The women’s triathlon just need the Benny Hill music on it, if the E. Coli didn’t get them, the slippery cobbles will…

Thanks all…

Well every Portsmouth-Cherbourg ferry we could get on timewise is booked, but we can do Dover- Calais and pay with Tesco vouchers, so booked a child friendly campsite not too far from Vannes and i just have the 6 hour drive overnight to get there….. but never minded driving in France, much prefer it  to UK and we haven’t lost a ton of money if they cancel wifes leave again (one of three NHS consultants doing her role, one has handed in notice and other goes on mat leave)

Thanks all..

We like to go to a beach for a swim or activities, but none of us is very good at just sitting in the sun and doing nothing..

Thanks, runs off to search for places to stay in Brittany….

Any towns particular to aim for?

Not sure if it’s been mentioned before, but Snowfall, which i think started on Sky, but now all 6 series are on Disney + is one of the best things i have seen in years, story of cocaine and crack flooding LA in the 80’s and the CIA links to using the trade to finance war in Nicaragua , so well filmed and done by John Singleton who did Boyz in the Hood.

I would adapt and overcome when it comes to weight training.

So instead of big barbell deadlifts, look at kettle bell single leg variations, or instead of squats, single leg bulgarian squats etc, you are using a lighter weight, but doing as higher work load. Plus doing the single leg or arm variation often helps with imbalances.

Like Convert above, i am involved with DofE over this last year, did my MLTB Summer and Winter years ago, and have taken fresh first aid and DofE assessors courses this year to be able to help out my daughters and other small local rural schools trying to get it off the ground.

I have really enjoyed going back to map work, and have also really enjoyed teaching it, especially getting involved with a school where many of the kids are neuro-diverse and teaching them to think of the map as a book and the route as a story and asking what they can actually see and how it relates to the map, and even going into a bit of history and geography, when we have been walking some ancient routeways, you can really get them engaged, along with a few fun games.

I tend to find two type of map readers, the analytical who think in bearings, steps, pacing and that side of it, and those who are “Landscape” navigators, who can look at a map and see how it relates to the landscape around them, they are the ones who walk with their heads up, the best navigators combine the two.

Maps are also great for the “big picture” especially if you are new to an area or a route, see how everything relates to everything else, why that valley is there, why those slopes are particularly steep, what mans effect has been on landscape with mines etc, detail you won’t get from a small screen often

So if i am on my own and just wanting to move quickly then often use GPS, but always with a paper map as back up

I think sports such as the road race are great, not everyone in the host city will be able to afford tickets to go to the actual stadiums, and so few sports actually showcase the city itself.

Whereas road race, the marathon etc, actually show the city itself and give everyone a chance to part of it

Well Campanaerts seems like a bloody nice bloke… very honest interview and emotion, hopefully he will get a contract next year..

Plenty of small bars, cocktail lounges and pubs. Its where me and the missus tend to go if we are in Brighton of an evening but be warned its the gayest bit of the gayest town in the UK so be prepared for rainbows!

And just as the mate i’m going with has decided to grow a moustache too!

I am preferring Eurosport most of the time, the time i prefer them to ITV4 seems to correspond with when Rob Hatch is commentating with Blythe, McEwan and Dani interjecting, but i then cannot stand Carlton Kirby and Sean “i only talk in generalisations” take over…

Going to be weird these last few stages having no spring stages left, but then have two sprinters trains going hell for leather to intermediate sprints?

Hoping Girmay can hold onto green jersey, before his injury i would of put money on him as he will get over the mountains better, but not so sure now.

More breakaways too with all those teams and riders that have not won anything yet trying as hard as they can to get something out of the race?

I’ve stuck with it as something to watch on the turbo trainer as it again rains outside…… but its not good is it? Picked up a bit for the light sabre scraps in the woods, but just dull.

This is 8 episodes that has just enough content to make a short film which should of been aimed at young kids.

It is hard work, but i loved the Torino-Nice rally, you can take variations on the route to include more/less off road, but the high gravel passes of French/Italian Alps and bivvying in the old Napoleonic forts on route.

I have had some great bikepacking trips in Belgium – this was great – https://bikepacking.com/routes/ardennes-arbalete/

I hit 50 next year and am looking at a variation of this route, liking the idea of gravel roads, linking up small micro-breweries – https://bikepacking.com/routes/appalachian-gravel-growler/

Also, having watched TdF this year, been looking at a long weekend hitting the gravel roads of Champagne region of France

Agreed, Slovenia has produced quite a few outstanding riders recently, for a population of 2 million. That’s a population 2/3rds the size of Wales, who also have access to an outstanding development programme but haven’t yet produced any superhumans

You’re going to be blown away by the Isle of Man….

I personally think you’re taking individuals who have freakishly great genetics, then every aspect of their physical performance and that of the bike is being pushed to the limits.

I am more impressed by Jonas’s recovery from the injuries he sustained than Pog. I think like many i love watching Pog race as he has been fallible in the past, he is a racer and enjoys pushing himself, even if a few times he has then blown up catastrophically..

I come from a rugby background, a sport that weirdly has a high number of banned athletes on WADA list often, but does not seem to get the tarnished reputation of cycling or athletics, I got tired of playing against another prop-forward who was smaller than me, only to see him next season, and he’d gained 2 stone, was spotty and had a bad attitude…

Would love to see Cav get a last one as a sign-off to his career, but feel Philipsen is now on the up and got the confidence although i don’t like the guy, if not Cav, then Girmay for a fantastic fourth…

Stage 16 on Tuesday is described in road book as a flat stage, but one which is notorious area for crosswinds, but that is last chance. Final day is a Time Trial in Nice

Was hoping WvA was going to get that one, needs to some luck and i can’t warm to Philipsen

I’m on Eurosport, but interesting that they are saying similar, Ineos don’t seem to be able to let go of being the top GC team, they need to be honest with themselves and ask that is going to be better, coming 5-6th on GC or winning 1-2 stages, I know which i think is better and more interesting. Plus they have some great riders who have spent years being loyal domestiques like Kwiatoski (Sp?) who could be allowed to go and strike out and have some fun, plus as they down on GC they might be given some rope to play with and not chased down.

Anyone watching today laugh at some of the radio comms snippets they play, especially the ones from Ineos and their DS ordering them about as if they had the same current status as UAE and Visma, they always seem to put in the effort at the front as if they had the GC, instead of expounding their efforts when it actually counts, maybe to win stages instead. They seem to still think they are top-tier, when their GC results say otherwise, i think to the detriment of allowing individuals like Pidcock to be supported for a few wins…

He does seem to be a bit of “crash magnet” like Geraint Thomas can be sometimes. Shame as i was really looking forward to the big-four tearing it out of each other in a four way battle this Tour

Roglic out of Tour – https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cycling/articles/clmy4l2e12ro

Wonder if they have decided it is better for him to refocus on Olympics now?

I think today just displays that run sprinters get that run of confidence.. brilliant display by Girmay

Funny how smiting getting done makes for a better show than people in dimly lit rooms talking.

To be honest i enjoy the “talking in rooms” and that was one of the things that made the original GoT brilliant, the often sharp and well written dialogue, i have just found the general pace on this series that bit slower, and the first 3 episodes have all just been dialogue heavy and not a lot else.

Was struggling with House of the Dragon series 2 until this most recent episode, but it has got good all of a sudden, brilliant battle scenes with the dragons attacking each other.

Just finish watching the OA on Netflix, such a shame it got cancelled after 2 series, such a weird and brilliant series and different to anything else i have seen.

Also i think i am “punish watching” the new Star Wars series The Acolyte, it is so dull… i don’t know why i am watching it bar passing time sat on turbo when it was chucking it down.

I don’t think they can have spare whole bikes, but they can have spare wheels and bidons/food. It is why the teams have loads of volunteers for Roubaix so they can get spare wheels on every sector.

Apparently from the Cycling Podcast, they were stating that the gravel section was too make sure there wasn’t 3 similar stages in a row, they needed to cross the relatively flattish champagne region, and they had a sprint stage before and a sprint stage next after the rest day, they had already had a TT, so were trying to mix it up.

I really enjoyed it, i think it rewards the best all round bike rider/ handler.

I’m really struggling with a lot of the kits, especially the like of Visma Lease a Bike and those that have completely changed their normal look.

I think purely on yesterdays stage that the race is a bit more open that i thought it would be, I thought it was going to be another Pog-show, but Jonas and Remco both seemed in better fettle than i thought.

Not even sure where Remco came from, one minute he seemed to have been left with the peleton, next he seemed to be 20m behind the two of them, but that was the TV coverage trying to cover too many people i guess.

ooh thought of another, *****n brioche buns for burgers, one place did it, now every one blinkin does it. It basically meat in cake… usually done by same placed that think i want fries in a little basket..

another for whisky, dad was an alcoholic and could drink a bottle of Bells/ Teachers, and then go to pub, house used to reek of it, tried the “good” ones, still does nothing for me.

Bananas, again a childhood thing i think, i know they are good fuel, but just the smell turns my stomach

Radiohead, i know they are supposed to be brilliant musicians, but his voice goes through me like nails down a blackboard.

…and another for football, there is no duller sound on the planet than two men discussing football….

I’ve a second hand Sage Barista Express machine (and i weigh 18g  of beans out each time!).

We just have the 1kg bags of Rave house blend, find it a good compromise between the espresso/ americano that i like and the latte my wife likes, and then buy the odd 250g bag of coffee when we are out and about to try.

Once you get the feel for what you are doing with under/over extraction etc, then i can make better coffee than i will have in 90% of coffee places.

Plus I tend to find i drink less, quality over quantity.

I will then grind it more course and take some to work when in office for Aeropress.

All in all, probably costs us about £25-28 a month, which bearing in mind it is £3.5 an americano in cafe near work, and i’d have two a day, works out a lot cheaper for me than what i was spending.

My wife, she is a consultant therapeutic radiographer specialising in breast cancer, she managed to finish her Msc during COVID and organised her cancer wards response to COVID, she made her way to consultant without having a doctorate, despite working an 60-70 hour for NHS, she now is also seconded to NHS England and lecturing with them and now taken on a third role with local Uni to lecture there to, plus she has just had her first scientific paper in Radiography journal.

Any daughter, 14 now and been Type 1 diabetic since 4 years of age, doesn’t let her stop her doing anything, and I started volunteering with her schools DofE to help them with her, and having been on 4 weekends now, proud to watch her take charge and lead her group and watch her interact with her friends, she has an old head on young shoulders…

For me one of the things i’d consider, and will probably be shot down here, is that i find road tubeless at anything above 60psi a bit rubbish, maybe because i live somewhere with lots of bits of flint on the road.

So my winter “road” bike is a titanium Reilly gravel bike, with two sets of wheels, one with true 42c off road tyres and for winter road miles, mudguards and slick 35c tyres.

I find 35c is still fast enough to clip along on the road, but at 55-60psi in them, the sealant actually seals the holes unlike at higher pressures in 28c tyres i’d run in summer. Having tubeless that works is a big win in the winter.

@catfood @mrbadger I am another that developed Type 2 diabetes following COVID, there is a family history of T2 after illness, but for mum, uncle and grandad, it was all after cancer.

In the weeks after COVID, eyesight started to blur, peeing every 20 minutes, lost appetite and weight, and felt so fatigued.

HBA1C came back at 60, 42-48 being pre-diabetic and over 48 diabetic.

Thankfully I knew about the disease and had read up on it quite a bit, and have never had to be medicated, and have controlled with diet and exercise, but each time i have gotten COVID since, another 2 occasions, blood glucose levels have gone up, and i haven’t been able to exercise to control it.

I just hope that if i catch again, i don’t damage insulin sensitivity and resistance to such a point i end up medicated.

Have a look at Outdoor Gear Exchange UK on Facebook, thousands of members selling used kit.

if you want new, been impressed with Alpkit tents (own 3) and they do “bundles” with mat etc

For those of you that have ridden it, it is my 50th next year and would love to ride the whole thing, but could not get that amount of time from work, if you could choose a 2-3 week section of the Divide route to ride what would you go for? (added points for micro-breweries?!)

I work for an insurance fraud team.

Fraud goes up drastically as finances bite hard for people

The number of and the value of personal injury claims has gone down, so we are seeing a lot more unscrupulous solicitors and accident management companies etc turn to bent metal claims with large credit hire claims etc.

Plus many makes of car are struggling for parts, especially BMW, VW etc, so often insurers are writing off the cars instead of repairing to stop the large hire claims.

Finally there are more and more electric cars on the road, people think they are great for the environment, but very cagey second hand market, nightmare to repair, and often they are written off because of the cost of repairs, and the fact they need specialist repairers and disposal techniques. The days of repairing cars with a steel frame and metal wings and body parts attached to it are coming to an end, the use of exotic materials such as carbon fibre causes all manner of headaches, and even windscreens and the ike have become very complex to replace often.

Plus factor in things like the weather, how much rain and flooding have we had…

@Drnosh

It can get busy, but nothing like many other holiday spots like places in Devon and Cornwall, plus if you are local, you just drive / cycle the parallel road inland, views are better to due to slight elevation

I live in North Norfolk, we get tourists, but beaches like Holkham/ Wells next the Sea, Winterton etc are all some of the nicest sandy beaches in the country, and even on the hottest days, by walking 1/4 mile up the beach you can be away from people, and the roads don’t get busy like Devon/ Cornwall and over-run.

Great pubs/ restaurants and lots of walks and cycling, even off-road, just very little mountain biking in its truest sense.

Downsides are that if you are retired and live in a village like mine (and i have had four sets of retired neighbours in the 10 years i’ve been here) it’s great all the time you can drive, and land / houses away from the coast, are fairly well priced, but nearest supermarket is 20 minutes away and there is a bus in to town twice a week. So people struggle ones mobility becomes an issue.