Booking flights on points/miles is usually limited availability too, so unless you book your holidays months in advance you probably won’t get good options on dates. I agree with KT, use them for upgrades instead.

Compilation of some clips from the summer. All of it shot in BC, but definitely fits in the jey-trail-XC category. ;o)

Life Cycles is on iTunes in Canada, $9 HD or $7 standard. Not sure if its available outside of Canada though.

After that she hated it our room at 18 degrees and we felt blimmin cold too. We consulted with the midwife who basically said “it’s fine. Increase the temperature to where you feel comfy”

Same here. Our daughter was in 2 babysuits and a sleepbag, yet she still felt freezing cold to the touch and didn’t sleep well in a room that was supposedly at 18-20C. Maybe our thermometer is calibrated incorrectly, but she seems just fine at 22C.

And the main trail in the first section is Bobsled, a brand new beg/int trail on Fromme, opened 2 months ago.

Bobsled opening

Don’t know about being completely shattered, but cracked windows are very possible.

They drive in Canada/Russia/Sweden (take your pick) without breaking their windows

Actually they don’t, at least going by the number of cars with cracked windscreens I’ve seen in Edmonton in the winter. Usually cracked about 10cm from the base, width-to-width across the windscreen, where the hot air causes a strong temperature differential. Very common.

I had a rental car with a small crack in it once and at -15C and 90km/h it decided to crack some more. Luckily it just made a noise as the crack widened, the windscreen didn’t implode, but I drove the rest of the way back to the airport very, very gingerly indeed with the front vents turned off.

My mate in the Peaks ordered his winter tyres a little too late. They got shipped all across Europe and are now stuck in an East Midlands depot somewhere. Maybe they’ll arrive in time for the thaw.

Lyrik U-Turn for me. Set at 130ish for trail riding and then wind it up to 160mm for fun on the steep stuff.

A big dose of MTFU.

Seriously, I’ve spent ages looking at small drops and braking before jumps. This year I made a conscious effort to MTFU and go for it.

And don’t forget your choice of a 3G phone or mobile device:

3G network for Everest

A kayak paddle – was a regular trip for a while

Same. Strapped it to the top tube with about a foot sticking out above the front wheel. Occasionally got it caught with the wheel/cabling for comedy effect.

And speaking of Uganda, I’ve been the awkward thing carried on the back of a bike (ok, a scooter). Definitely the scariest thing about the kayaking the Nile:

I’d be the one on the empty trail next to it

I was the one on the empty trail next to it. Crank It Up was fantastically quiet at 3pm that day. :o)

I picked up some 2008 Lyrik u-turns in the spring and have found the same. I’m about 85kg with kit and as far as I’m aware they have the standard spring. According to the dirt rings on the stantions, I don’t think I’ve ever used the last 20mm, even though I’ve been riding Whistler bike park and North Shore black trails.

However, I love it. Just like Alpin, I’m still happy with slacker steering and I absolutely do not want it to dive through all of its travel as I fumble my way through a slow, techie section. Due to rider ineptitude, that fork has saved my bacon on a number of occasions!

I’ve also got the Galaxy S. I tried the iTunes Agent first and did get it to work (the trick is to make sure that the SD card is “mounted”). But it copied everything over as a single, large playlist and didn’t seem very flexible with playlists, podcasts etc.

The DoubleTwist player is better than the standard music player on my Galaxy and I’ve still only got 1 source folder of mp3 files on my home computer.

Try http://www.doubletwist.com/%5B/url%5D

Already been done on a mtb:

California Roll

trumplesneaker +2.

Both myself (Heckler) and my friend (Orange 5) use the double/bash/Stinger combo, never dropped a chain since.

but I could be wrong on the increments

Just to be a pedant, the coil u-turn is anything from 115-160mm (45mm range). On my Heckler, I use either end of the range for uphill/downhill and then stick it on a middling 130mm-ish for singletrack.

The air 2-step is either 115mm or 160mm, nothing in between, but obviously weighs less.

Therein lies the problem!

There's a lot of hassle involved for an employer to get approval for employing foreigners, so basically you need to be very much in demand for them to go through with it. My wife is a nurse in a specialist area, she got a job offer and work visa after 2 phone calls! Check the Expats forum and Canadian Immigration CIC website for details on job types. Otherwise, its either a 1yr BUNAC visa (<30 yrs old) or do it the hard way and apply for permanent residency from UK (multi-year process)

My best friend and his girlfriend arrived here earlier this year. She has a 1yr BUNAC visa (under 31) but my mate is well over 31 so is just here unemployed and living off his savings on a tourist visa. He's got a good CV (MSc, chartered structural engineer, 10yrs experience) and after 5months and about 30 applications has made precisely zero progress. He's now waiting & hoping that his girlfriend gets a Temporary Work Permit, which will allow him to get one too as her spouse. As soon as he gets a TWP, I bet the job interviews start rolling in.

FWIW, our 5month old girl goes everywhere with us at the moment, including the bike park (c.f. winter ski hill). Spent 3 days at Silver Star last week, 2 days at Whistler the week before and both of us got to ride. Some days we luckily had a non-riding friend who offered to babysit, other days my wife & I just rotated. Meet up for lunch in the village and swap the baby for the lift ticket! Got a great photo of Mrs Burts in cycling gear feeding BabyBurts with a stack of full-face helmets around her, just before another lap of Crank It Up.

LOTS of useful info here: http://britishexpats.com/wiki/Category:Job_Hunting-Canada

including some specifics here: http://britishexpats.com/wiki/Resume-Canada

For whats it worth, I took my UK CV, changed the title to resume and just edited a few relevant details (dates in US format, a short note about being authorized to work in Canada). I got lucky, found a job very quickly but the job market here (Vancouver) has definitely tightened up since the recession.

Be prepared to not get any acknowledgement from job applications. They're not being rude, its the US/Canadian way. Employers only ever reply to candidates they're interested in and right now, if you don't have a work visa you'll be at the very bottom of the pile. The main difficulty is getting a work visa!

I've had Stroker Trails on my Heckler for the last 2 years, 203mm front + 180mm rear. They do get squeaky in the wet for some reason, but lots of power and no other problems. Used consistently for Vancouver North Shore + BC bike parks.

Here's another chunky build: Lyrik coil U-Turn, DHX5 coil, 2.35 Nevegals, double+bash = 34.5lbs of all-mountain goodness. Typically gets used for "Vancouver XC" and happily spent last weekend playing DH in Whistler bike park. With a good 7 or 8 clicks of rebound + pro-pedal on the DHX5 it pedals great, although I normally turn both down again for descending anything tricky.

[/url]
Heckler with Lyriks[/url] by Nich Burton[/url], on Flickr

WIndows Live Photo Gallery, free download. Organize and edit your photos locally (including great stitch tool) and then upload to Flickr. Easy.

crazy-legs – Member
There was a massive zip wire across a valley in Morzine last time we were there

C'est la Fantasticable!

Its actually in Chatel, over the Pre La Joux bike park. Found a decent video of it here, you can see a load of the trails and even the slopestyle course at 1min10s.

Anyone done something similar? What should I expect from bike park facilities?

The bike park facilities on our journey were atrocious – no chair lift, no jump skills area, no North Shore, just a single mincing green trail down the length of the boat and the queues for lunch were terrible. But we did get across the water.

IGMC.

Never remove the bolts from the v-brake bosses on your fork when upgrading to disc brakes in an attempt to save a few grams. Especially if there is a sticker on the forks saying "Do not remove the bolts from the v-brake bosses". The forks will wait for 2.5 days of Alpine riding before finally exploding on a steep ski hill descent and spraying fork oil all over your new disc brakes when you need them the most. (Friend's experience!)

Skype – yes, undoubtedly. I use it daily for Canada>UK calls and video chats.

But I wouldn't bother with a headset, unless you want to look like you work in a call-centre. If your laptop has 3.5mm headphone socket & microphone socket, then you can just plug in a standard set of ipod-type earphones (yes, earphones in a microphone socket work like a microphone – try it). Or a plug-in microphone off Ebay for less than a fiver.

Better yet, buy a USB webcam (15-20quid, or cheaper on Ebay) which will have a microphone built-in.

My 8 week old daugther recognised me on Skype video last month whilst I was working away – priceless!

Here's an alternative trailer, worth a look:

Toy Story Inception

Just watched this, much better than the usual dross.

I quite liked the fact that situated on "Northumberland Street"(where they went to the restaurant to wait for the killer) is the Sherlock Holmes public house:

Well here's another one. The scene before they walk into the restaurant, they are walking along Percy Street from the corner of Charlotte Street (used to work further up Charlotte Street, so recognised the corner).

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=northumberland+street+london&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Northumberland+St,+Westminster,+London+WC2N+5,+United+Kingdom&layer=c&cbll=51.518017,-0.134311&panoid=JztYENW7j1z-RvZ-ZOIYng&cbp=12,236.07,,0,3.81&ll=51.518132,-0.134427&spn=0,0.002631&t=h&z=19

That corner also marks the top of Rathbone Place…. Basil Rathbone was the actor who made the famous Sherlock Holmes of the 1940s.

Walk down Rathbone Place and you'll get to Blacks & Evans Cycles, so we're now back to a cycling topic. Elementary!

Has anyone on here ever claimed on Specialized' helmet replacement, are they going to want to see a receipt do you think?

Just pulling up a chair to this thread as I'm also interested in Specialized's replacement policy. I landed on my head last week and cracked a Deviant full-facer (very stupid school-boy error).

Online transfers between personal accounts at the major banks are free and take 2-3hrs now, they improved about 12-18months ago. HSBC (my bank) are definitely included in this, I'm pretty sure Barclays would be too.

Rattler, sunning itself by the side of a fireroad in the Marin Headlands:

I took a venom extractor kit on my Costa Rica kayaking trip last year, but to be quite honest with you, it was purely for the psychological reassurance of my companions. I knew full well that in the event of a serious bite, it would probably be as useful as a chocolate teapot.

Just out of interest, how old were your little ones when you started them in a trailer on smooth paths? 6months, 9months, 1 yr?

My little one is 3 months and it'll be some time before her neck is strong enough for a little helmet etc, but I like to plan ahead. Need to start browsing the classifieds ASAP!

Went from a 90mm to a 50mm on my Heckler, and yes, first ride I loved it. Better steering, easier to lift the wheel and I haven't had any problems climbing that a bit of effort or leaning couldn't overcome.

Having said that, I am doing more AM/DH than XC and spin my way slowly up most climbs.

As someone who has never ridden clipped-in, do those who have changed to flats think clipped-in is a mistaken way to ride? Not trolling, just interested.

No, horses for courses. SPDs for XC where power is a greater priority; flats for technical riding, where balance and safety is a priority. But priorities are personal, everyone makes their own decision based on their own priorities and experiences.

I changed to flats when I started riding harder DH trails, because my skills aren't good enough to feel safe on SPDs and I'm less interested in the climb or distance aspects. But I still miss SPDs when I get to a technical rooty uphill section or spin up a fireroad. I still have my SPDs in the garage ready to go back on the bike if the trail warranted it.

When I changed from SPDs to flats, I had the same problem of my feet bouncing off the pedals. Feet over pedal centrally and dropping heels (for DH) are important, but I found that I also have to ride with the saddle lower than I was used to, maybe 1-2" lower for general trail riding. You can't ride with your legs at full extension and still expect your feet to keep pedal contact when you hit a big bump. Your legs have to do some of the suspension work.

Biking, Old Harry Rocks in Purbeck:

My favourite non-biking, walking trail on Meares Island, Tofino, BC. This photo is now 3ft wide on my wall:

Chesterman Beach, Tofino:

Grouse Mountain ski hill, Vancouver:

My old office was next to Farnborough runway. Great views during the airshow, Red Arrows from the office canteen:

But trying to hold business meetings as a Mig29 lets rip directly above the office wasn't always too productive:

Ah, ok. That would look pretty good if you find a branch in just the right position.