CyB, ClimachX and Nant y Arian.

The drive to Laggan would be 4-5 hours but easily doable if you don’t mind riding after a journey that long.
Depending on the weather you might ride around Aviemore and then wish you had done it all there!
If you are travelling back day 4 you might want day 5 off to for a rest.

Wiggle have told me the one I have on order is on its way from suppliers so maybe they’ll have stock this week.

Why does the cyclist sound like a German?

It’s xenophobic gobbledeegook to say he sounds like a German,the last Germans i met were very friendly.

Got to love people jumping to conclusions. I lived 9 of my formative years in Germany and considered it home for a long time after I left. I have tremendous respect and affection for German people. If I have one regret in life it is that I have lost the near fluency I had in the language at the time. There is nothing xenophobic about my comments. They are based on observation. It’s just the way they are. And the French come to think of it. I’m sure they weren’t being obnoxious on purpose. Unless they were English of course.

I’m with smee on this one. The amount of disruption that muppets cause in the summer isn’t funny. If the guy went past 2 passing places without pulling in then I suspect that his attitude will earn him a little country education before his visit is over. People that go looking for trouble will find it even in such a friendly place. Sounds like a German. We get hundreds of them touring round here for some reason.

Man made – Golspie. I don’t have the time or descriptive powers to explain why. It kicks ass.
Natural – Carn ban Mor descent. There aren’t many trails that would make the pain of the up worth it. It does and more.

What’s the deal with all the Schwalbe groupies? Got 2 pals who ride on NN. One’s off his bike just now because of a front wheel wash out on what I thougt was a standard turn. The other was miles behind in the descents at Inshriach yesterday because he had no grip at all. I also remember one of the guys on NN being completely unable to get up a snowy/icy fireroad when the rest of us were having very few problems. Is it just the light weight and low rolling resistance that attracts people?

Is that Sandend user-removed?

Had a flat coat retriever and he would have been great on trails after he was 2 or so. He ran all day. Sadly this was before I found mountain biking. All the golden retrievers and labs I have encountered have been too lazy, crazy or just plain soft to be good bike dogs. They breed small black labs round here as working dogs and I’m sure they would be ok. Can’t see better than a collie/lab cross for your needs i.e family pet and bike dog. Good at fetching sticks from the river too!

How does the Warren Boulder trail compare to Laggan black? Is it worth a divert next time I’m down south?

AVG picks it up too. Stay away for a while I would say. Delete temp internet files too.

I did them the other way round last July. The Mach3 is a bit of a gate fest and a lot of fireroad but there are some nice bits. Notably the chute which is a bit like Jacobs Ladder. i.e big loose rocky descent.
Climachx is a “nice” generic singletrack ride for 13km with the last 2km being a completely different ride. Quite a technical blast of a DH with the odd obstacle thrown in. You’ll probably want to go round and do the last descent again. There is a shortcut through the woods which allows this and you also get to do a nice wallridy bit of curly shore.

Leased or sold is irrelevant. What do we, the public, get out of the deal? You lease a car to someone, they pay you over a while and you get back a shagged car. You sell it to them, they give you the money up front but the car still gets shagged. Trouble is it stays on your driveway and you no longer have the power to repair, wash or polish it.
Does no one else object to this? I can’t see any benefit to joe public and the mtb populace but potentially lots of drawbacks.

Had 3 XT Shadows and one SLX shadow. I smashed one of the XTs just as easily as I trashed one of the traditional mechs. I do like the way it doesn’t whack against your frame over bumps etc. My SLX is short cage and feels and performs (and looks) great. I do prefer shadow but would happily use older ones if they were out of stock or silly expensive.

How dare people diss my Dawg. An aweome workhorse of a bike that stood up to loads of abuse from a clumsy, pie eating duffer with an over inflated opinion of his riding abilities and so went down stuff that maybe he shouldn’t. They might not have pretty swirly bendy tubes but seing as we’ve mentioned gimmicks, surely they’ve got to be the worst. I ride a Nomad now but still miss my Dawg. Especially places like the lactic ladder at Golspie. It’s a different matter at the top though! I have to agree that I would never pay the full RRP for one.

Swampthing baby. Yeah!

Druidh. Leasing or selling it makes no odds. Our publicly owned forests will be raped by those who care only for their own pockets and not the environment or land use.
There may be a hidden benefit where we can go and get cheeky as we like building trails without fear of Mr FC coming and getting rid of it but the FC do also do good stuff.
I’m not happy having our forests, don’t forget that they are public property, being used for short term topping up of political coffers.

I would be interested to hear your take on it then Druidh? So would a lot of people up here that have signed the petition. Have you got insider info or a viewpoint from the other “side”?

I did it as well. Made comments about how we could easily have a Whistler with a little application!
As a complete aside did anyone do the petition at Save our forests[/url]?

SNP are trying to sell off our forests for short term gain under advice from those very clever bankers in London.

Never mind that, how come that Swedish princess is such a munter when the rest of the female population of her country looks like Charlize Theron or young Ulrika Johnsson?

Got rid of the squeals then Chipbutty? Not that you ever brake! Right then, off to annoy Mrs D and start looking for a deal on Oros.

Dave-Aber wrote

Tracey – Your picture from above La Daille is going to cost me a fortune – I need to go NOW….

It’s a small world Dave but the people in that photo are the ones that shared a chalet with me in the year before the Vieux Village. Poor things 😆
At that time of year it would be unwise to go below 1800m for a base. Les Menuires is a bit cheaper but a whole lot less good. The skiing is on a par however. I don’t know how the Austrian resorts fare at that time of year but they are a little cheaper too. Except St Anton which is about the same. Livigno, Bormio and Sauze d’Oulx in Italy are all fairly high and cheaper but the skiing/”darkside sat on backside on piste posturing” is not quite as good. Fine for a week though. Cervinia would be worth a look but I have no experience of it.

Hey Fanny Baws, I see you are getting paid a fortune offshore to surf forums and shop! Where did you get the SLX brakes? How much? I’m tempted to replace my HFX 9s. Oro K18s are also on my try list. Would be interested in what you think of them if you get them Mr Nutt. From the reviews in 07, Oros kicked butt with all comers. My only reservation is the smaller pad size. I feel happier with bigger pads like on my M4s. I’m a bit of a lard arse and ye cannae change the laws of physics.

£82 buys hell of a lot of cartridges from places like tyreinflators.co.uk.
I would love a compressor but considering I have used 4 cartridges in 18 months and have just bought 30 I can’t really justify getting one.

Nowt today, except testing new tyres on steps at end of road. Laggan yesterday. Did both reds and black. Slashed rear UST HR open on the 2nd last obstacle before the Devil’s chess board and had a right faff being unable to get valve out and Co2 inflator breaking. Ended up calling it a day then and jogging back. Might have done the old red again otherwise. 2 bacon and egg rolls and 2 cups of coffee. Awesome.

Cheers Druidh. Have got your email addy, will drop you a mail closer to the time.

Bummer. I’d be all over this like a rash but I’ve got 2 weeks skiing lined up in Apr and the 2nd one finishes on the May weekend. Jojo, you need to do this so I can pick your brains on it, I’ve got it lined up as one of the club rides later in the year.
As for those enquiring about the weather, I have done the last week of the season in Val d’Isere loads of times. It always finishes on that weekend and it has always been roasting on my trip back!

Cairngorn Brewery Sheepshagger or Tradewinds.

Oct 2006. Age 40 and a quarter. Do I win a prize for being n00b? Bought a carrera kraken. Killed it in 4 months after the 2nd frame had been replaced. Got a Dawg Primo in Jan 07 and then really fell in love with the sport.

How much do you want for them ton?

Which way round do you do the Ciaran path? NW from Blackwater or SW to it?

I was in exactly your predicament years ago. Went through a pack of polos a day! Willpower and cold turkey was the only option for me. You have to really want to give up and when you do finally decide this is what you want, just crack on with it. The sooner you start, the sooner you start feeling better.

There are some sciatica relieving exercises on youtube. My physio gave me some to do which do work but it’ll take a few days for them to get rid of it. Maybe I should do them all the time 🙄

I’m 16.5 stone without kit and use teh 426 pikes on my hardtail with the x firm spring. They’re great forks and I’ve had no probs. I guess I’m just not extreme enough!

6 months ago I was too scared even to contemplate the party quarry descent in our woods. Then I got the Nomad. I did it one dry summer eve with the club and I felt like a god. Not many people are brave enough. I rode it twice after in good dry conditions. Last monday on a dreamy night ride in the snow I went down it with my pal, both on hardtails. It felt awesome to do such a tricky ride in such tricky conditions on a HT. Bouyed by this and the fact that there was another 3″ of virgin snow on it I decided to make it my descent out of the woods again on a solo ride on wed eve. I negotiated it all, including the 4ft drop off which throws you toward a 30ft cliff and the 45 degree gulley with curling stone sized rocks. On the run out, for no reason I can explain, I found my self eating dirt and snow at about 30kmh. A handle bar end in the gut, knackered knee, gashed elbow and worst of all a hole in my lovely icebreaker merino was the result. It took me 10 mins or so to get my self together and another 10 with the multi tool to get everything in the right position again. It suddenly dawned on me that no one knew where I was cos I’d gone off my usual routes and it would probably be a couple of days before anyone went that way. I went out again on sat after telling the missus where I was going this time. I was greeted with slush and sheet ice with water on top, you know the stuff. I went past the entrance to the party quarry and there was fresh snow/slush on it. No tracks. The temptation was overwhelming until the pain in my abs reminded me to be sensible.
My trouble is that I hate giving myself an excuse NOT to do something. The dark, being alone, being on a hardtail, and the snow are all perfectly good reasons not to attempt a run like that. It’s just that there is a wee devil on my shoulder telling me that none of them are good enough excuses not to do it. The buzz when you succeed is great. The pain when you fail isn’t. Have I learned my lesson? I doubt it although I’ll try and leave a route before I leave. The trouble is, I don’t know where I’m going to go most of the time.

Even halfrauds stock them!

Wrexham. Swindon. Or maybe Aviemore.

You’re far more restrained than me. I picked one up by the ankles, swore a lot at him then dropped him on his head. I spend the next week bricking myself in case the bobbies came round.

Gary, I remember you saying you were from Killie in an Ayrshire discussion. I am from Girvan but live 4 hours drive north of you. You’re brave commuting on the A77 but I suppose it isn’t as bad since the motorway was built.

Pah! Fenwick moor is for girls. You live so far south you are starting to sound like those English. Get yourself up here and have a look at some proper snow and ice. It’s over bike deep on Dava moor. It hasn’t stopped us getting out on our bikes. I’ve been out every night bar one since the snow started, but then it is only 3-12″ deep in our forest and the walkers have trampled it down nicely.
The big thaw starts Sunday apparently.