As a big fan of their top tube bag, which I bought with some Christmas money last year, that does look fantastic.

I am unlikely to get the much Christmas money though.  I should give in and just get a handlebar spacer for my existing bar bag.

(who can name the other one?)

I’m still aurally traumatised by “that” one!

3 hours and WCA has not appeared with an anecdote.

Which probably means he can’t get WiFi at A&E.

Maybe you can explain why he was standing on her mama’s Porsche?

Damnit, I’m never going to hear it any differently. Needs adding to the Peter Kay misheard playlist.

My lad met him when Prof Cox picked up some award at the uni, just after both my kids saw his last “arena” tour.

Jnr was sorting out the AV for the ceremony, and Brian Cox asked him how it was going – Jnr said something about more straightforward than your tour show, they got chatting, Brian asked him what he was studying and when Jnr said it was music they had a 15 minute conversation about the logistics of doing the arena tour with a live orchestra at Sydney Opera House, and kept everyone else waiting.

He seems a sound bloke, possibly because iirc he had to go to uni as a mature student as he didn’t get the grades? Though possibly an excuse for the D:ream years.

Got a lovely 18 mile ride in last night with the Health Ride group.

This morning was a trip to the gym. Got halfway through W7R1 of C25K and got an incredible dose of runners squits – luckily I was 10 feet from the disabled loo!

Will need to do some stretches later to make it up to 30 minutes for the day.

Somewhere I went on a whim, and really enjoyed, was Lincoln and the Lincolnshire Wolds. A very lovely part of England.

We have just booked a couple of cheap nights in Lincoln to explore that area, only 90 minutes away but not been for about 40 years.

Two nights in the city centre Travelodge for £90. More money for cafes and beers.

HIGNFY probably made him.

Knowing what they know now, I wonder if they’d have still given him all that exposure in the way that they did?

but then if you aren’t prepared to go beyond your abilities then you probably shouldn’t be racing. Competitors are typically not the most safety conscious individuals

I think is the fundamental hurdle that can’t be overcome by regulation.

Maybe change the bike rules to slow them down in some way to reduce the impact of crashing at the current high speeds. Definitely have some sort of crash detection  on road races.

But ultimately the speed and control of the bike is down to the risks the rider is prepared to take.

If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor” – Desmond Tutu

I’m not sure anyone is even trying to be neutral. Everyone is saying all sides must stop, unless someone can show me a quote to prove me wrong.

My condemnation of the suffering and crimes inflicted by both sides doesn’t make me “neutral”, which seems to be the inference some posters are taking from such comments?

I suspect that the bike tech advancing quicker than riders abilities at speed is the key factor here, so the only “rules” that could change would be to slow the bikes down again. A speed limit for descending, regardless of the need for safety,  is pretty impractical.

Audi know where you live. They*will* find you and they*will* kill you.

Without prior warning, certainly without any prior indication!

Time away when you get into the posting/mental health spiral is wise, but doesn’t need to be a permanent thing. The forum would be a worse place without jonv, he’s been a voice of reason on many issues in the past.

Maybe we need a posting limit, per thread/day or something.

I struggle to see how western governments failing to stop the horrific reaction by the Israeli government to the Oct 7th attacks serves any wider strategy or benefits our nations.

Just an awful downward spiral into god knows where.

But I have not hoovered since, just to be on the safe side.

Very wise. Though the dust must now be a bigger factor with respiratory problems.

Some great achievements on here since I last looked. Nice to haveva good news post

Iconic. Would make a great article for a magazine, I reckon.

Maybe Harrogate? Derby ticks a few boxes, easy access to lower Peak, flattish riding out to Nottingham on river paths/NCN 6

Speedrockers ftw

You referred to an energy source which is no longer in use. It would be better to acknowledge your error rather than doubling down.

Either he overlooked the fact that coal was turned off less than a week ago

Or he was talking more broadly than just the UK – accepting it’s a UK thread, but climate action is broader.

Or you are all now just scrabbling to find a way to have a dig at each other regardless and another thread gets ruined by petty points scoring.

Any other promotion season I’d be delighted to see Ipswich only 4 points behind United after 7 games….

21/100 – depleted numbers for club rides today as other events clashing,  so just 3 others out for my gentle 30 mile trundle.

They were all fitter than me and I got a proper workout!

Day 20 – calories neutral 20 mile road ride with an old friend via cafes at Tagg Lane Dairy and Hartington Farm Shop. 10 mpc.

Just going back through these on a big screen rather than my phone, and there are some cracking pics on here!

Tonight Matthew,  I am rather enjoying Black Forest Stout, from Nostalgia.

Smells creamy somehow, quite a sharp cherry flavour. A nice change to other stouts I’ve tried recently. “That is not unpleasant” said MrsMC, having another mouthful to check!

Oh my word, that is gorgeous.

Pretty sure that other people who did this much damage to the country got tried for treason….

Absolutely cheating with a chilly, dry, sunny little road ride with my best man/longest suffering mate – we think it’s 43 years now.

Only 20 miles as he’s not at his fittest. Possibly because we stopped at Tagg Lane Dairy for an excellent flat white and a truly mind blowing scoop raspberry cheesecake ice cream made with milk from their Jersey herd, and then finished with a full English at Hartington.

There are various things to make sections safer, like more signage and crash mats, but nothing is going to take away from the fact that racing bikes on open roads at 60mph is dangerous. You can take it to a completely sanitised environment like a velodrome and still get some serious incidents. Much is down to the level of acceptable risk chosen by the riders (and I’m sure pushed on them by their sponsors) and I’m really not sure how that can be changed. It’s not like you can tell them to slow down.

I think is the key factor. I’m not up on all the facts of the recent fatal crashes, but I’ve not heard too many protests in the cycling press about the courses being the issue? In which case rider error – either the victim or someone else in the group – presumably misjudged a line and/or their speed resulting in the crash. (Appreciate that sounds like victim blaming, which was not my intention).

We haven’t got the full facts from the latest tragedy, but given that all pros ride with some sort of GPS/tracker, crash detection should be activated either to the team or organiser. How far down the competitive layers that should be enforced I’m not sure, but I guess most racers also have a device on board.

And while all deaths and serious injuries are tragic, be interesting to compare cycling with other pro sports to see which ones have better/worse accident rates and see what lessons can be learned. Concussion protocols being an example.

Still 87.4, but at least I’ve not gained anything

30 minutes with Kassandra again

Yes it’s annoying, but molgrips is right, there’s other trails. We are not the sole users of the countryside, we have to fit in with the needs of others.

It’s a separate issue as to whether this was the right path to tarmac, and deal with ongoing maintenance.

then I remembered that DCC doesn’t do tarmac; they just dump a whole load of rubble and tarmac planings over the trails.

In their defense, they do the same on the roads. They are at least consistent.

You know that as Cyclists/MTBers we’re hated anyway by Joe Public, this won’t make things any better or worse, we’re all viewed with the same levels of derision anyway.

We really aren’t,  the majority of the public are fine, we focus on the bellends and give ourselves a huge persecution complex.

Yes, I’m angry. Mostly at the UCI but also at people on here who feel the most important thing is no one talk about it.

More than happy for people with the actual relevant facts to talk about it. People with an aggressive anti-UCI position using this tragedy to further their cause, less so.

I think you’ll find the Matts and crazy-legs of this world have a far better idea of appropriate risk assessment for sporty/outdoor activities than many on here. And I’m saying that as a Trustee of a charity (Scout groups) who will go to prison if someone dies through our negligence. I take this really seriously.

I’m of the opinion the conversation should move from the fact that this is a remote possibility and therefore we shouldn’t have assisted dying, but rather onto onto how we can best manage it via case studies of existing countries and building together a case for best practice that mitigates this to the highest possible level.

I struggle to understand anyone not thinking this is the way forwards.

I’m pretty sure doctors have been discreetly helping people have a quicker and less unpleasant death since the dawn of time. “Doing no harm” can be interpreted in a number of ways. The justice system already allows decisions on best end of life choices to be taken away from families where it serves no purpose.

My parents PoA makes it clear they don’t want unnecessary life extending treatment, and mine will too when we get them done next year once both kids are over 18 to act as attorneys.

It’s working, cos I just bloody clicked on here.

Surprisingly sunny again

It would appear that event safety at all levels of cycling needs a radical overhaul with officials ensuring all competitors are accounted for and competitors/teams sanctioned for failing to check-in after finishing/abandoning.

Is the likely outcome. The harsh fact is that most safety improvements/legislation come in after a tragic event and a lessons learnt exercise.

Trackers, in this day and age, seem the obvious solution. The UCI can probably afford to require/provide them. Local clubs/race series, less so. I’m not sure the safety of top pro riders is more valuable than that of weekend warriors, and if the struggling local race scene gets lumbered with further costs, there won’t be so many top pro riders.

There’s also the harsh fact that racing is inherently risky. You can screen people for potential undiagnosed heart issues (a separate discussion) but crashes in races will happen, and some of them will have tragic outcomes. Unless you risk assess it to the point that racing only happens on perfectly smooth Grand Prix circuits, one rider at a time to avoid collisions and it becomes the world’s dullest time trial.

Come to think of it, why don’t Prime Ministers (and Ch. Ex.) pay BIK on the Downing Street flats?

Law of unintended consequences – be a lot of agricultural workers rather pissed off if accommodation provided with work became a BIK.