andyjsg

Just thought one of my selle Italia I bought nearly new off bike radar for 45 quid and I think retail was well over 100. Worth looking there for nearly new stuff, usually cheaper than eBay too.

I was worried when I started using cleats and in first 6 months (and happens still of I stop fast on mountain bikes because they are a different connection) I have that moment where the bike is going to its side and you end up in a heap as you can't get feet out fast enough. Now it would annoy me if I wasn't clipped in. Chainreactioncycles had loads of shoes in clearance at varying price points but huge reductions. I used a 34/27 (probably more like 25, 27 on the really steep bits) to get up most of alpe d'huez but I'm certainly not a good climber and I'm kinda heavy to boot.

I have selle Italia on 3 of my 4 bikes. I use look pedals/cleats with road shoes but will be quite a bit more expensive for same or equivelants.

Bringing it over to this thread, how easy was it to get in, someone said to me it was hard to get a space?

I have an Allez with the original sora/tiagra groupset. How easy is it to swap over to 105? I was a bit worried about the bottom bracket not fitting most of all. I cant remember what the BB is on my Allez, but the 105 5700 crank didnt need any converters etc so was pretty standard.

Yeah I love my shiv, I train on fulcrum 5s, but have a zipp 900 disc and an 808 on the front (I'm 13 1/2 stone so not worried about getting blown around). I live in south so did 3x 10 mile in Maidenhead and a 40k on an A road near Farnham (my crank was falling off). I need to find a 100 mile time trial idealy between April and July as would be a good session pre-ironman. I also need to get myself in a position where I can run off the bike as it's gone to shite at my 2 70.3 attempts.

I tend to go for speed session 2-3 times and a single longer run (plus recovery runs if you have time) when in normal training mode. This is what I've always been taught from the guy who coached me and it was the real hard stuff that I think made the difference. I will always try and find a long hill and try and do 6-8 repeats with the recovery coming from a slow jog back to the start. Usually by 7/8 you are burying yourself which psychologically helps with being in the bad place when you are on the final 1k or so of parkrun.

Hill repeats are the one to go for - proper resistance training!!

Very nice, Im going to apply for next year (although I have heard its tough to get into) maybe along with the Paris Roubaix sportive. Its tough stuff, I did Alpe d'huez on its own (took me over an hour) last August and that hurt.

May seem somewhat ridiclous but I have 4 bikes, but they all provide different functions. I have an old (like 10+ years) Mountain Bike which is a reasonalbly good spec (9 speed XT) that I bought off a friend last year for £100 and cost me another £150 to get up to full working condition. A Specialized Allez which I bought a couple of years ago, its not original spec as I bought it as 9 speed and then bought 2 more bikes with 10 speed so ended up replacing the gearing with part new/part second hand Ultegra and 105. I have also added winter kit so I can use it as essentially my winter training bike and dont mind so much going out in horrid weather (saying that not been out on it for 2 weeks - the gym seemed more appealing). I have a Cervelo R3 which I built up last year with good components and cost me a small fortune but I have to say despite being a road bike like my Allez they couldnt feel anymore different to ride, the weight difference and the stiffness of the frame make a huge difference. Finally I have a Specialized Shiv which is my beast of a TT bike, Ive added a power meter and carbon disc/wheels mainly for doing Long distance triathlon, but also did 4 Time Trials last year which I hope to do lots more this year as very much enjoyed it. Im thinking about sadly ofting the Allez or at least trying to change it into more of a TT bike as it seems pointless to train on a road bike when I will be racing on a TT bike, as much as anything else you use different muscles.

I had a boardman ht pro mountain bike and didn't think much of it (more to do with dimensions than build quality), But I understand that the road bikes are excellent and seen a few out on a couple of sportives and they looked good. I assume the decathlon ones are better than Halfords Carreras etc? Otherwise stay well clear as they fall apart after a few weeks.

We didn't have to cut back on transfer fees. We were told it was wages that were the issue when MON left. And all we did for the following two years was continue to sign poor players on massive contracts. A great argument in hindsight but other than maybe Hutton, the likes of Given, Makoun and Bent were very popular signings with the fans and had every right to be as past had showed quality.

I think you're under estimating hugely the task of replacing a whole squad on a fraction of the wages in 18 months. This 100% It seems others above believe we have the Barcelona B team as our reserve squad when the fact is you cant just throw them in and hope for the best. The players bought in had at least played first team football in leagues with grown men rather against other 'boys'. It amazes me the Football Manager, I know how football works mentality on here, just because Gary Gardner gets bought for Barcelona on Football Manager doesnt mean he will make it. He certainly looked a good player at one point against unfit teams in a pre-season but has since had a major injury which means he very well may not make it at the top level. I appreciate he needs to be tried, but keeping our prem status is the first task and then we can try and blood some more players in. Throwing youth with no first team experience into what was McLeash's team would not have had good results I can assure you.I guess you would of seen us winning lots of games at home in the championship.....

I agree, it also applies to every manager in this league. Unfortunately Aston Villa do not have the divine right to win every match in a highly competitively league. It is not at excuse at all, it is a harsh reality. Where do you expect us to be in the league? I can understand people being upset about our decline over the last four years but there needs to be some more patience shown by the fans and backing by the board. Lambert has improved us since taking over and can take us even further. Three points. You are correct in stating that we do not have a divine right to win games but two wins in thirteen and a God awful home record would suggest relegation form which is totally unacceptable for a second season in a row under Lambert. Secondly yet another attack on the fans who have not only shown patience with Lambert under extreme circumstances but since the last time we won a trophy. Thirdly Lambert's results have parity with the worst manager this club has seen and currently there is no sign whatsoever that Lambert can take us further than constant relegation battles after spending 40m plus. Why can't people understand that he had to buy a whole new team for 40m and Vlarr, Okore, Benteke And Kozak cost the majority of that money.

Adam Ant is my granddads 2nd cousin.

Negative for negative sake. He got it wrong first half and fixed it and should of won. I see "lucky results" a lot, tonight we were unlucky.

Nearly got an assist tonight. Was bobbins for most of the game, but popped up with a few nice touches.

He needed too. If PL were to do as you believe the squad would be around 12 to 14 players, we would be screwed when injuries and suspensions hit.We have players in the reserves that could probably do a better job than some of the dross he has bought. Ah the old "playing in a good reserve team must be the next Messi argument". Well played sir, well played. I think he has pulled together a mediocre prem team on a serious budget. Also I keep seeing Kozak mentioned as a waste, didn't he win us some games earlier in the season? Is this really worse than our current "playing good(ish) in league 1&2 teams must be the next Messi approach"? Your expectations are too high, it was find prem quality players for little money, he has to a point achieved this.

He needed too. If PL were to do as you believe the squad would be around 12 to 14 players, we would be screwed when injuries and suspensions hit. We have players in the reserves that could probably do a better job than some of the dross he has bought. Ah the old "playing in a good reserve team must be the next Messi argument". Well played sir, well played. I think he has pulled together a mediocre prem team on a serious budget. Also I keep seeing Kozak mentioned as a waste, didn't he win us some games earlier in the season?

Nope they had a lot of possession but most shots were from distance and we were happy to watch them spend hours tapping it around outside the box. They were lucky to get the goals they got and we were unlucky not to score more. But I guess it's okay to change history to suit your argument. Seem to be seeing that a lot here today!!

Lowton, KEA and Westwood are far from rubbish. Inconsistent, yes but all mid table standard midfielders. Excellent considering our financial constraints.

And yet you completely ignored this - Talk of attendances is a nonsense in cash terms anyway. If you had a 60,000 stadium with a flat rate of £50 a ticket, that would give you £3m per home game (if you assume that catering / programme sales offset other costs such as power, staff etc). Over the course of a Premier League season you'd generate £57m in gate receipts. Or Suarez and Andy Carroll (at the time) without signing on fees, agents fees or wages. Kit deals are generally minimal. At c. £3.5m per year we're far ahead of where we could be for a club with our level of success. That kit deal covers Gabby's wages. Shirt sponsor? Where are we at with that? £1m a year? That's Weimann paid for then. TV money is where it's at, and even then you can't genuinely compete based off that alone. You need massive investment from outside, and then the success that comes with it helps to generate cash for the future. I believe that's what Randy aimed to do when he bought the club. But if Lerner genuinely thought he could throw £100m or so at player transfers and then sit back and watch us be self-sufficient in the Champions League he was at best naïve and at worst stupid. Let's give it one last shot of perspective. If the stadium held 100,000 people and tickets were a flat £50, we'd generate £95m in gate receipts per season. Manchester City spent more than that on players this summer alone. I didn't ignore it, I think we would need to be selling out at a higher ticket price to get to where we could buy top players. My point is without it or a sugar daddy I can't see how it will happen. My argument was people complaining about Lerner and I was trying to explain how it is different for the likes of spurs, 60 million a year different.

Selling naming rights for north stand would be a step in the right direction. Even ****** Villa Park etc wouldn't be awful if the money comes in.

I'm amazed that you don't see it as a significant part of the problem. We are not a "hot" commodity to the point our own fans don't even want to watch us. Not sure the same thing happens at Newcastle and they have had worse times than us in recent memory. What are you on about mate, we're averaging 37k fans. It's amazing considering the shite Lerner's Villa serve up. suprised it's that many, but please read context of previous posts, my point is we aren't getting enough money in to buy the players that the fans want. Attendances need to rise and prices need to go up for us to compete, simple economics. I can't be bothered to go through explaining it again for the 15th time as it falls on deaf ears.

Yet previously you were saying it was down to attendances, which over the past 5 years are higher than both Everton and Spurs btw who are top 6 regulars still. Read all my quotes, this is the 2nd time people haven't read what I have written properly. Price of tickets along with attendance and general profitability of the club (how saleable to Sponsors) is a huge factor (re spurs) and they take 60 million more in than us, I don't understand how people don't get that we don't make enough money to expect that things will be different. We got to 6th by spending money we couldn't afford so whilst attendances may have risen a little we weren't going enough or paying enough to cover the costs of our little jaunt. We are still paying this off now. Everton is the exception as they got lucky with players and managers.