jimmythecuckoo's blog

Clearly great to see BigMat back in the peloton this season, but what's with the flecks on that jersey?

A shocker.

Tonight is the night that every turbo ride of the winter has been gearing up for.

The first after work ride of the year is only minutes away and I can't wait. The mountain bike (for the trail down to the river) is by the back door and my kit is laid out on the bed. The lights are charged for the last few minutes back through the village and all is well with the world.

I am looking forward to the isolation of being alone in miles of fenland and pedalling down the grass track alongside the (not too pleasantly named) Pig Water.

It has been a fairly eventful winter for cycling in terms of sponsors changing and new bikes and kits coming on the scene.

This website has been right at the forefront of the action by allowing its readership to help choose the new Planet-X/Road.cc team kit for 2010. There is also a new Road.cc jersey in the pipeline too.

It has been a busy week with wedding planning and a short break in Newcastle... This morning was about grabbing an hour on the bike but I was sore after my regular trip to the Chiropractor and the dark, cloudy morning didn't make me feel great.

"After months of tweaking and sorting and talking, the official launch of Yaxley Riders is here.

We are a small group of riders south of Peterborough who want to get together, regardless of which club we are members of, and ride.

Yaxley Riders is an informal riding group that needs no membership or subs and exists to get people on their bikes and used to riding with others before trying to pass them on to one of the established British Cycling registered local clubs.

Maybe the wrong Rage Against the Machine track was promoted to number 1 at Christmas, didn’t they also sing “Don’t believe the hype?”…

I am really struggling with the Sky coverage of the Tour Down Under and we are only at the preamble criterium stage.

The challenges I have are two fold.

I have just finished the procyling mazagine interview with Ricco and I have to say his arrogance is near groundbreaking.

Get over the denial, face your issues and stop making excuses.

Cobra? widen his nickname out and call him the snake. You can be sure this bloke will win races and end up forgiven by some fans for his indiscretion. For me he was never credible and if he attacks at the Giro the other riders should just let him go and laugh at him.

Seeing the pictures on the newly launched Team Sky official website (the supporters site here is well worth a look too by the way) started me dreaming... could this year be the year a Briton wins the Tour de France?

My initial thoughts were sadly not. Despite the clearly glitzy launch (which no doubt Dave and Tony are enjoying a prawn sandwich at right now!!) I cannot see where the riders are to support Bradley Wiggins to the yellow jersey are.

My first ride of 2010 yesterday morning was certainly memorable.

It was frosty yet sunny as I pedalled through Yaxley before getting on to the Holme Road and taking a rare tailwind on the way out towards the fens. Where the sun hadn't risen above the hedges there was a crunch under the tyres but since I have upgraded to the Schwalbe "Blizzard" I wasn't fearing any 'slideage' (well not much).

After "enjoying" part one, here is part two of my 2010 predictions.

July
Naturally the Tour de France sees last seasons Ventoux stage breakaway hero Albert Timmer romp home to the yellow jersey deposing Alberto Contador in a tense last week which sees Bradley Wiggins take third.