Where is this? I’m quite close but didn’t know it existed!

Dream rig for sleighing towpaths. Note the rear light thrown in too, uber cool. Has to be a farmyard?

Crank bolts

The beard you mean?

I thought a wombat was a bat to play wom with?

There is a disappointing lack of indigenous species in your garden.

Cracked crank bolt?

Happy Days Chaps!!! 😀

On the weights above I think the reverb one is quoted on the SRAM site as being the shortest drop, shortest body, narrowest version so real life weights are going to be more for the versions most will want.

Exactly, googling around*, I read that the 31.7 150mm is 610g

http://www.artscyclery.com/Rock_Shox_Reverb_Stealth_Dropper_Seatpost_316_150mm_LC/descpage-RSRSP56.html

*beats working on a Monday morning

Nice pics. Went for a ride locally then heading back caught this amazing sunset one way and then a bit further on, the moon the other

RSP is raleigh, Raleigh Special Products http://www.raleigh.co.uk/RSP, http://www.mailorderbikes.com/brands/raleigh_special_product.php

Sportives, especially post Wiggins are OK as long as riders dont wear pro team kit, all of them shave their legs and dont ride bikes like ducks.

The seemingly millions of Team Sky Rapha clad hairy legged carbon multi million £ pedal like a duck riders boil my blood every time I see them.

The gripshifr puts me off. Could they not have a cable operated trigger on each side of rhe bar to pull the gearbox in opposite directions?

Ah, now there’s me thinking it was an automatic! i.e. you pedal and it shifts up, stop/ease off/strain and it shifts down etc. duh

Looks a lot of fun, but generates more questions than answers…
Have you really got a bandstand in your garden?
Do you live in Hawaii?
Do you like ColdPlay that much?
How long are the chain stays?
& are you going to trim the fork head tube, it looks a bit lively around the headset.

Chunky Monkey = £15 at the moment, thats bonkers that is

honourablegeorge, I agree, the weight in the middle being sprung makes sense. But, in removing the cassette etc. you still have to replace it with the SS drive components for the gearbox anyhow. Given modern traditional mechs/cassettes are light, I wonder what the net weight loss is of the unsprung rear wheel.

& regards the argument they make about cutting back on forces pushing the rear wheels backwards and affecting the shock performance, get a hardtail! *ducks and runs*

Still looks fun though!

I like the look of tis, the whole thing looks fun to me

Yup, some great products and advice these days on recovery, take advantage of it I say

It has to be spring loaded at the jockey wheels Id have thought otherwise bottoming out the rear end would put un-Godly stresses on things

Bloody hell, thats a fit lad that is

Well I never, I like the idea of it, along ramble/cx set up sounds wonderful. To ride, how is the shifting feel? Does it react rapidly to change?

Disturbing but essential life experience. Reward your courage with a new bike afterwards, I shall. Not sure about saddle fit after mind

I’m baffled, what am I looking at.

The shock sits inside the frame I think. Interesting to know how to service or adjust it if so…

As more and more ‘Enduro/Freeride/Trail/All-mountain’ bikes settle into very similar designs, this appeals to me more and more

1. New doctor. Hope it sorts itself out, sounds like you need to speak to a sports psychiatrist too, they could/should be able to advise you on your best path of action
2. Over training sounds like how it all started. I understand that mental stress affects physical performance too. So a busy life can have a physical impact in sport and rapidly overload a training program.

^ That ought to do it! Looks great to me!

The consequences are very different, and I think that is the point. A couple of lorry loads of hay bales would have totally changed the consequences on that descent. She’d probably have been sat there cursing her luck as the others went by her, before getting back on the bike and cruising to the finish.

And thats about it, hay bales would have made a huge difference, Im amazed that the safety folk didnt agree or didnt think of it or be told. Disc brakes, handling skills, commitment etc we will never know but hay bales would have helped

Ok just working from the facts here.
First test massive cock up on the testers behalf. They didn’t do their job correctly. CAS accepted it and ruled that

I understand the first test, she was in her Hotel room when the tester turned up but had her phone on silent out of respect for her room mate so missed his call. Not a massive cock up, actually yes, a massive cock up by her. But they did their job correctly, you could be forgiven for saying she swerved a test that day…

Lizzie has been cleared to ride by everyone who actually counts

Only after a legal team paid by her went to CAS, thats quite significant I think. She couldnt be bothered to update her whereabouts but could be bothered to use lawyers to clear her to compete with CAS

In other news, BBC hour long programme about Mo Farah last night, off season training in Ethiopia, no discussion of the testing regime that seemingly doesn’t exist out there, makes you think, eh?

Thats true, Kenya has only just been removed from WADAs non compliant list, until 2006, doping was ‘legal’ in Spain, Russia, enough said, Sharapova, football wont even test during major events as FIFA/UEFA doctors will step in to fix it etc.

Basically, sport is corrupt. As cycling fans, we get kicked the hardest and the most often, Lizzie and every other cyclist should follow laws to the letter. The fact they dont and in this case, she didnt means she is either arrogant, stupid or hiding something.

Read this, if she wins gold, it will be a sour win. All because she didnt upload a room number, she is a cretin

http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/rio-2016-olympics-lizzie-armitstead-doping-drugs-tests-doesnt-deserve-to-be-there-a7170381.html

Basically, Britain is not a cycling nation, ‘it’ is exceptionally introvert, highly strung and selfish, as such what do you expect? Sad as it is.

SPDs but never used flats, I am very flat curious though

Stop ‘ploughing into stuff’ and pick some actual lines?
See….’different riding style’

Exactly, you cannot ride a HT like a FS, you have to look for the HT line rather than letting the shock take the hit at the back. Roots are a pain in the arse though.

Saying that, Ive never owned a FS bike.

A cyclist transfusing manipulated blood with the aim of booting oxygen transfer but getting away with on the basis that the examining authorities couldn’t find definitive evidence in to the effects of a brand new technique isn’t exactly cut and dried as not cheating.

…

I recall reading a few years back that Ronaldo was having blood transfusions in Switzerland. When challenged, he claimed it was to speed recovery from bruising. If you google Ronaldo and blood, now you see he is a huge supporter of blood donating. All very innocent but I doubt it.

That’s why these rules need to be upheld and as clear as can be, the basic and its well known is that if you miss tests, it will be viewed negatively.

Red silk bandana for me

Its all a bit of an over reaction IMO
She messed up admin on one test and had family issues on another and CAS threw the other one out.

Not seen any evidence to suggest she was/is doping from anyone and she is clear to compete

Good luck to her- hope she brings back a gold and people get off her back

That may well be, but, we would never have got to 5 pages unless we could announce her guilt based upon our own assumptions.

where does one find this jedi of which you speak?

I cant even get my expenses done and thats once a month and I doubt theres much support for managing testing or cash for challenging results in womens cycling.

Nothing to see.

Oh no no no. Missing a test is smoke, 2 is a spark, 3 is fire, at that level its inexcusable imho

Having been through far too many drug scandels as a fan in cycling especially in the ‘pre Wiggins’ era I have sadly resigned myself to two scenarios, a. they cheat, b, they use something that isn’t banned yet but would be if WADA new about it. Sorry. Its just not genetically possible for Jamaica to turn out a high % of fast runners etc. unless they have Spanish sports coaches/doctors, Mo Farrah, dodgy coach/doctor, Sharapova was just hard done by of course, yada yada yada

Enjoy the spectacle but they are cheating if they can, either option a or b

Absolutely nothing, especially those that lock both ends