I think certain points are being missed here as to why Armstrong should go down for the good of the sport.

In 1998 The Festina scandal happened. Teams got caught with their pants down in a doping sense. People went to jail, riders were banned, the sport got a huge amount of bad media and the French police and courts took a hard line on drug use in cycling. After Festina there was a turn around in the peleton a lot of them wanted to go cleaner (not clean). At the time there was no test for EPO, but the teams realised that the proverbial would hit the fan big time if they were caught bringing controlled substances across borders again (especially into/out of France. EPO was a controlled substance and apparently the majority of the Peleton started to think it might not be worth the risk.

Roll in a brash American who felt he had to make it at all costs. He had friends on the inside in the UCI (Armstrong and Verbruggen are business partners! Conflict of interests?)He managed to convince his team that EPO was the only way to go and then came up with a full programme for those who wanted to make the tour team. Those who didn’t want to play ball ended up going elsewhere (Vaughters, Andreau). Suddenly there is a team dominating a somewhat cleaner peleton. Everyone see’s what Postal is doing and suddenly the pressure is back on all the other teams to keep up or ride in the wake of postal. Armstrong forced the sport back a decade in terms of Anti-doping. He stuck his finger up at clean sport and made a joke of riders who wanted to try and do it clean. He needs to be made an example of and hopefully his going down implicates the corruption in the UCI which allowed all this to happen. The sport needs a new beginning without corruption and with a clear set of rules that everyone agrees on.

BTW… This will go down like a lead brick on this forum… but there is a certain amount of Deja Vu these days with Sky. Postal revisited?

Biking is allowed on all the trail ins Lenzerheide and Arosa too. You were there in 2010 if the Rothorn cable car was closed. I remember only one trail in the area that year that had a no biking sign attached to it. As far as I remember everything else was fair game. (Top of Scalottas lift heading directly down past a small hut)

I am really suprised that they didn’t let you take your bike on the Hornlibahn in Arosa. There must have been something else on as it is the main bike lift in Arosa. A day card on it only costs something like 13CHF and it’s free if you stay in the town. It is also the lift where they have the “Freeride” trail in Arosa descending from. You either got unlucky with something else going on that day or there was a missunderstanding. I’ve been up that lift many times. It is true that you can only go to the mid station on Weisshorn, but that gives enough to access some of the trails towards Urdental.

Some of the better trails in Lenzerheide are on the Rothorn side, and it also allows you to do some nice connecting rides between Chur, Arosa and Lenzerheide.

Flims is pushing itself hard, but in my opinion there is a bit more unmarked back country stuff in Lenzerheide, Arosa and Davos. Alternatives close to Zurich! There are hundreds of options. Thankfully, it’s not PdS though, it’s mostly more natural single track and hiking paths. :-)

It’s good, but not enough for a week directly in the area itself. Basing yourself in Chur and heading to Flims/Laax for a day or two, Braumbruesch for a day, Lenzerheide for a day, Davos for a day would give you a pretty f’ing good week.

I’m guessing when you say that Arosa and Lenzerheide were dissapointing you only rode the marked routes. There is a lot more riding there than what the tourism pushes forward. The main trail in Lenzerheide is pretty rubbish to be fair, there is some really great stuff hiding in plain sight there though.

I’m 180cm so (I think that’s pretty close to 5’11”). I ride a M Intense Carbine, a M Intense Uzzi VP and up till last year rode a M Intense 5.5.

I’m running a 50mm stem with 760mm bars on the Uzzi and a 60mm stem with 710mm bars on the Carbine. For me they are about right, but I like my bikes to be quite small underneath me. I could easily ride an L without any problem. In my opinion you are right between sizes and could go either way depending on your preferences.

Switzerland doesn’t have to be that expensive. You just need to know where to look.

All the Swiss Alps resorts stay open ’till well into October.

There are also only a couple of exposed bits and it’s all completely rideable on the trail a Dutch tourist fell to his death on in eastern Switzerland last week.

There is some wickidly smile inducing stuff available around Crans.

@Schweiz… looks awesome. ;-)

Almost all of the symptoms alone can be accounted for by a significant increase in workload in the week.

If you haven’t done multiple days of that intensity before (especially the hike-a-bike) the swollen ankles could be fluid pooling. Might be related to cardiac return… might not. ECG and a stress test may help clear that up.

Bloated Stomach pressing on lungs. Did you start taking a different form of gels, energy bars, isotonic drink? Did you use much more than you are used to? Did your diet differ significantly from home? All could explain that feeling. I totally stopped using gels, isotonic drinks etc for about a year after the TP because my stomach just couldn’t handle them any more.

Were you working at an intensity higher than you are usually used to for the length of the days involved? The volume of air you breathed in that week would be a lot more than you are used to. Any particles of dust, polen or anything else in the air could have caused your throat to go a bit raw (Dry Cough)

Tie all that in with Fatigue of doing multiple 1500-2200m altitude gain days if you are not used to it wouldn’t surprise me.

Our bodies all react differently and with different severity to fatigue I’d say it played a role.

you spend so little time over 2000m and never sleep much over 1000m that I think HAPE is almost impossible.

Get your doc to rule out any serious pathology and then make sure you take the things I mentioned above into account before you go back in Autumn.

Dave, Sports Scientist and TP finisher 2009.

Get the Swiss Single Trail map for Oberengadin too. There is plenty of good stuff in that if you want to go exploring. Cost is about 25CHF and you’ll pick it up in any local bike shop.

There is definitely plenty to keep you busy for a while in the area.

Yes, I ride there quite a lot. When are you going?

Here are a few route suggestions in English.
http://www.swissalpineadventure.com/mountain-biking/graubunden/engadin

Live at 750m on a hill that goes up to 1100m with an altitude distance of 600m top to bottom and a maze of trails scattered around.

Chaps, you do realise that this had nothing to do with Strava?

It’s a three day event that happens every year in Flims/Laax Switzerland. The clip is from the training for the Sunset ride on the Saturday evening. The chicken line entrance takes a different line to the road gap. It’s very possible that the jumping rider did not actually see the guy taking the chicken line until it was too late for him to do anything about it.

The Swiss guy (Ueli Steck) has done speed ascents on most of the famous European peaks. He’s done the Matterhorn in something silly like 2 hours and some loose change too. Someone (another Swiss bloke) has beaten his time on the Eiger now though. I think the new guy did it in 2:09.

Steck did Everest two days before three people died on it. It wasn’t a speed ascent but he climbed before they had put the fixed ropes in and beat his “accompanying” Sherpa to the top by 90 minutes and beat him by nearly 3 hours back to camp 4… All without supplemental oxygen.

I’ve seen a few Swiss documentaries about the guy, he comes across as a really down to earth guy who loves the mountains. It’s always funny when people ask him about danger and he reckons running up the Eiger with no rope is actually quite safe!

No it didn’t. There are discussions ongoing but for now mountain biking is not a crime.

BTW. That law only concerned Canton Bern anyway. The rest of the country is fair game… and what a lot of game there is to be had here too.

I’ve actually tested a polar monitor in a lab where I was also having an analysis of my oxygen uptake. (Gold standard for Calorie calculations). The polar monitor I was using was bang on what the Expired air analysis said for calorie consumption on a three hour sub maximal effort which would be similar to a normal three hour ride with no sprints or max efforts thrown in anywhere.

I’ve contacted polar directly about this and they gave me links to varioud papers that validated their calculation methods. I’d listen to my Polar in this respect way more than a Garmin or something that is working purely on distance/time/elevation.

No need to buy the maps. Print your own!
http://map.geo.admin.ch/

Yes

I’ve had a couple of pedal strikes on my Carbine but all due to rider error.

I experienced the problem more on my Uzzi when I got it first (but was warned about it before I bought the bike) I pretty quickly got used to it. The first time it happened on the Carbine it was a bit of a surprise but not enough to cause any grief. I quite like the BB height and how it sits in the travel for trail riding, makes it really solid so I don’t mind the occasional pedal strike on the way up.

Also, on the stock RP23 with the Carbine you can dial in some pro-pedal on the open position. Open (flicked to the left) has the choice of 0, 1 or 2 pro-pedal settings. Closed (flicked to the right) is Pro-pedal setting 3. I run mine full open on everything except paved road climbs.

BTW I’m not a huge RP23 fan but I do find he 2012 is an improvement on the 2008 I was running previously. Would love to try a Monarch on the Carbine but don’t want to fork out for a new shock just to try it.

To be honest it’s all a bit weird this lack of motivation. I absolutely love technical descents and in fact the last time I rode was scaring myself flipless on Wharncliffe’s DH tracks. It seems that as I’ve not been able to run over the last 2 months (due to foot injury that won’t go away) this lack of exercise has turned me into a phat, lethargic slug.

I have it on good authority that the rider on the Carbine in the video above also feels that his lack of exercise over winter turned him into a “phat lethargic slug”. Riding trails makes him grin like a loon for hours on end.

Don’t ask Schweiz how to attach Garmins to top tubes. Apparently his went flying somewhere on that trail. Zip ties are you’re only man. Not pretty, but functional.

There will be some lifts open in Valais (Wallis), but only the ones serving the towns up on the hill. You’d get a good bit of riding in between Wallis and Ticino in Switzerland.

@Schweiz,
It’s the trail centre on the other side of the magic weather tunnel.

No 1: The Alps cover quite a large area! Where are you hoping to ride and what type of riding.

No 2: There is absolutely nothing wrong with your main bike for an Alps trip. The only thing on your list that might be nice to have is the dropper post.

My bike seems to have almost the same specs as yours (68deg HA, 710mmbars, 60mm stem, 150mm travel front and back). The only thing from your list I have is a dropper post. (Reverb)

The video below is “The Alps” last weekend on that bike. The other bike in the video is a steel Hardtail 29er. Typical Alpine Trail. Sometimes flowy, sometimes techy.

Your current set up will do for everything but the steepest techiest descents you’ll find and even then a set of heavier tyres would probably go a long way.

As a mature student you’ll do great. I did it as a mature student too and found the work ethic much easier to stick to than those who were coming out of school.

The nature of the course is usually fairly hands on. At least in my case it changed during the 4 years. The first two the practical sessions were things like practical applications of sport (doing sport!) but also some lab work for Biomech and Physiology. As the course went on there was more emphasis put on the lab work and the lab work to a large extent supported what we were learning in the lectures.

There is an attitude that sports science is an easy degree. A lot of people can find out the hard way that you still need to satisfy the requirements for a BSc. With your background you are going in with a head start.

The name is in the title. Sports science. At the end it’s a science degree so you have to cover the basics of the sciences and learn how to be a scientist yourself. It’s not all going out and doing sport and calling it a degree… Which is what the 33% of my class who ended up dropping out thought.

Specialized Deviant has some reasonable venting for a full face.

Zermatt is great, but VERY pricy. Definitely spend a day or two there, but get in touch and I’ll let you know a place where you’re money will go a lot further for a couple of days riding not too far away.

professor_fate – Member

Arosa sounded great on paper – free lifts etc, but the main lift up to the top of the ridge/DH run refused bikes (i suspect the cows were on the piste and they have priority…), and the lower lift only took you up a little way. But saying that there were some great natural runs down the valley and the campsite was excellent! I reckon you were unlucky that the Hornli lift didn’t take bikes. I’ve never had that experience and can only imagine it was for a very short period of time. The resort advertises free lifts if you stay there, and the day card is only 13CHF (IIRC) if you are not staying in town. TBH though there isn’t really enough trails from the top of the lift to keep you going all day if you plan on only riding back down to Arosa.

If the lifts aren’t running it’s possible to put in about 300m vertical out of town and skirt around the side of Weisshorn to get into the Urden Valley between Arosa and Lenzerheide. You can ride a bunch of trail (but unfortunately a bit of road too) down to Chur from there and get the bus up to Lenzerheide.

I’d personally not base myself in Arosa, but instead pass through it on day rides from other resorts close by. If anyone is looking for tips get in touch. I pointed the blokes from Pink Bike who did an article on CH in the right direction already.

kevtoo – Member

+1 for Lenzerheide. Went there a couple of years ago in late August- ended up in heavy snow on the top of one route (was falling as rain in town)! Good signposting of xc routes from town (a lot starting from tourist info centre) and bunches of GPS routes too. Uplift expensive though (about £20 for a single!) if you are going for mainly downhill! The single run in Lenzerheide is very expensive relative to the day pass. If you’ve got a half tax card for the swiss public transport system the lift cards in Lenzerheide in Summer are half price. 24CHF for a day card is pretty cheap. There is a good amount of lift accessed riding in Lenzerheide.

Arosa is nice, there is some great riding accessible from there, but the best trails all lead out of Arosa towards either Lenzerheide, Davos or Tschiertschen. Luckily there are also ways back in too. :-)

They do have a “Freeride” lift assisted trail there too, but TBH it’s a bit weak.

Skiing in Arosa is nice too. You can do the same kind of routes between resorts in Winter if you are lucky with conditions and have the correct kit.

It’s a great place to work. What industry are you in?

If you want lift assisted you do need to go a week earlier really – in rough terms the main summer season is July and August. You may find lifts open weekends only in Sep. Take a look at Haute Jura as well, Metabief.

Like I said, Lift assisted is available in Switzerland until mid October. The resorts tend to keep the lifts open until after the October school holidays over here. There are one or two exceptions (Verbier is one I think, but not 100% sure) but lift assisted riding is available in most of the country until October.

The places served by funicular and train can often be used longer. Some of the buses are seasonal and will stop running in October too.

@Jambalaya, thanks. :-)

There is some great riding in Wallis and Graubunden. They are nicely linked together by train too so it’s possible to do a few point to point days staying in a different place or base youself somewhere like Chur (Graubunden) or Brig (Wallis) and get a load of great riding in not far from base camp.

The riding is much more natural than you’ll find in PdS. It’s mainly on hiking trails so can be fairly technical in nature, but it rewards. The lifts can be used to save the climb and spend the whole day riding awesome trails.

Places like Bettmeralp, Crans-Montana, St-Luc in Wallis or Lenzerheide, Davos, Flims-Laax, Engadin in Graubunden would all give you a few days of great riding.

You’ll find some trail information on my website and if you want more info there are contact details on there too.

http://www.swissalpineadventure.com

To get a lot of lifts open at that time you’ll want to go to Switzerland. Everything is open into October over here.

Compare like with like here.
You need to compare 2012 XT with 2011 XTR and the new XT shifter do have double down shifting and most (if not all) of the features of the 2011 XTR. There may be a few gramms weight difference and there is a fairly substantial XTR price penalty.

I’m running a mix XT/XTR 2×10 setup on two bikes and it’s running flawlessly (that’s fate tempted!) In both cases I’ve got XTR shadow plus rear mech mated to a set of 2012 XT shifters. The shifting is flawless, I’ve got the double downshift and multiple upshift. Maybe the older XT lacked these features, but the new one definitely has them.

I’d have to say there are a small minority who give the rest of us a bad name. It doesn’t take much to keep relationships with other trail users on the friendly side. Over our way it’s usually slow down, say a cheery hello and wish them a nice day. If you can get the hello and have a nice day in before they can get the “you shouldn’t be riding here” (we are generally allowed to ride where we ride!) they are left too shocked that those evil heathens whose only purpose is to make their day hell are actually a friendly bunch to give out to you and usually end up wishing us a friendly “have a nice day” back.

On the other hand, blasting past a group of special needs hikers on a multi-use trail with full face helmets (where it’s not needed) and wreckless disregard for others and then giving the finger to one of the group leaders who complained, does not do much to endear us to the general population. This instance actually happened on one of my local trails last summer. After that incident the local council nicely asked bikers to stop using that trail and many did. Traffic on that trail seems to have reduced and the only people I’ve seen down it in daylight hours lately have been the full-face brigade. I still use the trail after dark in the winter months when there is no issue with meeting anybody else on the trail never mind having any conflict with hikers.

Some of the tourist areas over here have signs on all trails asking for tolerance on both sides between hikers and bikers. In my experience there are just as many (or even more) bikers who are not tolerant and respectfull of hikers as there are hikers who are intolerant of freindly bikers.

Last Friday somewhere in Switzerland.

Nope, It’s in the German part of Switzerland not too far from Zurich. It’s not lake Zurich either though.

That jump site is about 30-40mins from where I live. It’s a pretty amazing place…

The Jumper on the other hand has gone a bit closer lately! He clipped table mountain earlier this year.

Get a generic bleed kit that had a hose a little thinner than the Shimano hose and has to be forced onto the bleed nipple on the caliper. 1/4 or so fill the syringe and ensure that fluid goes right to the tip of the hose.

Screw on the yellow funnel (or another syringe from the generic bleed kit).

Now pull fluid carefully through from the syringe mounted on the caliper. This should get rid of any air near the caliper. Once the air is gone force fluid back into the caliper to the point where the Yellow funnel or Syringe on the lever starts to fill.

Close the bleed nipple on the caliper and remove the syringe.

I used the threaded syringe at the caliper and gently pushed some fluid into the lever too until it started to seep past the seals. Remove funnel or syringe drop a little mineral oil into the hole and refit the bleed screw.

It was something along these lines that sorted it for me on my ones. It’s kind of a mix between how Avid suggest bleeding and how Shimano suggest bleeding.

I’d second Pontrasina or Celerina. Check out the Mortoratsch glacier, and take a hike over Bernina Pass. Some good biking there too.

Also well worth checking out is Bettmeralp. The lifts above the town won’t be open but it’s a nice hike up to the lookout point for Aletsch Glacier and then hike along the length of the Glacier either towards Riederalp or Fiescheralp. The area is a Unesco world heritage site and well worth visiting. Not sure how many hotels will be open there in May, but everything will start to open again in Early June.

The nightlife thing is going to be rubbish in any touristy areas. You’ll need to go to the cities to have any activity in the evenings.