Got back into town yesterday afternoon. I should ride today but am taking another day off. I'm not having a lot of ambition after a full week off. I stepped on the scale at work and it showed 159! I don't ever recall weighing that much. Shocked the heck out of me because I dont feel or look heavier in the gut.

I got my new seatpost for the fixie today and ran out to install it. It will be good to have proper leg extension. There was a little knee pain after last Saturdays ride. Nothing major but my position probably played a small role

News Item of the Day: Eddy Merckx's dramatic weight loss this year has given rise to much speculation as to whether he was seriously ill. The Cannibal, who is now looking almost as lean as he did in his racing days, told Sportwereld.be that there is nothing to worry about. "I underwent an esophagus operation on May 12," he said. "I have suffered with that since I was young. If I had have been born with a normal stomach, then I might have had an even better career. Some journalists asked me whether I had cancer. When I lay on the operating table I weight 110 kilograms. Since the end of August, my weight has stabilised at 82 kilograms. Logically it was a number of months before my body started working normally again, and in that time I lost a lot of weight."