petatodd

Who brought their Grand Father to the presentation and lent him the team strip?

Despite my extreme dislike of both the Texan and his Belgium puppet master I think the creation of this team after the nightmare at Astana was a huge mistake. Trek then tried to get some value for their sponsorship in an extremely poorly thought through merger/take over of the Leopard guys. What a failure that has been. Clearly no self respecting "modern" cyclist is prepared to put up with JB's approach. It would be interesting to chat to Robbie Hunter about his year at the shack. And to think Bob Stapleton couldn't find a sponsor for Highroad and left the sport while JB is able to continue. Says a huge amount about corporate America.

Rule #58 Support your local bike shop. Never buy bikes, parts or accessories online. Going into your local shop, asking myriad inane questions, tying up the staff’s time, then going online to buy is akin to sleeping with your best friend’s wife, then having a beer with him after. Online is evil and will be the death of the bike shop. If you do purchase parts online, be prepared to mount and maintain them yourself. If you enter a shop with parts you have bought online and expect them to fit them, be prepared to be told to see your online seller for fitting and warranty help.

Horner's bike http://www.davidebertocchi.com/files/media_file_50066.jpg Or is it this one? http://www.betterlifehealthcare.com/products/s109_1.jpg

No bug net. It was just the initial feeling of extra heat but my winter riding has been good, a few hours on Sunday in the rain was ok. I think it's just that it sits differently, and maybe my hair is a bit long. Summer will tell.

No, puncheur, a better prize than that I suspect if the rumours are true!

I almost feel for a bike company that has a team like RSN representing their product at this year's tour. Surely Horner is going to be on his zimmer?

I have a Sterling in Pink. Talk about visibility! Seen from outer space... Only thing I noticed about the Sterling over the Giro Atmos I also use it that it does seem to be quite a bit warmer on my head. As I got it in May I'm not sure how this is going to be in summer when ride temp is hot.

Haha, watched that on a tour preview last night!

I'm with SwissVan here. Crashing is part of racing and Grand Tours. Although the rules state: "Should one of your selected riders crash out of the tour, due to a bunch crash, or outside influence (a vehicle bumping him into a barbed wire fence), and they're unable to continue, the your first choice substitute will be allowed to replace the rider from the next stage and score points from that stage onwards." I think we need clarification on some aspects of this. What constitutes a bunch crash? How many riders? When does the departing rider need to withdraw? How many stages grace will be allowed between the crash and the withdrawal? Does your own team car constitute "outside influence"? Or a police raid ala Festina in 2008? Or Saunier Duval/Astana team withdrawals due to team members doping but not the selected rider?

Oh how exciting. Another hard tail 29er

Paul Sherwin on our boards? Oh dear Punch I don't see the Sky train chasing back the breaks as we used to see with Saeco, Telkom and HTC in the past but you can bet Cav will have a lead out man in with him in the last kms and he'll be there in the mix at the end of all sprint stages. I think we might see more of a Robbie McEwen type sprint from Cav, pick a wheel then bang it.

Showing off Tumble?

The road is open until really early in the morning, not worth leaving so early though. The convoy, yes there are normally about 50 vehicles, drives through to George via the Outeniqua Pass then on to Knysna, takes almost 2 hours.

Not in the bike business. But how hard is it to send an email to a few bike shops? It's called initiative. and it normally saves money....

What seat post?

Thursday evening from 18:20 CAT. Not sure what that makes it for you Europeans... edit: added CEST picture

That's a matter for discussion, at no stage could I see them turning themselves inside out. They both looked to be setting a pace at the front then sat up when the going got tougher.

Don't be naive, if the desire is there anyone can beat any price. I consistently beat web prices for bundles. I'll take up your challenge, PM your wish list.

Why not just email a few bike shops with you requirement and ask them for their best price on the bundle? Guarantee more savings will come you way...

Maybe they'll be like the CWC "specials"

My non cycling mates in the States are interested in this story, not only from the French angle, but because there is the very strong possibility that they have been duped on the whole livestrong fund raiser. If the septics have been scammed you can expect quite a backlash which is why it is being followed so closely by the quality press stateside.

Interesting articles Tumble. I find one of the comments to the 150 Watts article summarises the status of the defence best: "Every single bit of his (Armstrong) current game plan is coming out of a play book, not out of stupidity. He's not trying to endear himself to Travis, but to his fan and sponsor base. Right now he needs the kinds of fans that would be willing to hole him up in their basement if he was caught molesting kids. He's looking for that kind of loyalty, and he is just rallying the troops."

There's still bush there when it's a Brazilian. I think you're looking for the term Hollywood.

Looks like dropper post is some way away still, breaking us in gently on the price....