This could be close – 30 seconds and growing. Great tactics by Movistar. But running out of road

Rob Hayles on 5 live just did the classic disc brake argument about ‘it’s easy to lock the wheels as it is, traction is limited by tyres..’ etc. Facepalm!

Sorry if this has been done a million times, but what’s wrong with that statement?

I reckon we’ll see Majka in a break, ostensibly to pick up KOM points and help Contador late on but he’ll ride away and take the stage. Neither Sky, Movistar nor Taxoff will try and force the pace till late, so “the heads of state” will be together until the foot of the final climb, by which time the break will have suceeded.

Contador normally finishes GTs strongly whilst Valverde falls away, so he might force his way onto the podium (sorry G – I think he’ll go down, not up). But he might save it all for an iconic win on the Alpe tomorrow.

Get the feeling that Movistar would settle for 2 podium places and won’t gamble – bit disappointing from the so-called “best climber of his generation”, but we have to remember he may look like an old man, but he’s only 25 (and, like Sagan, burdened with over-expectation). But, if they do try, I’ve got a feeling Sky might be vulnerable.

Then again, something completely differant might occur – even a “boring” tour is completely unpredictable.

Surely any winner could be the winner because the course suited them?

ASO would love a French winner, but that doesn’t mean they could engineer a course to produce it.
The course in 2012 was unusually skewed towards the TTs, just as this years is skewed towards the climbers. It was also the prefect storm in terms of who was missing, but it’s not Wiggin’s fault that Bertie had too much beef.
As to Froome – at that point Wiggins had earned the right to lead the Sky, Froome hadn’t. If he’d have left and been on another (weaker) team, would he have been able to take as much time off Wiggins as he lost in the TTs – i doubt it but we’ll never know.
Wiggins certainly worked very hard for his luck !

If they don’t come with a bleed kit, buy one. You’ll be seeing a lot of it

Good advice – the bleed kit does make it very easy to bleed them. The nightmare I had years ago trying to bleed some Hopes is the reason I’ve stuck with Avids ever since.

So – do Avids need bleeding far more often than other brakes ? Any reason why ?

Are other brakes now as easy to bleed as Avids – i.e. screw in syringes rather than a convuluted process involving tubes, spanners and sacrificing chickens.

Impressive riding irrelevant of the PED intake.

Indeed. There are those who believe that Armstrong wouldn’t have won anything without PEDs, but I disagree. Had there been a level playing field (and there wasn’t – he upped the ante) he may not have won as much (we’ll never know), but he still had the skills and the mental capabilities to rise to the very top.

It’s interesting to speculate what would have happened had he been the one to take the career ending fall at that stage. Would the truth have come out ? I suspect it would have done eventually – too many people – but look at how hard it was for USADA to do it’s job. Had Lance gone into politics at that stage, who knows ?

I hadn’t realised mentioning Strava on here would elicit the same sort of reaction as “cycling” does in the Daily Mail

Interesting the presumption that everyone who uses it is racing. For me, I use Garmin devices because I like to know where and how far I’ve been – yep I’m a bit of a geek like that, it motivates me and it helps me plan routes. Garmin auto updates to Strava which generally is a better UI, and yes the leaderboards are interesting but not something to take seriously. I’m rarely near the top – on Lady Cannings I’m not far off the bottom – but it is interesting to see how I’m doing compared to previous runs

Not MTB’ing at all, but I did a trail running race four weeks ago, and 25% of the competitors uploaded their runs to Strava.

Hadn’t thought of that as a means of getting a figure. Oddly enough I did a fell race in Langdale a couple of weeks back on only one other person seems to have uploaded (out of 61). I’d expect the proportion of people using Strava in a race would be much higher than normal

How would I go about getting diagnosed with EIA if I do indeed have that?

Go and see your GP and ask for a spirometry test – or tell them your sysmptoms. In my case I was first told I had it 15 years ago – my problem was a persistant cough after running, particularly in cold air – but hardly ever used my inhaler as I pretty much gave up running instead ! Over the years I’ve learnt that I’m a diesel engine – great for long journeys, but rubbish if an intense effect is required – and have tailored my activities accordingly. I also assumed I simply had rubbish lungs – frequently get altitude sickness on skiing holidays.

The trigger this year was a 50 mile road taking in some of the steepest hills in the NYM (Glaisdale, Rosedale, Blakey, Street) on a cold day in Feb. Stubbornly refusing to stop on the hills, it was then weeks before I could take a deep breath without coughing.

Obviously this has nothing to do with doping in le tour, but hopefully useful info….

Tried an Asthma puffer on some alpine climbs recently, it was like having 10% more lung capacity for 10/15 minutes after each intake.

In which case you probably have Asthma ! As I understand it, the inhalers don’t benefit those who don’t suffer. Also EIA is common among endurance ahletes because endurance training strains the lungs.

Have you ever done a peak-flow test? I was recently told I had EIA and so did some comparison with my friends. Unmedicated I score 450, with an inhaler I can get up to 550. Amongst my cycling buddies, the shortarses were at 650 and 700, whilst the guy who is a just slightly shorter and older than me was at 800.

Note the inhaler doesn’t increase your lung capacity, but the flow of air into your lungs. Asthma makes it harder (and more exhausting) to take a deep breath.

It’s great fun, and far longer than I was expecting. Also more technical, but not in a gnarly, rocky sort of way – but more the fact that it’s quite narrow and twisty and very easy to overshoot the corners.

Just hope it’s going to stand up to the traffic – Strava says 330 rides by 123 people and thats just 48 hours ! Even worse I had 4 goes and only just scrape into the top 100 !

If you are following a pre-planned course, you can see the profile as you ride up it and your position on it – I find it really useful to know how far the top is.

But, if you are merely recording where you’ve been, it doesn’t know where you’re going.

You could go down Hurst clough – street map – either all the way to Bamford, or as far as the BW which takes you towards hathersage

Turn right when you exit the car park after the plantation (or simply go straight on if you come down the causeway)

Hurst clough is currently quite a challenging descent, so good that DCC are planning to sanitise it soon

No, but as a cyclist in a community of cyclists I prefer not to be tarred with the same brush as morons.

We are being conditioned to believe that, as “cyclists” we are responsible for every misdemeanour by anyone on two wheels, and thereby culpable if we end up in accident.

When did you ever hear calls for the motoring community to take action over the 1000s of deaths “they” are responsible for.? And would you consider taking it into your own hands to enforce the speed limit on a motorway ?

I have heard reports that 80% of the pro peleton have either asthma or EIB.

That might be an exaggeration, but undoubtedly it’s far higher than usual, and not just cyclists, but swimmers and athletes (such as Pauls Radcliffe)

link

Not only do many only get symptoms when they exercise, but there is a theory that the training is actually causing the problem. And this seems to be the case with me, having developed EIA at the ripe old age of 48, which may have something to do with me doing a lot more cycling and running (especially in cold weather) over the last 4 years. My peak flow scores are shockingly low for someone of my size – little better than my wife who has been asthmatic all her life.

I’ve certainly noticed an improvement when I use Salbutomol, which apparently will have no effect if you don’t have asthma. I only take one or 2 puffs, not the 16 which I believe is the WADA limit !

Nonetheless, I suppose it is technically a PED !

Cheers for posting
Excellant tops – but wearing mine for numerous rides over that last 4 years but my wife has started to complain that they smell – hardly suprising given how much use they’ve had, so time to replace

As said above, they are baggy – at 6’4 I’m normally an XL in t-shirts, but L with these

The ascent of Dunkery Beacon all the way from Porlock is a classic, a real beauty – you’re almost sad when the road starts leveling out (almost!)

Porlock Hill is a much busier road, so the toll road sounds a better option to get you on your way to Lynmouth, where there is another very steep hill which takes you up to the Valley of the Rocks which is stunning.

Heading back to Porlock, theres a lovely quiet road than runs parallel to the A39 via Brendon and malmstead. I rode it westwards (I was heading for Bude), but I reckon it would work much better in the opposite direction – just watch out for the pheasants

The first section is great, I always use it to gain height from the VC even if I’m heading for ‘natural’ stuff.

To be fair the final section isn’t bad either, in fact all the singletrack sections are good, it’s just there’s a long and tedious fireroad section in the middle, along with a few short and tedious fireroad sections elsewhere, but at least you rarely lose height on those sections.

I tend to come in from the top end, pick up the NFT down to the cafe, then back out before going over to Parkamoor and the brilliant descent down to Nibthwaite, then on to blawith

My advice for such endurance events is to build up so you do between 2/3rds and 3/4ths of the target 2 or 3 weeks before the event, then taper off and just do enough to keep yourself ticking over.

So before I did Kielder 100 (12 hours) I did 50, 60 and then 75 miles, then 30, interspersed with a few 10 miles rides (extended commutes).

The great thing for me was it go me searching out new routes and doing rides to the Peak from Sheffield.

FAO thepodge

Did Sheffield to Glossop and back with 2 pints and a plate of chips at the Royal Oak ! Beautiful evening

Another night with hundreds of cyclists out, but significantly more cars than last time – I think people have worked out you can get through if you’re prepared to move the cones. Not exactly a problem though and still worthwhile

Motion-x GPS works well for me. The open source maps – labelled as Motion-x Terrain – seem pretty accurate. Whether it does the more advanced features you want is another matter

Kielder 2011 – 11 hours of unrelenting rain – cured me of my misconception that it was fun to ride in all weathers. I had a big ride planned for Saturday, but a quick look at the weather forecast suggests I’ll be staying a home.

Grab hold of his shirt and pretend to be Ralf Sorensen

Met him once. Mark Bosnich, not the cyclist.
When he played for Villa.
Really down to earth & thoroughly nice bloke.

Playing for Manchester Utd might have purged him of that though.

Was that before or after he developed a £5000 a week cocaine habit ?

Mind you, as a Tranmere fan who witnessed him saving 3 penalties in a shootout when he should have been sent off earlier in the game, there may be a litlle bias in my views on him !

Coming back from a climbing trip to Kalymnos, found myself chatting to a guy who had gone to Kos for a family hol and taken his (I guess fairly expensive) bike with him, so he obviously thought it was worthwhile. My friends who hired bikes on Kalymnos were less impressed – but that was more down to quality of the bikes than the roads

Varicose veins, eczema, hairy, chain ring scars on both, shins permanently scabby, knees frequently the same.

Don’t get me started on my feet

And if you want to know what my Achiiles heel is – it’s my achilles tendons !

For a ride in that vicinity the route up Goyt Valley is simply stunning. I think it’s closed to traffic on Sundays, and one-way the rest of the time – but not a single car came past me when I did it it. Brings up out by the Cat and Fiddle, and just beyond that if the cafe with the best cake selection in the peak !

It’s odd, going up a hill and back down the same way feels natural, but dropping down then back up always feels wrong. Unless you’re by the seaside. Or stop at a pub. Or both

Lots of cyclists out, most seemed to be riding from the Sheffield side and turning back at the top… the quitters.

So you drove to Ladybower ? That’s cheating ! 😉

I rode on until I could see Glossop and Manchester and remind myself of just how grim they look, which was enough to deter me from venturing any further. But the traffic on the A57 from Ladybower back to Sheff was a stark contrast to the tranquility of the snake.

Can we persuade them to close it every year ?

what is the best circular route up there starting and finishing at ladybower?

You could go down through Bamford to Castleton and up Winnats, over to Chapel, north to glossop and back over the snake. Given that most of the snake traffic will be on the woodhead I’d avoid that as much as possible. Did it last year on a Sunday evening (doing TDF stage 2) and it was pretty unpleasant.

Rode from Sheffield to the summit tonight. Saw about 70 cyclists, but no more than a handful of motors – mostly bikers at the pub. The only car that overtook us did so with maximum consideration and a thumbs up from the passenger !

Lovely evening ride, hope the work takes as long as planned cos I want to do the snake doctor & cut gate loop on Saturday, and maybe another road ride next week

There was one on the outskirts of Bridport on the road to Symington

Just googled it
Mud sweat and gears[/url]

The owner was very helpful IIRC

Yep, got a Reverb on my full suss, not saying it’s been perfect, but well worth the money. My Hardtail is 27.2 so Reverb not an option. First of all tried a Gravity dropper – very disappointing. Now got the X-fusion, half the price of a reverb and it shows.

So, my experience, you get what you pay for, and if you can, pay for quality.

Does seem somewhat inconsistent to penalise Porte while citing the letter of the law when the railway crossing incident at Paris-Roubaix had/has potentially much more grave consequences and went without any similar application of the relevant laws (race regs and criminal laws).

Do you really think that other races should follow the example set by P-R ? Plus, even if they had tried to identify the riders, by then the race was over

The idea doing the rounds on twitter is that the top GC riders all swap front wheels early on in the race to receive a 2min penalty.

Would love to see how Vino, Aru and everyone one else at Astana react to that suggestion !

Just out of interest, is the course likely to include the black gap jump (i.e. before it splits properly into black or red). And does the route continue into the bombhole, or stop where the worked sections end.

Now admittedly I pootled down it at a fairly pedestrian pace, but didn’t notice any difference in difficultly between the red and black sections, but the gap jump is way beyond anything I’d attempt.

Sounds like a great idea to me. Doesn’t matter who’s to blame – and often it will be the wearer – you want to be identied, for the benefit of your loved ones as well as yourself.

And I’ve never lent anyone my helmet, nor borrowed anyone elses.

Unlicenced and Uninsured too. What the hell do you have to do for the CPS to pursue Death by Dangerous Driving?

Clearly the CPS do not view jumping red lights as dangerous, but merely careless

Have long been a fan of Avids – well apart from the juicys which were just shit – but my patience is running out.

Trying to replace the pistons in a Code – it seems that new pistons are just ever so slightly too small, so brake fluid comes out round the sides

The one thing I’ve always likes about the Avids is how easy they are to bleed (with the kit). Are Shimanos that easy ? i.e. syringes that screw in ?

My money would be on Sagan, rather than GT, but you never know

Sagan was in the 3 man break, but then didn’t even make the top 10. Did he just sit up, or take a side road near the finish to avoid the welcome committee ?

Sounds to me like you inadvertently hit the stop/start button

Garmin Base camp is quite good for editing and stitching GPX tracks, so at least you can work out how far you rode (if you can remember the route). The problem is that it’s not very intuitive, but once you get the hang of it, its very useful.