Pressed submit a bit early there. Anyway, Tommy Godwin, 200 miles a day for a whole year is an unthinkable target for most of us I reckon. The physical and logistical demands alone are mind boggling even by modern standards, let alone on a heavier pre-war bike, with poorer roads etc.

I’m going to cast a vote for Tommy Godwin. 75000 miles, 200 plus per day, in 1939. Knowing the British climate I imagine he rode in just about every kind of weather, with the exception of extreme heat.

@stooge Yes indeed @ Stooge, in fact I’m a Giro desaparecido, my entry having been missed. Perhaps I’d be more miffed if I’d got all five in the correct order,,as if that was likely to happen, but with only 3 in the wrong order I think I can afford to be relaxed and enjoy the anonymity.

1. Kruijswijk 2. Quintana 3. Dumoulin 4. Nibali 5. Thomas

@davidlhill Yeah, me too tbh, just with a slight tarnish.

Thought this was a reasonably appropriate article to resurrect, given that it’s partly about orange shoes. I have a nagging desire to stray from my usual choice of white shoes and give orange a try. Sidi do some road shoes in that colour, but another company that also makes them is Gaerne, a brand about which I know next to nothing. Anybody got…

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@Cary I wouldn’t bet my house on any of them being clean, but I believe in Froome as much anyone. That said I believed in Wiggins too, and whilst I don’t believe he used EPO etc, as far as I’m concerned the medication taken prior to the 2012 Tour WAS cheating, even if it was “legal”.

Happy New Year all, hope it’s a great one.

Is that a Belgian cap/ neck warmer combi or a peaked balaclava? Either way I’m surprised that Rapha have never tried to market it, although it would have to be as a “passe-montagne”.

Man, I’m feeling inadequate now, with just 3 bikes. Strangely enough my original (recent) number 1 (Pinarello Angliru) became my number 3 as soon as the new number 1 arrived (Pinarello FP7), mainly because the number 2 (Pinarello Sestriere) is lighter and more comfortable (steel over aluminum). However, I still wrestle with the irony that the…

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Has anybody here read “Push Yourself Just A Little Bit More” by Johnny Green? There’s a bit in there where he describes watching Jean Patrick Nazon cross the line after a TDF time trial. Apparently JPN had so little left in the tank that he collapsed to the floor and lost control of his bodily functions, ending up lying in a pool of his own body…

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I’ve never really been drawn to black bikes either, although I really liked the high gloss Pinarello, with yellow flashing, that they made after Froome’s first tour win. Like Wiscot, I think the gumwalls cap the bike off perfectly.

Frank, I also derive great, slightly smug, satisfaction in the winter from the feeling that it’s only the “proper”, committed cyclists who ride as the weather worsens.

Indeed. A sticky energy drink, on the other hand …………..

@RobSandy Absolutely, one of the great joys.

The most amazing thing, for me, about the Degenkolb squirting incident was just how calm Debusschere was about it. I suspect this may have infuriated JD even more. Wonder how things would have played out if you swapped the Belgian element for, say, the Italians?

I’m with you @oracle, I long to hear a rider face up to a doping violation with the words “it’s a fair cop, Guv”. Even once would be a refreshing change.

VSP PICKS:

1. Bronzini
2. Vos
3. Van Der Breggen
4. Hosking
5. Wild

Contador out of the race with flu.

@ErikdR You’ve got me wondering the same thing, although they are correct for the bike’s age. The short mudguards/ fenders were de-rigeur back in those days, don’t think we ever questioned what purpose they served.