Winnersaint

Thanks for that sandwichsaint.The consensus in the end was Bourg d'Oisans and a 12 person gite has been duly booked. I suppose as the only first timer in the party it fell to others more familiar with the Alps to decide on location in the end. As I've never been before I am sure I will be blown away by the mountains (not literally I trust) around Bourg. Personally though it would have been great if we were all in new territory IMO. I was taken with the Morzine/Samoens/Sallanches area chatting to a club member who did the Time/Megeve sportive last year. A couple were up for a change but the gite ticked most boxes, not least because of its size and location in the town. Those that have been before reckon there is a bit more exploring to be done particularly as they no longer have to get three-quarters of the way up Alpe d'Huez every day. I've done a virtual ride up the Izoard on my smart trainer through the Casse Deserte, I'd love to do it in real life. Unfortunately the problem with Briancon is accessibility. The D1091 from Bourg to the Lauteret is still closed through the Chambon Tunnel. Getting there would mean a 170 km detour. A local relief/escape road has been built on the other side of Lac du Chambon, but is very narrow, one way in places and prone to closure. It is indeed a temporary measure. The departement have said that the tunnel is scheduled to open before next summer, but they've been saying that for the last eighteen months. Anyway big thanks for your input.

Does anyone else get a feeling Nice will come out of pot 4 in our group?

Personally, in a flash. One of the few real talents in a poor England team in the Euros. Very clever player. I know people have difficulty with the way he left, which he handled with the adroitness of your average mid-twenties year old given a pay rise, but he made a massive contribution to our post 2009 rise,

My neighbour is the sort who usually pitches up top five in local sportives. If he and I ever ride together he is usually on a recovery ride and I am going full gas! I bought some Mavic Ksyrium Elites a while back which included the Yksion tyres. I tried them on my then No 1 bike and immediately replaced them with Conti GP4000S. They tyres did not inspire any confidence as they were skittery even in the dry. When I got my new bike a year ago I ordered Mavic Ksyrium SLRs which shipped with Yksion Pro tyres. They were 25mm tyres and grip was not an issue but their puncture protection was. This time I did stick with them until the spring, but in reality a spate of visits from the puncture fairy saw them relegated to turbo duty and replaced with the 25mm GP4000S. I had Gatorskins on my commuter bike. They were pretty much bomb proof with regards to punctures but are of a harder less supple compound so some people find the bike a little on the twitchy side. Can't say I ever experienced this and did thousands of miles on them, eventually trashing them on the turbo after six years of use. In answer to the question whether to put the Gatorskins on at the expense of the Mavic tyres, it very much depends on which WTS you are getting. I believe the Yksion Pro tyres ship with pricier wheels. If you get them they will give you nice ride through the drier parts of the Autumn but may be prone to punctures in the wetter winter months, so at that point the Gatorskins would be a sensible option. If they are the Yksions swap them out.

Happy new bike WSS. My next door neighbour is bringing one of these back south today having arranged 'business' meeting in Manchester which means he's been able to collect it in person. http://www.ribblecycles.co.uk/ribble-hf83/build/

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.