On the other hand, in the UK it’s never cripplingly hot or cripplingly cold;

Fixed. 😆

On the other hand, in the UK it’s never cripplingly hot or but can be cripplingly cold;

Further fixed….

And even if it’s not cripplingly cold, a flake of snow still seemingly cripples the place…

Any tips on moving abroad?

I would like to move to Canada (BC) but I’m too old to qualify for any of the work programmes (36), and therefore have to be offered a job first, before I can apply for a work permit.

molgrips – wow you were in the posh part! Yeah, have done the Reitti 2000 lots of times, full thing, parts, camping over a few days with the wife, adding all the singletrack running close to the track which makes it really long, difficult, and great fun etc… When were you here?

Snow – hah we’ve struggled at times with too much snow this year, even over here in Finland! Still over 60cms in the back yard and a metre deep a few km north of here, the city has run out of places to dump ploughed snow, and the sea is freezing over too quickly to just stick it in there! Last years snow pile just round the corner was still there in August, I suspect this year it won’t melt before the snow comes again. Skiied past it last month, it was impressively tall even then!

As of next monday I`ll be joining Zedsdead in the madness of India, Pune to be exact….its going to be….er….different!! 😯

Clockwork667 – Member

@Kitz_Chris, 10, crankinirish,

“As you are all probably seeing the same thing I am as you look out of the window, i.e. Freezing temperatures, visibility measured in yards, snow and ice. I thought I would post a few pics to remind you what things will be like in a month or so.”

I plan on riding Buffalo Creek a lot in the spring too. I work Mon-Fri so usually out on the weekends. Pm me next time you head out. I’m also going to try and get out once or twice a week after work when the clocks change. Probably Apex, White Ranch, Hall etc.

@crankinirish,
what are the trail options in Denver for right now? Much snow coverage?

“what are the trail options in Denver for right now? Much snow coverage? “

Green Mountain and Dakota Ridge are probably the only things dry now. I’m guessing everything else will still have snow on the northern aspects and a lot of mud everywhere else. Its supposed to be in the high 50s for the next week so maybe more stuff will be rideable by next weekend.

Any tips on moving abroad?

I would like to move to Canada (BC) but I’m too old to qualify for any of the work programmes (36), and therefore have to be offered a job first, before I can apply for a work permit

Just start applying for jobs, what do you do? I was 30 when I moved but my company had a sister company over here which made it easier.

Everything in Boulder at the moment is unrideable; either icy or muddy. Hopefully two weeks time things will get better.

Buffalo creek is one of my favourites too – if you’re into it, you guys should sign up for the Baily 100; the most fun race in CO, and based entirely around the Buff creek singletrack.

I’m heading down to Utah this weekend to get my fix of Singletrack… hopefully Fruita will be dry soon too.

in the UK it’s never cripplingly hot or cripplingly cold; drought is rare; no volcanoes or earthquakes; spring comes early.

And you have to try very, very hard to die of communicable disease or animal.

SS Bonty what job do you do in Suomi?

SSBonty and Molgrips- I’ve ridden in Nuuksio and around Veikkola when visiting. Sadly, today is my last day here for a while before relocating permanently in August.

Hopefully moving to Ruoholahti, Leppavara (sp?) or Toolo and should have a PhD with VTT.

If there isn’t too much snow, what about a DH trip up in Lapland? Rent some bikes too? I’ll send you a msg nearer the time!

Also, I’m looking at buying a bike from Canyon in Germany. Besides Ridefree.fi, what other alternatives are there?

(apologies for the hijack OP)

Been in Denmark for over a year and love it. Been in Holland and France before that, and I can’t imagine moving back to UK. The scenery is nice in places but the towns feel too dirty and claustrophobic now.

On the other hand, in the UK it’s never cripplingly hot or but can be cripplingly cold;

Lol

Cold experiencing FAIL 🙂

You know when they say don’t drive unless absolutely necessary in the UK sometimes? In real cold countries they say don’t GO OUTSIDE unless absolutely necessary. They sometimes cancel school so you don’t have to expose your kids to the air. Sometimes they even declare a state of emergency just because of the temperature.

When were you here?

I was in Finland 2003-4. I loved Nuuksio riding but I did miss a decent long climb, and big views. I remember there was one spot I could ride up a hill then climb onto some rocks to see above the trees. The view was nothing but trees to the horizon apart from a bit of sea and some tall buildings in Helsinki. Ace 🙂

Cold experiencing FAIL

I know places can be colder, but it was as near as dammit -20 a couple of early mornings Jan 2010 when I used to live on the moors in Belmont. Scotland gets that cold more often in places.

Askim, Norway about 50k from Oslo. Not the best mountain biking area, so have just bought a road bike. I’m from Matlock, Derbyshire and miss the biking in the Dales big time 🙁

Pigface – postdoc at University of Helsinki Institute of Biotechnology. Are you in Helsinki or elsewhere?

Hans – sounds interesting, know any good places in Lapland? I’m hoping to head to Levi ski resort for a 24 hour race in June (www.levi24.fi), there’s a bike park there so I might either take my ‘medium’ bike (5″ travel Nicolai) along with the XC race one, or hire something, if I can get away for more than the weekend. Not done too much downhill, might be fun though! Toolo should be a great location, central, near beaches and the city, very close to the start of ‘Central Park’ (I had an article in singletrack mag a few years back on riding there, some shore stuff in the woods v close to the heart of the city!) etc… Don’t know much about buying bikes in Finland I’m afraid, a lot of my stuff is from the UK as even with postage it can be cheaper, and larger orders are often post free. Quick shout out for my mate Eppu’s bike shop in Tikkurila (http://www.tikkurilanajomies.fi/), he sold me his Nicolai when my frame snapped 2 weeks after arriving!

molgrips, agree the lack of big hills is a pain, but like you say the few places you can get up and into the open it makes the city look like Endor from Star wars, green trees as far as you can see apart from lakes, the sea, and the odd building or water tower, love it!

I know places can be colder, but it was as near as dammit -20 a couple of early mornings Jan 2010 when I used to live on the moors in Belmont.

-20 is well within the realms of manageable cold. -40 or below starts to get fun. Not experienced it personally mind.

I would really love a 24hr race in 24 hour sun! I’d come up for it but I don’t think I can make it this year.

Unless Mrs Grips fancies a trip too 🙂

lived in bavaria, germany for almost three years. lots of mountains, lots of trails, lots of paperwork and arrogant people compared to the UK.

now doing a season on a Spanish island. not ridng much due to injury (pulled the tendons/ligament in my wrist after a fall (or two)). nice atmosphere. couldn’t stay here forever.

prob go back to germany, switzerland or austria come the summer. might well go further afield… canada, new zealand or elsewhere.

if i do return to the UK it’ll be somewhere other than the south east of england.

sunny greetings…..

J

mikey74 – Member

Any tips on moving abroad?

I would like to move to Canada (BC) but I’m too old to qualify for any of the work programmes (36), and therefore have to be offered a job first, before I can apply for a work permit.

Mikey, as someone else pointed out, it’ll depend on what you do, but basically start looking for jobs or a Canadian OH. Best bet for jobs appears to be to go with international companies; domestic firms don’t always seem to ‘get’ the idea of sponsoring someone for a visa…
You’ll be applying for a Temporary Work Permit in all probability; there are various expat forums that cover this kinda thing, too.

Sorry, should have mentioned that I’m an architectural technician.

I have found a few jobs and joined a few job mailing lists. Plus in the town where a mate of mine moved to there is several architects practices, although couldn’t find anyones that were advertising jobs.

I was toying with the idea of just sending them my cv, with a covering e-mail, to gauge their reaction.

SS Bonty did a year in Joensuu, my missus lives in central Sweden. Just fell in love with Suomi.

Finland.. islands of towns in an ocean of forest.

mikey74 – I’m a Architectural Technician and have been over in BC/Vancouver on a working visa for the past 9 months. It is very difficult to find work in this field as many, if not all practises, have an unspoken preference for Canadian workers with ‘BC experience’ and in the current climate very few companies are hiring anyway. Also, and I’ve been told this is a ‘Canadian thing’, do not expect any acknowledgement if you send out your cv/resume to prospective employers. I’ve sent mine off probably a hundred times without any word back which can get a little disheartening at times. Before moving over here I had worked in a few different countries ‘plying my trade’ and I’ve never come across a more difficult situation than I’ve found over here. On the plus side, the biking over on the north shore and around the city is great it’s just a shame about the work side of things.

Driving in Finland goes something like this trees trees trees lake trees trees trees lake trees trees trees lake town trees trees trees trees lake.

Been in China for 8 years, of which 5 years have been in Beijing

Thanks for the information Glacier. Doesn’t sound good. Perhaps I’ll have to find a new profession hahaha.

I have been to BC the last three years in a row so am fully versed in the quality of riding there

twentyniners,
Live in Bangsar, Kiara is my local ride with SMS and others, do you know it well. E-mail me and will give you my number as your profile is blank..cheers
shiny

Dr J. Where are you in Denmark? I live in Ringsted FWIW

Adelaide, Oz.

Hated the first few months. Made some friends, found a job, been here nearly 5 years and have Dual Citizenship, live 7mins from beach and work 12hrs a week as “stay at home dad”. Riding is pretty good – ridiculously accessible; Train shuttles anyone?

Before that, was split between Colorado and London.

Can see a return to the UK for a few years so my daughter can experience it, get citizenship of her own accord, time with my parents, get to Europe easily.

But I reckon Aus is home now.

+1 for Germany: Country lanes seem to be all well surfaced, smooth and fast – excellent.

-1 for Germany: Riding past veal crates 🙁

Can see a return to the UK for a few years so my daughter can …get citizenship of her own accord

If you have UK citizenship by birth and other than by descent, iirc your daughter would be able to get it without returning to the UK. (I may be wrong). You might as well do it now at your leisure instead of being rushed for some odd reason in the future.

Squamish, BC
Well, Garibaldi Highlands for those that understand the significant difference 😉

Big city <1hr
Whistler <1hr

Ocean, Mountains and world class riding right on my doorstep.

Couldn’t afford to own in Whistler but now thankful we couldn’t!

mikey74 – as others have said, its hard to get a BC employer to sponsor foreigners for a temporary work permit (TWP) these days. The prospect of paperwork, time & money puts most employers off the idea, even if you’re the perfect candidate for the job.

So the best advice I’ve heard of, is to investigate the TWP process yourself from an employers perspective and demonstrate to them that its actually a manageable process with little cost. There are still requirements to be met, but it might help your application. Good luck, its worth it!

Based in Basel, CH. Quite like it really, as do kids and missus.

Although do miss random banter with West of Scotland folk (I’m from Gourock), tattie scones, black pudding, cheap Walls sausages, my best UK mates, Irn Bru and pickled onion monster munch.

Oh yeah, and decent radio. Really, you don’t realise how good UK radio is, even your least favourite Radio 1 DJ, compared to swiss or German radio.

Really, you have no idea how inconceivably bad it is. It is almost impossible to describe how awful. Katie Mulua (sp?) is, like, the best they play, and then with no hint of irony play Bananarama “Venus” and Chesney *($&^#%$ing Hawkes “I am the one and only” at least three times on 1 day. not kidding. it. never. stops.

(*&(*@&$^#*(&%!!!!! 😈

Phil Collins a big hit also, but nothing beyond mid eighties.

Unbelievably wonderful to go home, pop the car radio on and be entertained.

🙂

Kev

Another Canuck runaway here although probably considerably younger than the rest of you – 3 of the past 4 years have been in Canada.

Based in Hamilton, ON (terrible reputation, but frankly after living in Leeds for 3 years, it’s tame by comparison), spend 5 months a year in Northern AB researching wildfires.

Grew up on the Suffolk/Cambridgeshire border.

While I miss being able to walk out my back door and go for a walk across the fields, I can do that here, they’re just snowier fields. I don’t think Canada is ‘better’ than the UK, it has plenty of problems of its own, but for what I do, and for the incredible friends I’ve made here, I wouldn’t have done anything differently.

Much to my siblings/parents dismay, I can’t see myself coming back.

(Said with a tinge of sadness all that to be honest, I love the UK, but I want to work, and be fiscally stable and safe, perhaps even be able to buy a house one day, sadly, despite the best of intentions, that just isn’t a possibility in the UK any time soon, nor does it seem to bother any of the political parties that I’m not alone amongst literate and numerate graduates thinking the same thing so taking themselves elsewhere.

Before anyone chirps about being workshy, I’ve done multiple 100+ hour weeks with the payslips to prove it, in borderline dangerous conditions to fund my way though my undergraduate, but I’ll be damned if I’ll do that for the rest of my life just to be able to relax when I’m dead!

mikey74: your best bet will be to find a multinational employer – they have more experience of sorting visas and suchlike. A friend of mine got as far as being offered a job by one of the domestic investment banks before they realised that he’d need a TFWP and stopped the process. And certainly I found that the job applications I did for multinationals got a lot further than those for domestic companies.

mrgibbons: so you’re now one of those people who envies us in the big city round the lake and secretly wants to live here but is too pikey? 😉 😉 I might be seeing more of Hamilton this year as we have some friends moving to Burlington for work at McMaster.