[chappers]

 

[Falling Down]

Top man... you got one then !!!! f*ckin great aren't they.

I just signed up for the MS150 Houston to Austin next April - my employers are entering a team and I get to ride 

[chappers]

i love it! pleased as punch, thanks for the advice you guys (FD for settling my mind up!). off for a big ride on saturday. welcome chappers to a new sport with untold amounts of money to be spent on kit!!
i got it from paul hewitt in leyland, i am really happy with his service, full fitting on the jig and a few days later BAM ive got it. really nice guy. would recomend for anyone with a bit of cash to spend on a bike!

[Yossarian]

and so, that age old cyclists dilemma...

bic or gillette?

[chappers]

right, we need a roll call of who does, who doesn't. (shave)

me, no. (not yet).

[Yossarian]

i have done. it made me feel special, like i was part of something bigger, something meaningful. something with a purpose.  i wore the uniform too. i listened to what they said, and it made sense.  i was proud to be part of it. i didn't know what i was becoming, but i can't deny the fact that the allure, the shiny muscular calves, the smell of GT85, the camaraderie, the much debated question of who braked first down that hill, it was all intoxicating, like first love....

it was later i discovered the truth. people started to look at me, like i was an outsider. the early starts. the phone calls from men, with nothing better to do than meet up on a cold december morning. my friends started making excuses for never dropping by. it was then that i started using. just PSP22 at first. but then trisodium phosphate. and then fig rolls.  it started to spiral out of control. a race here, a line of electrolyte there...

in the end i had to give it up. i still ride my bike, but things have changed. i'm not a slave any more. never again will i allow myself to be hooked up to a gas analyser, my body at their disposal like a lab rat.  i am free. hairy, and free...

[chappers]

 

[Falling Down]

right, we need a roll call of who does, who doesn't. (shave)

me, no. (not yet).

I'm the missing link. like a genetic throwback somewhere in the middle of this...



It'd take a vat of Immac and more than a bic to shave me.   I put Landis' T count to shame...

[webbo]

i have had to spend all night building up courage to reply to this post.
i was once a 3 times a week man,tried the lot waxing,sugaring even those fucking things that rip the hairs out in clumps.but i always returned to my trusty Gillette g2.the bliss of sliding freshly shaved legs into your jeans.the irritation of catching your stubble on your best worsted suit trousers.
even now that i'm clean i can't help feeling when i look down at my legs when wearing shorts and see the hairs.its soooooooooo wrong.

[fatdoc]

OMFG

there is like NO way for me.

Imagine the rubbing of smooth legs on my body armour..... the chaffing would be horrendous!!

[webbo]

body armour.i didn't know you were in to that medieval reenactment stuff.

[fatdoc]

oh yeah.....

nice and sweaty.

[Bowie]

did my first spin class of the autumn today. 

two victims folded under questioning - "feeling faint" apparently. I pretty much crawled out after 45 minutes.

I am not going to shave my legs for the spin class though - a step too far.

[Nibile]

brilliant!!!
brilliant!!!
brilliant!!!
i'm super happy for bettini and the national team!!! it's been a great race, i was literally pedaling from the edge of the sofa.
great.

[webbo]

but should he have been allowed to start.what with the alligations about asking others to get him drugs and refusing to sign the pledge about giving a years salary if hes caught doping.
if you don't dope whats the problem with signing.

[chappers]

this is one hard core sport. been on the bike every day since i got it. saturday i felt what someone with asthma must feel 30miles in, had to straighten up and suck in the air!
as my mate said to me, "its good because it is about suffering."

i also went out and got some assos shorts to replace the sh~t ones i had, much more comfortable!

[Nibile]

i obviously don't know the true story of bettini, but i think it's never good when someone can't prove what he says.
i think that disqualifying an athlete only on not (still) proved alligations, isn't exactly fair-play.
the document he refused to sign also stated the compulsory DNA testing for the athletes...
the bigger problem behind that is that italian national team has been very badly welcomed in germany, with one of main organizers and a few politicians saying we were not welcome there. and nobody said why.

that said, i really don't know. i hope everybody's clean and safe. i think things have gone too far now in professional cycling: doping techniques are always years in advance on the testings, so who really knows.
i think it's crazy what they're ready to do to their bodies. we're talking serious illnesses here, and potential death risk.
anyway this is a bit off topic.
sorry.

[webbo]

thats o.k. nibile i was just doing the usual brit of implying that the winners may have cheated.thats why our top rider finished 50 something and he served a ban for epo.we did get a bronze in the under 23 race tho.

[fatdoc]

this is one hard core sport. been on the bike every day since i got it. saturday i felt what someone with asthma must feel 30miles in, had to straighten up and suck in the air!
as my mate said to me, "its good because it is about suffering."

i also went out and got some assos shorts to replace the sh~t ones i had, much more comfortable!

30 miles in and you've had the bike how long??

fuck me, i'll just get my coat 

those shorts are the dogs arnt they... have you got to the needing the assos cream on them yet point??

[Percy B]

Betini is one hairy little world champion - I bet those legs take a shit load of shaving!
Chappers - 30 miles is how it starts, then it'll be 30 miles if you just have a couple of hours and are nipping out for a quick ride, and 100 miles plus each day at the weekend. Then you'll notice that even though you're fit as fuck, you feel weak when you climb because you're carrying an extra few kilos from all the extra leg muscle mass you've been piling on, coupled with the loss of any former flexibility you had in you're lower body. And then comes the carbon fibre fetish, and the obsession with weight - Assos shorts is just the start. The road cycling habit is a super expensive way to pass your free time (but awesome, all the same!). A bit like buying ladies lingerie - the more money you spend, the less you get!
As for Fatdocs obsession with chamois cream, its a wise investment if you're the type who enjoys rubbing Deep Heat into your knackers! Be careful - its pretty spicey stuff, but awesome for stopping arse chaffing. Don't do what I did on a ride recently - plodding along up a big hill and I feel a large blockage up my nostril which I can't blast out, so send in a finger to extract the culprit bogey when I realise that I still have remnants of Chamois cream on my finger from a previous apllication to my shorts. Chamois cream rubbed into the sinuses is not a good idea - it took a while before the tears stopped!

[fatdoc]

LOL on the cream up the nose!!

also, dont rub it near your ring either!!!

for TOTAL amusement: tell yr missus its good for post body waxing /shaving, stand clear.. and piss yourself!!! most parts of the body guaranteed to cause tears from you and tears from her!!!

i agree with the extended milage thing, I've yet to get over the 50 mile barrier, but TBH it's mainly a time constraint issue but after a bit the *just a quick ride out into the peak, the conditions look a bit shite for bouldering* soon develops into *god i'm missing the bike this week* sort of thing.

I've not ridden for 10 days   the old spack leg needed some well heavy duty sports massage to get my kneecap facing the right way.. should be good for extended work commute tomorrow!, sheffield to chesterfield via chatsworth!!!!!
I'm shitting myself my new found form will have been lost on 10 days of overindulgance - when i ride most days I can keep my portly physique as is by eating all i want... with my levels of self control i swear I've put on 4 pounds in 10 days!!!

bugger


BTW the roadie clothes are expensive (hmmmm.... new assos winter top hmmm....), but if you want to truly become broke take up downhilling MTB, costs about £100 every 8 weeks in bust bits of kit, and i for one bust bits of me!!

[chappers]

got the bike last thursday. 30 miles, but i do live on the west lancashire plain so it is pretty flat.
off down to the peak this weekend for 40 - 50 miles so im sure that i will post a message about the colapse of my legs when i get back!

i think i have a bit of a kit obsession starting already...

[fatdoc]

oohhhhh

idea!!!!

what about a roadie / bouldering weekend in the peak??

(this weekend lookin dodgy unfortunately)

I'm sure Perc would be up for finding us a quality 30 to 40 miler for one day then the grit venue of choice for the next day??

I can see it now:

Climbing works lyrca team jerseys for sale in the works, perhaps not the stongest look for bouldering, but you never know...


even...

a climbing works entry to the etapecaledonia sportive type thingie next summer...

i'd better get training!!

[Percy B]

Not sure about CW branded lycra...given the amount of piss-taking I get when ever I don the assos tights to ride home from work... However, I'm always  up for a session as and when - how about a lift out to the Roaches for a boulder (preferably from someone with a van to accomodate bikes and pads), then a ride back to Sheffield via Leek, Macclesfield, Cat and Fiddle, Buxton, Stoney, Froggatt Hill, etc, etc....! Lovely....

[Percy B]

Oh, I forgot. How about a trip to the dark side......

Just recently I've been getting into track cycling at Manchester Velodrome - a little repetative, but an awesome workout, and good for getting a bit more power and 'leg speed', so they tell me. Also pretty spicey riding round 25 foot high banking at 30 plus mph 2 inches from the bloke in fronts back wheel. They do taster evenings - well worth a tenner. Check out  www.manchestervelodrome.com
It is considered something of a dark art amongst proper roadies, but I'll be over for the regular track league this winter - a good way to keep your fitness instead of riding endless miles in the piss wet freezing cold that is cycling in a British winter! Instead of £500 for a winter bike, spend £500 on a Dolan track bike! Or even go the whole hog and visit PlanetX and get fixed up with one of their bespoke track bikes.... Where's me wallet?!?!