Bikes strapped to the back of a 25 year old Audi Coupe once. It blew the top hose climbing that monster hill on the autoroute just before you get to Geneva. Stopped at the next services – they had a range of top hoses!

Liddle-Hart. Proper oldschool.

Catch 22 gets to the heart of it too.

I’ve got a Guv. Great fun to ride, and rolls along surprisingly well.

I wouldn’t eat before. Your blood will go to your stomach helping digestion. Eat afterwards and don’t worry about the fast being exactly 16 hours…

P.S. I fast the same period and that’s what I do.

Gosh, felt a bit teary looking at the pictures.  Some great days out followed by chilled evenings at the Drop-Off.  For me, nowhere has quite recaptured that vibe.

I went to a talk by Steve Abraham earlier this year.  Amongst lots of other interesting stuff, he mentioned tyres.  He used Schwalbe Ones, tubeless.  In 150,000 miles he had only 3 occasions when he had to take one off to fix it.  My jaw almost actually dropped.  Not sure what the equivalent would be for touring.

Rome and back?

Did half that (which was 100m a day for 14 days) a few years ago.  Mostly flat (it was from work to Rome, so sort of following EV5). But, in a group with our bags carried so much easier.

Possible pitfalls: headwinds, injury, loneliness.

Possible benefits: tailwinds, fitness, solitude.

I completed mine and don’t regret doing it despite picking up an injury half way through which has never really ever fixed properly.  It reminds me of the achievement.

I’ve got a Guv’nor, and that rides astonishingly nicely on gravel.  And it’s quite a bit cheaper…

Jumping Jack Flash it’s a gas gas gas

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCdWB_0loCo

No probs with them in rocky areas, but quite a few around Woburn and the trails are a bit fragile there…

Mrs had a disc removed, L4/L5.  Told she wouldn’t be cycling or running again.  She got back to both, and has done a few century road rides.  She was ultra vigilant in doing the exercises she was given by physios.  Yoga and Pilates seem to make her worse, so follow your own instincts about those.  Could be placebo, but low-carb diet seems to help (it’s supposedly anti-inflammatory, and definitely helps reduce weight, for her).

Good luck.

A dream vehicle.  One day…

The ride to work that I do very infrequently.  23 miles, mostly along the A5.  But I always enjoy it

“To break the record means a minimum average daily distance of over 200km”

Crikey.

Chapeau!

His aero position looks rather like the one Obree used for his first hour.  Will the UCI ban him?

Westie and Scottie raw for last 8 years.  Chicken carcasses from Riverford.  All good.

Watching with interest..

BTW, what you doing with the Diverge?

“The 90s was brilliant”

Musically yes, but the bikes were awful.

“Wheels are shit though.”

So are mine.  Rear needs re-truing after every ride.  Something with more than 24 spokes would be sensible.

2015 carbon.  I’ve not tried 650s.  It’s currently got 700×36 Clement Xplor MSO, which are about as wide as I feel comfortable with from a frame clearance POV, which I rode some of the tamer trials in Morzine on.  Offroad down from the Mines D’Or, for example.    The handling is lovely, I’d really like to try with 650s.

Excellent.  Big up MK police too (who in my experience are pretty good and chase stuff up).

Saw them supporting St Etienne back in the day.  Live, Jenny Ondioline took it.  Somewhere I’ve got a 20 minute version of it, must dig it out…

I love my Diverge but I’m not sure I’d replace a mountain bike with it.  I have taken it around some of Coed y Brenin and to Morzine and it’s great but you’re soon up against tyre size limitation.  Something you can stick 45 or 50mm tyres on if necessary might be better?

“It’s all tied in with excess dietary carbs and metabolic syndrome.”

All on here:

http://cholesterolcode.com/

Enjoy…

“Incredibly unhealthy and bad for you.”

Maybe for you but not for me.  Recent blood work, all good.  Plasma sodium bang on mid-range. BP 110/70.  We’re all different…

That’s 2 teaspoons on rest days, more on exercise days…using some ‘lo-salt’ (i.e. a source of potassium) too.

Have you increased your salt intake?  I had to go up to 2 teaspoons a day before it all fell in to place.

If the PURE study is right, many people should have more salt anyway:

http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1311889

As for Froome and Bardet, I thought that the story was a bit more complicated.  I’m a bit of a LCHF fanatic, but even I don’t believe they did it on no carbs.  Peter Defty trains Bardet, and he talks about ‘carb sneaks’ and targeted carb usage.

DO new Birdys fold worse?  Mine’s 15 years old, and I know they’ve changed the frame.  FWIW my old one folds to about 4 inches longer than my wife’s Brompton, about 5 seconds longer to fold, and is lighter…

” would also love to know how much of a physical disadvantage the crouch position has in term of ability to generate power – my hunch is you would give back a good chunk of the 60 Watt gain.”

This must be true.  So he’d, by intuition, perfectly finessed the compromise between aero and power.  Brilliant.

Birdy folds pretty much as well as a brompton (I can get mine folded in 15 seconds), and rides a whole lot nicer.  Mine has XT throughout, so easy to maintain.  There’s not much tyre choice, though, and I wouldn’t try anything more technical than gravel roads.

Where in MK?  I think you’re near me.  I often leave my racing bike in the car, better re-think that!

I’ll keep an eye out whilst walking the dogs around the redways.  Might be local scrotes.

Was there commentary live on the women’s race? When we caught up on Eurosport player we just had the feed.

“I’d say it’s keeping it off.”

Jamie, i’m 15kg down and it’s stayed off. Not saying it works for everyone, but sure has for me.

The carbon snapped off on mine. On a road ride. On my road bike. Aluminum from now on for me…

“That ‘Planing’ article is weird.”

Indeed so, but it definitely ties in with my experience. Although, that’s on lightweight racing bikes which is a somewhat different kettle of fish.

If the weather’s good it’s the best day out ever.

If the wether’s crap it’s ahem, character building.

I’ve had 5 good ones and one bad one. But even the bad one was good.

Personally I love the first week in September, but I have been super lucky with weather. Once you’ve been to Chamonix, nothing else will do…

google LCHF.

Works for me, and for others.

YMMV, of course.

Go out with one of the groups (e.g. cyclone) to find the best stuff, it’s not immediately obvious.

In Dunstable you’re not far from the Berkhemsted groups too.

We like the Igloo.