I agree, maybe only 12 year back might do.

I think if your not in there as a junior, competing at an international level you don't really have much chance. I finished school in 88 or 89 and went straight to the USA to do sport, I was 16 the first trip overseas. Kept going OS until I was 24 or so, good fun, good way to see the world, just not much future for "pro sport guy that never quite made it", earning enough money to just keep going got boring after a few years.

Having said that, doesn't stop many of us riding every minute we can and racing our guts out for fun every second weekend or so.

I finally made the grade at 40. My aspirations were C Grade club racing. Things changed along the way.

Now I just have to learn how to go faster. And then i have to learn how to go faster still. And then..... etc ad infinitum :(

This has been a VERY bike oriented day.

Can we laze back into dribble for a week or so to recover pleeze? :D

yeah, true.

Any one else watching the doco on sbs about Columbia? on right now.

I wish. SWMBO is watching that stoopid hello/goodbye rubbish :rolleyes:

just finished, great timing hey?

Why, are you a Serb?

Are you asking me ?

Oddly enough, you can wear any helmet in BMX. I'm reasonably sure I saw a kid in a hockey helmet. But my US spec one was good enough for the track over there. And Oz standards for testing are tougher than the US standards. I didn't read Jock's whole post, but I read about what manufacturers have to do to sell them in Oz, and the testing is a bit more comprehensive than the US standards. Not that it makes any difference at the time of impact.

I've designed a few helmets in my time, and let me tell you, the Aussie Standards may be marginally tougher, but to think that they're better than SNELL or ANSI and have something valuable to offer, 'protecting valuable Australian noggins over and above world standards' doesn't ring true from where I'm standing.

In fact, from memory the major differences lie in the intrusion testing and the random sample testing, and in practice all that appears to do is unneccessarily inflate prices because importers have to cover the cost of this, and that the more 'extreme' helmets with large vents don't pass. All this seems to do is encourage grey importing, support the local bottom-of-the-market producers, and put people off wearing helmets.

after doing random sampling in econometrics Im glad they do it. You get a better picture of the sample results reflecting how the rest of the helmets will perform.

What did ya do?
My tiddlywinks background has been essential in flicking those STI shifters;)

On succesful crossover sports, watch out for those bludy BMX'rs on the velodrome!

The whole having to start at 14 thing is overblown although I did. Mindyou I never became elite. The number ONE thing you can do is join a club. All the best Aussie riders came through the club system and beleive me club racing is harder than you imagine. Canberra had two TDF riders come through the club system. One was Steve Hodge who rode in my club and the other rode in the Pro club and his name escapes me for the moment although he's working for the pro teams in Europe now.

Regards, Anthony

Well, if you mass produce a helmet under controlled conditions, it passes three other international standards, doesn't that kinda make the forth standard obsolete?

Random sampling is one thing, over policing is another. I think it's just another example of where we're so used to being over-policed, we think it's 'normal' or 'okay'. Australian society is littered with numerous examples. Damn convicts! :rolleyes:

If you think those three other standards are worthless and dont really test what your looking for, I guess a fourth standard is warranted. I dont trust any US standard, look at their new drugs testing (i think its called the FDA), they will pass anything as long as you throw em some money.

I dunno if our standards are better or worse than other standards. I dont know if there is any benefit to testing the helmets again.

I think he mentioned footy... we've got a fair few ex-footy players at our club.

Neil Stephens?

The FDA has been around for a long time. Considering what Seppos consider 'food' and they way they can reel off all the names of all the latest drugs, I think it's safe to be untrustworthy.

You know all that crap spam you get in your inbox selling pills? Does anyone have any idea what any of them are? I mean, I know what Viagra is, but WTF is Cialis or Vioxx or wtfever?

On the topic of bikes, I'm sitting here thinking about how I really ride and what would be a cool bike for my next roadie, and you know, I can't think of any good reason not to just have a complete Chorus CT group with record hubs laced to Mavic Open pro rims, and some cool, solid parts like Thomson stem and post, KEO pedals, Arione saddle etc.

My current roadie is in the high 18lb mark (62cm steel frame, tandem forks) so i don't give a toss about weight, and I'm not racing, so why bother attempting to get a 1300g clincher wheelset or drop 300g by going with some silly parts when all it will do is dent my cashflow?

Or am i stating the obvious?

Was that the one about the dudes in La Sierra? Interesting show....I stumbled across it while channel surfing and stayed with it.

Cialis is another drug used for erectile dysfunction. Vioxx is used in the treatment of arthritis, but was withdrawn from the market in 2004 following an increase in cardiac events and was re-instated in the USA last year with increased warnings. It is not available in Australia.

I popped a Viagra once....got stuck in my throat.

Had a stiff neck for hours.

John Kennedy has a high profile as a coach in Melbourne.....(at least with athletes coming back from in re-hab anyway :rolleyes: )

The Jan blog has a great entry when Jan won the time trial yesterday.