PauloBarnesi

I believe Ribble are doing a full carbon with Tiagra for £799: http://www.ribblecycles.co.uk/sed/road-track-bike/ribble-sportive-racing-shimano-4600-equipped?part=SE14RIB4600SPORTRAC&sub=conf_SERW&utm_source=Campaigner&utm_campaign=Tiagra_4600_Sportive_Racing&campaigner=1&utm_medium=HTMLEmail Canyon if you are prepared to go mail order route are very good, though customer service is fairly dreadful.

Paul is right; high cadence is important; have you got a cadence sensor?

No reason if you do 38 miles at 17 mph you would slow down that much. Obviously depends on the amount of climbing; but you will be hopefully riding with other people and using drafting. Like running find your HR zones and work within them. You will find that your HR for cycling is lower than for running, I am usually 10-20 bpm slower on a bike. What is really really important is fuelling. Look at a gram of carbs per hour per kg of weight (look at the gels carb % rather than just the weight of product), so you can easily go through 2 or 3 gels an hour. And keep at this. Also remember 500-750ml of fluid per hour. Try to use electrolyte products so you are replenishing your salts. Obviously you can get energy drinks that also contain carbs. Try also to drink water to flush through all these products. I set my timer to go off every 10 minutes so I sip some fluid, and then every 20 take on some carbs. Your bike might need some fitting; its worth getting this done by a professional if you intend to spend any time on a bike. In terms of improvement I suspect you fitness level is much higher than when you started running, so you are starting at a higher level, so improvements are harder to come by. You probably need to do more specific training to gain the benefits, and unfortunately you have to do a lot of training. If you PM I can give more tips. Oh and be as light as you can!

Can’t say its good for cycling reputation if Astana win the Tour. Quite how cycling allows convicted drug users run professional cycling teams is beyond me...

I am sure Miguel Indurain weighed that much and he did ok going up the climbs, or maybe something in those drink bottles. LBL is not a cobbled classic as far as I remember. What it is famed for is hills at the back end of 250+KM. Its brutal.

Coming off the Galibier I did smell burning, so I didn’t hold on quite so much to the brake The Etape is good, but you are at the mercy of the course they choose, the Marmotte is almost always harder, intact its harder than nearly all of the hardest stages of the Tour. I think the sportives in the Dolomites are even harder. Or of course Haute Route. I love climbing. Not that I am good enough at it. I ve heard all of the classics sportives are good. Personally I am not a man for those conditions, and the cobbles are bollocks*, but definitely really good. * As the Badger thought!

I once put a small bet in May 1989 on the Tour podium; I wish I bet my house on my forecast, Lemond, Fignon and Indurain...

A great day for me and Guus. As hard a day in the saddle I think you will find, 5000 + m of climbing over 170 km, but you can imagine some hairy descending, not for the faint hearted. Would recommend it thoroughly.

And if you want the best summing up of pro cycling go to the the inrng.com

I think Porte is in better shape for a Grand Tour than Wiggins at the moment, but sure it looks like a major mistake. The two simply can’t get on, and its obvious that Wiggins won’t do anything unless he feels he wants to, and clearly Brailsford & Froome just couldn’t trust and rely on him. You have to say Brailsford generally seems to know what he is doing. Wiggins performance at the ToS was hardly one of a determined team mate. Will Froome now ride the Vuelta, which Nairo is also down for. It was a great stage and Nibali rode very well. I notice that Cancellera said it shouldn’t be in the Tour, which makes sense. Cobbles and bad weather are acceptable, just not the two together! Anyway its making for a great tour.

Ever since the Score brothers retired I would say society doesn’t need more hairdressers (and barbers), but actually better hairdressers and barbers. We used to excel in these fields. Where is the new Vidal Sasson? the new Nicky Clarke? Where are the new mullets? the new bobs? the new Charlies? the new rat tails?

Paxman has gone. British politicians are going to have an easier time.

Anything repeated until exhaustion doesn’t sound good to me... You want to run to a point below exhaustion. Thats why HR is a great gauge, you find your maximum and then train in various zones. When you are truly exhausted the amount of time it takes to recover will be much longer than if you trained to near exhaustion.

Which is why someone ran a sub-20 5K

He knew it was all over when Lambert didn’t try to sign him

You can never tell quite what Bradley is concentrating on, and that is the problem at the moment. Its other people who tend to say what he’s aiming at. His agent I believe is Simon Fuller (of Spice Girl fame) which seems a bizarre match...

Yeah, from what I've read recently, the relationship between Froome Dog and Wiggo has completely broken down, and as such, with Froome leading Team Sky, Wiggo's got no chance of being there. Sad state of affairs. Orica Greenedge it is for Wiggo then I guess, for him to have 1 last stab at the TDF next year. Its broken down? It never existed. Wiggins won’t win a grand tour again IMO, he talks the talk, but he can’t do whats necessary anymore.

Buy a foam roller to use after cycling for a long period. You often find the recovery work can start to take as long as the ride did!

You can make your own recovery products; far cheaper and nicer tasting I find than the stuff on the market. Or just Chocolate Milk!

Here’s the rules 1g per kg of weight of carbohydrate, and 600-750ml of liquid per hour (also changes depending on the heat); weigh yourself before and after to see what happens. Make sure the liquid contains some salts. Also make sure that within 20 minutes of finishing exercise you have started refuelling both with carbs and protein. Recovery is essential.

Looking forward to Slaying the Badger; the story of the 86 Tour. But this is brilliant Its on Captain Eric ‘Winkle’ Brown, a man who has witnessed much of the 20th C, from the rise of Hitler, Jesse Owens at the Olympics, fighting in WWII, Interrogating Goering, Concentration Camps, flying more variations of planes than anyone else, landing more planes on aircraft carriers, etc. He’s a sprightly and engaging 95 year old and increasingly one of the few...

Perhaps time to start the VT strava group...

I am with Andy. Having witnessed and the aftermaths of a few bike accidents, the damage would be far far worse without helmets.

Were these people ignorant and stupid when they voted for the Conservatives, Labour, Lib-Dems, etc, etc?

I was accused on a ride of sounding like a check out machine as my HRM started beeping!