Anyone know where the Vuelta organisers have been during all these crashes?

Haha, the Vuelta’s gonna have a better line-up than the Wandsworth Prison Christmas Pantomime…

I just bungy bikes to the side wall (ply-lined) and have a big dog bed that I put between them to protect paintwork.

The dog bed doubles up as a comfy mat to stand on whilst changing or a sleeping mat if necessary.

So was there a second crash? Did he get run over by Jurgen Van Den Broeck driving a Belkin Team Bianchi Octavia? Was there a second gunman on the grassy knoll? Will we ever really know???

End of thread… :wink:

It’s all very confusing… Either way, it doesn’t sound like he’s very popular amongst the peloton…

So the eating was the second crash??

Where you getting that from Kudos? These read like the high speed one, the one that did the damage, is the one they’re complaining about:

I read umpteen reports this morning. From what I gathered, the high speed crash (whilst passing Van Den Broeck) was whilst eating. So he would have had one hand on the bars and been seated.

The reports of him crashing whilst moving up through the group suggest the road was flat or ascending (he was standing up on the pedals – you don’t have to do that whilst descending, even when you’re trying to move up).

I suspect the second incident I refer to (although I’m not sure which order they occurred) was what pissed off the peleton.

The first one sounds like one of those unusual riding incidents. The fact that he was passing Van Den Broeck certainly doesn’t suggest recklessness – the order changes constantly on descents as people ride out of others’ draft etc…

I’m sure there will be more reports to help clarify/confuse in due course!

[Edit] Just read VDB’s comments which confuse me even more!!!

A lot seem to be missing the point – he had a silly little off in the peleton – which is what has prompted the accusations of recklessness from other riders – but it was a different crash on a high speed descent that did the damage.

Every cyclist knows that horrible feeling when you’re descending on the drops and you lose your grip on a pothole or bump.

Looking at the pic of his shoe, I’d surmise that he bounced off the bars, kept the bike upright (there were reports of 60-70yd skid marks) and straightlined until he hit something or went off the road.

Lac de Mondroid, a few minutes ride out of Morzine a couple of weeks ago… Beautiful.

Went back later that day for a bit of wild swimming… Freezing! 8O

I used Ultremo ZXs :wink:

They were good enough for a 2nd Strava KOM on the descent from Alvoriaz to Morzine.

Apparently it snapped at all the hidden Zertz inserts :wink:

It’s a sign of the times that companies feel they have to issue statements about how the bike got broken even before the stage finishes and they can talk to everyone.

I think Spesh have shot themselves in the foot here, they rushed out a completely fabricated story that the bike had been run over to try and cover their arses and turned a little non-story into a potentially damaging scandal!

Like this?

Do you under/over pronate when you walk or run? Could be that having your foot planted to a flat pedal is causing strain somewhere.
I’ve suffered from plantar fasciitis after an ankle sprain – it’s amazing how a small injury can have such a big effect. Plantar fasciitis mostly effects the heel but can manifest itself anywhere on the underside of the foot.
I’m not a doctor but in my experience, it’s one of those niggles that you either work through or avoid the cause.

Morecambe has pretty good transport links to other places. ;)

Get a road bike. I find it very difficult to do any structured training on a mountain bike as the terrain/surface/weather can be so variable.

I’d recommend doing things like hill reps and intervals, either on the road or on a turbo. Sufferfest-type vids are probably the single biggest factor in my improvements over the past 3 years.

I ride mountain bike once a week and all other riding is roadbike – solo rides, group/chaingang, racing and TTing.

The weekly MTB rides keep my skilz sharp and the roadbike makes me awesomer. :wink:

I think the Karma Fairy stuck her wand through his spokes…

I bought a Makita twin pack – cordless drill and impact driver*. Worth its weight in gold, and wasn’t particularly expensive (it’s not the Li-ion version).

Also got a Makita circular saw which, again, is invaluable. Make a few cutting guides (google the instructions) and you won’t know how you managed without one.

* If you’re doing any DIY, you NEED an impact driver!!

With the app, the vocals regain all their sparkle and crispness, and a bit of a lift to the very lowest frequencies gives the bass more punch.

Does it make the track “come alive”?

The Park self-adhesive patches come in a little plastic case, about the size of a stamp… Or a patch even. So takes up no room in the pocket.
There’s no faffing about with glue tubes, which in unfavourable conditions is far from fun.
I carry 1 spare tube and a packet of patches in case I get more than one puncture.

Not really, this position get them more aero to save 30 watts.

30 watts? Trust me, we do it to give our hands and wrists a rest, not for the aero benefits.

After 4 or 5 hours in the saddle, core muscles start to slump – no matter how strong you are – and more weight is transferred to the hands. Twinges, numbness and “electric shocks” are perfectly normal and pretty unavoidable if you spend long hours in the saddle.

Squeezing the vulcanising solution out the sides, risking the inner tube welding itself to the inside of the tyre.

You’ve obviously not read the instructions or been shown how to mend a puncture. The vulcanising solution should be dry, there’s no chance of squeezage.

You shouldn’t have to learn to love it

We’re not designed to sit in the same position for 4hrs+. Even professional riders suffer from this sort of thing – that’s why you often see them wresting on their wrists or forearms toward the end of races. It’s part and parcel of perching ourselves on bikes for hours on end!
You can minimise it, and lengthen the time before it starts. It won’t kill you though! :D

I think it’ll look awesome… Sort of in the same way that a big smurf on a bike might look awesome. Hope you have a white helmet…

I always feel that a patched road bike innertube will always give a bit of an uneven ride, because it deforms the tube?

Absolutely… But only noticeable if you inflate your tyre to 2,000psi and ride across a polished marble floor with your testicles tucked under your arse. :roll:

“I’m on leave, I’ll be back on [date]”

I prefer “I’m on holiday, I’ll be back when I need to replenish my bank accounts or my liver can’t take it any more…”

Makes me sound far more fun than some drone going on “Annual Leave” :wink:

So why get your knickers in a twist and start a thread about it then?

I’ll be sure to check with you whether a subject is threadworthy in future… :roll:

Also, in the US, holiday keeps its traditional meaning which is feast or festival days rather than going away somewhere. So Christmas, Easter etc.

We’re in England. We have holidays. Holidays from work, holidays in the sun, Bank Holidays, Public Holidays, religious holidays, jolly holidays, etc, etc, etc.

When someone tells me they’ve been on annual leave, I die a little inside.

When someone tells me they’ve been off on holiday, I ask if they’ve done anything nice; been anywhere interesting. I know it’s only semantics, and they may well tell me about a fortnight sweating in the same board shorts drinking gassy Spanish lager, but one is frigid management speak, and the other sounds nice and fun and invites questions. So I’m going to stick with “holidays”.

It conjours images of palid wage-slaves, being ordered reluctantly to leave their desks by their managers before they burn out.

Can we not revert to “holiday”? Sounds far more fun than an enforced embargo.

collected statutory leave

Oh lord, it gets worse! Is this the inexorable march of the middle manager?

probably more apt as sometimes we have a day off but don’t go on holiday.

Holiday from work doesn’t necessarily mean going away…

Learn to love it. Or do yoga and weights to improve shoulder posture and core strength. It’s most likely compressed nerves around your shoulders – I get similar in my ulnar (heal of hand) after a hundred miles or so.
Shoulder stretches whilst riding help.
Also, check saddle height… I blindly followed the advice of a bike fit for years and suffered all sorts of hand, elbow, shoulder and neck pain. I settled on a position 25mm lower and it’s fixed it.
I’m also more powerful and don’t suffer saddle rub any more.

My Girl… I know, I know, on paper, Mackauley Culkin getting stung to death by bees should be cause for tears of joy, but when that little girl reads her poem at the end… Sniff :cry:

McCain Oven Chips were advertising very strongly in the Tour caravan this weekend. I got a little packet of potato seeds thrown into the crowd by a very attractive young lady.

So I’m going to be growing my own chips… SCREW YOU McCAINS! You can’t lure me into your world of convenient-but-not-very-tasty carbohydrate addiction…

Or is this the culinary equivalent of giving E’s to kids to get them hooked before supplying them with the hard stuff??

Another flashback: the guy in a polka dot gimp suit running alongside me shouting encouragement as I sneaked up the climb at Oxenhope.

How the hell pros manage to keep a straight face is beyond me!

Good – everything: Getting pulled over by a French Gendarme whilst trying to get to Hebden Bridge isn’t something that happens everyday.

Better – Seeing a Jens Voight attack in the flesh.

Best – Uploading my GPS to find I had a Strava top ten on a PMU Sprint, beaten by Laurens ten Dam, Niki Terpstra and Jérémy Roy… Didn’t realise I was in the points for the Green Jersey!

“You named it after Iain Duncan Smith… And for that reason, Aahm oot.”

I picked up a Vango Mirage 300 from Go Outdoors yesterday and it’s fantastic.

Semi-geodesic design means you can move it round without dropping it like hoop designs.

RRP is £180, G.O. had it for £149.99 but I found it online for £135.00

Go Outdoors do a “beat by 10%” routine so I ended up paying about £125 which is an absolute steal for such a good piece of kit.

Thanks Hooli, it’s like a penis, but much bigger… :roll:

Van Halen has to be the winner!