I Love R2D2

My buddy Danny is a huge Star Wars fan. I always keep an eye out for funky Star Wars bits 'n' bobs for him. Now I've always been fan of Star Wars and when I had the film for Christmas when I was a nipper, it was watched numerous times before I finally had to give it up and go and have Xmas lunch - the good ol' days ;)

But Danny and his Mrs as well for that matter are monster fans! They are dedicated. We're looking forward to going to see a show soon with them - will be a whole new Star Wars experience for me and Nic.

Anyway, I know for a fact that Danny & Sheri would really want this and so do I!!

In the meantime, as this is clearly going to be unreachable, I think I will have to settle for a new Xbox at Christmas...

Hip Wigglers

Came across these guys today Hip Wiggling Society.

They're putting on an event at Gwithian on 3rd and 4th September - this weekend! I'll see if I can make the Sunday :)

Corduroy Lines: Issue 13

The latest issue of Corduroy Lines is available to buy now! Order it here...

There's Been a Real Drought

It has been ages since I was last in the sea. Well, at least it feels like it. I think it was July. But the drought is soon to be over :)

We tend not to go places too frequently during the summer school holidays - too busy and too expensive.

We'd had a really nice session in June. The surf was really small, but the big banana and I loved it. Nic took her new (my old) board out the back for the first time. It was a nice easy paddle.

Roll on Septmeber and the schools going back!!

Burton Freestyle Camp at Tamworth Snowdome

Well, it's been an offensive amount of time since I last blogged - not good :(

Anyway...
Looks like Burton snowboards will be doing a freestyle camp at Tamworth Snowdome! Check out the details here: http://whitelines.mpora.com/ne​ws/burton-freestyle-camps-hit-​tamworth-month.html

Will hopefully be checking it out...

Nightsurfing

A buddy of mine sent me this (@tingy - nice one!) and what I fine spot it was. Some stunning footage...

@tingy found it on superpunch

Mickey Smith on BBC 2 - Springwatch 2011

I didn't get to see this on TV the other night, but Springwatch 2011 on BBC 2 had an extract on Mickey Smith.

Once again, some really nice footage!

Russian Police - Out the Closet

I was watching a bit of iPlayer this morning before starting work. Some tripe with Mr.T in it. Although there was this little nugget in it...

I didn't realise that the Russian police actively promoted their sexuality on their riot gear.

And for the not so keen eyed among you...

NW 200 Practice 2011

Here's a link to the North West 200 Tuesday 2011 practice by BBC NI http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/northern_ireland/13446350.stm

There's no footage for Thursday practice yet :( Roll on the weekend!!

Update:
Here's the Thursday practice: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/northern_ireland/13455884.stm

On-Track Off-Road OTOR

Came across this nifty free monthly webzine called On-track Off-Road. Shall be keeping an eye on that one :)

Cookstown 100 2011

The TT had great coverage last year by the ITV4 and the Beeb. The Cookstown 100 was aired by the Beeb last year too (albeit on Northern Ireland regional only - but I watched it on iPlayer). Needless to say, this year it went missed (as far as I can see). So here's some on-board footage of Andrew Courtney completing the full race...

Update!

The Cookstown 100 will be on BBC NI at 10:45 tonight (18th May 2011). Thanks @MariaCostello for the tweet!

European Longboard Tour 2011

Just came across the dates for the European Longboard Tour. Looks like I'll be heading to Watergate Bay in October!

Snowboarding Footage from Les Deux Alpes - March 2011

It takes so long to put videos together - it's sole destroying. None the less, I showed commitment and did this one. It's quite long (about 20 minutes), so be prepared to be bored ;) hehehe!

It was all shot on a GoPro (SD). Board mounted, facing the rider or to the front and hand held also. You don't get a real good reflection of the speed - hit 45 mph at one point - looks like 10.

Due to YowTube limits, I have had to do it 2 parts (a playlist), so expect a brief break in between the parts...

Maps and My Tracks

As I said here, I used a wicked app on my phone called My Tracks while we were in Les Deux Alpes recently. An added bit of niftyness about it is that you can upload the maps to Google maps. The last point has the various stats about the route (max/avg speed, etc) which is also quite nifty :)

Day 2, Day 3, Day 4, Day 5, Day 6

Into the Wild

We watched Into the Wild last night. This is the first film in ages that I have watched and thought was very good! It's based on a true story and definitely worth a watch.

And here's the bus... what a memorial...

"Happiness is only real if shared"

Last Few Days in Les Deux Alpes

Over the last few days of the session I didn't really get time to do a day by day blow of what was going on. Needless to say, it was ace :) The sun stayed shiny and the conditions held.

It was so crazy hot! At the top of the glacier (3600m!) it was 10 degrees and 24 degrees in the town. I was amazed at how well the snow kept. It so often is hard and icy in the morning and then dead slushy in the afternoon. It only really got slushy on Thursday and Friday and even then wasn't particularly bad.

The other peeps staying in the hotel were dead good. There was the obligatory annoying couple, but they were suitably ignored. We played poker, drunk beer and generally had a laugh.

Nic continued to produce the goods on the mountain and for the first time there were moments when I had to ride at a good pace to keep up with her. We spent an afternoon with a couple of lads who were in our hotel (Martin and Gabs), so I did a bit of GoPro videoing of them. Gabs pulled off a superb face plant, so there could be a £250 from YBF on it's way ;)

We had such a great time. Although the mountain isn't that big, it is high and we would almost certainly go there again.

Roll on next season! Well, at least after a bit of surfing first ;)

I've got a video coming soon - more likely to be YouTube than Vimeo ;)

Day 2 in Les Deux Alpes

So following on from day 1, day 2 was much the same. Great sunny weather with good snow and superb visibility. There were a lot of red faces about from the day before and some major money had been had been invested in sun cream!!

I managed to rig up the GoPro on the front of the board and got some cunning footage. I'll get some put up on YowTube, when I can be arsed to edit it ;) I was a bit worried about it falling off - and it did a couple of times. It came of the first time when I landed a jump and the second when I was motoring on a  bit. No damage though!

I used a wicked app on my phone called My Tracks. Takes a GPS reading and shows where you've been, speed, distance, etc. The novelty of this ace! And I couldn't believe that in half a day we covered 28km! So I'm going to set it going hopefully for the full day today (although we're starting late today).

There was ace boarder cross track that was being used for a race. So we didn't get to go on that (maybe today), but the training cross track was open and Nic was well loving that! Rock 'n' roll :)

Day 1 in Les Deux Alpes

Had a really good day today :) The sun has been shining and our initial worries of lack of snow were quickly put to bed when we took the lift up the mountain. Although there wasn't  really enough snow to easily make it back down to the town, there was plenty higher up

Nic has done amazingly well today - probably the best she has ever done. Confidence was good and with it an improvement in skill.

I took a massive stack on one of the first few runs. Ouch! Bruised my chest and jaw. My right shoulder could be better - starting to really stiffen up now - a bit more stretching I think ;)

Only managed two piccies today which was a shame as the weather was so brilliant - batteries weren't charged! But planning on taking the GoPro tomorrow.

Oh and I have done a super job on waxing my board. Possibly the best ever! It ran better than it ever has. Sweeet.

St Paddy's Day - 2011

I'm pretty sure that yesterday was the first time I celebrated St Patrick's day. We had an excuse this year (thanks Melissa). So Uncle Knob Head sorted out some t-shirts for us and we sampled a couple of G's :) Nic had some home-made Baileys (basically just whiskey and cream!). The Dubliners were played all night. That added a certain something to it ;)

Highlight of the evening. Well, that would have been the IRA attack in the living room with the threat of being "toe" capped (I think it was supposed to be have been knee capped!). Thanks Lorraine for a truly unique entrance wielding an axe and tripping over the dog! Classic!

Oh yeah - we ate potato too - raw of course :)

How to Transport a Surfboard on a Motorbike

So you're a motorcycle fan and need to transport your precious surfboard around with you? Well, this guy has the perfect idea...

Genius!

Snlongboarding

This can make you feel alive :)

And something much more sensible and stylish!

MotoGP 2011 Season - Coming Soon

I'm really looking forward to this seasons MotoGP. I miss the bike racing and fortunately my father-in-law has Sky TV so he records most of it on Eurosport for me :) Although saying that I quite like the guys who comment on the Beeb to be honest (even though they bizarrely are not generally liked).

Anyway, here's a bit of VR doing some testing on 1198 :)

Perspective

Now and again, from time to time, things get put into perspective...

Killing Time with Games

I wanted to kill a bit of time just before lunch today and thanks to @qikipedia I found this little fella http://sinuousgame.com/. A charming and not stressful way to kill off a few minutes :)

Standard New Year Post

I haven't blogged in ages - it's shocking and odd feeling really. I suppose the crux of it is that nothing too crazy/interesting has been happening or has it??

Seemed to have had a pretty busy December (got me new board!) and took a trip to La Plagne snowboarding in France :) Well, sort of. In so much as I will ill in bed for most of it boo :( It dumped massively for a couple of days, so some of the guys were having a proper ace time in the "puff". Nic was loving the new snowboard after a slow start and I performed the worlds best crash. Managed to land upside down in a tree - eek! Quite funny :)

Christmas day was spent with Nic's family and then headed down to my lot in Hereford for Boxing Day. After a wine spilt New Years eve with Alex and Caz we headed to Cornwall to stay with Jo, Andy and Nina and I got to finally to try out the new longboard and what a little beaut it was :)

Back to work now - boo!

I don't do New Year resolutions, but maybe this year should be more surfing, kiting, snowboarding and find a job that's fun...