I’d wait a few months if you don’t need one immediately  if only to be able to march into the shop and proclaim “Now is the winter of our discount tents”

Great Expectations

Understand why you aren’t keen on spending several days perched at 45° on the side of a mountain road. The thing is that to get anywhere near the sharp end of a stage on the day in a camper is nigh on impossible. The campsite we’ve booked allows us to arrive the afternoon before stage 17, have a look around St Lary, cycle up the final climb on race day then be in prime position to get to the Tourmalet for stage 19. Stage 18 is a bit of a filler with no serious difficulties and will be a case of the leaders keeping their powder dry for the day after which is a brute. €17 a night is also a bit of a bargain for a site with pool and ‘leccy, other sites in the area are charging double that.

We did retain the contents of our toilet James but only until the next visit to the local emptying point, at that stage little did I know that the contents could have value. Also MrsPB was still in shock following the drive up the Angrilu in out 2.5m wide van trying to avoid knocking the thousands of spectators over the edge of the 3m wide road up the 25% gradient. Any mention of the experience was banned for several weeks.

I can also confirm that following Mr Froome’s all clear that 2 days after the AAF on the Vuelta, the UCI asked to use our camper van at the finish of the Alto de Angrilu for doping control. The aforementioned rider used our facilities to provide a sample and I retained the contents of our toilet. I take a small sip of the contents prior to each training ride and my asthma has disappeared.

All of the above is true apart from the drinking piss bit.

We’ve just booked a campsite in Guchen which is halfway between St Lary Soulan, the finish of the short brutal stage on Wed 24th and Arreau which allows us to ride along the Friday stage over the Col d’Aspin and up the Tourmalet. €17 a night with electric and nice looking pool. It’s amazing how early some people get there to bag the roadside spots on the mountain stages, we got to the Peyresoude 3 days before on last year’s Tour and the last 5km was already full.

Let me know if you want details of the site.

Neil built the bike in 2 hours for me so I didn’t have to call back, I expected some faults here but not a single bolt lose or anything out of line.

He must be slacking, we had an hour to build Pro Carbons when we worked at PX and that included bar taping. Enjoy your bike☺

I stopped reading at “gotten in touch” the Queens English is being eviscerated by presumably educated journalists.

Try Halfords car section, Citroens use mineral brake fluid, it’s higher spec and a fraction of the Shimano price.

I run an annual trip from Tarragona to Bilbao over 9 days in April-May, it’s about 70% off road on gravel tracks and a bit of easy trail. Write up here http://phased.co.uk/musings-on-a-spanish-coast-to-coast/

Rigid plastic or copper water pipe cut to slightly longer than the dropout width and held in place with the original skewers.

Do not buy a Doogee. Their T5 fits all your wish list on paper including a big claim to be IP67 waterproof. They have a video of it being thrown into a pond, recovered and switching on. I got caught in a rain shower with one I bought 7 months ago and it got moisture behind the screen and failed to switch on. They have refused to repair or replace it and are claiming IP67 doesn’t mean what the international standard says it is, claiming it’s my fault. I live in Spain and this was the first time the phone had got wet. Bunch of con artists.

Given it’s Ryanair, as cp says, I’d be clarifying with them that they will accept 9 bikes on one flight. Even though they’ve taken the booking and money for bikes, there’s no guarantee that they will be on the same flight. Also, I’d be stood there first in the queue when check in opens that morning.

You need to consider what you mean by a group ride. Most organised events that could be considered group rides merely involve everyone setting off at the same time. If you want to ride with a partner, at the same pace and stopping in the same places then you will have to organise this before the event, maybe entering with a mate who you know beforehand. The trip I organise from Tarragona to Bilbao aims to be a group ride whereby we start and finish each day together and stay in close contact. As such it is in the minority, particularly in Europe, but seems to work quite well.

French Divide in early August? http://www.frenchdivide.com/en/

Portugal in Sept?  http://www.thecastlesquest.bike/en/presentation

It would leak less right up to the time it stopped working. The ATF that Shimano specify is a particular viscosity for a reason. Grease is used for assembly of seals , If you use grease it will gum up the shifter mechanism.

Good luck Tony, hope you get what you want. We’re off on our Tarragona to Bilbao bikepacking trip on Friday, it should be quite different to last year with the amount of rain we’ve had. The ferry is still closed as the river Ebro is so high.

I run the Spanish C2C 1,000km in 9 days, Tarragona to Bilbao. You’ll need to be quick though, we set off next Friday.

+1 for Tarragona, has the added appeal of being 40 mins from home on a free autopista. Nice harbour area and Roman ampitheatre. Setting off from there next Friday to ride largely off road to Bilbao.

Not sure I agree with Edukator on Barcelona, it’s a big city and there are plenty of nice places to stumble across. Maybe it’s a similar thought to comments about Sainsbury’s, Barcelona keeps the riff-raff out of the rest of Cataluña.

Bring a coat, it’s bloody freezing here atm, especially in the evening. Don’t confuse the Cathedral for the Sagrada Familia, 1st is just off Las Ramblas, 2nd is the famous one and a good walk from other attractions. Theres a covered market just off Las Ramblas that’s good for snacking, my favourite place is Montjuic park and the Catalan Palau Nacional.

First proper job was selling BMW cars, back in the late 80’s when they were in very short supply, didn’t come with anything as standard, not even a radio. I was on the phone trying to close a sale, no discount, full profit. The boss came over to ask me something inconsequential and instead of waiting, took the phone out of my hand and hung up. Complete nutter, used to rant and rave at anyone who took his fancy, whether or not the showroom had customers in.

Other end of my working life I spent 2 1/2 years at Planet X which was a real rollercoaster, another eccentric boss who could occasionally be found sporting a gold tracksuit which was originally owned by one J Savile. Man management skills of Pol Pot.

Yes Tony, the ferry to Miravet is closed. When I took it on Monday, the car that was on it nearly grounded as the ramp hadn’t been able to float up with the river. It’s a ramshackle thing at the best of times, the crossing time must have halved with the speed of the current. I tried posting a pic but it wouldn’t work. Hope the rain doesn’t bugger up the great wall of Guaso!

The sun is coming anyway, next week looks warm and dry, maybe normal service will resume!!

I certainly hope so, in 4 weeks time a group of us are riding bikepacking -style from Tarragona to Bilbao across the Systema Iberica and Cantabrian mountains. Having nightmares about the trails turning to cloying clag.

The lower stretches of the river Ebro are at levels unseen for years. I use a little ferry when out on the bike which relies on the current to glide across unpowered. 3 days ago it was borderline, now it’s had to close as the ramp is flooded.

Say you’ll take the rap, seemed to work well for Chris Huhne and Vicky Price. Look it up!

About 12 months ago I spotted that the Vuelta Cataluña route came past our house and had a stage finish at the top of a local climb which is a real brute, 1000m of height gain in 12km. A couple of weeks before the race, MrsPB and I decided to ride up it so off we set. A few hairpins into the climb a couple of riders come shooting past, one in particular dressed in every piece of Movistar riding kit made, thermal jacket, roubaix longs, full gloves, balaclava, the works. He gave us a cheery hello and cleared off in big ring. Some time later I arrived at the top to see him chatting to his mate in the little carpark. I rode over to look down the climb for Trish and he started chatting about my bike, tyre sizes etc, the usual bollocks. I replied in my broken Spanish, turns out he lives up near Tarragona. I summonded my best vocab and informed him that the Vuelta Cataluna would be up here in a couple of weeks, he replied, “I know, I’m in it” his mate piped up “his name is Marc Soler”
He’s today just won the Paris-Nice. 

Very disappointed, thought this  was going to be more metaphysical.

Reminded me of the old joke, Piers Morgan recently had an arsehole transplant, the arsehole rejected him.

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I once stood behind big Ron Atkinson in the queue at the airport. He’s not all that big.

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I stood next to Rafa Benitez in an airport queue the day after “that” european cup win by Liverpool. He’s tiny and his wife is very tall.

On the other hand. Used to work in service/bike build at Planet X. One morning i began to feel really odd, numbness in my arms, heart palpitations, dizzyness. A colleague had the presence of mind to run next door which was an ambulance training centre. One of their guys gave me the once over, said he suspected I’d had a stroke and the told them to ring an ambulance to get me to Rotherham gereral asap. I had several tests and was told to not work until the results were known. I returned to work a few days later after being given the all clear to find that my pay had been stopped before I’d even got to the hospital. Nice place to work.

The one who later featured on an album cover is Carlos The Jackal, without his trademark dark glasses.

Been through Pisgah many times, assuming you mean the village between Aberystwyth and Devil’s Bridge. Lovely veiws of the Rheidol valley and across Cardigan bay to Snowdon on a clear day.
https://osmaps.ordnanscesurvey.co.uk/52.38177,-3.93194,14

Yep, done it twice, Mediterranean to Atlantic in a week, once across the Pyrenees then last year further South, it’s a great adventure.
http://phased.co.uk/musings-on-a-spanish-coast-to-coast/ write up here.

Because the UK is in the finishing straight of a race to the bottom which has been running for about 25 years.

Arsene Wenger! Lion King theme

Came back from Gran Canaria yesterday, 1st day of sun but very windy. Previous 6 days were aparently the worst weather for 5 years, road to the highest point of the island was closed due to snow. Saw lots of snow across on MtTeide on Tenerife but at 3,500m thats dairly normal.

There’s a campervan parking spot right in the old town by the castle which we stayed in when we visited Tony last summer, they charge €5 or so for the day and it’s free after 6 in the evening. I guess it will be very busy when the EWS is in town. Alternatively there’s a large site with hookups and pool etc about 3km north of Ainsa, Camping Peña Montañesa http://www.penamontanesa.com which has a restaurant and stuff.

Did you not spot that they were a hit squad from My Hermes wanting to retrieve a bike they’d delivered to you by mistake.

The V718 A63 is officially the fastest 10 mile tt course in the UK. The record stands at an unbelievable 16mins 35 seconds so an average speed of just over36 mph including 2 roundabouts and 5 miles in either direction on the dual carriageway. When I used to do tts in Yorkshire,Team Swift ran a Wed night event on the course, the fastest times were when there was a certain tide in Hull which meant you had a tail wind going east and could slipstream the lorries coming out of Hull docks on the way back, scary stuff. To qualify to get on the start sheet, you already had to have a sub 20 min 10 to your name.

If you plan to visit S Cataluña, email in profile, I can do the guiding as well as accommodation.
The riding is great.