I have a pair of Zondas, I’m 82 kgs and I havent had them flexing yet and have been up some good steep hills including a cat 2 in North Wales where I was leaning on everything to get up without stopping, technique went out of the window that day!. I was so scared of using them at first though, the front looks weeny with just 16 spokes and the rear has just 6 on the non-drive side but they are strong and just fly. Really good wheels for £300.

My usual rides are around South Glos lanes which arent the best, they have stayed true all winter though.

always buy complete – you get much better value as the bike company is buying 1000’s of groupsets, wheels and finishing kits at heavily discounted “OE” pricing

I dont agree with this, if you use the internet retailers to get massive discounts off parts as abnd when they have sales, you’ll save a fortune. When you buy a complete bike, you are paying for every little piece of the supply chain adding on their 10% from importer to distributor, retail outlet etc etc… my road bike would retail around £3000 and I paid almost £1000 less than that.

I’d get the Boardman, I had a 2008 boardman road team and it was a great bike. unless you have another £1500 to spend on the Scott to do the frame justice. You just couldnt buy it and stick Tiagra and RS10 wheels on it. A few people who bought the discount scotts from Westbrook have said they are very stiff and that from people who regularly ride high end carbon road frames.

It should be Contador vs Froome but there are so many other good riders who will make it a very entertaining tour without really having a chance of ousting those two.

Thibault Pinot is in cracking form so he’ll be one to watch on the mountains, being French and all that 100th edition thing he will be chased by Voeckler who will also want the mountain stages, especially the Bastille Day summit finish on Ventoux!, Jeremy Roy, Monfort, Ciolek appears to be riding well too, Van Garderen will probably lead BMC when Evans burns out at the start of the 3rd week and could be a top 5 finisher, Roche should finish in the top 15.

Throw in the likes of Sagan, Mollema, Fugslang (who was very impressive in the Dauphine), Dan Martin, Millar, Hushovd et al and its going to be fireworks right from the off with loads of possible stage winners.

Personally I’m glad Wiggo isnt riding, Froome should win it, Porte and Uran have been awesome this year and I think Sky have a stronger team than Saxo Bank so Contador will be reliant on Rogers and Sosrenson who just arent as strong. When it comes to one to one on the summit finishes, Froome can take Contador with those final km attacks.

Good point, as Conti are always telling us Tony Martin won on clinchers at the last Worlds…

Very rarely can tubular tyres be repaired at the roadside. Most users will use super sticky double sided tape like Jantex rather than glue as that makes getting a tyre off easier, carry a spare and repair the puncture at home. Thus they are really only used in races or by madmen!

I did something similar for another forum, its as complicated as you want to make it.

http://www.groupaccomodation.com has loads of suitable self catering places and camp sites are easy enough to find. A campsite owner may even find a corner for you so you are aware from the others and dont annoy anyone after a few beers.

I made the booking on the gentlemens promise that those who had said “aye” on the forum thread were coming and committed to paying the costs even if they dropped out. No ifs, no buts. Two nights accomodation was £25 so it wasnt like people would lose out if they couldnt make it.

They transferred the cash and I used OS maps, google earth and then mapmyride to create the routes. There are loads of routes already on websites like MMR and the person uploading it is not liable for any accidents or damage!! Circular routes are best with the luxury of cut off points if people are flagging.

End result was 18 people had a great weekend and an annual event was born.

Fundamentally, accomodation will always be an issue as folk will be travelling to the ride so some will want to get there the night before, then you want a few beers that night! So they either take responsibility for that themselves or you give them some suggestions so you are all together post-ride. The internet has made all this sort of thing dead easy.

I appreciate People like organised events because there is a breakdown wagon, a safety net if its cancelled or something similar. We just made sure there were enough in the group with enough gear/spares to cover most eventualities so we had a few pumps and tubes, spare chain etc between the lot of us. Alternatively you just say, be self sufficient etc. If everyone is CTC or BC, then insurance is sorted too.

Most people can find amusing ways to keep themselves occupied after a few beers so I’m sure there will be some impromptu bike-related games in the night etc, as I said everyone likes organised events but people are starting to baulk at paying £30-40 for a sportive on a route that they can ride the week after using a gpx download.

Honestly, its not hard, one person needs to take a modicum of ownership but not to the extent that there is piles of paperwork and liabilities flying around!

Good point, forks are 150mm rockshox revelations…

To be honest, I keep eyeing up a Radon on bike-discount.de which is around £700 and looks like the best solution…

Depends on on the intended use really, are you climbing hills in the Alps, racing, time trialling etc.

If its mostly/solely UK club rides/sportives, little or no racing, I’d go for Campag Neutron Ultras and save £500.

If you really want deep rims, the Fulcrum Red Wind 50mm clinchers are around £800.

I dont think £1000 is a good price point for wheels personally, its not quite enough for something like Zipp 404s and you only need to pay half that for some fantastic low profile alu clinchers.

If you do go for a road bike rather than a CX bike, these two are good value for money. There is a fair bit of competition at that price point though so its actually pretty hard to buy a bad bike for £500.

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/moser-bikes-speed-sora-2013
http://www.wiggle.co.uk/battaglin-s11-sora-2013

I use a Garmin 200 and its great for what I want. The breadcrumb trails are much better than people credit and are easy to follow. Battery life is pretty good, easily enough for 10 hours on the bike, doesnt lose its signal in forests and they have two brackets so you can swop between bikes.

Quite liked Llandegla, take the climb easy and use it to chat with people, then go like the clappers on every section and take the black sections for some properly (to me at least!) brown trouser moments, its all roll-able but its really good fun to push it just a tiny bit as its a really well designed trail. Its about 11kms long so you can easily do back to back laps before visiting the excellent cafe!

13th in the Mens pairs but there is a minor timing cock up between us (308) and Team 306 which may affect positions slightly but regardless of that, we are pretty chuffed to match the same number of laps we did last year with two others as a team of four!

In Nice for the TTT and will head to Cagnes sur mer for the start of the next stage. Can’t wait, will have a big Saltire supporting David Millar (although neither of us are technically Scottish!)

Personally I didnt find it that bad this year, the pace was quick and obviously people were keen to get a move on. As others have said, Ashton Court isnt that wide so doesnt lend itself to overtaking but there are spaces to overtake every 30 seconds or so at the most and there is no excuse for being an arse regardless. Usually when I heard people coming up behind me and I just shouted “on my right” so everyone was aware of the proceedings.

To be honest, I’m always surprised solo riders dont have a number on their back too so anyone coming up behind them knows that after 11 hours of racing, their mental state may be similar to their physical state… It would make a bit of a difference.

Awesome atmosphere though and loads of shouting and support in the event village throughout the day so huge thanks to all involved, the caterers and the air cadets.

A proper warm up is essential. My first race was at Castle Combe on Goo=d Friday and the pace on the first lap was madness. If you dont have rollers or a turbo trainer, you need to really get your legs moving because I was blown out the back of the group on that first lap which I think it was the second or third quickest of the race (which was 12 laps). From memory the average speed was about 39.5km/h, it was cold and there was a big headwind for at least 1/3 of a lap. In a group it would have been ok, as it was, I ended up doing a TT on my own and averaged 35 km/h.

Subsequently I cant help with any of the tactics and things, there was a lot of talking in the group as they came past to lap me on lap 9 or so which I would have found distractinga nd disconcerting. I stayed with them for a bit but the pace upped again as the finish was approaching.

My advice would be to enjoy it regardless of the field and your ability. I definately want to do more races. I bought some rollers the day after the race though, I’m not getting dropped again!.

davidtaylforth – Member

Has no one suggested a bike fit?

But seriously, it’ll make more difference than a new bike.

I did, and recommended a power test too.
There are only so many ways to buy speed, sooner or later you have to stand on the scales and look in the mirror….

You might need to do a power test and see what sort of wattage you are generating to get the optimum frame, then get some professional advice as to what they think will suit. It all depends what sort of average speed you are looking at attaining or whether you want something that can transfer short bursts of power best for sprinting though I guess its the former. Personally I’d look at Cipollini (big budget) or Dolan Ares (smaller budget) but I assume a lot will depend on your weight and power. Your height is an issue too if you are tall and have a broad chest increasing frontal area.

Pros manage to spend 6-7 hours on “race” bikes so all day comfort is as much about spending time getting your contact points in the right position as it is about geometry. I’m surprised people managed to ride 45 miles around the New Forest before sloping top tubes, enormous headtubes and “sportive” geometry…

Its almost a given that the £30 MoT garage will find a few failures/advisories though. Coil springs are a favourite at the moment, pads and discs are always a good one and there are always brake bulbs going, I mean how often do you check yours?…. [/cynic]

I used parcelforce and it was about £16 from Bristol to Warrington. tracking numbers etc, all sorted. Had to take it to the depot myself but that wasnt too much of an issue.

collectmyparcel are worth a look, like a price comparison for courier services.

really happy with my Camapg Zondas for £300 from wiggle. 1550gs and strong enought to cope with my 82kgs and some poor road surfaces. I was very tentative given the G3 spoke pattern but they seem to be fine…

Handbuilts using ultegra hubs and dtswiss 545 rims are worth a look as the rims have a bit of aero-ness to them and the build weight probably wont be much more than 1750gs

American Classic Victory 30s are £350, are <1600gs and people with them seem very happy.

Fulcrum 3s are a common choice but you wont be disappointed.

i run 95-100, its a nice balance between progress and comfort on the shoddy south gloucester roads….

Driver is a muppet for her actions and the tweet.

Cyclist is a muppet for his actions afterwards, his story appears to change and his comments on her facebook page were quite pathetic. Did he come off or not, how do you go over a car bonnet, remain upright and not fall off? He should have kept schtum and held the moral highground. As it is, he has lost a lot of credibility and doesnt appear to have a good lawyer to help him regain any.

I predict she will now be being briefed by an expensive lawyer courtesy of her employer and receieve a caution from the police. Cyclist only has himself to blame that she does not recieve any greter penalty.

Cant help with mtb books but I’ve just finished “The Dirty Dozen” which I enjoyed having never seen the film, it was interesting getting so close to the end before the “action”… I can recommend a few mountaineering books like The Boys of Everest and Into the Silence which are enjoyable, well its mountains….

Only one horror story and I swear this is true. Driving through mid Wales, I stopped at some public toilets in a lay by. That enough is a horro story for some but….. I enter the toilets, pick a cubicle and start reading the walls as you do. One piece of writing catches my eye, something about a wife available for the afternoon and a husband who likes to watch, meet in the car park, yadda yadda…. I read the date and think thats quite recent, look at my watch, its todays date… its about 1430… walk through the car park and sure enough, I see just one other car, inside sat a middle aged man reading a jazz mag and particulary unattractive woman smoking a fag…

Incidentally, the advert on the right is for “A quick release” which given the toilet based conversation did make me chuckle….

I have one of the rainproof jackets which are £15 and its brilliant, packs up small and kept my dry during the Longleat Lionheart Sportive which was hit by snow and rain. The cut is good and it has two vents at the back to keep you cooler.
http://www.decathlon.co.uk/red-rainproof-jacket-3-id_8154027.html

I have two of these jerseys too. For £20 they are superb, the arms are a little thin but thats being picky given the price. Will be perfect for the cooler summer nights. I’m a 36″ waist and a 40″ chest and the Euro “L” fit fine. The blue one is a bit “Team Sky” but the red one is nice.
http://www.decathlon.co.uk/ls-jersey-3-isola-black-blue-id_8216555.html
http://www.decathlon.co.uk/insulat-3-ls-jersey-white-red-id_8216556.html

No idea about their shorts, they looked ok when I saw them in the shop but I am really picky about the pads so stick with what I know is comfy and buy Castelli or Adidas shorts.

Wasnt there a “mouse” at Alton Towers once? that was terrifying, a mix of faded pink paint and rust….

I liked the pirate ship, you have to sit right at the back facing forwards and for about half a second, you are weightless and its a crazy feeling. You are quite high up and it feels like you are lookng straight down. Last time we went Nemesis had just opened and there was a huge queue for it though the boredom of the queue was broken by watching peoples shoes fly off.

z1ppy, no dramas, literature tastes are very personal, I cant imagine many other STWers enjoying Simonen as much as I did….. I have to be honest, the whole zombie fad has passed me by which is probably why I didnt enjoy it but I didnt think that the “first hand accounts” of the zombie outbreaks were particularly well written which is probably what grated me. You probably have to believe it can happen to enjoy it because as fiction, its not that great. Simply put, good idea, poorly executed. I suppose given the stuff I have listed above, its clear that Sci fi, aliens and similar fiction genres arent really my thing!…

[/arts student]

someone took one of my KOMs at the weekend, I only have two now and one of those is downhill so cant really count!… is there a period of grace allowed before attacking it again?! ;) theres two in the area I want though as a measure of my own performance improving, one is a mile long hill, the other is a 10km section on gently undulating road. They are Pomphrey Hill and Wapley Road TT for anyone South Glos based….

Dont bother with “world war z”, its utterly shite. Brooks has milked that so much its a crime. first twenty pages are ok, then its the same thing repeated.

Things I have read and enjoyed recently are;

Englands Lane by Joseph Connolly
The Engagement by Georges Simenon
Under the Dome by Stephen King
Alone in Berlin by Hans Fallada
If you liked school you’ll love this by Irvine Welsh
Reheated Cabbage also by Irvine Welsh (ok, not as good as the one above)

I went through the Ian Rankin’s pretty quickly recently too, actually liked the newer ones with Malcolm Fox more than the John Rebus ones to be honest, is that heresy with Rankin fans?!?!

Reading The Dirty Dozen at the moment, have a few randoms from the Library at the moment and will make a second attempt on “The Book of Dave” by Will Self soon… then its about time I went back to Harry Flashman…. huzzar!…

I feel sorry for cyclists in the new forest at the moment, the hate campaign started by Anita Sibley has manifested itself into something truly horirble.Its going to be awful this summer as motorists seem to believe that the hate campaign is in some way justified. There will be dozens of incidents i nthe new forest this year and hundreds of near-misses.

The Wiggle sportive brought out the worst in both parties though, it staggers me that the anti-cycling mob have a wafer thin agenda, It seems that their whole issue is based on having traffic disruption for a few days a year despite the fact that the whole area is apparently gridlocked in the summer with day trippers driving around. They could only resort to self satisfied smirks by calling us “lycra louts” or “MAMILs” once the myths of road tax and cycling two abreast were nullifed…

However, their issues with litter is one that we as cyclists can resolve ourselves. As someone said, taking a bar/gel will give you enough energy to put the wrapper back in your pocket and not drop it on the floor. In some situations we dont help ourselves…

If I rode there regularly, I would simply invest in a helmet cam and report as many incidents as possible. This is the only way that the motorists attitude in that area will change.

I found people putting tacks in the road at the Wiggle sportive quite amusing though, well not amusing per se but the longer term implications of their actions. The roads and gutters are now strewn with tacks, rusting away, and now posing a considerable threat to wild animals and dog owners, local cyclists and motorcyclists… unless they went out after the event and swept them up?

As I said, it will get worse before it gets better so any cyclists down there have my sympathy. It would be nice if the local MP came out and condemned the actions but I fear a few of the anti-cycling mob have his ear and are inclined to paint a different picture than hte truth…

There are rules regarding kit for BC events but unless the organisers are particularly anal, they won’t be enforced at Cat 4. To me it’s enough to put people off, I just don’t see the point of rules regarding race kit if they want to encourage more people to go racing.

http://www.charleswhittonphotography.com/portfolio302517.html lots of people in club kit but those who weren’t, had all sorts of stuff on.

I find it nice to spend an evening or two in the Priests Hole…

Ahh the joys of living in the West Country, drive 20 miles into Somerset, pick random lane, follow it until you find farm selling dubious orange cloopy liquid in 5 litre containers, pay farmer token sum of money for said liquid, return home, pour a glass and watch worldly problems fade to nought.

“when the moon shines….”

Go for it, they had the chance to enter long before you did. Truth is, they probably didnt want to enter because they arent good enough so left it late on purpose so the race was full and now they can moan and whinge to their hearts content. Would be hilarious if the organisers created a few more entries….

Chapeau!

always annoys me how the bike leg of a triathlon is usually as flat as possible thus a triathlon bike by default is just a tt bike… they really do need to mtfu and try riding up hills.

Does anyone know if the NCN Route 8 South from Dolgellau towards Llanegryn is rideable on a road bike? the OS map shows an white “other road or track” marked with broken lines rather than solid lines so I’m guessing its likely to be hard packed gravel not tarmac? The area i’m interested in is 656133 to 611061 following the “cwm-llwyd”

It’s worth it for Jens Voigt alone…

But the today, the tt, when I started I watched the hailstones hitting my hands and arms and bouncing into the air and I was laughing and yelling at the grey sky “is that all you have, come on and hit me with your best shot”

I had fulcrum 7s which were way better than expected for the price but pretty heavy. They roll well though and took a lot of abuse.

As for custom builds, I’d probaby go for dt swiss rr 585 on 105 hubs.

#49 cuts the corner to sneak ahead of people… boooo!…..but karma noticed this too and throws him into a tree as punishment, hurrah!!!!
The rock garden was pretty slippy and a crowd had gathered baying for blood so walking was quite sensible. Still not convinced its *just* two hours long though…. reckon they have funny clocks oop norf….

Someone recently said they used a small keyring style rape alarm when their bike was in the garage, fairly discreet and hard to spot if you’re a thief in a rush. They grab the bike not knowing the alarm is attached to it, the pin comes out as its wrapped around something else and the alarm goes off. Might put them off if it’s still locked or they don’t fancy riding away with an alarm going off. From memory the actual alarm bit was under the seat. There are loads on ebay like this http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Personal-Anti-Attack-Anti-rape-saftey-Security-Alarm-night-/330720627954?pt=UK_Safety_Alarms&hash=item4d007c4cf2 just replace the straps with fishing line to make it harder to spot