great vid Tony!

some of those drops off the woodwork are BIG, though it makes it look like the guys are riding round on a scalectrix track!

Poor old Gazza. great footballer who, when I saw in the flesh playing for England, was one of those players who always seemed to make something happen when he got the ball.

BUT, the suggestion/belief by the newcastle faithful and gazza himself that he could have been a maradonna or pele is I think part of what fuelled his problem.

He was good but no way at that level, regardless of what breaks he never had or clubs he didnt join. In my view someone needs to tell him ‘mate- let it go’….

Hope he gets through and manages to drop the booze

WD lemony, WD.

sorry raz- no idea either.

clue on my one is the artwork is quite ‘pop’ style, and a classic from the 4AD label.

here’s one for ya,

The edges and borders of the cover appear to be bound in strips of grey/silver gaffer tape, with the centre part dominated by a large toothbrush head on a glowing backdrop

my cousin has 2 girls and a boy. likes to keep up the well-to-do image,
Amelia, Olivia and Charlie.

Common as muck. 😛

question about the cleaning benefits of the higher grade fuels:

if I put some of that ‘REDEX’ stuff in with a normal fuel, would this have equivalent cleaning benefits?
and any other benefits?

predictions above probably sensible, but dont forget the impact injuries can have.
Where are Chelsea if Costa gets injured?

Citeh have a squad with a few striker options……

interesting thoughts there. Will have a look into those.
I’d always wondered what the professional catering shop ones lasted like. could be a good option.

sounds like you’re not a newcomer, but what bit is it that you can’t get to like?

is it the fact that you’re not finishing at the same level as many others or that you just dont like slipping around in muddy/wet/cold conditions?

if the latter then there’s not much hope for you, as I’m personally in the JoB camp.. don’t finish very high but love it during and after.

I think I personally like the fact that its a mix of both road and offroad skills. Also in the dry races its cool blatting along the flattish bits much faster off road than you would on a MTB…

beyond fitness its all about tyre pressures and testing those to the limit in my view

^this.

And arent boris bikes free if you can do the ride in less that half an hour?

All the best for Wednesday, Ton.

you’ll be in good hands so you’ve just got to let the professionals do their thing and I look forward to seeing more of your posts on here in the days to come! 8)

they like you to wait 1/2 an hour before going to your table in the convenient shop full of Jamie’s crap

^this.
do they do this in all of them or just the nottingham one? it really pees me off, especially when starving.

when you actually get to eat the food i found it quite decent.

fifteen in London- ‘proper’ bit downstairs a bit over-priced and not big portions but tasty.
upstairs bit- decent value, especially breakfasts etc.

charming. the RIP bit was the useful part.

I have no useful contribution to make??

RIP Harry and all the servicemen and women who have fallen for our country over the years.

In other news,

yeah I used to drop people the odd change but now feel OK to walk by without giving stuff in the street knowing my middle class guilt is appeased by my ongoing monthly direct debit small donations to various charities.

I buy the big issue very occasionally though less than i used to as the price seems to be quite high now.
I’ve fallen for the old ‘its my last copy, is there any way i can just have the cash and keep the mag’ trick once too (realising later that it wasnt an official seller, just someone who found a used copy).

yeah awesome prog, as above, a fair few ‘filler’ type episodes, but in all a really worthwhile watch.

for me it gets a bit too much ‘action’ based toward the end, and the suspension of disbelief really gets stretched to the limit.

some brilliant character development, Hank is a particular fave.

Go on, Liam! not far off the leaders at the mo.
Grant F up there too, biding his time against the favoured aussie.

anyone know what happened to Annie L? just got dropped or a mechanical/crash?

young alice barnes is having a storming run if she can stay the distance in 4th or 5th.
That family has a seriously enviable level of genetic disposition towards fast cycling (and the mandatory hard work!)

my 2p then:

I like that- that’s a decent vid, well produced.

Had a good laugh and I like the twitching back to life scenes!

but is all the beards-and-tats-oh-so-studied-griminess thing still cool? seems a bit ‘last decade’ to me…

and I’ve never found the league of gentleman-type gimp thing funny and never will.

top job though, looks a nice place to be too! 😛

nice one, RM.

vuelta a few weeks away now, hope froome-dog is on form for that.

aye, marginal gains, modern training, massive dauphine block etc. all catching up.

with no other GC big hitters in the race it looks exceptional, but Bertie and Froome would no doubt have also been up there within a minute of Lance’s best time, or even quicker.
apparently.

RealMan – Member
Nibali has really dominated all the difficult stages of this tour, and it’s a very well deserved win. For those wondering, his time up the Hautacam was something like 37 minutes 20 seconds, roughly a 6 W/kg average, putting him in 26th place here, not what I’d call a suspicious ride.

Boom.

looks like the ‘marginal gains’ and hard training blocks etc must have almost caught up with the best times of old.
interesting to see the most recent better time appears to have been by a certain texan in 2000.

terrible collision there and one that happens or nearly happens all to often, the old ‘right-hook’.
I’ve had many a similar near-miss.

hope the rider is OK

its weird what comes out of our mouths when something sudden is about to happen, does anyone else get that?
once i pointed at the driver with a ‘pistol’ hand action (no idea where it came from, just panic I guess and I felt a bit ashamed after).

fair play to the rider in this case for managing to get a solid ‘F%$K OFF’ shouted out just as the driver cuts across

my prediction-
Nibali to lose a surprising amount of time today/tomorrow.

why? he just looked a bit sheepish in the interviews last night. nothing more scientific than that.

😛

very much doubt you’ll get the right answer off here.

best to talk to the building regs officer and/or local fire officer who may be the ones who ultimately sign it off anyway.

your operational/management strategy may have a bearing on the outcome too.

yeah good on him,
good to see he’s back, very talented rider in his prime, up with the very best on his day.

he’s gone past (lapped) me a few times at events effortlessly, not one of the shouty ‘rider!’-type wannabes.

I think he also went under with a mystery illness for a while too no?

shame he’s had bad luck in his career. I think he’ll do well at the Comm games but Grant F on home turf should probably get the win in the circumstances.

my prediction from here:

Mickey Rogers to hang in with Thommy to the run in then go long to take the win 😛

yeah, I’ve come to think Porte will just mark nibali all the way to the Hautacam stage.

Maybe have a couple of digs here and there, but maintain position, and try to put it on from the bottom of that final climb, after maybe softening astana up on the Tourmalet.

Then, try to gain more time back on the TT. (Wasn’t that how Sastre won it a few years ago, basically getting all his time on one mountain stage, then coming up with the goods in the TT)?

valverde on the other hand, and the others in top 5, could try something else.

yes, interesting one indeed.
my bet is not much will happen from the top GC on the penultimate climb, then once the final climb proper begins, the strategy will unfold.

who’s team will drive it first though?

– Astana to ward off attacks, taking on the Sky tactics of the last tours?

– Sky to put the hurt on early with porte going long?

not sure- sky and movistar could ‘use’ astana’s train early before making their own assault.

I for one love watching porte’s open mouthed grin when he’s putting the effort in, makes it look like he’s enjoying it 😛

as above- Marin, its where it all started for Gary F and the guys, some of them used to post on here I think…

Mt Tamalpais, get the bus or boat from SF and head to the trails, not sure where they are, not much help, but there looked some good ones around Fairfax.

I’d advise only doing marked trails as I’ve heard bikes are confiscated by police/rangers quite commonly for cheeky riding.

If someone has a bigger heart that can pump faster, thus giving a higher stroke volume per minute, that has to be a factor in explaining a higher VO2 max when compared to someone with an identical set of the other variables.

I can see the virtue of the responses saying not to worry about comparing your HR data with others, largely because it’s not going to make any difference to your outcome. But that is not the same as trying to understand why some people end up being much fitter, stronger, faster etc than others.

thanks Geetee, thats the angle I was coming from, not really explaining myself well.

what I’m basically trying to get to is why I’m not faster, and I think my ‘relatively’ low HR could mean that the “Heart” aspect of the fitness is OK, and the lung capacity / leg strength (or some other variable) is poor so I’d need to work on the those latter aspects to improve quicker.

(or does it not work like that and is it all linked?)

thanks for all the above, I think I’m getting it more now.

(good to see also that STW agrees with a professional in the field too, thanks Hannah)

one final thought then, (sorry if this is again a bit thick),

imagine an experiment where my max HR is about 180bpm and someone else with the same leg strength and lung capacity is 210bpm for the same power output, could that mean my heart is bigger than theirs? (also, who would ‘feel’ like they’re working harder?)

what I’m getting at I think is i reckon my ‘heart’ fitness is OK but leg strength is pretty poor, or lung capacity poor. (or is that a nonsense concept)?

thats my excuse anyway.

OK thanks, absolute numbers of Bpm indeed, but the principle of relative ranges, is that also not worth comparing?

I guess my question then is, my range from base to max is quite narrow, compared to older fitter people, can anything be inferred from that?

if not, how do I then know when I’m getting fitter or losing fitness?

@JoB

whats that and how is it worked out please?

not threshold HR (max sustainable over 30-40mins)?

by max I mean that max it ever gets to for however short a time.

@ first part of that article ^ eh?

“the frame was snapped like that whilst it was still on the roof rack??”

what sort of ‘tangle’ could do that? shurley the rack would have popped open before the carbon cracking like that?

I can believe it was run over when on the ground or trodden on but you’d have felt the whole roof being pulled of inside the team car, no?

going back to Porte and GC potential, it will be good to see how he goes relative to Nibbles in those long alpine climbs, which he reckons suit him better than the steep sharp stuff like yesterday, which he only lost 20-odd seconds on.

could he get time off Nibs on those big mountain stages to set up a grandstand duel on the final TT? I know we generally moan about tours being won on the TTs but if its close enough by then it could be a real thriller! come on Richie!
interesting quote from a David Walsh Times article here:

Back at the team hotel, Froome put on a mask and performed for the team. He went round and thanked both the staff and his teammates. He told them Richie Porte would take on the leadership of the team and would not let them down. With Porte, he spoke about this being his opportunity and how he was ready to take it.

He knew, Porte knew, what happened when they did their last timed climb of the Col de la Madone before leaving for Yorkshire. This has become their ritual last full-on training spin before the Tour and Porte beat the team leader. Froome went to Rozman to say goodbye, but also to tell the carer how he must now dedicate himself to Porte.

This is Richie’s national flag so I reckon that means about a quarter british, or 25%?

Boom solo’ed away from 2 Astana riders who could do nothing to match his pace.

just to keep the fires stoked (sorry),

As anyone who’s raced cyclocross knows, riding in those sort of conditions is all about keeping momentum through the corners and slippery bits, rather than over-braking and having to power up again each time.
someone who’s been cyclocross world champ would have been able to do just that relatively easily, saving valuable energy for the last miles…!
that could be a sound reason why a cyclocross specialist won it.