Winnersaint

Just looked at the Strava segment times for Sa Colabra. Chapeau to the nipper 45 mins is good going. Wondering if the Simon Y listed as KoM is Simon Yeats Tour of Britain stage winner at Haytor. Also Alex D (Dowsett?) at a Movistar training camp? Dean Downing also.

The Shilton one was on a day when I was the wettest I've ever been at a match. No Goretex windproof/waterproof fabrics in those days just the gaberdine school mack and a red and white bobble hat to keep this nine year old dry. Shilts was still only 17 and was already a first team regular with Gordon Banks being sold to Stoke.

Who knows where Saints will be? If you look at our progression from 5 years ago compared to now I think we'll have good times. It's what they will be that is the big question Personally if all goes to plan, I'll be coming up 61 and retired from teaching. I still fully expect to be involved in working with young people and trying out some of the mythical cols in the Alps and Pyrenees on my bike. I have no intention of pandering to age.

Got it yet?

Good that you haven't been saddled with Xenon gear. Your white bartape will discolour quickly, why manufacturers do it I just don't know. Personal opinion only but I'd give the shop a call and see if they would swap it for black before delivery. The white looks mint but unfortunately only for a very short time. Very impracticable As for the sportives, you have certainly some good ones planned. I am aiming for one in April in somewhere around the Chilterns and the Jurassic Beast in May for my season starters. Not an expert by any means but if you need any advice there are a number on here who could help. Enjoy that new bike.

Good choice upgrading the wheels, but do upgrade tyres also, especially with the onset of autumn/winter. Maybe something like this. http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/schwalbe-durano-folding-road-bike-tyre/rp-prod91410?_$ja=tsid:46412|cgn:Schwalbe+-+Tyres|cn:Chain+Reaction-UK-PLA-PLA-All-DT-SE|kw:159161UK_Schwalbe+Durano+Folding+Road+Bike+Tyre&gclid=CLWnivG-pboCFU_HtAodWToAGQ I've used Schwalbe Ultremo DDs previously on the posh bike and they were pretty durable (if pricy) in the winter and have Conti Gatorskin Hardshells on the commuter. One thing worth considering is bit by bit upgrading the groupset probably starting with the rear mech (derailleur). The Xenon mech has a history of poor performance and durability and isn't produced any more. Upgrading to Veloce will cost around £55 and will give you much better performance. Consider going clipless also if you haven't already done so. You'll have to let us know which Sportives you are doing and how you get on in them.

I suspect Clyne is behind a fit Johnson, Walker and Jenkinson in the pecking order.

England are shocking

Happy new bike. It certainly is a head turner in it's celeste colour scheme. Here is a review. Enjoy. http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/tech/bikes/129311/10/1000-bike-test-2012.html

I think on the whole there is indifference to mass participation cycling events until it directly effects you. Round here the Hambleden Valley on the Berks/Bucks/Oxon border is frequently used for sportives and public tolerance for such events is declining. As someone who grew up around Fordingbridge I'd dearly love to ride in the forest like I did when I was a kid and we'd do Blissford Hill and the climb up Southampton Road on the B3078 for kicks. Happy days.

Seems like the forest NIMBYs have been at it again. http://www.dailyecho.co.uk/news/10720478.Mass_cycle_event_goes_on_despite_saboteurs_attack/?ref=mr http://road.cc/content/news/95986-saboteurs-target-new-forest-sportive-second-time-year.

Cheers. It is certainly more bike than I could ever do justice. I wouldn't dismiss aluminum though for real bangs for bucks. This looks like a huge amount of bike for under £1400 https://www.canyon.com/_en/roadbikes/bike.html?b=3236. Another German bike company worth looking at. http://www.rosebikes.co.uk/bike/rose-pro-rs-4400-604147/aid:604173. Both of these as sold, are lighter than my carbon Ridley and had I paid full whack for it around £700-£900 cheaper. A similarly priced Cube Agree GTC Pro would not be as well specced as these Tuetonic online competitors. Nice bike though.

Awesome looking frames, I agree and a real statement of individuality. The reality is however, that most of us go for the mass produced option because of cost, and you can still get good looking bikes in aluminium and carbon fibre. http://www.cyclechat.net/useralbums/ridley-with-vittoria-open-corsa-evo-ks-tyres.404/view This is my best bike, ubiquitous carbon no doubt, but with a very distinctive colour scheme reflecting the Flandrien origin of the manufacturers.

I think you'll find he made his debut in September 1963 as a 17yo and scored in the 1968 European Cup final. Very much an established star by that game. Incidentally, I was in the queue for the boys turnstile outside Archers Road, no more than 10 back when they shut the gates and didn't get in. My dad had gone through one of the gates near to the East Stand and was already inside, can't remember what happened now. Think we just hung around until the end. Anyone care to speculate how many were in the Dell on Monday 3rd May 1976?

An alternative view I grant you, but still valid. Be interested to know what you could get in good quality steel for a grand let alone Ti. Bottom end Enigma looks like a very nice bike but over £1000 for frame and groupset. No wheels or cockpit etc.

Using a local bike shop has its benefits. The personal service and knowledge you get is invaluable. It would also allow you to get a bike fit which I feel is important. You don't want to spunk a grand on something that is not right for you. I own two road bikes a Cube where the frames come up on the small side and a Ridley which come up big. Put them side by side and it is difficult to imagine that both fit me perfectly and yet they do. That said, either the Ribble or the Planet X would serve as very useful yardstick, although the carbon framed Planet X looks a stonking bargain with an Ultegra 6700 groupset and got a very positive review on the Cycle show. At only 8 kilos with bog standard wheels it is eminently upgradable. If you do go down the LBS route and they are competitive with Ribble and Planet X then Shimano 105/SRAM Apex/Campag Veloce should be your starting point. Good luck. Your Specialized Crosstrail should be perfectly adequate for the coming winter months. Leaving you to look forward to a happy new bike year. Just a thought have you considered C2W? Worth investigating if your employers are part of any scheme.

+1 for Millau Viaduct. Went over in a coach, so could see right over edge. Scary. Also this one over the Arade River outside Portimao in the Algarve. http://www.google.co.uk/search?rlz=1C1GGGE_en-gbGB528GB536&biw=1280&bih=899&tbm=isch&sa=1&q=portimao+bridge&oq=portimao+br&gs_l=img.1.0.0j0i24.7310.7981.0.9315.3.3.0.0.0.0.75.178.3.3.0....0...1c.1.27.img..0.3.178.RdSBBnKlHjI#facrc=_&imgdii=_&imgrc=gcxfcnS1Zt3N1M%3A%3BmFG-M1eAep8KfM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.travel-in-portugal.com%252Fphotos%252Fdata%252Fmedia%252F4%252Fportimao-bridge.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.travel-in-portugal.com%252Fphotos%252Fimg496.htm%3B848%3B565

If you've already got your eyes on Ribbles at around £1000 you could do worse than take a look at this. http://www.planet-x-bikes.co.uk/i/q/CBPXSLPULT2/planet_x_pro_carbon_shimano_ultegra_road_bike Alternatively there are plenty bargains to be had at this time of year online and at local bike shops as they shift 2013 stock in preparation for the arrival of 2014 models. Googling online bike shops will give you a myriad of choices. I always tend to go for the best I can get, even if that means going a bit over budget. Don't get me wrong the Tribans are highly though of as is shown here, http://www.cyclechat.net/threads/triban-3-owners-club.121260/page-105#post-2672125 but they are very much entry level and as badgerx16 says you could quickly find yourself in a N+1 situation. (N being the number bikes you already own and +1 the bike you really want to own) It is worth getting a frame that is worth upgrading in the future even if to get that you have to outlay a little more initially. Most would look to the wheels and tyres initially as most stock wheels and tyres although perfectly adequate are a little on the heavy side and I'm not sure the Tribans would benefit significantly from having an upgrade of this sort. Putting let's say £350 of wheels and tyres on bikes that retail at between £299 and £429 doesn't make an awful lot of sense. There are plenty of good suggestions here and you seem to have come up with a perfectly good one yourself in the Ribble. Btw Campag Centaur is an excellent groupset. I have it on my best bike. You can swap out the standard 12-25 10 spd cassette for a more user friendly 12-27 which I have, or even a 12-30 for £20 extra. Add on a tenner and you can have carbon shifters.

I've basically been alternating two pairs of DHB Pace Roubaix bibs for the last eighteen months or so. They are made of slightly thicker more fleecy lined lycra and are ideal for the cooler months. Tbh I've used them throughout this summer without any problems with them being too warm. I coupled them with a pair of DHB Roubaix leg warmers for colder rides, far more practical than bib tights imo. Have Pace Roubaix bib tights also. They are good too but have a zip at the front of the bib which comes undone a little too easily. This range I believe has morphed into this. http://www.wiggle.co.uk/dhb-vaeon-roubaix-padded-bib-short/ http://www.wiggle.co.uk/dhb-vaeon-roubaix-padded-bib-tight/ Might also want to look at Decathlon. No direct experience of the shorts, but in the last year I've picked a half price windproof jacket and half price short sleeved road top, both of which are excellent. As a brand B'Twin's top end stuff is good enough for FDJ, worn by the stage winner on Angliru yesterday.

Disappointment I can accept, but scarring 15 years later? The only scarring I have from my bike prang a year ago is the visible one above my left knee. Apart from a little reluctance initially on steep descents I sort of got over it. Funny how people handle life's little dramas differently!

I'm a teacher, I'm not going to be striking even though NAS/UWT for 33 years. Most of the recent public sector pension and conditions of service changes that are being argued about will have feck all effect on me, but it's more about the message it sends to young people. I get all that stuff about bankers and city types, but my day to day work is with vulnerable teenagers at risk of exclusion, with low self-esteem or with negative attitudes to education. It seems to me I have to not strike, because it is about them and not about me, a sentiment a number of my colleagues would do well to remember.

Vuelta a Espana already on Stage 5. Nibali in red. Love this race as the parcours is usually less predictable than TdF with some seriously silly climbs. Angliru anyone? http://www.climbbybike.com/profile.asp?Climbprofile=Angliru---Gamonal&MountainID=18 From 2011. Wiggins and Froome v Cobo. Funny how the latter is nothing but an also ran now!!!

Thought I'd read something on the Sky ticker yesterday. soemthing along the lines of @Va Va Vroome. Kenya's first TdF winner

This year's Tour never stopped giving, from the bus in Bastia to the Champs Elysee at dusk. Can't believe it's over. Roll on it's smaller Spanish brother at the end of August. I agree with NFP that Froome may well dominate for a few years. Quintana strikes me more as a Giro/Vuelta winner in years to come. He's out of contract with Movistar. Wonder if DB will make a move to bring him to Sky to replace the likely to depart Rigoberto Uran As far as Cav is concerned too much was left at the Giro. That said if he'd had the lead out Kittel had he'd have won. QPQS didn't give him anything like the tow that Wiggins and EBH gave into the last corner. Steegmans was dropping off in the Place De La Concorde. Head to head Cav on form is probably at least as fast as Kittel if not a smidge faster, but the train simply wasn't up to it. Will be interesting if as predited Mark Renshaw is at OPQS next year how much better he will fare. Oh yes bring on Yorkshire!