In his lifetime he suffered from unreality, as do so many Englishmen.
Jorge Luis Borges
Postponed from April, this weekend finally sees my favourite one day race take place. The hell of the north, Paris Roubaix is this Sunday and will of course be compulsory viewing - in fact other than an early run, I doubt much else will get done.
The bookies favourite is of course Wout van Aart but I think he looked tired at the worlds after what has been a long season so I'm going for Mathieu van der Poel, starting to look back to near his best. However this race is notoriously unpredictable so a good outside bet would be Kasper Asgreen or maybe Zdenek Stybar and it would be really good to see Tom Pidcock cap a fabulous season off with a podium finish.
"...as dry as the Atacama desert".
It's all about quality control. The top end ones will use the same valves as the cheap ones, but every tube will be inspected in some way; mostly to make sure all the parts are fitted/bonded correctly. The cheap ones will have no quality control in the process whatsoever, but it's a simple process and the chances are everything got done properly. The quality control is needed to gain ISO9000 accreditation, but costs money which gets passed on to the end user. If you're buying tubes, buy cheap; if you're buying mechs, buy expensive...you want them to be looked at closely so you don't get stranded on the A58M on christmas day trying to be the first person to ride the whole Leeds inner ring road.
Luke Appleyard (Wharfedale)- quick on the dissent
I hope David has got the fire on at The Craven Arms tommorrow.
Luke Appleyard (Wharfedale)- quick on the dissent
What a ride by Lizzie Deignan today! Otley's finest. Dad, John is a past V60 winner of the 3 peaks and Mum, Carol a past womens winner of the Full Tour of Pendle. Good genes must help.
A fine ride by Lizzie to hold off Vos and what an addition to her palmares to be first woman to win Paris-Roubaix.
Yes I know this race can be a lottery but that is why it is such a spectacle and such compelling viewing. I loved the fact the Trek-Segafredo got 2 riders on the podium yet the team car had a puncture.
Hopefully tomorrows race lives up to expectations.