Didn’t want to fork out for a hire van then?

People post positive reviews on here all the time, there are bound to be negative ones occasionally. A lot of people use this forum to decide where to spend their hard-earned cash and anybody who receives a bad write-up has the chance to reply. The impression this gives of Sierra Cycling is that they just don’t try very hard and the whole point of a guided trip is to ensure that you get the absolute best out of the area.

They will need a plan b when it comes to Wales mind.

I hope that plan a for both Italy Wales would be to get the ball in phase play again, ASAP. We have struggled to get a solid set-piece over the last year, we just need to retain possession and get the ball back in play.

He means Bowe with the intercept. He was doing well for the first 60-70, then O’Connor just reined him in. I think O’Connell is steadily getting back to his best. Healy is becoming a key player for us, he has somehow managed to add bulk to aid his scrummaging without sacrificing his ball carrying. He is good for a turnover a game these days and he absolutely mangled Cooper at one point as well.

If our pack shows up like it did yesterday we will beat the Italians by a margin. On recent showings that is a big “if” but I think we will get a lot of self-belief back after that performance. We’ll rest the front line guys for the Russians and then put the full side out for the Italians and aim for a good performance to take some momentum into the knockouts.

We have been playing absolute dirt but the England and the Aussie games showed what these guys are capable of when they gets their heads straight. We absolutely reamed them in contact and we gave them nothing to feed off, finally an 80 minute performance. Cooper didn’t do much, Beale looked electric.

We’re back in business lads! 8)

Biggest game for Ireland since the Slam. I am approaching it with mindless optimism.

If there is anybody looking to watch Pro12 games on the likes of S4C you can usually get all the UK freeview channels on Sky boxes and Freeview, you just have to go into the settings and seek out the more obscure channels and set them up.

We also have freeview access to the Pro12 wheras the Premiership is all subscription-based apart from the highlights shows.

ABE reached a bit of a peak after the World Cup win and ensuing influx of ignorant bandwagoners – the same people who were booing their own England side at Twickenham when the wheels fell off the wagon.

There is always an extra edge when the celtic nations play England but I think there is a lot less ABE sentiment than their used to be. Any successful team is going to have its knockers, apparently Ireland have massive support from the Kiwi fans ahead of the Aussie game tomorrow morning.

In terms of media coverage, its all down to population numbers, there are far more people interested in England than anybody else. Given that rugby is a minority sport, we also have top accept that there are far more people interested in the idea of the England captain having married into the Royal family and then gone on the lash and motorboated some bird in a bar.

I have one on the front, the casing is slightly smaller than the 2.2 Rubber Queen that I have on the back but the distance across the tread is similar – the Baron has deeper tread. I would say they size up similar to 2.35 Maxxis. I really like it, it digs in especially well on soft ground and the grip is consistent as you lean the bike over. I had a High Roller 2.35 on the front before which felt a bit skatey. I got the Black Chilli because I had read a few reports about the non-Chilli Continentals being a bit Teflon.

Self-entitlement meets ignorance and puts UK race relations back 40 years.

You’d need to be spending a hell of a lot of time on the bike to need all that!

That very much depends what you mean by “need”. If you’re naturally predisposed to dropping both fat and muscle the easiest way to continue dropping fat and hold onto some muscle is to eat a lot of protein. Its only advisable if you are like the OP and naturally pre-disposed to shedding large amounts of body-weight through training.

MyProtein Total Protein in milk every morning at breakfast, and Total Protein or Recovery XS after riding. That should see you hold more muscle, even if cycling is your only training. If your body doesn’t hold muscle well, then you need protein to try and build/hold muscle. Unless you are literally starving yourself carbs will only add fat.

Freecaster crashes constantly. I PPV sport all the time but I’m not forking out money for something that may or may not work.

Meh. Scrappy match but Tuohy and Cave look to be coming back well.

Joe Friel has quite a good book about the Paleo diet for Endurance Athletes.

Phil a lot of trainers are starting to suggest diets which favour protein and even fat over carbs, and steer away from steady-state cardio for fat-burning.

The idea is to stimulate muscle development, which in turn helps burn fat. For the typical person who wants to tone up and drop fat, it works pretty well. The protein really helps stave off hunger, which in turn makes it easier to stay off empty carbs. As for a competitive XC racer or roadie, they might end up coming out too heavy.

so the irsih problem is deeper than my own view that they have just got old?

The thing is, the first choice side isn’t actually that old, even if some of them have been around a long time. The centres aren’t getting any younger, O’Driscoll can compensate but D’Arcy has slowed down a lot. Add in O’Gara at 10 and its hard to create much in the backs.

So the best recovery drink is actually a tuna sandwich with no tuna now?

We used to play position and then move the ball if it was on, now we are trying everything from the first whistle and the error count has gone through the roof. Kidney just took a team that O’Sullivan built, which had done very well, and made them believe they could win a Slam. They got a few bounces of the ball along the way but most importantly they were incredibly hard to beat because they gave the opposition very little to work with. Kidney’s lack of technical ability has slowly dragged them down.

Two Heineken Cup winners medals is decent proof, but you’re right he could do with International success.

Ireland are not losing because of Sexton. Kidney is out of his depth coaching anything more complicated than 10 man rugby, and we don’t have the front five for that any more. Gaffney has produced nothing out of a backline that score tries for fun with Leinster. There are serious problems across the whole squad that Kidney will struggle to fix before the World Cup.

The TV coverage makes a lot of O’Gara coming on to “steady the ship” or Sexton being “dropped” for O’Gara. Kidney is trying to balance gametime between a talented all-rounder and a limited player who has delivered him a lot of silverware in the past. Kidney’s problem is 10-man rugby is never going to work for us and he has spent the last year or two flip-flopping between two different styles of play and selection policies. A considerable amount of Sexton’s game time in green is outside O’Leary, who Kidney loves very deeply. He has finally been forced to admit that O’Leary isn’t even fit for the 30 man squad, which says a lot for the service Sexton has been getting outside him.

I’m so clever I don’t need any protein. Thanks for your concern.

So, MyProtein Recovery XS if you want a recovery drink.

A Yazoo, a tuna sandwich and a self-five if your training goal is smug mediocrity.

Sexton is way out ahead of the rest of the Home Nations 10s. The rest of them all have a major weakness in terms of pace/breaking ability, tackling, or running a game. Hook has a weakness in that he doesn’t play a lot of 10 because he doesn’t boss the game. Sexton is a more complete player than the rest of them.

Wellies is slightly better, not by much.

Hook is an appalling fly-half, stupid comparison.

Wilko was brilliant, totally lost it, good to see him back.

Flood hasn’t focussed on 10 and along with Youngs is a panicker who needs to learn to run a game.

O’Gara isn’t my favourite player, the Lions was a nadir for him and he has actually worked on his defence since, although he will always struggle. My problem with him is that he has no break/pace and therefore struggles to commit defenders. Add in an elderly D’Arcy at 12 and you have a very pedestrian, predictable 10/12 axis.

Well that is that settled then. The OP just needs a tuna sandwich or a Yazoo.

Yazoo might not be just as good then….

The research on flavoured milk mostly compares it to “sports drinks” with no protein. Flavoured milk is still a decent option but specific recovery formulas are much better.

Why do these core strengthening threads always turn into will waving/dreams of greatness mongfests? If anyone was to do half of the stuff up there they would injure themselves permanently.

One of the rare training threads on here that hasn’t descended into the usual tools arguing.

It must’ve done. Mine got bounced through rocks a couple of times in France, the paint is fragile but the frame itself seems very solidly built. I am glad I went for the 36s, the back tracks very well and the 32s I had on the Spitfire wouldn’t have balanced the bike out as nicely.

Its 145mm. It soaks up a lot of punishment going down hill which is probably what he is getting at. It pedals very well if that is what you are concerned about.

I’m very happy with my Dixon. I’ve had it about 3 months now and ridden it around local trails and out in the Alps, its a very adaptable bike that pedals well and can take a lot of hammering too. I wouldn’t stick a 90mm stem on it and I find the Large long enough at 6’3″ but sizing is a strange thing anyway. I would agree that the list price is a lot, I think mainly because Freeborn were looking to price it at a premium over the Spitfire for warranty reasons. I don’t know if I’d want ISCG mounts to be honest, I haven’t had many problems with dropped chains and the frame probably builds up best around 30lbs with a double chainset. I have 36 Floats at 150mm and I wouldn’t want the forks any longer, and the rear clearance isn’t huge.

Mr Mills you must’ve landed on that to do the damage?!

Clin d’Oeil down near the supermarket.

I looked at the ridge towards Servoz the other night, I was on my own, it was 5.30pm, and I hadn’t seen a sinner for about an hour, so I took the Holy Trail. Is the ridge worth doing and did you head for Servoz or try and cut back towards Merlet?

I’m on a Dixon now too, the Spitfire is a great wee bike but the manufacturing tolerances mean they eat the bushings, followed by pivots/frame. I found Freeborn very good as well.

Toys I don’t know – i got the frame from Freeborn and was told I had a lifetime warranty.

DeVinci have a lifetime warranty.