Good review in CT’s site:
http://www.cyclingtips.com.au/2012/10/assos-capo-castelli-and-rapha-bibshorts-review/

Assos doesn’t seem to fit me so I can’t comment on it.

The Rapha stuff I’ve got is very nice, is well made, feels good, fits, and has nice touches that cheaper brands do not have. However my my club gear is made by Sportfull and is just as comfortable and also fits well.

I spend the majority of my time in club kit meaning my Rapha gear is only used when I’m on the rollers in the shed.

If you can afford it its nice, however there are cheaper equivalents out there.

A rare picture with out a Thule rack or two on the bars:

When I’m forced to use clinchers I put somewhere between 28-32 psi in, tubs range from 22 upwards. 74kg here

Stunning lug work!

Lovely bike, did you not think about getting the forks coloured to match?

Just fantastic, best of luck to you both

Rounds three and four of the Swedish cup, placed 16th and 18th, so will drop out of the top 10 in the overall 😥

Great course up in Kumla, just a pity I had dire starts both days on a track where the start is ooh so important. Not many pictures floating about so far

Cool flyover though, (not me):

Photo credit to Henrik @ http://oijer.blogspot.se/

That’s just great, new winter project coming up!

I started with a simple Elite model, then upgraded to their Arion Parabolic’s with the resistance settings.

Very, very nice, solid feeling, easy to use, plenty of resistance, and quiet.

Alfa Romeo GTV, didn’t need it, lost a fair chunk of cash handing in my car at the time, then lost loads every month until I sold it.

Still, nice car though…

First two races in the national series this weekend.

Placed 8th and 9th in Superclass, pleased with the way my bike, body, and brain all worked well together, especially Sunday. Also pleased my new Tufo Cubus tubs stayed glued on at 27psi.

Troll: However please see rules 18 & 19 for correct attire.

The Rules

Er no, the greatest picture Specialized has is of JMC pulling a one handed wheelie during a XC race.

I’d say try ’em if you’ve got Griffo’s as they have soft sidewalls. What pressures do you run them at?

Challange are excellent as you can train and race on the same tread, yet use clinchers and tubs.

Latex tubes are good if you’re running tires with really soft side walls, like Challange open tubs, however if you run tires with thick sidewalls then I can’t really see the benefit to be honest.

Much better just reducing the pressure in the tire bit by bit until you pinch flat all the time, then add a couple of PSI 😀

When I race Saturday and Sunday, I simply have a long warm down after each race, say an hour, and rest completely on the Monday. This is mainly due to being busted because of the travelling involved in getting round the country rather then the affects of actually racing.

Sufferfest are great, very effective time wise. Nothing wrong with the above plan providing you are actually working to the required intensity rather than simply going through the motions.

As you say, if you’re already limiting yourself to riding SS then any good result will be course dependant and a choice of the correct ratio to run.

As Mike says intervals are key, race with a heart rate monitor and understand the levels you are working at then calculate the numbers. Pick sessions that you like the look of and get them done.

What level of fitness/skill are you starting from?

What are your aims?

CX is short, intensive, and technique dependant, therefore I’d say a training needs to match this. The issue is that with one or two races each weekend, Monday and Friday are rest days, leaving only three days to train.

Me, well;
Tuesday is running intervals, short and fast with a small amount of recovery.
Wednesday is club specific CX training, so lots of technique work, say an hours worth, then a 20 minute race intensity mini race.
Thursday will be on the rollers doing two by 20 minutes at a set power level.

If I’m not racing then one longer session at the weekend, (2.5 hours), and one more shorter interval session, (less than 60 minutes).

A fair few team members converted their 26er to a 650 bike, (all running the same frame), in the middle of this year after Fox came out with their forks. Nobody is switching back.

I’d do it if my frame allowed it.

The brake should be behind the fork, in the picture it looks like its in front, odd?

Thanks for posting that, nice film.

Wider bars for XC racing than 660? Wow, hope no one is stuck behind you in singletrack 🙂

XC racer is a good call, lots of nice light and well priced bits there

Barbour International for casual summer wear, Barbour Beaufort for winter. Both excellent and get better as they age.

I ran Ralphs last year OK on mine, and this year I’ve got Geax Aka’s, again running fine

Walking in a race, no matter how steep the hill, is not the done thing, (this isn’t cyclocross)

Going up, Norway a couple of year ago:

Sport climbing:

CX:

XC:

The XC90 is very popular over here, (as you’d expect), and certainly seems to be dwarfed by the Q7 or X5 when parked side by side.

I’d expect the two German cars to offer slightly better MPG, however that’ll be off-set against a higher initial price.

Quality wise they are in the same ballpark, so I guess its whatever interior your wife like the best.

They still test the war alarm at 15:00 on the first Monday of every month in Sweden. Got used to it now, but it was a little off-putting to begin with.

1 * 10 here, 42 up front with a 11 – 27 cassette.

The trick with MovieMaker works, many thanks!

Subaru Forester, had our ’06 since new and its been excellent. We have winter and summer wheels, (as legal requirements), and I’d buy another tomorrow.

Port de Soller is the place to be!

http://app.strava.com/segments/explore#location/port%20soller/type/cycling/min/0/max/5/center/39.764642,2.689151/zoom/12/map_type/terrain

I use the Elite ones with the variable resistance. Bloody fantastic things, plenty hard enough for sickeningly hard interval sessions.

Rollers in general are excellent for technique and far more interesting than a turbo.

Gosh, ExpatShield is rather good, many thanks for that link. iPlayer now streaming Radio four in the kitchen.

Assume the Ad banner goes if paid for?

Class, love it. Will watch properly at home later.

This isn’t the one linked to last year that went viral is it?

Nice time Rich, that’s quite some gel consumption going on there!

That is a very nice build. Looks great with low profile rims.

Thanks, surprised myself to be honest. I’m doing 4 bike sessions a week, (power meter based training), so I know I’m in form.

Marathon debut next year, schedule based in the three session a week FIRST idea.

37:35 for the 10KM Midnight race in Göteborg tonight. Much better then expected off just one dedicated running session a week, (interval training rocks!)

is it ok to do these intervals with inclines and declines or best to do them on flat.

Just saw this, OK assuming we’re still talking about running then, downhill to increase leg speed and uphill to promote strength and better style. (Downhill running puts a huge stress on the body so I wouldn’t recommend doing 4 minute intervals downhill ;-)).

However running them on an undulating course is fine