donimo

@danstonQ: People are probably watching this with different commentaries with different information available - for once we actually have a good Finnish commentary on TV (instead of the one on Max), but they clearly have gotten no information on Loana as they've said themselves they're waiting to hear more. So thanks for the info!

I've had some issues with my vocal chords causing this, although not knowing more I absolutely can't compare my symptoms to Jolanda's. However, for me the first thing that has caused this is a certain flavour of chewing gum already at a very young age - it was my favourite, so I still kept chewing it, knowing the "block" would go away after the first few seconds. I've only had symptoms when exercising beginning in my thirties. There are a lot of causes that can set this off - indeed also flavours and smells, but for example mental stress. And a lot of others. It's a weird thing. In my case the exercise related cases only occur when I'm already stressed otherwise, the first time it happened was when I was severely burning out due to both work and personal life issues - at first I thought I was having a panic attack. So yeah, could be due to a multitude of things perhaps changing in her life during the years.

Yeah there's a lot of talk about COVID and riders being sick in different ways during the Tour currently in general. There have been some dropping out because of unclear illness or symptoms, while in the other end some having tested positive for COVID and still not having any or very mild symptoms - one being Pidcock's teammate Geraint Thomas, who just rode today's stage despite testing positive but quoted to have only having mild symptoms. It's a whole different discussion whether it's smart - or should be allowed - to stay in the race with a positive test. The commentators were just talking about it today and in the end I had to agree it is hard to draw the line. While at the same time the symptoms can be much more severe than with "just the flu", they haven't so far banned anyone from riding with the flu, possibly spreading it around. But yeah, currently there are a lot of variations of "maybe being a little ill" among the tour riders.

Other: Winter, once we get enough snow. Turning all those nearby rocky and rooty tech trails into fast and smooth singletrack, suddenly multiplying the riding options when you can ride in places there's no business in with my skills in the summer. Just gotta hope the dog walkers (and over excited bikers) don't go ruin the trails every time the temperatures rise a bit and the snow gets softer. (Disclaimer: We ride on natural trails with no rules for riding or maintenance other than those friendly dog walkers and fat bikers keeping the footpaths open when fresh snow falls.)

This actually looks like pretty much the perfect bike for my needs, and there aren't a lot around in the newest models with everything "trail" getting more and more suspension. The needs being riding on natural footpath trails (mix and match of rocks, roots and the rare smooth section), continuous ups and downs and constant pedaling - no jumps or other big downhill stuff. Could kinda be labeled as very rough XC, which this seems to be made for. Meant to be pedaled but over some funkier terrain.

It's my main gripe with the otherwise awesome photo epics too. When everything is full-width, there's no way to see any of the photos in full size at once. It takes away from the great photos when you can only view them in sections scrolling down to see the rest.

Another factor is often those "proper XC bikes" are also often the first ones in a lineup to be specced and prized beyond many regular rider's budget without less expensive options - like is the case with the Epic Evo. But then again having this Stumpy launch also only available in carbon and with fancy parts kinda "fixes" that...

And they're not the only ones doing it, but many other companies too. First the "semi enduro" bikes got longer and longer travel. Now the short travel trail bikes are getting more and more. Several brands are now having that gap between true XC bikes and 140/150+ mm trail bikes. In fact that 120/130/140 area is exactly what I'd prefer for the majority of riding we do in Finland, where riding natural trails makes it XC in the sense it's continuous pedaling with ups and downs, but with enough rocks and roots to require a bit more suspension to make it more comfortable and efficient - but 150 mm travel just being unnecessary.

I don't know about most shoes. I wish they did, but so far I've had shoes from (I think) four different big brands and none have had this. On the contrary, on my current Lakes the "pockets" aren't 100% symmetrical: There are the edges of the actual sole/ the indentation and then there are these edges where the material changes underneath the cleats and they have a couple of millimeters difference on the left and right shoe. Nothing you can't solve by measuring with a ruler to check which lines actually are in place correctly, but one reason a cheap tool like this would sometimes make life a little bit easier.

I'm 100% getting one as soon as I can get my hands on it. I guess not everyone has the same needs.