I had a bunch of giggly girls do a ‘drive by’ with a water bottle on me the other day. First time I just shrugged it off and carried on as they only hit my leg. Got past at a set of lights only for them to retake and do it again, but this time in my eye.

Lets just say, they wont be doing it again in a hurry. I certainly didnt keep calm.

Not condoning following tracks alone. But you need a clue as to where they are. Look at where the tracks go- see if you can see the exit back to piste-see if you can see people going in/out-ta da you have a powder run! At worst it would be a long walk. Be a moron to board over a blind crest off a cliff (ok- I have done that once, but it was a small one :-)

Cheers guys. May email nearer the time. Chances are I will get a guide for the more serious stuff. Most of the time just get some tips from the chalet staff if its easy enough to find (or they take me out)Always carry a receiver and shovel- am not a fool.

FD- Didnt ask for where they were. Just how easy there were to find.

Back to the point in hand. A Blur LT with 140 travel and 160mm forks is not going to be at all difficult to ride in the Alps. Thats shed loads of travel (more than DH bikes not that long ago) and more travel than 50% of the bikes ridden out there. Its well man enough for the job.

Appologies Bear Grills FD. Your definition of off piste may be a bit different to mine. Im not talking the bit under the lifts or between the pistes.

Hiking a ridge, dropping through a tree line, starting or ending nowhere near a lift.

Always helps if locals are friendly, can see people on top of crests, foot marks in the snow, ski tracks through the powder etc.. In Whistler its even signed.

edit- so there are maps. Well doesnt get easier than that.

What? Why the hell would you suddenly be trying gaps and stuff you wouldn’t try at home just because you’re on holiday?

Well ‘most’ people try to improve their riding when given the unique chance of constant DH runs. Maybe its just riding berms, or attacking roots a bit harder. But would be surprised if you didnt try some new things.

If you ride slower and try to avoid all the techy bits then thats up to you, but would imagine you are in the minority.

160 forks! Ideal. No problems whatsoever with that.

The c bit of the LTC would worry me. But thats more my naeivety probably.

It will take a bashing thats for sure. Expect stones to jump up and clonk every part of your frame, paint loss on the chair lifts/chain stay/etc. (unless you get anal with the heli tape), possibly a ripped rear mech, loss of spokes etc.. Not saying all that will happen, but be preapred some of it might. If that bothers you, buy a crappy DH bike and sell it on when done with it. Sold my GT LTS for pratcally what I paid for it after 3 years of thrashing, on EBay.

Bit harsh GW. If you dont know, you will always er on the side of caution. And anyway, you wont ride the same. You will try things not possible on your normal trails most likely (i.e. drop offs, gap jumps etc- unless you dont want to of course)

My first trip I took a Klein Attitude with 80/90mm forks and tiny disk brakes (others had v-brakes). We spent the whole week purely on the DH tracks. Admitedly it was quite difficult and i wouldnt recommend that. The lack of a decent full face and body armour was my main concern though.

Year after took a GT LTS DH 1996 to ease the pain. 100mm of up and down movement (not excatly working to its best) sorted me out for the next 2 years.

Last 5 years used a Blur LT as hiring too expensive and that bike is meant for ‘All Mountain’. One bike for all my riding is what i wanted.

Have just got a Pitch which is better, but mostly cause the forks on the LT were a bit wangy.

Can keep in sight of my mates with massive DH rigs (cant exactly keep up, but am having fun trying)

p.s. avoid the PPDS loop like the plague in my opinion. Waste of a day in one of the worlds best lift assisted places in the world. Way too much pedalling for eff all decent downhill. Designed for european lycra clad wooses. IMO

Was forced to do it a second time last year. Wanted to cry as we cycled up and past all the decent downhills.

A quick question. How hard is it to find the off piste in Verbier and is it a good place for boarding? Just got flights booked at the mo and wondering whether Cham (for the nightlife mostly- cant stand the bussing around) or Verbier.

Leave some of the freshies for me. Hate watching powder getting tracked out before I get there. Always feel like its going to run out…

From personal experience I would go with the Blur LT anyway.

Used a Blur LT for the last few years in Morzine and Austria. Plenty of travel at the rear. Went bigger rotors. What forks you got? I had Vanilla 130RLCs which were a bit twangy.

Had to hire a DH bike for a day when my cack handedness threaded the crank trying to put the pedal in. Much preferred my bike as knew how it handled and never felt under biked.

Use the Blur all over the UK on DH tracks too. Im an average downhiller (i.e. not the worst, but quicker than most) and dont think the bike holds me back.

That pyractif epic cols one is perfect if i wasnt on a stag do in Ibiza that weekend. Blast!

Waking up to Skrillex at 7:20 this morning was just way too much for me. But he followed it up with The Doors which was nice. But the damage was done. Had to turn over in fear of another heavy tune forcing me out of bed on my first day back at work.

Plus I cant stand Zane Lowe. Was too much phoney praise and arse licking.

See link above- average starting salary is nearer 20k. But probably not comparable when taking location and career into account though.

People will work for free in this day and age- but there is a moral dilema about using interns which could also apply to some level to low paid salaries I would have thought (still not actually saying £15.6k is low- just to me it sounds low).

Heres a statistic for you. In 2009 the amount of employers paying 16-19k for a graduate was 3.6%. There isnt even a stat for below 16k.

STAT

But £15.6k! I know nothing about Lancashire, but am guessing the bin men get paid more than that. For someone who has worked for 3 years at Uni unpaid, and come out with the skills on the list- well Im just surprised.

Not intending to turn this in to a debate of going to Uni vs Not by the way.

Recon his speach proved my point. No personality. Actually walked away from the tv, I was so bored.

Agree he does a good job of being humble. Im not 100% sure its genuine. He has to play up the role of his team mates as he NEEDS them on his side. Any sign of lack of gratitude or dominance then someone will wonder why they are busting their guts for him, and will challenge him- then its all over. His arrogance comes out every now and again, which I feel shows his true self. I may be wrong though.

Not taking away from his achievenments. But for a sports ‘personality’ I can think of better.

Clarke for my vote.

Key in it is sports PERSONALITY of the year. Cav just bores me. Very monotone and not much character. And the bit I know of (arrogance) isnt too appealing to me.

Clarke now, after what he has been through, the story and the fact he got straight on the lash and bought drinks all night for the people at his local back home. I love a guy who can not take himself too seriously, especially after his year.

Half you lot are a real bunch of morons. Must be the time of the year or something.

Regardless of how he handles his business, insurance, rental income…- hes still entitled to be peeved when being taken for a ride. Give the guy a break. Or obviously if you are so laissez-faire with paying, just give him your money for free and not pay your own mortgages.

I don’t understand. A nice bloke rents out his place, is entitled to be paid and gets someone who can’t keep their side of the bargain. And you give abuse to the guy getting screwed over? Jealousy?

Am in general agreement that trying to protect the term engineer is pointless. It originates from the word ‘engine’ for starters, which has nothing to do with 90% of what ‘engineers’ do these days. The term has evolved, and like it or not (which i dont) its now a term which can apply to poeple buidling heavy machinery to writing spradsheets. I long gave up arguing the point.

Im a ‘Chartered Engineer’ now; which even to lay people immediately differentiates me from the guy who fixes stuff. May sound a bit poncey, but generally stops the normal resposnse- so what is that then, do you fix TV’s?

Still annoys me when our photocopier goes down and the secretary says ‘an engineer has been called out’ knowing she works in a company with 200 ‘qualified’ engineers. The amount of emails she must get, you would have thought she would get it right by now.

A rather popular and well known bike shop in central london willingly took a halfords bike voucher for a £k and topped up by £500, gave a set of 1.5k carbon wheels for a friend of mine.

Got a response. Let the spending begin….
—————-
Hi Adam,
Yes you can use more tan one gift voucher per order simply add one to your basket at a time.
If you have any further queries please do not hesitate to contact us.
Thanks,
Becca

Right- to solve this i’m just going to email them.

Any objections?

So it isnt so good if what you are buying is over £100??

i.e. I want some £600 wheels. Can only use one £100 voucher, which would cost me £68 (£32 saving). So wheels effectively still cost me £568??

Sod it, im getting the train home. Rode my new road bike in today, dont want it to be a pile of fibres by the end of the ride home (or have a broken leg)

Je-zus!

Thats absolutely unbelievable. Whats more worrying is the number of videos linked at the end of the clip.

Thats not really filling me with confidence for my ride out of central london to the unlit coutry roads later. (and i am not joking- thats really worried me)

Right. After much pub discussion I think I have a winner. (But as I never heard of him Im sure someone will b able to tear it apart).

I cant think of anyone achieving the domination of their sport for 26 years or more. So I present to you:

Gordon Richards

And for those who have no idea who he is:
Wiki

Granted, he did need some help to win but….

My first thought was Bjorn Dunkerbeck, and glad to see his name come up already. World champion at just 18 then world champion for the next 12 years. And this year world race champion.

World speed record holder for any water craft.

A machine.

I need to get hold of a white saddle, but can only really afford to replace for second hand. People on ebay seem to recon second hand saddles are worth the same as you can get for new!

Cabble cutters in the post, so left the outers a little long and chopped them with a hacksaw and will do a proper job later.

Its a large. Ive just got long legs. Upper body wouldnt fit an XL, so long seatpost it is.

Would you mind telling me how much that burner was and where you got it please? It looks great, and just what I am looking for. Am slightly in love with it (in a manly way)

Just turned over. Whos that dude standing to one side with a bike having an argument near the finish line?

Stack can run inside. Just needs to vent outside. Very common (how many office blocks do you see with soil stacks outside?)

Im spending my lunch break doing work! Must remember to surf STW during work hours to make up for it.

Moving stairs wouldnt make any difference…

Fixed

p.p.s if you switch the stairs round and move the bathroom over you wont need to add an extra corridor and lose bedroom space. Cost you more though.

re. planning. Only concern would be massing (i.e. filling in the spaces between the houses making it appear terraced). But if your neighbour doesnt extend, then there should be a decent enough gap. Some councils make you add a parking space for each extra bedroom, but most overlook this rule with modern requirments to discourage car use. You can get a free hour consultation with a planning inspector if you wanted.

Perfectly reasonable. Ditto Marks comments. Also would probably need party wall agreement with neighbour as you share the garage wall/foundations. Likely the garage foundations wont meet current building regs depths (how old is the house?) so will need underpinning.

Spot on!

Can sleep easy now.

Ta

Just ridden the Beijing mountain bike course in 38deg blue sky. Now sitting outside a bar with a cold beer watching the world go by. The ‘sights’ are good too. Not one to boast though ;-)