anton

amazing, old bike and one hand in pocket and he's still leaving his teammates behind. Must take a good few years for the drugs to get out of the system...

oh my... this actually has me laughing out loud. Classic!

Hi Hagar I've got a set of SL's. They are the 2005 model (got them late 2004), and have done 12,500km on them. They are causing me quite a bit of frustration as the spokes break often. So far I think I've broken about 5 or 6. (Is that often?) The spokes have a problem of fusing at the nipple and then they snap under stress. My front wheel currently has a couple of spokes that can't be turned as they are fused. Therefore the wheels can't be straightened perfectly unless I replace them. At R50 a spoke, and then mechanic fees, it's also a bit costly to keep fixing. In the time I've had them my weight has been between 71 and 79kg. So not that heavy. But then other friends who have them have had no problems. Personally, I wouldn't buy them again. My two cents.

Profile from the Marmotte. The climbs in order; Col de la Croix de Fer, Col du Telegraphe, Col du Galibier, Alpe d'Huez. Alpe d'Huez looks small in comparison to the Galibier, but it was much much harder!

'drive it'!! If I bought you a polar I'd at least expect you to RIDE the route to check.

being in cape town I won't be joining, but for interests sake, how many metres ascent would this 'hill route ride' be?

I won't be seeing any of the Tour actually. Will have left by the time it rolls by. We are doing La Marmotte, which does the Croix de Fer, Telegraphe, Galibier and Alpe d'Huez in one race (5000m ascent). As you say, more motivating than Knysna. Almost enough to keep me up at night! Other riding will be around Grenoble. There are some nice rides around there too.

Good topic Velouria - I've been meaning to ask the same thing. A friend and I are battling with the same question. I've only travelled once with bike, but it was only to jhb and back. I just bubble wrapped the bike and left wheels on. Worked perfectly. But I don't really want to do that for going overseas. So far the cardboard box option is the one we are leaning towards. But I've also heard bad stories using that method. Difficult choice to make. Oh, so I'll be in the Alps (Grenoble & Alpe d'Huez) in July, so can I come to the wedding! smileys/smiley2.gif

Boonen mechanicals update: Stronger bike for Boonen Tom Boonen is to ride the E3 Prijs with a sturdier frame, reports Sportwereld.be. The brute strength of the Quick.Step rider in the sprints has seen him have several mishaps with his gearing. Thus, Quick.Step's frame supplier Time is beefing things up for Tornado Tom, just in case.

Maybe he did have the problem, but now that he's in a position to (even) win more, he's decided to comment on it. Not often pro's make comments about their equipment. Chain wear: every month, that's bad. I've done 6,700km on my current one. It probably has less than 500km left before I need a new one.

Did anyone else read these comments from Boonen on www.cyclingnews.com "Boonen also explained that a small mechanical in the final sprint prevented him from obtaining a higher placing, possibly outsprinting Alessandro Petacchi. "I couldn't get the chain on the 11," he recalled, speaking of the moment when he was on Petacchi's wheel in the last few hundred metres of the Via Roma. "It's the third time this has happened this year." Quickstep uses Campy Record 10-speed. I've also got 10 speed Record, and I can testify that I've also occasionally had problems getting into the 11. Even when the bike has just been serviced (by a very good mechanic!) I wonder if we could see Quickstep moving to Shimano next season. Not acceptable to have the equipment costing victories.