i stayed on one in Bourg, just near the big supermarkets (retail park sort of thing)

http://www.leversoyen.com/gb1.html

pretty bad website, but its a nice campsite! Only a few mins walk to the shops, and a few mins riding (flat) to the funicular which will take you up to Arc 1600, then more lifts to 1800 or 2000.

Nice 'black' grade (but relatively easy) descent at the end of the day back down to Bourg for some beers at the tent :D

i agree 'merge in turn' works better, but they need to have more obvious signs and better education for all driver about, like signs saying 'use BOTH lanes until cones' or something.

At the moment most people queue early on as they know that most people wont let them in when the cones start, cos the queueing people class them as queue jumping tw*ts

coast to coast should be do-able in 4 days. You can always modify it if you end up running behind. I've done it twice in 4.5 and 5 days, and i wasnt super fit at the time.

much quicker than roof nes an they dont kill your mpg

At the moment though i leave the roof one on constantly so putting the bike in that takes about 1 min. But i'm looking at a new car which is quite a lot higher than mine so will have to lift the bikes up more, and also as you say they affect the mpg more. Just wondering about the tow bar ones as if they are the way forward i'll spec the towbar when i order the new car.

not sure you can drive with them 'folded up' as the lights woudl be in the wrong place?

hmmm yeah hadnt thought of that lol

annoying as they are, the we buy any car, and go compare ads do stick in your head. If i was selling a car for cash, or looking for insurance right now they'd be the first sites i would try despite me hating the ads, so i guess from an advertisers point of view they have worked.

Will my Epic be a good choice of bike for Moab? Or is a bigger bike better? Just wondering as i'm thinkng of chainging my bike next year so if a bigger bikes better i'd maybe hang on until next year otherwise will look into this Autumn :-)

i was thinking vaguealy of a trip to moab this year or next.

ANyone who's been want to give me some info on getting there, accom etc?

Eg where to fly to, and do you need to hire a car or can you get there easily on buses? Many campsites around etc?

Also is it better to take your own bike, or is it cheap hiring it there.

Best time to go?

Cheeers

hmmm could be. i know the shower has its own hot feed from the hot water tank so it may have a separate cold one from the cold tank rather than a mains water feed. I guess this could be so its less likely to suffer temp fluctuations depending on demand from other taps?

I'm back there tomorrow so i'll check it then.

Flaperon – i just noticed that as well tonight, definate slight dimming when the ABS or TCS is active.

yeah it was fine after another drive. I think it might be on its way out though.

I was just wondering about the TCS sytem as i wasnt sure if it cut engine power or applied a braking force to the spinning wheel (sort of like using the ABS system but to apply instead of releasing brakes.) My BMW motorbike that had ABS used to deactiveate the ABS system if the battery power was low, so i assume that some ABS systems need a fair bit of power.

dumbell weight sounds like a good idea i've got a small metal one so i'll try that!

Am still amazed at how it works and how fast it spins :-)

my autosocks arrived yesterday and i fitted them once i'd left the main cleared road. Took less than 5 mins to put on and i was very impressed, they got me up the steep hill to my house and then no problems turning accorss a steep slope on my drive. ALso used them this morning when i arrived at the car park. Thought i'd be ok as stuff had melted a lot, but i got stuck in the compacted icy snow trying to park. Put the sock things on and could drive again straight away.

Thumbs up from me!

The only real hassle is if you have to do lots of uncleared roads with long sections of clear tarmac in between as you'd be putting them on and off a lot. If you only need them for the beginning or end of a journey or to get up the odd hill then i reckon they're a good investment and you can just leave them in the boot all winter.

Doppleganger does ring a bell. Did it have the guy driving on the wrong side of the road and not know where the lightswitch was?

years since i've seen it, but it does have some wrong side of the road driving (they land on a mirror image earth).
Also has a few ship crashes if i remeber correctly and theres someone at the end in a hospital which is why i reckoned it might be the OP's film.

More plot summary here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doppelg%C3%A4nger_(1969_film)

Doppelganger? (also known as journey to the far side of the sun)

http://filmguide.wikia.com/wiki/Journey_to_the_Far_Side_of_the_Sun

have a look on these threads from last winter :D

http://www.singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/winter-tyres-worth-it

http://www.singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/car-winter-tyres

My brother in wales uses the Autosock thing to get up a steep hill near his house and swears by them but not sure how robust they are fo long term use. Just ordered a set of them myself as well.

dont know how any of lot manage to night ride if you cant even manage in the house with energy saving bulbs :lol:

i've had them in houses since about 1998 and never had a problem with them

if its for a one off i could post mine to you if you swear on your bike frames life to return it!

pm me if you're interested.

theres this site:

mtbsharp

has a a good selection in the popular areas and i think you can upload to it as well.

Doh!!! Now why didnt i think of Ebay!

Thanks

although not sure my nephews parents will be thanking me for getting him this if they are still as annoying as my dad found the on i had on my bike lol

dirtygirl do you want my entry i cant make it this weekend.

I think should be ok to transfer but i'll have to ring and check (says on the website you can do it if more than 5 days to the event so might still be ok!)

whats the significance / purpoese of this 'without prejudice or reward' statment?

i thought they sold your rights anyway if you didnt reply with any preferred option.

remember…

1st rule of velodrome club – DONT STOP PEDALLING :D

i'd be up for doing them as well, even if they are on my doorstep! Might find some trails i've never ridden before.

my middleburn outer (hardcoat slickshift one) is fine, shifting seemed a bit 'rougher' when i first fitted it and had the bike on the stand but couldnt tell any difference from an XT one after a few miles into the first ride.

Doesnt have as many ramps etc as a shimano one, and i dont know if this would make more difference to shifting smoothness on a middle ring.

I reckon i'd buy middleburn ones again.

I offered to show her some stuff but she wanted to learn with some other newbies.

Lol, shown her some of that stuff in the past :lol:

hi viz side jacket more versatile as you can wear it over all sorts of layers (or lack orf layers) depending on how warm / wet it is.

I liked the look of the altura night vision tights for road biking at night, but they werent that warm for winter use when i tried them on. Very reflective though..

whats better about lock ons than normal grips? Serious question, excuse my ignorance :oops:

i'll never use them again! They charged my card weeks before the item was dispatched, then when it wasnt suitable and i returned it they never refunded the card until i rang them, claiming they have to wait for the customer to contact them with card details again for a refund!

He then claimed i'd posted it back outside the 7 day period which was a lie as i had proof (sent it recorded). Then he said there was a 10% resotcking fee which isnt allowed according to distance selling regs, but refused to budge on this matter. Eventually i managed to get the full refund after threatening trading standards in a letter i wrote to them.

I was even more annoyed with them as before i ordered the goods i checked with them if returns were ok if not suitable and they said yeah fine, and never mentioned ny restocking fee.

EDIT – this was about 12 months ago but the serivce was so bad and the guy just didnt seem to care that i vowed never to use them again. They could have improved now but i would still not buy from them again

i find the spesh equinox ones are fine for me for most of winter / wet weather but my hands usually stay quite warm. The equinox ones are like a thicker ridge glove, not waterproof but warm enough and still allowing lots of dexterity

thanks for all the info guys!

I havent actually decided on a house yet as still in the early stages of looking and i think maybe i should rephrase the question a bit as i still have the option to have mains gas depending on which village i move to (quite a few options at moment)

so..
If you're on oil / LPG now, would it majorly influence your choice if you had to move again? ie is it that much more expensive / hassle? And does the price fluctuation thing worry you?

hmmm i guess i'm trying to find out what the rough % cost of oil or LPG is over mains gas, but cant find anything on the net they all just say its more expensive, maybe impossible to compare due to constant price fluctuations. I suppose if i'm looking at fuels like oil / LPG then the insulation / efficiency of the houses i look at becomes a more important factor.

edit – just another point, how much does oil fluctuate, eg whats the highest price you have paid over say the last 4-5 years, and is it increasing quite a lot each year?

wings of love by stephen pearson?

and no i dont have a copy on my wall!!!

http://img233.imageshack.us/i/spq304.jpg/

dont forget to get the correct card shade and font :D

yeah UKC is th main one.. although i dont like it as much as this forum, even though i climb as much (if not more) than i bike

when i lived in a damp house i bought one. I also had a digital thermometer (they are pretty cheap) thing which told me humidity so i used that to gauge how well it was working.

They work best when the rooms are warm (ie heating on)as they can cool and condense the water vapour from the air better, but will still work if eating is off. I just turned the dial on mine to max for a few days until the dampness seemed to have dropped to a reasonable amount (was around 60% RH on my thermometer thing) then i just turned the dial on the dehuimidifier until it clicked off and left it like that. Didnt always have it plugged in, but if i was doing some washing that needed drying in the house, or if i noticed my thermometer humidity thing getting high i'd bung it on.

I got loads of water out in the first few days then it seemed to stabilise. Made a lot of difference in my house. I just left it on the landing unless i had washing to dry then i bunged it in the room i was drying the clothes in. Obvioulsy if you have one room thats a real damp problem might be better putting it closer to that room.

No idea if what i did was the correct way to use them but it worked for me!

HTH

does it have to be keswick?

Low Wood hotel at ambleside has mangaged to put on good service for the 4-5 conferences / events that i've been to.
Could easily get to grizedale from there or plenty of natural riding aound ambleside, or its only 40 mins ish up to whinlatter / borrowdale

i've got the gore windstopper armwarmers

gore windstopper[/url]

which are thin, but have windstopper facing on the front edges. Perfect for me not to hot / cold, and even if its drizzling a bit the windproofing keeps off the cold air.

I had a pair of normal armwarmers before this but much prefer the windstopper ones now.

heating belts always worked well for me, even in cold garages still got good brews