You may find that the more eccentric members of your gym will strike up conversations with you based around your crazy shoes.

There is a company called Newitts who were clearing them out online, they might have run out now.

I’ve had a pair for about 6 weeks now, I’m not running in them but I’ve been doing gym rehab and agility stuff. I have got noticeably better balance and proprioception in that time. You can get a feel for the ground in any thin-soled shoe but I have wide feet and I have noticed that they spread in the Vibrams, to the point where some of my other shoes feel narrow and constricting.

Don’t get carried away and use them too much, too quick, you will find lots of little muscles and ligaments that feel a bit strange at first and you need to give them time to adapt.

I’ll probably buy new, somewhere that I can get fitted when I buy. I have the Cayo set up pretty nicely using a basic set of measurements from Competitive Cyclist’s fit generator, and a bit of experimentation, but I’d like to balance it out with a proper fitting session.

That Felt is beautiful but I would be very wary of the di2, I wouldn’t really need it. My head is telling me I should go for the Roubaix but I want to explore every option as the bike will need to last me a long time.

Traildog you have a point about fit, I have a Cayo at the minute which is a 58 and is great for anything up to 3 or 4 hours but isn’t particularly comfortable on a longer easier ride. I will probably go for a bit of extra height in the head tube this time around.

Looks are definitely a factor 😆

That Giant is a thing of beauty!

I would be wary of going very light on wheels as I’m nearly 14 stone and I ride a lot of back roads which aren’t in very good nick.

Your GP will refer you, but unless you go private you will probably end up on a waiting list. A good sports physio will probably be able to suggest possible solutions and give you some exercises to help.

You will inevitably have to do some work off the bike. I have loads of problems with my right knee, it doesn’t affect me badly on the bike but if I don’t manage it I have a limp. A couple of gym sessions a week completely transforms it but it has taken me some time and some different sources of advice (surgeon, physio, PT) to get the right balance of exercises.

I am going to get over there for at least a day trip this summer. I would be more used to Chamonix weather, in August that tends to be thunderstorms, followed by increasingly warm sunshine until thunder breaks through again. It might be more stable in the Tarentaise.

Im not sure many companies would go for a 2nd hand car on a company car scehem would they?

Probably not, they might take up a lease on your behalf. I own the business so I can do it whatever way suits me.

The private fuel allowance on a company car is a very hefty proportion of the BIK – nearly half from what I can remember. If you don’t do a lot of private miles it might be cheaper to just buy your own fuel for private use.

It depends what you want to drive, some of the new engines that are coming out have extremely low emissions and the BIK is a fraction of what it used to be. The new Passat and some of the new BMWs/Mercs are particularly efficient. If you want something new then you may as well get your employer to buy it.

If you want to drive anything quick, you are probably better getting it yourself. The BIK percentages and the fact that it is worked out from the new price of the car means that anything expensive when new is going to cost you a fortune every month, even if you go second hand when you actually buy it.

I thought it couldn’t get any better after Prescott sold out for an insurance ad, but it just has.

The comments about Hartley were tied to the Cardiff Blues game where he got right under the skin of some of the Blues players, including Tito, and lead to the Blues scrum half getting a 12 week ban for hands to the face.

Powell is thick as a hobby horse and hits about 3 rucks per game but Wales really need some go-forward ball from their back row and he does provide that.

France – Should be good but can’t always be guaranteed to turn up.

England – Great AIs, have had a few injuries since, hopefully Johnno won’t revert to type and pick the same old tried-and-failed donkeys.

Wales – Looked muck in the AIs, didn’t get a team into the HEC quarters, back row is dirt. Should still put in a decent performance.

Scotland – Good finish last year but not much depth and both Magners sides are doing very badly.

Ireland – Terrible form in the AIs, injuries in the back row and back 3, need to clear out a few old lags in the forwards.

Italy – Same old same old, may surprise somebody at home.

Ouch.

I hope there is a happy ending to this!

The BBC one is decent but you need to watch the maps on a regular basis.

I take the MyProtein Total Protein in the morning, two scoops, shaken up in a pint of milk. I have the Recovery stuff in milk after exercise. Doing this and making sure I do some intervals and circuits every week, I generally hold muscle better and am much better at putting down short bursts of effort and recovering quickly.

If you’re trying to get functional strength for the TA you might want to stick to compound lifts and make sure your core strength keeps up with improvements elsewhere.

The middle section of Dalby red is pretty flat and its all linked up by fire roads with nice views.

We did Ae last year and I thought it was good value for money. We had a full weekend’s riding and a lot of fun. Everybody was very friendly and enjoyed the format. It was fun pushing to get that extra bit of speed out of the bike, but trying not to gas yourself before the end of the stage. Of course you can ride the Ae red any time you like but you aren’t going to have the same experience as racing on the timed stages against a couple of hundred other riders.

There is a lot of interest in these kind of races in the UK. Some of them have been non-events due to timing failures. They are demanding to organise and run. Even if you can’t afford the series or you think it is expensive, what is the harm in supporting one or two events ands trying to help these guys create some momentum and a business model they can have some confidence in?

I stayed with a mate in Parnell, its very nice. There are a lot of quieter neighbourhoods within walking distance of the centre, I would either go for one of these or look further out and try and get closer to the bay and a bit of biking.

New Zealand is an amazing place!

No high fives, banned by the fun police.

There is a new VW pickup coming out which I have been looking at, the Amarok. I don’t know if they’ll be available in the UK before the end of the financial year, they keep pushing the date back.

If you just want functional strength you could just stick with squat, deadlift, bench press, overhead press. You could add chin-ups, horizontal rows or lat pulldowns to that for your back and arms.

There are some good videos on Youtube about technique, I like the Rippetoe ones. He also has a book called Starting Strength, you can find details of some of the programmes from this on the net.

You need to make sure you warm up and down and start off with very light weights until you are comfortable with technique.

They are are pretty crap, the chin bar gets in the way of your breathing a bit and one or two fairly innocuous impacts was enough to write mine off. You could probably get a decent XC lid and a full face for less than the cost of the Casco.

We have a MacPac, not cheap but very good. The backpack bit is the comfiest pack I’ve had and the baby bit is fully adjustable for the size of the child. It has plenty of storage and a very well thought-out sun shade/rain cover arrangement. If I’m hiking with ours I would usually bring poles just in case I slip.

ah, the 6″ travel trail centre crowd

supertacky’s too I presume

Vouilloz was on a Zesty, somebody better let him know he is “overbiked”.

unless you ride groomed slopestyle comps, why would you want a larsen on the back of a 6″ travel bike?

They grip surprisingly well in anything short of really muddy conditions, and they roll really well. There were loads of people running 2.35 Larsen or Ignitor rears at the Ae Enduro last year, on similar bikes to the Pitch.

Flows, tubeless, with a Larsen on the back and A High Roller or Advantage on the front. A pound on the forks won’t make much difference compared to lighter faster rolling tyres.

Yeah 2.35s go on fine but they might not take much hammer unless they are very well built.

Crystal creche staff are at least 95% English. They employ everyone on UK payroll and then fleece them for rent to get around the French minimum wage laws.

Food inflation is very high at the minute. Its is mostly driven by commodities but there is a feeling that the big brands are also trying to establish new price points, for instance McCoys crisps are up 16%, Mars confectionary 9%.

There might be the odd case of hiding increases in the VAT rise but most businesses are facing the kind of cost increases that you just can’t absorb and they are having to pass them on, even in a price-sensitive market. This is the kind of thing that could lead to a double-dip.

There are some sections of Kielder that would be pretty miserable on a CX bike.

MTB will be a bit of a write-off, as will high mountain passes. There would be a big difference between the start of April and end of May.

If you want something to spin and learn to ride switch then an out-and-out freeride board might not be your best bet. I had a Yukon for a couple of seasons which was great for what it was intended for, but a wee bit too stiff for mucking about on. I got a Wall Pro after that which didn’t hold an edge or track through chop quite as well but was much more versatile and fun for mucking around on. I’m looking at the minute and if I do buy I’ll probably go for a Slayblade or a DH2.4.

If its a freeride board and you don’t ride switch a lot then it might not matter much going up a length.

I’d have thought the working class would have more experience with vacuum cleaners?

I did a course recently with work, by the end of it I would say 8 out of 10 of us could pick the origins of the coffees we were drinking.

Instant goes through a series of industrial processes to get the way it is, everyone could pick the instant from the fresh brew.

Abel Tasman is an incredible place, you can tramp a coastal path, do a kayak trip or get taken out in a RIB.

BMW will be disappointed to discover that they haven’t made anything of note in the last 20 years.

Well, it was you that caused the On One chainsuck problem that exists on certain frames, so I wouldn’t boast about that too much if I were you, and to be honest I think the Ragley bolt on cable guides are poor. Self apply decals are purely a money saving ploy. Personally I’d prefer them under the laquer but if the frames cheap enough I’ll live with it. (and get my own made as above)

He was boasting about fixing the chainsuck problem, on Ragleys.
What is “poor” about the cable guides?
You bought a cheap destickered bike and came up with your own graphics but you think its a negative when Ragley do it?

The Pig is better in lots of small ways, especially for taller people. I’ve had no chainsuck all winter, the clip-on guides are great. I’d say its well worth the extra dough.