I probably can’t add much to what NZCol/WillH have said but as a newbie here I can tell you how I’ve found it so far. I arrived in December and spent 2 months driving around the North and South islands in an old ambulance trying to get a feel for the place and doing plenty of riding.

Didn’t intend on settling anywhere, was planning on just getting some fruit picking work or whatever but we’ve been in Wellington for a month now and have somehow ended up with a job and a flat. I work in IT and had 3 job offers in a fortnight paying comparable or slightly more than I’d get back home. My GF is basically unskilled and intially struggled for work but hopefully starts in a bike shop on Monday so there are jobs around depending on your career I guess.

Really liking the city so far, coming from the south Wales valleys it’s pretty built up but there’s great riding within the city (broke my finger the day I got here riding DH!) and epic countryside a few hours drive away.

Biggest difference I’ve found is the people are a lot more friendly and straight up. Doing day to day stuff like opening a bank account or shopping people seem keen to have a chat and generally seem in a better mood than back home.

Echoing Will’s comments about sport, people seem a lot more active. Walking along Wellington harbour in a lunch hour and the amount of people jogging is unbelievable. Same goes for swimming after work and commuting by bike is popular despite some of the gurt hills.

Not done much socialising with locals yet but hopefully that’ll come with meeting people at work and lending a hand on dig days at the local trail centres. Drop me a mail if you need any more info.

5″10 here and ride a 18, wish i’d got the 16.

Any news on conditions at Cwmcarn? I’ve got an uplift day there Sunday, could be interesting :)

Will no one think of the dinosaurs?

I’ve done a bit with Joomla in the past but it’s more CMS than CRM. If you are going to use itc heck there’s extensions available for what you want to do before getting too far into it.

SugarCRM does have a free opensource version but it’s fairly limited in what it can do.

The mountain goats[/url] ride most Saturdays all around South Wales. Good laugh, social and don’t take themselves too seriously.

There were police at the top and bottom of the road to Alpe d’Huez checking you had snowchains on when we left the resort. You weren’t allowed up or down without them. We took them off at the bottom of the hairpins where the roads were clear again.

Practice putting the snow chains on before you go! Otherwise you may wake up in Alp D’Huez on the morning you’ve got to drive home with your car buried in 4ft of snow and have to convince a hungover local who speaks no english to put them on for you.

I’d imagine a spade would’ve worked better than the top of a tupperware box for digging the car out too :)

Yeah I’ve done one in Swindon, it wasn’t that bad actually. Watch some old adverts about speeding being bad mmmkay, talk about why you were speeding, why it’s bad, stopping distances, speed limits in built up areas etc… All pretty informal and better than getting 3 points.

I was gutted there was no tea and cake though :(

My alps bike is a patriot, what’s wrong with your current bike?

We’re planning on riding/pushing up on Saturday too, if it’s like it is in the those photos it should be lovely.

I miss my hardtail (ns surge) it was much more fun on singletrack and give me a bigger grin than my current full suss (orange five) but there’s no doubt the FS is quicker, espeically over rough stuff and even at trail centres.

But I’m off to Snowdon on the weekend and I know which one I’d rather ride there.

Having both would be ideal :)

If it’s the one with the yellow mtb shortcut sign then yeah it takes you to the beginning of jetlag.

Quantocks Saturday, maybe FoD on Sunday but not the nichefest.

Take some food/snacks/water as there’s no pubs/shops until you get back towards Talybont (presuming you’re starting from there).

Wouldn’t bother changing anything on your bike, it’s mostly moorland bridleway stuff with the odd rocky section (ie the gap and a few other bits).

Don’t know which gap route you’re following but there’s a nice rocky descent down to Dolygaer if you want a small extension, bit more road to get back then though.

Email me if you need any more info, I often do that route from my house.

Travelling around New Zealand in a campervan :)

You can do the final descents (dead wood and jetlag) by doing the whites climb up to the fireroad at the start of the black route. Instead of turning left, turn right, up the fireroad until you come to a juction with another fireroad heading down a hill. Take that and after a few minutes you’ll see the beginning of deadwood on your right. It’s pretty much all downhill from there back to the centre.

What he said ^

You should beat the van down easily though even if you’re last to leave. If you’re sessioning stuff you’ll just have to wait for the next one.

@Robin:

It took us 12 hours (including the ferry) to drive from Merthyr to Morzine, so knock off 20 minutes for Cardiff. That was with 3 of us sharing the driving, with a stop for lunch.

The rest of the gang went down in a van and took quite a bit longer :)

Not technically harder, the same if not easier techn wise than whites, it’s just long. There’s a lot of fireroad involved and there are some closures/diversions at the moment too.

If we’re after an extension at Afan we usually do whites or W2 and then do whites climb again with the skyline descent, it’s a cracking.

Thursday 18th – Fight Like Apes, Camden Town

Yep, all the Avid’s (5 & elixirs) I’ve used have been grabby as hell. Skyline cycles warned me about them before demo’ing one of their bikes too.

Hope pads seem to last me ages. New hayes pads which I put on this morning are pretty much totallted after doing just Whites level + Whites climb with skyline descent at Afan today.

I used mini’s in Morzine for two weeks. Wasn’t the best choice but they managed with a lot of squeaking :)

And waffles. Nom nom.

Oracle DBA +1, seems to be plenty of jobs around and the contractors we’ve got are on mega bucks. I’m a Linux/Network sysadmin. I’d say find something you enjoy first before shelling out for a course.

If you are looking at the support side a RHCE/CCNA/NP will get you a foot in the door/interview more than a CS degree.

Merthyr Tydfil on weekends, Swindon during the week. Living the dream.

If I set an alarm it can’t be on a normal kinda number eg 7am or 7:15 its got to be like 703 or 727.

I don’t like wearing matching socks either, just feels wrong.

My girlfriend has a 16″ mmmbop and she’s about 5″7/5″8 and has no problems with standover.

I’m 5″10 and I had a go on it on the weekend… it’s such a hoot to ride! I didn’t want to give it back for my Orange five.

That clipper organic stuff is gash.

I’ve got some nearly new ones for sale if you’re interested.

Both my banks (HSBC and Alliance and Leicester) keep wanting me to download the thing, not done it and don’t intend to. You sure it’s not just a popup asking you to install it?

Picassa from google is pretty good and free. It won’t do the number rating thing but you can organise into collections and “star” your favourite photos.

Quantocks on Friday. Afan this morning where I had a cracking race with a tandem down the wall descent :)

no basically the same there was athread on this a few eeeks ago do a seach as it linked to each years model

Yep, I asked the question on this thread. Ended up buying a 2010 five fwiw.

What about non kinky sex? Am I still a dead man?

Was tempted to go and have a look but it smelt pretty bad whatever it was and the missus wasn’t too keen on the idea. Could’ve just been flytipping or poaching I guess.

MrNutt: Oh in large please!!

Have you been on the pies???

Hairbands are good for nocturnal brake bleeding.

I’m on the pikey version of O2 (TescoMobile) in SN1 and can’t receive calls either. Just get a weird tone when I call it from my desk phone.

Full signal on HSPDA or whatever it’s called.