I was thinking that the risk of falling on your head is higher when skiing, yet less skiers wear helmets than bikers.
(Boarders are different – anybody going down a mountain standing on an ironing board needs to protect their remaining brain cells :D)

Anyone here ski?
Anyone wear a helmet whilst doing so?

http://bikehike.co.uk/index.php

Bennati pips Swift at the line

Incredible stuff. Contador just riding off the front and leaving everyone for dead, Merckx style.
Must have had one hell of a steak last night :D

the ludicrous **** tabletops at the bottom of the raven … I wouldn’t hit those without a dj or dh bike.

The local kids like to session them on their Argos specials and I’ve done them several times on a rigid. Pretty tame compared with some of the other bits IMO.

What a heap o junk.

Just crying out for a kickstand to make it complete.

Tasty forks. What are they?

It had IRD ti forks

Sorry, should have read it in the first place :-)
Still v. tasty.

If I could only get them to ignore me

That’s a well known mis-sign footflaps. It’s currently marked with a cross of stones to try and put people off, but it’s still an easy mistake to make. The tyre tracks mostly come from locals doing a popular off-piste cheeky bit, but in the other direction.
I might do a bit of guerilla signage at the weekend.

It’s hard.

But fun

Here’s the cyclist/pedestrian only bridge in Carmarthen.

Pont King Morgan, lovely bridge that is.
But going as it does from the station car park to the side of the A4242, it’s much more useful for pedestrians than cyclists. But it’s still probably the nicest thing built in Carmarthen since the Romans left.

I think they should take back his Gold medal and the Tour de France title

Arise, Sir Chris Froome :D

Looks like he’s having a guilty drag on a roll up. If you’re gonna smoke, do it old skool style
Damn image won’t show – http://www.bigringriding.com/post/576144997/twitter-fools

Try a homeopathic Gin and Tonic :
Mix 1 drop of gin with 50,000 litres of tonic water
Decant into a glass that once had a piece of lemon in it

(Please drink responsibly – don’t dilute it too much)

I like to ride a hard tail in the woods, hammering the big ring

I spent Sunday bouncing around on a couple of big fat rubber queens.

Cleats ? Ghastly Americanism. Shoe plates if you don’t mind, nailed to the bottom of proper cycling shoes, with leather soles.
How do riders secure a spare tub (or cape) behind their saddle now that toe straps are no more ?

Oh and here’s some snaps from last year’s National 10.

Great stuff. They should have run the Olympic TT like that – start would be somewhere near South Mimms at 7.00 am, course details in an old copy of the RTTC handbook, get changed in the village hall, free cup of tea in exchange for your number afterwards.

Bangladesh Biman, where a woman tried to light a kerosene stove in the aisle to cook lunch for her family.
Sudan Air, where the Norwegian pilot was visibly drunk.
Aeroflot, where I genuinely thought I was going to die as bits fell off the plane.

On the up side, I once got upgraded to 1st class on Lufthansa. That was a taste of luxury never to be forgotten.

Robert Forsterman does (for 5 minutes)

I imagine his coach is working on it now …
“Pay attention Robert, now this is a mountain bike”
“Was ist das?”
“They’re the brakes Robert, and these are the gears, you’ll need them for going uphill”
“Was ist ein hill?”

Naaa, he’s not exactly got form for one day races

I think we’re talking about the Worlds TT, not the road race.

You’re only there to indicate the route to the riders, nothing else. Don’t attempt direct traffic or obstruct the highway. If you see anything wrong report it to the organiser/timekeepers at the end of the event, don’t try and intervene.

would Wiggo would let me past in my car on a country road?

No. There was some car stuck behind him for the entire race.

I decided to take a drink every time Hugh Porter got a name wrong

“And there’s Wiggins now” (being followed by a car with FROOME written on the front)

Chris Boardman still doing sterling work correcting Hugh Porter’s many mistakes :-)

Actually I think, for the most part, that road cyclists tend to be quite modest. … There are notable exceptions obviously

Cav leaves them for dead !

Mark Cavendish on Twitter :
“Today’s stage can be put into perspective by the fact that by the end I didn’t care that I was just puking over myself.”

Nibali now in a Sky sandwich, Froome in front, Wiggins behind.

Frank Schleck won’t be joining them today as he’s been ‘poisoned’ with a diuretic. Oh dear :cry:
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/frank-schleck-requests-b-sample-will-claim-hes-been-poisoned

What a day.

Froome taking off like a man possesed then stopping short as his radio ear-piece explodes.
Rolland crossing the line with a bloody thigh showing through the big tear in his shorts, proper hard man style.
Nibali and Wiggins getting engaged.
Evans looking like he’s just swallowed a lemon.

More dull boring racing like this please.

Looks like Sean Yates has blown Froome’s left ear drum :D

Bloody hell – Froome’s dropped Wiggins !

And Froome reels him back in.

A Brit in the process of winning the Tour for the first time ever is boring ? There’s no pleasing some people.

If Sean Kelly says “push on” one more time I’m going to scream.

No, Sky are just going to ride tempo until the other GC contenders crack (or die from sheer boredom).

I vaguely remember reading somewhere that in a TT Wiggins pegs his output at about 450W and in a sprint Chris Hoy peaks at about 2700W.

only an idiot wants to be defending yellow in the first half of the tour

Merckx 1969, 1970, 1971
Hinault 1979, 1980
Indurain 1993, 1994, 1995
Armstrong 1999, 2003, 2005
Idiots all :-)

Isn’t there a famous rest day story from the Hinault/Lemond tour ?
Hinault is in the team hotel, layed up on the massage bed and busy conserving energy whilst giving interviews.
At which point he looks up at the TV to see pictures of a smiling Lemond playing a nice restful round of golf.