You probably just need some new wheels for your TT bike, that’ll sort it.

Lots of locals around the canal area Navigli when I was there in the spring. Didn’t eat though but there were plenty of nice spots for a beer.

I have one that I use very regularly and wish I’d bought it years ago. Doesn’t cinch down super thin as the lower half is kind of hard and just the upper half is soft. I suppose it’s on the pricy side but I expect to have it for years to come.

Liathach ridge traverse and Ben Alligin via the horns are both spectacular as long as you’ve got the head for some exposure and good conditions and visibility. Certainly not easy day hikes though if that’s what you want and parts can be a bit committing.

My favourite US city I think although  I’ve mostly been there for work. As above, marine museum stuff is really good, gas lamp fun for a night out and good restaurants. La Jolla and beaches are nice for a change of scene and relaxed atmosphere. Old town is small and a bit touristy but worth a visit with a few things to see. Easily enough for a good few days exploring. The city has a nice atmosphere and great weather. Not sure I’d bother going over into Tijuana personally but it depends on what you’re after.

You could, and some do, but why would you? It’s really not unreasonably hard to get to a reasonable level of crawl that is  much easier, more efficient and faster. This is especially true in a wetsuit. I went from ‘swimming to stay alive’ to a mid pack 75 minute IM swim between September and July. This was using a combination of swim smooth drills, youtube and around  20 group lessons. Using buoyancy shorts in training really helped me too. Before I started I couldn’t really do more than a length and thought it might be beyond me. Much better and more satisfying to do it properly and learn a basic crawl stroke.

I returned two Samsungs (MU6400 I think) because of horrible light bleed in the corners and edges (properly set up and adjusted). Thought I was unlucky until a mate had the same issue with a 55 inch. Replaced with a LG SJ810V and have no complaints although maybe slightly over your budget.

Having moved from the UK to Norway several years ago i can say that when the limit is almost zero and the police can (and do) pull over everyone and breathalyse, you very quickly get used to this. Been checked on road leaving airport at 11pm, and regularly see random road blocks when I’m out riding early on sat and sun mornings. Enforcement and low limit really works, no one complains.

Ignoring your question partly, I was looking at buying from r2-bike.com in Germany

I can second rone’s suggestion of the steadyrack. Not cheap but worth it to me for the convenience.

I was there in March, a few things were closed until easter but there was enough to entertain ourselves for a few days with some hiking and exploring. Nice seafood restaurant on the harbour in Tob and decent pubs as above. Iona was interesting for an afternoon potter about too.

I run an ultegra rear brake with sram TT brake levers without any problem. Friend has ultegra levers and sram brakes so I can’t imagine you’d have any major problem (not that I’ve tried your combo and it might be not quite optimal cable pull  amounts according to sram/shim)

Not that unusual for me, although I do live in Norway so that’s my excuse. But as a treat, and if it’s well rated why not?

Love it (says he with the lime green merida equivalent)!

Reading this brings great memories of my trip there a few years ago, also on the list to return to as well, 3 days by bike wasn’t enough for me

Only time it happened to me, did exactly as andyl (Don’t worry I didn’t hit it, but was following the car that did). This was in the days before microchips etc were common. Felt bad leaving in a hedge but hopefully owners nearby found it afterwards.

Never weighed it but it’s not much and probably around 7kg for £1600ish. Dengfu carbon frame and fork <1.3kg (weighed), full Sram force, ksyrium pro wheels with gp4000s, zipp alu finishing kit.

Have taken Manchester-isle of man several times without issue. I think you need to reserve in advance due to the small plane sizes and of course it works out expensive because you pay per leg of the flight.

I picked up a Merida cyclocross 500 for £800 which doesn’t attract much hype but is an absolute blast. It’s more than just a race bike too despite the name with rack mounts etc. Hydro discs, 105 11 speed, and great on mix of trails, gravel, roads.

Boardman SLR disc 9.0? Officially £29 over budget…

Really sad to hear your story, and I can definitely sympathise. It would always be possible to hold on longer but I think in the end you just know when is the right time. We held on to a struggling, but I hope fairly happy 6 year old cat for a few days when we thought there was hope, but we both knew when the time had come-no doubt at all. It sounds like you were in the same boat. So don’t regret, and trust me that the good memories come sooner than you would think.

2005 cannondale f1000 with lefty, just don’t ride it enough to be worth replacing it. But it’s still fast and keeps me competitive in marathon races!

Any chance that this was sky’s plan all along, knowing his form wasn’t quite there  so using Froome as a distraction tactic to support Thomas, while also being as backup in case of a melt down or crash?

Thanks for the suggestions, wd40 on its way. Key seems to go all the way in, not been tampered with for thievery I’m pretty sure. Actually the power tap pedals are probably more valuable than the bike itself! I’ll look into warranty if lock oil doesn’t make things more reliable.

5 bottles of high 5 energy source and about 4-5 gels and a couple of SiS mini bars have done me the last couple this yeast. But if I was cruising rather than riding hard it I’d mix it up with a couple of bananas, flapjack, mini sandwich. Nice easy to digest stuff and maybe a gel or 2. I like to have a bottle of high 5 and one of water on my long training rides too.

On the section from Bergen to Stavanger alone you’ll pay £50 for the ferries (2 on that stretch). Plus tolls. It’s hard to do the 180km in much less than a 5 hour trip and while it is nice it’s not absolutely spectacular.

I would very happily and comfortably wear the visor with the vanquish on any normal road ride for l the reasons pointed out by yohandsome (except maybe alps climbs), except I wouldn’t due to reason pointed out by Steve… But it is seriously comfortable, practical and effective!

I would ask on whiskybase to start

Exactly with molgrips on this one – it’s supposed to be fun! To mix it up when doing hill sprint efforts close to home I try to link up a few segments and go for it. Much more fun than up and down the same hill again and again (I guess that both these things put me in the non-normal category though…)

I prefer to wait a few days before ‘casually’ reclaiming any lost KOM… And then properly smash it!

Look at the Girl Vanquish. As I understand just as aero as an air attack, but better vented. It doesn’t look too crazy without the visor too. I bought one for an Ironman bike and wore it in 20 degree conditions last week. I can’t tell any difference in cooling between that and my POC road helmet. Got a little sweaty on one longer climb but felt cool  and comfortable for the rest. Not cheap but a nice piece of kit and the magnetic visor is very smart. I’m a 59-60 head and wear a medium if that helps.

I’ve got a mix across bikes and it’s not something I’ve ever considered when I’ve bought complete bikes. When buying groupsets I’ve gone down the standard 172.5 route for no real reason. Last bike I bought was a TT bike with oval rotor Q rings and I can’t even tell I’m using them except when spinning the little ring so I have concluded I’m just not very sensitive to this stuff. Others may or may claim to be!

Looks like its a stick for now, thanks for the reassurance. I’m Norway based so prices high and not comparable to uk – £320 for springs and £900 for clutch although the car is still worth >£2k here. Lets hope its more than a week out of the garage this time!

Ok thanks, this is good to hear. I’m not uk based so costs are not comparable but no one is throwing up major issues that commonly appear in the near future. I’ll check timing belt as that might be due. The cars been cheap as chips for the last 6 years but two trips to garage in a week left me doubting it!

Cube from bikediscount?

Standard bike trip procedure for me, enjoy

I live in Norway where the “Styrkeprøven” Trondheim-Oslo ride was last weekend. That’s 543km (340 miles ish) and plenty finished in under 20 hours so must be some punters in there. Not sure I fancy it myself though!

Mine are the same, I find it doubly cruel that when you downshift you don’t just get the empty ‘click of doom’, but it actually shifts you up! You learn fast though!

I was in the same position and picked up a nice pair of Ksyrium Pro SL for around £350 in a sale. The Fulcrums racing 5 or 3s seem to offer good value in the low hundreds too. I’ve since picked up a pair of 50mm chinese carbon clinchers for around £250 that I use for fun flat blasts when its dry. For racing and the alps I’ll stick to Alu for now.

Depends what you’re doing. An hour of minute on at 400W, minute off at 0W will be a lot harder than an hour at 200W. An hour of measured steady sustained effort to exhaustion should be fairly close if I understand correctly. As above though, I have a big difference between tested ftp indoors (lower) vs outdoors (around 10-15% higher) so manage my efforts and ftp depending on whether I’m mostly training inside or out. As soon as hills are in there my 20 min and 60 min power massively different again!