I would not go near a financial advisor for this. If you just want to secure the house for the future then solicitor. If you want to minimise the tax implications of securing the house then definitely a good accountant (the word tax is a give away).

If it is the same place as last year then very flat and very open to the wind. Not technical at all. Have fun.

I use a Ritchey WCS which has been excellent. No idea on the measurements.

We are a small business. We invested heavily during the recession (it was a hugely frustrating fight to get finance). We raised our prices significantly to reflect the investment. Now we are full customer capacity. So things at the bottom seem better. The attitude of the banks was a joke during this time though.

Talking yesterday to a small business in the building sector. They say that they have never seen so many requests for quotes as they have had in the last 2 weeks. This is a company running for over 15 years.

Totally anecdotal southern based evidence 🙂

I cannot see how this declaration changes the current status at Sky. The declaration says that if we later find you were a doper then you will leave. This is their currenct stance anyway si I think this is pure PR BS.

Regarding “everyone was at it” in 1999 after the Festina scandal. The tests performed on the 1999 samples refutes this and actually seem to show an effort by the peloton to change maybe through fear of police action). Unfortunately USPS decided not and destroyed everyone in 1999 TdF and any chance for change. It took the other teams a few years to catch up hence why 2003 everything got a lot closer.

All professional sportsmen/women will cheat, some cheat big and some cheat small….doesn’t matter what the sport is, if there getting paid to do it, they will cheat. you want to see sport where people don’t cheat…come to think of it there arn’t any.

Golf is pretty amazing in that players themselves ask for replays to see if they cheated and they disqualify themselves.

None of my heroes describe old friends as “prostitute and alcoholic” in public. Classy guy.

Pre his success he was minutes down on Indurain in the TT’s and he could not ride mountains for tofee. It is well documented.

The “all doing it thus level playing field” has been proved to a false argument. There is an upper ceiling of blood values set by the UCI. The further you are naturally away from them then the more benefit you get from the drugs program to get up to them. Also the more money you have then the better the program. This is not a level playing field. Various books have more detailed argument – Tyler’s etc…

I used to do a lot of flying. Screaming kids in economy are a fact of travel which you just need to accept. For back kicking etc just ask the stewardess to deal with it – it works a treat. But sometimes it goes too far….

One flight to west coast I had managed to get some kip. I awoke as we were descending to land and went to put my shoes on only to find that they were gone from by my feet. Now I was flying in during the day straight to a meeting and they were my only shoes (I always travel light for short trips). I informed the stewardess who said that I would have to wait until everyone left the plane to search for them. Another passenger glibly informed me that some kid had pinched them and had been passing them around the plane for some of the flight, but he would not finger the kid. I waited, we searched the plane and eventually found my shoes. This of course put me at the back of the US immigration line which soured my mood even more. I had visions of trying to explain approaching the immigration desks in my socks 🙂 .

Of course not all kids are theiving scumbags and not all parents think that this kind of behviour is ok.

I still don’t know why I had not put my shoes in the overhead locker that flight which was my usual practice.

If you are interested, I have a new rohloff guide as pictured above. You can have for £15 + post . It did not fit the oversize tubes on my frame.

So why the disparity in elite sportspeople from private schools then? Or are you just arguing that rich people are better?

What a strange thing to ask me following my whole post regarding normal people achieving amazing results through desire and hard work.

no money means you often dont participate

No rich parents/affluent schools mean you never do rowing, horse riding stuff or sailing so who knows what talents we are missing out on

I would say that no moneys means that often you choose not to participate.

I have been lucky enough to know a number of athletes from different sports who have risen to international competition including some of the sports mentioned in this thread. The common denominator is pure desire to rise to the top and making huge sacrifices to do it. Many of them have entered the sports at grass root level by begging/borrowing the resources they need to achieve their dreams (including bikes, horses etc).

The crucial factor in their success is desire to achieve not financial capability. The commitment and effort put in to succeed is amazing.

Some of the opinions on this thread about success in certain sports being out of reach of normal people are not indicative of my real experience of these sports and the people that have risen to national and international level.

I love the Olympics because of the wide range of sports both judged and non-judged. The dressage tests they are riding at the Olympics require serious athletic capability from both the horse and the rider (I am married to a dressage rider).

Unsurprisingly the top horses demand the top prices. But entry into the sport of dressage does not require one of these horses.

Regarding the cost of facilities at Greenwich. The cost is massive and probably we will never know how much. A decision was made to use Greenwich no matter what. This required an amazing engineering feat of building everything (including stables) on a massive platform and trying to get that platform to behave like ground. I have been talking to the guys tasked with doing this over the last year. Quite a challenge, but Locog wanted it there no matter the cost.

I was there yesterday – the organization and delivery of the event was fantastic. The atmosphere was not as good as the Europeans at Windsor though in our opinion.

they will just keep throwing more money/troops/police at it till any problems are solved(whats another few million when youve already spent £9000000000+)

^^^ this talking to guys working on the sites for the last few months. I don’t think anyone will ever really know how much.

It won’t be a big cock-up, but there will be lots of individual little cock-ups (like bus drivers not checking they knew how to use their kit).

If you are in a team then a gazebo really is essential.Having a small patch of dry land makes a huge difference to morale. If you are lucky find someone who has a decent one which won’t just blow away.

Other essential is baby wipes so at the bare minimum you can clean your nether nethers before getting some rest for the next lap. Morale thing again. Dirty legs and arms don’t matter.

Have fun.

Yes on the basis he took his punishment on the chin without whinging like Alberto

Apart from appealing to CAS to get his ban reduced of course.

MIllar i would say is an exception in that he wanted redemption for his sins and he has done a lot to change his image and help the sport

Exception to what? He did not admit it until presented with overwhelming proof. He has never named names. Not sure what help you think he has done to the sport rather than the help he need to get himself out of his financial hole after his ban. He is clever enough to know the best way to achieve this and has executed it very well using his most precious commodity – his talent for riding a bike.

Rules have changed so he can ride. Goodluck to him.

When I used to do time trials it always amazed me how many asthma inhalers would appear among the riders. This was at local club TT level. Time trialling can be very addictive. I think the term is “exercised induced asthma”. Then go and see your doctor.

I run 20psi for racing with Ultegra tubeless rims + Stand CX strip + Mud 2. Never had any problems.

For training run 40 psi as my local trails are all very flinty. But the Landcruisers are bullet proof for training in my experience.

Swedish Chef – I don’t have my PT files to hand. Most CX races I now do with the Ultegras and the PT wheel is for training. What in particular were you interested in? The power tends to be FTP then above FTP then FTP then above FTP and repeat until I die around 50 mins and struggle home 🙂

Yes. Open Pro and powertap hub. Stan’s cyclocross rim strip. Landcruiser for training, Mud 2 for racing.

Used it for 3 years.

You may have to fiddle with the amount of normal rim tape below the strip. Once set up no issues and no punctures.

There seems to be thought amoungst some on these threads that think that various drugs turn you into some sort of super hero. They don’t. They might to varying degrees help you train harder/recover quicker but they are not the miracle juice that’s inferred by some. Also remember that LA targetted the Tour very specifically and built the team for that very job whilst others did the rounds of the Giro, Classics etc so maybe didn’t need as much assistance.

54 % seems quite handy to me

Do you have a scientific study which shows little benefit?

The point I’m making is that unless injuries are completely investigated, together with any requisite physio, they will come back to haunt you in later life!

^^ this. Do not skip or accept NHS palming you off re. physio . I was sent home from NHS clinic with no physio as the physio was so used to seeing oldies that anyone who could put there hand above there head was perceived as not requiring help. Big mistake that I have regretted ever since.

I also used Comfrey (bone knit). My bones knitted very quickly I have no idea whether it helped or not,

7 x 7 .

From posts above just goes to show poor quality of IT professionals in UK

don’t believe your friends when they tell you that you have to wear knee boots and not the horse 🙂

I fell for that one!

Work outside all day in winter. Tried most. Le Chameau all the way. A joy for your feet.

Liam came 7th in the 2010 World Champs ! Annie Last 2nd in U23 this year.

Where do you want to look for your Uk riders?

I don’t get this “lack of grass routes racing is a problem”. In the south east we have

– SUmmit racing
– Eastway
– RATS

all running smaller local races series through the summer. I probably missed some. The people who runs these must take great credit for the effort they put in.

My mid week mtb club ride is typically for me a sufferfest and I am an experienced racer. There are clubs out there.

But given the fluctuation in numbers I just don’t think that the average trail rider is interested in going through the pain of racing once they know how hard it is.

I have been in a situation where ACAS advised us to wind up the company rather than give in to an employee’s perfect legal (but very unrealistic) demands.

One size does not fit all in employment law unfortunately.

jumble thats good to hear thoose wheels works well tubeless with non tubeless tyres.

You must have the Stan’s cyclocross strip with the Ultegra wheels with using non tubless tyres. I tried them without and they were fine until the front tyre rolled off the rim 🙂

Shiman Ultegra wheels + Stan’s cyclocross strip + fluid + Schwalbe Landcruisers run at 40 psi for all offroad training (bridleway, woods etc)

Same wheels with Mud 2 at 20 psi for racing

No problems in 2 years.I weigh 12 stone.

ditto schwalbe landcruisers. Ride them everywhere – woods, mud, gravel, road. Bombproof and cheap.

Then swap for racing.

I can understand that it’s difficult providing something different each year, but I thought the course was far too much slog for very little reward or recovery.

Also why we had to go up and down the flat grass field so many times is beyond me. There was very rarely anyone standing by most of these parts cheering and it just feeds the trolls 😉

The other thing was that a course like that removed the likelihood of any surprises in the results. I have been in a couple of teams which have made top 10 in categories, but having so much climbing stretches the gaps out too much between the best and the more normal teams. (maybe I will be proved wrong).

I run and have raced Ultegra tubeless wheels + Mud 2’s at 20 psi with Stans sealant. No problems at all. I have also used the Stans CX strip with a Mavic Open Pro at 30 psi.

More hassle than mtb tubeless, but worth it for the low pressures.

For racing arguably you might as well buy some cheap tubs, but I wanted 1 set of wheels.

I guess no one has heard of eCall. It is an EU campaign for installing mobile device in cars for emergency use – for example automated calling of emergency services after a crash.

Most governments are committed and the mobile operators are signing up manufacturers as we speak.

A lot of people are banking a lot of money on it becoming mandatory across the EU.

Have both – I gave a Medium Soda frame for sale. £650 with Hope Headset.