A rant

A little while ago, Nick herbert MP wrote this letter to Police Officers in England and Wales.

I am fuming! He has the temerity to address me as a colleague! Unless he is a sworn Officer, Special Constable, PCSO or Civillian employee of one of the Police Forces in England and Wales, he is no colleague of mine, he is a The Managment.

Herbert- stop patronising me and the folk I work with. I am not your colleague. I am a minion. Thats right, a minion. One of the thousands of folk who work for the Police Service who are being shafted- no cancel that, Right Royaly Shafted, by this Government under the auspices of the Puppet that is Tom Winsor. It has to be a Royal Shafting as we are under a Coservative/ Liberal Democrat coalition govenment. A Labour governmet wouldn't dare go in for all that Royal stuff. Too un SocialistThey would just shaft us but with all the skill and vigour that can be applied by a strong manual labourer.

In just under two years, I qualify for a full pension. Until this shafting business started, it was my intentionn to continue working as a Police Officer. Well, you have gone and completely screwed that up. Come the day of my qulification, I might take my in excess of 25 years loyal service and experience and jump like a rat leaving a sinking ship, for that is how I see it. The good ship British Policing is going down. God have mercy on her soul.

Catching up with stuff

Hi Folks!

As you may have noticed by a) the lack of anything new to read below and b) the absolute rubbish mileage returns I have logged, my cycling based life has not been what it should recently. This is mainly due to what I do to earn a crust. I am currently involved in a job which, if I were to tell you about it, I would have to find you all and kill you (or at least put you across my knee and give you a damn good spanking). Lets just say that the job has been taking up a lot of my time- both scheduled and unscheduled work time. Hopefully, over the next 6 weeks or so, this time commitment will reduce, allowing me to get back into my former lifestyle and riding more frequently again.

So, what has been happening out there in the meantime? Well, it is Giro d' Italia time again. Some good stages so far, a poignant moment of silence prior to the start of the stage on 9th May to mark the tragic death of Wouter Weylandt last year  and a couple of good stage wins by Mark Cavendish (and a bloody painful looking crash where he was brought down by another sprinter recklessly changing his line). Needless to say, my satellite TV decoder box record function is getting good use.

The annual return of bats to our garden has taken place. The 'Black Arrows' display team are on fine form doing their thing around the airspace over my lawn. If it isn't the bats in the evening, it is the Red Kite during the day. Sometimes the numbers I can see from my garden are in double figures. Sometimes a pair of kite will put on a display by playing tag in the sky overhead, diving at each other, barrel rolling to avoid one another. Great stuff to watch.

She Who Must be Obeyed (Mrs Secret Cyclist) has done me proud again. Ferry crossing and hotel booked in Liege for the depart of the Tour de France. Top Bird my Wife.

As you can see, life goes on. Roll on resumption of normal service is all I can say.

Where the chuffing heck did my legs go?

To paraphrase Mr Vader, I find my lack of miles disturbing. In fact, this year to date, I have less than 300 miles under my belt.

This morning I managed to find time to get the 'Dale out and get some miles in. I decided to amend a frequent loop and take in a couple of hills, one for the first time. The new one, Kingston Hill from the vicinity of Chinnor up to Stokenchurch turned out to be a killer. I hit the mid section where it ramps up and after about 200 yards of toil and noticing a heart rate of 185, In had to bail out and walk.

If you look closely, you will see that I am hanging my head in shame.

It's good to ride again

Sunday morning saw my first half way decent ride since my crash. Just under 33 miles up and down the hills that litter the area around where I live. very nice it was too. I am still missing out a lot of my commuting miles due to the need to drive too and from a distant location for a job I am working on but the legs and the lungs are coming back. all I need to do now is get the fundament back. Saddle sore or what!

On another topic- The Manx Missile strikes again. Mark Cavandish has emerged vistorious from his first European race of the season- the Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne. Apparently he was not feeling too well but still nailed it due to the way Team Sky controlled te race and delivered him to the launch pad. Well done Cav and well done Team Sky!

On another topic again, the Saturday before last, Mrs Secret Cyclist and I spent the day at the Olympic Velodrome for the UCI track World Cup event being hosted as part of the London prepares series. Awesome! The venue is fantastic and the noise as Team GB riders did their thing had to be heard to be believed. Jo Rowsell being followed around the velodrome by an acoustic Mexican Wave as she rode to the Individual Pursuit gold was spine tingling and the roars as Sir Chris Hoy launched himself from close the the back of the line to take his heat and the final in the keirin was something to behold. I think Team GB is on for a good selection of medals in the Olympics if this keeps up.

Photos will follow when time allows.

Update on previous post.

Towards the end of last year I told about helping out at an accident where an elderly gent had been knocked down- here. Sadly I learned recently that the old guy didn't recover and has passed away. Gutted.

20,000 miles under my belt

Last Sunday I went out on my 'Dale for a short blast to get some shape back into my lungs. I only managed a measley 14.59 mile loop and felt knackered afterwards (it doesn't take long to loose condition does it?). One positive from this however is that it took my total mileage since records began to 20,001.85.

I'm slightly chuffed with that.

Yay! I'm back in the saddle (and so is Cav!)

Last night saw me ride home from work, my first ride since I crashed on 20th January. It wasn't quick and it wasn't pretty but I got home in one piece! My arm and shoulder ached quite a bit as a result of the pulling on the bars and also my riding position, but you know what they say- No Pain, No Gain.

This morning I rode in to work. Again, neither quick nor pretty. We had about 2" of fresh snow overnight so progress was careful. I had to remain seated and adopt the granny gear combo to get up Quarry Wood Road- standing and honking had my back wheel spinning out on the slush and packed snow. Once again, I will remind the world- When there is snow on the ground, never underestimate the power of one wheel drive. I bet all you lucky gits that own and run Pugsleys are haveing a whale of a time! (Tommy and Coastkid, I'm talking about you).

Next weekend (well, Thursday evening through to Sunday evening) sees the UCI running a track World Cup event at the Olympiv Velodrome in London and part of the venue preperations programme. SWMBO and I tried to get tickets tothe Olympic events but failed so we tried for the preparedness event instead. We failed originally but, yesterday SWMBO managed to get a pair of tickets to both Saturday sessions! A right result. a full day of track cycling to enjoy.

To cap off a good week, Mark Cavandish is at it again. Riding his first event for Team Sky, he has taken stages 3 and 5 of the Tour of Quatar. The Manx Missile is flying again!

Ouch

On Friday 20th January, whilst cycling home from work, it all went wrong for me.

I was descending Quarry Wood Road and negotiating the mid point hairpin, a right turn on the way down. I had scrubbed off all my speed and was just apexing the bend when my front wheel decided to go AWOL. I was riding then I wasn't, no warning, no chance of recovery, just me laying in the middle of the road feeling sorry for myself and identifying bits that hurt- knee and elbow well scuffed by the shell grip surface.

I looked back the way I had come and saw car lights approaching so grabbeed G G G G Granville and shuffled out of the way. A couple of cars stopped to make sure I was OK and I assured them I was. I collected up all the bits that had fallen out or off the bike then started to ride again. After a few hundred yards I had to sit up as my shoulder and upper arm hurt like a wossname. I got home and showered to run some hot water over my shoulder which made a difference.

Next morning adhesion had set in and I had to unglue myself from the sheets!

The scuffed bits are now at the picking scabs stage but the shoulder and arm still hurt, particularly when they get a bit of a jolt. As a result, I haven't ridden for two weeks.

Withdrawal is a bummer.

P.S. Have a squint to the left and click on the Cities Fit For Cycling logo. Another ally in the fight to make cycling safer for all.