BTW to answer your original question, Toploader probably didn’t earn much from Dancing in the moonlight, as it was a cover.

If I lived in a city I might try online dating – however where I live (small town) two things put me off.

1. Female friends telling me how they’re inundated with messages from guys who are just after sex, thus burying any genuine messages.

2. The fact that the majority of girls I know on POF have descriptions and photos that are completely different to how they actually are in real life. Everyone seems to paint a completely unrealistic picture, making the whole thing pretty pointless IMO.

I’m not a subscriber, so feel free to disregard. Reading between the lines maybe the OP was a bit OTT with the comment, no real need to post anything negative – if you don’t like the competition then don’t enter.

Assuming that’s the entire correspondence between STW and the user, then IMO STW’s response was a little OTT too – essentially politely telling him his subscription is cancelled and forcing a refund on him wasn’t the best way of handling it. A polite reply would have sufficed, and saved this thread from existing and any bad publicity that comes from it.

Boxing Guru should have it, usually have all the fights..

Actually this should be it.. in Italian though

http://www.cyclingfans.com/node/7812

Final km is here (you’d miss a bit of the action just watching that though) http://www.cyclingfans.com/node/7813

Edit: more highlights here

You’ll love Contador’s attack, was astonishing!

I work from home and live alone – don’t have any real stress, but if I’m struggling to get to sleep I listen to podcasts in bed – makes my brain switch off.

What can I say, I’m pretty selfless.

Joey
Today’s post is sponsored by Pot Noodle.[/url]

In the interest of fairness, I feel I would also like to have a signature.

(nowt to do with me, just trying to be fair :) )
Joey
Mountain Biking in Sierra Nevada

Well Tim from Pure Mountains, you’ve messed up the link to your website, so won’t be getting any SEO benefits!

I would say that as someone who is into “all sorts of mountain biking. Winner of solo endurance races.” then you should be advising us?! ha

think he may have attended too many awards ceremonies/parties at the tail end of last year instead of training

Nomsemse

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2249728/Bradley-Wiggins-stops-McDonalds-night-partying.html

Well there were a lot of story lines like this (excuse the Daily Fail), which seems to be just before Xmas.. haven’t seen any other cyclists doing this (other than Schleck allegedly)

Edit: I’m not blaming him for what it’s worth, I’m just guessing the rest of his competitors weren’t partying, pretty sure he said in one interview he didn’t touch the bike for around 2 months.

Regardless of the crash Wiggins has already been dropped on several climbs this Giro.. he’s not looking the same rider as he was last year, think he may have attended too many awards ceremonies/parties at the tail end of last year instead of training. He’s not had two decent seasons running on the road yet, even if he pulls back time tomorrow, he needed that time to give him an advantage ahead of the mountains, Nibali and Hesjedal look like they can drop him at will so far.

Loads of data here for anyone’s that’s interested…

Sorry, just realised left out two of your questions – chose 2009-2012 as 2009 was Wiggins break through year (4th since upgraded to 3rd) – before that he wasn’t considered a contender.. Chose 1990 onwards just so there was a large enough group not to be skewed by one or two results. For example, pretty sure there were longer time trials in the early 90’s, favouring Mig, which would have pushed the average up slightly.

I was using data from here, and used the 90’s as it is widely considered the dirtiest era – virtually the whole peleton was using EPO, and there was no test for it – it was basically a free for all.

Not sure how much you can read into this, but the average speed of the last four TDFs (2009-2012 inclusive) works out at 39.87km/hr.

The average speed for the EPO era of 1990-99 works out as an average of 39.151km/hr

So overall, today’s race is faster than the dirtiest period in cycling history. Maybe that’s down to equipment, maybe not.

In this particular debate I don’t think either side are going to convince the other. My main point is that in virtually every instance where a team or individuals have dominated a grand tour like Sky did, it has subsequently been proven to be down to doping. I hope Sky are clean, and hope that cycling has turned over a new leaf. But it has claimed to have done that after Festina, Ullrich, Basso, Landis, Contador etc and call me cynical, but I can’t see it being any different after Lance.

I just get fed up with the line we get fed from the riders after every doping scandal.. “We’re the new clean generation etc” and every single time up to now it’s been proven otherwise.

The only solution is as Vaughters said, an external and completely impartial body to handle the testing and punishments – cycling has proven it can’t govern itself.

1. I put the No Failed Tests bit in as that’s the usual defence from Sky fans – I’m not saying no failed tests = doping, I’m just stating that it doesn’t necessarily mean they’re clean.
2. You (or someone) asked for evidence – I provided some which implies that certain riders may not be as clean as they’d have us believe. Totally agree it’s not conclusive, however the riders I quoted were all considered in the top 20% of suspicious by the governing body.
3. USPS train’s performances were very suspicious – the way they blew away dopers such as Vino, Ullrich, Valverde etc. Sky are now doing a similar thing to the newer generation of GC riders.
4. Known dopers include Basso, Kloden, Vino, Basso etc – as per most years there were a lot of dopers riding last year’s TDF, all of whom got dominated. In smaller stage races Contador has been comprehensively beaten by Froome a couple of times. A clean rider beating the almost certainly doping and arguably most talented stage racer of his generation at his own game doesn’t really add up.
5. n/a
6. Look at Rogers this year – amazing in the mountains last year, rubbish now.

Appreciate we don’t agree on this – all I’m saying is to automatically assume Sky are clean is very naive, especially given the history of cycling. A lot of Lance’s fans were using the “no proof” line for years, despite the highly suspicious performances.

The only person talking sense who’s still involved in professional cycling is Vaughters. Check cyclingnews forum for user jv1973 for his opinions / answers to cycling fans.

Urrgghh just typed a really long reply and accidentally closed the window. To summarise..

No failed tests – but to be fair this isn’t necessarily indicative of being clean.
Wiggins, Thomas, Rogers, Siutsou etc all ranked very highly in UCI suspicious list based on performances and blood data.
Overall performances are pretty dominating (both individual and as a team), and are very reminiscent of USPS’s train
Regularly beating doping riders, often comprehensively
Hiring ex dopers and doping doctors – either Sky are very naive or they turned a blind eye to their staff’s past.
Sudden improvements to their rider’s performances upon joining, which seem to drop off as soon as they leave Sky

BTW I don’t mean this to be an anti Sky post – other teams are just as bad if not worse – I’m just pointing out that they’re not as squeaky clean as they claim to be. Maybe they are clean, and their spectacular performances are legit. I just find them hard to believe, in a sport that’s historically been dominated by widespread doping.

Either way, if you agree with me or not, there’s a nice piece by Robert Millar here about the Giro.

Wiggins went from being a record breaking Olympic cyclist with a near peerles record at endurance [ sprinting events] with occasional road rides till he diedciated himself to the road.

Wiggins went from being a world class 4 minute rider, who couldn’t climb, to a world class 3 week rider who could keep up with the best doping riders pretty much overnight. Look at his GC results before 2009.

It’s not far off Usain Bolt suddenly contending to win the London Marathon.

Is that when he was standing around waiting for a new bike from the team car? On the previous day nibali couldn’t shake him off and Wiggins wouldn’t attack as sky had the eventual stage winner up the road. So overall i don’t think we can read too much in to that.

Granted he did lose around 30 seconds due to bike, but lost another minute on the climb, and not just to Nibali either. I don’t think Wiggins will be as good this year – he spent a lot of time partying at the end of last season, (and to be fair he’d achieved some amazing things) – and has never had 2 good seasons running on the road. I think he’s lost a bit of hunger this year, but will back next year. May well be wrong though, we’ll see!

No evidence. The Spanish court refused to release the names of 200 Fuentes blood-doping customers yesterday. There’s plenty of evidence but no-one is allowed to see it.

Shocking I know. That evidence REALLY needs to come out!

If it was just cyclists, then it would be released. Most of the cyclists have been named IIRC, it’s the footballers and tennis players that are being protected, especially considering it’s Spain’s Olympic bid this year.

Personally I don’t have much faith in any cyclists, including Team Sky. The dramatic rise from being distinctly average GC stage racers / climbers to being world class for both Wiggins and Froome is pretty suspicious – Froome went from being a nobody to beating Cancellara in a time trial and being able to drop the world’s best climbers. Wiggins went from being a pretty ordinary climber to suddenly being able to climb with the best and finishing 3rd in the TDF amongst the Schleck Brothers, Contador and Armstrong. Team Sky now ride with a dominance very similar to that of US Postal, with domestiques out climbing rival team’s GC contenders. Contador was struggling to hold Porte’s wheel the other day.

Despite their zero tolerance hiring promise, they’ve already had to let 6 or 7 staff go, including Dr Geert Leinders who organised systematic doping at Rabobank. Wiggins now seems to have forgotten his quote from before the Leinders story broke:

“I think they have to take a strong look at who they invite to the race in the next few years; if there is one per cent suspicion or doubt that a team is involved in doping, or (are) working with certain doctors who are under suspicion of doping, then they shouldn’t be invited to the Tour de France, it’s as simple as that. They shouldn’t even be given a racing licence until they can prove that they are not involved in wrongdoing.”

If history has taught us anything, remarkable transformations and performances are usually followed by a scandal in cycling. Personally the only person in cycling I trust is Vaughters – he’s realistic and answers questions from the fans, including the cynics.

Oh and for the record, I think Wiggins will struggle against Nibali in the mountains at the Giro (lost 1min 40 to him the other day), so by the time the TDF comes around Froome will be leading.

Not defending Amazon, but their website also helps smaller businesses by enabling them to trade on there. No idea how badly they sting them for fees etc though.

Not mention for BMTH yet?

As far as I’m aware this guy has the record at the mo

Distance: 1880 miles.
Time: 5 days 21 hours 8 minutes
Calories burned: c.105 000
Av. Daily distance: 324.1 miles
Sleep: 210 minutes
Weight lost: 8kg
Elevation: 66 956 feet

http://www.rockettrides.com/%5B/url%5D

Each to their own and all that, but don’t really understand the hatred for Queen.. totally appreciate certain songs have been over played, but they have a pretty extensive and diverse back catalogue, as well as arguably the greatest front man ever?

Totally agree that since Freddie died they should have quit, and Brian May should stop saying yes to people (Buckingham Palace etc) – but overall you don’t get many musicians criticising Queen for their musical output?

Muse used to be good, been downhill since Origin of Symmetry though.. now they’re just an embarrassingly poor Queen tribute act.

In terms of adverts, this one is pretty bad.

Annoying sparkly toothed sh*tweasel. Check.
Evil corporation. Check.
Excruciatingly bad. Check.

U2
Coldplay
Mumford
Maroon 5
Any band/artist who wouldn’t have a record deal/following if it wasn’t for their haircuts.
Anything bland / songs that sound like someone’s spent 5 minutes on the lyrics.

This is pretty sad. Also beautiful. Starts at 0:46

Used in the excellent This is England film/series

Is there really a need for these? or is it a case of cyclists desiring the latest gadgets?

Surely forgetting how low/high your saddle is will cause crashes.. if the top XC boys/girls can ride flat out with their saddles high, then clearly there’s no problem to be solved..

Tell them to sue you in the small claims court. State that you’ll then put in a counter claim, and transfer the court hearing to your local court. You won’t hear from them again.

Yeah go on then, I hereby pass on ownership to you.

A little pro tip for you: if you’ve already got a half decent copy of the logo, then load it up on screen (needs to be full screen for best results), then place the monitor face down on a photocopier. Scan the screen, print out the results on a really big bit of paper. Place the photocopy on a flat surface, and take a photo with a high res camera, then copy that pic to the computer. The increase in pixels = an increase in resolution.

Rainbows don’t print well on modern dot matrix printers. Plus they look like stripey sausages to colour blind people.

I’ll consider the teddy bear for the next draft, point taken about the spokey dokeys.

Neninja.. ignore these guys, no offence, but they clearly don’t know what they’re talking about.

Have sorted it for ya. No charge for this, just pass on the favour

What about Marzocchi?

Mar Zoch Chi
or
Mar Zock Ee
or something else?

Levy won’t sell to an English club.. same as the Modric situation, Chelsea offered more than Real, but he didn’t want to strengthen a rival, so sold him abroad.

Bale will give us another year or two before going to Real / Barce IMO.

Moi, absolutely smashed, crowd surfing at Funeral a couple of weeks back

Also I wasn’t there, but Rage fans might be interested in this early footage, 21 years ago, surfaced the other day.

alex222: what I meant was that those three bands have managed to produce decent music, and evolved with each album, without really selling out IMO