Well I never

Every time i think that Rapha lot have jumped the shark, they soon enough reel me back in all bulged eyed and fuzzy. I have always loved their merino base layers, I pretty much live in them and they know how to make good eye candy. Some of the emails between rapha and team sky are quiet funny and remember to refer to rule 7

I was in their air street store today for the first time and if you love cycling its hard not to be impressed, though perhaps being overly impressed with the toilets is a little wrong, but they're nice. I remember being dragged to a hawaiian themed bar in Kennington years ago, palm trees, grass skirts, inflatable animals silly drinks etc but when you went to the bathroom it was the worst toilet in south london, piss everywhere, graffiti, would it hurt to put a catcus in here? toilets are a theme too far in that theme bar. not here. Anyway enough about that. really nice application of their brand in a space basically. and got to watch cycling on a massive telly and drink nice coffee for an hour or so.

Condor x Lotus

Viva de Vivie

Just been reading about Paul de Vivie via the inner ring The guy coined the term cyclo sportive and lobbied for factories to make bikes not weapons at the turn of the century. Read the full story on the inner ring blog but he also wrote seven commandments Of cycling which still hold up today.
1. Stop rarely and briefly, so as not to lose your rhythm
2. Eat little and often and eat before you are hungry, drink before you’re thirsty
3. Never push yourself into such fatigue that you lose appetite and cannot fall asleep
4. Wrap up before you get cold, undo layers before you get hot and do not fear exposing the skin to the sun, air and water
5. Cross out, at least when riding, wine meat and tobacco from your diet
6. Never force the pace, ride within your means, especially during the first few hours when you’re tempted to ride hard because you feel full of energy
7. Never ride for show or vanity (#rapha)

Reflecting on whats ahead of me...

Spent the morning, a) worrying my winter training has been a little broken up and b) looking at the marmotte climbs against the last years etape. Now its half of one and however the rest of that expression finishes, stage 11 was either up or down with only a very short "flat" section of about 2km. Now while that middle section of the marmotte looks a bonus the telegraph & galibier kick up pretty hard with sections of 13-14%. and those 21 hairpins of alp d'huez are going to hurt. why do i keep doing this to myself.

tdf stage 11 2012 (etape)

profile marmotte

what cycling boom?

Sad news – my local bike shop (LBS), 'two wheels good' is closing its crouch end shop. For the last three years its been my saviour. Quite often something happens and i panic (like seriously fret) "my club ride is tomorrow" or "meeting is in town" and i dont have that tool to fix that. On such occasions i visit my lbs. Ive just been in on a typical visit, my single speed threaded headset came lose after hitting a pot hole last nite. i dont have the wrenches to do it myself so popped down the road to have it fixed on the spot. And two weeks ago they fixed a spoke in my winter wheels that broke, again on the spot as i made conversation. Both jobs individually cost less than a pint and a bag of crisps (or coffee and cake is more apt for crouch end) and certainly less than a well own high street cycle chain store. The well own high street cycle chain store in central london charges over twice as much for minor repairs than its same store services in other parts of london and UK. (note: i dont use them i looked online). And charges you £14 it fix a puncture. Now i agree with this one charge as if you're riding a bike you should be able to do that one yourself. but £14 is more than both my lbs service charges together. Now some of you may be thinking thats why they are closing they should charge more, but if you know anything about bikes, they is only so much you can charge for a spanner going clockwise a quarter turn in front of your eyes. Good news is that 'two wheels good' still has its stoke newington shop (please visit). Bad news is i kinda liked those guys, we'd say hello at races or events and i'd tell people at the club to use them. Crouch end has so many cyclists i just dont understand. Bad Bad news is you know the shop will be turned into another cake shop. Crouch end is the cakey-ist place on earth and doesn't even have a cake named after it. To the people of london i ask you to put down your banana loaf and support your lbs.

Roll up Roll up

Tour down under

Problem with following the tour down under is makes this time of the year even worse. Juicy pro bike pics from cycling tips – thank you. Felt F1 equipped with Shimano Di2 and Dura Ace C-50 wheels. This one is Marcel Kittel of Argos-Shimano 2012 steed. Notice the sprint shifter a la campag.