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girls get all the good stuff

one less car

we've featured one less car on these pixels a few times before, and there is every possibility we will do so again in the future. in much the same way that mountain biking receives nary a mention here (because there are others who do it so much better) thewashingmachinepost has bicycle activist blood coursingone less car through its html but unfortunately it doesn't stretch too much further than that (well, not often). so it behoves us dearly to promote the activities of others who activate more than the post, and especially when they send us very nice pin badges like the ones splattered about here.

one less car

unfortunately the pink 'freedom' badge depicts a female lady of the opposite sex, while us trousered chaps only get white on black. i'd like a pink trousered badge to match my chris king 'pretty but strong' headset and my rapha mortirolo jersey. please?

stickers, t-shirts, pin badges, patches, hats etc, are all available from www.1lesscar.com.

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ultimate cyclist cd/download. josh horowitz $34.99 liquidfitness.com

ultimate cyclist cd

i am currently training myself to cycle 200km in a day at an average of at least 25kph and then manage to do the same again over the subsequent two days, and as i may have mentioned before, this is all to save major embarrassment at the end of june this year when taking part in the london-paris ride. so, what steps are you taking to achieve this lofty goal, i hear you ask?

well, now that the weather has improved sufficiently to allow for such extra curricular activities as outlined above, i have a 50km circuit which i shall eventually attempt to complete four times in a time of around seven to eight hours, and i'll just pretty much keep trying until i get there, or at least somewheres close.

however, that's only a part of the equation, and it's the physical part - what about the mental part? admittedly i have to believe i can do it, and i have to convince myself of same, as i thunder (all adjectives have been changed to protect the innocent) up storakaig hil for the fourth time. it's a similar train of thought that the top guys often use to promote thoughts of edging in front of tom boonen in the last few metres of flanders. and in much the same way that the serious amongst you would contract the services of a reputable coach in aid of said objective.

coaching experts at liquidfitness in los angeles, california have released ultimate cyclist in both cd and download format to enable the many of us who do not have regular/any access to a sports psychologist, ostensibly to allow the enterprising pedallist to benefit from training of the psyche on a daily basis (if necessary).

i popped the two tracks (intro and training session) onto my ipod and listened to what is a well produced piece of audio. however, and i'm sure i'm not alone in this, i was highly sceptical of the whole affair, particularly when the cd cover warns against listening to the tracks while driving, and the introduction starts rambling on about theta frequencies. and the intro music sounds like suspiciously like tangerine dream. with no disrespect intended to josh horowitz who was kind enough to send me the cd, and who provides the voice-over throughout the one hour recording, but i wasn't expecting an australian accent guiding me through my transcendental adventure.

josh suggests that the 'hypnosis' section be listened to once every day for at least six weeks in order to gain the ultimate benefit and become the ultimate cyclist that you can be. i will admit that i have not had the cd for anything like six weeks, and other commitments have prevented listening to it every day that it has been in my possession. but listen to it i have and the scepticism probably rivals that ' oh my goodness, i'm wearing lycra tights and clipless pedals' that hits you starting out as a roadie (just think how the liquigas guys feel).

there are a number of excellent testimonials for the efficacy of the ultimate cyclist both on the website and in the accompanying literature, a list that includes fast freddy rodriguez (and he's definitely faster than me). perseverance is something that most cyclists are blessed with, and i shall persevere with this recording and hope that it provides the benefits it promises. amongst all the training dvds, podcasts and endless books on the subject, this is just different and crazy enough to be worth adding to the armoury.

available for purchase on cd or download from www.liquidfitness.com. there's even a free sample to listen to before committing yourself, but at current exchange rates, it's less than £20 in british-shire, and you owe yourself at least that much.

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cycling for health and fitness (revised and updated edition). ed pavelka. published by bicycling magazine. 122 pp £7.99 ($9.95) paperback.

cycling for health and fitness

cast the mind back to the very first 'real' bike you owned. i don't mean the one you cycled to school on, but the first bike that put you on the right path to be able to read websites like the post and have a vague notion of what was going on. mine was a steel twelve speed racer (we were middle class, you see - ten speeds were never going to be good enough), and it took me months to pluck up the courage to change from the inner ring to the outer (not much has changed - dave t). i was really worried about what would happen to the gearing when this was activated, so i played safe. and now i blame my total lack of top end speed on this misapprehension. wouldn't it have been a boon to have had words of wisdom to guide you through those early years of real cycling?

this might just be that collection of words. the subheading for the volume under consideration is 'use your machine to get strong, lose weight and feel great', and aside from the dubious grammar of 'get strong' this book actually delivers more than it promises. despite coming from bicycling magazine in americaland, it's not all huffys and schwinns, but particularly keen advice on choosing the correct bike for your needs, how to ride it, when to ride it, how to find more time to do the latter and then lots of stuff on how to keep fit during same.

thankfully the only concession to bicycle mechanics is the 'anatomy of a bike' at the book's end which gives enough information that you won't need to resort to 'i think it's the wiggly metal thingy at the front' when confronted by a shop mechanic - there are plenty of other books that cover 'wiggly metal bits' in far greater depth.

i have long toyed with the idea of starting a 'beginners' section' on thewashingmachinepost, if only so that more folk might 'get it', and i have yet to reach a satisfactory decision, but meantime you could do a lot worse than buy a copy of this book, especially if you're just at the stage of figuring out whether you want a bike with straight bars (in which case, what are you doing here?) or one with proper curvy ones. or of you know somebody who is.

despite being well past this stage (at least, that's what i'm telling you) i enjoyed this book, and even learned some stuff - sadly, however, not about changing from the 39 to the 53.

cycling for health in fitness is available from cordee books.

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completely postered

poster - horton collection

if you'd never heard of the horton collection before the release of the velopress book 'cycling's golden age' then it seems that you are going to hear much more about this well kept secret of the cycling world. it almost verges on the edge of embarrassment that this world of riches from european cycling history finds a very safe and appreciated home on the other side of the atlantic, but much in the vein of 'coals to newcastle' it is now possible to acquire some of this heritage through a british outlet.

i have previously mentioned the availability of reproduction posters from the horton collection through the velopress store in the usa, and while they were quite happy to send scotlandshire and beyond, the cost of doing so, favourable exchange rate notwithstanding, could often be just the wrong side of expensive. but bromley video have come to our aid and stocked eight lithoprints from the collection printed on heavy poster stock measuring 24" x 36" and poster - horton collection suitable for framing. were it not for the large framed poster of robert millar in king of the mountains phase on the bedroom wall, i would have prevailed upon mrs washingmachinepost for permission to decorate another portion of wall with one of these delights. however, such delectations would seem eminently suitable for the wallspace at debbie's cafe in bruichladdich, where we can stare at yesteryear over an espresso after the sunday ride (or the gran fondo). we shall see what we shall see.

all seven posters retail at £35 each from bromley video. north american readers can enjoy the same on their north american bedroom walls for $29.95 from velopress (all are unframed)

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the tour de france 2006. triumph and turmoil for floyd landis. john wilcockson & velonews editors. velopress. £16 ($21.95) 243pp illus.

tour de france 2006 cover

admit it, you enjoyed the 2006 tour as much as the next guy. after seven years of the american motor, anything would have been a relief, but to experience a tour as exciting as this was an unexpected bonus. first thor had yellow, then george, then tom, oscar, floyd - the race was so unpredictable that most of us coudn't wait to watch the next day's stage. jez was even moved to take family to alpe d'huez to see the excitement first hand.

then, just when we thought phloyd had it in the bag, he runs out of puff on the very day that rasmussen decided to emulate his 2005 spots (and on a colnago too) on the slopes of la toussuire and all the bumps in between. so it looked like no stars and stripes for year eight, but phloyd gains a motor overnight and just rides away from everyone on the way to morzine.

so phloyd made it eight american wins in a row, prompted competitivecyclist to run up some 'go phloyd' t-shirts and we all faced august with a smile on our collective faces. but we all know what happened next. and since we do all know what happened next, why would we want to buy a book on the subject? after all, we watched every gripping day on eurosport, and maybe bought the dvd when it was released (well, maybe). so you have to admit that john wilcockson and velopress had some guts to bring out this book.

but buy it you should. jez and i had a brief discussion about how maybe wilcockson has hit the nail squarely on the head. it's quite a chatty style, very american (no disrespect intended, especially since john wilcockson is british) and almost makes the whole thing read as a novel (step forward tim krabbe), and a very exciting novel at that - a style that might just draw in the passive cyclist.

the book commences with a snapshot of the pre-race condition and trajectory of several of the main protaganists and no coincidence that jw includes the principal americans. that some of the others never made it to strasbourg is now part of history, as are some of the riders involved, but it's a very effective way of running a narrative thread through the book. it's not just a stage by stage, blow by blow account of every bend and every climb between strasbourg and paris. i'm embarrassed to say that i was almost as excited reading the book as i was watching the tour, as wilcockson reveals one or two snippets and soundbites that we weren't aware of as it all unfolded (dreadful phrase, but hey)

when i was offered a review copy of the tour de france 2006, i admit that i initially turned the offer down, before re-considering. i think it fair that the publishers and author deserve a hearing for having the bottle to release the volume in the ongoing aftermath of the race, and reportedly poor sales of the dvd. and i'm very glad that i did - i'm not big on reading books about cycle races (unless from well before my time), but this was a sufficiently alternate approach that made it an enjoyable literary journey, despite knowing that the butler would be the one wot done it on reaching the last page. recommended.

and i forgot to mention that i love the script font used for the cover title and the chapter headings and that there is an excellent middle section containing quality colour photos from the tour (including a pained michael rasmussen).

a copy of the tour de france 2006 can be ordered online from cordee or prendas in the uk, or from velopress in the usa

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good night

science in sport nocte

most of the energy and recovery drinks on the market are designed to make us go faster, to squeeze that last drop of energy as we try to make it home in time to watch the highlights of the tour of flanders. and then help those straining muscles recover while listening to the verbal dynamics that are david duffield or anthony mccrossan. so it's not too often that you come across a drink from one of the country's leading energy product suppliers, that's designed to help you sleep.

as you may have surmised, this isn't something that you have a mug of just before taking the colnago out the bike shed. science in sport, for tis they, have produced nocte as a bedtime drink that contains all the ingredients (you could probably pass a chemistry major after reading the list) to promote muscle recovery and a good night's sleep.

sis sent a couple of sachets of chocolate nocte and vanilla nocte, which were carefully prepared before my bedtime at 8:30 prompt (believe that if you will), chocolate on the saturday night and vanilla on the sunday. the mixture is prepared by emptying the considerable contents into a mug and adding a modest amount of cold water to mix into a paste. this is then topped up with hot (but not boiling) water and hey presto - hot chocolate or hot vanilla.

personal preference is for the former - the chocolate drink sports a slight 'off centre' taste but is close enough to a mug of drinking chocolate to be quite pleasant, and all the more so if it puts you into the recovery position. the vanilla i didn't like at all, but obviously your mileage may vary. science in sport do make it clear on the reverse of the packet, that neither beverage should be consumed 'just because it tastes good'. it is designed as a recovery drink after 'strenuous exercise'

what each of us would call 'strenuous exercise' is doubtless open to interpretation, but i drank each after a 50km ride without guilt - well, not much. there really isn't any way i can tell how effective nocte is after a two mugs of the stuff - i think you would have to build this in to your regular training diet (we honed athletes always adhere to a training diet), but having used sis products for a number of years, i have every confidence in its efficacy.

aside from the fact that the vanilla and i didn't get on, the only downside i could find was the very small print on the back of the packet. i know the eyesight isn't what it used to be, but this was a major struggle to read without a magnifying glass. and i can't really attest to its sleep inducing properties because i have never had any difficulty sleeping at nights anyway, especially after 50km.

one sachet costs £1.35, or £20 for 15 sachets from the sis website, but it would be worth getting one sachet of each just to make sure you like the taste before lashing out on a box. more details about nocte are available at www.sleepstrong.com.

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giro d'italia in january

giro d'italia style

i mentioned over the weekend that prendas now had stock of the giro d'italia style, and even though it has just arrived, it's in the early season sale. the corsa giro d'italia sweatshirt in navy blue has a two way zip that goes all the way from the bottom to the top. the previous incarnation in maroon had a short zip at the neck. and underneath is the retro 1974 giro long sleeve t-shirt. since the temperature on islay today is below zero (wind chill) this is a very practical combo.

the t-shirt, partially obscured under the corsa top, has the legend '1974' on the white retro band, and the letters 'gpm' on the left sleeve (prendas tell me this is the abbreviation for 'grande prix montagne'). and just to finish off with that all important cycling detail, there is one rear pocket with a button fastener. couldn't be more cool if it tried. and you know when you've bought quality when there's a sheet of tissue paper folded in the back inside the bag. and it's italian.

giro d'italia style

and it doesn't stop there, as witnessed by this dark blue, long sleeve giro t-shirt. the worst part about all this stuff is that i have long had a reputation of being scruffy, a reputation that is now in peril.

and surprisingly, for italian clothing, the fit is quite generous. both items modelled by thewashingmachinepost are medium. the zipped top is available at £45 (reduced from almost £90!) and the t-shirt is still only £19.95. at prendas now. and it's italian.

just scroll down to leisurewear

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sartorial bling

vintage cyclist

not sure how many of you listen to podcasts (apart from thewashingmachinepodcasts that is), but i was listening to an episode of bikescape recently where they interviewed the guy that owns rivendell bicycles in california about the feature (not a bug) of rivendell whereby every model is constructed from good old steel and joined together using particularly decorative lugs. the way all bikes were built at one time, and still are at rivendell.

now grant petersen (the gentleman in question), does not build racing bikes, since he likes all his machines to feature frame spacing that will allow the incorporation of tyre widths above 28mm - a task that the company c40 would certainly fail - as well as fenders (we in britishland would refer to these as mudguards) and a rack. not something alessandro pettachi has been seen on lately.

in addition, he has very specific views on cycle clothing: no lycra, no bright shiny sponsor logos and no chamois lined shorts or clipless pedals. his point being that ornery folks who fancy taking up cycling, may well be put off by the prospect of having to acquire a 'uniform' just to take the bike for a spin, and the inevitable change of clothing on reaching work. (that latter point seems kind of moot, since if i cycled my usual eight miles to work, i might well fancy changing anyway, even without pressure from my workmates). overall, petersen thinks that racing, whether on or off-road, has had too much influence on bicycle design and manufacture since the late seventies, that speed and technology have become the overweening factors. cycling may have backed itself into a corner, and a corner at which every sane person points and sniggers.

well, he may just be right. i am often aware of being somewhat garish in my bright yellow or pink tops wearing rather close fitting bib tights with windproof panels over the knees. it is my contention that this looks ok when on the bike but makes me look even more of a prat when off, coupled with the fact that i cannot walk properly in cleated sidis. i'm not sure that it looks any sillier than a member of the rugby team walking to the pub wearing multi-coloured hoops, previously white shorts and a yellow headband on a bald head. but that's me poking fun at another sport, not poking fun at someone who practises the same pastime as myself.

i have just spent my sunday morning pedalling about the principality in the nice new ardbeg winter jacket, and much as i sympathise with petersen's affinity for wool clothing, he lives in california, not islay. even rapha wouldn't suggest we cycle in the pouring rain wearing a merino training top. however, i am acutely conscious of the necessity to change into my secret identity if i fancy going out on the colnago - spontaneity is not a word that springs easily to mind. and since i am in the process of reviewing a book about how to go about starting cycling, the thought that folks might be put off by the apparent requirement to dress like 'a clown' (petersen's words, not mine) is something i had not considered. definitely food for thought.

and while it's probably unlikely that trek, specialized et al will suddenly start building bikes out of lugged steel, nor liquigas likely to migrate to hebden cord, maybe it's not a bad idea to start looking at our lycra'd selves the way others may perceive us. unless you really, really were a fan of the polti team, or are a bona fide member of a sponsored cycling team, maybe dressing down isn't such a bad idea. maybe we don't really care anyway, and i don't think there's anything particulalry wrong with that.

rivendell bicycles have been successfully in business for around thirteen years, and their philosophy may well strike a chord with many, but i think it may be the minority many - having looked at the clothing on the rivendell website, i don't think the sartorially bling amongst us should be too worried just yet. unless, maybe, you live in southern california.

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ardbeg style with long sleeves

ardbeg winter jacket

well, we've moaned incessantly about the wind and rain that has blighted this island (and other places too) since well before christmas. so any cycling that has taken place has done so cocooned in every piece of weatherproof cycling gear we own. now, not that i wish to imply that this weatherproofing lowered our normal sartorial elegance (you do realise i'm joking here?) but there is realistically no way that velo club d'ardbeg can display its allegiance in a windy downpour.

until now, that is.

freshly minted at thecyclejersey.com and whisked from mainlandshire to the hallowed isle is the new ardbeg long-sleeved winter jacket. formed with hard wearing weather-proof material decked in the appropriate colours and that logo, it is lined with cosy fleece and is pretty much everything we've been waiting for. availability from both the old kiln at ardbeg and thecyclejersey.com ought to be pretty soon (retail is expected to be in the £55 - £65 range). we shall be proudly wearing ours until summer comes - which ought to be around mid-september. read the first tentative review here.

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procycling - the sequel

procycling magazine

last month, procycling magazine unveiled the magazine's revamped design, and i went off the deep end to criticise their decision to change something that many of us figured wasn't broken in the first place. and to change it for something that looked as if it was. editor peter cossins asked me to suspend judgement until they had had time to live with the new stylesheet and become more accustomed to the flexibility they had hoped it would give them.

well, it turns out he was right. the last issue was not particularly impressive in a visual sense (thankfully the writing has survived intact at its usual high standard) but its successor has redeemed the marque. so if anyone actually paid attention to my last diatribe, you can now sleep easy in your beds. and so can i

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basket case

bike basket

did you watch it? probably the first online shopping tv programme in the world, certainly the first cycling version. the prices were particularly attractive, but i'm not sure that you can't achieve the same by visiting the evans cycles website and with less palaver.

our host for the evening, carmel thomas might, or might not, know much about cycling - it's very hard to tell (the oft repeated benefits of carbon forks wore a bit thin).

The first item was a bianchi carbon bike and i'm not sure i would have dropped nigh on £1000 based on carmel's sales pitch. fortunately, keeping it real is cycling.tv stalwart brian smith who lends a straighter edge to the proceedings, and at least we know that he knows what he's talking about.

i'm not sure that i fully understand the format - to take around 52 minutes to cover around ten products - hmmm. however, it is their very first programme and, like everything else, it'll take time to get it absolutely right. you really can't fault them for trying. and despite my remarks about ms thomas' sales patter, i doubt i could stand and rabbit on about a bike for that length of time in front of a camera.

the bike basket is shown on cycling.tv free to air channel every thursday at 7pm (gmt)

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spoilt for choice

proton wheels

as attested to by rohan dubash in the current issue of rouleur, the starting point for many a wheel used to be the good old campagnolo record hub, a mavic rim and the long-suffering stainless steel spoke. and at least you knew where you stood - vary the components slightly according to taste, alter the number of spokes according to weight (yours) but the end result was pretty much the same. and the satisfaction of owning a new hand-built pair of wheels was almost as satisfying as being able to build a pair in the first place.

however, nowadays all is changed, and there appear to be more wheels on the market than you can shake a spoke key at. i do remember pixelling a diatribe against the new wave of straight-pull spoked factory jobs, and that there was nothing to beat a hand-built hoop. just goes to show that you can't believe everything you read, even if you wrote it yourself. towards the end of last year i bought a pair of campag proton wheels which employ radial spoking at the front, though surprisingly still with the bend at the hub end, radial on the non-drive side at the rear (still with the bend) and straight pull on the drive side laced two cross.

these were hardly at the top of campag's wheel range, but at least they retained something close to the standard spoke numbers (a bit unsure of this so-called g3 spoking pattern, though jez has a pair of zondas with which he is just as happy) and they have been a revelation to this sceptic. originally they were to be a stopgap until i refurbished the record hubs on my handbuilts, but they've been on the bike since october and survived everything that's been thrown at them, and i haven't required to true them at all.

all this was brought to mind by an advert for ciclismo who stock a rather large and confusing range of wheels including zipp and hed, and they are not alone - competitivecyclist.com list around forty different wheelsets from seven manufacturers. how the heck can you possibly make an informed choice? how i long for the days when it was 'aci or dtswiss spokes?'

ps. after writing the above it dawned on me that the difference may well be between having wheels that compromise nothing for speed and weight, and wheels for the luddites amongst us who, perchance, might just prefer craftsmanship, serviceability and plain old fashioned style. or not

weldtech are are running a wheelbuilding course in the priory community centre in york on march 8 - 9. places are very limited. instructor is jeff beach. if you're interested, e-mail linda@weldtite.co.uk as soon as you like.

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so what is it called now?

bottom bracket spindle

if you're of the bicycle mechanic ilk, you may remember a long running dispute of many years ago as to whether the metal rod inserted into the bottom bracket shell should be referred to as a spindle or an axle. and to be honest, as far as i know, this philosophical dispute may still be raging today. once you've spent a year or two scraping disintegrated bearing cages out of bb shells, the philosophy ceases to hold any magic.

however, as i remeber it, the jury came out in favour of the good old square taper, beloved of all until five minutes ago, being referred to as a spindle. now just to refresh the ageing grey matter, i looked up the dictionary widget on my macbook pro and gained the following definitions:

spindle: a rod or pin serving as an axis that revolves or on which something revolves.
axle: a rod or spindle, either fixed or rotating, passing through the centre of a wheel or group of wheels.

so what, i hear you ask (always assuming you read this far)? well it's just that ever since shimano stuck a whacking great splined tube onto the chainring side of their new(ish) cranksets, i find it hard to refer to such appendages as 'spindles'. and campagnolo defy either definition to an even greater degree, since their spindle/axle isn't even in one piece, being joined in the middle with a bolt. however, since only one of the above descriptions mentions the word 'fixed', and the word 'spindle' has connotations of 'spindly' i am proposing that we heretofore demonise the spindle description in favour of axle when referring to bottom brackets.

maybe i should attend one of those bicycle conferences held every so many years and present a paper. all those in favour?

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coming soon to a website near you...

eddy merckx owners club

...and i'll give you a clue - it's not this one.

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brought to book

cordee

i love the way lots of the stuff that appears on the post is almost organic. by this i mean that as i discover, or am informed about one item of interest, it almost inevitably leads to something else of interest.

having been in the fortunate position of receiving books from velopress in colorado, i was always verily impressed by their willingness to send review copies across the atlantic, so that the subsequent reviews could appear in thewashingmachinepost (i always review everything i am sent). but now life has been made much easier for the magnificent dave trendler in the usa, by the appointment of cordee as the velopress distributor in the uk.

if you've never heard of cordee before, then you are in good company, because neither had i, but we are both missing a wonderful literary resource (in the cycling sense) because cordee do not just stock velopress publications. and had i not been alerted to this by cordee's richard robinson, we would still be living in ignorance.

while they do not only stock cycle books, all are related to the great outdoors and the associated realms of fitness, and all are available to purchase online. this is a great benefit to those of us on the outer edge who may not have a local bookeseller able, or willing, to stock books of this genre. take a wander over to www.cordee.co.uk to have a look at the considerable number of bicycle books on offer (if your weather is like my weather, you've plenty of time to read). and take the plastic with you.

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prendas ciclismo


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