Day trip to chamonix and ride the cable cars ( on foot) superb on a nice day.
About an hour up the road if you have a car.

Can’t you dig up the concrete yourself, hire a hydraulic breaker from your local tool hire shop over the weekend.

Sorry the above should be modo , dam auto correct

I have megaman – mood in my kitchen gu 10 replacements they are superb. Don’t bother with cheap led’s from b&q

I have raced both downhill and slalom / giant slalom I find that riding down rooty steep dh tracks to be more scary and technically demanding than black runs and off piste etc.

It’s about maximising the real fun part of mountain biking, although I like climbing Its the pull of gravity that I really enjoy.

doing a nice clean run time after time with perfect lines, braking points, jumps without any mistakes while constantly trying to knock off a few seconds each time is very hard.

If you are not convinced give it a go. !!!

At the moment you would need snow chains !!

Superb especially when he plays with crazy horse .

Seen him live twice.

Hope his sound quality format takes off,

http://www.engadget.com/2012/09/28/neil-youngs-pono-music-service/

I think that with modern full suspension bikes and tyres the speeds are now higher so when you fall off the impact is higher than say 10 years ago.

I’m of the bike at the moment recovering from a broken scaphoid two months so far together with surgery. A lot of hassle for others time off work , lifts etc.

But on balance I do think its worth it as the positives far outweigh the negatives.

Drove through this afternoon

Conditions wet windy and fallen trees on the side of the road, snow on the top 500/1000 feet of snowdon.

Coed y brenin I think is still closed, not sure about the main or penmachno trails.

As for gears it’s 24 / 36 for the hills for me.

Have a look here, I’m not on this forum but there are some good rides here.

http://northwalesmtb.proboards.com/board/26/rides

Try riding from Llyn Crafnant over to capel currig, some good natural stuff up there. Check legality of paths first

Keep the s3 great car, used to one one although sold it at 120k miles due to high cost of fuel.
At 210 bhp it did feel a bit underpowered I bet if you re chipped it would be superb.

Antur Stiniog, let the minibus do the climbing save the legs.
Could be a safer bet if the weather is poor / dangerous to go up snowdon, It’s got a fair amount of snow at the moment.

I have a GT 170 great car no big problems the injectors where replaced FOC by VW as a recall. Few problems with seized calipers otherwise OK.

The 170 has a DPF which can cause problems the 140 does not.

The 140 is also cheaper to insure and more economical and not that slower then the 170.
It’s a job to work out which is which the 170 has a tailpipe visible at the back the 140 does not.
Hope that helps.

Take it easy and don’t fall off your bike!

Not sure about the legalities of driving a private vehicle on forestry commission land.

there used to be a few good spots around betws y coed at one stage but it got a bit messy with some of the local land owners and some idiots in transits, spoilt it for everyone in the end.

I like the look of the new cube fritzz

http://www.tredz.co.uk/.Cube-Fritzz-160-HPA-Pro-27-5-Mountain-Bike-2014-Full-Suspension-MTB_66734.htm?utm_source=Google&utm_medium=AdwordsProductAds&utm_campaign=Adwords&gclid=CJH608ztiLwCFQsKwwodQhYA9A

Looks a good deal for £ 1799

If you ride flats the ball of your foot is generally further back and the pedal is on a slight incline( as opposed to spd’s), this results in the weight being further back. But also as the pedal is not horizontal clearance is compromised.

Brentacre for me.

Look on the insurance threads over on the t5 Form for info on Adrain Flux, seem to cancel policies after taking the money due to technicalities and keeping about £150.

Get over to antur stiniog followed by the revolution bike park followed by a few uplift days on the various tracks with pears cycles.

I have been following the London to Istanbul bike race

http://wearegoingawol.tumblr.com/DOCUMENTARY

it’s in a few parts so about 60 mins

I take my hat off to them.

I purchased a Met from Halfords it was about £30 in the sale before Christmas , not sure about the model name, blue with a LED at the back.

Had a big crash in Coed y Brenin made a big crack and dent at the side of the helmet, i just got up and rode away. ( but with a broken scaphoid)

I have also done the same many years ago when purchasing a car, done via bank transfer as we used the same bank.

Give LightZone a go it’s free open source software it should handle you raw files.

The future is bitcoin from one wallet to another in seconds with no transaction charges for the banksters.

The main downfall is if you have to park the vehicle with the bikes on the back on the way back for food, trip to a&e etc they will be gone. that’s the beauty of a van.

Have a look at the car audio direct web site they sell an equivalent product to dynamat

If on a very tight budget go down to your local builders merchant and pick up some flashband

On the front only ?? not a good idea

I take your point rickt

I know if you don’t have 4 and there is a good chance of a spin.

But at least I can go to and from work without having to walk up hill for the last mile !

Got some Maxxis Presta Snow on the front, Great Tyres.

Passed through this chaos over Cwm Prysor ( Between Bala and Trawsfynnydd ) this morning with no problems.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-25000562

Learn how to brake using the available grip, only use your front when there is sufficient grip.

I found that sectioning a difficult part of a track over and over made a difference.

Totally different riding to trail centers, took me a long time to adapt. As others have said keep practicing.

Saw it on DVD the other day, the massive piece of ice the same size a Manhattan island which fell to the sea was awesome and sad at the same time. Worth a look

Rally was on yesterday so all clear, some of the fire roads at the start where used.

Bitcoin but you may be in for a roller coaster ride.
The market is worth nearly 5 billion dollars ( or could be by tomorrow) have a look at bitstamp for real time prices.

http://www.housepricecrash.co.uk/forum/index.php?showtopic=194151. Here is link to an interview with Alan Greenspan by Evan Davies BBC

Could go some way to answering your question

Take a look at some world rally footage from the Swedish rally , look at the tyres tall and thin.

Not worth the stress just stick in a tube, I had the same problem in the end I had a compressor with over 100psi after trying to straighten the rim.

The problem with tubeless from my perspective is that because you can get away with less pressure and no snakebites the rims get damaged.

A lot has been said here about football but what about other sports,compared with say clubman rallying mountain biking is quite reasonable.

I know someone who spends £1,000’s on engine and gearbox re builds and hundreds on tyres for a single day.

“Tis true I’d forgotten that – guess the cyclist was lucky didn’t collected by an irish trucker trying to catch the ferry ”

– With a magnet on the Tackograph and half asleep!!

http://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/half-lorries-tested-a55-north-2799139

You could ride further to waunfawr go up over Cefn du and ride down to llanberis to join the telegraph valley path.

If thinking about taking a DIY approach have a look at the asbestos essentials task manual which can be downloaded from the HSE Web site,
If in good nick leave alone, paint /seal but don’t sand or disturb.