Archives
Richard Virenque 78%
No, the title of this post is not a reference to Virenque's hematocrit during the 1998 Tour. It is the percentage of you who voted that he should be considered amongst the great Tour climbers. As I have said before I am sure this would not have been the case 5 years ago, but it seems he is slowly getting more recognition for his palmares than his theatrics.
I was interested to hear that Jan Ullrich has agreed to submit DNA for testing as part of the Operación Puerto investigation so the new vote is more of a bet.
Do you think Jan Ullrich's DNA will match that in any of the blood bags from Dr Fuentes' clinic?
The Ugly, the Bad and the Good
A very mixed up ride today. I wrapped up well this morning as it was around 1°C when I left the house to start a solo ride to benchmark how my riding has progressed since before Christmas.
Out of town in 20 minutes and into the country lanes heading through Compton, Puttenham and along the Seale Lane. I was really enjoying the clear skies and the frosty views on a downhill when I spotted the ice! No sooner than you can say "I descend like Alex Zülle" my front wheel was flying out left and I was flying out right. Luckily there was no serious damage to me or the bike but I have a ugly looking knee and a shredded leg warmer. Impressively the Gore winter gloves I was given as a gift took a lot of the force but survived unscratched. The silver lining is I can replace the leg warmers I have been looking to change for a while now.
I continued on the ride, but the adrenaline must have kicked in because I set off way too hard for the 4 hours I had planned and forgot to refuel for a while. With not eating and the rapidly rising temperature (with me in my winter jacket) I was feeling pretty rough after a while. I eventually regained my composure and got back to a steady pace and managed to finish the ride I had planned; albeit more knackered than I had expected.
The good news is I made a significant improvement on my time from late last year. If I hadn't wiped out and had paid a bit more attention to eating I might have gone a fair bit quicker, but hey, there's always next time.
The Flying Scotsman and not yet flying Englishman
A two-up 60 miler around the Surrey Hills this weekend taking in Box Hill and soaking up some much needed sunshine. I'm feeling more comfortable on the bike than I have for a while and although there's still lots of room for improvement I am happy with January's progress.
Since reading "The Flying Scotsman" a while back I have been following the progress of the Graeme Obree biopic with interest. After a few false starts the film finally arrived in the US at the end of last year (why not the UK?). It seems UK fans will have to wait until July to get a viewing. Sadly, it has not received great reviews so far. I guess this maybe down to the subject matter, cycling and depression are not the staple diet of your average American movie critic. At least I hope that's the reason, the book deserves an equally good film.
Flying Scotsman Reviews
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