OK I take the point about personal branding, I suppose I just don’t like it – it feels a bit lame to be copping stuff off of MX. DH is amazing. Have the confidence to be your own sport.

Plus I feel like they’ve got much bigger problems to spend time and effort addressing now anyway.

I did smile when I saw that :)

Any update for us OP – has the offender been reducated yet?

Some positives there, even if just undoing some of the bad decisions made before.

Unique career numbers though? Is it just me that thinks that’s gimmicky BS?

I thought I was gonna be telling you “those are rookie numbers, etc” but 55… bloody hell.

I must have 30 tops (tops), across road and MTB.

I think the fact that Pogacar crashes as rarely as he does compared to his GC competitors says a lot about his skill level on a bike and his ability not to lose concentration riding in the peleton.

Great point, but then he is usually out in front with nobody to crash into ;)

For winter its going on a weight loss journey, so single crowns back on and a host of other bits to make it more pedal freindly.

Have you weighed it like that? Looks like a proper steamroller.

id never heard of this til i heard an interview with sophie willan on 6 music the other day.

I don;t know much about her, but the music choices in it are exceptional too.

It looks as though a new season of What We Do in the Shadows starts next week

Fab, didn’t know that was coming

Also got S2 of Alma’s Not Normal on my watchlist, the first series was one of the best things the Beeb has done for years.

Considering how you ride, i find it slightly bonkers that you’ve not ridden what’s arguably the best tyres on the market.

Thanks for the flattering inference, but I’m just an average mid-pack kind of rider – and as Gav said:

The problem (or not) is that there is so many good tyres now.

I feel like most of the tyres I’ve got are more than “good enough” for me now. For example, the cheap Spesh tyres in T9 are right up there for wet or dry conditions (they lack a great mixed option though) — and I don’t think there’s a better all rounder than the WTB Verdict.

Inserts have made a big difference too, as I used to pick tyres much more on whether they were likely to get holed or not.

I’m sure I’ll get round to Conti at some point though :D

New third series of Industry on iPlayer.

Watched 2 eps last night and they’ve maintained or improved the quality from S2.

Still plenty of swearing, drugs and filth, obvs.

Top of Viking is still really good.

Cheeky V has been opened up again and buffed up a bit, it was running really well a month or two ago.

Supanoodle looks open but I didn’t fancy it (v steep).

Worth looking round the back of Bogle Crag and near the Satterthwaite DH (same side as Bogle) for newer tracks as well. I spend more time riding there than the Coniston side these days.

Yeah, totally agree their main issue is they can’t even buy success now –  as there’s no serious GC contenders available (and they probably wouldn’t go to Ineos now anyway).

they just re-emerge with the same people but different sponsors.

Sometimes/often with the same people in management, but there’s far less continuity of identity than in other sports. And, correct me if I’m wrong, but there’s no real value in a team beyond the actual World Tour licence and the current roster of riders and management.

Partly because fans are only really interested in the riders (which is probably a good thing TBH).

Light / Tough
These are the two carcass types. Their names are pretty self explanatory.

Except the “light” isn’t very light (easily over a kilo and seems similar to Exo+), but otherwise I applaud the simplicity of their system, yeah.

Are Saddleback actually gonna be distributing WTB’s MTB tyres in the UK now then? It’s been really hard to find them for a couple of years. Luckily I’ve snagged a Verdict, and got a few Vigilantes silly cheap in the CRC sale. Both amazing tyres BTW.

does this show that Ineos is a sinking ship?

I don’t think that’s in question at this point, it’s more a case of working out where it hit the iceberg — and who’s in the life rafts.

On the comparison to other once-mighty sports franchises, I think the big difference is that Man Utd, Ferrari etc. have fantastic brand value/loyalty and a very real chance of getting back up there again (see BWD’s case in point about the Arse).

Cycling teams’ branding is tied to their sponsors to a much greater degree (more than any sport?), so they effectively disappear: Tinkoff-Saxo, HTC Highroad, US Postal etc.

As someone said, Ratcliffe bought at the top of the market and nobody in their right mind would spend that much on Ineos now, with it being so dysfunctional and underachieving.

If they do merge with QS, they better put Patrick Lefevre in charge.

Current Formula importer (fella who used to work at Geometron IIRC) did a fine job of warranty servicing my Mod coil shock.

Not needed spares for it though, fortunately.

I might try their brakes if I weren’t locked in a mildly toxic, co-dependent relationship with Shimano.

Anyone else like this? I don’t know why. It’s just tyres, not any other components. And I’m already happy with my current tyres.

*raises hand*

I always seem to find something new to try out.

But I’ll caveat that with tyre inflation (geddit?) has modified my buying to exclude the most fashionable/pricey brands – so I’ve not tried the new Contis and don’t get many Maxxis these days.

Tyres currently in use (or part-used waiting to go back on) across my bikes include: Schwalbe, WTB, Spesh, Michelin, Onza, Maxxis and a brand called Terrene.

Nice motor, but someone has felt-tipped all over your number plate.

Dunno TBH, but there are fewer half-fat models available so maybe that’s why you’re not seeing them discounted so much.

And they actually have been discounted, but maybe are selling out now?

My two cents is there will always be a demand for the full-fat ones, because they just make it so easy.

It seems to be widely accepted that Froome hit the jackpot with his Israeli sportswashing contract, no?

Vanity signing – like Ronaldo going to play football in Saudi Arabia.

They talk about it here, early brakes with stiff seals, and the “massage” process to set the pistons

OMG the comments on that are tragic.

We might be a miserable, argumentative bunch of bike nerds here – but at least we have a sense of humour about it.

And the people who write NSMB really need to get over themselves.

Dental subscription like this is a bloody racket, same for vets.

Any chances of finding a dentist taking NHS patients in travelling distance OP? I was going 20 miles for my annual check up post-Covid, but luckily I’m on the books of the place just down the road now (there was a waiting list).

Doesn’t he already have that bike brand relationship with Pinarello

Maybe, but Pinarello can’t really expect to leverage his XC success into bike sales and revenue in the same way that Spesh could.

You mean like MvdP and Canyon

Probably yeah, he’s a great asset for a company that’s really strong in road and MTB bikes.

Although I wonder if he felt slightly embarrassed by winning like that when almost nobody else did a second run.

Definitely looked like he felt awkward about it for some reason, yep

Current Olympic (double Olympic!) and former World and European MTB Champion though. That’s kind of a big deal. Do you just walk away from that to concentrate on road? Or pick and choose a bit? Maybe that’s where the rift is? Is he being pushed to choose one or the other? I don’t know by the way, it’s kind of a rhetorical question.

Maybe the ideal set-up is a big bike brand sponsor like Spesh or Trek who see the value in him winning XC on their bike, and also sponsor a World Tour team that he can do the Classics and stage hunting you mention for.

If the above rumour about Bora Hansgrohe is correct, they are on Spesh – so they could be contributing more than usual towards his salary with the XC in mind.

But B Semenuk decided to go ahead in the wind whilst others backed out, so fair play to him for having the balls.

I got the impression his run was more sheltered, as he wasn’t doing the huge gaps the others were.

But if you win because you’re doing stuff that nobody else can do, doesn’t that make you the best??

Perhaps, if that stuff meets the judging criteria. I’m not saying he didn’t deserve the win, but he said himself he traded amplitude for technicality.

Didn’t he seem weirdly underwhelmed by the win though? Is he always like that?

 can he better the likes of Pogacar, Evenpoel, Roglic and Vingegaard?

His peers are more MVDP, Van Aert, Remco and the other classics contenders, no?

Though I’m slightly rusty on the current peloton.

He would have won if the wind had stayed a bit higher?

Didn’t feel entirely fair that several riders had to scrap a 2nd run because of the wind, while Semenuk’s second run stood.

I thought the commentators said 2nd runs would be invalid if not everyone could go, but perhaps that just meant if the organisers called it off. And perhaps they should have done that? I dunno.

Semenuk’s run was not an unworthy winner, he seemed to really up the game on the level of complexity in tricks at Rampage. I suppose the hitch is that only he can ride like that, so it’s like they’re playing different games.

 it appears there’s a bit of a rift at Ineos – anyone know any details?

Nah, but their management seem to have lost the plot and he seems hugely talented but a bit prickly, so sparks were bound to fly.

He’s always gonna be more of a one-day, classics and possibly week-long stage race rider though eh?

Depending on your organisation, you may even be able to get support through work.

Great point. Most EAPs will offer a certain amount of counselling to staff, so check if yr employer has one.

If not/additionally, and if you’re struggling with work, have a look at the Access to Work Mental Health Support Service. This is funded by gov’t and supports you and your employer in how to manage stress/anxiety etc. so you don’t end up off sick. For full disclosure, my company is one of the providers, but it’s a genuinely useful service IMO and plugs the gap between OH and therapies. Especially for smaller firms.

Wasn’t this year’s ft Bill race a last minute addition to make up for lack of other venues?

Rings a bell yeah.

So we’re saying Fort Bill is basically Chris Ball’s late night booty call when he’s struck out at the club?

 biggest things that helped me were journaling every day to get things out

A lot of my job is about wellbeing and I’ve tried quite a few of the things we preach to service users.

I would recommend gratitude logging, which is related to journaling I suppose.

Just write down 3 things you’re grateful for each day.

Can be particularly effective if you have someone to swap them with, ideally who knows you but isn’t closely involved in your day-to-day life. So you can be more open.

I know that it’s very fashionable with the middle class mumsies at present- but open water swimming.  (OW is far more enjoyable than a chorine-dosed municipal pool,

I’ve been dipping my toe in this recently (geddit?), and have to say it’s positive but probably not as beneficial as a good ride (of either sort), for me. Nice to do something my GF enjoys though.

A theme on threads like this that I always find interesting is how being active outside can be a great de-stress, and mention of mindfulness. I think for most of us moving through the woods (etc) on foot or on a bike is one of the times we engage the part of the brain that’s all ‘here and now’, trying to put our feet in the right spots or get the corner line right. I heard that described as a meditative state and didn’t see how it was similar to our ideas of a meditating monk but actually it’s all about switching off the active bit of the brain, the bit that won’t shut up at 3am.

Absolutely. I often say I do MTBing instead of meditation. Just takes you out of yourself for a bit. Lovely when you get the “flow state” thing, but not common enough.

Cool, thats made it crystal clear then.

Haha, “all-mountain” would have been fine. Or we used to call them “long-legged trail bikes”. Not usually a compliment.

Pinkbike said the Mavens’ lever action is a bit stiff too:

https://www.pinkbike.com/news/review-sram-maven-the-big-brake.html

When it comes to Shimano, they would make some of the best brakes around if they improved their quality control

100%

I still stick with them as a known quantity, and they seem to have improved on the wandering bite point – but if they could just get the oil to stay in the brakes consistently they’d be such an easy choice.

Potentially a symptom of Hemochromatosis

Reading up cheers.

Why are you sure it’s not gout? Maybe see a doctor to get a definitive opinion.

Because I’ve had gout and it’s not that. Symptoms are exactly as described for sesamoiditis.

And I don’t go and see the GP with every minor sports injury. Do you? Seems a bit wasteful.

Nobody?

This place usually comes up trumps for niche medical conditions so I’m surprised.

When you want people to think your ebike battery has run out.

with mounting excitement

I see what you did there.