The ding is rather nasty but what interests me more is there seems to be a stress line in the stickers at each of those spokes.

I would ride it most probably on the rear might last long time but would consider it more likely not too. would not spend more then hub value on it.

Done similar ding to my rear on one of its first rides going through a rock garden on slow puncture.

My bankmanger must be proud of me resisted buying the SIAN at 210 EUR this morning, sold out now. Just got the modest Ducati on its way to at to the collection of boxes for a cold and long winter.

This tread has made me regret not buying the Technic Porsche 911 RSR when it was on sale for a steal in the toys sale. Just got my niece some lego architecture stuff.

The girls already have six smaller sets lined up coming their way calendar, hovercraft ferrari mclaren elva and so.

But I might have overcompensated a bit and filled up my closet a bit.

Could resist at the lambo as a lot of money and not such a good price localy.

But whe now have

2X Mclaren Senna GTR

Dominic dodge charger

2X Ford Raptor F 150

and a Ferrari 488 GTE AF Corse to top it of.

Looks I a am fine for some rainy or snowy days this winter season.

not being in to Star Wars saved me from maxing out the bank card

Four Mantel.com have the LO3A currently back in stock. Stock has been coming in the last couple of days. Struggled to get some in august(no more stock at that place). Had a stock alert on a cheap french place alert came in tuesday but they are again sold out today(got some coming today normally) you need to move fast.

Tried the cookie killer link at least twice and this doesn’t fix the issue. Still get a prompt at least every minute which eats my bandwidth and it even pops up so fast you don’t get a chance to log in either. Bloody useless

For those struggling to keep up don’t worry team Pie is currently on the overall podium out of more then 16K entries so even a bit behind you might still be doing great.

Impressive team Pie

My germans having a great start so far.

lets hope I don’t see half my team go home in the end like in Le Tour.

Date or try to date a local girl. It really helps lots (I have tried myself for English, Brazilian Portuguese and french ;) )

Brazilian Portuguese is very different to Portuguese one I was not too bad in the Portuguese version(learned in Angola and Mozambique). But struggled lots in my fist weeks in Brazil and my teams said you speak like a Portuguese and we don’t understand it that way. I took on on one courses and chatting lots with my cute local cycling fiend helped lots fo Progress.

Watch out for the last descent tomorrow from Potet d’Aspet.

Its been very wet ou here today and there is lots of fuel spilled on the road last 3k of the climb several more on the downhill. Still there late afternoon there was so much we thought it was done on purpose.

I got to race in the Gent Six days event during the break in the pro program.

Some local old people music radio station did an event and 4 fastest got to do head to head 500m time trial race during the main event. Luckily my mates dad listens to that station, we only too part cos an entry came with a two free places in the stands and free beer and food in the vip area all night.

IMO its not about fit but use of a spacer. Some casettes need a spacer behind the biggest cog others don’t. You should most times easily notice if spacer forgotten(hard to tighten or more likely loose casette). Or added but not needed(smallest cog will be to far ou or not even catch on the hub.

Need a picture but does sound like a standard old school crank tool is all whats needed(what everyone used before self extracting bolts) they are plentyfull around and shouldn’t cost more then 10 quid like this

Castelli sizes (very) small. I have the velocissimo’s 1m84 83 kg muscular thighs though and I take XXL where in most brand’s I take L occasionally XL. Size up at least one size from you normal size. My best bibs though and I have about 20 different ones

I would have said don’t you are gonna be out of your dept in trouble.

But this makes you think you might be the limited group that ca actually enjoy it

I’ve worked in the Middle East/N.Africa (Iraq, Yemen, Syria, Libya) for most of my adult life, so I get the route dilemmas and geopolitics. I’m not really worried about the bureaucracy or whether people will be nice to me or not.

An acquitances attempte the other way around might give you some pointers http://www.shanecycles.com/africa/

Not much to add, as I only cycled across south africa myself and the route was rather hard. Lived in Morocco, Mozambique and Angola(expensive rip off place) pity as I liked Namibia next to it(although quite empty)

Army Base layer that keeps me warm on winter rides when it freezes, happy with them till about minus 20 degrees. Starting to get a bit smelly and one is rough around the neck now, but then used regularly and tumble dried.

Acquired some of those for free late last century. Army left overs from my uncle and his mates who used them to keep warm at check points when they served in the aftermatch of the Bosnian war(blue berets).

I think the Dutch have an easier time with English than other countries, since Dutch is the closest major language to English. When I worked there they had the most natural turn of phrase in English, I think and it was more widespread. Even amongst those who struggled a bit more – when they were speaking, it sounded pretty good.

The main reason is diffrent IMO. Its a small country as well as for the dutch speaking part of Belgium. So many TV shows are imported and contrary to the bigger France for example means that it becomes to expensive tu dub the dialoges. Except for small kids programs they remain in English and are just subtitled. So you learn from a young age how its sounds and how phrases are built, and free extra vocabulary thanks to subtitles.

I hail from dutch speaking Belgium probably bilingual in Dutch and English and almost there in French too.

Yep ditch the red thing whith this specific cassette if you want smooth shifting.

Its the part he is holding in his hand for quite a bit around the 9 min mark no clue what it is or is called

He shows how using it would make the derailler sitting further away from the bottom cog and result in bad shifting.

Disclaimer my Pork and cheese is a bit rusty and although I did follow some courses when I lived in Brazil, most was learned on some rough african streets from people who had had little schooling themselves. English ain’t my first language either ;)

He doesn’t really complain about clearance. The time he is showing and talking about the two smallest cogs he is actually showing and vanting how smooth the shifting is(which is apparently often not the case with other brands).

Comparing with the two other casette’s he is really promoting this one and gives it ten out of ten. FYI the two other casettes in the video have 4000 km on them, the one reviewed has already done 2000 andhe’s talking about the limited wear.

What probably interests you is the read thing about 9 min in which he calls gabarito, he says not to use. Because if used you can’t get the shifting right on this casette. Thats about the only downside he mentions as this “gabarito” didn’t cause any problems on his other casettes I believe ans SRAM G?? and a KMC in the past.

I think I am one of those in the old topic. I tried about 6 years ago mannaged the full pas portes loop although it was sometimes scetchy. but was told by the Les Gets responsible to never come back.

But it seems there is good news a French dude inquired and tried in 2018.

it’s in French but as I am rather fluent. It works but at some lifts you need to wait till one of the special wider setups comes along(so better not go in a big fatbike group) He also believed his 4.0 was the max and that bigger tire sizes wouldn’t work on some(this is apparently somewhere in their rules as read elsewhere.

http://enavantfat.over-blog.com/2018/06/ca-passe-aux-portes-du-soleil.html

Les gets explains here in english what’s possible.
https://www.lesgets.com/nl/blog/les-gets-one-resort-seven-ways-to-cycle/

Leffeboy,

It seems you are currently in Belgium so you ca watch on https://www.vrt.be/vrtnu/livestream/ live or direct in dutch. Only works if you are physically in Belgium or if you have a Belgian cell number in Europe.

@gaidong counting wife and kids bikes thats a bit overkill ;)

I don’t have kids and no wife anymore(the last one had 4 bikes well maybe 5).

Do have some bikes for visitors if I count them I should probably have 13 bikes currently, thats if I remembered them all(have managed to forget a travel bike at a friends and was handed it back three years later).

Eying up a new road bike, in my defence I have sold and old one recently to a mate.

Think I have a bit of a cycling issue, recently started counting spare tyres not mounted on wheels and gave up when I got to around fifty

Its all in the width where the tire will sit. So you need to measure the current 29’er tyre and the spare clearance you have left. There is TWO places where to measure as it might fit at the bottom but not at top(seatstay). I read you have or had some 27.5 wheel, have some too that I can measure if wanted. As you most likely know 2.8 can be quite different from one tyre model to another as well in height as width.

Diameter should be fine or slightly smaller so can be ignored. But this might be interesting for width if as seatstay shape 1 cm further back might be wider.

18 bikes respect, you are probably the first person who admits to having more bikes then me and who doesn’t own a shop. I have definitely more then ten but no idea how many exactly.

Dites bonjour et bon rétablissement a Sylvain.

FTP 320 or so, I set myself a do not exceed value of 250 watts 230 for 20 min climbs and 200 watts for the long stuff.

Yeah those are similar numbers to what I worked with when I was training with power.

The problem I have is that for me, climbing at that pace takes FOREVER as I am rather heavy. So on a one-day effort I push it a bit because I know I don’t have to ride the next week or two!

At over 6 feet and about 13 ston I am not a lightweight but it allows me to climb well over 2000 feet an hour which allows for nice progress IMO.

One or even (big)two day events like Paris Brest Paris are différent there you can(and should from time to time) damage the engine and cruise home on the fumes. The only way where I would knowingly go over my limits is in events where there are groups and it would enable you a free slipstream ride on flattish terrain or into a fierce headwind like 2019 P-B-P(where you could basically have a free ride almost to Brest)

for the OP I found the YACF that was advised on here to me in the past a good source for information.

But keep in mind measures of hardness and capabilities are very personal. For the one P.B.P getting in a 90 hours(full value riders) is a challenge other see 60 hours as cruising speed.

As you quote at the top of what I can do don’t get to tempted by (almost)racing snakes speed. But also don’t underestimate your own abilities as long as you take it steady it can go a long way.

As said higher never decided to bail at night, have a nice sleep ride for a bit and then decide. Even a bad leg day or bad weather day doesn’t have to be the end. I went in september for a ride that was probably at the limit at my relatively unfit abilities. after two 250 km( 5000m climbing) days I broke at the end of day two, rain cold no food so went for a nice sleep and only left the next morning at 9 am and stopped already at 6 pm. Got chucked back to the tailend of the field but had a nice meal and breakfast and cruised back through the pack in the next two days to make it in time(whilst on paper there was little hope left after day three). And even if you run out of time better enjoy the ride and scenery and be a little late then ride yourself to bits and hate parts of it just for a medal or a placing.

Power is personal but for this kind of rides my values are.

FTP 320 or so, I set myself a do not exceed value of 250 watts 230 for 20 min climbs and 200 watts for the long stuff.

This means that if there is steep stuff on route even if only for 10 min efforts that you will need to have the gearing low enough to cruise up it easily as if you where going for a stroll with grandma or the kids on a sunday afternoon.

@molgrips thanks you beat me by a couple off seconds for the most important advice ;)

HR is ok for training useless for the ride itself as It will almost flatline after a couple of days maybe even already on day two.

Although the route sounds rather flattish check ou the climbs its different riding 15 to 20 min climbs is very different to one or two hours contiuous efforts even if not steep.

You need to avoid all unnecessary efforts, Your power meter is gold for that, not for a value to reach but for one not too exceed and this needs to be quite a bit lower then your FTP. Even short bursts those small kicks done big blade or even a 10 min climb done just a bit too hard do a lot of muscle damage which on this length of event you are gonna pay a hefty bill for. You need to find your all day cruising speed (so you need to simulate this by doing a ride at least similar to your hardest day and be able to repeat the next day(no need to repeat for real just feel fine the day after))..

Comfortable clothes, think about dry clothes to change in and think about having them cleaned regularly(it helps avoiding itches, bum problems and it just feels nice getting into fresh kit).

It doesn’t seem to hard actually 10 hours on the bike maybe 12 if you are slow should be able so time to eat/sleep correctly aplenty IMO.

Try your kit and I mean your full kit(all bags lights and so) a badly fixed bag a strap hampering a cable can give you lots of hassle.

If allowed some clean kit extra spares sent to somewhere en route can be nice, put a prepaid postage packed in there to so that you can easily send the spoilt unwanted kit back home.

Oh smile have fun and enjoy the scenery.

First words from Kevin:

It was like in those films whent a vessel goes down but then worse.

What happened in a handfull of seconds:
Planted the vessel and then stem folded 90 degrees.
Just had time to send an distress message.
Next wave hit and all electronics went dead.
Folding a vessel in two….
I have done some but this one….

No exagerating, really almost exact words in my best french english tranlation(small disclaimer rather fluent in both but neither is my mother tongue)

Seems like a bit more then some water ingress. To note this vessel had extensive damage a couple of months ago I believe.

Le Cam is in the area and has spotted him but not yet been able to recover Escoffier.

In the meantime night has fallen, two more boats sent in to try and fish him out of his liferaft, gonna be a hectic night.

Thomson in trouble of the coast of Brazil with possible structural problems.
Bit vague in the press release but the last sentence doesn’t bode to well….

Move your ride to Rio de Janeiro Brazil.

Used to do nightrides over there and had the Domino’s Pizza guys delivery at the viewpoint vista chinesa in the park up a mountain. That’s like a couple of k’s from nearest house up a mountain where at night gangs tend to discard unwanted body’s from small misunderstandings/differences in opinion.

Pizza guy delivered no questions asked…

Molgrips

My mate insists they design in obsolescence to force people to upgrade. He cites chanring BCDs as reasons. However, I think that they are a company of engineers, and that they have reasons for changing chainring BCD, however small and annoying.

I think there is more evidence that they AREN’t designing in obsolescence. Freehubs for example stayed the same for two decades or more, and only changed when they needed to

Your mate is right the different standards in between years and levels of equipment obtain this. Its a pain how much stuff even if its both 11 speed from same brand doesn’t work together or needs a bit of a bodge. Brands do this inbetween them did you know even a shimano gear cable doesn’t properly fit a campagnolo shifter. And Shimano does this in between their own equipment as well and so in increasing levels.

I actually graduated on this stuff Modularity(ie being able to interchange in between brands and amongst the same brands) in the bicylce industry. Did a case study even Shimano vs Campagnolo and how they use it to keep prices up. Other subject was locking acces to certain markets. Its a cyclical process and that was showing and upwards curve ie less compatbile more restrictions in the early 2000’s and recent years have only shown its massively on the up the last couple of year. Its a pain for bicycle mecanics

Millau has been mentionned from after Paris there are three one before Millau and two when dropping down to the coast. Longest one not even half a mile. You have the viaduc though but easy to avoid from the old road. For the tunnels not sure about the first one the two after near pas the Escalette are avoidable if you cut throgh the cevennes, beautifull around there but you won’t be going fast. Tour the france in there this year again.

France are going to extend their health measures until 24th July, also a two week quarantine on arrival

Well that’s not what I wanted to see.

France have annouced that the special permit for the governement to take special measures is (likely)extended to 24 july.
Its a right to use no one can tell now if and what they decide to use it for.
France will be easying lockdown on may 11 th.
The 14 day quarantaine is a mesure announced for people returning around now(don’t think its actually alreay official), and could differ on country of departure, early may and late july august are not the same. Could be a lot better could be a lot worse.
I live in france and speak decent french and english its easy to misquote interpret a phrase.

French lockdown rules where/are a lot stricter then uk ones it seems.

Why not? (must have Corona ;) )
But description is very vague which year are these bikes?
And the sizing are they the CF or CC values??

So why don’t you go to Carpentras ou Avignon or even Cavaillon? It’s so close there are a t least 10 bike shops within 25K from there(where I live in france the only one is my shed ;) ). Just google Marchand de Velo and one of these city and town names and go visit them.

Best to ignore most of the french above ;) juste point and say write cassé(broken) remplacer(replace) combien(how much) and delay/quand(delay/when) should get you back rolling

Whereabouts in France are you?

I found two just like that use the franch words fourgon utilitaire:

https://www.rentiz.com/location-utilitaires/nice-aeroport
https://www.rentacar.fr/agences/aeroports/529-nice-aeroport-point-service

But do check if they allow cross borders, especially for non EU citizens (hello Brexit rubish)

Or try down town offices as that type of vehicle is not a tipical airport rental and so often limited or no stock, different downt town though.

Coold’nt gather the courage the go and commute in and out on icy roads in rural france while parents still around for breakfest. Managed 30 on my lunch break(they haven’t gasped the concept of boxing day public holiday down here yet, so up to 120k total now.

Absolutely no stress though two year ago I was 310K short on the 30th at 9am and made it so I am large in my timing. Tomorrow back in the office for a long day and then the cheating can start from saturday onwards ;)

Are you a dwarf? 😆

The clues in the name, not quite but very nearly ‘🤣

You could have kept up the appearance. I once coached a kid who was 6 feet 8 at age 13. His elder sister at 14 had already cleared 6 feet aswell

I applied for 70% the verbal counter offer was 80% and having my pick off day. Can’t wait for the paperwork to sign quickly. 6 months trial though but can’t wait for feb 1st. Life’s to short to stay at work If you rather be somewhere else and can afford it.

I don’t hate my job I actually enjoy what I do its just I enjoy other stuff even more.