Ali C

But did the vaccine help or did they start rolling out when the virus mutated to be less dangerous? If I started selling blessed rocks to the entire population just when the severity of the virus was decreasing then it’s possible everyone would say these rocks worked too. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not denying the vaccine could’ve had a benefit, I don’t think it was entirely useless I just don’t think it was necessary for most young healthy people and I especially don’t think the us/them mentality (which I can’t believe is still going on!) is good at all! I think saying the vaccine got us out of the pandemic is a pretty wild claim though, there’s a lot more to take into consideration

this is one reason why I stopped using their levers, this would happen every 6 months or so and would mean a new lever, fortunately we had plenty of spares but it was a joke how many perfectly good calipers we had in the flat connected to broken levers like yours. The good news is the MT7/5 lever is mostly the same so a straight swap is possible (the MT5/7 uses the same calipers anyway). If you want a stronger lever then get a Shimano on for a Shigura setup...or just get a Hayes

I honestly don’t think the vaccines sped anything up…well ok maybe they did as they allowed people to have fewer restrictions and get out and spread the virus allowing it to mutate and become less dangerous but I don’t think that was the intention.

do you spend much time wearing a mask? I only ask as Jane has to as part of work, sometimes 8 hours with one on and she's really been struggling to breath and has Asthma type symptoms since last year despite never having had Covid or Asthma in the past.

yeah, agreed something had to be done, I feel the first lockdowns were fair whilst we/they tried to figure out what was happening and plan the next moves. What I don't think was fair was the decisions on what was "vital" work or not, the promotion of fast food, the prolonged closure of health related services, the absolute refusal to discuss alternat procedures to the point of ruining peoples reputations, the reliance on "experts" who end up wasting billions on PPE that doesn't even work etc There were SO many bad/random/corrupt/suspicious decisions that I honestly can't fathom how people sat there and thought things were done well...even for something unprecedented it's been really weird and frustrating to be part of. I don't think at any point in history the general public has ever wanted the government to control them or censor them as much as we have these last two years, it's quite frightening

I agree, f**k the young people, we don’t need them to have their own businesses, they don’t need good mental health or a social life. It’s not like it’ll effect the country long term or anything. Old people are our biggest assets, they need the most help as they’ve had the hardest lives…houses were so expensive when they were younger! ok major exaggeration and I do like old people (I’m related to some myself) but I do think more damage has been done with the restrictions than good.

I wanted to say this but wasn't sure how well that would go down...not saying anything but I do know a few foil hats are twitching

Are people only just realising this is a thing? Funny how people who were cancelled, ridiculed, fired, bullied and called conspiracy theorists are slowly starting to make sense. Also funny how the virus seems to have just ended? In the UK at least I'm no longer seeing much talk about it, obviously the Ukraine news is taking over but that's another story altogether. All I will say is it's nice that the covid passports have been abolished, I went to the cinema the other day and go mask free in shops etc and it feels great. I do worry that the decisions made up to this point have done more damage than the virus would've (after 2020 anyway) and I hope some of the more wild conspiracy theories aren't true but there's not much I can do about it anyway so I'm just going to enjoy the lesser restrictions and hope that other countries follow suite...it's been a wild ride!

I found them a little too lightweight, I had to run pretty high pressures and it made the bike feel pretty harsh. I also tore a sidewall blasting a pumptrack berm. Grip was pretty average too.

I plan on finding out

I have many nuggets on the go You seemed so stoked with your bike build (and rightly so) I didn't feel it was my place to turn the conversation around onto something of mine. This won't be experiencing the MX5, no way it's going inside and my bike rack won't fit it. I'm selling the MX5 to get a van anyway

This happened

just transferred money for the deposit and fees, it's taken 9 months of paperwork but we should officially be home owners very soon

I always have a mess of cables, chargers and batteries for my multiple cameras and I’ve been wanting a battery charging station for a while. Inspired by similar home made versions today I made my own charging station from an Ikea pegboard. It keeps my empty and charged batteries easy to organize, cables are tucked neatly behind, I can hang it from a shelf meaning I don’t take up any worktop space. Very pleased with it and should take away some of the stress of organizing my videos

Got a bit of grit in my eye, no idea where it came from but it appeared JUST as I got into bed. I was extremely tired to the point of being cranky anyway but now this is stopping me from sleeping…it happens to be more irritating when I close my eye which is inconvenient. it’s almost 4am and I just got out of the shower where I tried to run loads of water in my eye but that didn’t work, absolutely raging!

Another big job done, finally got the lounge floor in which means the main bulk of work in this room is now done! Just waiting on the mantle for the fireplace and curtains to turn up but until then we can finally upbox the sofa which has been taking up all the space in the hall for nearly two months. The cat also approves which is a bonus

yes please

That yolk is two cnced halves which you then sandwich together, you can buy them in steel or titanium, they’re really cool! I’m curious about the flat mount brakes, I’d thought about using this style of I got a frame made…it’s way more compact and removes the weak “tabs” a normal caliper has. Only issue is no DH powered brakes have this design however Magura do make an MT6 version and that is a pretty powerful brake so should be a decent option.

Pretty angry at the state of the world at the moment, there’s so much maddening stuff happening and I feel so powerless.

the result of my visit with Adam

Just had a fireplace fitted, just needs a mantelpiece fitting (they’ll do that this weekend hopefully) and then all that’s needed to do is tidy things up a bit…paint the walls, wipe the slate and get some more skirting board. Should kick out some decent heat and be cheaper than using gas (especially with the price hikes incoming!)

Interesting days with Adam today, got to see his bike and wheels in person (so impressed!!). We may have filmed in his workshop, safe for work content coming on Friday

great edit! Loved the style of filming and riding and I'm stoked to see you put the bspins onto the streets!

I'm not worried about driving a longer vehicle...after taking the 7.5 meter motorhome down singletrack clifftop roads on the outskirts of Mull I feel I can tackle anything! I'm just wanting something smaller so I can get access to more places, I know of a couple of riding spots that have height access carparks plus my Dad's house has a low railway bridge and I'm forced to park quite far away if I can't get under it.

haha that's a proper loaf! Still too big though I do plan on doing some kind of conversion but it'll probably be pretty budget.