Summer 4X film

[Earl]

Its only taken me 3 years to get the footage off the tape and do a quick edit.
I shot it at the 2007 NPS 4X at Chicksands. You may recognise a few of the faces.

Its really making me miss fast dry trails and airtime:
http://www.vimeo.com/9183015

[solamanda]

Nice. I think you've got me coming last in the finals there, (4mins).

[Mike]

I enjoyed watching that. Can't wait for those summer days again.

[boofon]

I think Tim is in there too, right?

[Earl]

Yep - he's talking to my brother.

[Frankie]

Nice vid Earl

[Jamie]

Can we expect the 2009 video in 2012?

[rodderz]

i just got all my bikes in the garage at the weekend. I will be back on the 4X soon.

But just reading/looking at the new Lance Armstrong book. i want to get on the road bike too. feel INSPIRED.

[theprawn]

have you got ball cancer?

[Earl]

Whats lances new book?

Bit ashamed to admit how much I enjoyed the last 2.

[mudface]

Dirty cheat.

[Whitish]

:thumb:

(At the vid, not this bizarre talk of road bikes.)

[rodderz]

Lance book is called My Comeback. Not too much written word but a lot of good photos. As i have started to collect a few photo books over the past year or two this added well. My favorite is by Elina Sirparanta.

[Hwulex]

Enjoyed his first two books. Bro got the photo book for xmas and had a quick flick through, looked good. Reading Daniel Coyle's Tour de Force at the moment; interesting slightly different take on Armstrong's 2004 Tour participation.

[Earl]

Dirty cheat.

He also cheated cancer - you can't dispute that.
The books aren't just about cycling.

[theprawn]

my nan has cheated cancer too.

twice.

she's 97, she should write a book. although by the sounds of it just put a load of photos other people have taken of her in a book.

[mudface]

Getting cancer is shit, there's no two ways about it. However, it doesn't absolve you of all your sins and make you a great person, whether you beat it or not. Jon's Nan is far more of a hero, she didn't have all the medical treatment and specialists money could buy.

Maybe David Beckham should've looked into getting cancer after getting sent off in '98 World Cup.

[rodderz]

i do not think there was any argument over support ? or being a hero. Just a book with photos i liked and the photographer gets full credit for it.

both have cheated cancer and i guess in the UK it is innocent until proven guilty. i do not have enough neutral information to determine who is right or wrong.

[Earl]

Lance Armstrong is arrogant and competitive with a big ego to match. Not traits that I associate with a great person but maybe those more of a great sports person.
You should also know from Jon's Nan's experience that battling cancer is about self belief and will. Not just the posh/expensive medical treatment, cancer does not discriminate between rich and poor.

I think his very publicised cancer story has brought far more good than bad in the form of fundraising and hope to many sufferers.

He may be a cheating cunt but cancer needs its pin ups and PR like everything else.

[mudface]

My experience is that wonderful personality traits mean squat if the care you are recieving is rubbish. My nan was the strongest, most determined person I've ever known, but her GP kept dismissing her cancer as stomach ulcers or 'ageing'. I'm pretty sure that Lance wouldn't've had this experience, and probably they wouldn't've left him for weeks on end unable to eat in a hospital bed with no treatment while they avoided doing expensive tests, probably to save money because they didn't rate his survival. She died a few weeks later in a hospice on so much morphine she couldn't even say goodbye. I still think that most people raise money for cancer because they have known who has died or recovered from it, not because they've been told to by a celebrity. But by all means, if it helps I guess... but IME cancer's biggest problem is early diagnosis and using the best treatments out there rather than the cheapest. That is down to how the NHS is is run, or how much cash you have to see the best of the best immediately for tests. People with cancer are routinely left for months between diagnosis and treatment because of waiting lists.

Lance definitely cheated. My dad says he did and he's pretty much always right about everything.

And nice vid by the way, think I may have been there watching that one...

[rodderz]

i think you are right about most of the statements and much of that is due to the NHS and its inability to treat and prioritise. The GP's are the gatekeepers to the more expensive treatments and even hospital admission. I think the case of Armstrong is different, in that he did not bother going to the doctor, not sure what kind of insurnace he had, if any. however Oakley put him on their insurance. I guess their ROI has been pretty good. even for me to get my private insurance to work for my various injuries i have had to plead NHS GP's to write a letter to the private to get them to take me. Its insane our system.

I guess one way to look at is that cycling is business and the charity is pleasure.