In mountain biking news we bring you results & chat from round 2 of the Cross Country Eliminator & Round 3 of the Cross Country in Nove Mesto Na Morave in the Czech Republic.

We discuss the Ardennes Classics & chuck out some rash (but not really that rash!) predictions for Liege – Bastogne – Liege.

We bring you some audio from the Scottish Bike Show, including Mike Jardine, the organiser of the Fort William World Cup, who has kindly offered 2 pairs of full-access weekend tickets as a prize for lucky pod listeners.  We also chatted to Mark at Singletrack Magazine who gave us the low-down on the exciting changes in the look and feel of the magazine.  Finally, we caught up with the company that produce Gary’s favourite bit of bike-cleaning kit, Purple Harry. 

In mountain biking news, we wrap up the frites-fest that was Houffalize and bring you news of the first ever World Cup Cross Country Eliminator, making sure to gratuitously drop the name Tracy Moseley wherever possible!

We also had a chat to Rowan Mackie of the Scottish Bike Show to find out how things are shaping up with just 2 weeks to go.

We round up part one of the Classics season & discuss Boonen's brilliant win at the Ronde Van Vlaanderen.  In mountain bike news, we discuss the opening round of the World Cup at Pietermaritzburg and the coverage provided by Red Bull.

We have an interview with Rowan Mackie, organisers of the Scottish Bike Show and he tells us about his plans to expand the 2012 show and introduce 2 sportives to accompany the event.

In mountain biking news we talk about the Atherton’s move to GT Racing and wonder whether the family + 1 format will work for them.

We have an interview with John and Dave from the excellent Dig In cyclocross series on YouTube about the hugely successful race that the organised, Dig In Around the Dock.

We have an early nomination for VCDL Woman of the Year, in the shape of Australia’s Chloe Hosking who, in our opinion, was extremely restrained when she referred to Uncle Pat as “a dick”.

In a fashion segment that would make Gok Wan swell with pride (swollen Gok?) we discuss some of the hits & misses in new team kit design.

Taking to the dirt we discuss the latest developments in the ongoing DH1 saga and the rumoured partnership between Red Bull & the UCI which may see DH1 stillborn before the season even gets underway.

We have some news of friend-of-the-pod, Tracy Moseley’s plans for the season which will see her diversify her activities, competing in disciplines other than downhill.

In other UCI-related news, we report on the allegations in Swiss newspaper, l’Illustre, suggesting that Vino paid Alexander Kolobnev for the 2010 Liege-Bastogne-Liege victory.  Uncle Pat says there are rules against it but he says (and I’m paraphrasing here) “It’s nothing to do with me, mate!”

We update the list of teams awarded Pro-Team status, among them the triple-barrelled loveliness that is Radioshack-Nissan-Trek.

We look back at our highlights of the year & we have a great interview with Chris Alfred of IG Markets, one of the sponsors of Team Sky, who gives us a fascinating insight into the IG Markets Procycling Index.

In off-road news, we discuss the sickeningly amicable split and “warm farewell” between the Athertons & Commençal, and we reprise the Ruta de los Conqustadores with a chat about the interview given by winner Todd Wells to Bicycle Radio (look for the 8th November episode) where he described just how brutal the race was & how the riders had to use kayaks & zip lines to get to & from stage starts.

Finally, we wrap up our Festive Fantasy Peloton competition & announce the winner of the Shutt Velo Rapide mega-schwag.

We also discuss the Rasmussens, Alex & Michael, one of whom has escaped the wrath of the UCI and the other who was trying to escape the wrath of his wife.

In mountain bike news, we look at how the DH1 series is shaping up with the announcement of countries but, other than Maribor, no actual venues yet.  But everything looks smooth as they contemplate a Brazilian.

Finally, we launch our grand competition for the kindly donated Shutt Velo Rapide goodies.  Visit our Facebook page for a clearer explanation than we may have managed to put across in the pod

We also discuss the Grio di Lombardia, we bring you yet another installment in the curious case of Ezequiel Mosquera and round up the applications for World Tour status.

As well as our Tracy Moseley interview in the mountain biking segment, we bring you news of the breakaway that isn't a breakaway, the Freecaster DH1 Series  

We discuss whether a move to Quick-Step is on the (dance) cards for Cav and whether his recent signing with Wasserman Media Group indicates an incredibly mature sportsman who is acutely aware of his on value.

We preview the final Monument of the season, the Giro di Lombardia and, in other Giro news, we discuss the  proposed penultimate stage of the 2012 Giro d'Italia which is going to feature 5900m of climbing over 218km, culminating in ascents of the Mortirolo & Stelvio.  Angelo Zomegnan - gone but seemingly not forgotten!

Graham shoe-horns in a segment about triathlon bikes & spends the rest of the podcast apologising and we finish off with the question: Sieste Schelpe of Rocky Roads, benefactor or space cadet?

Not content with such success in the World Championships, we talk about the unprecedented sight of 2 Brits on the podium in a Grand Tour, as Chris Froome and Bradley Wiggins take 2nd & 3rd in the Vuelta.

Gary has been doing his homework and brings us the ins and outs of the UCI World Tour and we look back on the recent Tour of Britain.

Finally, breaking free of our jingoistic chains, we get a bit depressed about the future of Mountain Biking as we discuss the UCI’s decision to axe Four Cross from the World Cup schedule and the bizarre tie-up between the UCI and the sponsor which no-one has heard of, Rocky Roads – a decision that, quite frankly, takes the biscuit.

We discuss the forthcoming Tour of Britain which kicks off in Peebles on September 11th.

Here is the link to the Katy Winton blog post which recounts her torrid time at the cross country Worlds.

We give a big shout out to the organisers of the excellent Ken Laidlaw Sportive which Gary & Graham took part in & thoroughly enjoyed.

We announce the results of our Facebook competition and launch our new musical quiz! Prizes galore (well...not really!)

After a brief hiatus, we bring back our mountain biking segment, bringing the season up to date and discussing the Olympic test event at Hadleigh Farm.  Footage of both the men’s and women’s events can be found at XCRacer.com.

We announce the winner of our Facebook competition and generally struggle with pronunciation, memory and facts!

We discuss our views on some of the key riders as well as some names that we will be looking out for. More of a pre-ramble to the Tour than a preamble.

We wrap up the Giro and have some discussion about the Dauphiné, all the while trying to avoid this episode testing positive for doping stories!

Finally, we discuss the VCDL road trip to Fort William for Round 2 of the Mountain Bike World Cup, where we grabbed a quick interview with Rou Chater of the excellent International Mountain Bike Magazine, a free online magazine designed specifically to be read online.

We talk about Round 2 of the mountain bike Cross Country World Cup held at Dalby Forest in England.

The second half alluded to in the title is a loose and frankly shambolic (but hopefully passionate) discussion about the implications of the Hamilton & Hincapie revelations.  We reference two excellent pieces of journalism on the subject by Lional Birnie & David Walsh.

As we mention on the pod, please consider visiting Holly’s website and helping her to reach her goal of raising $3000 as she takes part in the Aids/Lifecycle ride.

In other book-related news we have a brief chat about the forthcoming book by Ned Boulting (yes, off of the telly!) which was the subject of an eloquent blog post by Mrs Stumpyrider a week or so ago.

We stroll down the cobbled sections of memory lane as we wrap up this year’s classics campaign and we look forward to the Giro and the Amgen  Tour of California.  We discuss the first round of the Mountain Bike World Cup and look forward to the tenth anniversary of Fort William as a World Cup venue.

We also discuss Riis’ and the victory of Nick Nuyens in the recent Ronde Van Vlaanderen.

We preview the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup season and have a great chat with Chipps Chippendale from Singletrack Magazine.

We have Part 2 of our Guide to the Classics with John from The Flammecast (available on iTunes)

We announce the winner of our signed Obree photo competition, who carries on the fine tradition of abusing poor Colin.

This week we have a great chat with Richard Mitchelson whose excellent illustrations can be found in Rouleur magazine.  

We also bring you part 1 of our Guide to the Classics with John Galloway, aka @sofaboy, from the new podcast Flammecast.

There is some discussion on Ricco’s fridge-related shennanigans, Contador’s beef-related shennanigans and JV “Joining the Dots".

This week we are delighted to be joined by cycling legend and all-round nice guy Graeme Obree.  Graeme was very generous with his time and indulged three fans who just wanted to sit down with their hero and talk bikes – he even made us tea & gave us Jaffa Cakes.  Enjoy the wonderful stories from one of cycling’s true greats.

This week, we discuss the Tour Down Under which sees the possibility of a head to head clash between Cav and ex team-mate Greipel.  This race also marks the final, last, final (honest, it’s final) appearance of Lance at a race (outwith the USA, finally, really, it is final this time!)

Keeping to an Antipodean theme, we discuss the recriminations arising from the failure of Team Pegasus to get a Pro Continental licence.

We have some audio from the screening of Chasing Legends which we saw in Stirling with all round good-egg, Owen, from the Drum-Up Cycling Blog.

We also discuss what we got from Santa by way of cycling goodies.

This week, we discuss the untimely passing of Also Sassi & the tragic injury to a fellow cyclist as highlighted on Owen P’s excellent Drum-Up Cycling Blog.  Please visit the Dundee Thistle website and consider purchasing the calendar or making a donation which will help to cover the inevitable expenses that Steve Donnelly and his family will incur as they try to adapt to the circumstances that have been visited upon them.  If you are riding a sportive next year, please consider raising some money for Steve, that would seem to be a fitting way to celebrate our community.

We also discuss the suspect design of next year’s pro team kit, some nasty beef-eating mountain bikers and the UCI’s “Elite Mountain Bike Team” classification.  We bring you some “location audio” (oh yeah!) from the screening of Life Cycles and Vast.