Just noticed this. Not sure if it’s an issue

Yeah – I was just trying to point out some of the differences i.e. The Lyngen area is fjords whilst Lofoten is coastal. Both pretty unique experiences for sure, and similar in many ways, but also with greater difference than I had perhaps anticipated!

I don’t think anyone would have a bad experience whichever one they went to!

However, I’ve only been to Lyngen once and stayed at one of the few Lodges on the fjord, which was quite an ‘exclusive’ experience that seemingly attracted a certain priviliged clientele …

The Lofoten Ski Lodge however was a much more preferable (for me anyway) mixed bag of dirt bag ski bums, French couples, Spanish families, random group of mates etc …

Randomly, I bumped into one of the Spanish Guides from the Lofoten Ski Lodge a few weeks later at the Rifugio Vittorio Emanuele II in Italy en route up the Gran Paradiso! #SmallWorld

Thanks for the magicmountainlodge recommendation – I’m now following them on iG. Looks like a great setup.

Maybe I scrap Lofoten plans and make a beeline to Lyngen

I like both places, if pushed to express a preference I would probably go with Lofoten:

Accomodation is limited in Lyngen – the touring is based pretty much around the same Fjord.
The mountains in Lyngen are probably slightly higher, but Lofoten’s landscape seems more jagged, brutal and wild – and the weather changes really quickly!

Because it’s an archipelago, the aspects in Lofoten vary hugely. However you do have to drive pretty much everywhere (although often not far) to get to the start of a tour, whereas in Lyngen we pretty much toured from the back of the Lodge (apart from when we used the Lodge’s boat to go across or up the Fjord)

In Lofoten however, it’s very easy to get off the beaten track/skin track and feel completely remote, whilst at the same time there is more to do on the inevitable ‘down days’.

but I’m sure someone will be along with some Lofoten!?

You rang?

Some other thoughts on whether to have a guide or not.

At the Lofoten Ski Lodge, all of the guides meet every morning and discuss local conditions, who went where on the previous day and share route ideas etc (typical guides meeting), so that there may well be groups in the same area/itinerary for support.

This last point is worth emphasising since the terrain is often so remote that in any incident you will be wholley reliant on self rescue etc as any emergency services could take a long time to get there.

Just before I went to Lyngen in 2012 there was a bad avalanche that killed 5 Swiss & French experienced skiers. Their group was later criticised for not using a guide with local knowledge (there were two French guides leading a group of 12 from a sailboat). Rescue services took an hour to get there.

Have a good few Icebreaker tops that don’t see the light of day anymore

Always very dissapointed with Icebreaker – ended up with more holes than a peice of swiss cheese in no time.

Had a few of the original Howies merino long sleeves (New Zealand wool and made in New Zealand, rather than the more recent Vietnam manufactured) that lasted well over a decade of heavy use and abuse. In the end they went a bit stiff under the armpits from prolonged use of deodorant.

Like many things in life, you get what you pay for and like I mentioned in my earlier post, quality merino does count – especially in terms of value for money in the long run and not washing them with too many items with zips or velcro etc.

Original Howies merino never made me itch, however I had some merino from Ortovox and it was like a hair shirt!

I’m a big advocate for quality merino tops for Snowboarding and splitboard touring. I’ve also worn merino continually whilst on artic expeditions and remained thankfully relatively whiff-free!

But for UK based activities such as running & cycling, merino is just too warm for everything but cold and dry days (like yesterday for example, it was about 6 degrees celcius, cold, sunny, dry and windyand I was wearing a Rapha* merino base-layer ‘singlet’ under my long-sleeve riding top and didn’t get too sweaty at all. pretty much spot on to be honest!

*The missus bought me a base-layer-bundle about 6 years ago and they are all doing fine with no holes etc!
As a mid-layer, riding top however, merino is not practical unless it’s part of a ‘sports-wool’ mix, that’s harder wearing and washes/dries easily

Yep – been to Lyngen once and Lofoten twice – absolutely love it there.

Totally agree with nedrapier regarding #BestDaysEver

Moisture content of the snow in Lofoten is relatively high since it’s so close to the sea/gulf stream so you don’t get champagne/blower powder – but the snowpack is fairly stable. Peaks are around the 1000m mark, so altitude isn’t a problem when touring

(Was hoping to get back there next year as well, but heading to Greenland instead)

Both times I’ve been have been with McNab Snowboarding and stayed at Lofoten Ski Lodge – great setup there – you can abook direct and they can provide the guide!! Based just outside Svolvaer.

Flew to Oslo then onwards to Narvik/Harstad. Svolvaer is about 3 hours drive

If you fly SAS Plus, you get 2 x hold baggage which covers your ski/snowboard. SAS fly to Oslo from a few UK airports (although I guess that’s irrelevant since you live in Stockholm! – you could fly to Kiruna and then drive across the border!). I did an overnight in Oslo on the way out. Worth doing and only about £50 a night in a CityBox

Price wise – Norway isn’t cheap but if you go somewhere like Lofoten Ski Lodge then you only need money for beer/wine/coffee etc as your meals are all included.

Never done the boat touring – I know this is very popular in the Lyngen region as there is less accomodation available.

Quite like the idea of a boat, but weather can be super changeable in Lofoten, so I’m not sure I’d want to spend 7 days with wet gear in a cramped boat! (it rained a bit whilst I was there earlier this year so we went surfing at Unstad on the last day).

Whereas Hokkaido is all about the snow

True – but it rains quite a bit there as well!! In fact anywhere is a risk with Wintersports these days! Hokkaido gets the ‘fernlike dendrites’ snowflakes when the cold dry Siberian wind comes over the sea of Japan and collects the moisture, but if the Siberian Wind isnt cold and dry then it rains!

considering guiding to get the best out of a few days there

Yep – guiding is definitely recommended to make the most out of your time there. For sure you could self guide some of the easy access stuff, but many of the tours require local knowledge or a fair bit of reconnaissance which would dramtically eat into your time – classic Lototen tours are between 4 & 7 hours often with 2 or 3 skins involved to make the most of it!

Anyone pre-booked with Crystal (parent company TUI on verge of bankruptcy)?

Source for this? I know TUI have issued some profit warnings recently especially since many people are apparantly delaying booking holidays until the Brexit situation becomes ‘clearer’ and the issues with Boeing’s 737 Max … but I wasn’t aware that TUI were on the verge of bankrupty!

A quick google doesn’t show up anything apart from the recent profit warning … TUI share value seems ok, in fact it seems to have benefited from Thomas Cooks demise …

Hopefully Crystal are doing ok (they do seem to be pushing North America/Canada winter holidays at the moment – if my inbox is anything to go by)

Can you not create your own GPX based on the info provided?

I use the Ordnance Survey but there are numerous alternatives.

My choice would be to avoid the main Hathersage -> Castleton drag … too busy for sure!

Actually you probably don’t even need a GPX route, something like the following would include a few climbs and avoid traffic (although Mortimer Road is becoming busier these days since it was re-surfaced):

Some of this has been mentioned above but anyhoo …

Crookes -> Malin Bridge
Malin Bridge -> Low Bradfield via Loxley
Low Bradfield -> High Bradfield/Old Horns Pub(fairly steep climb)
High Bradfield -> Ewden Bank (inc fairly steep climb)
Ewden Bank – Upper Midhope
Upper Midhope – Midhopestones
Midhopestones – Strines via Mortimer Road
Strines -> Ladybower
Ladybower -> Long Causeway/Stanage Edge (via Yorkshire Bridge and then up ‘New Road’)
Stanage Edge -> Ringinglow /Norfolk Arms via ‘The Dale’
Norfolk Arms -> Crookes via Fulwood Lane/Lodge Moor

If you want to do the Stocksbridge climb (listed in Simon Warren’s 100 Hill Climbs book) then detour to Stocksbridge from Midhopstones.
Head to Fox Valley Shopping and then up Hunshelf Road to Pea Royd Lane. When you’ve done the hill sprint, head back through Stocksbridge to Bolsterstone and then climb back up to Mortimer Road via the top of Broomhead Reservoir

*Edit* … actually sturmeyarcher’s GPX covers much of the route I mentioned, whereas ghill’s suggestion covers more of the Hope Valley Area heading into the White Peak

I suffured with Patellar Tendonitis a few years ago – which was being exacerbated whilst snowboarding due to not tracking correctly.

I was doing a long winter trip to British Columbia so saw a local Physio who was used to treating winter sports injuries etc and she got me sorted.

Likely cause was a torn MCL in the same knee about 7 years earlier and possibly a badly sprained ankle. As is so often the case, once injured the body tries to ‘protect’ the injury by reducing load on the area injured and favouring the other side – this led to a number of things including underdeveloped quad muscle, tight ITB etc resulting in the patella no longer tracking but also having inflammation & scar tissue.

Recommendation was for foam-roller/lacrosse ball for tissue massage, stretching, proprioception exercises, squats (in line with *your* body’s own bio-mechanics), dips, hip flexibility excercises, core strengthening exercises …

I stuck with the program which not only allowed me to continue snowboarding (with reduced pain) but also eventually sorted the tendonitis.

Knowing the cause may only be useful if you are wishing to avoid it happening again, but irrespective of the cause my advice would be to see a good *sports* physio and stick with the recommended exercises etc …

If the V2 rotor is a vented one then it will be too wide – they are about 2.90mm
The un-vented (i.e. floating) V2 rotors were slightly thicker than a normal rotor which is 1.50mm for >180 by about 0.40mm from memory …

You *might* be able to squeeze a floating V2 rotor into an M4 caliper but I would envisage a tight squeeze especially with new pads fitted.

Either way a quick email to Hope Tech themselves will provide you with a definitive answer!

Another vote for getting in touch with Arcteryx themselves – the glue on the hem of my 9 year old ‘Sidewinder’ Snowboarding jacket had failed.

I took a photograph and sent it to Arcteryx who gave me a warranty number and address.

Send it away and it came back with the hem and the cuffs all re-done! Fantastic Customer service on a 9 year old jacket!

Same here but on a Citroen Berlingo.
Only realised when the wire frame thing that holds it on came loose over a speed hump and dragged along the road.

Same here but with a Pug Partner – now carry the spare wheel strapped down inside the vehicle, which is a bit of a pain …

But these riders refer to each ride as training, never seem to actually enjoy it…

I do understand the appeal of ‘Type-Two-Fun’ to a certain extent, however what I certainly don’t get and I sadly see more and more of is the negativity and resentment from riders of a seemingly lesser technical/fitness/ability towards riders who are fit and/or very proficient etc riders …

It often goes along the lines of being critical/snide of riders and brands who promote ‘RAD’ mountain biking, or ‘I can’t ride that kind of technical trail, so I don’t think that kind of trail should exist here’ … chatting to some riders recently and they were adamant that ‘bimbling’ was the moutain biking of the future (despite being on big trail bikes) – yes so called ‘bimbling’ is fine and it certainly has its place but to suggest that all mountain biking is or should be ‘bimbling’ is perhaps disingenuous.

I’ve seen this within Winter Sports where certain participants of one sub-group try and dump crap all over another just because it’s not their thang …

I know this is part of human nature (or at least a quality of numerous British folk): when we can’t (or don’t want to/can’t be bothered to) pull ourselves up to other people’s level, we have to drag them down to ours. It’s just a shame that it seems to be prevelant in cycling in general and mountain biking in particular.

vive la différence

I think it’s all down to marketing. As much as I love those bike marketing video’s most have very skilled riders in them that make the average rider feel less of a rider and people think, I am not a proper mtber

Whilst I can’t deny the impact of marketing in what is very much a marketing driven ‘life-style-choice’ sport/hobby/activity, I think some of the OP’s observations are perhaps because:

[slightly tongue-in-cheek]

– cycling in general is no longer viewed as a predominantly working-class/lower middle-class mode of transportation and weekend & holiday activity. It is now a subsection of the aspirant middle classes, many of whom are cash rich & time poor so strive to maximise their leisure time resulting in a quasi-competitive environment … whilst not necessarily always a negative this does result in a level of alpha-male ‘willy-waving’ … ExhibitA – STRAVA :-)

– mountain biking itself is a fairly recent activity and has now ‘come of age’, so rather than a loose collective of like-minded individuals all mucking about on vaguely similar bikes, it has become divided and partisan and like Heavy Metal it now has a bewildering number of sub-genres!

But I also think that like many so called ‘extreme’ sports, the standard of mountain bike riding by many top-level amatuers, privateers, semi-pros etc has dramatically increased over recent years – especially amongst female riders and this is a really good thing.

However what it leaves is an even larger middle ground of reasonably fit, moderately talented but frustrated folk on big bikes who now look distinctly ‘pedestrian at best’! :-)

I’m in my early 50s and still trying to progress, especially with jumps, gaps and drops but the level of skill required for the likes of some Golfie/Enduro/EWS tracks is daunting but impressive, however I just remind myself that I’m doing this hobby for me … it’s supposed to be fun and as long as you are enjoying yourself, there’s no point beating yourself up over what you could have been if only you’d put more hours/effort/money in …

someone even tinier arriving in Feb

Congratulations @nedrapier

Oh – and cut gate is about as valid as Sedburgh – that’s the Peak district, even if it is just inside the lines

Actually on a point of pedantry, Cut Gate Path is in the county of South Yorkshire – the county line pretty much dissects Howden Reservoir (and was formally in West Riding / Kingdom of Northumbria … Yes it is also in the PDNP but it’s very much in Yorkshire and Margery Hill is the highest point in the Sheffield area … but I digress).

I’m inclined to agree with the OP about the Yorkshire [Dales] though in terms of mountain biking when comparing it to Scotland, The Lake District, Alps & Pyrenees, but it depends what you ride/like I guess. I did the ‘Hope Pre Peaks’ recently which takes you up around Malham and I really enjoyed it – but I did it on a ‘gravel’ bike.

Controversially, I’m also underwhelmed by what many consider to be ‘Peak District Classics’ that are actually just old rocky double-track/Land Rover tracks. Local Knowledge is key for sure!

All areas seem to hve prevalent types of riding and locals get used to it

+1 … I think where you live & ride kindof dictates to a degree your hobbies & activities. vive la différence

I’ve seen middle aged IT blokes throw a strop when someone has ‘photoshopped’ them for comedic or nefarious effect …

(Even ‘Cold War Steve’ says he keeps expecting lawyers to get in touch over his satirical collages featuring ‘celebrities’ etc!)

But I’m kinda with Billie on this one – she has made a stance as a young women, not to be defined by her ‘body type’ etc which is quite refreshing I think in todays online world and seemingly inspirational for many of her fans. All she has done [as far as I can see] is voice her objection to her image being manipulated like that.

Ok, so her target audience isn’t perhaps Singletrackworld, but her Glastonbury & Leeds/Reading sets went down a storm. Recent album is good in places – standout track being ‘Bury a Friend’ which reminds me a bit of the Doors ‘People are Strange’ and has been critically aclaimed by the likes of Portishead.

It may not fall within your purview but that probably says more about you than her and her fans. I didn’t know anything about Ariana Grande until the tragic Manchester incident.
Billie Eilish’s music has an occasional dark brooding malevolence that perhaps encapsulates the zeitgeist of being a teenager or young person in todays world.

Oh … and the child bit? … nope – she’s a young person not a child.
She’s old enough to get on stage in front of thousands of people and ‘eff & jeff’.

Had an overnight in Oslo on my way up to Narvik ealier this year and stayed in Oslo ‘Citybox’ – didn’t need owt fancy – just somewhere fairly close to Central Station, and clean so that I could shower and sleep.

It was perfect! fairly central (it’s not a big city) and meant I could see a few of the sights!

@Digby tell me more! please Recommend it? Did you go with a company or self guided?

Apologies for the slight hijack, but I would absolutely recommend it. I’ve been to Lyngen too which is also worth a visit but less accomodation available (quite a few boats offering ski-touring though!)

I’ve done a fair bit of backcountry over the years but always do these kind of trips with the same guide (McNab Snowboarding).

You can also book direct with the likes of Northern Alpine Guides – great setup

There was an interesting article in a recent ‘Cycling Uk’ Magazine where a couple took their bikes to Lofoten from the UK via various ferries and trains, from memory it went something like:

Ferry from Hull -> Holland
Trains from Holland -> Lübeck (on the Baltic)
Ferry from Lübeck -> Sweden
Trains from Sweden to Norway & Lofoten.

It all went very smoothly apparantly. Downside is I guess you can’t carry too many supplies.

I’ve been to Lofoten splitboard touring a few times in the Winter/Spring and it really is one of the most stunning places I’ve been to!

Speaking to some of the locals it sounds like it can get super busy with campervans in the summer (like Cornwall I guess) where the narrow sections of the E10 road are just at a complete standstill.

They reckon they get nearly two weeks of ‘good’ weather in the summer – the rest of the time it’s likely to be cold and wet – but that’s part of the attraction I guess. If you get chance, have a surf at Unstad (there’s a surf hire/school there where you can rent appropiate wetsuits & boards)

Yep – well done Abigale (and all the other local girls!!)

Tough track for sure – either dust bowl or rock garden!

If it’s just for your smarphone and lip-balm, then a ‘Dakine Field Bag’ for that ‘over-the-shoulder-urban-chic’ motif …

If you need to carry the ‘Complete Works of Shakie’ and a re-usable coffee mug, then a Douchebags ‘The Backpack’ should be your go-to Manbag ….

They were in a tool bag along with her bike and as many spares as she can take to keep below the limit like brake pads and tyres

That’s really harsh Tracy … petty and harsh.

She has flown all over the world with the bike, in North Star at the moment

Yes – I’m following Abigail and the Gowaan Girls’ progress on Instagram! Good luck to them all in North Star!

When flying with ‘Special Luggage’ e.g. Snowboard bag or bike I always try to get to the airport 2hrs+ before the flight … when flying from Manchester it’s probably worth getting there the day before!!

Flew from Manchester to Narvik via Oslo and they made a real fuss about an [empty] steel drinks flask in the snowboard bag. They knew what it was because it showed up on the screen and the guy asked if it was a drinks flask – but they insisted I prove it wasn’t a compressed air can for an avalanche bag, so I also incurred the tutting of the growing queue behind me!

I think Manchester make a special effort to make your flight as stressful as possible – fly through Schipol these days and you don’t have to take laptops or liquids etc out of your hand-luggage … contrast to Manchester where you have to queue for ages and then wait for 45 minutes whilst they falsely identify a German Phrase book as ‘liquid’ …

And don’t get me started about Manchester T2 M&G trashing a £70 car tyre and just replacing it with the cheapest tyre known to mankind …

@Tracey – were Abigail’s allen keys in the hold luggage or hand luggage?

Just buy Arteryx or similar half price on Sports Pursuit. It’s pretty much all the same stuff.

Longtime Arcteryx user here, but also another vote for Norrona.

Whilst I agree that the gore-tex material itself is probably made in the same factory, the design, cut and seam taping etc of a jacket, all have huge impact on its usefulness and longevity – and really we should want to be buying a jacket that allows for multiple activities and lasts for years, so things like pocket placement & accessibility (for when worn with backpack); high-wear areas like shoulders, chest and waist; length of cut, body geometry etc all may effect a decision on which brand jacket to buy.

Arcteryx Alpha SV are still made in Canada. It’s their flagship product. Some of the discounted stuff that appears on Sports Pursuit are ‘samples’ and often differ from the final product that appears in the high street. this may or may not be an issue for you (I’ve picked up some real ‘bargains’ from Sports Pursuits over the years).

Norrona stuff seems to be very well thought out indeed but so much depends on body shape. If you are looking for a quality jacket that is going to last for years then I would say fit & functionality is very important.

Never seen anyone wear Jottnar

A Snowboarding friend of mine wears it for snowboarding, mountaineering, walking etc – but then he’s a Royal Marine and I think the guys that setup Jottnar are also RMs. Either way he really rates it. I reckon their business model fits into the premium brand, low volume, high unit price model, similar to Norrona (who appear to be fiercely intent on remaining family owned, rather than allowing a Private Equity Company to be involved).

Incidently – you can get Norrona bargains if you join their loyalty program and look out for their ‘Online Outlet’ sales. Some of the colours may result in you looking like an opal fruit/starburst though! :-)

Pyrenees is also on my list of ‘possibilities’ for the coming season … as is Norway, Greenland and Italy …

but its the local authority who have to clear overgrown tracks.

Actually I think responsibility to keep the public right of way clear of vegetation lies with the land owner or occupier …

“As the owner or occupier of land with a public right of way across it, you must:

make sure vegetation does not encroach onto the route from the sides or above, bearing in mind the different clearances needed for users of different types of route, for example by horse riders”

from the following:

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/public-rights-of-way-landowner-responsibilities

Also, do you care what some sad sack sat behind a keyboard thinks of you!? I truly don’t

If they are just sat behind a keyboard I couldn’t give a flying ****, but if they are sat behind the wheel of a car and subject me to a ‘Punishment Pass’ as happened last week then yes – my inherent instinct for survival means I do care …

I’m not sure it’s relevant whether I read the negative comments or not, but with the likes of this article and other sections of the media encouraging a ‘platform’ for this anti-cycling rhetoric, it seemingly ‘normalises’ this type of attitude and behaviour:

i.e. The following mindset – “I’ve just read loads of comments online about how other people hate cyclist and I hate cyclists – therefore I am not alone in my hatred of cylists, so I must be right!”

Yep – I also thought Esther was rather good on this morning’s BBC segment …

However, looking at the replies to the tweet, Facebook postings etc, I’m not sure that this approach by the mainstream media is actually helpful … once again, all it seemingly does is provide the ‘Disgusted of Tunbridge-Wells’ with a platform to spew forth their anti-cycling rhetoric and cliches which from my perspective just seems to exacerbate the us vs them situation.

The BBC ‘feature’ was reasonably balanced but it felt like it was being deliberately included in order to stir up a hornets nest of anti-cycling hatred …

I’m a member of Cycling UK and I support them in their initiatives such as the ‘Trails for Wales’ etc, however the public backlash from the recent trail sabotage in the main-stream/tabloid/right-wing media and this BBC feature, seems to perpetuate the idea of the cyclist (in all our various niches) as being public enemy number one and generally viewed as sitting somewhere between Gary Glitter and Jimmy Saville in terms of contribution to UK society as a whole … I’ve just read a load of the social media replies and perhaps I was previously a bit naive, but crikey – these people really don’t like cyclists do they? and it seems that the more exposure cyclists get in the media the more they are vilified and despised.

I knew that cyclists generally weren’t that well liked, but I hadn’t realised quite how much some sections of UK society actually hate us … I mean really really hate us …

Can’t help thinking that in matters such as this then trying to change the status quo by appealing to someone who hates you and doesn’t actually consider you to be ‘completely human’* is perhaps not the best course of action and instead concentrate on dealing with the people who can actually facilitate change … and ignore the Populist rhetoric (although I conceed that I am perhaps living in a bygone era …)

*recent Australian survey reported in CyclingWeekly The Guardian etc

However my left ankle is rolling constantly, anyoen got any good tips to buidl up some core ankle strength before the foot actually falls off?

I’d go and see a good sports physio – sounds like some neuromuscular and proprioception training exercises might be beneficial.

I ruptured my ATF ligament last year – less than a month before a 6 week snowboard trip to Canada.
Physio had me doing various things including ‘dancing over a line’ and standing on one leg throwing a ball at the wall and and catching it, and one legged knee dips on a balance board to improve proprioception etc and reduce instability.

Eyeing up a (long) week to the Aosta valley doing a couple of days in la Thuile, Courmayeur, Cervinia and a day in Pila.

La Thuile, Courmayeur & Pila are all pretty close and [depending on your pass] offer days in neighbouring resorts. Trying to tick them all in a week sounds like quite a bit of driving though – as others have said especially if based at Cervinia

Anyone done anything similar to this? We’re mainly off piste skiers and will probably take the skins so we can explore out of the resort boundaries.

Courmayeur and La Thuile are perhaps the closest geographically – you can actually tour off the back of Courmayeur (from the ‘Arp’ lift) all the way down to the La Thuile valley but this would mean either 2 vehicles or someone hitching back to Courmayeur but it makes for a great day out.

Loads of other touring opportunities around Courmayeur inc Helbronner side, Val Veny and Val Ferret. La Thuile doesn’t seem as popular with touring but you can heli from there and also cross over into La Rosiere in France.

Others have mentioned Gressoney and I absolutely love it there! The touring potential is huge and you can stay at one of the mountain huts (Refuge Mantova 3470m) and head upto Piramide Vincent @ 4215m – relevant experience and/or guide required.

Gressoney can get frequent storms with massive snowfall but late in the season it can also get really warm really quickly which has earned it the nickname ‘Grass-and-Hay’ …

I’m regular on a snowboard, skateboard & surfboard.

Can ride switch on snowboard ok, but not as confident as riding regular.

But like others I’m also ‘right-foot-forward’ on the bike for track-stands, drops, berms and jumps.

Also much better as doing lefthanded switch-backs. Been trying to get better at left-foot-forward but it doesn’t seem to work in the same way as riding switch on a snowboard does …

So whats mongo on a bike

Getting on and scootching along from the drive-side? :-)

This is getting stupid now. There’s a gang clearly operating unchecked in S10

And S6, S11 and surrounding areas … and they’ve been operating unchecked for quite some time now …

As jameswilliams54 says this seems like very much the same MO as a number of other thefts – they are equipped with heavy duty cordless angle grinder capable of cutting through big chains and/or Squire padlocks, target sheds and garages where they can use the angle grinder undisturbed and have sufficient transportation such as a van to shift multiple bikes.

Gutted for you rico70 … I had 3 stolen (plus spare forks, shocks and wheels), two of them were pretty rare and despite constantly looking I’ve never seen them again.

+1 for talking to securityforbikes

Did you ever do the ‘Balloon Debate’ thingy at school?

Where a number of ‘speakers’ attempt to win the approval of an audience?

How about KoftheP provides a brief synopsis on why this ‘service’ he provides should be nominated for an #STRAW19 for ‘Best Online Service’?

I follow on Twitter and see that KoftheP has also been nominated for BikeBiz awards – I’m not knocking the nominations or the Twitter Feed itself, but I’m just curious as to whether this #STRAW19 is for ‘Advocacy/PDMTB’ or for the Twitter feed on trail conditions … neither of which really strike me as ‘Online Services’ but I’m happy to be convinced otherwise with cunning wit and charming rehetoric seeing as he is so keen for our nominations and votes!

There’s definitely something not quite right with that activity.

As a northerly facing slope it’s not unusual to get a bit of GPS drift around there when you lose contact with some satellites, however looking at some of the other segments for that fella’s ride (e.g. Glitter Ninja) , the line he has ‘seemingly’ taken is not even possible!

Looks like his activty has been flagged anyway …

I would take any Strava result along Rivelin with a pinch of salt (unless it’s one of my PRs … then of course it’s accurate! :-) )

Have you already booked flights to Geneva?

How many people?

It can be a bit protracted even in Winter when the low-cost option is ‘Ben’s Bus’
Private transfers with the likes of The Coolbus can be expensive unless there is a big group of you. (Coolbus do uplifts in summer as well)

If you haven’t already booked flights bourg St. Maurice is closer/cheaper for transfers

I just followed the instructions that came with the calliper when I installed my 4. That worked perfectly.

Same here. (Shimano ones)

had to source a Shimano funnel adapter for my 105 levers, but was impressed how straight forward the process was – the Hope supplied instructions were spot on.

Key points seem to be to making sure the calliper is lower than the lever and hose, so removing the rear calliper from the bike is usually required; creating the ‘vacuum’ with the lever locked and pushing each piston out to remove any air behind the pistons.

Really pleased with them to be honest – love having the modulation and confidence in all condtions.

That’s fantastic news Tracey!! Congratulations to Abigale!

Like nickc and others I always look for Abigale’s name on the EWS results!

The Yorkshire, Derbyshire and Lancashire areas are certainly being very well represented by the women in the EWS at the moment – nice to see SHU recognising this!!

@Tracey – congratulations to Abigale on her result

…and top marks to all the organisers and volunteers! a really great event!