More Orica Finishline Action

The last Corsican stage of the Tour saw another mountain day with big break aways that were all pulled back together for a sprint. With Sagan in the mix, he was arguably the favourite, but his day was spoiled by Simon Gerrans pipping him on the line and taking the first Tour de France stage win for Orica Green Edge.

Sagan did, however, ride into the lead in the points competition and into a slightly different shade of green jersey from his usual one.

A special mention must surely go to Geraint Thomas who rode another tough day with what is now being reported to be a slightly fractured pelvis. He had another trip to hospital on Sunday night and I guess will be monitored closely by the team doctors.

Away from the Tour de France (and how much it’s making me want to go to Corsica – something that is less likely, perhaps, with next year’s Départ in Yorkshire) there was big news last week that one in four vehicles on the roads of London during a commute were bikes. Piggy-backing this popularity in cycling in the city, there was also news of anew helmet concept that is cheap to produce and easy to recycle. Ideal perhaps for Boris Bike users, if not for their fashion sense.

To achieve the same effect, buy some electrical equipment and squash the packaging onto your head.

In the world of me and my bikes, which I imagine you are just as interested to know about, I had a tough old session of bike mechanics. The plan was to replace two bottom brackets, one chainring and a wheel across two bikes. I hit problems at every turn.

I have well documented my issues with Continental tyres and Mavic rims in the past, and this problem was expected, but no less annoying. The solution was to send a convenient girl to a bike shop to persuade them to get the last bit on, and I felt happy to learn that they found it just as tough.

One bottom bracket change was the only simple part of the whole thing and both came out and in again with a minimum of fuss. However, the other seems to be seized into the frame in a manner that starts to make you fear for the frame as a whole. I’m in a cycle of hoping and drenching it in GT85 in an effort to free it up. It may be a trip to a bike shop and a bit of embarrassed admitting that I may have not greased it into the frame initially. I forget but I’ll keep you posted on the outcome. Currently I have the weird stress of an unridable bike, which I dislike.

The final issue was one seized bolt that tantalisingly didn’t allow me to remove the old chainring. Having debated for a few days I decided on a definitely manly fix, rolled out the hacksaw, and cut the bolt off. Strangely this kind of fairly violent solution is almost more satisfying than moving the bolt in the end. Expect far more stories involving hacksaws.

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