Winnersaint

Awesome stuff. Cav goes into hiding sticks on Grepel's wheel and gets lead out. Boy did he look pee'd off Stunning bike races the last two days. Peloton going 45mph in last 10k. Kin ell! Utter respect for these guys.

Be interested to know what people are riding out there. Dont want to turn this in any way into a ****ing contest, genuinely interested, particularly on people's opinions about the bikes they ride. I'll start it off. Depths of winter commute - Specialized Hardrock Sport. Hardtail MTB with lockable front forks and slicks. Normal commute - Cube Peloton. N+1 Ridley Excalibur Flandrien with Campag Centaur groupset. Just put Schwalbe Ultremos on it and looking to upgrade wheels for next year. Looking at Campag Zondas / Fulcrum Racing 3's or alternatively Mavic Ksyrium Elites or SL.

Thanks. Appreciate you starting the thread Badger Cav's aim is to get to Paris but I believe his training has been tailored to the Olympic road race more. He is quoted as saying he will be competitive in the sprints and in particular be more competitive in the type of sprints that haven't suited him in the past, but in reality it is all about Wiggo. No Brit has ever been in a similar position on the eve of a Tour. The next three weeks could herald the single greatest sporting success in my opinion by an individual or team from these shores since 1966. Wiggins is in fabulous form and there is 101km of time trialling in this year's parcours. Evans will undoubtedly be a threat as will Nibali and Valverde. That said Sky are very strong with Rogers and Froome in good shape and with Richie Porte in there as well there I think Brad has a great chance. Screw the Olympics this is the greatest sporting show on earth. Bring it on! Incidentally do people prefer Liggett and Sherwen (ITV4) to Harmon and Kelly (British Eurosport)

Time for a dedicated TdF thread. Can't start as too tight to pay fiver. Over to a full member.

My sanity is not in doubt. I frequently ride with my next door neighbour who has twelve years on me, and has been riding for a good few more than the two years I've had a road bike to play with. If I ride with him it's his gig. He's a great super-domestique kind of like Bernie Eisel to my Mark Cavendish. Seriously though I've found the most significant improvements have occurred in my riding through good endurance rides coupled with rides including hills. I have to admit when I get to the serious gradients it can be a challenge, but I harbour ambitions one day before I get too old to ride in the Alps or Pyrenees. This is my motivation to keep trying the hills in and around the Hambleden Valley. It seems your training is going well. Maybe one day there could be a Saints fans raid on Alpe d'Huez now that would be fun! Keep going, it really sounds like you are well on the way to nailing L2B. Above all enjoy it. Last year I completed my first sportive and had a ball over 70 miles. Had a long puncture delay on a crap day and couldn't get below 5 hrs but still got great sense of achievement, especially as the course contained 1500m of climbing.

http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/106104559 My Sunday jaunt this weekend just gone. Cant understand why climb along A40 isn't rated higher by MapMyRide. It climbs at least 8K is around 5-6% and ramps up around 10%. It flattens out into a false flat still climbing before going up again into Stokenchurch. Incidentally if you're ever in the area try the climb out of Watlington up Howe Hill. Nasty false flat gives way to between 3 and 6% before it turns into the Mur d'Oxfordshire. Worth a look on streetview on Google Earth. It just goes up. Possibly the worst minutes spent on a bike. Other gooduns nearby are Holloway Lane out of Turville (Dibley), Rotton Row and the vineyard climb on the opposite side of the Hambleden Valley to Rotton Row. also Icehouse Lane off Henley to Marlow road. Starts off at 1% and just carries on getting steeper with last 200 meters at 20%. All guaranteed to have you blowing heavily out of every orifice.

Brilliant sight seeing these. They kind of fill a similar ecological niche as vultures in Africa and Condors in South America insofar as they are normally carrion feeders than out and out predators. That said about a month ago I saw a pigeon taken out by one in flight early in the morning while walking the dog. The pigeon was absolutely foooked. Had to put it out of its misery before the dog started playing games. Often see them in large numbers when cycling in the Hambleden Valley. Quite disconcerting to see them circling on thermals while you struggle up a stupidly steep gradient hill in the Chilterns.

Great stuff. Can only endorse how problematic the wind was today. Headwind and constant climbing up the A40 today all the way from West Wycombe to Stokenchurch

Wonder if this would have happened if Jacks hadn't been promoted and stayed in Premier League or if Cardiff had been promoted?

Mate and colleague of mine CCFC STH trying to get a refund. Only platitudes from their ticket office and even from their Chief Exec in personal e-mails I have seen. they really don't get it.

****in Scouse idiot!!!!

Concur with this. Check out these. http://www.wiggle.co.uk/?r=1058 (Skatesmouth based I know) http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Categories.aspx?CategoryID=1534 http://www.decathlon.co.uk/road-light-clothing-helmets-clothing-footwear-sports.html Toe clips will be a big help especially if you wear trainers. The alternative is to go clipless ie you have cleats on cycle shoes which click into the pedal and release by twisting your heel rather like a ski-binding. As Huffton says shoes not cheap, but IMO they really do make a difference., possibly for the future?

Good on yer! Sounds like a Sunday morning well spent, and clear signs of improvement. Less than 3 years ago I abandoned the gym and started cycling to work and around locality on MTB. Got hooked and got first road bike on Cyclescheme in August 2010. Now commute on that and have a carbon fibre N+1 (N = the number of bikes you already own). I can't think of anything I have ever down sporting wise that has given me as much satisfaction. I am in my mid-fifties and am still improving 51 miles this a.m. in 3hrs. I have no doubt that you and Mrs Dr Who will nail the L2B. Happy to help with any advice. Donation made. BTW on that score I can't think of a more worthy charity. As someone who works with young people in the mainstream Secondary School sector all too often I end up working with students whose behaviours track back to having witnessed or been directly involved in traumatic events. When you scratch the surface of so called normality it never ceases to amaze me how many badly behaved kids have grown up in an environment where domestic violence or serious mental health problems are the norm. Anything that can help break the mould, because guess what. these things have a habit of perpetuating from one generation to the next.

Good luck to you and the Mrs Dr Who. Happy to offer a donation. Only advice I can give is to increase your distance by no more than 10% at a time once over 20 -25 miles. Plenty of time until Sept. if you can get to 40 miles a couple of weeks before then you'll both be fine. Plenty of chalk downland near you similar to South Downs so get climbing so you get used to it before Ditchling Beacon. Downland hills are buggers though. Not long but can hit 20-25%. My usual riding territory is the Hambleden Valley at the southern end of the Chilterns so have some experience of them. Use your gears and relax.

Mate of mine is CCFC STH, told me about this on Thursday last week. says that it sums up all that is wrong with the game and will not bother any more if this goes ahead. Told him to come SMS with me next season, but he says he going to watch Maidenhead United instead.

Giro d'Italia, Tour de France. the latter is the sporting event of any year. Vuelta is in footy season so doesn't count. Hopefully hours in the Chilterns in great weather on my newish CF bike.

http://www.saintsfc.co.uk/javaImages/2d/98/0,,10280~10786861,00.jpg Nige seems to be backing Cardiff for the playoffs

Used to love seeing John Sydenham fly down the left wing as a kid. Alays used to stand to the right of Archers goal so saw TP much more. If either of them were in our current team Rickie Lambert would have scored a shed load more goals. Quality both!

My daughter has GCSE's coming up. Today is her Drama practical exam and she was anxious about it because it is a group assessment and she wasn't in complete control of things. In her words, "I can control the controllables like my other GCSEs, but because of other people I get more stressed about this." At my school we have a 5*A-C bus that we encourage as many as possible to climb aboard. Maybe coincidentally our success rate at GCSE has rapidly improved since the bus.

Yeah hope it all goes well this evening for him

We lack pace. Having invested in pace by getting Chung in in January we seemed to have addressed the issue. Unfortunately he was injured. Life has a habit of pulling these rabbits out of the hat when you don't need them. Played OK, however if we don't go up it will be down to this and this alone. If it doesn't happen this season it'll give us a benchmark for the next.

I know a lot of Reading fans, most are under sixteen ( work in a school) all are bunch of unknowledgeable tvvats. **** em!

Not looking forward to Monday. New term, and all them fookin oiks in Year 11 (Reading plastics) giving it large. MIght smack one of them and blow me pension, On the other hand!!!! Anyway onwards and upwards. Peterboro - It will happen!

Certainly looking a lot tighter now. We will go up providing we are the best or second best team over a 46 game season.

Ain't arf some bolllox posted on here