Blogs

I don't miss riding a bike.

If this little story is anything to go by the le Tour visit could mean a time busy for the barbers of Monaco this year.

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2009/03/18/sports/AP-CYC-Armstrong-Drug-...

Get out and ride I say.

Well what an amazing sunset on the commute home this evening, I’m afraid I missed it with my camera.

Today’s ride pretty much ticked all the commuter boxes. Starting off inauspiciously with a puncture and ending with an incredibly mild dusk.

The track pump left at work came in handy again and is proving to be a great decision. Is it me or does there seem to be a massive amount of debris on the roads and don’t even get me started on the condition of the road surfaces?

• All bikes cleaned and lubed - check.
• Even the winter-grimed hack-bike - check.
• All punctured tubes mended - check.
• The brake cable that had the tiny hang-nail of wire by the caliper-bolt that's been annoying me for a year, replaced - check.
• That slightly loose front hub nipped up - check.
• Graunchy freehub investigated - check.
• All coffee-shops within a wheezing half-hour phlegm-loosening, dry-hack-inducing ride tested and reviewed. Vital cappuccino quality/bun selection/pretty waitress ratio noted - check.
• Event entrance-fees wasted - check.

Continuing my earlier theme of good road etiquette, let us reflect upon the strange nuances of driver behaviour. Coming from the perspective of cyclist, motorcyclist and car driver, I long ago dismissed the simplistic pop psychology surrounding road user behaviour. (Although I found Richard Ballantine’s quick reference guide strangely accurate, if over simplistic).

Not strictly a commute, but massively enjoyable all the same and a fantastic way of exercising the dog. I dusted off a fat tyred bike and flashed around my local country park. In the summer I am going to ride around on my crosser, TT the dusty tracks with dog in tow. For me cycling is so much more fun than walking and I only run when being chased, so this seems a great option for my crazy dog.
Next I have to attempt this with my son in the cycle trailer at the same time, should be interesting!
 

Up for grabs this week is a full set of signed postcards of the Cervelo Test Team riders, including Carlos Sastre, Thor Hushovd, Roger Hammond and Heinrich Haussler who's giving a good account of himself right now in the Paris-Nice. And loads more, there's about 20, we ran out of room on the pic so what you see is most, but not all, of what you get. Sastre's even signed his in gold, the big show-off.

On the way home this evening I saw something I have never seen before! A Kingfisher! What an amzing sight, the cobalt blue and brilliant orange diving into murky canal water.

What a contrast! One of the benefits of cycling and not being sat in a car.

Flo K

ps is it possible to bonk on an 8 mile ride? Tonight I could barely turn over the pedals.

The Dwain Chambers story is a circus I know. Too many people getting hot under the collar, but love the fact that after Lord Coe called Chambers a cheat, his retort to the 2012 tsar was 'yeah?, well you had an affair with another woman, who is the cheat now' hmmmm, hmmm!!? Childish...

Anyway, it seems that Dwain is still working with the good Dr. Conte http://www.insidethegames.com/show-news.php?id=5190 (all clean now of course) with the use of a hypoxicator (pictured in case you were wondering what it was), and its the choice of many a pro cyclist.