Arise Sir Wiggo and other things

Today saw the release of the New Years Honours List, where The (Other) Boss- Her majesty, bestows honours on The Great and The Good.

One of this years recipients is Bradley Wiggins. The Kid from Kilburn has been Knighted. I can't wait to hear his acceptance. The Queen must be quaking in her boots!

Also receiving a Knighthood is Wiggo's boss Dave Brailsford.

Being made a Dame (Lady Knight) is Sarah Storey, paralympics cyclist and Gold Medal winner, who has also achieved as an able bodied athlete.

Victoria Pendleton is awarded a CBE whilst Jason Kenny and Laura Trott receive OBE's and Joanna Rowsell, Steven Burke, Mark Colbourne, Neil Fachie, Philip Hindes, Peter Kennaugh, Danni King and  Craig Maclean each receive an MBE

Having browsed the list, it appears most medal winners at the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games have been recognised, along with some coaches and federation leaders. Our sport of cycling has done well.

The other thing for me to mention is my own nearly New Year Honour. 28 years ago today The Boss (Mrs Secret Cyclist) stood next to me at the altar, accepted my ring and said "I Do" when the Vicar asked The Question on my behalf. She is a great lass! As we took a stroll around the town after lunch today, we spied  this car outside the local church

Another couple was preparing to share our anniversary day. Congratulations to them, whoever they are.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

Christmas is 'a coming,
The Goose is getting nervous.......

Just a quick visit to wish everyone a Very Merry Christmas and a Happy and Prosperous 2013,

Providing the Mayans didn't get their dates wrong!

Get out there and ride folks.

Cycling Equations (or How Many Bikes Do You Need)

I was talking with a friend the other day and the old question of “How many bikes does a cyclist need” came up. Well, we all know the answer to that is expressed as the equation n+1, where n = the number the cyclist currently owns.

We had a bit of laugh about that but he then identified the other equation to answer the same question- s–1, where s = the number of bikes at which point the cyclists significant other kicks them out or leaves.

That posed the conundrum, how do you identify the point where n+1 and s-1 reaches critical mass?

At this moment in time, in my case, n=4 but, until about a month ago, n=5. Now, did n=5 become n=4 because s=5? Or did n=4 arise because the current funds for other projects =0 and I needed to raise some cash?

Only SWMBO will be able to answer that and I ain’t asking.

Bradley Wiggins does it again!

Congratulations to Bradley Wiggins, voted as BBC Sports Personality of the Year 2012 last night, taking the mantle from team mate, sprinting loon and the Secret Cyclists adopted pro rider Mark Cavendish. A cyclist winning the award two years on the bounce? We have arrived!


Congrats also to-

Dave Brailsford (Team Sky Manager and British Cycling boss) who won the 2012 SPOTY Coach award to add to his 2008 award after the British Cycling Beijing Olympics success.

Lord Sebastian Coe awarded the 2012 SPOTY Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of his Olympic history as a competitor, Host City bid leader and overall man in charge for the success of the 2012 Summer Olympiad and Paralympics Games.

Martine Wright, 7/7 London bombing survivor and 2012 Sitting Volleyball Paralympian, recipient of the 2012 Helen Rollason Award, named in honour of the late BBC sports presenter. Helen fell victim to cancer in 1999 aged 43.

Josef Craig, winner of the 2012 Young SPOTY. Aged 15, James, who suffers from mild cerebral palsy was Team GB's youngest gold medallist at the Paralympics. he took his medal whilst setting a new World Record in the S7 400m freestyle final in the pool.

The Unsung Hero award went to Sue and Jim Houghton, who spent 25 years helping to turn a derelict sports ground into a much loved community facility.

Usain Bolt received the overseas award, mostly for achieving the double treble (Olympic Golds in the 100m individual, 200m individual and 100m sprint relays 2 games in succession) but also I suspect, for being an all round, entertaining Good Egg.

Team GB and Team Paralympics GB were jointly awarded the Team Of The Year award in recognition of their tremendous success at their home games.

The Team award has raised some eyebrows as, the ruls for eligibility for the team award seems to exclude Team GB. I say 'So What!' I know that Team Europe’s Ryder Cup performance during the Miracle at Medinah would, in all likelihood have won the award any other year, their misfortune was that their comeback against the USA happened in the same summer as London hosted a fantastic Olympic and Paralympics Games and our athletes performed so spectacularly. The BBC award the award and, as far as I am concerned, can bend the rules a little when extraordinary circumstances occur.

Bloody Well Done to all.

Cycling Super Powers

I wish I had em!

Or one in particular.

As I prepared to ride to work this morning I did the usual "stick my head out the kitchen door to check the weather" test and established that a) It was a bit chilly and b) it was dry. I therefore got dressed to suit the conditions- lycra shorts, long sleeve base layer, knee warmers, Karrimor bike trousers, Altura Airstream windproof jacket, buff, Sealskinz windproof skull cap, Altura waterproof gloves, Selev Alien lid (nothing additional on my tootsies apart from the usual socks and Shimano shoes).

I commenced my ride just before the sun started to lighten the eastern sky and for the first 5 minutes I remained chilled but not too bad. I then launched myself into the ascent of Quarry Wood Road and my central heating kicked in. I was lovely and warm.

For this initial part of the ride, the roads were fine, just a bit damp. As I turned off Quarry Wood Road towards Winter Hill however, I detected the crisp, crunchy sound of frost crackling under wheel. This instantly instilled a case of the Heebie Jeebies.

Now, as you know, I have written about The Fear but, The Fear and the Heebie Jeebies are distinctly different cycling maladies. The fear is the gut feeling of "We're all dooooooooooooooomed!" whereas the Heebie Jeebies are that sudden onset anatomy clenching feeling that it is about to go horribly wrong.

This is where I wish I had a Super Power- in my case levitation. All I wanted to do was close my eyes and think myself 6 inches off the road and floating my way to a nice, safe, frost free road. Just like Dynamo- magician impossible levitated himself in front of the statue of Christ Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro.

As I couldn't levitate however, I just had to progress at snails pace ensuring any slowing of the snails pace was done with back brake only. I tried to follow wheel tracks from cars that had driven through the frost but, in places I was the first vehicle of any kind to go that way since late last night.

I got to work in one piece but it took me 5 minutes longer and my maximum speed was only 17.7 mph!

Super Powers, we all need em.

My Movember

This is what Movember did for me-

I planned to shave it off yesterday but, SWMBO likes it at the moment so i am keeping it for now.