Recent comments

That's a fair point. But then he's rooming this weekend with Sky riders at the Nationals (and tweeting about that too).

If there really is nothing behind the Cav to Sky rumours, I imagine his (and HTC's) PR people must be tearing their hair out.

Unless the adolescents are statistically more likely to have a head injury, as opposed to an injury, I think this study does actually make an effort to take the drop off into account. It didn't focus on the drop in head injuries, rather the proportion of the drop in head injuries to the drop in arm / leg injuries.

Unless there is any other specific factor which would account for a greater reduction in only 1 type of injury, it's hard to argue their stated conclusion that "helmet laws did result in a reduction of head injuries suffered by cyclists" is incorrect.

Other arguments about a reduction in general population health due to the law are still valid, but not really touched by this study.

Like the cyclist says in the article though, this all just muddys the waters of what should be a bigger debate about road safety.

As above. Don't get the bike fixed yet, although a letter from your local bike shop detailing the damage would be useful. I'd be making as much noise as possible about going to court - it's amazing how quickly the story changes when court action is imminent.

With all due respect, Cavendish talking about training on the Essex lanes, with Dowsett, is no more a slip, or a revelation, than news about his his training in Italy with BMC's Sciandri and Phinney would be.. or even his travelling from Quarrata to this year's edition of the Tour de Suisse in one of BMC's liveried Skodas – all parties involved were very publicly tweeting about it as it happened. I really doubt there is any more significance to it than that they get on.

As for Highroad: Stapleton's plan B is almost certainly to merge the team with another team.. and to do that comfortably he needs to shed riders. I suspect he is just making sure that all interested parties are aware that all contracts are potentially negotiable.

I'll beat you to 55 posts . . .

Riding drops is 'old school', nothing wrong with that Anyway, I'm sure you will impress the older club members just by being prepared to have a go. You've done it once, so now you have a time to beat.

A few suggestions: try not to go too hard for the first mile or so, otherwise you'll spend the next 3 trying to recover. Try to maintain a consistent output once up to speed, regardless of the wind etc. Focus your mind on putting power through the pedals, controlling your breathing and pedalling speed. Keep your body low, try not to grip the bars too tight or tense up, and *always* look where you're going.

A suggestion I read on another forum and now do while I'm racing is to keep asking yourself:
"Am I pressing the pedals?"
"Am I pressing the pedals?"
"Am I pressing the pedals?"

For training, at this stage I'd say just ride your bike. If you want you could do some intervals - shortish bursts at the level of effort you race at, with decent rests (spinning the pedals gently in a low gear) in between. I do 4 repeats of 2 miles hard, 2 miles easy.

But don't think too much about it at this stage. I don't want to sound patronising but when I was your age I just used to ride full tilt to school and back etc and it worked well. It's meant to be fun in the end

There are almost as many opinions as models of tyre.

Rolling resistance or speed (and light weight) are at the opposite end of the scale to puncture resistance, so choose where you want to rest on that spectrum. Personally I'd suggest you don't get hung up on weight, a few grammes here or there is nothing. For a little more comfort (but no disadvantages) choose wider section - 25c or more. Some examples below.

Fast, light tyres (not much P-word protection): Michelin Pro 3, Conti GP4000S, Schwalbe Ultremo.

Great compromise: Vittoria Rubino Pro*, Mich Krylion, Schwalbe Durano/Durano S.

Tougher, more protection: Conti GP 4 Seasons, Specialized All Condition Pro, Bontrager Race Lite Hardcase*.

* after 2,500+ miles on each I would recommend both of these tyres.

my guess is you ran out of money.

Go to Ribble and get Fulcrum 5's..a pair of those and a 105 11-28 cassette cost me €215 all in...

I'm now in the same boat Alx since i saw the merlin link, i like the look and spoke layout of the Fulcrum 7's and at that price, i may just replace my wheels

If Rapha stuff any more of our cash under the bed they're going to need to raise the ceilings.

You can get 1400g Pro-lite braccianos on ebay new for around £250 and they have excellent reviews everywhere