Standing the Heat

The Vuelta continued yesterday with more debate over that crash with opinions seeming to swing in favour of Sky’s actions.

The stage itself was a rare flattish finish allowing the sprinters a day out, once a lone breakaway rider, Chacon, was reeled back into the group. Sky pulled hard, using Froome as well, into the last 3km but then Swift was once again unable to take advantage as he was squeezed out to finish 21st, with the win going again to Degenkolb, taking a second Vuelta sprint stage win this year. Froome came in with the main pack and remains second, a single second off the lead, in the same group as Contador.

At the same time in Denmark their tour seems to have suddenly gained some prominence and the first stage was won by Greipel in a year where there are big names competing, including a certain Mark Cavendish.

In other competition-news the annual Brompton world champs took place at Blenheim Palace last Sunday. The race was won by Michael Hutchinson and should by rights have been given a rainbow tie, despite the UCI’s sad overlooking of the event as a serious part of the calendar.

On less of an international scale I started to address the issue of making my 1x9 conversion work properly with the arrival of a set of thinner chainring bolts and a retention device. I am yet to fit it but the model I went for was by e*thirteen. I am eagerly looking forward to finding out how this can cost twice as much as a front mech, but do about three times less. It does beg the question as to whether I would have been better off replacing the slightly worn out front mech with, say, another one, rather than being clever. Still, it seems once I have an idea in my head I want to see it through and at least it means I have a story to tell.

All of this made me very interested in the concept of the London Bike Kitchen which I became aware of recently. It seems an excellent idea to give people the skills and the equipment (for a small price) to fix their own bikes. I’ve banged on about this before and I still think it’s way better and makes you a more confident cyclist all round to be able to build and fix your own bike. You can feel far more comfortable knowing you can make anything better if it goes wrong on a ride than constantly worrying about the slightest creak or wobble. Also you’ll save money.

I’d like to see more of this type of project allowing access to the sort of quality and specialist tools that you won’t buy and a way to get advice, without the extortion of bike shop workshops.

A