I make that flight a few times a year & I wouldn’t be too ‘ambitious’ particularly on a Saturday

Brum has a lot of tourist flights and non-regular flyers are always surprised by the baggage control.

I wouldn’t be brave at all if it’s just to get an extra 30 mins in bed :)

If you know Oudenaarde a bit then try Asfra.

http://www.asfra.be/en/bikerental

They are smaller scale bike shop but still offer half decent bikes.

http://veloloft.be/en/rental-0

This is the shop from Greg van Avermaet & Rik Verbrugghe

another vote for the weizenbier from a many year teetotaler but after so long perhaps I’m less fussy.
I do share my stash with ‘regular’ beer bike mates post ride and they also suggest it’s a good drink.
Becks blue is quite rank to my tastebuds :-o
San Miguel 0.0% is a good lager / pils (think it’s in Waitrose)

If you want to step across to wine its even harder to find. The red & white Eisberg is quite OK. Even my gf (proper drinker) 8O says it’s ok

Awesome story – Ambrose is forum hero for the month

Speaking with my Belgian side:

Belgium will screw up (again) due to too many potential winners…
Gilbert’s only chance is for it to be super hard from a long long long way out & awful weather.

van Avermaet will again be forced to play second fiddle to Sagan if the race style goes in his direction. They have very similar styles but Sagan just has that extra couple of % :(

Wellens will make a badly timed attempt to breakaway (though for once his methodology worked in Namur last week). Naesens &/or Teuns have both been brilliant at moments this year too and have the potential for the win.

For other teams:
I’m sure valverde would have been strong favourite for this one. Trentin has looked good recently & I’d certainly be surprised if Matthews wasn’t there or thereabouts.

Team GB? hmmmm – hope for something good in the TT & forget about the road race ;-)

I have the luck of living in a street that spreads across 2 villages.

The numbering starts from either end hence there is someone that lives on the same street as me, with the same number, though we live in different villages. GPS brings you in from the ‘other end’…..
(it is about 2km end to end)
(and in Belgium) :)

Sydney
Vienna
Salzburg
Brussels
Sofia
Prague
Copenhagen
Aarhus
Billund
Tallinn
Helsinki
Turku
Tampere
Rovaniemi
Ivalo
Kajaani
Paris CDG
Paris ORY
Toulouse
Lyon
Munich
Frankfurt Hahn
Frankfurt
Hamburg
Hannover
Dusseldorf
Koln
Leipzig
Stuttgart
Friedrichshafen
Athens
Dublin
Shannon
Turin
Rome FCO
Rome CIA
Venice
Milano MXP
Milano LIN
Lamezia Terme
Tokyo Narita
Tokyo Haneda
Fukuoka
Yamaguchi Ube
Vilnius
Amsterdam
Oslo
Stavanger
Kirkenes
Warsaw
Krakow
Katowice
Wroclaw
Bucharest
Belgrade
Singapore
Malaga
Barcelona
Madrid
Gran Canaria Las Palmas
Tenerife
Alicante
Ibiza
Bilbao
Colombo
Kiruna
Umea
Goteborg
Stockholm Arlanda
Sundsvall
Stockholm Bromma
Visby
Geneva
Zurich
Basel
Dubai
Birmingham
Coventry
London Heathrow
London Stanstead
London Gatwick
London Luton
London City
Glasgow
Edinburgh
Manchester
Bristol
Newcastle
Jersey
Leeds
East Midlands
LAX
JFK
Newark
Detroit

is that Glentress? (google gives me that impression)

(We’re staying up in Oban)

indeed :oops:

I was confused (clearly) by the disappearance of his tracking bubble once he’d reached the finish.

Seems like he should get over the line this morning…

Fingers crossed anyway – last time I said something like that was during the India Pacific Wheel race :(

40 hrs straight is just crazy. Cannot imagine how you can focus on anything under those circumstances :o

I’ve only broken one but the replacement one still doesn’t feel great. Feels like their is some flex in it

sounds like you’ve decided already ;-)

Like most of us, You probably need neither so if the cash won’t kill you go for the S-Works frameset and just smile that little bit more every you time you see it.

Rational answer is more like Njee’s solution.

I finally got just got around to getting my 2002 ZX9R back on the road. Its been sitting in a garage for 5+ years moving a maximum of 10metres in that time :(
Fortunately a mates dad runs a bike shop who are doing the dirty work.

In the meantime I’ll keep riding the K1200R.
Will get rid of one of them as soon as the Kawa is up and running to buy something silly :)

[/quote]If you have kids with you that ride then ‘the track’ is good fun as well.

http://the-track.co.uk/

Gutted :(
I was in Cornwall last week with my eldest and didn’t know this place existed…

indeed this is something that’s been going on for years. I worked in Brum 20 years ago and one young colleague received a short prison sentence for it.
He wasn’t sacked but had to use all his holiday allowance in 1 shot to cover his ’employment break’.

Funny to see one of the cars is an old Rover 220 Coupe. Seems already a miracle that it still runs let alone is race-worthy :)

Silverstone was indeed great. Trying not to be too smug with the paddock club tickets that we received from a friends friend (but probably failing)
12yr old son was absolutely loving it. Stood next to Coulthard and Hill :-)
Hill is almost as grey as me ;-(

God I miss the noise of the n.a. cars.
Interesting that the Honda sounds really quite different to the other cars.

they are just cheaper in every way.
Joints / bite valve / hose less flexible / simplistic opening.

I use the Decathlon rucksack which is equal or better than my Camelback equivalent but always use the Camelback bladders

I’ve also got my eye open for a nice Mini. Had quite a few when I was younger but sold them all, (or retrospectively speaking – gave them away) :(

What is really mad, is that I can get a BMW Mini for probably half the price of a ‘real’ one…

damn
I loved that program :(
RIP Bodger

Are Lotto Soudal a minor team? :(

Nick
this may well have nothing to do with balance….

As trail rat correctly mentioned, as well as variances in weight distribution, there can be variances in shape (tyres & rims not perfectly round) but also (in this case and more likely based on what you wrote) a variance in the uniformity of the tyres spring rate.

A tyre is made up of flat components, that are subsequently ‘rolled’ up into a circle and where they join or splice,and there can be a stiffer segment due to the necessary overlap.
It is not realistic for manufacturers to measure 100% of tyres for this in the factory hence there are very occasional market issues identifiable by a vibration that cannot be balanced out. Normally this vibration is present at a lower speed than a (slightly) out of balance tyre would exhibit.

This uniformity cannot be seen of course nor measured with a regular balancing machine. There are however some machines such as the Hunter GSP9000 that have a feature that allows it to be measured.

Its a frustrating thing for the dealer also, as he will need to claim to the manufacturer for the tyres and its not something that can be definitively proven without a special machine.

(ps: I am a tyre engineer by profession)

I was discussing with an Italian mate (who is also a big WSB fan). Shockingly he has a very blasé attitude towards cyclists on Italian highways & suggests it’s a ‘normal’ risk that any cyclist is consciously accepting :o

Hope Nicky recovers though reports & photos indicate it was a hard hit :(

had the same thing last week :(

difference is, mine is a company car but if it wasn’t I’d certainly be following up.
If it’s left a mark she’ll absolutely have known she hit it but basically doesn’t GAS about your property…

Sad day :(

makes me feel old & vulnerable just to worsen it that bit more

I don’t even fit 6 rotor bolts….

strange – no votes for German as yet :)

Colleague is indeed an ungrateful dick

problem is; once you have to ask for cash, there become a commitment (of a type) from your side to provide a service..

Had the same thing whilst racing in the south of France. (very dry & the bushes are full of thorns)

Makes you appreciate how great tubeless & sealant combo is.

I prefer Stans Crest for a light rim….
I’m fairly heavy and find the DT more sensitive to burping

Just north of the city is really nice but nothing too adventurous. One of my offices is in Bad Homburg and used to take a bike with me for midweek training.

Never actually tried Stans in a car tyre but the ‘repair kits’ that are normally supplied with cars these days also use a rubber milk to seal the tyre.
You will need to do the same as a with a bike tyre (plenty of fluid & rotate the tyre to make sure it’s well spread).

The repair kits use approx 500ml so a touch more than a nobby nic

Barcelona flight & head to Monserrat

I’m just back from the VOLCAT (3 stage MTB marathon) in Catalunya and the amount of people running Eagle was very surprising.

of course I didn’t make any stats ;-) but the frequency was clearly higher than a double front.

Having said that, I really cannot imagine Shimano making it (yet).

2018 XTR will be some fine tuning, details & probably the integrated power meter.

I’ve got a similar combination of bikes. A trail / marathon Orbea Occam & a Scale RC. (probably 2kg difference)
Normally I ride the Orbea and keep the Scale for races.
Took it out on Sunday for 5 hours to check it over before this weekends Volcat in Spain and my ass & more is still sore from the hammering.

is the Scale worth the pain? Depends on the riding terrain but if there is any significant climbing, weight & stiffness makes enough of a positive difference

I was talking to a colleague this morning and he is just back from the removal of some >10 year old stitch remains from a tendon repair in his finger.
They didn’t dissolve / find their way out and a lump formed around the remaining bits.

Diving into the Unknown….

Cave diving ‘adventure’ from Finland (& Norway)

I stumbled onto this and it certainly is quite stimulating for a range of reasons (which I don’t want to spoil)

the mega scooter suggestion (however uncomfortable I feel about the idea) is actually quite a good one….

I see more & more of these things on my commute. The riders look comfortable, warm & dry in comparison to me on my K1200R.

If its any help – I can definitely say the K1200R is not a great commuter. ;-)

The still from the link is the Jim Clark…
Great rally while it lasted. First couple of years were amazing

Obviously its not happening for the foreseeable future in that format :(

I do miss rallying but it was a lot easier personally before the days of kids & mortgages both in terms of time & money

Fantastic race though I felt the edge was taken off it by the fall from Sagan.
Of course that’s part of racing and it’s always a risk trying to ride on the edges along that stretch of road.

I thought GvA was a lot more visible in the work in the chase group than he sometimes is. Obviously winning the RvV is more significant to him than probably any other race.

Shame that Naesens went down too though. He’s been super strong recently.
The road where Vanmarcke fell is bloody horrid. Bumpy as hell, always slippy with some really nasty gaps in the slabs. (but he should know that as it’s not far from his home)