Plenty of stuff in the bike park for a weekend. All the blues/reds/ blacks are pretty good from 2600 down. The top lift was closed two weeks ago and will probably only be open for the race as there was still a fair bit of snow around.

All wrong, grum, it’s the English tins that contian the sugar and the foreign jars that don’t. But some English tins, especially own-branded ones from supermarkets, don’t contain added sugar or salt either.

Non, non, non. I am currently in France and being a lazy sod buy all my veg in cans, I looked at some yesterday and they all had added sugar (own brand and the more expensive stuff)

I should also mention that French supermarkets have plenty of convenience, snacking and crap food on the shelves so I can only assume that the French are not immune from eating bad food. Certainly the ones I know do.

Lol at the comment about the only fat bikers being English ones, there is plenty of truth in it. Everywhere I have been so far this summer, the biffers were all speaking English (and usually riding orange 5s)

A Woodward type place in Portugal or southern Spain.

There will obviously be an element of diet involved ( the northern French are fatter drink more beer, and eat more carbs and grease) but i don’t think it’s the only thing. France has it’s fair share of crap eateries (buffalo grill is always full and it is as bad as any burger bar)
The weather is better so it’s easier to do stuff outdoors, the telly is awful so there is no incentive to stay on the sofa, sport for kids is actively encouraged/subsidised by the local authorities and schools etc. Also people seem to take their sport/exercise more seriously in France.
As I said though, things seem to be changing a bit.

You see more and more fat French people and the prediction is for over 20% obesity by 2020. It depends a lot on the area though, statistics show the alps and the cote d’azur having the lowest levels whilst the nord pas d’calais has almost 20% already. That said, most of the real fatties you see in France are northern European tourists.

I don’t think that it will be the spring, I am lighter, about 65 kg and I get almost full travel from the stock spring.

The descent into torgon was the best bit of the passporte. I think I was the last person to do it on Sunday as they closed the lift due to the crap weather. They were turning people back when I got to the intersection torgon/chatal.

Good places I would recommend are: Orcieres, Tignes, Allos.

AND HOW GOOD WAS THE WEATHER?!?!?!

sunday before it got really crap!

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I have to say I thought the passporte was a bit of a let down, not many decent bits and too much fireroad. The Freeraide classic at deux alpes is way better.

Andorra, the lifts are open till the 11th sept and the weather is usually still excellent. Hotels in massana 30 euro or doss in Valnord carpark for free.

Allos, alpes de haute verdon. Awesome scenery, good/friendly/not busy bike park, good weather. The southern alps are really good for what you are looking for, there is also Pra loup, Orcieres, Montgenevre and vars not far away if you want to change venue.

Slight hijack (sorry) but: is whistler/bc really worth the extra hassle getting there rather than staying in Europe? I am considering taking my son next year but I can’t help thinking it could be a long way to go to ride the same stuff you can find in the alps.

The other area that is open in sept is Austria. Leogang/schladming were open till the end of sept. You can camp in the car park of one of the resorts (not sure which). Lifts are expensive though.

Frame is a shred 24, £56 off crc. Forks are Reba sl ( they need to be air for kids). Wheels were the biggest problem, these are Spank rims on superstar hubs.

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003[/url] by ianvincent[/url], on Flickr

For short cranks, look at Bmx race ones. The cranks on my sons bike are funn hooka mx and were £25 from crc.

Not many places have lifts open in september. Valnord/ grandvalira are open till the 15th or so and the weather was great. Drive down, live on the Valnord car park, make friends. Cheap booze in Andorra as well.

I just spent a week around Allos in the alpes de haute Provence. It is my new favourite place in France for riding. Beautiful scenery, great bike park (more lift assisted enduro than full on downhill) friendly locals, good weather and amazing riding away from the bike park (3 descents from the col d’allos that drop about 1000m totally on mountain singletrack for a start). I have ridden all over the alps/pyranees and this area around Allos and valley d’ubaye pretty much beats everywhere IMO.

Buy the vtopo guide, all the routes are pretty good if not excellent.

Anti inflammatories and paracetamol are available over the counter in France now. I had to buy some today 😐

I realise it’s small but it’s on the way between Deux alpes and the pds and it open in June. Guess I will give it a go, cheers.

I was talking to a French guy on Saturday who was given a carbon nomad with marzocchi rc3 ti’s and full shimano xtr. Apparently all the riders on his team, Orcieres/Mia, get free bikes and kit even the young ones.

I have an endure evo, the x fusion suspension is really good IMO. The forks have the feel of old school marzocchis, really plush. I would say though that they are pretty softly sprung so if you are heavy you migh need to change the springs. The bike climbs pretty well for such a big bike and it feels sorted on the descents. Have had mine since jan and ridden it a lot, so far no issues at all and it is a great bike.

The v topo guides are usually excellent.

Have been talked into doing a randonee near gap tomorrow. The blurb on the website says: very physical, very technical, it will be very hot….. You have been warned! 1300m of climbing for a 35 km course, I think it’s going to be hard, especially on the Quasi downhill bike I have with me 😕

Also, I have met quite a few people who are somewhat overweight rather than obese, and decide to get thin by hitting the gym. They got fitter, stronger and felt better, but didn’t lose weight. It’s fairly common from what I hear.

If I went to the gym looking like this:

and ended up like this:

I would regard it as a result, no matter what happened to my weight.

Muscle is more dense than fat so if people start putting on muscle, their weight will go up.

When I was climbing and preparing for my first competitions, I think I probably overdid it. I came down with a type of flu thing that laid me up for a few weeks. This was a pretty intense amount of training though and I was training at least 8 hours a day.

At other times, In hindsight I think I would have seen better progress if I had trained less obsessively or programmed more rest/recovery. Like swedish chef said.

I very much doubt if a recreational rider would ever have the time to over train. I think in diet threads its just a smokescreen for “I am not prepared to give up cake”.

E

ating only Snickers bars for 6 months would be a silly.

I had a mate that used snickers bars for his calorie intake during the spring when he was tring to lose weight for the climbing season. He was pretty ripped and climbing well after a few weeks of climbing and eating 4 snickers a day.

Try also Marco passerani, anthony rother and junichi wanatabe.

A pretty good one is: from 12 apostles on ilkley moor>top of rocky valley>either down the steps straight ahead, or right along top of the crags then cut down to the top of rocky valley>down the valley to white wells.

Has anyone heard of a French rider called Pierre Benoit? I think he was French downhill champion really early on and came 3rd is one of the early versions of the world championships. Was sponsored by Scott.

His 8yr old son is the most amazing young rider I have ever seen.

Oh and beware Belgians.

This is the best piece of advice so far. I shudder to think what the belgians must have do to pass their driving test, drive a dodgem for 5 minutes?

You will be asked for all documents if stopped in France: v5, insurance and license.

For the record, all the card only pumps now seem to accept uk cards.

Do not drive anywhere far on a Saturday during the french holiday period as the roads get gridlocked. If you see à ref or black sign at the autoroute access, keep driving and find another way.

Its too small, and it would be a struggle to create anything in it to justify charging.

The best way a private operator can make money would be through providing an uplift, like at UK bike park or Revolution. There is no possibility for an uplift there and the runs would be too short to warrant one anyway.

Never ever had a problem with using it anyway so I think it would be wasting your time trying to legitimise anything.

Definitely think that (some) bike gear is getting beyond a joke. £2700 for a frame is taking the P@SS, forks have gone up loads in the last few years. Even BMXs, bikes that used to be cheapish, are now a lot.

I bought my son a WTP arcade about 18 months ago (£250) now retail is over £100 more. 40% increase in a year and a half cannot be explained away by Vat and inflation.

EEEEEKKK!!! Some “perfect” men according to the Daily Fail

Muscly, toned and athletic ❓ 😕 ❓

Brown eyes
Short dark hair
Wears smart jeans, shirt and a V-neck jumper
Earns (a bit more than) £48,000 a year
Clean shaven
Smooth chest
Earns more than you
Sensitive when you are upset

Tells you he loves you only when he means it

I think I might have found him:

Lil shredder bikes look awesome!

It really depends what sort of riding the bike will be used for. If its just for paths and stuff then ilsa bikes probably. If the bike is likely to get some abuse then the scott voltage and the spesh are probably the best. The suspension on the trek and the kona was not as good as on the hotrock when I was looking.

There are better places to go in the mountains for a family holiday. The weather can be very changeable in the northern alps and the trails can be very intimidating for younger riders as there is always people bombing past them even on the easy trails.

Personally I would look at somewhere further south like around Orciere where the weather is much nicer. All the same stuff to do as at Morzine but with better weather and much quieter trails. Alternatively, places like Font Romeau and Les Angles in the Pyranees Orientale are excellent and have loads to do off the bike.

If you do end up in Morzine check out the restaurant by the cheese factory in Les Gets. Its awesome.

I would seriously consider getting a second medical opinion about the travel arrangements. It seems crazy that a camper van is preferable to a train.

Bingley and shipley, mmmmmmm nope.

Bingley has some nice villages near by: Harden, Wilsden, Micklethwaite, Eldwick. The only decent part of Saltaire is the old village and those houses are tiny.

If you have kids of secondary school age, definitely look at Skipton. the two grammar schools are some of the best state schools anywhere in terms of results. Train fares from anywhere past Keighley are pretty expensive though as you are outside the subsidised area.