Will I survive?

Just stick to the nice places like Holme Wood in Bradford and you will probably be OK, security is excellent there.

We went to Brighouse last weekend and it was great, fish’n’chips to die for, and a top Local freehouse pub within 2mins of the hotel,

You went to Brighouse for a holiday??

I wouldn’t bother with an adjustable wall. They are a pain to make and a slab/vertical section is pretty useless for training. Start with a 30degree overhang and as you get stronger either put smaller holds/ wood edges on or rebuild at about 45 degrees. 3 sheets of 8 x 4 ply and a kickerboard would make a nice little wall in the space you have.

If you climb, you definitely need one of these.

I did mine before christmas and have had all sorts of shoulder injuries over the last year or so.

Personally, if you have decent movement I would not go for surgery. Biking is fine now with mine as are the sort of movements you get from windsurfing (straight on pulling is fine, it is only the more contorted rear movements that cause problems). If you live with it you will be able to do most things OK until it gets full recovered whereas if you get the op you will do nothing for quite a while, lose muscle whilst in a sling and then need to rehab again to get things back on track (a month in a sling needs a long time to get back to where you were prior to wearing it).

This is a nice vid, doggie action from about 2mins.

Maybe they found some dangerous breaking bumps in the playground.

Education authorities pay out hundreds of thousands of pounds every year to settle claims regarding accidents in the playground. Perhaps the school felt that they might mitigate this slightly by taking a more cautious approach.

I think you will struggle in France for sure, most lets are Saturday to Saturday. I think Portugal is the same.

It would probably be easier to book a load of rooms in a nice hotel.

Also saw a route which headed out from Cross Roads across Cullingworth/Brow Moor, looping back via Cuckoo Park Lane and Black Moor to rejoin the more conventional route. Anyone know if this is worthwhile?

This was pretty unpleasant today, frozen snow over sheet ice and dead slippy.

The extension from cross roads is worthwhile. The bit you mention from harden probably means that you go up the road and take a bridleway down through st Ives estate ( pretty good) . There must be a better solution for getting to the bridleway though as the road climb is a pita.

A google search for: Magasin vtt Paris, gives you a few. Think also that aux vieux campeur does bike stuff, that’s pretty central.

That route is certainly better. Harden moor itself has some good stuff and the footpath from the r of rycroft towards cullingworth is decent. Cottingley woods as also ok, can be accessed just up the road from the scout camp and left after the turn in the wall.

Saturday, everything was frozen solid. I guess it will be the same for the next day or two if you get out early.

Since power to weight ratio is critical, I could either get lighter OR get more powerful. There certainly seems to be SOME exclusivity there. If I diet hard I don’t have the energy to do intense training and hence build power.

What lots of athletes do is eat more during the power phase and then lose weight prior to comps (That’s certainly what climbers do). You then get the benefit of extra power and the increase in power to weight when you slim down.

Also, without accurate BF measurement I don’t know if I am gaining muscle whilst losing fat.

You only really need to look in a mirror to know that.

The cyclists only look particularly weird as they have no upper body development. Most athletes will have low body fat in their competition phase (unless they are sumo wrestlers or such like). Everyone’s is pretty ripped at the Olympics, whatever their sport.

Apparently body fat for an athlete is in the region of 6-14% and essential body fat is 2-4%. I bet in competition most athletes will be at the lower end (or below) of that scale.

You must have been stick thin

[/url]
img024[/url] by ianvincent[/url], on Flickr

No legs, only ever trained upper body. I actually used a thing called inosine (precursor of creatine) to train but thinness doesn’t always mean no power. Still only about 135 lbs.

When I was climbing, I was 125 lbs and 5.9.
Good power to weight ratio though.

I wonder how much debt a young privateer wc racer would rack up in a season. Must be loads.

That demo is the most disgusting bike I have ever seen. Whoever owns that needs a good talking to.

I had a spark and hated it. The rear end snapped, was always loosening up, the pedal strike was a pita and it rode s..t . Would not recommend one to anyone.

What about an sc superlight?

In Malaga the social scene was good but didn’t involve the guides or mike ( they all live elsewhere). There was two of us who went on our own, and a big group of Finns, every one got on no problem. I guess it’s just a matter of luck what other riders are there, if you get a big cliquey group you will always be left out.
In Portugal you will be left on your own in the evening as well. People have families and stuff after they finish guiding.

The other companies around Malaga are roost dh and the bike shuttle if you don’t want to use switchbacks.

Not for downhill i think. There are a couple of other downhill operations in malaga now which might be worth checking out.

Malaga would be fine, switchbacks or any of the others. The trails are not super tech and as they are not that long, time differences between slowest and fastest will not be that massive.

Portugal is also worth considering ( freeride Portugal in the algarve) the trails are harder but they have fewer customers so you get looked after better. Cheaper than switchbacks as well.

Found em 🙂 Pretty ugly, but the only kids ones out there.

http://www.bouticycle.com/shop/index.php/Produits/Fiche/from/rech/produit/49049

That stuff yes but the list of retailers does not include online stores.

Don’t sell Kenny unfortunately, any others?

The riders have zero respect for other trail users and very little knowledge of how or when to avoid sensitive areas.

The same could be said for a lot of mountain bikers, the erosion/mess caused by groups of mountain bikers riding muddy trails can be pretty bad as well.

An old friend of the family used to be in the trf and he spent a lot of time researching old maps and fighting with the councils/dales national park over rights of way. As said, loads of stuff now marked bridleway would have previously been marked footpath if it wasn’t for moto (and horse) organisations. Its a bit hypocritical to freeload off their research and then moan about them.

Depends a lot on the type of riding you envisage your lad doing. If its easy XC and general pootling on good tracks then the isla bike would be ideal. If he is likely to want to do harder stuff (rocks, little drops, jumps) then the spesh hotrock 20 or the scott voltage 20.

My son broke an isla bike but his hotrock has been indestructible.

If you have a frame you like, and is not falling apart, keep it and upgrade. There is always going to be a risk that any new bike will not feel as good as the one you got rid of. It’s a bummer when this happens.

If it was a fight in the playground, not
If it were an incident of bullying, school if its not the first time
If it was some premeditated, multiple person attack with injuries, yes

http://www.26in.fr/bike-parks/
http://www.bigbike-magazine.com/station-vtt

These should come in useful.

If you don’t mind travelling, check out orciere (north of gap) as well. About another hour from Montgenevre but it’s sort of on the way back to Grenoble for the return journey. Fun place.

Not been to valloire but I have heard some good things about it.

Go south to Montgenevre and the Italian alpi bike parks. Only about an hour and a bit from Bourg d’oisans. Better weTher than morzine usually and less busy.

Vario
Rage
Labyrinth
Bergamont
Mde
Last

Since we are doing pictures, a big hit grom:

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

Thanks, will have a look.

Esholt has some sweet new stuff dug just above the sewage works and has some super steep tech on the other side. (used to be a favourite for the trials bikes)

Whereabouts exactly is this?

There is also a commencal supreme 24 and the Yt industries first play ( awesome value) . Having said that unless the lad is small, a 24 inch won’t last long as he will outgrow it quickly.

Edit, If you can find one, the big hit grom is an awesome little frame.

http://vtt.librairie.vtopo.fr/vtt-portes-du-soleil-english.html

These guides are normally pretty good.

Your typical honest, trustworthy and cuddly beard wearer.

She got at but as much s*it, if not more, as this woman got

She sort of deserved it though: 8 months pregnant on a climb that was pretty hard for her, with all sorts of added potential dangers (crap rock, weather etc)

Top roping on an easy climb in the sunshine doesn’t really deserve the same response.