Just in: the Wattbike

@kingleo I've still got a label from a helmet, and it says something like 'this helmet may not protect you in all foreseeable accidents' which just gives them an out when someone claims that it didn't work. Not sure the professionals should wear motorcycle helmets, as they are heavy, very well insulated and only work up to about 16mph: not sure you'd win too many TdF's at that speed, and anyway, your brain would fry.

@EM69 To be clear, my comment relates specifically to the new Sirius that came out a few months ago. As far as I can tell, the new Strada retains H/M/L steady levels in program 1.

@mitsky If I were a police officer involved in implementing the scheme I think I would find it very hard to hear the details given by those self-important/rich/arrogant (in the City these terms may be synonymous) enough to accept the fine, meaning they had to be repeated multiple times. I might also experience frequent pencil lead breakage and a difficulty in finding the right form to fill in, perhaps also frequently breaking off to use my radio ("Excuse me sir, it's an important message from my superintendent. What's that sir? Soya latte, a pain chocolat and a blueberry muffin, right you are sir"), so that by the time the paperwork was completed and they had been sent on their way with a fine those who chose to stop and watch the video had already departed.

@Mr Blackbird always heartwarming! ❤️ Do you remember Nick Clegg declaring his love for David Cameron in a rose garden? No, wait, was it his love of a better seat in parliament and more solicitous lobbyists? Or more recently Nigel Farage declaring his love for strong, manly figures like D. Trump, V. Urban and V. Putin, before declaring his love for money and his lack of snobbishness about its origins? (Would that some of the others were so candid - although eg. Lord Mandleson didn't need to declare his love for wealthy, dodgy businessmen).

@eburtthebike Hmm; Lost my original reply. I think the key point to (likely pro helmet biased research given funding sources etc) for ski helmets is that basically all research says they make no difference to fatals and minimal if any difference to serious injuries (despite claims of massive effectiveness). (Outside of some older research into racers where a reasonable look is the benefit is related to secondary impacts - the helmet doesn't prevent injury, it prevents the distraction after racers get it wrong and clip a gate (fibreglass pole on a spring) head first that leads to subsequent dangerous crashes when they lose control at 80-100mph...)) Showing part of the problem with 'XX% reduction in all injuries' claims (which they now seem to use in ski helmet promotion to imply its a XX% reduction in deaths or hospitalisations rather than because 90+% of injuries are minor cuts from catching a ski edge/pole in a fall where treatment is clean and put a plaster on it...) A 70% reduction in incidents with total harm being cuts and bruises can easily be a 60% reduction in all injuries because theres likely dozens of serious injuries for every fatality and dozens of minor injuries for every serious injury (and dozens of near misses for every injury...)

@MatzeLoCal Indeed. It's notable that the agency's excusing of itself makes much of the fact that the athlete did not raise any concerns; in such circumstances, where the athlete's thoughts and actions are going to be severely disrupted by her grief, it shouldn't be up to her to raise any objections. As soon as the testers were advised of the circumstances they should have immediately offered her the option of postponing the test. If they had and she said no it's okay to carry on that would be some mitigation, but clearly they didn't.

Received my Strada 13 SB on Saturday, just in time for an overnight ride. Worked flawlessly. The Aktiv function worked well. The only issue was the Ant+ connection to my 1050, but i'm placing that squarely at Garmins feet!

Olympic cyclist opens his front door to find a policeman standing on his doorstep. "Mr A Cyclist, I'm sorry to inform you that your wife and children have just been hacked to death in the shopping centre by an assailant with a machete." "Oh shit! I'd better contact the drug testing people at once and let them know that I won't be training at the velodrome today."

@kingleo I admit that I have on occasions ridden through green lights, doing a close pass on pedestrians.

@the little onion Don't do it! The turtleneck has since become associated with useless ex Health Secretary, Matt ("I fell in love.") Hancock.