Sam Nichols

For me it's a lot like Moto GP only a lot slower.. boring boring boring awesome overtaking maneuver/sprint boring boring boring massive crash/pileup boring boring boring awesome overtaking maneuver/sprint ... The only difference being that in Moto GP it's all happening so much quicker and thus more regularly (this is more about the overtaking than the crashing) that it's actually entertaining to watch for long periods of time. The long drawn out stages of the tour are pretty dull up until the end when they dig deep, unless they have a pile up. I used to be a roadie, so don't get me wrong, I don't hate the sport, but I have no interest in watching it.

Drill holes in everything.

Bad experience?

Cycling whilst drunk is great fun, pedaling flat out dodging everything that comes your way, hopping curbs. Nothing better! For added fun* do it with no lights. *risk I guess living on a small island probably makes this more viable though, I've never been pulled over at night when on my bike.

The vans look sick!

This is all I've come up with so far.. It's a bit of a minefield though I feel, perhaps I'll just take a punt at something on Ebay for 20 quid! Shit quality pictures have a certain je ne sais quoi about them anyway!

Not had much luck so far on the wanted section, so perhaps someone has a suggestion for a new camera. Nothing fancy at all, something that's cheap and cheerful, has a flash, takes clear photos, no need to be super high resolution as I just want something I can take a few riding pics with and take along to parties. Plus I'd like to have a record of the 24 tour. Sooo I'm more likely to be snap happy on 'auto' mode than anything else. Budget: Under £100 I think that's it really.

One more beer, or bed. Why is life so goddamn complicated.

Barracuda Ghetto. I'm trying desperately to find some pictures but I think I've lost them. It was this frame (in khaki green) with Marin xc rigid forks, old school red Shimano DX rear vee with koolstop pads (the red and black ones), about a 2mil thick layer of tar on the rims and instead of a bashring I had a triple ring set up whereby the middle ring and the big ring were the ones protected the 'granny' ring. It was diabolical.. But it's what I learnt to gap hop on All you kids with your shiny mods don't know your born!

Hmmmm, I'm not convinced! I've got one of these babies, I'd put my neck out and say that the time it takes to make me a coffee is, in comparison to the time it takes to crack open a Red Bull, negligible.

As has already been said, get out more. There is never a going to be an easy way to get 'good'. But then, if you're only riding because you want to be 'good' then you probably don't get what riding bikes is all about. Passion. I'll be a little more constructive now though; You've got the basics now, you're balance seems to be pretty good judging by the bench riding. Practice your trackstands though, you seemed a little wobbly. It's no good being able to gap across that curb unless you can balance before, gap it, then regain your posture. I think that's the fundamental skill of bicycle trials, the ability to move between obstacles in a controlled and precise manner. I wouldn't worry to much about bigger gaps and higher obstacles until you've got that. Oh, one other thing.. don't spend loads of time trying to do drops. They wreck your bike, look shit until you have loads of control and they aren't 'hard'. I think that should help.

I agree with that, they've definitely been damn efficient from that point of view. Red bull still tastes like shit though

Hopefully it won't disappoint

It's a blunt, purely because the shot looked really nice.. wasn't meant to be deceiving! (Was still damn scary though :$ )

You're f**king joking.. ? What a bloody cheek..

Couple of photos from the past week. Riding's not huge, but who cares. Saving the 'good' stuff for my video.. Sharing them because I think they capture how beautiful Guernsey looks in the summer, and hopefully they will be enjoyed by you guys in much the same way as I enjoy riding my bicycle. I took the final one and I'm pretty happy with it.. The rider (Jack) took all the other shots and is also responsible for practically all of the footage that will be in my summer vid.. Which hopefully will be out soon!

They were on my Revel actually.. Jon's ghz mysteriously lost it's forks after mine snapped..

Nice avatar.

I was thinking something along these lines. I'm thinking about living off sandwiches really.. they're pretty cheap. Loaf of bread + ham.. Easy. I wondered why my bike doesn't have any forks anymore..

Haha, nice work! Glad to see you have your priorities right! I may have to budget a little more than money for food though, two pot noodles a day won't sustain me!

Including liquor? That's a pretty optimistic budget surely!!

Everything's falling into place perfectly, all I need is for someone to pack my bag for me and I'm set Those of you who are doing the whole tour, how much roughly are you budgeting (monies) for it? I'm gonna be pretty tight, but should be fine. All that's on my mind at the moment is this tour!!

This topic has definitely got me thinking..

I'd be wary of anyone who suggests that pad X are amazing with 'a bit of tar'. Pad materials have come a long way since magura blacks! A good pad won't need tar. I'm running rock pad blues on a smooth rim and the only problem I've had is that they don't work in the wet.. but if that really concerns you then I'm pretty certain you'll be hard pressed to find any type of pad that works on a smooth rim in the wet. I'm not very light either :$ , and they still lock very well.