The Beacon Message Board

laurence_cooley

I was hoping to make it out again tonight after an absence of a few weeks but the Lezyne light I ordered last week hasn't arrived yet.

Hopefully next week...

laurence_cooley

Here's a TV documentary that was shown in Australia a few days ago, similar to the 5 Live programme: http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/stories/ ... 08613.htm/.

laurence_cooley

I see Phil Liggett thinks along the same lines as i do and i notice Landis lost his case against the UCI. Will be interesting to see what the UCI decide to do. I for one hope they won't just take the word of riders who cut a deal. He was pretty vocal in his support of Armstrong, but Phil Liggett ha...

laurence_cooley

As I said before, I firmly believe that the riders of that generation were in a no-win situation, insofar as they dedicated themselves to reaching the top and then discovered that you could only do so by doping. So they either accepted defeat or did what all the rest were doing. For that reason, I'...

laurence_cooley

This article about sums it up. http://www.humanevents.com/2012/08/24/lance-armstrong-guilty-even-when-proven-innocent/ I think that the arguments made in this type of article have been overtaken by events. The USADA's case rests entirely on hearsay – witnesses claiming to have seen Armstrong doping...

laurence_cooley

David Cole wrote:Great Film Laurence and Happy Birthday - not sure which day

Dave

Cheers Dave!

rdleaper wrote:Sunday isn't it? You coming to Croome Park Laurence?

It is Sunday, and I'm leading the B run so I'd better be there!

laurence_cooley

I just came across this nice video of the event here.

laurence_cooley

The difference in price between the 200 and 500 is smaller than £60-70, I think (have been researching this myself of late). The 500 is £139 here.

laurence_cooley

dweben wrote:Hmm, having seen the pictures and been pretty disgusted at the amount of CX nancies walking... on flat bits, with just a splodge of mud... man up!

This guy wasn't having any of that walking lark: http://road.cc/content/news/68221-video ... -faceplant.

laurence_cooley

Congratulations. That's a lot of mud: http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/gallerie ... -2012.html.

laurence_cooley

IanT wrote:Nic is right, if the collective firepower of the various lights on show with the group doesn't alert air traffic control, we should be ok if not everyone has 150+ lumens!

Just don't ride behind Nic if you are epileptic or don't like discos.

laurence_cooley

If the bike was tilted back or upside down, the fluid was probably water draining out of the frame.

laurence_cooley

rdleaper wrote:It's amazing how quickly we forget the pain isn't it?

I do remember thinking half-way up that I never wanted to ride that hill ever again, and the post-climb cough is a good reminder.

laurence_cooley

Thanks everyone - organisers, competitors and spectators - for making what was my first ever time trial this morning so much fun. I was just aiming to break 5:00, so was really pleased with my 4:36 time. Having studied previous years' results, it seems to have been quite a fast event overall this ye...

laurence_cooley

Fantastic shots, Ed. Thanks for taking them.

laurence_cooley

Upper or lower limit?! You might need to get a parental consent form signed if you're under 18 but that's about it. I'm fairly sure you'll be the youngest entrant in most Audaxes - I must have been close to being that in the two I've done so far, and I'm 30.

laurence_cooley

Any news on the people involved in the crash? Richard's bike in the HQ afterwards was a rather worrying sight so I hope he and anyone else involved is OK.

laurence_cooley

Sounds good, Phil. I used to go on school trips to an outdoor pursuits centre in a hamlet called Tirabad, near to Llanwrtyd Wells, as a teenager. I'd like to go back and cycle in the area at some point, so I might consider this next summer. Incidentally, I distinctly remember going up a very steep a...

laurence_cooley

From my limited experience, I'd say it can be best characterised as an event where you pay several pounds to eat lots of cake. Unfortunately the cake is spread out so you have to cycle to get to it - sometimes up hills if the organiser is particularly evil. There's quite a good explanation here and ...

laurence_cooley

I see you took a couple of Strava KOMs - can't be bad.

laurence_cooley

You might want to have a read of this thread before suggesting anything (providing you've got an hour or three to spare!).

laurence_cooley

Thanks from me too - that was excellent.

laurence_cooley

jonnyri wrote:Thanks guys. perhaps Dave could let us know how we are doing on the marshalls front we just need to be sure were covered.

Dave wanted people to let him know this coming week if they could help, so it might be too early for this.

laurence_cooley

I'm happy to marshal. I didn't think I needed to mention that here since there's another thread saying to contact Dave Cole about marshalling but since it's been mentioned, just to confirm I'm able to help. I'd be happy to be given another job, although I don't have a car and would be cycling from t...

laurence_cooley

Only because we're used to them. Most people struggle at first.

laurence_cooley

Thanks again, guys. I was still smiling about it yesterday (though my legs turned to jelly when I tried to cycle home in the afternoon!).

laurence_cooley

Thanks to everyone on tonight's ride from Bike Pro. It was my first ride over any decent distance at an average of 30 km/h. I've been trying to do that on my own but can never quite manage it, so it just goes to show how much being pushed a bit can help. Thanks for the words of encouragement too. So...

laurence_cooley

AlanW wrote:We returned home last night after a glorious week of sunshine, and was greeted by a huge number of KOM's lost. And after a week of cooked breakfasts and gourmet evening meals it might be a while before I can even contemplate trying to regain them.

On that topic, see this post!

laurence_cooley

Well done guys, especially Richard - I'd seen some impressive times from you on Strava but to win your first race must be rare!

laurence_cooley

martin mc wrote:Don't forget to register that you've completed the challenge Laurence to receive your roundel & get entered in draw for the bike.

Have done. I will treasure that roundel when it arrives.

laurence_cooley

Last week, Martin McGowan and I completed the Rapha Rising Challenge on Strava. The challenge was to climb 6,881 metres, the combined elevation of the queen stage of this year's Tour, the Circle of Death, over the course of the week. Neither of us were aiming for much more than the target climb so t...

laurence_cooley

Great photos, Chris.

laurence_cooley

Ed Moss wrote:Does seem they got off lightly....Wonder if they will be allowed to continue on the tour?

The story about the bans doesn't seem clear yet: http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/news/vaug ... 53993.html.

laurence_cooley

Phil, there's a couple of typos in the Housman verse on the From Clee to Heaven page (second and final lines). It should be: From Clee to heaven the beacon burns, The shires have seen it plain, From north and south the sign returns And beacons burn again. On a more important note, any chance that th...

laurence_cooley

PatBoySlim wrote:Thanks to Ian for having all our **flat**s.

I bumped into Ian in Waitrose in Harborne this morning and he had so much fun fixing those **flat**s that he's decided to jet off to France to tackle the Alpe d'Huez this weekend. No joke.

laurence_cooley

Problem solved - I did a find and replace to take an hour off all of the timestamps.

laurence_cooley

I look at my watch get on my bike, go for a ride until I feel like going home. I then look at my watch again and depending on how I feel I collapse and fall asleep or have a cup of tea and eat a lot. That sounds good. Sadly my slight obsession with statistics combined with mild OCD prevents me from...

laurence_cooley

I currently use an app called Sports Tracker to record my rides on my phone, and recently have been downloading the GPX files for them from the app website so that I can upload them to Strava (I have a Windows Phone, for which the Strava app isn't available). This all works well apart from the start...

laurence_cooley

A big thanks to George and all the helpers from me too, and to all of the people I rode with over the course of the day - you made my first Audax an experience not to forget.

laurence_cooley

Thanks, Richard. Martin showed me the air bleed feature on the Lezyne pump he has, which is otherwise identical to mine. I think the main problem was just that the cores were very loose when the tubes arrived, but I might look into getting a new hose for my pump. Lezyne also suggest the use of Locti...

laurence_cooley

I'd never realised that it was possible to buy inner tubes with removable valve cores, but perhaps I'd been using them all along and just not had one come out, so hadn't realised. Anyway, a bit of searching online suggests that this might be a common problem with Lezyne pumps: http://bit.ly/LIuT4p ....

laurence_cooley

After getting a **flat** on Sunday's club run, I thought it was time to stock up on inner tubes. I bought a bunch of Continental Race 28s as they were on offer and because I've been pleased with my new Continental tyres. I decided to fit a couple straight away because my old inner tubes were getting...

laurence_cooley

You were saved a journey, Ruth - it was cancelled because there was tons of standing water.

laurence_cooley

That was some really badly timed rain. I was hoping to give a TT a go for the first time tonight, but also didn't fancy the ride out in the rain. Of course it was perfectly OK by 7pm. Next time...

laurence_cooley

I've also been thinking about getting a Garmin after getting frustrated by using phone apps that frequently seem to crash. Garmin don't seem to make it that easy to understand the different options, but these are the bundle names in case you haven't spent as much time as me trying to work them out! ...

laurence_cooley

...just to say Ribble Cycles are selling Conti GP4000S for £27 each this weekend only (£38 on Wiggle) The German website Bike-Discount ( http://www.bike-discount.de ) sell 23mm GP4000Ss cheaper than I've ever seen them in the UK. They're currently at €26.95 each, plus postage of €5.95 per order. Th...

laurence_cooley

Sadly I can't blame a bollard on this occasion. I was stopped at a junction with my left foot still clipped in, and the person I was with stopped to get some gloves out and put them on, so I tried to move over to the curb in case a car came past, and overbalanced. The fall seemed to happen in stages...

laurence_cooley

Thanks - that sounds like a plan, although because it's more of a slit than a round hole I reckon I might not even need the patch. I might quiz you on Sunday for sewing techniques!

laurence_cooley

I managed to keel over in a cleat-unclipping failure today. No real damage done other than a small, neat tear below the knee of my bib tights. Has anyone had experience of successfully mending small holes in Lycra? Any tips?

laurence_cooley

Slightly off-topic as it's a film rather than a book, but A Sunday in Hell in on YouTube and is well worth watching if you haven't seen it: http://youtu.be/D4IDCkcnnHg

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Rapha Rising Challenge

GPX files and time zones

Loose valve cores on Continental inner tubes

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