spode@thinkbikes

What's scary, is looking at the standard of that, isn't far off some the riders on here who have been at it for 3 months...

I kept mine in my room. If you're mainly riding street, it should stay mud-free (which is probably their biggest concern). Take the front wheel out, find a home for it. The only rationale they could have for not allowing you to have a bike in there, is that of dirt. In which case, your response is that you have paid a deposit to cover any damage - whether it be from vomiting snake bite all over the floor, spilling curry, or being stupid enough to bleed your brakes over the carpet

Nasty gash. You WILL get used to it. I gave myself a nasty one at a demo this weekend, blood was all over me, it was quite funny actually. I barely felt it though. I came home, scrubbed it in the shower and then cut off the excess skin with a scalpel... It looks like you're relying on the front forks a little for your lift. Remember that bunny hopping is a lot like ollying a skateboard - you have to make sure you're weight is in the right place. You're pretty much central for the whole thing - the front is coming up because you're bouncing the forks, where it should be from leaning back and pulling up. The higher you want to go, the more you have to accentuate it. Lean back, throw forward, level out

Looks nice, and I can imagine what it rides like Question is - how easy is it to get the back wheel in/out. Has the wheel moved around at all, or has everything held in place?

I really enjoyed that. Best video I've seen in a while - creative, but still sticking to trials origins.

I didn't realise there were any KOTs still alive! Looks lovely.

I only like Coldplay's first two albums. Smile is a happy song

I try and remove any association between the person making the music, and the music itself. If I didn't do that, I'd really struggle to listen to Coldplay. I'm not the biggest Lily Allen fan though, but Smile is probably her best song. The remix is nicely produced. What are you using to do your work? It might have worked better if you'd only used the verses and not the Chorus - the Chorus melody doesn't quite fit over the chords you've used, and it ruins the dynamics of the song a little. Maybe if you took the chorus, slowed it down a little and did some pitch shifting

I didn't much care for that. Cut out some of the waiting around before each move (i.e making it feel faster paced) and it might have suited the music more and made it more interesting to watch. I just got a bit bored...

Sure, I can set my video player to FORCE the aspect ratio. But it's not been encoded correctly

LOL. We might as well call that "watch chai and spode fall off things". I thought it gave a good feel to how the day was though. We had audiences everywhere we went. Chai's a natural showman, what can I say! Bedded my new disc in a fair amount too Chai, when will you learn about aspect ratios? Seriously dude! I might re-encode it so it's widescreen now..

You got hugs! I was quite impressed with some of the taps I pulled of considering how my knee has been feeling this week. It was a good ride, but I'm feeling the sun

What he said!

Chip away at it. Every now and again just try them and you'll be surprised.

If you watch Rowan's latest video, you'll notice he sidehops the same wall, both ways. I find I'm pretty close height wise, from left or right. Rowan's sentiment summed it up for me: "sometimes I forget which way is my strongest". I imagine eventually there will be a point where your weaker direction will hold you back. But I don't see the harm in developing both ways. It's only hard changing directions because you pretty much have to re-learn it. But it's quicker than learning it for the first time But the sooner you do that, the better.

Lovely

There are different levels of NI. How else do you think Self Employed people get a pension etc?

The idea is, that just because you no longer have a job doesn't mean you don't want to carry on paying your NI. The more NI you pay, the better your pension will be. It's only something like £2.50 a week, but the benefits of paying it apparently outweigh the short-term savings

Some quality videos there I found this one: http://archive.spodesabode.com/misc/spodemtb.avi If I'm not mistaken, that's around 5 years ago.

Essentially - cross training is the key. Do some other sports to help compensate. Free Running for instance

My right thigh is weaker than my left. My right calf is stronger than my left. This inbalance has caused me a lot of problems and is the cause of my patella tendonitis. I've had to do a LOT of physio to help compensate

Testicular Tortion is nasty. You'll be back before you know it

I'm glad you agree. I felt it needed something chilled out, and what better than the pimps!

Nice. What song is that?

I thought that interviewer was behaving weirdly on purpose at first, but no, he's just a d**k! Awesome riding, for any standard, age aside.