Only stuff worth riding is at Shotover, surprisingly fun on my rigid old uni bike. Other than that it’s a very “nice” city all things considered, alot of green areas. Much much nicer than London IMO.

/Steve Pete going this year, it’s going to be amazing. Also, the skiing was ridiculously amazing last year. Really wish I could go!

£330 plus food for a week in Tignes :p Not sure about the rest of my skiing this year but I’m sure it’ll be cheap! Isn’t it great being a student.

I think I saw you at the top? Two of you on boardmans? I went right too soon (at the youth hostel) so I took a slightly longer route, and a lot of the climb was unrideable. Took three hours.

Pretty sure Audi do/are going to do this on their diesels?

Thanks for the advice everyone. I rang him yesterday and he was very keen for me to give him money in cash for his “mate” to fix the bumper, as he insisted it would be cheaper. I told him that I’ve told my insurance firm about the accident and insisted I wasn’t interested in the slightest in his mate fixing it. Eventually he gave up and said he’d get his firm to contact me. So I’m hoping it’ll all blow over, touch wood. He said that some clips on the side of the bumper had snapped so it was coming off at the side, which simply wasn’t the case when we looked at it.

I have a pair of 188 Whitedot Directors (they’re actually prototypes…) When I first skied them (on piste, on the way to the good stuff) I thought they were a massive mistake. They’re terrible on piste, as in really bad. Then I tried them in deep snow and never looked back. I just have to make I don’t get them out if I’m only skiing with the family… Also, the guys at Whitedot are very friendly and know their stuff. The new carbon skis looks great!

As a first year engineer who sat his maths exam two days ago (and should be revising right now) I’d recomend Stroud. I hadn’t done further maths and this book saved me! Kreyszig is good too, but mostly at a much higher level than what I need.

I have an Alpkit one, it was great for the fist 10 uses or so, but when I got it out a couple of weeks ago it had a puncture :(

That sounds like an identical experiance to when I did the Grizedale challenge a couple of years ago, although it was freezing and I punctured twice. The cramp is just killer!

I love mine, much better than any of the numerous providers we’ve had…

I drive an 08 or so Vectra 1.9 TDI and honestly the only good part about the car is the engine. It will do 60 or 70 MPG on the motorway if you’re careful, but everything else about the car isn’t great. Steering is vague at best, terrible vibration at 65 mph, brakes poor in the wet and after servicing. It does fit three people and bikes I suppose, and go OK in a straight line… No major mechanicals in 70,000 miles but enough minor irritating ones to make them hard to recommend.

I’ve been running Bonty Mud Xs all winter (and they’re still on the bike…) – great in the slop; frightening on wet rock.

I’ve been running Mud X’s non stop for the past two years and find them ideal for the kind of riding I do (Lakes and steep local stuff). I’ve never had a problem with them on wet rock. In fact, they’ve gripped admirably compared to other tyre’s I’ve used.

Shimano skewers, end of.

Thought I’d balance things out a bit, went to Les Gets with the family with them last year for some lift assisted XC/AM type stuff, as well as the Portes Du Soleil loop and the other activities (Via Ferrata, rafting etc.) and had a great time! Nice food, decent accommodation, very friendly young staff.

I had a similar problem with Shimano, I had the cheaper ones (540s or whatever they’re called…) and the float was stiff and inconsistent. Bought Stainless Speedplay Zeros, set the float to max and lived happily ever after. It’s easier to get the cleats spot on with Speedplay too. Only trouble is I’m a light guy and cliping in can proove challenging, but it was hardly easy on my Shimanos… They’re expensive, but how much are your knees worth to you?

I use Bonty Mud x all year round, great tires, plenty of grip in all conditions, never clog, fairly light, as wide as I need, tubeless ready. I think they might be called something else now…

From what I recall the place was on its knees anyway, not sure if it’s recovered since then though. Not saying it’s not a great place to go and have fun, skiing’s more about the people than the place for me. I didn’t make this happen, nor wish it to, but I think the correct attitude is to look for opportunities when things like this happen.

I know, but you never know. Maybe some of the cinders will cause some singeing on the slope :)

On the one hand not great, but on the other could be good for the slope (maybe…). Lets be honest, the main slope/snowflex jump area is completely worn out, which is probably why the slope isn’t the hive of activity it used to be. Hopefully they’ll be able to divert some of the insurance money (assuming they get any) to where it’s needed. :)

Just spotted this sorry…

Yep, the uppers you see just need to be kept smooth and scratch free to reduce friction and keep any lubricating oil in/crap out.

I have a Cowon D2. Not a looker by modern standards, and odd to use at first, but it sounds sooooo good! I have the option of using plenty of other music sources, but I keep getting drawn back to the D2.

XTs! The work brilliantly, are endlessly reliable and bleed themselves!

Surely you just have to give three ethical facts, eg. A child dies every three minutes due to malaria (or something like that) and three examples of ethics opinions eg. I think this is terrible and would be easy to stop?

Maybe I’ve just missed the point though… I’m sure it doesn’t matter that much, not worth getting worked up over…

I’m afraid the steerers not uncut, long enough for most frames though, I had an external headset and a fair few spacers on it… The air assembly is contained within it’s own sealed tube inside the fork, so I really have no idea how you’d scratch it! I suppose on a rear shock it’s a bit more exposed.

Absolutely! The Tora 318s are basically identical in terms of performance to the more expensive forks in the Rock Shox range, but much cheaper, and with ridiculously durable stanchions. They only difference I can tell is the weight.

Now here’s the bit where it looks like I’ve got a motive for saying the above… I have some Tora 318s for sale, Solo Air, Motion Control, 120mm travel. In great nick, just the usual scratches to the lowers, stanchions perfect. I’ve had them on my hard tail for three or four years, but serviced them every year, and when I do they always seem spotless internally. Never had any issues with them, ever! £100 delivered? Only selling to fund my new bike, otherwise I’d keep them!

If it rains, it’s 80km of incredibly abrasive mud, mostly downhill…

Did it this year from les gets, set off a bit after 10, got to the top of the last lift (pleney?) at half 4. Did a decent pace on a 120mm hardtail, ate on the lifts, got sightly lost a few times annnd absolutely soaked in the afternoon, but a great days riding. Take at least 2 sets of spare brake pads!

If you were to do this shouldn’t you try to avoid the cheap tat that the big boys use? Ie no Sram…

The new ones are alot worse than the old ones with non replaceable bearings I’m afraid, I guess they’re much cheaper to manfacture…

Anything but Hope!

It’s not hard to choose between XX and XTR, you go Shimano every time :-)

We have a POC and a Dainese in our house, and I disagree that the POC is more comfortable. Dainese is slightly more comfortable IMO, but both are so comfortable that it is not an issue. Also, the Dainese offers more protection, as the POC is quite narrow.

I user a Dainese on in the park/off piste and forget I'm wearing it as soon as I put my coat on. They'er well worth the money, rails hurt a lot without them!!

The ice was 5 inches thick at the very edge of the canal near us, and still around 2 inches under the bridges. Easily thick enough for around 5 people to jump up and down on it the same place without a hint of movement. It took a huge section of tree and a lot of effort to get through :D

Works on the 360 too :-)
http://www.milliesoft.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=9:iplayer-mce&catid=1:software&Itemid=11

Rip in FLAC using MediaMonkey, then use MediaMonkey to update the metadata and album art from one of its online sources (usually amazon). Not only is MediaMonkey a great music organisation tool, it syncs with almost anything (inc. iPods) and it's really customisable as to the way it all opperates and how things are saved ect. whilst still being really easy to use. And it's free (although the gold version does have some benefits).

Handbrake can't actually rip copy protected dvds any more, IIRC. Use DVD Decrypter to rip them, then convert to h.264/whatever with hand brake.

Where are you based?

Don't stalk people around the shop, it freaks them out. Regard children as thieves, but don't let them know it. NEVER let them out of your sight!! Same goes for CHAVs. If you want to try to see if someone wants any help, pretend to do some merchandising near by. Good luck :-)