Winnersaint

Hope your recovery keeps progressing as it seems to be VFTT. Just don't rush things when you get the OK to be back on the bike.

My PS4 is a white box!

Bedwetters, trolls and attention seeking posters to feckin do one! That would be an acceptable season for me.

I have it on my Cervelo. It really is very good. As others have said make sure you charge it from time to time, but in reality it doesn't need regular charging. It's not completely foolproof 100% of the time. As I type my bike is in my LBS having the Di2 looked at while I'm sunning myself in Durrell country in NE Corfu. Kalispera!

Made me laugh!

Nah let them hurt themselves!

I think they do it just to p i s s you off. Funny!

I genuinely get that, but there is part of me which struggles with the whole protest vote idea. This sums it up for me. "Democracy cannot succeed unless those who express their choice are prepared to choose wisely. The real safeguard of democracy, therefore, is education." Franklin D. Roosevelt

Best wishes and a swift recovery to VFTT. Didn't realise things were quite as serious until I saw your latest ride on Strava.

Seems a pretty accurate description of the Brexiteers in general and UKIP in particular.

This would be a fun way forward. http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/jul/24/eu-britain-must-suffer-for-brexit?utm_source=esp&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=GU+Today+main+NEW+H+categories&utm_term=183119&subid=18430495&CMP=EMCNEWEML6619I2

Indeed not, although in some places I've worked it's been touch and go for some. Personally I have nothing but utmost respect for those serving in the armed forces, and find any lack of respect for what they do as distasteful as you. Funnily enough, although I've been in in teaching for a long time, I've always found their company at work and socially to be somewhat tiresome to say the least.

As a teacher I agree with that sentiment. After all, all I've done is sit on my arse all day not doing a real job for 36 years, paying into my so called 'gold plated' pension scheme, which enabled me to retire from full-time work at the age of 57. And what about all those holidays?.... but there again I'd like to see some of the clowns on here do what I do, or did.

As predicted! Not sure I've seen anyone riding the top tube on a descent on a TT bike before.

Quintana's got no form, nor a team to support him like Froome and hasn't been able to send Anacona off up the road like last year. Great to see Adam Yates out climbing Quintana today as well. Megeve TT tomorrow might just seal it for Froome.

Bunch of obsessive weirdo's. Does it matter what a Manure player does?

I know there are those of you out there who have ridden in the Alps and between my myself and my next-door neighbour we are planning next year's trip, so I am looking for a bit of a steer. Most of them have been before and previously stayed in a gite in Huez village but therein lies the problem. To get back to base whichever way you look at it either involves a Cat 1 climb or three-quarters of an HC climb, so we're are looking at alternatives. There are three options. Bourg-d'Oisans itself, Somewhere in the Maurienne Valley, probably St Jean du Maurienne, or in the area of Morzine. It will be a mixed ability party of around 6 or 7, with a couple of Marmotte veteran 'GC contenders' intent on battering themselves up signature climbs, a couple of 'climbing domestiques' and a couple, myself included in the 'Grupetto', so location has to cater for all. All are around the same driving time from Calais and seem to offer enough in the way of accommodation and shops for self catering, which is another determining factor. Bourg-d'Oisans gives us; the Alpe, Les Deux Alpes, Ornon, Morte, Sarenne, Glandon and a plethora of shorter out and back climbs to places like Vaujany, Oz and via the Ornon to Villard Reymond and Oulles, but with the problems with the D1091 tunnel the Lauteret and Galibier seem still not to be accessible. St Jean du Maurienne would give us the Telegraphe and Galibier as out and backs and the Madeleine, Col du Chaussy via the Lacets du Montvernier, The Mollard, Croix de Fer, La Toussuire, and the Glandon (Marmotte reverse), but apart from a loop up the Lacets and down via Hermillon it doesn't seem to offer so much for the 'Grupetto'. Morzine is one we are less sure of. We are not convinced it will offer enough that won't involve driving. Obviously the there is the Joux Plan nearby but the 'GC contenders' seem less sure that there is enough for them there.

Hope you enjoy the next few weeks and heal well thereafter. From what you've done in the past I reckon you'll be back to going full gas in no time. You'll have to report back fully on the Vosges next year. As ever VFTT, your mileage and efforts are impressive I'm on a bit of a hiatus at present. Needed a recovery week last week as I seriously underestimated the demands of my job change from having being a senior member of staff in the school to just being a cover supervisor even though I now only work part time. it's not so much a physical fatigue as a mental one, but accumulated fatigue it is. I've got two weeks before a fortnight in Durrell country in Corfu in a couple of weeks time and work finishes as of 12 noon tomorrow. I won't do much on holiday, it's all rather rural, no pool, just the sea. Then it's preparation for the Alps in June.

Some club members were on holiday in the area yesterday and rode out beyond Bedoin. I think that general consensus was that it was the windiest ride ever. Not much better in the Vendee according to another person from the club. Classy ride from Sagan and Froome though yesterday. Today's stage is a hard one to call. Froome is the better time triallist, but neither he or Quintana will be wanting to go too deep even a shortened Ventoux. It will be tough as the ride up to Chalet Reynard has the steepest gradients on the mountain as it goes through the trees. There will be wind today on the flat which may split the peloton again which may well be a problem for Quintana as Movistar doesn't have a Kyrienka, Stannard, Rowe or Thomas type of rider, all of whom could rip the peloton to shreds on the way to Ventoux.

Democracy has to be seen to be upheld, anything else would be plain wrong. In a society which allows free speech people are entitled to have an opposing view though without being subjected to the sort of childish ridicule and sneering so prevalent amongst some on here.

Everton beckons?

This is where we need a like button.

Don't think I'll be descending like that any time soon. Not enough bottle and too many potholes. Ouch!!!!

Wanyama was always off, the writing was on the wall last autumn, no surprises there. Mane leaves probably at behest of his agent who wants to maximise his cut with two years left on a contract rather than one. Saints could have sat that one out I agree but I don't think a half-hearted Mane would have offered us much so it was prudent to sell. Pelle is the wrong side of 30 and may well not fit into the way we will be playing next season and we have a good fee with a profit for him, so win win surely. I am sure the club will not just sit on the funds. Glad some people on here are not in charge of the club. We are quite different in the way we approach things. Our club does not operate with a fixed mindset which is why the 'football world' in this country don't get us. I see a lot of Team Sky (without galacticos) in us. A growth mindset mentality with an emphasis on marginal gains and attention to detail. That ethos will not be undone in a summer transfer window. Chill!

Feckin melt!