Just a thought, but how about using the money you’d be paying to your LBS to buy a track pump! :D

Yup, Iona boiled hers in Les Arcs. This was on a very long, continuously steep fall-line descent of a kind you’re very unlikely to see in the UK though! 180mm rotors BTW.

Was quite annoying since I’d just persuaded her to get new brakes as her 160mm Deores were “a bit under-specced for life in the Alps…”

Oh aye, and yet another vote for Crucial.

To get rid of static, best way is to wear an anti-static strap (wee wrist band that plugs into a mains outlet!), but you can do it almost as well by grabbing something metal that’s earthed. Taps would do the job.

Left foot forward on a bike, regular snowboarder. Makes sense I guess.

Bit different from the above, but we MIGHT be looking for a chalet chef for the summer.

Cook hot breakfast and dinner, help out with change-over day, bit of driving. Food, drink, bed & beer money provided plus all the mountain biking you can handle.

Previous experience a big advantage, but equally there’s no need to be a michelin starred chef. Driver’s license essential, some French an advantage.

Website & contact details in profile.

Fire-road? Are you sure you were going the right way??

Agree with previous posts, drops are the only thing that gives me that buzz on a bike. Not a kayaker, but I’m a pretty fair snowboarder and have done some pretty gnarly stuff over the years.

Nothing quite like the buzz from those scary turns in a mega-steep couloir with rock walls very close, then the rush when you shoot out the bottom onto (hopefully!) some wide-open pow!

Sounds good Ash, I might think about entering myself! Nice way to end the summer season.

swadey:

Lance definitely took EPO as part of the cancer treatment (openly discusses it in his book, including how it would normally be a banned substance). Whether traces could be found in testing or not is a different story.

You wouldn’t like it. :twisted:

What happens in this eventuality should be made clear when you sign up for the scheme.

FWIW, I left before the end of mine. Same result as chakaping, except I had to pay the nominal purchase amount (£35 I think).

Always seems to be a “problem” with Hayes 9’s, no matter what brand of pads you use (Hayes included). They always wear in after a ride or 2.

Agree with srrc, they’re touring boots, not alpine skiing boots. You will struggle on them unless you’re a very good skier.

Have seen a lot of people who were very good skiers have a right ‘mare on their first day on touring boots.

higgo: The stuff in La Thuile mostly only appeared last summer, genuinely down to the work of one bloke with a spade! It’s great, but I wouldn’t suggest a week there. Works well for us as part of a week’s riding over a wider area.

How would one propose keeping it calibrated? Go down the local engineering workshop and ask to use their kit?

Sounds like you ran right past our old flat! That used to be my old running route – down Anniesland road, along Southbrae Drive to Crow Road, up to the cross, back down Anniesland Road. Repeat as necessary!

Courmayeur’s actually a fair distance from Pila, but it’s very close to La Thuile. La Thuile runs 2 chairs in the summer, which access a dozen or so sweet hand-made singletrack trails.

Some info and photos on our site.

Should be fine, check you set the polarity right though.

To be honest, I’ve never seen the need or perceived advantage – including several years spent working as a maintenance engineer!

They just get in the way. People who like huge tool benches organised to OCD level seem to like them.

Definitely get lessons, if you’re up there for 2 days (and funds allow), I’d suggest getting 2 half-day lessons. It’ll make a really big difference to your progression. Trying to start from scratch with no lessons at all is hopeless, you’ll waste your two days.

I snowboard and ski, overall I’d say skiing is easier to learn, but I’d been snowboarding 10 years before I learned to ski so already knew a lot about edging, speed, balance, etc. by then.

Just to drop back in… Nevis Range is usually the best for avoiding queues, has the most reliable lift system and has some of the best off-piste terrain anywhere.

Seriously, I’ve been snowboarding 10 years, am on my 4th season in proper mountains, done well over 400 days on a board and I would still happily count 2-3 days at Nevis (and Glencoe) among my best days ever.

Roquefort
Beaufort
Reblochon

Check us out too: http://www.whiteroomchalet.com

Chairlift & van-assisted mountain-biking, everything from DH tracks to remote, Alpine singletrack. Long, flowy singletrack descents are what we’re most into.

All sorts of other things to do nearby: climbing, walking, parapenting, white-water stuff, via ferrata….

Unfortunately, this always happens in Scotland when there’s snow in the rest of the country. If there’s 2cm of snow in Glasgow/Edinburgh, everyone goes skiing, even though there may only be the same 2cm in the mountains. If there’s 3ft of snow in the ski resorts, but it’s raining in Glasgow/Edinburgh, you’ll have the mountain to yourself.

So let’s get this straight, you want a refund on 8 month-old brake pads?

Are you having a giraffe?

To run it with 20mm more sag will mean having a very soft spring-rate in the fork, so you’ll go through the travel quicker.

CRC is free for orders over £100 (100€?).

As Spesh99 says, it’s excellent. One big up (with some very technical climbing) and one big down, but there’s nothing wrong with that!

Could you read your source range into an array variable at the start of your VBA procedure, then cross reference from there?

It’ll cost about £10-£20. There isn’t really a better way, unfortunately.

20/20!

Eagle-eyed visitors to our website may note that I’ve only recently learnt to spell “accommodation” though. Was stoked when that one came up!

Oh aye, misread the direction you were going in. PJ266 is right!

You’d have a slightly lower bottom gear. Slightly bigger gaps between some of the gears. You probably won’t notice any difference.

You may need a slightly longer (one link) chain, but probably not.

Second pk-ripper, you’re going to be doing a LOT of maths. I don’t think your idea of incorporating your day job into project work is much of a goer. We didn’t do major projects until 4th/5th year (Scottish degree, not free in a Christmas cracker like an English one :wink:).

Also as pk says, it’s one of the most time-intensive degrees to do, we were effectively doing a 9-5 day for most of our Uni time, occasional afternoons free depending on lab rotas and stuff.

You may find you’re able to use your existing experience/qualifications to skip some practical classes.

Overall, I’d say it would be very tough or take a very long time to do a Mech Eng degree part-time.

Brant has a mech eng degree? Doesn’t he just glue tubes together and hit them with a hammer to see if they’re strong enough? :D

Maybe not the cheapest, but Snowcard are excellent.

With anyone else, read the small print very, very carefully. Especially regarding cover off-piste.

Try Snowcard, DogTag and the BMC (although you need to be a member).

Had to claim with DogTag and they were just OK, not brilliant. Heard very good reports about claiming with Snowcard and BMC.

Those tend to be the 3 which have the best “extreme sports” cover.

As andym says, I did loads of swiss ball work to rehab my back. I was in a rigid plastic corset for 12 weeks while my back healed and by the end of that my core was shot.

Could recommend particular swiss ball exercises, but basically all of them are good! You can get one for home for pretty cheap (<£30) and there’s loads of exercise programs on the web for using them.

Any “normal” exercise (sit-ups, press-ups) becomes much, much harder when done on the ball, so be prepared to be humiliated at first!

My accident happened in July and my final visit to the specialist (neurologist) was just before Christmas. From previous sessions, I knew the types of range-of-movement tests he used to assess me, so I trained quite specifically towards those tests so that he would pass me fit to snowboard that winter! Got away for a trip over New Year and there was good powder. Bouncing up and down through powder turns hurt like hell, but I was loving every minute of it!

Broke my back (tranverse process fractures on L3, L4 & L5). Back riding (and snowboarding, climbing, etc.) stronger than ever within a year.