It has been an annual event since 2006. I've never done it but am planning to go tomorrow night. At least it will make me buy the lights I've been planning to get for weeks now.

I can't profess to have enough knowledge of doping to know, but as I understand it there are substances which can be taken and which will be undetectable if you stop taking them in enough time before any potential test i.e. they will help build you up ready for an event or the season as a whole. On his potential guilt, backing out of the case right now might be assumed to be an admission of guilt. No doubt he will spin it as being beneath him as he holds the US agency in contempt but you would have thought that putting at the very best a question mark against his whole racing record would be enough to want him to clear his name if he knows he's innocent. Personally I have very little time for him. He has a reputation as a very single minded, ruthless individual who is happy to upset anyone who has a different view to his own. He has been able to trade on his story as a cancer survivor to provide a lot of goodwill, particularly on people who are not keen followers of cycling. I think he is much less liked amongst the cycling fraternity than the general population. In a nutshell I have grave suspicions.

Essentially the evidence is from former team mates who said that they saw him doping. That's made more complicated because at least two of them have been caught doping themselves previously

Well you can rule out any of the team down to start the Vuelta on Saturday as they overlap. That means Froome, Stannard, Swift, Uran, Porte, Flecha, Henao, Pate, and Zandio won't be there. I would not at all surprised to see both Wiggins and Cavendish in the Tour of Britain. It's a relatively short race in Sky's home market - it would make the race very high profile so would be excellent for Sky for marketing.

Indeed. The Sky Ride in Preston was very enjoyable. I also came across a Sky Ride group of c20 on the Guild Wheel last Saturday.

It's a really nice ride, almost wholly traffic free and the great majority on a decent surface. There are a few short stretches of rougher track but even a serious road bike should be fine. The Wheel has been immensely popular since unofficially opening a few weeks ago. I have been round it three times now and the two times I did it on a weekend I must have seen 100-200 riders on the circuit. Not a place to ride if you want to test yourself as it's quite narrow, often with walkers sharing the space and you will see large groups with small kids. I particularly like the cycle sized cattle grids they have put on the section from Walton-le-Dale to Brockholes. It's not quite finished yet but it's complete enough to get round easily. The official opening will be at 11.30 on Sunday 19th August in Avenham Park

I went for lunch about 10 days ago and thought it was pretty decent. We had the £15pp sharing plate and there was more than enough for me and quality was good. Not outstanding but fair value for money. And the building is spectacular.

Go on I'll bite. There is absolutely nothing wrong with eating welfare friendly veal. Also known as rose veal, it is from young bull calves from dairy herds who otherwise would be killed at birth as they have no commercial value. They are not force fed but fed naturally and killed at about 6-9 months, hence the pink or rose colour. On the fish of course it makes no difference to the haddock how it dies but catching by line is a more sustainable method - only the haddock dies and not all the rest of the fish population caught in an industrial trawler net, including the mature haddock's immature children, which is leasdiung fast to there being no haddock at all on the menu in a few years. So the more line caught fish is consumed the more likely is there will be more to eat in the future. As an aside it is wondrous logic to complain about veal on the menu because you don't approve of the process of production incorrectly in this case) but you don't give a damn about how the fish was caught.

I don't think there is any chance that Froome will try and take away Wiggins' win. From the outset the Sky team have been set up with the sole aim of getting Brad to Paris at least on the podium. Chris Froome is there as Plan B in case Brad didn't make it as happened last year. Cav's role this year as been solely as a domestique (witness the pictures of him loaded up with drinks a few days ago). He was able to get a stage win early on but essentially did that himself with no team help. His focus is completely on the Olympic road race - the Tour has been his preparation. Assuming the leaderboard is still much the same next Sunday I expect Sky to run a race on the Champs D'Elysee to replicate the road race 6 days later, aiming to give Cav the stage win. I think the interesting thing will be what happens next season. Chris now knows he is capable of winning a Grand Tour - will he stay with Sky as number 2 to Brad or be enticed away by another team? That would be tremendous from a fan's perspective, if he moves to a strong team who can support him like Sky have supported Brad. I suspect that Sky might be promising Chris the leader's role at the Vuelta. If Brad wins the Tour I can see him sitting out the Vuelta and maybe riding the Tour of Britain, allowing Chris a free run on the Vuelta.

It might just be you were unlucky PB. I went to the Liverpool branch just after it opened and it was excellent.

As usual with these things the book is far better than the film. I enjoyed the film but it's not a patch on the book, which is really about political power and only tangentially about salmon fishing or the Yemen.

I have heard this mentioned by a few people but I'm not sure I understand why bib shorts are better than ordinary ones - can you explain?

Paul - I assume you know already but there is a Sky Ride in Preston on the Sunday after next (17th). Not anything like the scale of the Manchester ride but still I believe some closed roads to ride on.

Unfortunately not. I have been in Hay-on-Wye for the last 10 days, partly for the book festival but I also took my bike and have enjoyed some fantastic riding in the borders - I can highly recommend the area. David, I see you are in Penwortham. If you haven't already, you might want to have a look at Broadgate Cycles in Kingsfold as well. They have expanded fairly recently and have a decent range of bikes. I am 59 and also 15 stone (was 17 stone in January!) and I have improved significantly just by getting a decent bike and getting out more often. The loss of two stone has also made a noticeable difference although some of that was helped by the cycling. I have a Hewitt Cheviot tourer, so somewhat heavier than a £1K road bike will be and also lower geared but have upped my average riding speed from 10mph to 12-13mph. Should a tourer be a possibility for you and you can stretch to a little bit more budget then I cannot recommend Paul Hewitt too highly and he's only in Leyland. Even if you don't want one of his bikes his bike measurement service is £50 very well spent - he will find your perfect riding position. The service is free if you buy one of his bikes.

Sierra Maestra at Band on the Wall last night were terrific. Possibly the best son band in the world and the place where Juan de Marcos learned his trade. Band on the Wall is one of my favourite venues. Just the right size, easy to get to, sensibly priced drinks and you can park virtually outside the front door for nothing. If you go early and take their meal deal (2 courses for £10) you get offered free tickets for an upcoming gig. Last night we got freebies for Balkan Beat Box in May, a band I was planning to pay and see anyway.

Tom - get her to Northcote - you know she's worth it.

Went to Northcote last night for the first time in a couple of years - as excellent as ever. The place was packed.

Was it better than Le Quartier Francais in Franschhoek Tris? We failed to get in when we there last weekend and had to settle for two other decent meals. We did have a fantastic meal at a B&B in Hermanus last Thursday - £20 for three perfect courses and £15 for close to the best bottle of wine on the list, but that's South Africa for you. The B&B was probably the best place I've ever stayed in as well, for just over £100 for the night.

I'm afraid I can't keep up with you guys. I plod along at 10/12mph despite my nice Paul Hewitt tourer. Just ride for fun really, with no ambitions to race or to greatly increase my speed. i would like to ride with others but I seem to be caught between club rides for which I'm too slow and other fun rides which aren't long or fast enough.

Me too. I have twice made the mistake of buying a cheap folder for our boat, only to see them not be up to a bit of towpath work.

Well he was on my highlights list. He was in fine form and I think justified my decision to stay and see him rather than go to see Raghu Dixit, who I had been trying to see all weekend.

As RTH says all it will need will be some TLC and a bit of expenditure to make it a fine bike. If it was hand built 30 years ago and hasn't been ridden much it will be better than many quite expensive new bikes on the market. Unless you know what you're doing I'd suggest taking it to a good bike shop and asking them to tell you both what you need to do (like the tyres) and what would be nice to do and then make a judgement. If you've not ridden for a bit I'd get it roadworthy and take it out for a few short rides to see how you like it. Then I'll see you on a ride to Glastonbury in 2013!

Thanks to the people who sponsored us. We successfully arrived in Glastonbury last Wednesday, to be met by Michael Eavis and a TV crew! They were doing a story on Glastonbury's environmental initiatives for the local news and were looking for some cyclists just as we arrived.

Just back from Glastonbury for the sixth time - as wonderful and weird as ever. I never get to see a huge number of bands on account of working 4 hours a day and having people to meet, beers to drink etc but these were my highlights: - Fleet Foxes - faultless, having got the sound right which blighted their set two years ago Elbow - Guy Garvey knows how to perfectly catch the Glastonbury mood, probably because he actually stays on site and comes when he's not performing B B King - still the master Stornoway Asian Dub Foundation John Cooper Clarke Gretchen Peters, Suzy Boguss and Matraca Berg Bellowhead Plus a usual array of enjoyable bands that I heard snippets of but have no idea who they are, some fine comedy and a whole range of very odd things, most of which I have desire to see again but my life is fuller for having seen once.