Well since no-one has started a reply post,I'm going too.
Started off as a 40 year old goober in June 2009,with a beginner spin in Djouce with Epic and Richie,it nearly killed me,6 miles in total,thought I'd never see my car again!!Then joined up with MAD.Did their excellent series of beginners spins,which taught me alot,in fact its fair to say that MAD molded me into being a mountainerbiker.Come November 2009,Richie started running spins for anybody who was going to race in 2010.So I did the 1st 2,which I enjoyed,but were hard.Got a PM off Richie,asking what I thought of his spins,and if I'd like to join Epic.So I jumped ship to Epic in Jan 2010.
Did every spin going in early 2010 leading up to Racing 795 pre NPS race in Bunclody.Now as it was my 1st season racing I should have entered Sports,but Richie told me I was racing Vets!!So there I am,1st ever race,and Im up against lads 40+,who have 10,15,20 years mtb racing experience!!! Needles to say I spent much of 2010 racing against the tide,and yet I came 8th in Vets at the end of the season!!
2011 and its ability based racing,Im in S2,finish 2nd overall in NPS,get a Bronze medal in the Nationals,all the while doing every spin Richie runs.Even ended being Team Manger for our 3 Day Gorey Team,which I loved every minute off!!And how did I get the job you may ask??Well basically Richie told me I was the manager,would be away with the team for 3 days,and fu8k my taxi work!!!LOL
2012,Richie helped me get a interview in Eurocycles,where I still work now.I could kiss F OFF to the taxi game!!!Didnt have a great NPS,as funny enough work got in the way!!But got a 3rd in Lady Dixon,ironic that,as that race was oo today,and today Richie put up his big post!!Went on to get a Silver medal in the Nats,behind the great John Doris!!
2013,Im going cr3p in the NPS,but Richie is still giving me encouragment,not too mention he's dropped me on at least 3 Tues night savage spins!!And I know its the Tuesday spins that make you a savage racer.Get dropped,come back next week and try again.Keep coming back till you dont get dropped!!
Not to mention that Richie more or less gave me a roadbike,plus lent me a CX bike for 2 races at the end of 2012.Plus the laugh and craic on spins,in carparks and in Palmers/Lambers aftewr every club race.
I just wanted to put it on record,Im one of the people who benefitted from Richie in the Irish MTB scene.There are 1,000's more!!!
me too. the first time that I saw folk on mtb's was in Tracton in Cork. At the time; I was getting the head kicked off me by all the young upstarts in TKD and kick-boxing, after 16 years in the middle to sporadically on top (managed a small few international wins!) I was thinking wow that looks amazing, I could do with a change - I didn't know what was to happen next - a life changing injury (from kick-boxing) that still annoys me to this day. In that recovery time I moved to Dublin it was 3 years since I had been injured and I really thought I could cycle if I took the time.
Roo invited me along to a club league race - I had no bike but had one ordered! (ultimate goober) in fairness Richie took me under his wing - allowed me to do the timing and I was in! Imagine no bike and I was allowed join - the joy! these people are the best! One night I was loaned a bike by Gavin Doran the downhiller - I weighted about 200kgs and it took me 45 minutes to do 1 lap! Everyone had a laugh - including me! Next week Richie gave me a bike and I was in the late 20s! some improvement - over that summer I lost 6kgs and re-gained a lot of lost confidence.
I can say I've had the best fun riding the bike with Richie - I've had spins with the master recently where my feet haven't touched the ground for hours after! I've learned loads. Some people say they look back and wouldn't change a thing - I look back and think I wish I mountain-biked more especially with the man himself!
Like Micky I was 40 year old blow in. Sutty and Cullen gave me my 40th pressie....Entry to the Roc da zur in March and told me go learn how to MTB. Paul Hicks found me a bike and showed me the rope's. Over the training months I ran into Richie a good few time's and thought he was a compete nutter. I had joined Team Worc and later part of Focus MTB but I always bumped into Richie while out on spins and found myself going on more Epiic spins than my team mate spins over the coming years. When Focus was no more I picked my the phone to the Red hair nutter and said I would like to join Epic but I can't do all the spins and digging club course and million other things he was doing as I am trying to run a business and have a family who some times like to see me. Once again he made me feel very welcome. When Epic announced they would be running an event this summer I decided to be one of the sponsors and picked up the phone to Richie. I did this because I'm lucky enough that I can but more because its nice to give a little back. It was to try help Richie run an event he is so proud of. I like so many others have been on spins with Richie when he is F in this and F in that and thought to myself he he opens his mouth to me I will F right back, but from word go I said to him what you see is what you get and he hasn't changed either. I wish you well in your next challenge nutter as I know that would have been one big decision. I also wish that Epic can now move on and find some of its old form and Club spirit. Lots of fantastic people in Epic as Richie said friends for life. Epic made Raydar and so much more.
I’ve only known Richie a short while compared to some of you, the first time I met him was about 4 years ago on a group beginner spin in Djouce. I had only been mountain biking about a year and had never been anywhere other than Ballinastoe, so I’d no idea what to expect.
I had been lurking on the EPIC web site for a while so was well aware that there is no such thing as understatement in Richie’s world. But when I first clapped eyes this red mustachioed nutjob covered in scars and tattoos, I really began to question my judgement about meeting strange men in forests!
Standing there like a proper Goober in knee-pads, elbow-pads, camel-back etc., I got away lightly but others were not so lucky…
“Are those Board-shorts?”
“Where are your gloves?”
“No piss-pot helmets”
… and that was before he got out of the car!
Tough love? Maybe, but we all know he's right. He will never put anyone at risk by taking them in to the mountains unprepared. And, for me, that just sums up Richie’s whole approach to this sport, it’s not a love affair or a passion, it’s a way of life. He’s touched the lives of thousands of people and in the vast majority of cases their lives have been enriched because of it.
Ha… En‘Riched’… maybe I should make that in to a T-shirt!
Jeebus, this sounds like an obituary!
Of course it’s not the end of the story, it’s just the end of another chapter in wild and unpredictable life or Richard Horatio Ignatius Cromwell Byrne.
Thank you for everything you’ve done for me, for Max, for this fantastic group of people you brought together and for the sport we all love. We know you’ll never be far away and if we can’t actually see you, we’ll certainly hear you.
Like Adrian, I met Richie about three or four years ago, "funny you should say that, I was just saying to the lads, would you look at the state of the eejit with the bike hanging out of the back of his car ". I love the encouragement on the spins and at the club league, the crack in the pub and the general crack when he is around. He has turned many of you into superheroes and while I am unlikely to measure up on that count, he continues to push, cajole, advise and encourage in his own very direct style. So, if this announcement means we will see less of Richie, that is a genuine pity. How about President Emeritus, (Definition; Emeritus is a Latin past participle that means "having served one's time" or "having merited one's discharge by service")
So, Richie having served your time with distinction, it would be more fitting to be a President Emeritus, well done and thanks for the good times and look forward to some more.........
I know that I am only new to the club and I have not won any competitions, I have not even entered any competitions yet!, but I would like to take this opportunity to share what a difference Richie Byrne and Epic have made for me.
For me my sport has been Motorbike Racing and this is the first year in a long time that I have not been doing track days or blasting around the countryside on one of our âqualifying spinsâ with my life long Best Friend Tony. We did everything together on the bikes, when we were not on the bikes we were planning or next spin. However on the 14th February this year Tony took his own life. I was and still am heartbroken and in a dark place -Tony was closer to me than my own brothers. My motorbike is not the same any more, I still love riding it and pulling wheelies, but it is only a work horse now.
And then only a few weeks later when I was very low, Richie told me that I could join him for a spin on Saturday â I loved it, I am now addicted to mountain biking, I am out at least 3 times a week â mountain biking has really help get me through the past months.
My wife canât get over the difference in me since I started with Epic, she believes that Richie may have saved my life.
For that Richie I will be eternally grateful to you and I am sorry to hear that I may never get to know you properly.
I was gonna write a big "trip down memory lane" story about my 22 years knowing Richie but il keep it short & sweet. Cant thank him enough for all his support over the years & helping me get back into it last September. Carloine is right, he is not dead & will prob out live us all the big legend. Onwards & upwards Commander Byrne, sure you have enough stuff going on with Giant store / team, time to look after yourself & your interests for once.
Epic has plenty of great people in it to continue on to be one of the best teams in the country so lets keep it that way.
Well there you go, a man can only take so much backstabbing and bull**** before he realises he is getting nowhere. I too along with a whole heap of you in this club have benefited from Richies shall call it technique of making us all deadly or much better than when we started. So for that I thank you. It's a shame it has come to this, and it's only a few that are causing the rift in epic, yet it's Richie who is stepping down, you don't see Richie going on other clubs spins on Sunday the holy grail of epic spins you don't see Richie on other clubs road spins on Thursday which is epics Mecca for xc racers yet he is standing down from his role. It's a sad day for Epic nobody will do for epic what he has done fact.
Well there you go, a man can only take so much backstabbing and bull**** before he realises he is getting nowhere. I too along with a whole heap of you in this club have benefited from Richies shall call it technique of making us all deadly or much better than when we started. So for that I thank you. It's a shame it has come to this, and it's only a few that are causing the rift in epic, yet it's Richie who is stepping down, you don't see Richie going on other clubs spins on Sunday the holy grail of epic spins you don't see Richie on other clubs road spins on Thursday which is epics Mecca for xc racers yet he is standing down from his role. It's a sad day for Epic nobody will do for epic what he has done fact.
Good luck to you!!
"a very pissed off Smithers"
I had really hoped to stay out of this but I feel that I need to respond to your post Smithers!
As you know, at a meeting on the 6th of March, Oscar (Club Chairman), Alfie (previous Club Chairman) and myself resigned from the Epic Club Committee. I can’t speak for the other guys but my reasoning was, I think, clearly outlined in an email I sent to the other committee members prior to the meeting. I have attached an extract from my mail below.
“The real problem is that none of us really know who is running Epic and what sort of a club we are! Myself and some of the other Committee are under the impression that the club is supposed to be managed by us and that the members should be valued and treated with respect. But that is clearly not the case in Epic and there is a culture of intimidation and bullying within the club that is simply unacceptable. This has been brought sharply into focus for me by our recent Membership Renewal night when at least three guys, that I know of, didn't renew their membership because they couldn't put up with the crap anymore! These would have been active members of the club in the past and are decent people that I would count as friends! This is an annual occurrence but goes unnoticed/unmentioned most of the time.
On a purely personal level I've had enough of listening to the continuous "self promotion", the constant jibes about "road riders", "road spins" and the pathetic attempts at intimidation over the last few days have really proven my point! This post on Sunday night would be typical of the sort of stuff that I'm talking about - "I should thank the Club Roadies for pissing me off and giving me the mojo to show them who the boss is ! I've spent 10 years coaxing people to be deadly in this club and now its my time to remind some gob****es just how deadly I can be !!!"
Nobody should have to put up with this rubbish on our Club site and I'm certainly not prepared to!
I would be the first to acknowledge that Richie has, and continues to make, a huge contribution to Epic MTB and he is very much the figurehead of the club but as a Committee it is our responsibility to ensure that all members behave in a manner that is neither intimidating or abusive. Epic has become a big part of my life over the last few years and has been a huge source of enjoyment for me during that time (due in no small part to Richie I should add!!) but I am no longer willing to serve on the committee of the club if we are not prepared to introduce a policy that specifically outlines how members are expected to behave towards each other.
These are just my thoughts and I'd welcome feedback from you all
Richard”
I had hoped to be able to resign from the committee and continue as an ordinary member of the club but since then, despite assurances that this would not happen, I have been subjected to a series of “digs and jibes” on both the Club Forum and on Blogs which are blatant continued attempts at intimidation and isolation.
In summary, it is my belief that the current situation has not come about by "a few causing the rift", as you've suggested, but by Richie's refusal to stop treating Epic as his personal and business fiefdom!
i do love this club. i only met Richie a couple of years ago when he was running a kids cycle demo in Shankhill park and i was blown away by his enthusiasm. i subsequently met Alfie after buying my sons bike in his shop, he was also enthused about mountain biking. then i meet Terry selling coffee and ice creams and dolphin postcards in Dalkey feckin' gushing about mountain biking and i thought hey, there's something in this. don't ask me how i got into Epic last year but i turned up for a few spins, fell over a lot, took amounts of abuse, met some amazing people, kept grinding away and ping! i'm a mountain biker.enjoyed the road spins too with RL who's also been welcoming. i've had enuf ****e to deal with over the years so a few barks and a little abuse wasn't going to upset me. yes we all have our own quirks and faults but i have to admire Riche for cutting through the crap and realising the potential in people. we're all lucky to be doing what were doing so get on with it life's too short.
Well since no-one has started a reply post,I'm going too.
Started off as a 40 year old goober in June 2009,with a beginner spin in Djouce with Epic and Richie,it nearly killed me,6 miles in total,thought I'd never see my car again!!Then joined up with MAD.Did their excellent series of beginners spins,which taught me alot,in fact its fair to say that MAD molded me into being a mountainerbiker.Come November 2009,Richie started running spins for anybody who was going to race in 2010.So I did the 1st 2,which I enjoyed,but were hard.Got a PM off Richie,asking what I thought of his spins,and if I'd like to join Epic.So I jumped ship to Epic in Jan 2010.
Did every spin going in early 2010 leading up to Racing 795 pre NPS race in Bunclody.Now as it was my 1st season racing I should have entered Sports,but Richie told me I was racing Vets!!So there I am,1st ever race,and Im up against lads 40+,who have 10,15,20 years mtb racing experience!!! Needles to say I spent much of 2010 racing against the tide,and yet I came 8th in Vets at the end of the season!!
2011 and its ability based racing,Im in S2,finish 2nd overall in NPS,get a Bronze medal in the Nationals,all the while doing every spin Richie runs.Even ended being Team Manger for our 3 Day Gorey Team,which I loved every minute off!!And how did I get the job you may ask??Well basically Richie told me I was the manager,would be away with the team for 3 days,and fu8k my taxi work!!!LOL
2012,Richie helped me get a interview in Eurocycles,where I still work now.I could kiss F OFF to the taxi game!!!Didnt have a great NPS,as funny enough work got in the way!!But got a 3rd in Lady Dixon,ironic that,as that race was oo today,and today Richie put up his big post!!Went on to get a Silver medal in the Nats,behind the great John Doris!!
2013,Im going cr3p in the NPS,but Richie is still giving me encouragment,not too mention he's dropped me on at least 3 Tues night savage spins!!And I know its the Tuesday spins that make you a savage racer.Get dropped,come back next week and try again.Keep coming back till you dont get dropped!!
Not to mention that Richie more or less gave me a roadbike,plus lent me a CX bike for 2 races at the end of 2012.Plus the laugh and craic on spins,in carparks and in Palmers/Lambers aftewr every club race.
I just wanted to put it on record,Im one of the people who benefitted from Richie in the Irish MTB scene.There are 1,000's more!!!
me too. the first time that I saw folk on mtb's was in Tracton in Cork. At the time; I was getting the head kicked off me by all the young upstarts in TKD and kick-boxing, after 16 years in the middle to sporadically on top (managed a small few international wins!) I was thinking wow that looks amazing, I could do with a change - I didn't know what was to happen next - a life changing injury (from kick-boxing) that still annoys me to this day. In that recovery time I moved to Dublin it was 3 years since I had been injured and I really thought I could cycle if I took the time.
Roo invited me along to a club league race - I had no bike but had one ordered! (ultimate goober) in fairness Richie took me under his wing - allowed me to do the timing and I was in! Imagine no bike and I was allowed join - the joy! these people are the best! One night I was loaned a bike by Gavin Doran the downhiller - I weighted about 200kgs and it took me 45 minutes to do 1 lap! Everyone had a laugh - including me! Next week Richie gave me a bike and I was in the late 20s! some improvement - over that summer I lost 6kgs and re-gained a lot of lost confidence.
I can say I've had the best fun riding the bike with Richie - I've had spins with the master recently where my feet haven't touched the ground for hours after! I've learned loads. Some people say they look back and wouldn't change a thing - I look back and think I wish I mountain-biked more especially with the man himself!
Like Micky I was 40 year old blow in. Sutty and Cullen gave me my 40th pressie....Entry to the Roc da zur in March and told me go learn how to MTB. Paul Hicks found me a bike and showed me the rope's. Over the training months I ran into Richie a good few time's and thought he was a compete nutter. I had joined Team Worc and later part of Focus MTB but I always bumped into Richie while out on spins and found myself going on more Epiic spins than my team mate spins over the coming years. When Focus was no more I picked my the phone to the Red hair nutter and said I would like to join Epic but I can't do all the spins and digging club course and million other things he was doing as I am trying to run a business and have a family who some times like to see me. Once again he made me feel very welcome. When Epic announced they would be running an event this summer I decided to be one of the sponsors and picked up the phone to Richie. I did this because I'm lucky enough that I can but more because its nice to give a little back. It was to try help Richie run an event he is so proud of. I like so many others have been on spins with Richie when he is F in this and F in that and thought to myself he he opens his mouth to me I will F right back, but from word go I said to him what you see is what you get and he hasn't changed either. I wish you well in your next challenge nutter as I know that would have been one big decision. I also wish that Epic can now move on and find some of its old form and Club spirit. Lots of fantastic people in Epic as Richie said friends for life. Epic made Raydar and so much more.
I’ve only known Richie a short while compared to some of you, the first time I met him was about 4 years ago on a group beginner spin in Djouce. I had only been mountain biking about a year and had never been anywhere other than Ballinastoe, so I’d no idea what to expect.
I had been lurking on the EPIC web site for a while so was well aware that there is no such thing as understatement in Richie’s world. But when I first clapped eyes this red mustachioed nutjob covered in scars and tattoos, I really began to question my judgement about meeting strange men in forests!
Standing there like a proper Goober in knee-pads, elbow-pads, camel-back etc., I got away lightly but others were not so lucky…
“Are those Board-shorts?”
“Where are your gloves?”
“No piss-pot helmets”
… and that was before he got out of the car!
Tough love? Maybe, but we all know he's right. He will never put anyone at risk by taking them in to the mountains unprepared. And, for me, that just sums up Richie’s whole approach to this sport, it’s not a love affair or a passion, it’s a way of life. He’s touched the lives of thousands of people and in the vast majority of cases their lives have been enriched because of it.
Ha… En‘Riched’… maybe I should make that in to a T-shirt!
Jeebus, this sounds like an obituary!
Of course it’s not the end of the story, it’s just the end of another chapter in wild and unpredictable life or Richard Horatio Ignatius Cromwell Byrne.
Thank you for everything you’ve done for me, for Max, for this fantastic group of people you brought together and for the sport we all love. We know you’ll never be far away and if we can’t actually see you, we’ll certainly hear you.
Like Adrian, I met Richie about three or four years ago, "funny you should say that, I was just saying to the lads, would you look at the state of the eejit with the bike hanging out of the back of his car ". I love the encouragement on the spins and at the club league, the crack in the pub and the general crack when he is around. He has turned many of you into superheroes and while I am unlikely to measure up on that count, he continues to push, cajole, advise and encourage in his own very direct style. So, if this announcement means we will see less of Richie, that is a genuine pity. How about President Emeritus, (Definition; Emeritus is a Latin past participle that means "having served one's time" or "having merited one's discharge by service")
So, Richie having served your time with distinction, it would be more fitting to be a President Emeritus, well done and thanks for the good times and look forward to some more.........
I know that I am only new to the club and I have not won any competitions, I have not even entered any competitions yet!, but I would like to take this opportunity to share what a difference Richie Byrne and Epic have made for me.
For me my sport has been Motorbike Racing and this is the first year in a long time that I have not been doing track days or blasting around the countryside on one of our âqualifying spinsâ with my life long Best Friend Tony. We did everything together on the bikes, when we were not on the bikes we were planning or next spin. However on the 14th February this year Tony took his own life. I was and still am heartbroken and in a dark place -Tony was closer to me than my own brothers. My motorbike is not the same any more, I still love riding it and pulling wheelies, but it is only a work horse now.
And then only a few weeks later when I was very low, Richie told me that I could join him for a spin on Saturday â I loved it, I am now addicted to mountain biking, I am out at least 3 times a week â mountain biking has really help get me through the past months.
My wife canât get over the difference in me since I started with Epic, she believes that Richie may have saved my life.
For that Richie I will be eternally grateful to you and I am sorry to hear that I may never get to know you properly.
I was gonna write a big "trip down memory lane" story about my 22 years knowing Richie but il keep it short & sweet. Cant thank him enough for all his support over the years & helping me get back into it last September. Carloine is right, he is not dead & will prob out live us all the big legend. Onwards & upwards Commander Byrne, sure you have enough stuff going on with Giant store / team, time to look after yourself & your interests for once.
Epic has plenty of great people in it to continue on to be one of the best teams in the country so lets keep it that way.
Well there you go, a man can only take so much backstabbing and bull**** before he realises he is getting nowhere. I too along with a whole heap of you in this club have benefited from Richies shall call it technique of making us all deadly or much better than when we started. So for that I thank you. It's a shame it has come to this, and it's only a few that are causing the rift in epic, yet it's Richie who is stepping down, you don't see Richie going on other clubs spins on Sunday the holy grail of epic spins you don't see Richie on other clubs road spins on Thursday which is epics Mecca for xc racers yet he is standing down from his role. It's a sad day for Epic nobody will do for epic what he has done fact.
Well there you go, a man can only take so much backstabbing and bull**** before he realises he is getting nowhere. I too along with a whole heap of you in this club have benefited from Richies shall call it technique of making us all deadly or much better than when we started. So for that I thank you. It's a shame it has come to this, and it's only a few that are causing the rift in epic, yet it's Richie who is stepping down, you don't see Richie going on other clubs spins on Sunday the holy grail of epic spins you don't see Richie on other clubs road spins on Thursday which is epics Mecca for xc racers yet he is standing down from his role. It's a sad day for Epic nobody will do for epic what he has done fact.
Good luck to you!!
"a very pissed off Smithers"
I had really hoped to stay out of this but I feel that I need to respond to your post Smithers!
As you know, at a meeting on the 6th of March, Oscar (Club Chairman), Alfie (previous Club Chairman) and myself resigned from the Epic Club Committee. I can’t speak for the other guys but my reasoning was, I think, clearly outlined in an email I sent to the other committee members prior to the meeting. I have attached an extract from my mail below.
“The real problem is that none of us really know who is running Epic and what sort of a club we are! Myself and some of the other Committee are under the impression that the club is supposed to be managed by us and that the members should be valued and treated with respect. But that is clearly not the case in Epic and there is a culture of intimidation and bullying within the club that is simply unacceptable. This has been brought sharply into focus for me by our recent Membership Renewal night when at least three guys, that I know of, didn't renew their membership because they couldn't put up with the crap anymore! These would have been active members of the club in the past and are decent people that I would count as friends! This is an annual occurrence but goes unnoticed/unmentioned most of the time.
On a purely personal level I've had enough of listening to the continuous "self promotion", the constant jibes about "road riders", "road spins" and the pathetic attempts at intimidation over the last few days have really proven my point! This post on Sunday night would be typical of the sort of stuff that I'm talking about - "I should thank the Club Roadies for pissing me off and giving me the mojo to show them who the boss is ! I've spent 10 years coaxing people to be deadly in this club and now its my time to remind some gob****es just how deadly I can be !!!"
Nobody should have to put up with this rubbish on our Club site and I'm certainly not prepared to!
I would be the first to acknowledge that Richie has, and continues to make, a huge contribution to Epic MTB and he is very much the figurehead of the club but as a Committee it is our responsibility to ensure that all members behave in a manner that is neither intimidating or abusive. Epic has become a big part of my life over the last few years and has been a huge source of enjoyment for me during that time (due in no small part to Richie I should add!!) but I am no longer willing to serve on the committee of the club if we are not prepared to introduce a policy that specifically outlines how members are expected to behave towards each other.
These are just my thoughts and I'd welcome feedback from you all
Richard”
I had hoped to be able to resign from the committee and continue as an ordinary member of the club but since then, despite assurances that this would not happen, I have been subjected to a series of “digs and jibes” on both the Club Forum and on Blogs which are blatant continued attempts at intimidation and isolation.
In summary, it is my belief that the current situation has not come about by "a few causing the rift", as you've suggested, but by Richie's refusal to stop treating Epic as his personal and business fiefdom!
i do love this club. i only met Richie a couple of years ago when he was running a kids cycle demo in Shankhill park and i was blown away by his enthusiasm. i subsequently met Alfie after buying my sons bike in his shop, he was also enthused about mountain biking. then i meet Terry selling coffee and ice creams and dolphin postcards in Dalkey feckin' gushing about mountain biking and i thought hey, there's something in this. don't ask me how i got into Epic last year but i turned up for a few spins, fell over a lot, took amounts of abuse, met some amazing people, kept grinding away and ping! i'm a mountain biker.enjoyed the road spins too with RL who's also been welcoming. i've had enuf ****e to deal with over the years so a few barks and a little abuse wasn't going to upset me. yes we all have our own quirks and faults but i have to admire Riche for cutting through the crap and realising the potential in people. we're all lucky to be doing what were doing so get on with it life's too short.