Nitro Circus on MTV

posted by Jaitu at 22:17

MTV has recently started showing Nitro Circus on Sunday nights in the UK. I caught this by chance and am hooked. It's like Jackass but more focused on jumps and stunts and less on vomiting and public humiliation. The group of regulars is lead by Moto X and freestyle rider Travis Pastrana and includes other Moto racers, mountain bikers, bmx riders and base jumpers.

Each week sees a collection of insane stunts ranging from racing kids big-wheel trikes downhill to sky-diving without a parachute to loop the loop slip'n'slides through the woods to driving a trophy truck across the desert at 170mph to base jumping from Las Vegas hotels to attempting to back flip a monster truck.

It looks like the whole lot is available online at the Nitro Circus Vimeo channel. I'm currently resisting the urge to watch more online and just letting 'traditional T.V.' drip feed it to me.

To find out whether it's something you might like then check out the clip below which appears to be the whole of the first show.

Nitro Circus ep. 1 - Welcome to Pastranaland from Nitro Circus on Vimeo.

Real World Guitar Hero On A Bike

posted by Jaitu at 07:46

Okay the title may be a little misleading as there is no-one actually playing Guitar Hero in this clip. Instead you have a guy riding his bike along a route that has been marked out with the fret board arrangement for "Prisoner Of Society" by The Living End as you would see find it on Guitar Hero with the difficulty set to hard.
Along with the incidental details, like the occasional pyrotechnic, one easily missed but excellent detail is the LED strip across the handle bars that flash in the correct sequence and in time with the floor markings.

Originally seen on : laughingsquid.com

Pop Thorn

posted by Jaitu at 18:39

Whilst glancing out of the window at the pouring rain today I noticed that my dripping bike had lost some definition around the front tyre. My keen mind and deductive reasoning led me to conclude that I had a puncture.
I made a deal with myself that if it was dry when I left I would fix it properly - by which I mean replace the inner tube and not faff with a puncture repair kit. If it was still raining I would just pump a load of air back in and see how far I could get.
In the end it wasn't raining but it was almost an hour later than I had expected to leave so the "just pump a load of air back in" plan seemed preferable. I gave the tyre a quick once over to see if there was any obvious damage and was disappointed to find a woody stub sitting flush with one of the tread blocks. Further fiddling left it clear that no amount of pumping was likely to improve the situation.
I took the wheel off and extracted the offending item from the rubber. It was a little more substantial than I had anticipated. I took a poor quality image, in the fading light, of the thorn I took out next to the valve stem of the deflated tube as as a record.

The amazing this is that I know exactly where I would have picked this up and it is around two miles from work. Somehow I had managed to ride that far in the morning with no indication of the puncture.

Bugger...The amp blew up!

posted by Womble692 at 11:38

Well the new band, Cold Roses, had its third gig on saturday. Easing into the first set, crowd (more than 10 people so i call them a crowd) were appreciative and then Snap, Crackle and Pop and all i can get from the guitar amplifier is a loud feedback. O dear. Somehow get through the next 2 songs by switching it on and off for the parts i need to play and then have to stop the gig for 5 minutes whilst we get Keith (second guitarist) to give me his amp and he sends his signal from his processor unit to the PA. At the halfway interval i survey the damage to the amp and its blown the valves again, only just had it repaired so a call to the company to sort that, however its the second time its done it so new amp time......not what the wallet wanted, however the lure of amp shopping makes me smile again. Soldier on through the second half of the gig and im not happy at all with the overall sound or performance but people seemed to like it and i always maintain if you can play a gig without getting bottles thrown at you then you have done fine. Few things to sort out in the coming rehearsals like getting the rest of the band to turn down but it will be fine.

Been a long time since i last posted here, mainly because i forgot my login details. Few things to report, got a new job, IT Operations Manager for a roofing and cladding company, second week in and there is lots to do! Lot of systems and processes need overhauling, more challenging than that is the company culture, that will take time to change.

Purchased a new motorbike which i pick up on August 11th. Its a Suzuki GSXR 750 K7 Phantom (limites edition of 200). Nice!!!! Going to be a bit of a power hike from my last motorbike which was a Suzuki SV650S. K purchased a new bike as well, a new pointy SV650S and should get that this week. I had already chosen my number plate but when she decided to buy a new bike she arranged to get matching number plates, only one letter different.......hmm how cheesy is that going to look when we are out together?

What else to say...O yes we made our wedding rings!! K and I went to Cornwall and hired out a jewellery workshop to make our wedding rings. K makes silver jewellery in her own workshop and i have also had a bash at it but apparently platinum is harder to work with and requires "special techniques" (i later found out this meant heavier hammers and hotter blow torches!)
K went for a plain 3mm platinum band which i made, turned out rather well if i say so myself and I went for a 9mm platinum band in a brushed effect. K had great issues getting mine to solder and stay in shape properly, took 5 attempts and 2 jewllery makes and 2 massive gas blow torches to get it right but in the end we are happy with it which is good as it worked out more expensive than buying them. However we did make them ourselves which is special to us.

Well that is it for this post, apologies for the length and time between. just checked out the RTDL2 store and seen a few shirts i fancy.

Laters

D

You'll Go Blind

posted by Jaitu at 22:19

While browsing a site that has some cool movies of local mountain bike trails around the Surrey Hills I noticed some snowy thumbnails. So I've linked to the two below for the benefit of ElDiablo whom I know is still feeling the need.

No Snow? You Should've Gone To Tignes


Tignes 2004-2005-2006


For anyone wishing to watch the MTB movies you can find them here.

As Though Describing A Circle

posted by Jaitu at 18:06

Naomi and I went out riding together this weekend for the first time since Christmas. We went out both Saturday and Sunday on one of the easier routes we use. All on the road which keeps things simple but with a fair bit of elevation change thrown in to make you work a little.


The weather on Saturday was gorgeous and the ride was good fun. We came home and made our traditional post ride meal, two huge yorkshire puddings filled with assorted vegetables and gravy.

The Sunday ride was less fun. The weather was colder and the sky overcast. Naomi was feeling the fact she hadn't ridden for six weeks and consequently everything was a bit slower. Sunday was also the day for the Spandex Supermen to be out on the road and it was frustrating to be constantly passed by folks on seven ounce roadie bikes with their legs spinning wildly as they completely failed to make use of the almost three hundred gears at their disposal. The range of my gear work on the road doesn't usually extend much beyond big ring to middle for a junction and back again.

Still, Sunday afternoon we went over to my Best Man's place and his girlfriend served us up a fantastic roast dinner followed by the best home made cheesecake you are ever likely to find.

I'd like for us to get back on the off road riding but the next few weekends don't offer us much time what with Naomi having her Hen Night this weekend and me my Stag Do the following. It's only a couple of weeks after that that we fly out to Aus.

In the meantime I'll make do with watching stuff like these clips from the excellent ROAM.

Fate Wants Me Fat

posted by Jaitu at 21:54

True to my word I have continued riding to work so far this week. I am beginning to see worrying signs though.
On Monday I rode into work despite some obstacles as I previously mentioned. That was obviously Sign One.
Yesterday I rode in with no problems and as the weather and light were much improved I even returned through the trees. This was not what Fate wants for me. Fate wants me off the bike.
Fate wants me fat.
Today we awoke to a blanket of snow. Not huge amounts but enough to bring a great nation like ours to it's knees. Sign Two.
I bravely set off avoiding tyre tracks in the snow and sticking to the fresh white surface where I was guaranteed firm footings only an inch or two below. As the tributary side roads of our area slowly joined and commingled in to potentially stronger streams of traffic the amount of road surface not already rolled smooth by passing cars rapidly decreased. Suddenly I was riding on a plane of sheet ice that stretched the length and width of the immediate road. With elegance and grace akin to that of the most experienced practitioners of Tai Chi, I landed flat on the tarmac. Sign Three.
A close by group of school kids paused in their snow ball fight to see that I was OK. I replied 'It was bound to happen sooner or later' and dragged my bike across the glassy tarmac to the assured traction and relative safety of a grass verge. No sooner had I got back on than a scrubbing sound drew our attentions to a VW Golf which sailed slowly from the patch I had just vacated, through the T-junction and thudded up the kerb on the opposite pavement. Sign Four.
Once on the main road everything went smoothly. The road was clear of snow, ice and slush and the traffic was hardly moving. I was able to ride straight up the middle of the road overtaking everyone and still only on the middle ring. I climbed my way up the cycle path and around the fallen trees and made it to work safely. Take that Fate.
Come time to leave for home I discovered a flat front tire. Cheap shot. A colleague gave me a lift home and I'll not be riding tomorrow.

Riding, Trees Down, Lard

posted by Jaitu at 21:15

I rode my bike to work for only the fourth time this year today. It's a journey of less than three miles and only takes around 15 minutes but when the weather is bad or I'm not feeling so good it can be tougher than you'd expect. I could always slow down a bit and take it easier but that feels like cheating. When you're riding along a major A road and traffic is brushing past you at 50 miles an hour you don't really want to spend longer than you have to either. The route gets better at two thirds in. This is where I get off the road and follow a bridlepath that forms part of a cycle route that runs from Greenwich to the South Coast. It's here that the morning get's tough even if only for a few minutes. The path rises steadily and although it doesn't look like much for a man of my athletic build, it saps what little residual energy I have. Not having breakfast then setting out in the bracing British weather takes it's toll.
Just to make things a little more interesting four trees of varying sizes had fallen across the track over the weekend causing me to go either under, over or around the obstacles. It also meant a diverted and extended all-road return journey in the dark.
The forecast for the rest of this week is also not promising but I'll try and continue the riding. Having bought my suit on the weekend I have to keep my waistline in check until the wedding. In good weather and daylight I'm quite happy to ride off in the wrong direction after work and stretch things out for a while. In the cold and the wet and the wind and the dark I usually just want to get home.