Category: Words

I stopped at JMC’s shrine on the Woodhead Pass last night on the way across the Pennines. I pass it too often without taking the time to do so. It felt good to have stopped and thought about things. I often wonder how Jason would have done on the modern World Cup circuit. I reckon he’d be up there tussling with Peaty, Garcia and Company.

I picked up the rest of the FSR from Biker’s parents place down in Suffolk tonight. He’s lent me his mountain bike routes guidebook to central Switzerland. It means I can crack on with the Surenenpass write up that’s been lurking in the epic rides section of the site for far too long.

Well there’ve been a few changes on rothar.com over the last few days and there’s more to come once I get my head around some scripts. Trying to simplify things and add some new stuff in at the same time. Hope it’s working.

The Tour is looking no less certain than before. Ullrich took two seconds out of Armstrong through sprint bonuses today. The time trial tomorrow looks like it might decide it, but many people are hoping that it’ll go to a show down in Paris. The rothar.com team are still lurking in the lower rankings hampered by being reduced to five men, van Bon was in the breakaway in yesterday’s stage which probably did something for the overall team status. Might have moved up a place…

Team jerseys and artwork were dropped off at the printers today and by this time next week there’ll be some kit to collect. Pictures when it arrives. Riding in Thetford at some point next week and looking forward to catching up with Jed and Chilly.

Loads of Triathletes kicking around Manchester at the moment getting ready for the World Cup race down at Salford Quays. More about the event here. Most of them are interesting, friendly and good to talk too, but in the same breath their bikes get a hell of a hammering and not much looking after. I wonder how many races are lost due to mechanical failure? I was chatting to Heather Evans who came 4th in the Commonwealth Games last year today and having spoken to people like Michellie Jones in the past, I reckon it’s just that Triathletes spend so much time doing training that they just don’t have time to get kit fixed and serviced.

Johnny Waddell is out of his coma and recovering, Dave Watson has spoken about his Le Tour gap jump over at Velo News and this these are some survival tips for cyclists from our caring government. Just don’t say they never do anything for cyclists, mmm okay?

Decent ride last night with Corty and AP, out to Whalley Bridge, up Long Hill, before nailing the decent down to the reservoir dam in the Goyt Valley. Goddammit that is one hell of a descent steep and dead straight followed by a sweeping and tightening left hander. You can get up to about 55mph without pedaling, after that it was up to the Cat and Fiddle via the valley road before racing the traffic down to Macclesfield and heading home through the lanes. Good stuff.

This morning’s breakfast ride was a bit of a joke, turning out to be a solo affair. Just call me billy. First outing that’s needed lights this year. It was dark when I left, but the sunrise was pretty spectacular.

What will this Tour produce next? First there’s been the battle between Lance and any one else who fancied a crack at the Yellow Jersey, there’s been Hamilton battling on with a broken collar bone and now the same guy has successfully sustained a lone breakaway to win a stage where earlier in the same day he was falling off the back of the peloton going up a climb. The guy is a legend. That said I reckon that there’s something missing from this years peloton in the Tour.

The familiar sight of the UCI world champ in his rainbow stripes. I remember watching Gianni Bugno, (twice World Champion in the early 90s) in the 1992 tour, getting involved mixing it up with the other big names. It was exciting stuff. This year Mario Cipollini and his Domina Vacanze team have been excluded from this year’s Tour de France. Race organisers said that Cipollini and his teammates were not considered “strong enough mountain climbers” to be consistent throughout the whole race. Cipollini’s team had been hoping for a wildcard entry, but in the end the remaining places were awarded to French teams Brioches La Boulangere, AG2R and Jean Delatour, and Spanish outfit Euskaltel. Tour director Jean-Marie Leblanc told Paris reporters “It was a painful decision to make.”

The world champion broke the record of stage wins in the Giro d’Italia early this year and asked Leblanc to reconsider his position. “Jean-Marie Leblanc makes me want to vomit,” said Cipollini when he heard that his team had not been retained by Tour organisers. Days before the beginning of the 2000 Tour Cipollini crashed and was unable to start, but in 1999 the last year he rode the world’s biggest cycling race he briefly held the overall leader’s yellow jersey. In all he has won 12 stages but has never finished any of the seven Tours he entered. I reckon the racing is poorer without him.

Freeriders are in the news. John Waddell is in a serious state following his crash at Mont Ste Anne in Quebec. He overshot a jump by about 20 feet, bailed mid flight and took one hell of a tumble. He’s still comatose. Meanwhile Dave Watson did a gap jump on a mountain stage over the road the peloton were riding as they passed underneath. Although he failed to make the transition and needed to be taken off the mountain in an ambulance, the footage should be appearing in New World Disorder IV. Dave is still in custody in a French jail.

On an all together different note, raging bike is worth a look.

First off to settle some confusion (and to confuse those who don’t understand):

“Are You The Judean People’s Front?”
“Fuck off! We’re the People’s Front of Judea!”

I had an appointment with the Physio this morning He reckons that the damage I sustained to my back over two years ago can be effectively treated to prevent the pain reoccurring in future. Good positive vibes, although I guess telling people that they’re body is bust out of shape probably goes down like a shit sandwich. So what he told me is the stuff I’ve been wanting to hear. I’ve come to the conclusion that going through the windscreen of cars is definitely not good for the constitution.

Lance was on fire today. Will it be enough though or is it too little too late? Big Jonny reckons ‘this is the best Tour in ten years. Maybe even more than ten years. It’s unreal’. I thing he’s on to something there, I reckon this Tour is doing big favours for the popularity of the sport, as having spoken to a few people not normally interested in such things, they’ve all commented that they’ve enjoyed following and watching events this year.

I found David Visintainer’s Bike Cafe site today where he says:

To many, cycling might be looked at as simply the hardest endurance sport in the world in which the racing is tough, the season long and the glory is held by but a mere few. On the surface this may hold true but at its core, cycling represents many aspects of life that are easily overlooked. In reality, cycling mirrors life in many ways. Further examination brings to light that cycling encompasses all of the key elements of life; Man vs. Man, Man vs. Nature, and most of all, Man vs. Himself. For there is no other sport in the world in which the thresholds of competition, mental challenges and physical pain are pushed to their limits on a daily basis both in training as well as racing.

Pretty much sums things up. For those with an inclination to race up bloody big mountains these tips for adjusting effectively to altitude might be useful (I’ll make a note for next time). The infamous Zap has been rambling about everything from Greg Lemond to the new SAINT groupset over on Mountain Bike’s site and these guys have apparently being voiding warranties by gravity alone: Team Fat Bastard.

Le Tour is turning out to be the stuff that the grand races should be made of. Nail-biting, tense, action-packed and uncertain. I don’t know if Lance will still be wearing yellow in Paris, but he’s going to really have to fight for it if he wants to keep it on his shoulders. For those of us without the benefit of cable or satellite, Eurosport‘s live coverage on their website offers some sort of substitute. Two more days in the Pyrenees to go.

Team rothar continue to tumble down the rankings. Next year I’ll possibly take the whole thing more seriously. Then again…

6,600 miles, 120 days, deserts, risk of disease and possible death and an $8,000 entry fee. That’d be the Tour d’ Afrique then, well more like a race across Africa. Mental. How long before there’s a race around the World? And this – is outrageous! I’ve expressed my dislike for 29ers before. Now they’ve been sanctioned. Where will the madness end? Mr Gary Fisher has a lot to answer for. Talking of UCI things this year’s MTB World Champs are in Lugano on the Swiss/Italian border. Biker might be making it over for some of the action…

I’ve been pretty impressed with tubeless tyres so far. These guys have obviously had a rough time, because this just isn’t the work of satisfied customers. And on that note and because I don’t want to talk about customers, I’m off for some beer and to design some jerseys.

Last night’s ride was a blast, over before I knew it. Corty managed a low speed not-looking-where-he-was-going stack into the back of another rider and then unceremoniously toppled over into the road much to the amusement of some on-lookers. Good riding, but I had inexplicably tired legs.

I’ve been meaning to link to these photos for some time. Some very nice photography on show, from some unusual angles too. There’s also some nice mountain biking photos over at Shitshifter. Then there’s this, this is RHS’s site – secretsinglespeeder.

As for Le Tour, well its make or break for Lance tomorrow. Time Trial day followed by the mountains. My money’s still on him, but I reckon this is going to be the closest finish for a few years. As for the rothar.com fantasy team, what a pile of crap. Four of the riders chosen from those on offer don’t even seem to be even riding. Other tan my lack of research and team knowledge, what the hell’s that all about?

Busy day to day, but I reckon I have finally ironed out some of the bugs that have been blighting the site since I made some behind the scenes file structure changes a few days ago. I just wish FTP would work the first time around. Dammit there’s even a guest book up here now.

Following on from yesterday’s post here’s part of my response to the GM Nation debate. I feel that large corporations eager to capitalise on new technological advancements have introduced the issue of GM crops into the contemporary political and public arenas of debate. Pursuit of this goal by well-funded, large multinational corporations has circumvented traditional and approved scientific means of testing.

This has meant that the scientific impacts of the introduction of these crops into the environment, has not been investigated. I am especially concerned that there is the possibility that food free of GM material may become increasingly hard to procure in future due to cross-pollination between species, ultimately leading to a situation where there is no alternative to produce containing GM material.

Whilst I have a good understanding of the potential benefits that genetic engineering may hold for the human race in future, I feel that the wealth being invested in current research could be better spent improving the current growing methods and yields of traditional crops, which are often grown in sub-optimal conditions. I am also concerned that the adoption of GM crops by farmers will lead to long-term risks of dependency on crucial key crops. Past experience has shown reliance on single strains to be fraught with economic and social problems.

It is my personal and informed professional opinion that the continued use of a variety of natural variations within a crop affords a greater chance of a successful harvest and provides more protection against the various forms of possible crop devastation. I feel it is my right to be able to choose GM-free produce in future and at present I do not feel that safeguards are in place that will allow this outcome.

Missed this morning’s breakfast ride with the South Manchester posse, due to getting a flat half a mile from home from some broken glass. Took it as a bad omen and went back home to bed. To make a mends I’m meeting up with Cortos later to do some roadie mileage.

Saw Matt Szabo this afternoon who I haven’t seen for ages, he’s filled me in on what he’s been up to and told me about this:

The Government’s GM nation debate web site has been live here for sometime, but I’ve only just found it.

The information is pretty basic with views for and against on a variety of topics.

There are only a few days left to respond with your views using the online question form available at the following link

There are 15 statements that you can rate as follows:
A – Agree strongly
B – Agree
C – Don’t know / unsure
D – Disagree
E – Disagree strongly

There is also space to say what you think. So please let them know!

I don’t normally get involved with things like this, but I think that GM is such an important issue (if you’ve read George Monbiot’s Captive State you’ll understand why) that everyone should make their views heard.

Alexandre Vinokourov won today’s stage of the Tour, a stage in which Beloki crashed hard and almost took Lance with him, more from the BBC.

Full Switz trip report now up here. I really underestimated how long it would take to do that, but it’s done now. Those crazy Germans have been finalising their plans for later this year, this came in last night:

From: Phaty
Subject: Singlespeed Made in Germany – GBBC Berlin!

Hello Ladies,

We are done! The website for the GBBC-race in Berlin is online! And it is bilingual! We already got quiet some interest from STW – thanks to the performance of Team Germany in Thetford … Well maybe not! We will try not to disappoint you!

So here is the link and I ask you to spread the word as much as possible! Andy maybe you could write a little on shitshifter.com! And Chipps if you let me I would write something for STW!

Ah yes, as soon as we receive the first registration from the UK – which actually already happened – we gonna call it the “German Open Singlespeed Championships”

Ein verfickter Gang!

Phaty

Bit far away to plan this bad boy, but I’ll keep it in mind. And while I was away Charlie’s Clunker Classic took place, there have been a few e-mails and photos floating about today, most seem to involve fire and flames and not much riding… This came in this morning:

Hi All

Here’s some lo-res pics from the classic. I have these as 5mb hires [when
open], so if there are any you like, just mail me back.

Thanks to Charlie for getting us all together and thanks everyone for making
a great fun weekend.

See you all next year.

Oh, please email me with any good digi photos, I’d love to put them up on my
website. Make sure you give me your name, codename or callsign so I can
credit you.

cheers>

Lonebiker

Spread the word

It seems these days that the mountain bike on-line world has become ratings obsessed, everyone trying to claim their place in the world of on-line rankings for number of hits and most popular. Any way these guys reckon they’re the third biggest in the UK: MTB-Wales. I guess that’s behind Bikemagic and Singletrackworld.

I’m back. Full Switz trip report and pictures coming soon. Meanwhile things in the wonderful world of mountain biking here in the UK and worldwide have continued apace and I understand there’s a load of men on road bikes taking a bit of a jolly around France. Le Tour is in full swing and Tyler Hamilton is riding like a true hero. Should have picked him for the rothar.com team.

The disc brake and quick release saga continues and now there’s some scientifically tested facts to back up the original arguement. An arguement that was really sparked by a rather well-known accident involving a popular British mountain biker. Talking of accidents Big Johnny posted this link a while back and the sad thing is it just sounds so plausible that the driver just blacked out at the wheel.

This weeks recommended link: Carrier (someone’s just earnt themselves a well-deserved new job in the wonderful world of travel)

Pulled a ten hour shift in the bike shop and have just spend the last two hours since arriving home shoehorning a bike in several pieces into two suitcases with all my kit. Undoubtedly there will be something I forget, but right now I don’t know what it is. Flying out to Switz tomorrow morning and looking forward to some epic mileage. I’m outta here.