As long as it's not your mum/wife/girlfriend/daughter, whats the issue?

;D

if it's neat, its not a problem.

if last nights dinner and this mornings breakfast are being hidden in it for elevenses – you're in trouble.

Had a beard since I was 19 – couldn't go without it, personally. besides, I'd look 12 andmy wife would possibly divorce me (she's only seen photos of me without it, never 'in the flesh')

get some scissors, give a neaten up and trim, good to go.

3. first ride in short sleeves in the spring

Email sent…

download?

pls..?

Nah, perhaps its not clear, but if you were to live Colac, Apollo Bay or somewhere down that way, it's not unreasonable to drive to the you-yangs, for another good riding option

agree with others of reasonable sense in here; 3-5 days as you will only have to worry about technique and not the whole how do lifts work etc type of stuff.

However…I'd go for the Telemark option personally; I've Alpined for 20+ yrs, learnt to board back in 94 ish, and gave Tele a crack when I did my first season in 2000. It is not as hard as it looks; I was able to get up and down 'red' runs by the end of day one and tele kit has improved a crap load (i.e. made it easier) in the last 5 years – again, you have crossover techniques from boarding and the knowledge of how lifts and the piste system works. I reckon a week of lessons will have you able to 'guide' the majority of the pisted stuff no worries, whilst giving enough of a challenge to keep it interesting all season long.

You can cheat on the easy pistes and knock out (slightly poor and sloppy) alpine style turns, but will strengthen the legs heaps for summer riding with proper drop knee style. It is more of a work out, so you'll get fitter and learning to ski soft stuff can be quite an experience. But it is worth it. Besides, you'll have the board for when you feel the need for a break from the skis, but you'll impress the guests heaps by being so 'unique' with Tele gear = ice breaker, which is part of the battle with the guided punters (and = more free beer/naughtiness potential apres!!)

Also, if you decide to get into the touring side of things, being able to apply skins to the gear you are familiar with is a bonus (no trekkers or expensive second touring setup or rented setup).

Beware of Canberra – yes they are about to host the world cup, but then they are likely to lose a lot of the trails just after as the forestry commission is about to log it and the Govt put in a new motorway for the military up that way! What is there is good though, lots of big, flashy 24hrs etc raced that way and CORC is a very active club. However, not much there unless you are in politics, work wise, apparently. Living is expensive due to the $$$ Govt jobs there too.

For Brisbane – Mt Cootha and The Gap(? localism, can't remember exact name) to the west of the city, but up and down the coast there are lots to ride apparently. Also, after you've been here for a while the thought of driving more than 2 hours becomes less of a problem – cos everything is that far away! Bris-vegas sprawls heaps and then almost meets up with the Gold Coast now – like Blackpool with rides and family holidays, but warmer and more expensive!

I live in Adelaide; good trails straight out of the city in the hils to the south and east, more to come and we have the Nationals for the next 3 years (immediately before the tour down under – bike fest fortnight), so the govt are a bit more lenient and willing to listen at present. Some good stuff within a few hours driving too Adelaide/SA trails, Adelaide XC club, Adelaide DH club

Just off the Great Ocean Road in the Otway Ranges is Forrest – ride forrest – in Vic; not too far to also hit the You-Yangs for more good biking just outside of Geelong. However, moving there would be a little hard as it's a tiny town (few hundred maybe?!) Probably somewhere to head for a weekend etc if you were in Melbourne region

Melbourne and Sydney have good scenes, but everything is busier simply due to number of people – Lysterfield nr Melb, search for Manly Dam as an example of Sydney.

Tasmania is also real nice – just effin cold (the next thing south is Antartica, so hardly surprising) gets a fair bit of rain too. However, the Aussie MTB squad are based there (partly money, obviously, but there are lots of good trails too). search for "wildside MTB" – Tassie's biggest race but shows what is out there if you go for an explore.

As mentioned above, the ski resorts in NSW and VIC also offer lift served come our summer – search Mt Buller & Thredbo – these two are the ski areas pushing the bikes in summer theme the most.

Also look for Mt Beauty, Mt Buffalo, Munda Biddi trail (WA) and my favourite, Melrose (www.otesports.com.au) – sistered to Fruita, Singletrack is hella fun, just watch out for the Roo's in the middle of the line at times!

Bear in mind this is all MTB perspective – living here really means a bigger town or city IMO, but once you get used to it, it is a far more relaxed lifestyle than the UK, something I didn't really notice so much until I went back for the first time in 3.5 years last month.

And I'd say Adelaide/SA has the most potential – cheapest living of the major capitals, quiet beaches (with less of a shark problem than the East or West coasts!) and better surf, Med type climate and seasons, cheap flights to the 'Big Cities' of Melbourne and Sydeny if you need that type of fix (1-2hours away). But I'm biased! :wink:

run what you brung – still 5 weeks in BC, afterall!

Down here, it’s winter, had to scrape ice off the windscreen this morning and the trails are ‘a bit mosit’…know where I’d rather be regardless of the tires I had on!

Can you not pick up something else over there if you’r worried? surely one of the online places can ship to a hotel etc if you really feel the need to swap them around…

irresponsible people don’t care. The latter annoy me

thats a judgement…

If, when I next ride down Dollywaggon (assuming I can’t manage the steps), I see any evidence of the fell collapsing up I may reconsider.

(my emboldening, for clarity)
which doesn’t seem justified.

Ten again, life would be boring if we agreed on everything, wouldn’t it?

Personally, I try to stay on trails wherever I can, but were not talking about locking up brakes and churning the ground up,or removing trees to allow for ‘landings’ etc. I don;t fully agrree with either party, sitting on the fence…

Shake – after being in a workshop the morning after there was a diesel spill, I don’t want to wander around smelling like fuel all day again from dripping it on me.

These days, you’d probably arouse a lot of peoples overly paranoid fears of suicide bombers etc. Especially as I have a beard, so must be a muslim fundamentalist!!!! :roll:

If an outstanding debt to the supplier, they generally take it back and sell it on (or appoint someone else to do so for them) to cover some of the debt. Then dependent upon what is still outstanding, they file the court papers to try and recover what else they can.

If, there is no outstnading debt to the supplier, then the shop owners will do what they can to raise revenue from that product to clear the other debts they invariably owe.

Try here lots of affordable housing no rush hour 40 mins max across the city when it’s busy some fantastic trails and bike parks within 20 mins of the centre. I am seriously considering the move!!

except that Canberra is cold, wet (for Aus – think a rough Autumn in UK) and boring. Not too sure how you got affordable either; all the politicians spending their subsidies means its actual not all that great for down here.

Adelaide, well, I won’t tell you – the trails will get too busy :wink:

^^^was tempted to do this too! grew up with these, they truly are mans best friend!

Shellac – that sucks, just saw KOL in Sydney a month or so ago, they were awesome. 12000 people singing Sex is on Fire was an utter barrage of sound. Did far more of their back catalogue than me or the wife expected which was cool too.

The Police here in Adelaide were really good also; was a funny night, went with the mother in law (!) and all these posers who just wanted to say they’d seen The Police were half asleep until the chorus for a number of songs because they weren’t exactly the same as on the greatest hits album.

Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings at the Jazz Cafe was really good; mixed crowd and a whole lotta dancing!

If you like Blues and CW Stoneking comes to an intimate venue near you, go see him; his voice is something else and he is a funny guy; quite the story teller

XT pedals, Stans tubless…

I’m not so brutal on gear, so I’ve not been through heaps, meaning I don’t have as strong an opinion on a lot of stuff.

Maxxis tyres – for where/what I ride, they cover all options.

And whatever the chain may be, setting it up with a SRAM powerlink or whatever it’s called is the way to go, with a spare in the bag just in case.

just loosen the retention off a bit – I always manage to ‘save’ as is, but that should help you stop doing the ‘dead elphant’ comedy stack.

everyone still has a moment every now and then, but how you can forget is pretty odd…

To start with you’ll have to suck it up with ‘easy’ rides whilst she gets her confidence up, but I’d say if she is serious then sign her up to a womens skills day; she’ll meet other women = confidence in itself and learn some skills from a third party, so you don’t cope the tears and aggro if she “can’t do it”. Also, she may find a riding buddy of her own to ride with, which frees you to ride where/how you want to. Once she has a bit more confidence on trails that are not just bridleways/fireroads, she’ll likely naturelly want to challenge herself by riding what you ride.

Give advice, but don’t “tell” her what to do – ends in an argument. I found that after the ride etc whilst having a cake and coffee is way better than at the time too, as it is a discussion rather than becoming emotional and potentially an argument; if you just suggest – “if you find something similar, try this next time” is good, “DO THIS. NOW” is bad. For you!

If she doesn’t want to ride with you all the time, that is OK as if she is feeling pressured she will likely not enjoy it and give up altogether. Also, means you don’t feel “held back” on “easy” trails to suit her ability and you lose enjoyment of riding because of that.

This is from the experience of teaching my wife to ski; me = 20+ years, her = hadn’t seen snow until 21 (Aussie living by the beach)! So paid for a few lessons so she could do the basics herself, and by the following winter we were living in Colorado, skiing almost everyday and my wife was hiking for steep lines and trying to get air with me, so it can definitely work!

Not alone.

I have decided it will be good coffee instead in future; a few large coffees would either be cold or I would be going at 1000mph and peeing every 5 mins.

Makes it slightly easier to actual do the ‘delivery’ thing and not consume it all before you get there.

MTBA.asn.au
bicycles.net.au
26inches.com (quiet though)

as well as the above mentioned ones

also look up Geelong Mountain bike club, bendigo bike club, club MUD ballarat etc nearly all have a forum for that side of things.

Also check out bikeexchange.com.au – lots of overstock and run-outs from shops on there

went to the newly finished local trails (~55km roundtrip) in the Adelaide Hills. Good day, not too hot. Getting back up to 40C later in the week, so probably not much riding later in the week :?

Oooh shittywok. They have forgotten that they told her that the accommodation would be paid for ……. NOW WHAT?

Still go; you’d have to pay rent/mortgage if you stay in London, might as well pay it to live somewhere in Malaga. Sounds like your boss is pretty chill if letting you work from abroad (is there really a lot you can’t do from there with a good broadband connection, email and skype?) is not fazing them but actually being considered.

as many have already said, experience etc. better of finding out through experience its not for you, than wondering if it is.

I moved to Australia 2.5 years ago now, after a number of years of to and fro between London and Colorado – first 3-4 months of not knowing many people, hard time finding work etc was tough and I thought of returning to London; now me and my (aussie) wife have a house 7 mins from the beach, about to buy acerage (hello private, handbuilt and designed trails!!!), i have been with the same relaxed company ever since I got my first casual job with them and been ‘promoted’ to a point where I’m pretty much left to my own devices, and am just about to go back to London for the first time in 3.5 years.

It’s hard to say it at times, but London is no longer home; I don’t miss rush hour connex/tube, or everyone being too busy or everything being expensive; I say hi to random folks in the street and get a reply rather than a look as if I’m nuts, ride every day if only to work and back. The only downside for me is being so far away from certain friends and family, but phones, emails, texts and webcams make it a hell of a lot easier than ever before. You’ll be in Spain; 60mins on the plane and you can be back if you are desperate – although I reckon more of your friends and family will be wanting to visit you and more than happy to provide heinz baked beans, marmite and yorkie bars in exchange for floor space and warmer weather riding.

wow, long post; but listen to Nike; Just Do It

just had an article about Israel riding in one of the mags down here in Aus although they went from Haifa to the sea of Galilee.

They used http://www.israeltravelcompany.com – might be a start point at least…

Adelaide comng up 3 years…Colorado before that…Sowf Lundun born and bred though…Gotta love Peckham!

2 week, 900km, end to end of the Mawson Trail in South Australia, in May. Not the most challenging terrain the whole way by all accts, but the scenery and “experience” will be hard to beat.