Both of them to go nuts on the second to last climb, blow up, allow G. Thomas to bravely go clear solo on the last climb, make a shit load of time on them, and make that last time trial massively exciting from a GB perspective… hopefully with G remembering to take his gilet off this time.

Is my massively unlikely and wildly optimistic prediction :-)

I was going to say the same as above – what gains are there to be had with fitness? “Easy” (less logistically challenging) to acheive with limited time. Plus strength and conditioning means you shrug off crashes better.

The simple answer is that the default setting on Strava is km. That probably sways it for most people!

I cant apply for one online because it asks for home address (only one space and not asking for time period), but on the final page there is a thing that the home address has to be from Jan 2021 – but I, like many others I imagine, have moved house in the intervening 18 months!

Guess I’ll ask in a post office

@jam-bo that was kind of my worry, the speed at which they grow! Hoping to get secondhand so if I can buy and sell our 14in at similar prices it might not be that bad jsut too have it for a summer. She only became confident cycling unaided during easter hols so I dont want to rock the boat with changing too much!

edit. Jeff – thanks, that was my concern so I think has made me sure the 20in step is not the right thing to do

Think of the carbon footprint and take the train. Not trying to be holier than thou, but we all have to start factoring this in more.

Realistically, he’s going to win. Hopefully the drip drip of photos, stories etc will then intensify, the privileges committee will find he did lie, and the tories will be highlighted for what craven fools they are before he is obliged to resign based on the code (which I appreciate is a guideline but I think the 22 committee could probably force him out).

Re. MPs and salaries – I think the easiest way to get good candidates would be to get rid of having to be in London (unless actually PM and cabinet), do everything virtually with the Houses of Parliament turned into a hotel/theme park. Also make some kind of birth/ 7 year residency criteria for standing for a constituency like in sport

We’d need Rob Warner as press secretary / official no 10 spokesperson or similar just to liven things up

THanks, yes, I found a mention of the 90% relief in the Guardian but little detail. Its going to be ludicrous if that isnt green investment. But then they classify natural gas as ‘green’ so…

@kelvin

Well, there you go, windfall tax paired to a 90% tax relief for oil companies investing in new extraction.

Net zero? Give zero shits about burning as much oil as possible more like.

Do you have a link for that please?

@MoreCashThanDash – yes, I recall reading that somewhere (probably here!) but will they see the light of day? You’d think if they really did exist, the money that a newspaper would pay for the scoop would be very very tempting

Seems like a trickle of letters going in today.

Something I saw on Twitter which may not be too far from the truth, reported from a tory MP: ‘Today is the day that Boris is saved, and the Conservatives lost the next election.’ Here’s hoping one part is true!

I’d love to think that somewhere someones just biding their time with some photos of BoJo with a drink timestamped at late in the evening so his ‘I was only there for a few minutes’ line gets exposed too.

But he’s undoubtedly got away with it again. I’m inclined to agree with Binners that even the priviledges committee finding he did lie wouldnt make him resign.

Windfall tax plans in FT too

I see, via the Guardian, that Cummings has been wading in again talking about photos.

What I fail to see is where these photos are going to miraculously come from; if Cummings has them why hasn’t he already released them, and if he hasn’t why does he expect them to come out now?

Unless he’s talking about photos that Sue Gray has, but Guardian also reporting that the photos may be removed from report after all.

Steve Winwood – Back in the High Life; probably the first album I really loved as a child and used to badger my parents to play it all the time.

It’s a difficult sport to enjoy in the first year or so. Lots of effort for minimal reward.

I dunno about that, I’ve probably windsurfed a dozen times in my life, spread throughout my life, and every time I’ve found it fun. Understanding wind and sails from sail as a child probably helped. Kitesurfings never appealed though.

Was expecting Pidcock to be out muscled by the bigger sprinter types so impressed with his position.

Very poor showing from Starmer IMO. Unlike many here I’ve largely had confidence (albeit waning with time) in him but that interview was poor. Claiming to be honest and unlike the tories while simultaneously using the same soundbite and refusing to answer questions directly was a bad look. Even a simple question like ‘were you embarrassed?’ was ignored, would have been easy to say ‘of course I’m embarrassed but I ahve confidence in the police’

disappointed to be honest.

I think he’s messed it up already. too much dilly-dallying, even if now he says he’ll resign people (tories) will say he is playing politics. He should have come out immediately and said it, rather thna have it leaked to the press.

Seems more often that high level XC racers appear on the start list of cx races, but then its probabably easier to fit the odd cx race into an xc off-season to keep things spicy.

I am also of the banana and a cup of coffee camp. I went through a phase of getting up at 5 to allow me to have a small breakfast before a 6am work out but it didn’t make work outs easier.

Interestingly, I heard (I guess on TrainerRoad podcast) that even a cup of tea with milk in stops a ride being fasted.

I’ve not been to Afan since pre-covid despite living reasonably close. The main reason being lack of time but secondly hearing from various places that the trails arent maintained much and are overgrown. I guess those sorts of comments spread easily and sway people to other locations

For those passing through S. Wales, from social media, there seems to be an active trail building/maintenance group going at Margam, right by the motorway. I tihnk it is largely family/xc trails but could be worth a stop (its 2 minutes of the M4), I guess building on the ‘World Cup’ XC cource that get built and never used.

I find wrapping phone in a plastic bag makes it bulky enough it doesn’t fall out of jersey pocket when mtb-ing. Originally did it to stop phone getting wet but haven’t had a phone fly out since either. I wrap a single key in the same bag

It’s great to see this coverage of the National XC series, makes me want to pin a number plate on again 👍

Didn’t get it either, at least it’s reset my counter which had been stuck on 15 despite a >6 week streak

I also am afflicted by ‘We don’t talk about Bruno’

To be fair, it’s not a bad song as Disney songs go; though not as good as the Moana music… which is another earworm

Flaperon, I think that also, but I’m not sure if you can self certify in the same way as claiming gastro-entiritus?

abilty to work from ome being withdrawn suggest that remote access permission or a company laptop has been removed rather than just a ‘we don’t wnat you working at home’ type thing?

If the former, I guess its more understandable. If the latter, its a bit unreasonable. Is your friend to honest to pull a sickie?

Lucky guess for me

Wordle 295 2/6

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First ride in a long time, distinctly cheeky trails were fun but I need to
maintain by bike more as squealing brakes were an embarrassment and the suspension was not really working

Me too 😂

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I’ve not actually heard from any of the candidates for this election yet. Guess it will ramp up shortly. If the other candidates seem poor I might just abstain and email the current Tory candidate and explain I would have voted for him but couldn’t bring myself to indicate support for Boris with my vote

I concur with rhaamonkey’s points 1&2 so whenever I’m down there just go for a jog along the coast path if I feel the need for exercise… or just skip exercise go to the beach.

How far? for a left-field suggestion seeing as you asked for hilltop, the (tide dependant) walk from Rhossili out to the outer head is spectacular and a good sense of achievment when you get to the end of the worm… admittedly you have to then walk back. much of it is a scramble over rocks but not tricky so a nine-year-old would be fine. There is a narrow ridge to the outer head but you can also go along the rock platform if tide is low enough. Fun to look at the rock pools on the way too.

We jsut renewed and use an insurnace broker. They suggested Aviva – apparently the cost of insuring fancy bikes has gone up a lot recently and they were cheapest for what we needed.

I had it a couple of weeks ago. I had fatigue post-recovery for about a week that ended quite suddenly on Sunday, whereas Saturday I needed a sleep in the afternoon after doing very little in the morning, on Sunday I had a completey normal day, without any feeling of tiredness or reduced energy. The change was quite stark! Did an hours easy exercise today so will see how that affects me. hopefully just slowly buil tings back up but I’m not planning on anything high intensity for a while

Good news about your mum and that you’re on the mend.

Interestingly my wife’s cough has got way worse since testing negative again- but she’s heard similar from others.

Wales’s restrictions are ending in a couple of weeks and then the whole of the uk will be restriction free I think. Mildly perturbed about what I’ve heard anecdotally about cases rising as

I actually wondered last night if Putin was deliberately targeting nuclear to provoke a NATO response.

Good article from nyt

Seriously! That is crazy – is this a UK wide decision or just England?

I’ve been floored by it the last couple of days, basically sleeping the entire time and feeling faint doing much more.