Avoid all media, that's the advice. Remember Joe Public might get interested in cycling if WHOOPS EDITED keeps winning like this, so any coverage is good coverage.

Crossmark rear, Ignitor front. Also a fan of Bonty Super X.

crazy-legs, keavo – We're not talking about racing the tour, *just* up Ventoux.

I think Cavendish also showed quite a few people how badly he climbs when he led a group of UK based riders up 'the tumble' (which apparently is a reasonably testing climb in Wales afaik) in the national championships a couple of weeks before the tour.

Backstory to this one…. Cav joined the second group on the road, and preceded to shout at everyone in the group to get to work. Most folk sat up, as if you take Cav to the line, he's going to outsprint you. ToB situation all over again, at least one rider in the group was majorly appalled by what was spouted in his direction.

As for Cav vs. Oli up Ventoux? Oli would just ride away. You don't get top 10s in World Cups by being a slow climber.

Read somewhere yesterday that lance will be doing running, cycling and tri. Methinks this is him saying he won't be able to dominate any one, but will be good enough whatever he does.

Levi to lead the team in GTs.

Definitely good on really humid days. Prefer mine backwards.

Flite for the win. 2x new style, 1x old style, but an SLR on my race (mtb).

Leipheimer, Kloden, Horner in for sure. Surely they need to find some younger riders too?

Alberto no, I think he'll refuse even if they do offer him a place, on the grounds of their behaviour towards him in the last couple of months.

Sounds like typical faire for Fox Forx.

XTR V-brake on the rear with a lever for the stoker is a trick I've seen others use.

Was replayed about three times. Menchov and Tchuruka (sp?) went down at the same point a minute or so later. The Menchov went down again, before displaying bunnyhop skills over an island that would put most STW members to shame.

Thor is being very intelligent here, going out and getting points where there is no chance Cav will be able to get over the climbs near enough the front to pick any up himself.

Cav seems to be suffering from wee-man syndrome with all his big chat, or maybe he's just being a typical sprinter. I wouldn't be surprised to see other teams going out of the way to spoil his chances on the Champs-Elise (sp).

Not a fan of Cav.

Just some fakenger cock without a helmet, should have just apologised and try to ride away. Totally cowardly behaviour hitting an unarmed man with a U-lock.. Agreeing with others that filming without intervening is totally out of order.

Nothing to see…

Exactly. If you actually enjoyed watching it yourself then you'd appreciate that it ruins it to know what happens beforehand.

No, what happens is that I avoid this forum until I see the highlights in the evening. What a bunch of whingers.

Maybe to stifle this discussion, I'll be posting regular updates from the tour today in this thread. Spoiler in the title, you have been warned.

Surely MBUK banned this ad for not having enough boobs. It's all about the target audience!

Oakley coating works really well in my experience, even sweat just rolls off.

Question 1: Are you **** who keeps putting down all the sticks in the boggy areas?
Question 2: Are you the **** who laid 2x4s with nails in them in the muddy areas?

Love them on the front, horrible on the back IME. Good in muddy conditions, as well as rock and all others.

Carbon vs ally vs hammer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-lsDXEEUlRE

Ally comes off looking pretty bad here.

Nick – Dunkeld BUSA course was a piece of crap, nothing on the climb. Descent was OK though.

Inners 2005 BUSA course is never likely to be repeated, boring climb, and just too long a lap.

Scots do tend to do better on more technical courses (Dalby being a good example). When it comes to less technical stuff, we have a different name for those…..road races! It shouldn't just be cardio work on a surface that isn't tarmac. Kenta won youths at Crow Hill last year, juniors at Inners this year. Gareth had a similar finishing position in senior.

Avoid internets. I managed to do it before ITV highlights, was easy.

The relegation wasn't for moving over on Huschvod, it was for looking over his shoulder during a sprint. No idea what the lad was doing.

Think I'll wait for a Golf R20T, at least it'll be able to go round corners.

Eurosport player not working again, such a shit piece of software. Other streaming option also not working.

Gah!

Haussler continues to be the best rider of 2009.

So what are we to conclude from this?

– You did a one hour loop in one hour, but claimed to be faster?
– Singlespeeds are slow?

I ran M970s offset for the second half of 2007. I still suspect it to be one of the reasons for the knee injuries that made 2008 a total washout.

One of the vets (maybe master) turned up to Sherwood Pines BMBS with his bike on the back of his Ferrari.

Let us know what happens with that one, sounds like it's not just the local mutants that make Pitmedden worth avoiding on your own.

trail_rat – the topic is "show us YOUR Kona's[sic]".

Here's mine:
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The other two girls on the team, Lee and Leslie are both proper fast also, not really surprising they dominated the quads.

Yeah, it was that long ago. XTR generally on a four year cycle, so expect M980 to be out for the 2011 season.

If I cost anyone a few seconds which affected their placing I apologise profusely

No problem for me, and the guys immediately behind you appeared to be overeager, judging by the pace (or lack of) along the final fire-road.

Sam – Were you running carbon deep-dish rims with tubulars on?

I guess it might have been on your second lap where I caught up with you with a few angry riders behind you on the last descent. I had no idea what was going on, but there seemed to be a lot of near-crashes with people nose-tail desperate to pass, despite the final fireroad being about 20s away.

M970 came out in late 2006/early 2007.

Surely the cheapest place is your sponsor? No?

went arse over **** right in front of me 20 seconds later

Sounds a lot like me. Second climb, dude waved me past on the right, just off trail. Turned out there was a wheel sized holed under the grass; straight over the bars, landed on feet, grabbed bike and ran up the steep section till I could get back on. [Carbon full susser, was wearing the hideous purple/pink 2002 Scotland kit at that point]

Passing was fine once you sorted out the pre-pass chat, "I'll squeeze past when you there's space, no hurry", worked really well, usually got let past within a few seconds. Thanks to all the nice people who made those exchanges pleasant. There was one gentleman who barraged me for the above with some horrendous language, possibly he missed the point of these events.

Cracking day out, although driving back in the Biblical rain was a bit much.

Current client has a fully pimped out Pinarello Prince with 11spd Campag Super Record, Zip 404s etc. Oh, and one for his wife.

Prince of Spain colour scheme though, totally kills it.

Got to love the tour with all the wannabies around. Have torn various fat punters a new one this week. Obviously as a 59kg whippet, there's not much glory in this, but it is pretty satisfying.

As you get to the start of the loch at the top, look for the line on the kerb on the RHS of the road. It doesn't cross the road.

Lovely in the orange.