Look at the technique of how you climb, and compare that to the pros.

When out of the saddle, if grip isn’t much of an issue then shift your weight forward and take most of your weight on your arms (ideally locked) – this way your legs are mainly working at powering the bike, and not lifting much of your weight = more power and staying out of the saddle longer.

Also pick and choose which slopes to ride in/out of the saddle – Steep (for me) = out of the saddle, Gentle = sat down.

For pure climbing you may want your saddle higher.

I used to get pains in my shins and ankles if I ran more than 3 days in a row. I recently ran 7 miles a day, 30 days in a row in Hoka Bondi’s with no pain whatsoever. I think they’re about the most cushioned shoe on the market, I love them, but guess it’s a personal thing whether they’d work for you.

Can anyone recommend any rat traps? Got some in the roof and would like to get rid of them.. Amazon reviews seem to be mixed, half the reviews for many of the top rated ones are for unrelated products?

he may just have been the best rider in the best team with the best domestiques and the best budget.

I agree this is a possibility. Just a highly unlikely one, given all the smoke.

Hiring Leinders to heal cuts and bruises, when everyone in cycling knew his practices.
Massive improvements in rider performance.
Regularly beating known dopers, with the Sky train dominating Mountain stages a la US Postal.
Plenty of lying and attempted cover ups.
dodgy TUEs
illegal Testostorone ordered

Based on cycling’s past, all of this is very very suspicious, and given the fact they’ve already lied multiple times, I personally find their version of events highly unlikely to be true.

Winning 7 out of 8 Grand Tours is domination, whichever way you look at it.

Besides which, “What constitutes dominating?” really is splitting hairs – the issue is doping.

The basic facts are: A clean team hires blood doping doctors and consistently beat world class dopers with climb times that are comparable with doping eras. They try to cover up/deflect doping stories (Brailsford/Daily Mail), destroy / lose laptops, and lie about illegal drugs ordered, as well as order dodgy TUEs before big races.

They are of course clean, as that’s what they claim, and we all know this is the new clean era.

So sky weren’t dominating them then?

C’mon, this isn’t difficult to understand..

Team Sky/Ineos won the TDF in 2012, 2013, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 & 2019.

Contador entered 5 of those and lost every time (retiring in 2017).

Valverde entered every single one of those and lost every time.

They’ve been viewed with loads of suspicion. People wave syringes at them and throw cups of piss at Froome.

How did you miss all that?

I’m referring to this country – I’m well aware of how other countries perceive them – simply as they’ve seen this all before.

Valverde multiple time gt winner (not)
By the time Sky started regular besting contador he was well past his best.

Contador won 3 grand tours after Froome won his first? Valverde has 6 tour podiums and 13 top 10s in that period.

Really? This has been done to death, repeatedly.

Yep, that time he got caught cheating in the Giro holding onto a motorbike as he couldn’t keep up, gave him that extra speed which he maintained for the next decade.

People make the same mistake with Team Sky as they did with US Postal. They listen to the riders’ quotes, lap up all the PR, exaggerated scientific claims and ignore all the evidence that contradicts this. A clean team hiring dirty doctors, beating all the dirty teams with climb times as fast as they’ve ever been. Must be the beetroot juice.

If Sky were Spanish or Italian then they’d be viewed with far more suspicion. But they’re British, and us Brits don’t cheat.

Such as wiggins who previously who demonstrated no ability in the mountains obviously other than a fourth place in the tour with Garmin.

You’re assuming that Wiggins was clean then. Look at his GT performances prior to 2009. He was a 4 minute track rider who turned into a 3 week Grand Tour contender, keeping pace with Lance, Contador etc. The same Wiggins who desperately needed 3 TUEs designed for medical emergencies immediately prior to 3 big races that he competed in?

Look at Froome’s achievements prior to 2011? Then suddenly out climbing everyone and beating Martin and Cancellara in Time Trials? Must be the Bilharzia.

Beating climbers? When did a pure climber last win the tour

– I’m not talking about pure climbers, I’m talking about Valverde, Contador etc.

basically anyone winning must be cheating, right ?

Yep it’s sad that a “clean” team are under suspicion, especially when all they’ve done is consistently dominate doping teams at a sport with a justified dirty history, and winning Grand Tours with riders who never previously showed any real promise at climbing mountains, but are now beating the best climbers in the world, many of whom are doping, whilst hiring the world’s most infamous blood doping doctor.

“I’ll say to the people who don’t believe, the cynics and the sceptics: I’m sorry for you. I’m sorry you don’t believe in miracles.”

what might be the real performance benefit of an externally applied Testosterone gel?

Pretty sure Floyd Landis got popped for Testosterone after his miraculous ride on stage 17 of the TDF in 2006. Rode everyone off his wheel and put minutes into them all.

No idea if it’s going to go the way of Lance, but it’s been obvious for years that the performances of Team Sky don’t add up.

100% clean riders showing drastic improvements, riding in a train that consistently dropped their largely doping competitors with climb times not really that dissimilar to the EPO years, whilst hiring the world’s most famous blood doping doctor to “treat cuts and bruises”, and using conveniently timed TUEs for performance enhancing medication.

Yeah, try eating nothing – if she does need a bit of energy then something small and easy to digest like jelly babies.

Yoghurts and/or raisins etc aren’t too bad, although can occasionally cause a bit of bloating for me, jelly babies I get no bad reactions whatsoever.

Should add it’s not my idea – I saw a vid on using Shoe Goo on Youtube so thought I’d give it a go.. the other Youtube solution was to apply Duct Tape to the bottom of shoes, which didn’t seem to be as good a fix!

It doesn’t have quite as much grip as what it replaces, it goes a bit hard and shiney but is flexible and doesn’t crack. Though I suppose you could put grooves in it once it’s partially set to add a bit of grip if necessary.

It stinks for a couple of days (throw your homemade spatula in the outside bin after use) but definitely adds life to shoes.

As someone who’s pretty tight, does anyone else use Shoe Goo to extend the life of trainers?

I use Hoka’s – the extra cushioning means I can run every day without pain. However they get worn down on the outside heel and at £120ish a pair it’s pretty costly.

Shoe Goo is around £15 a tube for 110ml – scrub the sole clean with detergent, rinse and wait for it to dry. Put an old mug in the trainer to keep it steady / up right whilst sole up. Apply a load of Shoe Goo to replace the lost grip. It stinks so do this outside. Use cardboard to sculpt it. Wait at least 3 days for it to harden else it’ll wear pretty quickly.

Add Vaseline or Sudocrem to the cap before sealing the glue else it’ll get stuck on.

This adds another 80ish miles to the grip before it gets worn down and needs redoing. A tube will do about 5 layers so 400ish extra miles for £15.

I’m pretty obsessed with Spanish Love Songs (bit of swearing so poss NSFW) and Ducking Punches.. not everyone’s cup of tea, but I love them.

16 items, no custom work = 12 weeks plus £20k = taking the p*ss!

TBH with you, I’d say £2k is steep for that kind of work.. unless we’re missing something here, sounds like a few days work absolute max.

Going from what you’re saying, if it’s essentially being turned from a catalogue into an online shop, and it’s already using WooCommerce (and doesn’t need much in the way of customisation) and they’re not prepared to elaborate on the breakdown of costs then it sounds like they’re ripping you off.

From what you’ve stated, unless something has been missed out, then this is nothing like £20Ks worth of work (nor 12 weeks worth of testing).

Sounds pretty excessive to me. How many products?

If they’re quoting for adding stock etc, chances are you can do that (and probably way faster if you buy wp-all-import or similar, can import 1000s directly from a CSV file).

Unless they’re coding a brand new theme from scratch with a huge amount of customisation (in terms of functions / custom plugins) for the online shop (hence the 12 weeks to test/design) then this sounds excessive to me.

I’d get a breakdown of exactly what work they’re carrying out, and if it is:

1. Work they are 100% carrying out themselves from scratch
or
2. Themes / Plugins that they are buying, customising and integrating.

There’s nothing wrong with going down the 2nd route – it will save time and money (and will be thoroughly tested & updated to be future proof) – however it shouldn’t cost £20K if the bulk of the work is buying and customising off the shelf solutions.

Only issue I sometimes get it stuff burning on the bottom but that’s usually me just being impatient.

Add a bit more water, plus just heat it on full til it starts pissing out steam, then turn the hob (either right down or) off. Then just leave it til the pressure is normal.

Bookies seem to have them neck and neck now.. Trump was the clear favourite a few hours ago (Biden was favourite last night)

I’ve taken (think it’s an old drug) Epilim since the age of 15/16 and had no side effects – no effect on alcohol etc. Sounds similar to mine – always at night. Keep a log of when they are, plus if he was asleep as this will help him when he eventually needs/wants a driving license. Mine (I think) were caused by being over tired / stress. I continue to take the medication (couple of tablets a day) with no side effects (25 years later) and don’t think I’ve had a fit in years.

The initial fits were horrible, battering my head against whatever was nearby, and feeling like the worst hangover for days.. spewing etc. Later fits weren’t as bad.. think I learnt what they felt like whilst half asleep and just went with them rather than trying to panic and fight them, so they didn’t take as big a toll on my body.

Possibly make sure nothing too hard (bedside table etc) is by the bed as he may fall out and headbutt it a few times before you hear what’s going on (been there, got the scars!)

Hope this helps :)

Slightly concerned that the odds on Trump have been shortening slightly over the last few hours.. The best odds on him were at 2.89 yesterday, now down to 2.65.. Biden has gone from 1.45 to 1.62.. hoping this is due to the money staked, and not voting/polling data..

My unfashionable yet cost effective solution is to use old school 8 speed.. £7 a chain, £12-15 a cassette, £15 chainrings and less adjusting to get accurate shifting.

The difference in skill/fitness levels within each group would also cause issues – it’ll be boring for some, and too extreme/tiring for the rest – meaning only the few inbetween feel it’s worth the money?

We’re using reusable nappies (mainly off Aliexpress, also some second hand bundles from Facebook) and wet wipes (Cheeky wipes) for the last 7 months – no idea on environmental difference (no landfill, more washing) but they have been a huge help in terms of never running out of nappies (panic buying/brexit etc may affect supplies at certain times?) plus a lot less cost overall if that is an issue.

It’ll get harder as the baby gets older, but at the moment it’s just a case of sticking the dirty ones in a net bag in a sealed bucket, then chucking the whole net bag on a long wash every few days.

Do what works for you, multiple breast feeding vids/books all with their unique selling point/techniques left my wife paranoid she was doing it wrong. If the baby/partner are happy, then keep doing what you’re doing.

Batch cook / freeze meals – saves hours each week, plus gives you time to ride!

Love the fact he rides that old bike built of unfashionable parts, and doesn’t give a f***.. bet he’s still faster than all the local roadies on their high end carbon machines, even with the panniers weighing him down..

I managed to fit discs to a 1995 DB Apex using the A2Z adaptor (which needed adapting to fit the drop out flush) so discs may be an option. It rode really well for 5/6 years then cracked where it had rusted inside by the downtube/BB – it may be worth checking yours in that area as I guess that’s where water accumulates. Good bikes though, was gutted when mine went.

Gravel Bikes look good, but personally I’d prefer a hardtail with a rigid fork (or lightweight suspension fork with lock out), wide bars and fast tyres/wheels. Just as fast, but more fun to ride and can handle more extreme stuff if you decide to change route mid ride.

Or just put together a rigid hack bike for winter, and buy something nicer in the spring when conditions improve.

A frozen sausage = 2.5cm diameter
180 / 2.5 = 72
72 x 72 = 5184 sausages
8 sausages in a pack = 648 packs of sausages @ £2.50 each = £1,620.00
1 x hammer = £10

Problem sorted for £1630.00

I had a load of trouble with Parcel Force / Parcel Monkey – see here – Paisley Freight sorted it first time (via APC couriers). Obviously I contacted the buyer prior to bidding and they were amazing given the circumstances.

My only complaint with 123-reg is that when renewing a (usually a .com domain) for multiple years then make sure you get what you paid for. Numerous times I’d renewed/paid for 2 years, but only 1 year was added on. Each time it was “a bug in the system” according to support, but I’m not convinced – apart from that issue they were fine.

Use whoever you want to buy the domain.. some companies offer a discount for the first year, then you can transfer it to wherever’s cheapest after that.

If you are still searching for that perfect domain, be careful where you search. Some companies (GoDaddy etc) will register a name shortly after you’ve searched for it (if you don’t immediately buy it), then try and sell it to you at a premium price afterwards.

Just to conclude: Paisley Freight / APC were excellent – picked it up first time, delivered next day for less money than Parcel Force.

£32 to collect a bike, drive it across the country for next day delivery, including £200 of insurance.

Thanks Hooli – yep it is APC Couriers they’re using – Hopefully it’ll run smoothly this time :)

To anyone who’s looking to ship a bike – please avoid Parcel Monkey / ParcelForce – they’ve been utterly useless, refusing to phone the seller for directions, not looking at the detailed directions provided, and consistently marking the customer as “Not in” rather than bothering to find the address or ask for help – for 9 days straight! I’ve given Paisley Freight a try instead.

Hart signing I’m confused by.

Homegrown innit.. we were on the limit, considering depending on Europe/PL both Dier & Davies don’t count as homegrown. Replacing Vorm with Hart gives us an extra space.

+1 for schwalbe CX comp – cheap, fast rolling, and a side knob if things start to slide

Am a local (West Cornwall) it’s pretty busy.. St Ives is supposed to be stupidly busy, streets are packed.

Went to St Michael’s Mount on Saturday to see a friend who lives there, despite the fact it was shut there were still people walking across the causeway and lingering next to the locked gates like zombies, paying no notice to the “Closed sign”.

Even Loe Bar beach (no swimming at all, very dangerous) was busy on Sunday, people with beach stuff, deckchairs etc despite the fact you can’t go in the water.

If you’re down here, head to a non touristy beach (no shops = less people), and don’t take any risks with the sea as I imagine the emergency services are pretty stretched at the moment.

If you’ve got a choice, probably come another (less busy) time as we’ve only got Treliske with a handful of beds.