I was climbing the Garburn Pass, put a particularly angry pedal stroke in and it just dropped a couple of inches.

Looking at the way things move, that link comes under more pressure from pedal feedback than the up-and-down travel…

I can’t see the classic one on the website, is it referred to as a Blue 1.0?

Link Link

I’ve just got some Castelli Velocissimo bibs – about 85 quids.

They’re very nice indeed – lovely fit.

I got the black and white ones, they make my thighs look like killer whales. 😉

I was under the impression that Clenbuterol was assimilated very quickly and left no trace in the system after 48hrs (correct me if I’m wrong).

If that was the case, the beef producer must have fed the drug to the cow less than 48hrs before it was slaughtered.

Why would a farmer, who is obviously trying to maximise his profit, give expensive drugs to an animal and then slaughter it before the drugs had a chance to increase its yield?

I wouldn’t be surprised if he was physically attacked out on the road. The French are pretty passionate when if comes to cycling, and there’s a helluva lot of bad blood (pardon the pun) towards Cuntador, who they feel has devalued this year’s and last year’s race.

In fact, I’d be surprised if he makes his way thought the entire Tour unscathed.

I always thought the Prologue served a specific purpose – it gave every single rider a different time.
The race will start tomorrow with well over 100 riders sharing exactly the same time.

Truly hideous!

Far safer than bodging, I have one and it works really well. Copper pipe would crumple given the amount of whacking needed to remove most headsets.

The ice tool one has a nice domed steel head for hitting, so it can’t mushroom or bend. Well worth a tenner.

Keep tightening and stop approximately 2Nm before the threads strip.

HTH

Martin, do I know you? 😕

Seriously, I’d be tempted to mention to the goon that some of the things he’s saying might come across as a bit inappropriate and that he’s heading for a fallout if he doesn’t rein it in…

I went to Thomas Edison’s house in Florida. Some of the original lightbulbs he made in the 1880s were still glowing strong… Well, about 15 watts. Surely they will be older…

I pissed myself in WHSmiths. Some of those cards are hilarious.

Nice one, cheers TJ.

G Wizz couriers are good, you’ll need to give box dimensions and weight when you request collection.

All online, UPS carriers used, excellent service…

G Wizz[/url]

saladdodger – Member
Agreed

But if I am not mistaken before he was caught he denied ever taking drugs so the make’s him a Liar too

What a silly thing to say! Have any dopers ever been caught by someone asking them outright “Did you dope?”?

Of course not. Of course he’s going to deny it until he absolutely can’t refute the evidence against him. As would anyone whose career and livelihood was in the balance.

Doping was wrong, but you can’t say he made it worse by lying about it! The whole enterprise – the procuring, taking and covering up are all part and parcel of it, and why he was quite rightly banned.

But he served his time, and I’m impressed with his current stance against doping.

I met him once, I think it was probably after the Tour of Lancashire when a time trial finished on Harris End Fell. Presentation was in Scorton, about 5 miles away and I rode down with him.

He’ll have been in his early twenties, before he signed for Cofidis I think. Such a nice bloke, it seems so sad that his career took such a turn for the worse with the doping.

Does he mention me in his book? 😉

I went to one in Manchester recently – my sister-in-law had a spare ticket and I figured there would be a lot of women…

It was worth going for the Robbie Williams bit – as much as it pains me to say it, he’s a brilliant live performer.

The rest of the show was a bit dull in places, but the set is amazing. Well worth going whether you like them or not.

I just can’t seem to warm to Wiggins, he always comes across as a bit false – trying to create this cool, quirky persona with a blasé attitude to racing etc.

I suspect that is why he struggles to win the respect of his teammates and the rest of the peleton. Natural leaders tend to be genuine, straight-up-and-down kinda guys.

I agree with him whole-heartedly. As much as I want to see Wiggins do the business in the Tour, it’s not going to happen. And he is a cock.

I agree completely with his comments about Wiggins as a team leader, and the attitude to Sky amongst the peleton. When a new super-rich team starts poaching riders with ludicrous sums of money, it’s bound to leave a bitter aftertaste – and not in terms of jealousy. We’re talking about riders reneging on contractual agreements to take Sky’s cash. If I was in a team and someone left like that, I’d feel a bit cheated.

I don’t really see him blaming anyone else for his drug-taking in that piece either. On the contrary. However, put yourself in the position of a young, ambitious cyclist, riding for a team run by his childhood heroes.

It would be akin to Kenny Dalglish convincing a young player to dope by telling him “It’s OK, it’s what we used to do. If you want to be as good as I was, that’s what you need to do”. It would be very difficult for an impressionable young man to say no under those circumstances.

I hope Miller has a good tour, and I’m looking forward to reading his book.

Snakes with tits, the lot of them. I’d go and talk to a divorce lawyer before you do anything, I wish I’d done this.

You’re most likely going to get buttfunked anyway, so you might as well minimise your losses.

Set up an online account with someone like Egg. No statements etc, all emailed.

If they’re set up right, they allow you to move forward on your saddle and completely change the mechanics of your pedaling style.

That probably makes as much difference as the aero advantage.

Yes, you can tuck your elbows in and grip either side of the stem (as you often see when descending) but to alter your position in relation to the BB, you need something to lean on.

I used to use them for 10s on an ordinary roadbike and they do make a difference. Not very comfy though!

This is what you need, you can get it on ebay for about £2.50

Ah, I think that might be the one I’ve got – the sticker has worn off though so I couldn’t see it! Thanks…

crikey – Member

Um, you boys do know that normal tyres + tubes have a lower rolling resistance than tubs, don’t you?

I’m rather skeptical about “rolling resistance” – I think it’s marketing hype and the speed of a tyre is primarily dependent on tyre pressure and rider weight.

But if you can back that up, I’d be interested to know how…

don simon – Member
*winces* as he find himself agreeing with shibboleth.

If you get past your instinctive urge to disagree with me, you’ll probably realise that I talk a lot of sense. 😉

There’s another reason I like a face-to-face meeting over an email – I can see if they have any visible tattoos! 😀

I get bombarded with CVs on a daily basis by people who *think* they’re pro-actively searching for work. These are the people who moan that they’ve sent out 600 CVs and not got one reply!

Well I’m sorry, but googling for a list of companies and then spamming them with a copy-and-paste letter with a PDF of your CV attached is NOT a very proactive way of looking for work.

Here’s what would make me as an employer sit up and take notice:

When someone puts a suit on and takes the effort to travel to my studio and hand me their CV. I’ll always try to make time to see someone looking for work as I think that a face-to-face meeting tells me a lot more about the person than an email or letter.

If visiting is not appropriate, at least ring the company and find the name of the relevant person to whom the letter should be sent.

If the tyre casing is thicker (which it would appear to be considering the extra weight) then any theoretical benefit in terms of rolling resistance would be diminished.

I suspect that the only reason any pro tour teams use them is due to sponsorship money!

molgrips – Member

Rolling resistance, surely?

Why? What difference would it make? I’ve heard people talk about less friction between tyre and tube, but frankly I think this is nonsense. If it were the case, your innertubes would look shiny after prolonged use – mine tend to show an imprint of the inside of the tyre suggesting there’s no movement.

I’ve heard people say that they feel more like tubs, which “apparently” roll faster than clinchers. Again, I think this is tosh as tubs have an innertube, it’s just enclosed within a stitched tyre!

The only reason tubs seem to roll quicker is that the whole rim/tub combo is lighter than a clincher.

And yes, just looking at the weight of tubeless tyres, the advantages are starting to look less pronounced!

You save the weight of 2 innertubes and add a tiny bit of sealant. Road tubeless rims don’t need rim strips.

You save around 150g, which doesn’t sound much, but in terms of the percentage weight of a 1400g wheelset, it’s fairly significant.

Yes, you have to use tubeless specific tyres, the Hutchinsons seem to be the best in all the reviews though Maxxis look pretty good too.

Don’t expect sealant to prevent punctures like on mtb tyres – you can drop 50psi in a second through a thorn puncture meaning it’s unrideable.

Can’t really see much advantage other than a tiny weight saving and pinch flat resistance at lower pressures.

My fitness is now at a fairly obscene level and this, combined with my technical bike handling skills means Im completely untouchable on The North Face trail and other similar trail centres. Never been overtaken once.

Grrrr baby, very grrrrrrrr… You sound rad with added orsm.

depth-junkie – Member

Does road biking help on descents on the mtb? No, skill and balls do

I half disagree with that, I was a keen roadie from the age of around 14 and didn’t start riding mountain bikes until my mid twenties when a load of my mates bought bikes to try and shift their burgeoning beer bellies.

Being used to descending on-road at well over 50mp, I was FAR faster than any of them downhill. Yes, you can put that down to balls/confidence, but IME, the most important “technique” in descending is maintaining and carrying speed.

Another point worth mentioning – and something I’ve really noticed recently after boosting my fitness with structured roadbike and turbo training – the fitter you are, the easier it is to ride with “good technique”.

When you’re swinging from side to side, labouring over every pedal-stroke, it doesn’t matter if you’re Danny MacAskill – you’re going to struggle. The less effort and concentration you put into forward propulsion, the more energy and brain power you have to applying to however much technique you possess.

Fred, if I saw that staring back at me from the mirror every morning, I think I might have a rather distorted sense of aesthetics too… 😉

Has anyone got any of that warping software where you can blend 2 photos together to find the perfect half-point? I just want to test a theory…

Update, tried a healthy dollop of Vas/Sudo mixture (4 parts to 1) last night on a wet and muddy ride of around 2hrs.

Seemed to work as well as Assos, though without the lovely menthol breeze. Letting Sudocrem down with Vaseline makes it far less sticky – I’d probably use even less Sudo in future, maybe 6-1 ratio.

I might try adding lanolin, as I’m riding most days and I’m told that regular use of lanolin improves skin elasticity which may help.

If money was no object, I’d go for Zipp 202s, or for more sensible money, the Dura Ace wheels are well worth a look.

Maybe a set of Dura Ace or Ultegra for general riding and sportives and a set of cheaper deep section for testing would be a good compromise. I would imagine Planet X or even the Chinese ebay carbon rims (which seem to be universally well-liked) would be plenty good enough for occasional use.

I’ve just got a pair of Ultegras (around £200) and they’re excellent for the money.

Zipps come in different rim profiles, 202 being a pretty standard all-round 25mm profile and 303 and 404s being deeper in section.

Deeper section = heavier, but more aero and stiffer. So 404s are popular with sprinters who value the rigidity as well as testers who like the aero advantage.

What sort of riding do you do?

I might squirt in a good dollop of Colgate… 😀

I think you’re probably right Saccades, some brands like Udderly etc aren’t too badly priced, but the Assos stuff ends up costing a fortune if you apply enough to get any kind of real benefit.

Thought I’d have a pop at some home brew though, as big tubs of Vas are only about a quid, and on its own it probably offers as much lubrication as most off-the-shelf creams.

The Vas/E45 looks like a winner, lanolin would have been good but there’s none in the cabinet! I’ll give it a whirl shortly…

I think this has to be the worst I’ve seen. Needless to say, he didn’t get the job… 😉

winterfold – Member
I thought it was just one of life’s guilty pleasures…

To a certain extent, yes. I’ve previously described it as like Keira Knightley sucking Extra Strong Mints and then blowing gently on ones barse.

But at 12 quid a tub, it’s probably worth finding something that offers similar performance benefits (ie eliminating chaffing) without the delightful menthol sensation you get when you shovel a good 3-fingers-worth up your gooch.