Winter draws on - time to think of summer

The NRC trip to Wales pretty much marks the end of 2007 as far as cycle events go. So I will clean the cow poo off my bike, put it away for winter and start using my winter bike and single speed.

I will also start to think about what to do next year. Fortunately I was assisted in this by sharing a car with Steve from the NRC. He has been riding all his life and in his time has, quite literally, ridden pretty much every ride there is to do, many more than once. Most impressive is probably doing the P-B-P 4 times (P-B-P will be on the to do list next time it runs in 2011). He mentioned some interesting tours in the UK one in the Lake District, the other in Scotland. Both are Audax "Permanents" which means you can do them whenever you like so I will do one or other (or both) in gaps in next years plans.

He also mentioned a tour of Picardy which, running as it does in north France, gives the option of riding to the event, doing it and riding back which would be fun.

Also he has done the Trondheim-Oslo Strkyeproven which looks excellent on a number of fronts: it's in Norway where I have never been, its in June so you spend the whole day in sunlight. You need this as the event is 580km long which, if I did it, would be a comfortable PB on the distance in a day front (my current being around 240km).

So pondering to be done.....

Young again in Wales

Spent the weekend in Wales on NRC tourette. Went back to a youth hostel for the first time in 30 years to find they had changed a lot since was last there. Excellent 3 course evening meal was on offer with choice of local beers (I tried all 4 on offer, as one has to sample the local culture when travelling)

This was my fourth cycling foray into Wales and my luck with the weather continued. We stayed dry the whole time and even saw a bit of sun. First days riding resulted in slight cock up as the two of us ahead blithley sailed by a sign "to the golf course" not realising it was also the road we were meant to be following. Much fruitless searching the Welsh countryside for missing members followed without success. So we made our way back alone and, by the simple expedient of taking every left turn we came to + asking the natives arrived back at the YHA.

Sunday we managed to stick together. I revisited some of the route I followed in the Tour of the Black Mountains, including my 3rd climb of 2007 up Gospel Pass. It was shrouded in mist and not sure if it was this fact or me simply getting fitter but it seemed a lot easier. This despite me eschewing my little gear for the entire trip so doing all in 39*23.

The descent to Hay allowed us to visit an excellent cafe where I indulged in both apple crumble and custard plus some super Welsh cheese. Our route back to the YHA involved several meandering and the inevitable (given Dave was leading) a section on a road with grass growing down the middle.

All in all the weekend involved some 170km of riding with 2000m of ascents. So not bad if not quite the Pyrenees

I saw this picture hanging on the wall of the Roquefort Cycle Lodge. It was taken by Austin during the 2005 tour in the Pyrenees. It left me gobstruck as I think its one of the best pro cycling pictures I have ever seen and Austin kindly gave me a copy to keep (which I scanned so not the best quality I am afraid)

Reasons for this are

• Firstly its just a great cycling picture. The riders are neatly framed by the motor bike on the right and the fans on the left. Most of the movement is coming from the fans who are all in motion while the riders, in contradiction to the reality, look static. But because of this the picture appears to almost be in 3D with the riders coming out of the middle of the picture.
• Secondly in the context of the 2005 tour. Examine the faces of the riders. Even if you know nothing of cycling or cyclists one face stands out, with an expression of steel hard focus while all around other faces show signs of effort and exertion. The face is of course that of the rider in yellow and goes some way to explain why he is on his way to winning his 7th victory in a row.
• Thirdly in the context of later tours. The other recognisable riders in the picture are Kloden, Ulrich, Mayo, Landis, Leipheimer, Vinokorov and (I think right at the back) Rasmussen. So with the exception of Kloden/Leipheimer, you have the full house of disgraced big names 2006/2007.