well fan for life

OPQS confirmed their team today. It's the same story as the Giro. Cav is their man and everything is geared towards him winning the green jersey again. Will be great to see their lead out now you can add Sylvain Chavanel and the absolute tank that is Tony Martin to it.

Read like a fucking book. Finding the Dauphine difficult to be enthused about, cannot take to Chris Froome at all. On the Wiggins front, he's done this before. Forced out of the Tour through injury, so he just needs to readjust his goals. The obvious candidates being the Vuelta and a proper shot at the Time Trial World Champion's jersey.

When I hear about players being fantastic for the youth teams and being "the next big thing", I instantly think of Adam Coakley. Adam Coakley had apparently scored for fun throughout our entire youth set up. Everyone was talking of him as being our next big youth player. However, upon playing for the first team we found out he couldn't score with a hooker. The moral of the story is, wait until you've actually seen them play at an a decent level.

I don't really know what to make of the rumours, he had his knee bandaged up before his crash at the Giro, and then was forced out of it with a chest infection. If he has any fitness, he'll line up for Sky. But while the mountains are more suited to Froome, it'll be interesting to see what happens if Wiggins gubs him in the time trials.

There's a kind of straight road between Eaglesham and Jackton that is brutal with a headwind but fantastic with a tailwind. Last week I had a tailwind on it and was flying along at about 28mph without putting any great effort in. The other day there was a headwind and it felt like my tyres were made of treacle.

David Millar abandoned with a chest infection as well. I think the fact there is 200 or so riders in such close proximity in such foul conditions that viral things spread so quickly. I've had a chest infection in the past and climbing a flight of stairs is a mission, so I don't even want to imagine what being on a bike for 5-6 hours would be like. I think it shows how much it affected Hesjedal and Wiggins when they were both dropped on relatively flat stages. I think Nibbles has got this though. Uran and Evans need to attack like maniacs this week to make any contest of it.

Hesjedal was look right up for it in the first few days. But he's performing like a coo now.

Why would they change leader now to someone further down the GC? They will stick with Wiggins, but it's going to be a tough ask for him to win the overall. But there's still 2 weeks racing and the proper mountains are still to come.

Yes he has. http://youtu.be/EZY69ANlE0Y?t=28m49s

I'd say he's in a comfortable position. See if him and his team can crack Nibali on the climbs, then try and batter time into him on the ITT.

It's the way he's ridden TTs for the last while. He's usually way down on the pack over the first part of the course, only to reel it back in over the second part. I believe he was 16 seconds down in the Olympic TT at the first split. Over the rest of this Giro I'd guess Sky will leave Astana to do the pulling up the climbs as it's their jersey to protect. But once Astana have burned most of their resources we'll see Sky come to the front and do their usual tactic of getting onto the front and driving a pace so hard that no one can really attack. It'll be interesting to see if Wiggo goes on the attack as it's something he's not known for. He known for prolonged efforts of riding right on the line rather than explosive attacking. Looking forward to the uphill TT on stage 18. Lake Garda is a beautiful part of the world.

I find that quite often on ebay. If you look down the list you can end up with one sale ending in 12 hours, one in 24, one in 48 etc. It's not really people selling there old shit as much these days.

I'd agree with Desert Nomad. The uphill time trial isn't brutal enough to snooker Wiggins completely. I think Wiggins will win the Giro. Nibali won the Trentino after Wiggins' mechanical I think. Cadel Evans is past it now.

I think Wiggins is talking himself up as a bit of a bluff to other teams. By Wiggo saying he is leading, and Froome saying he is leading it means their rivals will have the 2 of them to mark. I see Wiggins is ditching his Di2 Dura Ace and going back to old-fashioned mechanical Dura Ace after his issue in the Trentino. Real men use mechanical.

PWOPPAAAAA NAAAAAAWWWWWWWWWWWWTYYYYYYYYYY.

I think his problem at Flèche was a mechanical. He spent most of his energy trying to chase back to the lead group. Superb finish though. Hesjedal pulled the whole race out with his attack. Then Martin marked Purito's attack perfectly then smoked him on that last corner. And once more Sky were pish in the classics. I think they've tried to be too calculating about them. While it's possible to control and nullify a 3 week stage race, a one day classic like Roubaix is just carnage as everyone is trying to lead it over the cobbles. I'd be willing to bet they'll have learned their lesson and will probably gub everyone next year. Heard a fantastic commentary line on one of the Ardennes classics. "Last year Jonathan Tiernan-Locke was as good as Rodriguez over the short punchy climbs." Aye. Nae bother.

I have changed my cassette (splined shimano)..... You need a tool (chain with a hook and handle) to stop the cassette turning and a tool for slackening the cassete (it's an internal spline thing from memory).. I changed a 25/12 10 speed to a 28/12... to get my fat belly up the steep bits... The screwed on cassestes are a nightmare to do without damaging something as they seize on... but I doubt you have this design..? I bought a tool kit from LIDL and it had the tools for this and more....... Have a look on you tube and you will see what's needed.. Follow Global Cycling Network on YouTube. They've been posting up a lot of maintenance videos of late. Everything from how to change your chain, to how to change your cassette. Today's was how to replace Shimano crank arms and chainrings. Edit to add link: http://www.youtube.com/user/globalcyclingnetwork

24 in the league, 1 in the cup. The guy's been phenomenal.

i'm a big fan of randolph, hateley, hutchy and law. i consider lasley and hammell all time legends. btw the 07/08 team was better. I said in years. It's currently 2013. I make that 5 years give or take.

In all seriousness, you don't seem to like anyone. All you do is slate every player from the best Motherwell team there's been in years, And every successful athlete in the world. I'd be surprised if you didn't skelp the wife for making a brilliant dinner.

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I agree with Bold Rover to be honest- especially his last sentence! There are certainly a few open sections with traffic that are busy- through Coatbridge to Caldercruix and through Linlithgow to Kirkliston. Usually the stuff through Airdrie and Coatbridge is OK because you are there early on Sunday Morning and nothing like if you did it this afternoon. The other riders provide an amount of decent protection from traffic and if you want to get confidence to go on the road its good. I'd like to see PFS do a 70mile run, to take a few of the 'keen' cyclists that don't want to do 110 miles off the 49 mile run and leave the 49 mile run for families having a good time. 70 mile-ish PFS would be a great idea. Too long for the families and people out for an easy run. But short enough that it's unlikely to kill people like, well, me.

Sky looked very good today and yesterday in the TTT. Wiggo has got pegging his rivals back down to an art these days, he can't go with explosive attacks but he can tap out a rhythm which drags it back slowly. He looks like a good bet for the Giro on this form. And once again Lance Armstrong is back in the headlines. With it now being confirmed that the UCI covered up 4 positive corticosteroid tests in 1999. Hein Verbruggen must surely be called out to answer to this. He and McQuaid are as bad as each other over this whole debacle.

It's a fact of life. Whether it be on a bike or in a car, the only time you will puncture will be when it's dark, pishing down and freezing.

I've got a pair of 105 SPD-SL pedals and I can honestly say I've never felt unsafe on the roads wearing them. Provided you don't have them tightened up to a ridiculous degree, if you do suddenly panic and wrench straight up the pedal disengages. Even then, it becomes second nature to twist as you take your foot off the pedal.