise it just pops back on, it still works perfectly well with out the dials, there is a little knob that sticks out that you can adjust the pads with.

I am almost a purly natural rider, I dont ride street often and I choose to use an avid.

I would never think of putting a vee on the front, disks are far better

I am really lucky as I live locally to the venue, but even if I lived hundreds of miles away I would still find a way to come and join the fun. The uk got an email from the european champs organisers saying how nice and poilite all the uk riders were, lets try and set the same example at addingham.

I have used both the avid and hope mon trials (160 & 180mm) I found my hope to be VERY un reliable, I have never got it to be as powerful as I would like from a brake, it never had any bite (but was exellent for stoppies). I tried new pads, new rotors, re bleads etc. I got it working ok, but the lever wasnt how I liked it, it was too far out and pulled to far in. I then washed my bike today with hope sh1t shifter (meant to be ok for disks), it just killed my mono trials, no power at all! This was the final straw, I took it off and put my avid back on, its piss easy to set up, is waaay more powerful than my hope ever was and was super easy to adjust. I am running mine with an ultimate lever and cheap cables (tried nokon, was crap) Its the smoothest brake out there, way easier to pull than my hope was. I havnt had any problems with heat fade (and you should see the hills I have to ride down!) but I have knocked the dials off in the past. If you havnt guessed by now, I reccomend getting an avid, it blows away the hope in every category but weight.

I have ridden back from there once, wasnt too bad as I had gears, but I wouldnt fancy it now, some monster hills to get up.

man I am glad I didnt do any exams, they sound soo stressful, I would have failed them all for sure

after my recent comp results, I dont think a lesson from Ot would be a bad idea, I need to confim I can get a lift there, then I will book it.

officially my worst result for over a year I think. I was going for a new record of full marks, but I stupidly got through a few sections. I thought the sections were ace, all doable (not by me it seems though) and there was very little problems of queing. thanks to everyone for their help in organising the event. (nice one craig :P )

what size frogs are we talking here? Bull frogs are pretty large so you wouldnt be able to hit/herd/shuffle as many at a time, whereas poison arrow frogs are tiny and would go between the prongs of a rake. can we settle on an industry stardard frog size?

I have my reasons :P"

1 ARM PUMP!!!! 2 punctures 3 mod bikes 4 chavs 5 rain 6 dogs 7 peanuts 8 technology I dont understand 9 crappy jobs 10 the thought of an independant life (dont ask)

I was riding to a ride (natch) today and as I was pedaling my bb went bang! my cranks were wobbling all over the place, hitting my frame and my maggies. I took my bb out only to see this: I have never seen that happen before :o I have only ridden this bb 5 or 6 times, after 5 years of using isis bbs, this is the first one I have had go on me. errm, theres no real point to this post, I just thought people might like to see it.