Argeles sur mer is apparently really good for mountain biking. The guy at the bike shop in Perpignan told me it was ace, and all his other suggestions were spot on. Inland there is loads along the tet valley towards prades. I would take the Mtb, unless you have an aversion for rocky trails.

Bumping this as I remember someone was asking a bit ago.

Lots of the off piste stuff around Valnord are walking trails and there seemed to be some potential further afield. If I was going to do stuff outside the parks, I would just by the Andorran equivalent of an os/ign.

The hills are big and steep though so you can expect a lot of pushing!

If you get stopped, they are very hot on papers. One trip, I got stopped 6 times ( not speeding or anything, just random checks) . If you get stopped and you don’t have: insuance, car docs and license, you will have a major hassle.

I would guess that everything will be open as the wc course is new and didn’t seem to share much with any of the established routes. Cable car from massana might be busy though.

Re the enduro, I rode an evo for a bit in Andorra last year and it seemed pretty good (off piste as well as bike park stuff) Length can’t be a problem as there at people riding the same trails on dh bikes. It is definitely not a crap bike.

Something that might be worth a look is one of those rugby under shirts with shoulder padding. I got one from decathlon for when I didn’t want to wear full armour but was still slightly worried about potential for doing further damage. They are pretty well padded round the shoulders and you hardly notice you are wearing one.

I bet gw’s bongo is the fastest, raddest, most awesome one in the wholewide world!

I have a 2 wd, auto (ex khani) it’s done 170k miles and it has been almost faultless. The auto sometimes fails to shift up a gear but this sorts itself out pretty quickly. It is starting to rust though and the mpg is fairly scary.

Ace bike/roadtrip vans for the money.

Just over into Italy from Montgenevre, you also have the alpi bike resorts.

Montgenevre is good, les orres is small and busy (not that good), serre chevalier looks good but not ridden there.

Further south: Allos is excellent, Pra loup is ok for a day, chabannon (?) is meant to be good, super devoluy is pretty good for a day or two and orciere is excellent.

There is also vars, not ridden there but i have had mixed reports.

Check out big bike magazine website and http://www.26in.Fr, both have bike park guides.

Have fun!

Bit old but:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7961849.stm

US house of representatives is approx £114K

Personally, I don’t think they are underpaid considering how little real value most of them add and how inexperienced a lot of them are. Even if they were, it takes the piss to be pushing for a pay rise now when pretty much everyone else is seeing their living standards eroded.

Fair enough.

For the record, deux alpes sounds like its a waste of time at the moment.

Are these photos from this year?

I just got told that loads of stuff at Deux Alpes is still under a fair bit of snow.

I would be interested to know what you thought of Vars, its somewhere I have never been and I have had mixed reports.

Moab is too hot in the summer and although the scenery is beautiful, the riding is not as good as a lot of places I have been.

Colorado is pretty good though

Southern France Allos/Haute Verdon. The bike park itself is more enduro style tracks than DH and some of the other stuff in the area is just ace (3 awesome descents from the col d’allos. V-topo guide Alpes de haute Provence has loads of routes. My favourite place in the alps great riding, beautiful scenery and guaranteed sunshine.

http://www.pinkbike.com/news/Enduro-World-Series-Round-Two-Val-DAllos-Saturday-Racing.html gives you an idea of what its like.

If you wanted a guide, there is a company called Peps spirit that operates in the area, they are something to do with the organiser of the EWC and they were doing bus uplifts to the col d’allos when I was there.

Capacir/Cardagne in the Pyrenees Orientale is another good destination and Les Angle, Ax Les Thermes and La Molina all have enduro style riding off the lifts as well as good riding outside the bike parks. Weather is usually good as well.

Where do you intend riding?

Watched it on iplayer this morning and cannot understand the negativity. They rocked, pretty good for any band but when you consider their ages they were awesome.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Rockshox-SID-race-Dual-Air-Suspension-Fork-/350820638644?pt=UK_sportsleisure_cycling_bikeparts_SR&hash=item51ae8a1fb4

Just over 3 hrs to go and close enough to pick up.

My son and his mate both have rebas on their hardtails, this would be a good bet if you can find any in the price range.

Last day here as well, off to France/Pyranees/Andorra till Christmas :-) Bongotastic!

http://www.zapiks.fr/tribe-10000-val-d-allos-endu-1.html

Val d’Allos

This place is good for singletrack riding, its a race video so the queues are long but you should get the idea! XC riding is pretty good as well.

Quite far South but the area is beautiful. Not a lot to do other than riding and walking however, 30mins drive gets you to a lake and the verdon gorge in the south and whitewater rafting and other stuff to the North.

One of my favourite areas of France

Go to deux alpes, camp in Venosc. Loads of blues and some greens, little skills areas dotted round the hills, not that busy, no need for any guides, decent weather and great riding. Short commute to Alp d’huez as well for a bit of variety.

Marmots, because it means you are somewhere nice and the sun is shining.

0.35% faster……wow

So if I go out for a 2 hr ride, I will get home 25 seconds faster.

Sasha is a great dj but that Renaissance mix is dull and now sounds VERY dated. Sorry :cry:

No, just get around a bit :-)

http://www.sancy.com/activites/vtt_3608.cfm

Super cool blue with lots of flow, 2 reds alternating fast with steeper tech sections and wooded rooty stuff near the bottom. A black that has been used for coupe de France comps andhas some pretty big features. There might be more now, it was 3 years ago when I was last there.

The trails lead into a wood park at the bottom with various features and different size gaps.

The private park by lioran is ( I think) like a series of 4x tracks.
Lioran is just a track down the hill that had had no maintainance and was battered ( 4 years ago but someone last year told me nothing had changed)

Superbesse is a great little bike park. Well worth a visit, really friendly locals (riders and bar owners!)
Lioran is not a great park but, apparently there is a little private one that uses the lower chair lift that is pretty fun.
It was a few years ago but, there were adverts around the resort for an outfit offering guided rides.
There is an ffc centre at la bouboule, but it’s a bit rubbish.
The terrain is pretty cool so I am sure there is plenty of good riding, buy an ing map, it’s not like its the high mountains.

Anyone?

Looking at the Deux alpes web cam, there is a lot of snow even at the intermediate station of the Landry express. Everything off the diable lift and the vallee blanche lift is clear and it is sunny. Plenty still to go at but, the higher pistes will deffo be closed

http://www.yt-industries.com/shop/de/Bikes/Play

Deux Alpes/Alp d’Huez

You need to know that by heading further south in the alps the weather and riding is far better than in the PDS!

True

what did he actually do?

A much better job than Robert Mugabe.

You need to know snow is forecast down to 1700 m this week and could well be cold. There is still loads of snow on north facing slopes, the upper lift in Chatel bike park hasn’t even opened yet.

And that in crap weather the PDS is an effin drag!

Yes, but tourmalet would suck on a downhill bike :-)

if you are going for a full dh bike then this is also worth a look:

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=95394

The torque in that link is only 185mm travel (like the entourage) so they are comparable in a lot of ways. The Canyon is way better equipped for the money though and much as I am a big fan of Konas, I would be tempted by the torque.

Either will be fine for anything you are likely to ride anywhere. You just might be a bit slower than on a 200mm DH bike.

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=78470

Seems a decent deal.

or

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=89699