We stayed in Bourg Saint Maurice two years ago. Not a very lively town, but ok. There is a big Twinner bike shop for gear and rentals.

We stayed in a really nice hotel with a pool called the Autantic, booked independently. I didn’t find it very convenient because at the beginning and end of each day, you had to ride uphill to get to and from the town. Nothing major, but unwelcome after a hard day’s riding. It was also a long walk into town.

To access the mountain you get the funicular railway up to Arc 1800, then chairs/gondolas above this. The double decker cable car connects you to La Plagne when you have done this resort. This cable car was out of service for repairs all last winter and part of the summer.

If you want, you can ride to the valley floor from Les Arc or La Plagne and then ride back up alongside the river. No worries about missing the reconnecting link between the two resorts.

Going the other way (towards Tignes) takes you down to Vilaroger (which was featured on Top Gear) and then down and back round to the valley floor.

Les Arcs/La Plagne differs from Portes Du Soleil in that it is not crowded, but there is little in the way of downhill courses. It makes up for this with the sheer volume of fast trails.

Word of warning – the lifts are shut on a Saturday limiting you to just the funicular. The Paradiski cable car runs less frequently than in winter. The ticket office will not make you aware of any closures, they just take your money! (typical French service)

St Gervais/Megeve near Chamonix is worth a punt too.

The damn thing worked just fine last night. Why should this happen today, and what could be causing it?

Why shouldn’t it happen today?

The fuse blowing is caused by a short circuit in the kettle. It’s defective!

Can you explain chaos theory for us?

Epic thread!!

Those youtube “spider bite” videos were pretty nasty! Then it took me on to the Bot fly videos – ewww!

Gary, I’m sorry to hear that you are feeling so crappy!

If it’s any consolation, my whole family have suffered with a series of viruses over this winter. They have been gastric and chesty viruses. I had asthma as a result of these which lasted for 6-8 weeks. I used to get asthma from time to time and after seeing the doctor recently, was lead to believe I’d end up on inhalers for the long term. This proved not to be so. This bout of asthma went on for weeks and I don’t usually bother seeing a doctor. It lingered on until it suddenly cleared up.

My advice is don’t worry about it. It will pass. Your GP should have told you there has been a lot of this going around.

Doctor’s these days are all too ready to prescribe medicines. Years ago they told my wife she had arthtiris and that this would become a debilitating life long illness. You can imaging how we all felt! A year or so later it went and 18 years on there have been no recurrences.

My friend gave up smoking a while ago and put on weight. he also gave up cycling. He has seen his GP a few times about high blood pressure and is on his second type of drugs. There are all sorts of side effects and he’s taking other medicines to counteract these side effect. I can’t help thinking that this toxic coctail is not helping, possibly making things worse. I suggested to him that he takes a very close look at his diet and starts a gentle, but regular exercise regime. However, the doctor advised him not to exercise unless he wanted a stroke or and heart attack. This friend is my age, just 45.

Where anxiety and depresion are concerned, this is another scenario where pills get dished out willy nilly, but with no other treatment. Counselling can be useful and some self-help is highly recommended (try a book called “Manage Your Mind” – gives people strategies for dealing with all manner of pressures).

The probelm with being on medication for anxiety and depression is that it’s always a long term thing. As a patient with no counselling, one is left feeling like a casualty. Conversely, too much counselling and digging up of things that really are not relevant can lead to the creation of further issues and/or the perpetuation of the condidtion feeling the way you do. You could even end up feeling worse. It’s almost as if these people are dragging things our to keep themselves in a job!

E.G. I have a friend who has been getting family group therapy about his wayward son. He realised after a few uncomfortable sessions when he overran his timeslot, that the counsellor was just there for the money. He stopped these sessions and now everyone in the family is getting back to normal.

A study of people in america who sufferd a traumatic event and who got counselling, came off worse than those who suffered the same event, but just got on with their lives!

My advice is therefore to get this book, learn some strategies. Identify the triggers and learn how to manage these. Pills won’t make much difference (if any) and your GP is too busy to give you the attention you might need.

It’s a fact that many many more people feel like you do, but the majority haven’t got the balls to do anything about it! People are scared witless about mental illness. This is stupid because we all feel like this from time to time. You are not loosing your marbles, you just feel down. Anxiety is just worry and depression is just sadness. For severe cases where feelings of hopelessness set in, you need support. The trick is to identify the triggers before such an episode and to deploy a strategy to prevent this. Get this book I recommend.

Stuff anyone that ridicules this condiditon, or perpetuates all the myths! Rememeber that you are really no different from anyone else.

Hope you feel better soon!

All the best!

BTW, my father was a GP and he held a similar view about over prescribing etc

I’d go for a base rate tracker offset. Interest and capital repayment. Aim to borrow 3 times your salary. Anymore and life will become a drudge paying bills all the time.

When I took out my first mortgage 2.75 times your salary was the norm (plus 1x the second if you were a couple).

Times have changed and the whole stupid mess of inflated house prices has come about because lenders were allowed to throw any amount of money at borrowers. Only a few people realised a profit from cheap loans, but then most of these people were speculating for profit, not just buying a home to live in. Their greed inflated prices for the rest of us. Of course some have inadvertently just got lucky, but you don’t have the equity until you have sold the property.

The perceived value in property gave people a feel good factor, but it is just funny money. Having high house prices makes it much more expensive and difficult to move up the ladder, regardless of how much equity you have.

Good luck!

Norfolkline Dover-Dunkerque. Watch out for the economic migrants tho. 😉

They should go back to the old method; personal contact over the phone. Invite candidates for interview. Have a face to face meetings with clients. Agents that specialised and knew the business they were selling into.

These days it’s a huge spamming and word search exercise managed by a lot of people who are all puffed up with self-importance. They know very little about the people they select and the business need of the clients they serve.

If you want a job, forget agents, NETWORK with anyone you can think of.

Shimano XT M770 rapidfire shifters, M771 front mech and M772 rear mech. The best shifters for the money period! Alloy paddles, quick, positive, quiet. Look damn good too.

Shimano have been at this game a long time now. I find their stuff works.

For long descents you need something up to the job for your weight. Sintered pads are no good for long descents because the metal content promotes oveheating. Green, or even red pads are best. Gold (sintered) are designed for longevity.

I’m 16st and 165mm Hope rotors “cooked” and buckled uder the heat of an hour’s descent in the Alps. They’d return to their normal shape when cool, but these were way too small.

I then bought and fitted 185mm rotors and these were ok.

Last year I switched bikes and on this were 203mm rotors. These worked well, but still got extremely hot. The metal is permanently discoloured now.

For riding cross country in the UK, almost anything will do unless you are doing long descents.

If I had the cash for a UK only XC bike i’d fit a 160/165mm with sintered pads.

If you have a reserve, just tell ppl.

There are loads of adverised jobs. Try getting shortlistd for any of them! A complete mystery!

Well probably adverts just to encourage candidates to upload CV’s

Boot and Nuke free download

Give the HD a military standard wipe (7 passes)

Cash or cheque, but people are often too impatient or cant be bothered with posting a letter. Paypal is a rip off anf their customer service is weak – just like eBay.

Erradication of a clinical defect can hardly be labelled as eugenics!!

Eugenics is a flawed idea. I believe in Darwin’s theories of evolution, but he was often misunderstood. The phrase “survival of the fittest” was abused by journalists and Darwin found himself in the midst of a big controversy about religion and how this potentially could undermine the establishment. He endured a lot of ridicle from people who were frankly, ignorant! Darwin wanted to keep his thory secret until after his death because he feared what it might lead to.

Darwin actually believed in survival of the most adaptable, which makes absolute sense. Eugenics is the stuff of intolerant meglomaniac dictators and true to Darwin’s own theories, these people have all failed – GOOD! They never understood the science!

The influencial people of history who hijacked Darwin’s ideas and twisted them to their own political ends did nothing but wreak havoc and suffering on humanity!

An adaptable society needs a mix of different personalities/traits. Variety is an essential part of what makes us what we are. It is because we all have different strengths that we compliment one another. This collectively makes us stronger and more adaptable than any other species.

If Eugenics were applied, we would all become clones, loose our adaptability and ultimately this would finish us off.

What’s so attractive about this side of the Channel?

1) We are generally soft.

2) Our ancestors plundered a lot of other countries. The population of the modern developing world perhaps think that we owe them something. Nobody alive today had anything to do with these injustices, but we English still get our ears bent about it regularly – it’s very tiring and after 40 years I can say hand on heart I feel no guilt for what some person did centuries ago (rightly or wrongly) when values and life were totally different to what they are today. There are always two sides to a story anyway! Folklore, like all other methods of communication is subject to a sequential distortion over time.

3) GENUINE asylum seekers get treated well here because we subscribe to international agreements on human rights (enforcement is our no. 1 hobby in the uk). If only a few other countries could take a leaf out of our book. I guess this stems from our innate need to be fair and perhaps some sense of guilt about the past on the part of our “do-gooder” “PC” “enforcement obsessed” authories. Or am I being too harsh? 😆

I nominate me! (can’t believe I haven’t been mentioned already)

I guess robdob needs a mention too for bringing up such a topic.

BTW, I am the same in real life as on here. Just add lager! 😆

If money is an issue I’d agree with cp about the crossing. 30 mins longer crossing, but much less traffic Frenchside. I’d use Norfolkline again.

We have driven to the Alps many times. Accor hotels are cheap to stop off at. Formule One being the cheapest, but no ensuite. You can let yourself in with the card you made the booking with if you arrive late. We stop at Dijon or Albertville.

If you plan to arrive in resort on a Saturday, my advice is get as close as you can to the Alps, or set off by 6AM.

We tried sleeping in the car once, but it was cold and uncomfortable. Didn’t get much sleep. These cheap rooms have a double bed with a single bunk above.

We have done three Valleys door to door a few times, but it’s a bit of a schlepp. Leave by 7am from London and you should be there by mid evening.

4×4 dirvers who want to go offroading on this sort of terrain should find designated offroad tracks. The rights of way act should put pay to this wanton vandalism.

MTB’er should also give due consideration to these environments (avois riding when it is has been excessively wet (use the road), but one bloke in a car will do more damage than 1000 MTB’ers.

I suspect the violent thugs that use motocrossers and 4×4’s don’t limit their aggression and lawbreaking to these remote places. Let’s hope they get their comeuppance. But then we have to tolerate **** like this all the time. The only language they will ever understand is being beaten to within an inch of their lives. No fair minded normal person is comfortable with giving them what they dish out, so this crap perpetuates!

Reminds me of the early 80’s when I was assembling and wiring up the weapon control system for the Jaguar. A difficult, but satisfying task.

In the days when we still made things!

Don’r ever buy a bike from them! Their staff are clueless and/or disengaged.

The last time I went in there, the bloke at the counter sat staring at his computer and ignored me for a full 2 minutes – similar to the previous trip there. I wrote and complained about his surly attitude. I was trying to resolve their mistake regarding an online purchase which I had regrettably made from Halfords online. They sent the wrong unit. Halfords were spectacularly useless on all counts – AVOID!

They sent me some vouchers for wasting my time.

Support your local bike shop!

must remember “0.1304”!

My council tax has gone up £300. I thought we were in recession!

I expect it’s all those index linked pensions they have to pay for.

We’ll keep paying coz we have to.

Thanks for that. You have just reminded me I need to cancel one of my mobile phone contracts with Vodafone!

The message of putting litter in the correct place was drummed into us at school some 30 plus years ago.

Some people are too stupid to realise the sheer mess they are making of our environment for their breathtaking laziness.

I rode a 16 mile loop yesterday. The verges on the busier sections were littered with beer cans, sweet wrapped, takeaway cartons and all manner of detritis.

I propose a £1000 fine for littering or 200 hours community service if you haven’t got the cash.

Too many selfish idiots out there need teaching a lesson.

I don’t yearn for cake when I am on big rides, I yearn for beer!

Does this mean I am not a proper cyclist?

Sounds like an idylic lifestyle! Ages 2 and 3.5 yrs is a good time with kids. They are cute and relatively easy to manage. As they will quickly grow up this time will pass. You will suddenly realise that golden time is gone and you will be left with demanding, but non-communicative teenagers who have a spectacular ability to empty your wallet (but I wouldn’t have it any other way :wink:)

Enjoy it why it lasts.

Live for the day!

Isn’t free parking available, or being introduced in Scotland?

Hospital parking charges are immoral.

I paid to park while my father died. Four days at £6 a day (Norwich). I didn’t give it a thought until after the event. The hospital must have made £100 out of us all being there (several cars as we all live in different directions and a long way).

Imagine having a longterm sick relative and being strapped for cash??

It used to be free to park in a hospital car park. If Scotland gets this privilidge and we have a true National Health System, the same should happen across the country.

I’m not holding my breath.

Top tip 😉 – only fill the kettle with the water you require. A kettle for one cup of water takes 40 seconds to boil. A full kettle takes 3 minutes. You will save 2minutes 20 seconds and 1.1p each time you boil up. For an average household this is £16 a year. 9.33 minutes wasted each day adds up to a staggering 56 hours a year.

Small savings all add up. I have reduced my electicity consumption by 10% year on year. Mainly by switching off lights and unused appliances.

Things like fan heaters, cookers and tumble dryers get through lots of energy.

Reducing office usage is almost impossible and the rates you are paying are shocking.

Utility privatisation was sold to us by Thatcher’s government as giving the customer choice and cheaper prices due to the introduction of competition. It was all supposed to be regulated too. (no i’m not pro-labour or pro-liberal btw)

All I can see are companies concocting the most complicated tariffs, with restrictive terms, being able to contractually lock us into bad deals which only serve to boost their margins.

It feels like we are the mugs to be taken advantage of and the regulator lets them get away with it.

Why can’t the regulator grow a set of balls and force these companies to charge one price for their energy, regardless of how and when a customer pays? (like it used to be – bar economy seven) Contracts should be be no more than 30 days and rolling.

If an energy company truly believes in offering a competitive deal, it wouldn’t need to create such a minefield.

Basically. all these energy firms are conning us!

I switched from N-Power last month. They were penalising me for my loyalty by not automatically switching me to a better tariff when one was introduced. When they asked me why I was leaving I told them that they should automatically keep their customers on the best deal. They told me that the onus was on me to go online and make the switch, but at no stage did they tell me a better deal was available, or suggest that i could do this. I only discovered they had 14 different tariffs when i went online to seek a different supplier.

I’m resigned to the fact that unless you keep tabs on absolutely everything you pay for these days, you’re gonna get screwed! Most people are too busy or simply don’t realise this, but what a lot of hassle! There is no customer care, no concept of customer with these firms. Only the agile avoid these scams, the rest pay.

Many are buying log burners and finding alternatives. I can only see this trend increasing.

The problem is we spunked away the proceeds of North Sea oil instead of investing in nuclear energy. We flogged everything off to foreign companies and now buy most of our energy from Russia and France. Strategically, the UK is is a weak position, so expect energy prices to stay high and then increase.

I’m sorry Mark!

Brilliant web forum though – I never ranted so much in all my life! 😆

Been MTB’ing in Chamonix, St Gervais, Megeve, Vallorcine, Verbier, Les Gets (queues and crowds), Morzine(queues and crowds), Flaine – All accessible to one another within about an hours drive. Stay in cheap apartments like pierre et vacances. Chamonix to Martigny is a good day out. 45 miles and 5000 plus feet of climbing.

Paradiski – Les Arcs and La Plagne are great too. Many lifts shut on a Saturday so this would suit your uphill desires. Can ride all the way from the top right to the valley floor and back up by the river if you stay at Bourg-Saint-Maurice. Make sure the doubledecker cable car is running which links the two resorts.

There is some good riding round Grenoble and 50 mins away by car is Alpe Duez, which is also a good one.

Been doing this every summer since 1999. Awesome holidays!

I think we should have the French Alps on the grounds that we would appreciate them more.

Let’s not continue this argument, coz that’s all it will remain – an argument.

Burn all newspapers and let’s talk about the benefits of the increased diversity of breast types brought about by the influx of migrant female workers

Probably to remind tired parents who are smokers, not to leave their lighter lying around before they go to bed. Very young kids have a have a habit of waking up super early and could set the house on fire while the parents are still asleep.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/nicubunu/2777050485/

Don’t you know they have genetically engineered a variety of cucumber specifically for women?

So I went for a jump session on the big bike today. Part way through it I notice my headset is a bit stiff when turned more than 45° left (fine everywhere else). I get home and strip it down…

Is that a fragment of metal I see sitting on the crown race in the first picture?

Maybe the jumping cracked a ball bearing, crown race cage, or some other part of the headset. If you’d had grit in there prior to this you would have noticed it was very stiff and noisy.

Bad luck!

Hope you can get a new steerer/crown/fork leg assy. They look like RS so give Scott at Fisher Outdoors a ring. (St Albans in Herts).

High Viz jackets: Florecent bit doesn’t show up at night, the reflective bit does.

I have reflective material on my shoes, backpack and jacket. The road bike is bright yellow – not that this makes a huge difference.

Hi-viz jackets are a sensible thing to wear and only cost a couple of quid, but there is always the option of a properly tailored hi-viz cycling top/ jacket for daytime riding. Buy the kit and don’t look like a twit!

In my view, riding at night on rural roads is safer because there is less traffic – most people are watching telly or going to bed. You can see when a vehicle is coming (in either direction). If i’m on a fast bit of road, it gives me warning and the opportunity to get out of the way, or stop. The downside of night riding is the drunken yob element driving back from a night out.

LMFAO @ jojoA1

Get the kit or look like a twit!