crazylegs – Schleck lost most of the time on the descent (think he was 15 secs down on top of mounntain) – he's not the best descender by his own admissions, and Contador had Sanchez going full tilt to try and get some time on Menchov and dragged him into yellow.

The irony is that those beefy bottom brackets to stop flex are so chunky tha you can fit that dogfang onto the seattube.

Wouldn't fancy being Schlecks mechanic tonight….

Was speaking to an police inspector the other day. She was complaining that they in the past if someone got pulled for for being, say, drunk they'd just have a word in the shell-like, maybe a night in the cells and they'd be on their way. Now they are being forced to do them for something so it looks like they've 'solved' a crime and hit targets.

It's all manipulation. More 'crime' being solved blah blah blah.

Don't think it was the headbutting that got Renshaw thrown out – I think the fairly cynical turn, look and force Farrar into the barriers was the one that did him. That could have been fatal at those speeds.

Note:- you'll only be able to run 700c wheels in a 26" frame if they are disk. The canti studs will be in the wrong place for the different size rims, though I think Mavic do some adaptors to make them fit.

Also CX wheels tend to be 130mm (road width) hubs and mtb are 135mm width, so again fitting to your new CX frame might be a problem.

It was depressing to find out they still averaged something stupid like 39.5kph on that mountain stage.

Of course, when I was in my prime last month I did the entire Tour route at 50+ kph average without stopping. Well, I lie. I stopped once to point out to Contador what he was doing wrong up some Alp :wink:

They have had a few shots of the cameraman peeking over the motorbike riders shoulder at the speedo. It was bordering on 90kph!

I agree the guy has come across as a bit of a kn0b in previous tours but I saw him give a brief interview in this years tour and fair dos to him – he really does seem to respect the rainbow jersey and what it and the tour stand for.

What a mental finish!!!!

Hora – Lance doing okay today. Thinks he's in group four on road. Don't think he's crashed today :roll:

I lost a bit of respect for Wiggins when he jumped ship from previous team after they'd taken a risk on him. Think he's playing it a bit too "kool for skool" at moment, he's getting into Cadel territory….

Yep, I have every sympathy with Voight. Been there, got the t-shirt on that one!!!

Schlecks gonna have to start practicing his time trialing for next year i think….

Higgo – Astana just put in a big team effort, Vino blasted off the front of peleton looking to catch the leading group of 3 (and then promptly came back). Just think the sustained pace dropped Evans off the back.

There'll be loads of reasons why stages are 'designed' like they are. Even down to the finishing town putting a good 'bid' in for the finish I imagine.

Don't want it too unfair – can't have every stage being either a bunch sprint or a beast of a climb – would always imply a climber would win the tour. They always like to mix it up – team time trials, longer time trials (not many this year).

Unless you descend like me, then getting over the top of the last mountain first is gonna give you a good chance.

what race were you watching? sky and then astana were on the front all day.

Sky went up the first big climb like a team possessed – think that was a mistake for them and Wiggins. Didn't see them at all on the last climb and I watched it all.

My point was more Sanchez was nowhere to be seen in the climb, Schleck was always in top couple of riders (normally behind Contador), it's a bit silly for people to complain that Sanchez towed Schleck the last 250 metres and therefore deserved the win himself. He wouldn't have even been in that position if Schleck hadn't made the break with 750m to go.

Don't forget there's nothing stopping you popping on a domestic flight. It was pennies for us a couple of years ago to fly into Las Vegas one way from San Fran. Just pick up a new rental car when you land.

How little walking? Grand Canyon can be seen from the car park but that's not really the point of it! Hoover Dam is on the way from Vegas, worth a little stop there too.

Sanchez towed Schleck to the line

Yeah, cos Schleck didn't tow him up the previous 20km of the climb or anything….

Stupid question – you were spending over £25 weren't you? You get that kinda message if you've tried to use a voucher that requires a minimum spend

Gonna be my choice of weapon for sportive next year.

Best of both worlds – you get the speed from using some nice slicks (just found out my 29er wheels should take 24/25c tyres) and low gearing for those tricky hills where you can just pootle over them rather than being a 'man' on a road bike and either killing yourself trying/getting off and pushing.

Only real disadvantage I would suggest is probably less comfort up front – always nice on road bars with the different hand positions you can use, limited a little with flat/riser bars. Though I'm sure some bar ends would help.

How far is the commute?

The XT cassette is on an alloy carrier which IIRC sticks out a bit past the biggest cog, so it could well have been fouling the spoke protector.

I'd have a fiddle with gearing first, shifting should work even with a 'worn' cassette, it's more the chain slipping and skipping teeth whilst in gear I find with a bad worn chain/cassette combo.

Just spin the freewheel by hand without the chain on it – make sure the smallest cog isn't wobbling – it's easy to put it on the wrong spline sometimes when fitting and not notice as it doesn't sit very far onto the freehub.

That torq anchors website also has good quality long chains. They got an excellent write-up in the Cycling+ mag IIRC.

Mate flogged his Astra to them, he got pennies for it but he was desperate.

Can you afford 6 months rent to only live there, say, four months?

Does sanity/private place to crash/other benefits outweigh maybe the extra costs (or would it still work out cheaper than doing a hotel for four months?).

Yep, I've got Santander and Halifax c/accs with £1000 bouncing back and forth between them. Halifax pay a flat £5 for paying in a grand so it's there for a day, then gets put back into Santander which is paying something daft like 5%.

I think the only 'bad' thing about multiple c/accs is credit rating if I remember (vaguely).

he listing was due to end this evening at 8pm. The buyer chose the buy it now option… at 4am!

Thought he'd treat himself to a new phone after losing his old one whilst out celebrating Englands win?

As long as you do everything by the book you should be fine. Check Paypals rules. If it's signed for to prove delivery and you've got details of the phone then IIRC they can't even clawback the money via credit card company.

Oh, and moving the money into your back account doesn't make it 'safe'. If Paypal decide they want it back then they'll want it back regardless where it is, though obviously it's easier for them if it's in Paypal. Ever paid via Paypal without finds in your account – comes straight out of your c/acc….

Gary_m – yes, IIRC that'll be it for AM/FM.

There'll be a lot of car owners driving around listening to cassettes from the 80s!

If you fancy titanium try Enigma….

First bad day with it yesterday. Thankfully had sense to keep me sunglasses on all night until I got in. I seem to be avoiding the runny nose so far but the feeling rubbish bit isn't nice.

My rule of thumb on any eBay bike is that at least one thing will need replacing. If it's a specific bit up for auction, like a shifter or a rear mech I'd expect it to work.

If you'd have replied straight away I'd have taken your side, the two week delay until after the invoice would just look so dodgy to me if I were in his shoes.

Pay up, man up and decide what feedback you want to give him/her, though if you do give negative he will/should add his comment to it that you didn't contact him about the faults until after you were invoiced for something he did as a favour to you (postage).

If you listen to the radio bear in mind there are switching off non-digital broadcasts relatively soon so if it ain't got DAB consider your options.

There is a company that will take them all and sell them on eBay for you, take a commission and give you the rest. Can't remember the name though….

But, as warned above, I'd make a copy of your harddrive if that's 20 years of CDs you've got ripped.

Oh, and if you haven't rip them lossless quality, can always burn them back on to CDs for the car etc. if required.

Getting a list is fairly easy if you are windows savvy – How to do a list – won't be perfect but it'll do 95% of the work for you.

Edura seem to think all XL people have ankles like tree trunks. Their waterproof longs are so flappy round the ankles on me that they are rediculous.

Two pairs of MT500 shorts gave up the ghost. The 2nd pair didn't have half the clickfast poppers on them but I could be chewed to send them back.

I'm willing to accept their road stuff is 'better' and good luck to them but I'll not be forming a queue to get it.

Just don't feel the urge to use a small kids battery powered toy car on the way back from the pub. IIRC someone got done for drunk driving in one of those!

North Korea – apparently they won't get to watch their defeat by Brazil until today as during the game they were treated to an hilarious comedy called Echo of Mountain, a comedy based on farmers' attempts to boost grain output….

IIRC Shimano road external bbs have a smaller diameter axle than their mtb equivalents. Maybe length okay but, erm, girth not right and hence causing the wobbling?

To be fair there are three things I won't buy on eBay – s/hand chains, cassettes and bottom brackets – what I would class as disposable items, use 'em 'til they break then dump 'em.

Easy for a new cassette to do a 'few' miles with a knackered chain to spanner it.

Main reason is for certain countries you can get an equivalent "recorded delivery" signed for sort of thing but Latvia etc. seems a little more lax on things like that and then you've got no legs to stand on if buyer pulls a fast one and says things aren't delivered, gets his/her money back and you can't even leave bad feedback even though you know its a scam.

Plus it's a different cost for different countries. It's all a bit of a faff and I'm just lazy and stick with UK only.

Still didn't stop some guy from Latvia buying a frame of mine (before I sorted the eBay settings properly), saying he'd pay, then his mate might be in the UK and would pop over to collect it, then could I post it.

And hopefully not a parking ticket.

The bottom inpesctors were out on force booking everyone who parked on the grass verges outside the rugby club when I cycled past…..

You'll probably find all the talented "council house" individuals either worked their way up, or founded very successful companies and no doubt get paid vastly more than the PM and his chums!

Maybe the argument could be that the less a decision affects them the more people can be more rational about it. Maybe that's a bit cold blooded and simplistic I know.

I took about a 20% paycut by going 4 days a week. Means I get the weekend to enjoy life with the kids and get out on the bike, then Mondays is doing the jobs around the house. Really enjoying it.

Maybe you could consider if they would let you do the same work but maybe reduced hours – would an extra day back in UK make it better for you?