There are some great shots but pour yourself a glass of wine before you start as it could take a while.

If you have a link to any other galleries and photo sets let me know and I’ll add it to the list.

Lastly, if you find any pics of rider 1220 I’d be delighted to see them (as long as I’m not sweating too much)

Enjoy:

First up official photographer Rob Crayton’s set

General Flikr search for all “mountain mayhem” pics loaded during or after the race. That’s over a thousand.

I’m no photographer but some nice “arty” shots in here.

1583 thiumbnails for you to trawl in desperation. 200 of the better images hosted on Flikr – which is probably the best set to start with.

If you find any, drop the photographer a note via Singletrackworld on this thread

rOcKeTdOg’s collection from STW up on Flikr

Graham Haller’s set hosted on Flikr here

Pics from SMPics

Enter the Macbook Pro 13″

I’ve never had a mac, and been a long term windows and linux user. However from the useability and simplicity perspectives, the Macbook pushed all the buttons. So a Christmas present was bought (for her honestly!). It arrived 5 days ago and I set about getting the photos and other important stuff on to the macbook.

What a brilliant little device. I was hooked and became an instant apple fanboy. Well I was until the hard disk failed on the Macbook Pro 13 within 4 days of it arriving!

Using “Disk Utility” that comes on the OS X Snow leapoard DVD; it was obvious the disk had goneas it showed no HDD present – just the optical drive.

I’ve been building my own PCs for years and have so far never had a HDD failure. These things are to be expected but on a “premium” device you expect the MTTF to be a little higher. A thouroughly disappointing start to our “apple relationship”, and I’m in two minds whether to get another. Our short spell together (sorry this is very Mills & Boon ish) was fantastic, and it’s just a shame that we had to be seperated in such circumstances (OK I’ll stop).

In itself that probably says what I’m thinking. The short expereince just highlighted how good the Snow leapoard OS was, and I’m prepared to forgive it’s early misdemeanour.

Overall a fantastic “do-it-all”, no fuss piece of kit. Hopefully the next one will last a little longer.

So what’s it like to ride? Well I’m not sure what I was expecting but it’s amazingly comfortable, far less harsh than my alloy Whyte 19. This is probably in part due to the deadening qualities of carbon that absorb a lot of the vibration and harshness. The saddle has also been a total suprise. Think of it as a very comfortable old skool Flite Ti, but without the associated pain.

Handling wise, it can be a little twitchy, certainly on some of the local loose rocky tracks, and seems to like (like a good old rigid bike) to reward a more accurate line rather than ploughing through everything. That in part may be due to the way  have the SIDs set up at the moment and I’d say I’m still trying to find the sweetspot with them. The lack of weight means it accelerates incredibly well, even with me turning the pedals. The geometry makes it an incredible climber as well, though I might drop the stem a little more to keep the front down on the steep stuff (that top photo is very deceptive – it’s not a sit up and beg releigh shopper honestly)

...a bit twitchy

One of the biggest suprises for me is how accustomed I’ve become to the 2×9 setup. 29×32 seems to cope with most things I’ve thrown at it, apart from some loose and very steep climbs. However, I like it, and I’m pretty happy with the spread across the range of gears.

Having fitted the BB30 adapter sleeve to run a standard M.EXO bottom bracket, I can report zero creaking or noise. Stanley Fearns clearly did a good job in fitting it (their first sleeve)

In the end, some things changed on my proposed build list.

The headset – FSA “something” – After my tales of woe I just wanted to get something I could guarantee would fit. It’s a shame as i had lined up an Acros Ai-22 (beleiving the whyte was a Semi integrated setup). I’ve been very impressed with the engineering, seals and longevity of the one fitted on my Foes.

The Forks: SID World Cups – primarily because I got them for a very good price!

The chain – KMC SL – No particular reason apart from it was a bit bling (yes I will hand my head in shame, but I can’t shake off my early ’90s anodising heritage)

Grips – Ergon GE-1 – What a revelation these things are. These are the ones that look far more like regular grips than the normal Ergon grips. They aren’t exactly light, but I really don’t care. I normally experience some numbness in the outside of my hands on a longer ride. Nothing close so far with these and I’m seriously impressed. I’d consider getting some more for my other bikes.

Wheels – Hope Pro3 Hoops on Stans ZTR355s. I got them from Roger Musson / Wheelpro with the Stans’ Yellow tape installed. A bit heavier than the Acros setup I was going to go for but this bike has cost a lot already so this was an OK compromise. the freehub is so loud though – it seems a lot louder than the Pro 2 on my Whyte 19 alu, and I much prefer something quieter. I’m kicking myself now though having paid about £350 for these, they were going for £100 less on the STW group buy. What a bargain.

Brakes – I now have the Formula R1 lightweight rotors which have removed the “ABS” effect I was getting with the Martal SL wavy rotors

Now the “surprise” – with XTR pedals, and on the trusty bathroom scales, the bike is 20.5 Lbs, including pedals. Knock off 0.5 lbs for the XTR pedals and this is heavier than Whyte’s claim for their off the peg 19 Carbon. Where did I go wrong? Can’t say I’m bothered but I did expect this to come in under 20Lbs.

So where should I take the weight out of it in its current build?

So the final build:

Frame – Whyte 19 Carbon team, with FSA BB30 adaptor installed

Fork - Rockshox SID World Cup with remote Poploc

Headset - Some FSA thing from ATB sales.

Stem - Rotor Components S2

Bars - Easton EC90 CNT Monkeylite SL risers 31.8s

Brakes - Magura Marta Magnesium, Post Mount with Formula R1 rotors 180 f / 160 r

Grips -Ergon GE-1

Seatpost - Easton EC90 CNT Zero 30.9

Saddle - Selle Italia SLR Flow  Kit Carbonio 125

Seat Clamp – Miche 34.9 Carbon

Chainset – FSA K-Force Light dual (42/29) carbon

Bottom Bracket – FSA MExo ceramic

Front mech – XTR M970 34.9 down pull

Rear mech – XTR M970 GS Shadow

Cassette – XTR M970 12 – 34

Chain - KMC SL

Wheelset – Hope hoops – Pro 3 Sp with ZTR355s

Skewers - Critical Ti

Tyres - Schwalbe Nobby Nic 2.1 F & R

Cables – Gore sealed

Pedals – XTR

Well, that’s what you’d expect from most software vendors, not so in the case of Bullguard. To my horror, on firing up my machine bullguard was no longer functioning – it had ceased to be.  A very blatant pop-up appeared telling me that my licence had expired and I was no longer protected (very helpful) – but they’d DISABLED the entire bullguard suite on my machine. I therefore had NO active FIREWALL, nevermind a working (if somewhat behind) antivirus product.

What planet are these people on? This is taking software licencing to the extreme, and to be honest I don’t ever recall reading anything stating that after the licence period the bullguard AV suite is rendered useless and inoperative. No doubt I’ll have missed it in the smallprint, and they’re entirely within their “rights” to do this, but bullguard move to the fore in the category of least user friendly licencing model.

As I say, the product had been good (ignoring the age it took them to get a 64bit version working for Vista), and the support excellent, but on a point of principle I’m voting with my feet. Bullguard is no more; on my machines, I don’t want to boot up a machine one day to find out that yet again they have DISABLED the most critical software defense on my machine.

Bullguard – you really need to reconsider this approach!

Now Donnington has apalling access and some of pretty poor facilities, but you could almost live with that because of the racing. It’s a circuit like Mallory or Cadwell that’s ideal for bike racing. Silverstone on the other is not, despite its “history” and prior associations with the sport.

Apparently Jeremy Mcwilliams is “helping” with the circuit redesign, but with far less time available than Donnington have to accomodate its  F1 duties, it can’t ammount to much. From their own press release.

“Alterations will be made to the circuit layout in order to comply with FIM regulations, while improvements to several spectator viewing areas are also planned. Full details of all track and venue changes will be announced in due course.”

Ryder commented aout Donnington that “The only bit we’ll miss is the first half of the lap”. Many will agree, including myself, but I don’t see how Silverstone circuit can offer racing that will be anywhere near  as exciting as we’ve seen from Donnington. The lack of elevation doesn’t help, but Silverstone doesn’t flow.

I certainly don’t agree with the “very reassuring” summary from Julian Ryder on the move overall. We heard from Kate Tyler that “it’s not just about the racing”. I agree, but without sufficiently exciting racing you have no event, and the efforts spent on improving the facilities are ultimately pointless.

What I heard was akin to a verbal press release to appeal to events managers and corporate buyers, extoling the virtues of the current and to be delivered Silverstone facilities and infrastructure.

What’s doubly disappointing is that Donnington are making major improvements to accomodate F1, which aside from access and camping would go along way to improve the circuit for paying fans. The rework for the new Donnington circuit looks good for racing! The 2010 Donnington track map shows how they’re  reengineering the whole “second half” of the track. Though it wouldn’t be hard to improve the circuit from Mclean’s; it looks like the penalty of the revised infield layout will be much more restricted movement for the public.  Is it just me though that thinks that the first half of the lap will be alot less spectacular for the F1 cars than it is for bikes; with a single file procession through Craner and Starkey’s? Overall though Donnington look to be raising their game to meet the needs of their new arrivals, Silverstone is yet to put forward any clear plans.

I hope both circuits can pull it off. As it stands (as long as Donnington meets its deadlines) the future of F1 racing as an exciting spectacle looks more assured on British soil than the future of MotoGP.

They don’t like embedding (well done Polydor), so click here to go to Youtube and watch it.

Click here to view the embedded video.

With the price hikes in components this year, the off the peg Carbon Team bike is pretty good value for money, particularly when you consider the “discounted” retail of some of the items such as the SIDs (~500), Chainset (~500), Seatpost (~140) and Bars (~100) etc.

Frame – Whyte 19 Carbon team, with FSA BB30 adaptor installed (1)

The reason for installing the BB30 adaptor sleeve was primarily because I picked up a bargain carbon chainset, though I would still probably have fitted an XTR set anyway. These are a press fit, secured with a normal Loctite compound. A big thank you to the folks at Stanley Fearns Cycles for helping me out with the installation (pretty straight forward with a headset press) and getting hold of the sleeve for me.

We didn’t weigh the sleeve but it was just a few g…but the frame’s certainly not going to be lighter as a result.

Fork - Magura Durin 100 SL

Looses the adjustability of the race and a bit of weight as a result. There’s the added bonus of there being less to go wrong,. They should save about 150g over the standard fit RS SID World Cup

Headset - Acros Ai-22 Ceramic (zf fit)

Standard fit is an FSA “ZS CF”.  There’s no info about these anywhere, including the FSA and Whyte websites so I assume it’s the ZS Carbon Fibre. The Acros weighs in at 90g, the FSA at 86g.

Stem – Rotor S2 31.8 90 mm

Nicely engineered lightweight xc stem from Spain. Weighs 99g vs the std fit 125g of the Easton EA90

Bars – Easton EC90 CNT Monkeylite SL risers 31.8s

Brakes - Magura Marta Magnesium, Post Mount 160

XTR is standard. These should save a bit at just over 600g for the set

Grips – TBC

Something lighter than the Whyte lock-ons

Seatpost - Easton EC90 CNT Zero 30.9

Saddle – Selle Italia SLR Flow  Kit Carbonio black (Who makes these names up!?!)

The Team comes with the Fizik Tundra, weighing  219g, the SLR weighs 120 g. I’ve not had one of these before – I hope it’s comfy! I just wish the carbon Fizik Gobi XM weighed less.

Seat Clamp – Miche 34.9 Carbon

A nice and unexpectedly cheap item that are designed for carbon frames and offset the loading when the clamp is torqued. I’m not sure how this compares to the standard fit item

Chainset – FSA K-Force Light dual (42/29) carbon

The BB30 standard fit triple FSA K-Force Light item comes in at 720 g, inc the BB.

The Dual comes in at 720, inc the BB, we’ll call that a draw

Bottom Bracket – FSA MExo ceramic

Front mech – XTR M970 34.9 down pull

Rear mech – XTR M970 GS Shadow

Cassette – XTR M970 12 – 34

Chain – Sram PC991

Wheelset – ACROS .54 F&R Hubs, DT Revolutions in Black, Black Alloy Nipples, Stans Olympic Rims with yellow tape & UST valve.

These should save about 200-250 g over the XTR std fit which weigh 1545 g. The wheels are still up in the air though. I don’t want something with a weight limit particularly. I’m no biffer I just would rather go with something that still has some metal left in it. Some of the hope hoops with the Stans options look good value at the moment.

Skewers – TBD – Tune or similar

Tyres – Schwalbe Nobby Nic 2.1 F & Racing Ralph 2.1  R

Standard fit are Panaracer Razer 2.1 Kevlars, weighing 470g, the Nics are 490g, the Ralphs a bit less

Cables – Gore sealed or XTR

Pedals – XTR

1) Contador Astana
2) Le Mevel +00′23″ FDJ
3) Nocentini +00′42″ AG2R
4) Wiggins +01′28″ Garmin
5) Armstrong +01′37″ Astana
6) A Schelck +01′46″ Saxo Bank
7) Evans +01′51″ Silence lotto
8 ) Nibali +01′53″ Liquigas
9) Martin +02′08″ Columbia
10) Kloden +02′17″ Astana
11) Sastre +02′39″ Cervelo TT
12 F Schleck +02′45″ Saxo bank
13 Hincapie +03′06″ Columbia
14) Monfort +03′39″ Columbia
15) Vandevelde 03′41″ Garmin

I’m a big fan of the team time trial as a spectacle but it did kill this years race for a lot of riders. I’d prefer to see another mountain top finish in its place but if it remains the rules need to change so the losses aren’t as catastrophic for the teams who aren’t TT specialists.

What is clear though is that the apparent “barging” by Cavendish was due to the fact that the barriers encroached on to the circuit and narrowed the course, coming out in to the path of the racers. Cavendish held his line, Hushovd went for an inside move that resulted in him being pushed towards Cavendish by the  rapidly narrowing barrier. It’s only really apparent from the helicopter shots. From the ground you see Hushovd getting closer to the barrier, so it’s not an unrealistic conclusion that Cavendish was at fault, but the overhead shots show something very different. I can’t believe they didn’t have access to that material at the finish so what on earth is going on?

The arrogance of the omnipotent (Norwegian? ) long time TDF commissaire Martin Bruin  interviewed after the race beggars belief. Basically stating that the only appeal is to me [MB], and I wont allow one as I have seen all I need to see.

Clearly he hadn’t seen the overheads, and has just spoiled what was going to be a very close battle for the green jersey over the next week. Hopefully sense will prevail, maybe even Hushovd will call it differently when he sees the footage.

The UCI and its officials should be prepared to re-evaluate their decisions based on available evidence. If they are able reverse the decision about the earlier split in the peloton that pushed Leipheimer and Wiggins down the GC (which was the right decison!) this should be no different.

Update: Video of Martin Bruin’s interview on the disqualification and appeal chances of Mark Cavendish on the ITV website, if you can live through the two ads that preceed it.

Today’s stage was one of those “what if?” dream scenarios where the backroom boy might get to go centre stage and achieve what is no doubt the ultimate accolade for any pro cyclist.

Well Hincapie didn’t make it. In the end he was 5 seconds off the Jersey. That’s tough, imponderably and inconceivably so if you’re in big George’s shoes; as he’ll never come so close again. My heart genuinely goes out to him.

After the race Hincapie seemed suitably upset by the riding that Astana and Garmin had put in…particularly Astana.

What irks me though are the reactions from elsewhere. Johan Bruyneel, directeur sportif for Astana is twittering :

johanbruyneelBummed, really bummed about George Hincapie not getting yellow. Won’t elaborate on the strategies but what Garmin did was just BS. Sorry!

Well it may have escaped his attention but his team puled for most of the stage. How he can point the finger is beyond me but not unusual for Mr Bruyneel.

Now according to Lance Armstrong:

lancearmstrongLast thing. There were 13 guys in the breakaway. We had 2 guys riding “tempo”. That is not chasing by any stretch of the imagination.

That wasn’t tempo, and if you and your partner in crime Bruyneel were so concerned over the fate of Hincapie and his destiny to obtain the yellow jersey maybe you should have dropped the “tempo”.

If I were Hincapie I’d be inconsolable. I’d be kicking myself for not riding that last 10k harder or making the jump to Ivanov (regardless of whether I could have). I’d be kicking myself for not pulling the group along at my pace for the last 8 Km and burying myself (regardless of whether  could have). In fairness it looked as though GH was pulling alone from 5 K to KM 3.5 before anyone else started taking turns, but for the rest of the closing Kms he spent as much time looking round the group, or trying to convince the others to ride. I’d also be kicking myself for not getting Timmer & Roulton’s wheel with 6Km to go. That could have made the difference with three riding together.

Now I might think I was “owed” a favour, who knows maybe some deal had been done; and according to lance Armstrong’s post stage tweets that seemed to be the case with AG2R being complicit.

lancearmstrongOur team rode a moderate tempo to put him in the jersey by at least 2 mins. Ag2r said they would not defend then they started to ride.

lancearmstrongUntil 10km to go he was solidly in yellow until GARMIN put on the gas and made sure it didn’t happen.

10Km happens to coincide with when the lead group started to fracture. His “solid” yellow collapsed through the inevitable pace increase of the peloton in the closing. With 2 KM to go for the leader the Peleton were not closing on Ivanov…who was riding quicker alone than his pursuers (including Hincapie) could manage in a group. That’s hardly lightning and deliberate pace. With 2 km to go for the Peloton, they were being pulled by two Lotto riders with a single Garmin rider floating near the front.

To be frank if I was Hincapie and got yellow on a “gift” stage, then I’d have to live with that knowledge for ever. It would be like some half hearted lifelong service award, rather than due to my brilliant efforts on the day. That would leave a bitter taste, though again that’s how the peloton often works.

Some of the responses on twitter make me cringe, though this is the internet. People “boycotting” Garmin, Livestrong flavoured venom directed to Slipstream and their riders. It beggars belief, but again this is the internet.

Today wasn’t declared George Hincapie day, nor was it a testimonial ride in his honour. The Tour de France is a race, and people need to remember that. I applaud Garmin, Lotto and any other team for doing what they need to do to run THEIR own race. I’m appalled that Bruyneel turns it in to a finger pointing exercise towards Garmin. The race winner is not dictated by Johan Bruyneel. The race winner is not dictated by Lance Armstrong. Long may that continue.

I’m really disappointed Hincapie didn’t get yellow…but I’m far more disappointed with Astana.