I’m going with fatigue or overtraining either via Mono, a recent asymptotic illness or a rebound from what was 7 months of good quality training ending with a tough Spring race peak until I know any better.

Post viral fatigue isn’t well understood unfortunately, and it’s unlikely you’ll ever find a definitive answer. Changes in your immune system from one virus can lead to reactivation of another, so even though mono might be a component, it’s entirely possible to be a consequence of something else. This stuff is rife with Covid, with some studies showing increased immune activity more than a year after acute infection, even in asymptomatic cases, and these changes can accumulate with repeat infections. Add in other stresses like work and over-training, it’s a potential ticking bomb.

The prescription for which is a lot more rest, good diet and sleep.

This is pretty much what it comes down to, reducing the stress placed on your body, mental and physical, and getting as much good quality rest as possible.

It’s a natural concern to fear losing fitness while you rest but you might be surprised how long the body retains it. You’ll lose some of that top end and endurance, sure, but it sounds like you’re missing part of that anyway.

And please, no give up, drink beer, enjoy riding around with friends etc, I like training andracing competitively as a purpose to stay fit and would like to continue

If it is some kind of post viral condition, there’s a very real possibility of long term impairment, potentially a lot worse than anything you’re experiencing right now.

I’d consider taking it easy for at least 3 months (where I’d say zone 2 might even be pushing it a bit), with the aim of maybe getting back to full fitness next year. Might seem a big sacrifice, but you could end up with a much bigger one by trying to push through it. Sometimes your body needs time to recover, and if it doesn’t get it, it can go beyond the point it’s able to.

I really do have sympathy for the LL on many of these mould complaints. Many houses are just not suitable for 4 separate individuals to be living there

This makes no sense. Why have sympathy for somebody knowingly renting a property for an inappropriate purpose?

they are just not ventilated enough

This is the exactly the landlord’s responsibility to ensure they are. The entire problem is that LLs are too often in it for easy money and unwilling to put any real work in to make properties fit for purpose.

As mentioned, the deposit should be held by a third party (it’s illegal for the landlord to keep it), so as long as you have evidence, you should be fine, but without it the LL could be difficult.

Watched a bit with my kids and the 6yo reckons the TT position makes it look like they’re crying

Fairly accurate description of TTing.

I rent a car in Mallorca many times a year and now pretty much only use vanrell, who operate out of the 6th floor in the carpark.

This was who I used after doing some research. They didn’t even look at the car when I took it back, you just leave it in the car park and hand the keys in. No fuss at all.

Legend.

Carlton seems to think Vingo is a demon descender – is that right ??

Even if he was I wouldn’t like to make any such assumption since his crash. There’s got to be some mental scars as well as physical ones. Pretty decent effort from him all things considered.

Wasn’t expecting so much damage to be done today.

I’m sure some aficionados will disagree but beans don’t go stale anything like in the same way ground coffee does. I have 2 or 3 a day, buy 1kg bags of supermarket coffee, fill the grinder and put the rest in a sealed container. It’s pretty much always better or as least as good as anything I’ve had from a cafe (outside of Italy).

… wonder why Sir Cav ended up where he did.

Whole Astana team was right behind the crash. It kind of looked like they made it through OK on the footage, but from his interview they had to hit the brakes hard.

A gravel bike can be anything from a slightly more robust road bike to a mtb with drop bars. I’d say a fast gravel bike on fast 35mm tyres isn’t hugely slower. There will be a significant difference though. Not all road tyres are created equal either.

I think it’s been pointed out already, but most of us mere mortals cannot maintain anything like the kind of pace on a century ride that we could doing a distance less than half of that. Your legs just start giving up eventually. Even keeping a consistently high zone 2 can be difficult over that distance in my experience, regardless of how fit I am. Those riders passing you might be at z3… 4… 5…

Will road tyres make you faster? Yes, they will. Whether it’s enough improvement to make a significant difference for you depends on what you want to get out of it.

Also, if you’re talking about groups, that’s something else entirely, the benefits of drafting are huge and can increase pace dramatically. Even then you’ll often find a bunch of those people are fighting just to hold the wheels despite the benefit and there’ll be a couple of super strong riders pushing the pace at the front.

Long rides are all about going steady. Enjoy it.

Think he’d really have to crack to fall outside of that time.

Photo for the wall there.

It’s getting a bit close 😬

Looking at the profile Cav has 2 climbs to go, all the big ones are done, with the last 20km downhill. As long as he can keep the pace should be able to keep within the time cut? Would be awful to see him kicked out on day 1, he’s had so much bad luck over the years.

Caveat. Route profiles can be deceiving. I know nothing about the remaining terrain.

By the same measure though – it’s hard to make clips of Trump when he isn’t incoherent.

Unfortunately there are a lot of people out there who believe Trump is quick, witty, and charismatic. Even some of his haters admit to this. Whereas to many, Biden’s outward image is of a man in cognitive decline, and this has been the narrative since long before it was as bad as it is now…

He just cemented that image.

It reinforces existing biases. Whether it is right or wrong is beside the point. I think we all know by now that elections aren’t won on what is right or wrong. They’re won on manipulating people’s biases.

Who buys new plates for their old runaround a few weeks before selling it because they ‘look a bit tired’? That’s a bit of a red flag for me.

The vast majority of ‘private’ sales on Auto trader are traders in my experience. When I was looking for cars it wasn’t uncommon to see them disappear from Gumtree and then reappear at twice the price from a different seller an hour later. The genuinely good deals are snapped up by traders within the hour.

Debates might not but countless youtube clips of Biden mumbling incoherently will.

Yep, this is the biggest issue people have with Biden and it’s not going to go unnoticed.

It’s very worrying now.

Geraint Thomas was talking Cav up on the podcast, saying most of the rest of the field aren’t really on form. It’s a big ask, there’s so many good sprinter’s now. Would be amazing to see though.

Depends on numerous factors but 40psi is too hard for off-road generally. Even on the road some of the evidence would have you lower than that for rolling resistance. Normal weight rider on chunky tyres in proper terrain, I’d be closer to 20. Smooth gravel tracks I’ll have between 35 and 40. There was a time I’d pump to 60 for the latter but the science no longer seems to support it.

Is it worth getting Discovery+ to watch the Tdf?

Eurosport coverage (which should be the same) for Tdf is pretty much from race start now I think.

A bag of 250g from a good roaster costs about £10 and does 20 shots, so about 50p a shot.

Or you can buy 1kg of something like lavazza for little more than that in sales.

How much you spend on beans is really up to you.

Volvo V70 pre 2006 year with the 2.4 non turbo petrol.

Having driven old cars for 30 years almost, I don’t think I could describe any 20 year old car as reliable. I’ve never had a Volvo, so maybe I’m missing out, but so many parts perish with age.

It’s tough at the moment because cheap punts just don’t seem to exist any more and newer models of even cheap cars are so expensive. For 5k though I’d be siding towards something newer that isn’t slowly turning to dust.

Honda Accord

IIRC the diesels were prone to expensive clutch failures. There’s a handful of big engined petrol versions about. I don’t remember if this applied to the newer face-lift versions mind.

I put loctite on my old timber bell and it tightened the switch right up.

Newcastle doesn’t effect private vehicles.

Really? They’re not very vocal about that. I’ve been checking I’ve been compliant whenever I’ve drove in.

 I guess no ULEZ on the cards on Manchester or Newcastle?

Newcastle city centre has had ULEZ for a while now.

I think Manchester do too?

Car prices are absolutely mental all round. Every couple of months I have a peek and very quickly lose interest.

16-8 time restricted eating is probably the most common and is quite easy to stick to once you get into it. I fluctuate now, usually between 14-10 and 16-8, but I look back on some of my old eating habits and wonder wtf I was thinking. There’d be times I’d be lying in bed unable to sleep because I was so full.

Depending on current diet you might want to look at what you’re eating before doing proper fasts. Good natural foods, no refined sugars, no plates full of carbs: if your diet is decent, and you start with TRE, longer fasts shouldn’t be so difficult.

A colleague has just wound up in hospital. Cycles everyday. Covid caused myocarditis.

IIRC, Covid increases the risk of cardiac problems by something like 5 times for 6 months after infection. Immune markers take even longer to return to pre-infection levels even in healthy people with mild infections. Still lots we’re learning about the long term effects of covid. I’m not sure the need for proper rest is emphasised enough.

Out of interest, what precautions do people take with ebikes. Store battery outside, or in shed? Some kind of fireproof storage container? It’s a bit worrying so many people are killed in fires caused by them.

I tried loads of different ones and always went back to Thunderbird. Not exactly lightweight, and it was probably partly through familiarity, but it was the only one that did everything I wanted.

Inflatable pillow is a worthwhile luxury imo. After years of trying to fashion them out of whatever kit I had, when most of the soft stuff is already being used to keep you warm, I decided I could live with the 80g weight penalty.

And a spork.

I only half watched the Dauphine but it’s hard to see Roglic competing with Pog and Vinergaard. They all looked distinctly human compared to what we’ve been watching recently. Looking forward to the Tour.

Arent the pedals on a normal ebike just a throttle. Pedal harder or faster and the engine works harder. All they have done is take the chain away and using electronics tell the motor how hard to work.

No, on an ebike you’re always delivering power to the wheels. The motor only assists with additional power. In this case, 100% of the power comes from the motor, and regardless of how hard or fast they pedal, non will ever come from the rider. I don’t know the wording of the regulations but I don’t see how that can ever be classed as ‘assistance’.

On a whole, it looks a reasonable idea and the outrage is all a bit ridiculous, but there surely needs to be a different classification for a half ton, entirely motor driven vehicle.

Nice tyre.

Some cars lose coolant over time in my experience, through vapour escaping from the joints. Also, if there’s any pockets of air the expansion tank can quickly empty. I’d just keep an eye on it over time.

It’s taken him a while to do the last stretch, I wonder if he’s had issues.

Forecast also suggests a straight headwind all the way to the finish. I wonder if he’ll treat himself to breakfast in Kinlochleven before taking on the devil’s staircase.

Alex just coming off the Tollie path now and will hit some fast road sections. Dots look relatively close but with Thomas Boury navigating Fisherfield the gap is going to open up visually.

However what was interesting was that these jumps don’t appear to have been designed/built by the riders, which imo makes a big difference.

Massive difference imo. That Instagram video is even worse, does he start losing it on the launch because of the compression going into it?

The Bothy at Fisherfield would be the ideal place to spend the night. A good slog up the coffin road first though. No idea if he slept last night but I imagine very little given his progress. He’ll need to stop soon.

The question is whether any of the chasers push through Ullapool without resupply?

I forgot it was Sunday. He might just make it to Tesco before it closes.