I bet you enjoyed the Across Flanders race as well last week ;)Quote:
Originally Posted by Graham Breeze
Been some great racing all round and a few turn ups - Milan San Remo was another good finish.
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I bet you enjoyed the Across Flanders race as well last week ;)Quote:
Originally Posted by Graham Breeze
Been some great racing all round and a few turn ups - Milan San Remo was another good finish.
I like Valverde.
Netflix has a series on the Movistar team over the 2019 season.
The team is chaotic but Valverde is serene and yesterday who finishes third at 41 in two weeks time behind the hot young Turks but our Alex.
Marvellous!
That reminds me:Quote:
Originally Posted by Graham Breeze
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-56660472
Who wants to be the first to be offended at someone else being worried that someone else might be offended?
Don't even go there! In fact, I think that by even posting that link and suggestion you might be construed as edging closely to a none-crime hate incident - Mocking those who might be offended by suggestion of an offence - tsk!Quote:
Originally Posted by noel
https://www.app.college.police.uk/ap...ate-incidents/
I bet that has stopped you chucking your bidon at excitable children....
Quote:
Originally Posted by Graham Breeze
Ridiculous!Quote:
Originally Posted by brett
I have just gone to caress my Euskaltel Euskadi, Bouygues Telecom,... bidons.
And where did I get them from?
I picked them up from riders at Le Tour.
I don't know how many miles of tour route I drove, walked or cycled but I never saw a discarded bidon anywhere after the riders had passed. And why? I refer you to my previous sentence.
Is it true when they closed the asylums in Europe they deployed the inmates to the UCI?
Must be. There can't be two top class riders with the same name.Quote:
Originally Posted by Marco
But hey! Who knows if one day the truth will emerge from Team "marginal gains" Sky?
:)
Innocence does not smell - but Team Sky certainly did in the past. Asthma indeed!Quote:
Originally Posted by Marco
Pateley Bridge has 4 "killer climbs" and today I tried Old Church Lane: 1.4 miles, 660 feet ascent, average incline 9% with a steep bit of 26%, which I admit I did notice. Harrogate Tourist Office suggests this is the toughest of the four - and who am I to argue? It finishes at a cattle grid high on Pateley Moor and today there were minutes at a time where the only sounds were of pheasant and curlew. Sublime. I then descended on a deserted, well surfaced, straight country road and recorded 45+ mph. I noticed that as well.
Riding home up Dacre Bank a fat man on an e-bike came up behind me crunching gears. I was already in my lowest so I dug in to display my character. I must pretend I am Pantani more often because he stayed behind me all the way up the hill - perhaps he reads the Forum and thought I would push him off if he dared to pass?
On my way out through Addingham parked in a field gate was a stupendous Maserati Ghibli in matt slate grey with all the bells and whistles - but also a completely shredded rear low profile tyre. Illustrating that an aerosol can of gunge, instead of a spare wheel, does have limitations if your tyre suffers more than a slow puncture.
Anyway 45 miles, 4700 feet and a beautiful spring day in Nidderdale.
52 miles out to the flatlands of West Lancs today. Croston, Burscough and Parbold loop - mostly on the quieter roads of the Lancashire cycleway. Even managed to include a bit of “white road” and pave, felt a bit like the Tour of Flanders but a bit slower. Managed to find a couple of gems for a coffee and lunch stop which were not too busy unlike the cyclist honeypot of Croston. Bumped into fell running legend Rob Hope and family on the way back, he was on the way back from a game of tennis. Despite being relatively flat we still managed to clock up 2400 ft of climbing. The snow on the way back was an unexpected bonus!������
With a Garmin - they all count!:)Quote:
Originally Posted by Also Ran
Wheeze will be relieved to hear that his good mate, the infamous R. the R. and mate arrived back here in one piece on their ebikes. Just.
I think batteries were challenged but a good time had by both in the wilds. First time I have seen one of those bikes up close, scary monsters and way heavier than I expected (these were full on mountain bike varieties).
More adventures being planned in the wilds of mid Wales 😉.
10-ish mile loop with Mrs Noel on the tandem. Including the impending steepness of the road from the Leather's Smithy up to Forest Chapel. 3 minutes slower than going the other way round about a week ago.
Cav won in Turkey :)
He would have won stage 1 as well if a rider in front hadn't had to unclip, having over cooked the last bend, and causing everyone behind him to ease off for a moment.Quote:
Originally Posted by Witton Park
It was great to see so many riders congratulating him after his win which shows the esteem he is still held in.
and again.
His Day two win showed an incredible turn of speed in the last 150m. He took about 3-4 bikes lengths out of Philipsen.
Finally got around to ordering my new road bike (I don't have a road bike), been trying for near 12 months but with everywhere out of stock and not being able to visit shops for ages I've just taken a punt on a mail order.
A proper one made out of that black plastic stuff, but nothing Italian on it 😃. It's a Sonder from Alpkit and they have knocked £500 off as discontinuing there range of carbon cycles - so I've just grabbed one and hope for the best. Be another 4 weeks+ before delivery I expect, but at least I shall have aanother bike to ride. Whenever mine needs repairs or even new tyres like last week it is off the road for weeks awaiting parts. All a bit of a pain.
I haven't been through Wootton, but I once rode along the little lane from Ellastone to Stanton. It's really delightful, going along a secluded valley and then suddenly deciding that it wants to take the route of maximum gradient out of the valley.Quote:
Originally Posted by Marco
Took the gravel bike out to test the tyres for problems (like going flat), out and back was 24k and 670m. Tyres being much narrower I was a bit wobbly and being very careful coming down the forest road, not so confident as on old tyres. But they do appear to go up hills faster!
5 of us rode as a group to Glasson Dock from Dinckley over Harris End. Got a bit lost in the lanes around Beacon Fell but was a good hilly ride out for lunch where we bumped into Lefty of Rossendale Harriers out with his pal. Route back was flatter via St Micheals and Garstang. Was a bit brisk on the return so stopped in Longridge for a well earned pint before tackling Dinckley “mountain” where we were parked. 68 miles 3350 ft of climbing - mainly in the first half. It doesn’t compare to the 94 miles and 5958 foot of climbing that Lefty did having gone over the Trough of Bowland. It has to be said that Lancashire is excellent cycling country
Nice one AR :)Quote:
Originally Posted by Also Ran
Not cycling myself yet but should be up there on the bike in the near future with the other half.
Nice to see Cav get a hat trick in Turkey and fantastic ride by Pidcock to do Van Aert and Trentin to take the De Brabantse Pijl
I don't usually go on themed cycle rides. However, many years ago I noticed the concentration of villages with names ending in "stone" in the area between Ashby-de-la-Zouch and Market Bosworth, and today I eventually went out for a ride visiting the Ten Stones of West Leicestershire: Thringstone, Ravenstone, Swepstone, Snarestone, Shackerstone, Bilstone, Congerstone, Odstone, Nailstone, Barlestone.
A slightly convoluted route, especially since I didn't want to retrace my route at any point. Also, it left most of the significant hills to the final section, coming home from Barlestone; which was also into the wind (although that wasn't very strong). About 40 miles altogether.
Shackerstone Railway brings back memories as a child...!
Let’s be fair, maybe the field isn’t stacked with sprinters but Jesper Phillipson is no slouch having just won the unofficial sprinters championship and he was well beaten on all three occasions. It’s great for his confidence, but with Bennett on the team he’s not going to be first choice for the big races.Quote:
Originally Posted by Marco
I think that's how I see it. The Tour of where?Quote:
Originally Posted by Also Ran
There i was today turning a reasonably good gear coming out of Ilkley, when all of a sudden i heard loud music approaching from behind. Imagine my surprise when it turned out to be a flipping e-biker on an MTB with his tunes blasting out. Don't they understand that it's not supposed to be that enjoyable? It's you versus the elements and your lactic acid; tonking along with Status Quo deafening the world is not in the spirit of a painful athletic endeavour.
Your mention of Status Quo...said it all.Quote:
Originally Posted by mr brightside
I always ride at least that fast past Wheelbase in Ilkley so I am not seduced by their window display.Quote:
Originally Posted by Marco
Bike prices are no longer visible from outside although one can still see that the Pinarello Dogma on display is a round £12,000.
Had an excellent ride out on the Lapierre around the North Worcestershire lanes and hills, shorts and short sleeved jersey, 55km with just shy of 1000m climbing. First proper road bike ride in a while so the hills were a little bit of a shock after spending the last few months largely off road, pootling about canals on the Croix de fer.
Nursing a running injury (again!) and need to get back up to doing 100km more frequently so hopefully more of the same to come.
An absolute belter yesterday. Our “loop” of Semerwater but from home. 37.25 miles, more off-road than on, with 4,000 feet of ascent.
We left Horton on the High Birkwith lane, only to be over taken by about ten off road quad bikers and it was especially fun to see them held up a few minutes later by the farmer and his wife patiently explaining that no, the track beyond their farm wasn’t a fricking green lane :)
From High Birkwith, it was the Pennine Bridleway past Ling Gill and up a rubbly as heck ascent to the Cam High Road. This we followed past Fleet Moss before descending to Semerwater past Crag Hill. Then a fantastic climb up to Stake Moss and a pretty rough and rubbly descent to Cray. A blast down on the road to Buckden and then the lane to Hubberholme, Yockenthwaite and Beckermonds and up through the forest to pick up the Pennine Way briefly before scooting over to High Birkwith again and whizzing back down the lane to home
4.5 hours moving and a 20 minute break at Semerwater, 15 miles in, for a cheese and onion pasty stop
Not in the mood and short of time, but a 18 mile and 2000ft up to reservoir, round on gravel and back.
Strangely had a couple of PRs on Strava, think it is the new tyres.
A brief snapshot of Saturday’s descent from the Cam High Road to Semerwater, with me following Hester
https://youtu.be/6XmkKGwTNhU
Amstel Gold Women
Never let it be said...that whilst weeding the garden is usually more exciting than watching women's road racing it was pretty damn good to see Marianne Vos (admittedly the greatest female rider of all time) overhaul two top riders - including the winner of the last Amstel Gold - neither of whom would lead out and so lost out.
Yes Graham, they got what they deserved - nothing.Quote:
Originally Posted by Graham Breeze
van Aert, Pidcock and Schachmann nearly cocked it up too.
But they didn't!
I was doing about 22mph at the time, 53/16 or therabouts. He came past at over 30mph by my reckoning, in a hail of tyre roar and stadium rock. I was half expecting to see him pushing it along the Burley-in-wharfedale bypass with a flat battery.Quote:
Originally Posted by Marco
No, I haven't a clue. It doesn't seem to be a particularly stony area.Quote:
Originally Posted by Marco
Could it be that they derived from "ton". Farm or hamlet (apparently): https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/...h-place-names/
There are a few examples where subsequent civilisations have added their word for settlement on the end of the existing name. So you can get places like [something]tonville.
Quite possibly: between Nailstone and Barlestone, I cycled through Osbaston, which doesn't quite manage to be a "-stone" village.Quote:
Originally Posted by noel
My favourite example of names being formed like this is Breedon-on-the-Hill: if you analyse the origins of this name, it means "Hill-Hill-on-the-Hill", with "Bree" coming from the same root as the Scottish "Brae", and "don" as in the "downs" of Southern England.Quote:
Originally Posted by noel
Worst of all I still haven't reached the top of the half hill, something I must remedy before it gets mentioned again![/QUOTE]
Do it soon Marco before it too disappears and becomes No-Hill No-Hill on the No-Hill.
During today's pleasant 38 miles perambulation around the environs of the second city I parked near Halfords in Guiseley and secured my bike next to one of those massive German e-bikes powered by the best of Bosch and looking as though it was forged on a Panzer II assembly line. It wasn't so much the huge steel U-Bolt security device, that would have kept a brace of Harleys safe from theft, that next drew my attention but the huge dog (German Shepherd?) that was intimately tethered to aforementioned bike. So a real two-for-one offer for any potential thief.
As I tried to stare down the dog whilst wielding my oxy-acetylene torch the owner arrived and I asked him where he e-biked with his trusty hound winding up to 15 mph to gambol alongside and he assured me that this was not at all difficult and "there is always a back way" to where owner and dog wish to go.
The owner, who might have been German, was very chatty and, not surprisingly since I was only a few feet from it, I thought the vigilant and protective dog was even more delightful.:)