Definitely Whistler, wallride somewhere in the Garbanzo zone.

Burts 2nd foto is deceptive because over that little crest is a brill 4x type section

Indeed there is, that's where we were heading:

top pic is chatel bike park,

Yes, at Pre La Joux, its the blue run starting right near the top, runs down under the slow chair to the mid-station. With the road-gap half-way down:

err guess on 3, somewhere near champoussin

Yep, taken on a ridge at the top of a chair, starting the traverse & descent towards Les Croset. This ridge in fact:

don't miss the waterfall if you are in the Les Lindarets valley so many people do and it's an awesome scene.

Munqe-Chick, I agree, waterfall at top of the valley is worth a quick picnic stop:

Unexpected waterfall at bottom of Lindarets valley in a torrential rain storm, not so nice!

Any excuse for Alps pics!

Just to echo what's been said before: stick to a familiar bike with big tyres (2.3+) and be prepared to keep the seat down. Definitely leg & elbow pads. XC helmet fine for general trail riding, full-face not a bad idea.

Mrs Burts & I did 5 Alps trips from 2004-07 on 100mm XC hardtails, you'll love it. Mrs Burts on a Giant XTC:

Over the last (20, eek!) years, kayaking filled most of my spare time. Both white-water:

and sea-kayaking:

More recently, moving to a new part of the world has meant I'm now doing more biking than boating, but it also allows for some new winter hobbies. Still learning to snowboard though:

[Thread hijack]
Anokdale – any good biking in Libya or are most people stuck in a compound? Got a mate who just started out there (in a nice corporate environment) and I'm wondering how well he'll adjust without a garage full of bikes.

My wife is 5'5" but with short legs. I checked stand-over height for lots of bikes and found that the Spec Safire was one of the lowest available, along with the Orange bikes.

Trance & Cyphur was one of the worst, she hardly had any stand-over clearance, even on the small frames.

[Geek]
Here's my ladies bike list of standover height (inches) in ascending order, made it about 12months ago:

Titus Motolite XS 26.3
Orange Five 14" Small 26.8
Orange Five Diva 14" Short 26.8
Specialized 2009 Safire S 27.2
Titus Motolite S 27.3
Rocky Mountain Altitutude 27.3
Transition Covert Medium 27.5
Titus FTM 27.6
Specialized 2009 Safire M 27.6
Transition Covert Small 27.6
Specialized Stumpjumper S 27.8
Orange Five 16" Medium 28.2
Santa Cruz Juliana 28.7
Santa Cruz Heckler Small 07 29.0
Intense 5.5 Small 29.0
Yeti 575 (08) Small 29.0
Orange Five Diva 14" Long 29.1
Titus Motolite M 29.3
Santa Cruz Heckler Medium 07 29.5
Norco Fluid LT M 29.7
Giant Trance X S 16" 30.9
Rocky Mountain Slayer SXC 16" Med 31.1
Giant Trance X M 31.4
Giant Cyphur M 18" 31.8

[/Geek]

She ended up with a Safire and loves it, very capable.

My Heckler came with a 3-ring RaceFace Atlas crank set, added a RF bash ring onto it pretty much straight away. As stated above, I didn't need to move the front mech position, just adjusted the limit screws.

I've a suspicion that they (chainguides) come into their own when dealing with rear sus setups where the cainline and mech is being bashed around all over the place.

Certainly in my case. I was dropping the chain on nearly every descent, despite using a medium-cage rear mech and keeping the chain as tight as possible. I added a Blackspire Stinger and haven't looked back since.

Can't help you with the Bravia unfortunately, I've got a Samsung. I use TVersity for streaming to Xbox when its somethig that that Xbox can't natively handle (e.g. anything thats not WMV or avi format). My laptop can just about handle streaming 720p HD MKV files.

I'm not in the UK, and TVersity server won't run at the same time as my UK-IP address software. So no chance to even try and stream iPlayer, I just use a 15ft HDMI cable for that one. :o)

Can I ask you how you get your pics on the forum?

Login to Flickr and open the "All Sizes" page of your photo. Choose the photo size you want (Small, med, large) and at the very bottom, there's a single line link.

Copy the link and insert it here between IMG tags.

I reckon a skillz course must be a better investment PPF (pounds per fun) than buying new bits/extra suspension etc.

Completely agree.

do you have any tips, advice or words of warning

DO be extra careful of weirs and take notice of all signs.

Do NOT paddle up to the edge of a weir to investigate whats on the other side. Get out in advance & walk around (portage).

This is Sunbury weir, in case you were wondering.

Pushclimb: A section of a mountain biking trail with inadequate traction or too-steep a pitch, that forces cyclists to dismount and carry their bikes.

I still prefer hike-a-bike.

Possibly NSFW: Urban Dictionary – Dilligaf

Well thats good enough me, 160mm forks it is. 8) Thanks all.

Now the next tricky question is what forks to get – cheaper 55s, adjustable travel or coil plushness? Too many options!

The British Expat Forum – Canada is a great place to browse for all the info you need on any aspect of the move. Search the forum for "shipping" in this case.

To me, it sounds like you'll only need a part-container load. Its obviously cheaper than a full container, may take slightly longer as the shipping company will want to fill it with other part-loads before it goes.

I'm considering the Marz 55 ATA too for some all mountain abuse, but I'm not going to touch a 2008 version. Do some googling, it makes it sound like they were notoriously bad in terms of reliability and quality control.

Anybody have any experience of 2009 models? I can't find any reviews of 2009 versions and looking at the Marzocchi website, they don't even make a travel adjust 160mm fork anymore.

I have them in my usual size, but they are nicely snug with thin socks. Couldn't wear thick socks or sealskins, but nor do I need to, they are chuffing warm!

Mine are holding together ok after a few months use. They're my first flat shoe after years of SPDs and from a riding perspective, they're super sticky and great!

Baby Burts due in 3 weeks, exciting times!

Might be of interest to you:

http://www.pinkbike.com/news/Custom-Glory-elka-2010.html

Have a browse below, email in profile so let me know if any interest you:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/nichburton/sets/72157600083995385/%5B/url%5D

Whistler, Crank It Up

Not me unfortunately, someone down at the beach:

Lake Louise from a different view point, June 2009.

I have nothing useful to add, but here are some nice night boarding photos to help with the inspriration.

About 35lbs, but its a budget-conscious build with no particular thought to saving weight. Coil 426 Pikes, DHX5 coil, WTB dual-duty wheelset, RF Atlas cranks.

And it does everything, from 4hr singletrack rides to days on Whistler bike park black runs. It could really do with a Lyric/Fox 36 upgrade though…

IDon't pull up. Pull back on the bars, push your feet forward. It also helps if you can aim for a spot close to the edge and compress your forks into that first.

Thanks all, thats encouraging.

How the hell do I tell who is friendly and who is not in a Team Deathmatch? Is it purely on the colour of their name tag? Being colour blind doesn't help with that!

CB, I'm red-green colour blind also and that's my #1 complaint with the game. Couldn't they find a different colour combination? Anyway, I've found 2 things that help:

1) Friendlies have their green name-tags over them permanently; the enemy red tags don't appear until 2-3 seconds after they come into your field of vision. So it they don't have a name-tag, shoot them.

2) In TDM, you can't hurt friendlies, so just shoot everyone you see. 😕 Obviously, this is not so good in Hardcore games.

CTV are the local station doing live web coverage of everything. Not sure if it will be accessible outside of Canada though?

CTV Olympics

Some dosey cow got hit by a police motorcycle as the flame went past my work later in the day

As I wondered up the road to watch the flame go past last evening (on Broadway), there was a large Russian delegation being "talked to" by 2 cop cars. Looks like they might have clipped a pedestrian at a crossing. No-one looked hurt, but the translator was certainly earning her money.

Slugwash speaks the truth on both accounts. Definitely a good idea to join a club, especially if you want to venture into white water.

Its better to try several kayaks before purchasing, they come in many variations and sizes. A club is the best way to do this.

Biking collection on Flickr[/url]

Everything else[/url]

Its only a model.

Windows live photo gallery, it's a free download.

For best results, overlap your photos by at least a 1/3, maybe more.

couldashouldawoulda, whereabouts near Ballymoney? My in-laws farm is on the hills above Finvoy, I've done the Xmas trip up that way many times before. We're missing it this year, sounds like interesting conditions though!

Unfortunately, it doesn't look like you're on "The List" of high-demand jobs. If you (or your partner) were on the list, the wait time for permanent residency visa applications should be less than a year.

Otherwise, its an approx 5yr wait for PR, or find a needle-in-a-haystack sponsored job with Temporary Work Permit. I'm here thanks to my wife (nurse), as partners get an open work permit.

British Expat Forum is a very good place to research and ask questions.

Already been…. got a day on Blackcomb in November. 😆

Brilliant start to the season, hope it continues over the next few weeks so that I can get my annual quote in before the Olympics roadshow hits town.

34, IT consultant

6'0" and ride a large:

XBox360 works very well. No other software required, it uses Windows Media Player on your XP/Vista/W7 computer to share the files over your network. It can handle standard def or HD.

If you don't want a games console, then you can buy a media streaming device to do the same thing. I've seen these in my local shop, not used them myself though:

WD Media Streaming Boxes

BAAPS

Seriously, what WERE they thinking?!