Depends on your mileage and also the weather.

Paves dont last long and you have to keep on top of the wear otherwise you’ll be getting alot of flats. They ride nicely but if i used them throughout the winter i’d end up spending more on tyres over the course of a winter than what the bike cost!

GP4Season i like and they are longer lasting. However IME a bit prone to punctures with glass though in the wet so for my winter road bike i use Durano Plus, good puncture protection, not too heavy and not awful riding either.

After my last couple road races im in danger of ending the season on a right sour note.

We get warned beforehand not to cross the white line, yet people still do it. I’m not talking about drifting over a bit but guys consistently doing it all during the race as their sole method for moving up the bunch. I get why they do it – the left lane can be tightly packed and it takes a fair bit of effort and patience to work your way through this. But it is the same for everyone, it’s easy going on the wrong side of the road and making up lots of ground then barging back in (to an already close group of riders) when a car is coming the other way causing chaos further back. I really wish the commissaires would crack down on it and start DQing the worst offenders.

Nice pics!

Do you know what Cavs kilo time was?

Streetview will be missed, i used that regularly for checking out hills and corners before road racing if i didnt get a chance to ride it beforehand. Can obviously still do it via google but its less convenient

Loch Lomond is really nice in terms of views once you get there but the roads can be busy (the cycletrack option is good in parts, but not good in others) and most of your route would be going through an urban area.

There are lots of quiet lanes in between Houston and Kilmacolm, these can be difficult to find if you are not familar with the area but this should give an idea of where they are http://ridewithgps.com/routes/9780418

The NCN7 cycletrack is a good option too once you are through Paisley the stretch to Kilbirnie or to above Port Glasgow are well surfaced with tarmac and traffic free.

How many miles are you looking to do?

Dont worry about speed (as long as you are goong fast enough to stay upright on the banking – 15mph will be more than enough for this). Being able to hold your line, checking your shoulder before moving up or down and generally being predictable are the things that are important, a fast rider would much rather share a track with a slow predictable rider than a fast rider who swings up or down without looking.

The beginners / accreditation sessions will cover the important do’s and don’ts

TiRed – have you gone tubeless with the aero wheels? Im tempted but not sure how it would work with (presumably) valve extensions required too.

I’ve got a feeling we might be testing that one out in the next week or two.

Just noticed that on the news, i feel like ive jinxed the poor guy now!

Was going to say Desmond Tutu who always comes across as a very decent man with deeply held principles. However i think some headbangers dont like him much because of he has drawn parallels between the worst parts of zionism and apartheid.

I built mine from the pro frameset (so no ISP) but its ultegra di2 with giant wheels and their integrated bars so its pretty similar to to what the standard spec is. Although i suppose the bars are a bit of an upgrade.

Photos dont really capture the paint colour particularly well as there is is pearlescent sparkle.

with climbing wheels:

with deep sections:

Just show her this thread http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/dont-run-your-dishwasher-overnight

It’s essential you keep a close watchful eye on your washing mashine or dish washer and not be distracted by other jobs!

For bikes then GCN, Specialized for their wind tunnel videos, Rapha and Orica Greenedge (Their behind the scenes videos from the Tour and Giro are really good)

For none bike then Glove and Boots – comedy puppets and usually very funny

Mostly a great day with some really nice weather however spoiled a bit with a crash – i normally defend sportive riders standard of riding (at least in terms of it not being as bad as their reputation – However no more! I, and 6 others in the first group got taken out by a bellend taking a selfie. Bike was rideable at least but my arse was hanging out my shorts – fortunately not as bad as Peraud in the tour but bad enough! The selfie taker was i think a member of triathlon club (a black and red jersey cant remember the name) unfortunately couldnt make it back to the front group to call him a c£&@ although the incentive of doing that made me keep pushing on and ended up with a shade under 4.15 which id have been happy with before

Over 14000 for me.

I was on holiday this year and was able to do a few long hilly rides rather than squeezing in some hill repeats in the evening, made it feel a fair bit easier to previous years despite the extra miles and saddle time!

“a big ask”

I dont know who started it but it has spread like a cancer over the last few years 👿

Road, about half and half – club run on a Sunday which is nice and sociable then training rides on a Tuesday and Thursday, which are much less sociable but really enjoyable. The rest of the week i tend to ride myself.

Mountain bike then it is usually on my own these days. I miss some of the banter but i dont miss all the stopping and faffing about that accompanies group rides. I realise the social nature of things is an attraction for many but if ive got limited time i’d prefer to spend it riding and i get much more of that done when i’m on my own.

If you managed 4th then i think that classifies you as proper fast too, well done!

If the best football pundits were only on tv for 2 weeks a year then they would appear more interesting too.

The European football show that James Richardson hosts on BT Sport is usually pretty good and a cut above the BBC and ITV options.. Not as good as Gazetta from back in the day though

very tempting at that price, thanks for the heads up

now the key question… could i live with mismatched crank colour or am i too much of a tart? 😀

great video 🙂

The Who were cringeworthy. Some artists manage to age and grow and remain relevant long after their creative peak, others just continue flogging the same old same old and become a decrepit pastiche of themselves from 30 or 40 years ago.

Thought the Chemical Brothers looked good, probably the pick of the acts ive watched today. Franz Ferdinand and Sparks works surprisingly well too.

Am i the only person that didnt like Lionel Richie? He came across as friendly enough and seemed eager to put on a good show but i had to switch over after a few songs as the 80s cheesy pop shite gives me a headache.

Thought the first half hour or so was great, it then went a bit shit, now its starting to get good again.

Have to say im loving the Kanye West set so far…Black Skinhead was superb.

Bit like the man himself in how he splits opinions.

Fell in love a bit with Hot Chips drummer (not the guys doing the bongos the proper drummer!)

Got a Propel a few months ago and its awesome. No problem with cable rattle as went with Di2

There was an issue with pre 2015 models and the brakes but it seems to have been sorted now. I test rode a Propel when it was first released and liked the ride but the brakes put me off from buying however a couple of years down the line i test rode another one and all the good qualities were still there plus the brakes were working good so ended up getting it. Havent had any brake issues but on building the bike i took the unusual step (for me!) of reading the instructions and placed the pads as recommended and tweaked the spring tension. I suspect if riders are having issues with the redesigned brakes then its an issue with how they have been set up and should be a simple fix. The brakes themselves are really good in terms of power.

Enjoyed that.

Although IMO his comment on Veelers Is a bit harsh – Veelers was in the wrong but Cav was still a bit naughty knocking him and i dont think bringing it up again 2 years on reflects particularly well on him.

Why not the Giant Rivet or Bell Star Pro?

I have an Specialized Evade, aethetically not the best but its really comfortable and has a much thinner (but longer) profile than other helmets ive had.

looks like he is?

He has the stem but not the bars

It might be more aero but i’m not convinced those bars are going to be stiff enough for sprinters. Apparently Sagan had the new bike and stem today but with regular bars, i dont know if the bars being flexy is the reason though!

Knew a footballer a few years ago who got special permission from his iman for eating on days where he was playing in the champions league in the evening – i suspect the iman supporting the team in question might have had something to do with the permission granted 😀

Do you lose much weight over the course of the month or does the night time food make up for most of it?

Well done. It’s a gutting feeling getting caught before the finish (it happened to me once with less than 20 metres to go – made even worse by a photo finish taking me from 3rd to 4th and off the podium) but it’s still preferable to ending up in the same position and having fresh legs at the end and not feeling like you’ve given it a real good go.

sounds a sore one, hope its not too bad

You can hire HED wheels, but its quite pricey and you only get a 50% discount off the hire price should you then choose buy a new set.

Words per minute (WPM) 41
Keystrokes 316
(203 | 113)
Correct words 42
Wrong words 20

Terrible…i kept typing out the word that came after the word i should have been typing 😀

Attacks and breakaways can work at 3/4 – my last 3 races have been won from a break (solo, break of 2 and a break of 8). This however might be to do with the racing scene being smaller up here and many of the racers knowing one another and that probably means a bit more co-operation even if riding for different clubs/teams. When to go depends alot on your strengths as a rider and also the course. If you want someone to work with then at 3/4 level i suspect its probably better not to initiate the break yourself, let someone else do it then bridge rather than just having someone coming across to mark.

Generally you want to attack when its hard (unless that difficulty is caused by a headwind). Attack hard for the first few seconds dont make it easy for the group to get towed along in your wheel. When you go, you have to commit to it – if you get caught then there is a good chance you will be cooked for the sprint.

I’m sort of the opposite – last crit i averaged 88% of max for the race and didnt drop below 85%. Very similar to what i’d see in a points race at the track with big power spikes and bits of recovery but those are after big efforts and not long enough for heart rate to fall much.

I suppose everyone varies and it also depends on the circuit being used.

If you are finding it easy up to the end and then getting swamped then you need different tactics! 🙂

In the mean time, If I start tomorrow which is coincidentally my next “ride” day, the TrainerRoad Cross Country MTB plan fits exactly to end on the weekend of the Bonty.

In addition, looking at the plan, substituting the mid week session for the Beastway series I’m riding Wednesday nights, and the weekend session for the club ride or the monthly Mus Sweat and Gears races actually fits the profile of the turbo sessions/plan.

I dont use trainer road so dont know what the plan entails but if it is based for XC racing (something relatively short and sharp) is it going to be suitable training for a 24 hour endurance race?