Cool… fingers crossed for the van 🙂

& if mbnut really wants to make it really pedally, he could ride back up the hill too 😉

Awesome Stoner – sounds great. Will watch this space.

Nice one – yeah Sunday or Monday could be do-able.

How about the Samoens descent?

Sounds like a good day Stoner. I quite like the Belvedere Restaurant too at the top of Mont Chery bubble. From Mont Caly there is a slightly more interesting route up along the ridge too (you can’t miss it), next to a cattle grid… just as another option.

The chair lift to the top from Mont Chery (after the bubble) has been a bit hit and miss this week, not sure why.

Yeah that’s the one stoner. It’s on all the piste maps ‘boucle des clarines’ it’s called.

The real easy ride I did with the family last time was from the junction near a go-ape style thing on the way in to Samoens. There is a path along the side of the river for a good distance, no hills, plenty of picnic spots. Some shelter from the sun / rain in the trees.

Good luck!

p.s. I have a pass for tomorrow (Thursday) a.m. if anyone is about.

Cheers Stoner – lots of great info. We are just heading over to lac Montriond today.

Hey Guys – great thread. I’m out in Les Gets till the 12th & well up for a meet up. Couple of days I can’t do due to riding with the kids, kids birthdays & wedding anniversaries etc but otherwise I can be pretty flexible.

I can easily ride over to Morzine on the first lift or meet 1/2 way – whatever…

Anyone around?

I’ll be on a bouncy 160mm bike which is more capable than me on the downs and pedals upwards too but is also happy on chair lifts so I’m up for whatever- any break-bump dodging routes would be great. Samoens sounds fab.

Ade

I think they are about 49euro for a whole day for kids bikes and an extra 10 for protection.

I really recommend the walk around here, one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever seen : Sixt

The green on the chavannes side of Les gets is a bit plagued with breaking bumps this year which is a shame, the Mont chery side is okay but shorter. You can join up the chery side one with the xc loop which is okay, not too taxing and just scenic fire track which makes it a bit more worth while and has a couple of restaurant options.

Enjoy.

Hey Stoner – you have any other tips for family activities in the area? Maybe good walks? The missus isn’t too MTB inclined.

We did sixt a fer le cheval last year and loved it. I think I’ll be taking the boys rafting this time too.

A

Yeah the 2 greens around les gets are good. Couple of steeper bits for very little ones. Should be fine for most 8 year olds. My 2 were 8 last year and loved the blues and reds around les gets but their 6yr old bro was less fussed but he didn’t have any suspension.

We rented 24″ commencal supremes last year and will do again (we have just arrived in Les G again). They are bomb proof but weigh a ton so gravity assisted only.

Remember that you’ll need to switch the brakes over as they are set up euro style.

I bought the Portes Du Soleil VTOPO book in English which has some interesting options too.

Try it and see, there are so many great bikes. I had a 2011 O5, loved it, bought a new bike and love that too.

It’s faster and gets me out of trouble but whether it’s worth it is a personal choice dependent on what you want to do with it and what else you could / do spend your readies on IMO.

Not essential tho, for sure.

Camping in the alps with a family is a bit of a risk IMO due to the weather extremes… not sure if you have family in tow.

haha – that’s what I went for in the end actually. Thanks Tomaso.

A

St Palais Sur Mer has gorgeous roads nearby. Wouldn’t recommend trying MTB through their little woodland tracks near the beach tho unless you are looking to meet groups of sheepish looking men wandering about looking for friends.

STAR.

Situation
Task
Action
Result.

FTW

What is that machine Mr Smith? Great shot BTW

Mine?
Eureka Mignon grinder
Sage dual boiler machine

buy Euro’s before article 50 invoked?

I am starting to feel a lot better about my house of 3 boys!

Sad fact is that most people don’t care about the quality of their coffee (as shown on this thread). I doubt that they feel the same about their bike or their beer – they just don’t know the difference yet.

I think coffee is where wine was 30+ years ago when everyone quite happily drank Blue Nun.

I used to work near a decent coffee shop, never a queue even in rush hour, 40m down the road costa would have a queue out the door and 10 people in to the street, even in winter. What can you do?

You could advise but I bet that they don’t know anything could be better.

Yes book.

Lots of campsites between La R & Calais!

The Loire valley is v. nice. Good luck.

You guys are bang on with the Ethiopians. I had a lovely one from Workshop a week or so back but they have run out now.

Duromina I think it was.

Looking on the bright side if you paid 6 weeks ago and your return is in Euro’s you will have doubled your money and can now choose whatever bike you’d like! 😉

p.s. I was bitten by them previously but had a lucky escape any cancelled due to be ing messed about before the bike arrived.

Looking at The Barn – I think I had some of that from Prufrock a little while back. Nice…. going through the rest of these tips now and saving the bookmarks.

Ah yes, I think I know Monmouth.

I do know the Dept Coffee too – not too bad.

For coffee shops in the London you just the need the London’s Best Coffee app don’t you. I think Soho / Fitzrovia has the best concentration of high quality coffee in town.

The Rapha cc used to make a good brew too. They used to use the Workshop Coffee as their house blend back then. Working upstairs from them was what got me to ditch the Nespresso machine and embrace my inner coffee geek.

Not really a fan of Grumpy Mule – okay with milk but not on a par with the others IMHO.

A mate persuaded me to try the Coffee Bean Shop a while back too. Not a good experience. Glad we had visitors.

Thanks for the tips all.

nice – will check them out. Ta.

chicks dig bacon.

BACON CAKE!!

Happy with my vango mirage 300. Not used it in great extremes tho.

Subaru ?

I used to like BC’s but I had a couple of ruptured side walls so switched to maxxis and schwalbe – no similar issues.

…but yeah BC’s are a world better for grip than the non-BC versions.

Jacqui @ Nirvana Cycles in Westcott has good rep.

change the music?

I’ve heard you’ll get a rough ride in Amsterdam.

superstar… CRC

I think he meant that it drives better than the previous model berlingos

ah thanks!

re estate car, recently bought a scooby legacy – not completely un-fun to drive. Lot better than the people carrier needed to have 3 iso-fix seats for the kids when they were younger but still an estate car…

tried these guys Matt? Pro Ride Guides [/url] they do session in FoD and 1.2.1 training too.

erlingo or Partner. Mk3 is a lot more useful* and drives better too.

Really?? A van drives better than a car?

I can see benefits to the van option but I wouldn’t say drive quality is one IMHO.

The one that makes you smile the most when you ride it?

We just use a massive roofbox.

3 kids? 6 bikes? roller skates, fridge, tables, chairs…. could have left some stuff but.. hey ho