dantheman0177

Actually I did paddle a few times, but work was just so crazy busy (ask Ais - when she came to visit we hardly saw each other) that I couldn't get down to the river regularly enough. That was a shame, but I did lots of other awesome things instead.

Noah basically got my update right, although I'm now back in Oz and have a similar sorry take to Ais. I started training again last week and it's killing me. I've been swimming - did 1.5km in my first session in over 3 years, which is not bad since I swim like a brick - paddling my kayak and been in the gym. It's nice to be active again, which is really hard living in London, but the 4:40am starts and the muscle soreness is not so cool.

Coming along slowly. Only 7 or 8 weeks to go now before my life is officially over forever! But we're back in Oz and trying to settle into some sort of work/life routine. That and buy a house, which is proving more difficult than I expected, especially since I'm an estate agent...

Mmmmm, Big Mario's Big BBQ. I'd eat there, for sure! Mate, sorry to hear that bad news, but you're an experienced guy who will be very valuable to your new team. It will be tough (and I don't envy anyone who is laid off) but it will also open up new opportunities and hopefully it will all turn out positively at the end of the day.

I think that was my post talking about the Metal Burner. No idea why it disappeared. But in summary, I loved it so much at SES that I bought it (even though my wife was there)

If you can ship one to Oz, I promise to put some gumby miles on it for you. I get back in the country on Tuesday and already have two days planned at Buller within the first week!

Billy, huge congrats from Vanessa and I. Hopefully one day our kids might take turns together.

Interesting thought Dave. I like it. Although my theory is far less sinister. I think Armstrong was told by the team to be up the front just in case there was a breakaway, so he could try to dictate the pace. But when it happened, he found himself with almost the entire Columbia team and there was nothing he could do except hang in there and see how it played out. But you are right that the TTT will be interesting today. I just hope I can get a stream through our firewall at work.

We've gone through 6 in our family - Impreza x 3, Forester x 2, Outback x 1 - and aside from damage done hitting kangaroos (I don't recommend doing that, by the way) they've all been fantastic. I'm moving back home to Oz in about a month and might get another Outback since I really loved my last one.

It's started throwing up random people as suggestions to invite as friends. Some of them are totally random and I don't know them, which is weird enough. But it has also suggested two in the last two days that I actually KNOW, but that have no other connection to me on FB (and in fact who I haven't seen for years, so there's no way it could know that I know them). All this data mining software is scary stuff.

A friend of mine has just invited me over for a weekend riding at Saas Fee in Switzerland. It's apparently on a glacier, so will be fun but slushy by midday. I can HIGHLY recommend the Dolomites. We were there for NYE and it was awesome. The only thing I would say against it is that the runs are a little narrow, having been originally cut for skiers. But otherwise it's great. There is a little village called Campitello which is a very nice place to be based and reasonably affordable (by European standards).

incredible!

I have a bad feeling that I won't be able to make it either....hold on, this could start rumors!

So finally decided, we are moving back from the UK to Australia. Resignations handed in, flights are booked, and now quietly stressing about all the things that have to be done before we go - and all the things we should have done and seen while we were here that we didn't.

Bryan, things are great, although still in the UK for the time being. We might be back in Oz by the end of the year, but still depends on a few things. Now unlike snowboards, where I just ride what's fun and feels good for me, some of these things I know quite a bit about!

Sort of back on topic, how do you guys think a system like the HFP will react to a board like the TNT where the two edges flex independently? I can see the benefits of independent edge flex (TNT) and the benefits of the HFP as described by Fin, but I can't quite grasp how they could co-exist. I don't know a great deal about all this stuff, but it is really interesting to me, hence what might seem obvious questions.

Fin, just a little practical suggestion for if the HFP ever comes into production: On the male half of the torsion bar you should put measurement grooves, so that it can be remounted as a whole without the need for a tape measure. Just a practical suggestion from the pragmatic (read: super lazy) side of the planet.

Don't stick around for too many of those at the expense of missing out on things you enjoy. Once you tie the knot, your opportunities to get out and about for your own fun become extremely limited. Everything that used to be "your" thing becomes either an "our" thing or an "I don't like you doing that, so no" thing.

I agree with Neil. I broke mine years ago playing football (Aussie Rules). I was flat on my back and knew I'd broken it, but the school nurse was a useless, stupid [insert extremely rude word here] and got a couple of guys to lift me up off the ground by putting their hands under my armpits. It went from rather painful to excruciating (sp?) and I called her lots of very bad names. The extra pain was actually because when I was lying on my back, everything was still essentially where it was meant to be. But when they tried to lift me up (and when I screamed, they dropped me, so that didn't help either) the bones got displaced. Ever since (18 years) I have had issues with that shoulder because of the displacement. So as I said, I agree with Neil, because if it is fractured but not displaced, they cam imobilise it and it will heal pretty well. But if you keep using it and happen to displace it, quite apart from the immediate pain, it won't heal well and you'll have problems for a lot longer.

I'm no engineering genius (not even an engineering gumby) but what you are trying to achieve here makes perfect sense to me. By eliminating as many mechanical variables as possible and providing more certainty with the set up, we should then be able to concentrate on obtaining the maximum performance from the physical variables (ie: body movements) without having to expend energy/thought/time/motion/etc to counteract inefficient equipment fluctuations. I can see why the racers are so keen on these systems, although I'm not sure how much benefit would really be gained by a <20 days a year rider like me. The again Fin, I'll probably be back in Oz by late August so I'd be more than happy to test that statement in the Southern Hemisphere for you if you want to provide access to the samples!

It depends where you are flying to. If you are only doing a single sector, then the key is to try and work out the timing so you sleep when you would expect to sleep in both places. That works, for example, between Aus/NZ and US/Can and you can manage about 6 hours on a 14 hour flight. Not too bad and you don't get anywhere near as jetlagged. But if it's longer, like my trips home from the UK, it's almost impossible to do anything but grin and bear it. So you just have to drink tons and tons of water, get the noise cancelling headphones (best investment I've made in the last 3 years, considering the amount of travel I do) and force yourself to operate on the time zone of your destination from the minute you get off the plane (ie: forget all about what time it is at home).

I gotta say, good work. Wish I could have written essays on stuff like that in high school. But I have to ask the general question - why is this Off Topic? IMHO I think it's very topical.

Classic. I can't wait to see this movie.

...it looks like you are wearing no clothes. Now Jack, I know receiving a new Kessler is exciting, but really....:eek::eek: