Riding in 2006?

[stevie]

Due to wedding planning commitments and other factors, I didn't manage to get away for any biking weekends in 2005. Therefore in the hope of a busy year of mountain biking in 2006, I thought I should get a little topic running in order to get ideas from everyone. There is plenty on offer to keep us interested.

For instance, the new visitor centre at Coed y Brenin (http://www.forestry.gov.uk/forestry/INFD-6CQHEQ) is under construction and due to open around Easter. It could be worth a springtime ride to see what improvements there are to the facilities and the trails. It's also easy to get to Betws y Coed for those of you who haven't tried the Marin Trail yet.

Further North in Scotland the 7 Stanes (http://www.7stanes.gov.uk/) are becoming well established and include some fantastic trails. I have ridden at Glentress and loved it, but there is a variety of other trails across the Scottish Borders that all sound amazing.

For those adventurous souls who might be tempted to travel further afield, I would love to try a long weekend or a week in the Alps, getting to the tops of mountains via cable cars and chair lifts. It would be great if I could tempt some of you guys to join me.

So please get back to me with your thoughts on riding for 2006. The sooner we can get some ideas together the sooner I can start finding accomodation and making sure the weekends are available.

[andy]

I'd love to go to the Alps or Canada. I guess that would be mid summer though. I'm up for Wales though before then, after my last drive to Scotland I think I would give that a miss, just a bit too far!

I have no firm plans to do anything this year apart from I'm off to Trance Energy near Amsterdam from the 9th-13th Feb, apart from that I should be able to make most stuff.

It will be quite interesting to see if my riding is impaired from damaging my wrist at your wedding! I still have no feeling in my finger and thumb ends - I can still grip with my hand but I can't pick up say a coin as I can't feel the pressure etc. is quite amusing!

[stevie]

Blimey ... I didn't realise you had done so much damage. I thought it was just scarring!

A visit to the Alps would definitely be in the summer. It just seems a great time of year to go there due to the lovely weather. I can't find anything that gives a more detailed estimate for the opening of the new centre at Coed y Brenin than 'Easter'. It could mean the long weekend, in which case it would be 14-17th April. I'm not sure whether planning the trip for the opening weekend would be a good thing (events, guiding, freebies, etc) or a bad thing (overcrowding, accomodation difficulties).

I was therefore thinking that late April or early May might be a good time to go. Please let me know if you spot any better information about when the opening weekend is and what is going on.

[jon]

Alps sounds good to us, although Ruth's turned into a scaredy cat off-road (nothing few dropoffs won't solve :P )

As per usual for this time of year, i'm totally unfit but am up for pretty much anything :)