I have 3 boys. The additional of a third creates 50% more work at least, doubles the amount of fights, arguments etc. Suddenly many hotels require you to book two rooms, silly things like that.

It is also huge fun seeing the third monkey trying to keep up with his big brothers, interacting and generally being a clown. Having had two babies already you are more relaxed with the third and I personally enjoyed that more as a result.

Food begins to be consumed at an amazing rate. Bikes that have been handed down once are already so battered and abused that I don’t think they can be handed down once more. Additional expense all around. Big car / van needed, whey hey we have got a van. You can’t fit 5 bikes on a bike carrier, curses. Logistics become mind bending, leaving the house for any kind of outing with the whole family is pretty epic. There is always one that has a problem, a question, a demand, or has hurt themselves, or run off while you were not looking.

Keeps you on your toes for sure!

The Honest John site reflects my experience with my car exactly, Kia Sorento I get 32mpg and the stated combined is about 40mpg, 20% off. The difference between driving really carefully vs not is less than I thought it would be too – only a few mpg I find. Probaby the fact that it is an auto doesn’t help this.

I nearly always wear them, the last time I didn’t I had a silly off and cut my knee deeply, which was really annoying as it meant I was unable to swim for two weeks during the summer holidays, grrrr…. 661 Veggie pads for me comfy and tend to stay put.

They have released the Frog?!?! Best news I have heard all day…

If a trail is graded, then it implies it is in a trial centre, and as a result its a bit dangerous for non-cyling users to use it, and on that basis I would object, mainly for their safety. I wouldn’t hate them though.

I have enjoyed reading this thread and empathise with the OP – there are some days when it feels like I am Yossarian and everyone is trying to kill me… BUT, although I have on occassions lost my cool in the past, I really try not to these days. I even try to make a tap on the side of the car a friendly “look out I’m here mate” type tap if I can. If comes down to a loosing your cool competion I am not the one inside the big fast metal box on wheels…

I think the main factor is upper body strength & endurance, if you assume skills can be equally high then this is the biggest factor in the pro men being able to go really so much faster and be much more aggressive on the bike. Taking the Athertons again as an example, both Rach and Gee train, but Gee is obviously WAY stronger upper body. Perhaps there are some women out their who could get closer but they just never try it. I think I saw a quote from Rach saying that Gee can bench press three times as much as she can so why doesn’t he go three times faster… or something like that.

A couple of comments on French Alps south of Geneva – if you are going to buy, you need to do your homework as its not as easy / quick to sell if you have to get your money back, there are FX risks to think about, and if you want to rent out there are hot spots were there is short supply (but prices are high) and plenty of other places were rental is pretty slow.. so do your homework on that. Tax and fees also an issue on rentals and buying / selling.

Riding in Samoens is nice, plenty of big days out type riding around there and some great lift assisted downhill singletrack in summer. PDS a short drive away or ride up the Col du Joux Plan if you are feeling fit, gets you straight over to Les Gets. A quiet place though. Annecy also a nice place and busy.

Traffic can be bad at peak times but nowhere near as bad as S.E. UK on a day to day basis I find.

I made the move 5 years ago. No regrets.

I have no idea if this guy was / is a hero or not, just becuase he was called up in WW2 does not mean he did anything “Heroic”. Its another of the modern media’s over-used and devalued terms. He may have done all sorts of brave and noble things, he may not, I have no idea.

I also have no idea what this guys care needs are. My nan was amazingly independant and was able to stay in her own home for a long time, but there came a point when it couldn’t carry on.

Why does everything have to be so clear cut? Life isn’t like that.

Hairy legs unless its below 5 Deg – then tights or waterproof trousers.

+1 for having your brake levers flatter, this puts your hands in a more relaxed position, reduces arm pump and battering.

That is a big dissapointment, ugly. I loved my trailstar back in the day, did myself all kinds of harm on it!

I would define addiction as needing to have a drink to get through the day, as opposed to feeling like one at the end of everyday which is just a habit.

I always feel like having a drink at the end of the day, a glass or two of wine, but don’t have to…

😀 One of those times when I’m very glad not to have a winning top trumps card.. I broke my wrist in a rather hard snowboard fall onto ice, I think my wrist guard saved me from something more serious. I have since got some REALLY good wrist guards

Hey Paul – yes the specialist showed me all those 4 key movements and told me to do them, and I have, plus day to day life battling my three small children and work etc. have been plenty to keep me busy in the hand movement stakes. Try changing a two year olds pooey nappy when he doesn’t feel like cooperating with a broken wrist, oh the fun.

Hence have not felt any real need for physio before now and judging from the above stories an OK recovery so far. I have never been a big fan of physio but this is the first injury where I have felt that there is a lot of slow recovery still to be done, hence its nice to get an idea of what is “normal” for this type of break. I broke Radius and Ulnar, intra-articular displaced… yes many of the injuries above do sound more serious.

Thanks all! Sounds like 3 months in I am not doing too badly then, I can do about an hour on the bike before I have to stop. I can do a press up, can do a chin up, so all in all sounds like I am about as good as can be expected. I have pushed my hand back into day to day use quite hard so I have not felt the need for physio yet but I’ll go and get some expert advice on that to see what can be done to help the scar tissue and nerve pain to go.

er, you can?

Hmm could be a long road I think – better get some physio booked!

If I still lived around that way I think I’d try a Maxxis Ardent on the front and Crossmark on the back with EXO sidewalls? Get as big a volume as possible, 2.4… not sure if you an get EXO Crossmarks though..

I like them, great all-round tyre and fast rolling for the level of toughness they provide. Can get a bit scary in high speed berms and yes not good in mud.

I had the old old one, liked the look of the new old one, but the latest shape has lost the nice boxy 4×4 look of the previous and gone all bland SUV Crossover. Does not look like it offers particularly good interior space but I’ve not been in one.

I know if the trail I’m riding is too hard because I stop enjoying it. If it is too easy just go faster…

A set of Hope hoops Stans Flow rims or similar will be ideal for your bike. Big tyres with beefy sidewalls or dual ply are a must. Possibly a bigger front brake rotor. Bring a few spares with you if you can, rear mech hanger, rear mech, brake pads. That’s about it – have fun!

I’m a bit of a long term Orange fan, and the fact that its made in the UK does mean something to me. I recently sepnt a few seasons riding a Specialized Enduro and found it very effective & fast. But then I bought a Partiot in the sales, and without really thinking about it very much found myself riding that to the exclusion of the Enduro. Just had more fun on it. Now I have sold the Enduro and bought an Alpine 160 RS 26″ frame. Built it up and it looks way better in the flesh that I expected. Sizing is really good (at last), nice and long and low. Can’t wait to get out on it this spring. Personnal preference, but I do love Oranges.

I have not experienced anything quite like this myself, but, despite considering myself to be a generally cheerful optimistic type person the pressures of modern life with work, family pressures, unrealistic social and leisure expectations, plus the general annoying admin and stuff that goes along with everything conspire to overwhelm me from time to time these days. There are just too many competeing demands on my time and not enough time and energy to apply to them it seems. I find myself being grumpy and generally dissatified a lot of the time as a result, despite good health, wonderful family and a very good quality of life. Its odd – my one great desire is to simplify my life, and do less, better. Its hard to do but I am trying to work towards it. My point is I think you are very far from being alone OP – take heart, focus on the good important things in your life and let the other nonsense that feels important but isn’t wash over you. Good luck 🙂

I have a Kaff 2 as my daily commuter – it is a functional but slightly dull and heavy workhorse. I ride it every day and it has done the job I bought it for well. But I don’t love it.

I’ve got the reach extending type, very good quality no issues so far.

My season so far…. Got new board and boots, went out on Dec 23rd, great set up super responsive and poppy, got excited despite icy conditions, caught heel edge and broke wrist. Been snow-shoeing a few times since with three pins in wrist, if there is a big powder dump in April I may get out again this season but I doubt it, ho hum 🙂

Flats for offroad, clips for onroad, I switched to flats after a knee problem years ago and have have never gone back for the MTB, it taught me to ride better.

I recently drove on motorways in the SE of UK having not done so for about a year (living overseas). I was shocked at how I had become unnacustomed to the level of concentration required, mainly due to the volume of traffic, the contant overtaking / undertaking all around, the lack separation etc. And that was the same in the pouring rain, no-one seemed to drive to the conditions at all. I am so glad I don’t live in the SE of England anymore for this reason alone. And I don’t buy the whole “British drivers are so good compared to everyone else” crap, it seemed worse to me not better. But I also thought it had got a lot worse than I remember, I think mainly due to the sheer number of cars on the road all the time.

Just my experience, but I have been running Stams Flow and Arch EX rims with Maxxis EXO 2.4 tyres (Ardent, High Roller, Minion) for some time, with tubes, at around 30psi, in the Alps, and have had very few punctures at all. Some care taken over the rocky stuff but not that much.

+1 for the Schwalbe Blackjacks my 9yo uses them in the Alps and they are a good compromise between weight grip and puncture protection.

Whenever I have had a go on one (both time riding it down the mountain after the rider had mullered themselves) I have found them a bit twitchy. Head angle a bit steep for a full on enduro rig?

I lost my i-phone from my pocket at the Meribel DH World Cup round. Some random dude found it, spoke to my Mrs on the phone when she called me, got my description and then found me in the crowd to give it back at the podium ceremony. LEGEND!

I’m not worried I’m not worried. Actually I am worried. 🙂

The most fun they seem to have at this age is just throwing themselves down any pile of snow on their bottom, climbing back up and doing it again and again and again….

At that age it totally depends on the child and the weather – I have seen many a crying, snotty, cold miserble 2 year old in the Ski Creche making everyone miserable and setting all the others off all morning, and I’ve also seen wide eyed excited two year olds sliding around giggling all morning. You may not know unless you try it.

I am 6’1″ and I my current trail bike is 1.24m wheelbase. I love it, but wouldn’t want to go any longer. I would not consider anything below 1.2m wheelbase now for a FS trail bike. It feels better for me in everything bar tight flat turns.

This thread brings back memories! As a father to three young boys I can only empathise with the OP – children are hard work, I think the word “relentless” describes my boys perfectly! Its above all else tiring and time consuming, and its easy to get frustrated and long for the free time to do whatever you liked before children came on the scene.

But the funny thing is that when you get free time to yourself you will find that a lot of thoughts are about your children, how great they are and how much you love them. When my wife and I get to have the occasion break from our children much of our conversation is about them.

They are wonderful and bloody annoying in almost equal measure but I cannot imagine life without them, they rock, and it does get better and more fun once they get out of nappies and start riding bikes!

The human race is not good at making difficult or rational choices about this kind of thing, and large parts of the world lack the education or awareness or luxury of worrying about these things.

As a result no meaningful action will be / has been taken before its too late. Whether directly or indirectly brought about by human activity there will be some big changes coming sooner or later that we won’t like and they will be imposed upon us by powers out of our control. Fingers crossed its not too soon.