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could try phoning someone like the CTC or LCC?

they may be able to comment/advise if you are not a member...

I cycled to Germany last summer for a friend's wedding in Leer (right on the west side but much further north than where you are going). I thought about going from Calais but in the end opted to go via Hook of Holland (getting the ferry from Harwich). By the time I got to my destination my total distance was about 400 miles or so.

Even though Holland and Belgium are flat I'm not sure that 2 days is achievable if only because you'll have to stop every so often to do some route finding, eat, rest, etc. And if you follow the (very nice and often scenic) cycle routes you'll find that what looks straight on a map is frustratingly bendy so perhaps the 330 will turn out to be a fair bit more :-)

I did it at quite a leisurely pace and so took about a week with a couple of rest days (including a trip to an outlying island - Terschelling - which was really cool). I did about 70 or so miles per day (which was pretty easy) and averaged between 15 and 17 miles per hour (which was brought down to that level by the slowness of urban riding and easing off the pace to navigate and sight-see). I could have covered much more distance and started from somewhere like Calais and gone through Belgium but I had the luxury of being able to take my time and so made the most of it.

The Dutch word for bike is "fiet" and if you start googling you should find lots of resources. A company called ANWB publish an extensive range of bike route maps although they tend to be designed for people doing short rides and are of a scale (1:50,000) which is unlikely to be particularly useful. I ended up just getting a regular road map and it worked well, although have seen just seen this which includes some of the long-distance routes that span Holland.

I've just found this link which should be useful. I pretty much followed the LF1 which was a great ride. Perhaps LF13 would be handy for you? The advantage of using an "LF" is the ease of navigation (it will be signposted) and the fact that you'll be on a quiet route; the disadvantage is that the route will wiggle about all over the place!

Anyway, that's enough waffling. Hope you have fun!

"Split in half" sounds like a fair whack... Fingers crossed they're ok.

i see the competition is pretty active this year too

http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=12603098&start=440

some good times being laid down

i must have a go myself one evening soon!

MG - Agree although it was dark at the time the incident happened.

While it's a slightly contentious comment apparently the victim was not wearing a helmet (according to the person I spoke to on the south side of the bridge shortly afterwards).

That said the description of the damage to the VW in the posts above mentions makes it sound like there was quite a bit of speed involved so a helmet may not have helped (although of course a head injury may not have been a factor).

It's a dangerous bridge that cars speed over far too freely. Someone else commented to me that a pedestrian was hit (killed I think) by a car as they were trying to cross the bridge just a few weeks ago.

thanks for the clarifications matty_k

sounds terrible :-(

A rider got squashed between 2 cars earlier - probably about an hour ago or so - on the south side of the bridge by the traffic lights

Didn't see it happen but someone I spoke to said they tried to resuscitate the person but he didn't think it was successful

They've taped off the area which is usually a bad sign :-(

Some talk of a helicopter getting involved - possibly trying to land on the bridge to rush the victim off to hospital - but in the end they took them off in an ambulance

Thinking back to Furtwangler's original question and expanding on my comments above it is worth highlighting that the Cyclefit guys focus almost uniquely on the shoes/pedal interface (and rightly so given that it is the link between you and the bike).

So they will:

• Mould you some insoles to get your feet fitting correctly in your shoes (accounting for the general profile of your feet as well as specific such as varus/valgus tilt)
  
• Add any wedges to your shoes to compensate for leg length discrepancy etc.
  
• Position the cleats to ensure your knee is over the pedal spindle (or rather the tibial tuberosity which is the bump just below the knee cap)
  
• Also align the cleats to allow for any natural lateral foot rotation etc.
  
  

As for the rest of the fit I get the sense that they plug your measurements into their Serotta sizing system and then set up your base position using that information. Obviously as time permits they will tweak that base position to try to achieve a balance of optimum comfort and performance.

Inevitably most of the time for your session will be spent on the shoe/pedal interface, which will leave less time to fine tune those other aspects of your fit. If you have specific physio issues then I would definitely recommend going for the Wednesday morning session. And if your physio issues are complicated you may need more than a single session at Cyclefit, or perhaps a separate follow-up session with Graham (their physio).

As an aside it was quite interesting to hear Phil (at Cyclefit) says that they were seeing more and more fixed riders :-)

If you have physio issues then book for a Wednesday morning when Graham Anderson is there so that the Cyclefit guys will be able to seek his expert guidance as they do your fitting

(Graham runs the Balance physio in Clapham and is excellent)

rotating weight makes a difference

there's no point in having more weight than necessary

a well built wheel with 32 spokes will be more than strong enough

sounds like quite a high ratio to me

what about your position on the bike - what's it like?

are you knees over the pedal spindle at the front of the stroke?

are you sitting far back enough?

sorry should have said we have already got some good quality monitors that we were going to use so that's one reason why i thought it would make sense to get a unit without a monitor

and so that would take us down the mini or pro route and i'm guessing a mini may not quite have the spec we need?

but mac pros are very expensive so need to think again and speak to the apple people :-)

thanks for all the other replies

hi flickwg, yeah i know he said macbook pros and that they're different to mac pros

i think we probably want the bigger desktop machines for flexibility (i.e. they'd give us more future-proofing by having scope for hard-drive, memory and video card expansion etc.)

yeah the nut is fiddly but so too is the screw and you have to ensure that you slot the screwdriver in cleanly to avoid messing up the screw head

while my mechnical skills are good enough i do have a tendency to f*ck up small screw and allen bolts etc. :-)

thanks for the reply

that sounds useful - will probably give the apple store a call tomorrow

do you have any initial thoughts on the kind of Mac Pro specs i'd need (just so i can look at the website and get a feel for prices)?

Ok cheers.

What would be wrong with using a joining link?

Overdrive - I think I paid about £28 for it... In retrospect it's probably a bit of an excessive purchase and tougher than I need but it does look nice :-)

We need to get some Macs at work for a new team who will be doing some graphic work (using CS4) and video work (using Final Cut Pro).

As there are quite a few designers on here I was wondering if anyone could help with ideas on what sort of specification we should be using for Macs.

We're thinking of going for Mac Pros - and the new ones look nice - but we can't afford to spend too much especially as our budgets are being squeezed :-(

So what specs would allow us to do graphics and videos work (without being excessive)?

I've got an Izumi Super Toughness chain...

I like everything about it - especially the "Super Toughness" name - except the fiddly joining link that has a screw and nut

Does anyone know if I can just get another joining link (which is easier to use) and run it with that instead? And if so where from?

my cervelo is a 56

what cervelo? i thought it hadn't arrived yet?

Condor size you up for a bike when you buy from them don't they? I asked about their sizing jig when I was in there and they pretty much shrugged me off. I look like someone with no money and they just said something along the lines of "we fit you to a bike when you are serious about buying one from us".

I got fitted by Condor when I bought my bike. My understanding is that they mostly - if not always - use it to fit you to their bikes rather than get general position information from it. When they use it they configure it to the basic frame size (of the bike from their range) that they think is appropriate and then fiddle with the seat, bars, etc.

I know Sigma will measure you up for about £35. If I remember correctly they use the "bikefit" system and you come away with a diagram showing the various important measurements.

I'm thinking about getting measured up by Cyclefit as I get some knee pain which may need some specific changes to my bike that will probably have been beyond the capabilities of the relatively simple - but doubtless mostly effective - approach used by Condor. I'll report back as I expect to do it over the next few weeks.

i don't read this forum very often but just logged on to catch up only to read this terribly sad news

my deepest sympathies to you giles, kate, and your families for your tragic loss

Ever since switching to a singlespeed - not fixed - for commuting about a year ago my leg muscles (primarily calves but also hamstrings) have got bigger.

That's probably because of I have a gear around 69" (good for a flat 5-mile commute) and I tend to mash it hard as I sprint between lights (and love doing that as I can chase down RLJers).

To be honest I prefer the idea of singlespeed to fixed but am wondering whether riding fixed would give me leaner legs.

I suppose the main downside is the smoother riding style could make it trickier for me to get involved in commute pursuits.

Any thoughts from fellow fat-legged freaks?

While doing my frequent capitalist pig check on the US market's movements I unexpectedly came across this video on how more people are switching to cycling in London to save costs

http://www.marketwatch.com/video/asset/758DC520-CAEE-476D-9B70-16E83EC3BBE6

There's a funny bit near the end where they cite "perspiration" and (wait for it...) "helmet hair" as being the two main reasons why people don't take up cycling :-)

I reckon a few blurred photos of bikes are going to arise on this section of hill. ;)

Not sure how to link Flickr photos but I sense a theme developing here

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she was wearing a pearl necklace as well...