It was my fault

Arran has a few more good climbs. I recommend the Ross Road in either direction, with the Boguillie (A481 between Sannox and Lochranza in the article) a close second. The hardest part of the circular A481 is the undulating southern end, though possibly that is subjective because I tend to be there later in the day when 'nearly finished'. Oh, and the wind blows against you on the west coast no matter your heading

@Nigel Garage They criticised a rider they sponsored for sharing racist social media content, and they used some black models. Oh the horror of wokery.

I still don’t understand the changes they’ve made recently. They had an issue with discounting, so stopped that. The issue was never revenue though, it was the overheads as a percentage of revenue. As long as you sell the item above the manufacturing cost it’s still worth selling. They’re now covering the same overheads with less revenue. Beyond the finances, the product needs fixing too - the casual clothing was an easy way to push the brand yet underutilised with ridiculous prices. Hideous colours on all levels of the core and pro range - it’s like they went into the woods and decided to make everything beige, or washed out green. It’s frustrating as I want to buy rapha but they don’t make anything that appeals.

@eburtthebike but those are occupied by the previous incumbents (or they sold them for scrap)

@GravelIsNothingNew Undoubtedly, prices are exorbitant (coinciding with a cost-of-living crisis 🙄 ). But as Mr T said: “I pity the fool who buys Rapha outside their archive sales.”

@Pub bike here you see the challenge all reviews face: there’s a thousand ways to do any specific task on a bike. So any conclusion a reviewer comes to can be pulled apart by a thousand apples/oranges comparisons. It’s a bag that attaches to a bike. It works quite well. Other bags are available. Isn’t choice grand?

@wtjs Don't the police have to use this neutral language (nauseating as it is) so they can't be accused of jeopardising the eventual trial.

@Ramz It's £45 for the navy blue version, £90 for all the other colours.

Great write-up thanks! Lots of nice observations and useful details. Like you I met some lovely people on tour this year but I met almost all of them whilst waiting to board the ferry. I saw very few cycle tourists in the south of France in contrast to previous years. Maybe people were scared off by the heat (which wasn't that bad in early September) or are most people now bikepacking off-road and wild-camping?

I highly recommend the 5 10 freeride range. 3 pairs at the moment, a pair in tan, fabric panels in suede, for the dry summer, better ventilation, a pair in black leather for when the going gets wet, and the plastic winter version, for when the going gets cold and very muddy. All excellent grip on my Shimano saints, dmr v12s and wellgo "v12s". Owned their spitfires for many years, my first cycling specific shoes.