I can see blue

Wow, a break in the weather and about bloody time!  The pic wasn't taken on the Summer Solstice, the weather was truly awful. I live at the foot of a famous climb (by local standards) and watched a few brave souls mixing it with the torrential rain on the Solstice. Did I feel guilty, holding my cup of tea watching them go by? In short, no.

Anyway, back to the photo. Location: Just off the West Highland Way, looking out towards Ben Lomond. This is a favourite spot of mine and a photo is taken every time I'm passing. I do my best to set the shot at the same point. The bottom pic is from the depths of winter -5c and the trail is ice. What I would do to see a sky that blue at this time of year. 


The bike of choice was the Gary Fisher Rig 29er SSSS (single speed summer solstice) and is just the ticket for those flowing lines of the West Highland Way and trails close by. It was my first time on the 29er in weeks and my form is not at its best. Hopefully the next few days will offer some time to go out and work on the cycling tan.


Stay upright

The sun is shining

So, what does the summer solstice mean to you? I’m sure cyclists around the globe have plans and ambitions to enjoy the longest day. With this in mind, please send your pics and cyclesguff will upload and share.

My plan is to join a few riders embarking on a trip along the West Highland Way and camping out on Conic Hill. Unfortunately I won't be able to join them for the camping due to a major move at work tomorrow, now that might be the longest day.....

Stay upright

The yellow is almost upon us...

I recall a time when anything to do with the Tour de France or cycling in general was hard to come by. The only tonic was a trip to the newsagent. The 'scage at the mags' as it used to be known was a quick look at custom cars (you probably know why), NME and if my mates weren't looking, The Face. 

I happened to find myself in town yesterday walking into W H Smiths. I enjoy these 20-30mins of indulgence and my path through the mags is a well-travelled cornucopia of delights. Such is the market driven world that we live in, my restless quest for more info and ‘must haves’ is always on the up. This is where the challenge begins. With limited time (and reluctance to buy) what do you choose? For cycling it used to be the comic, nothing other than good old Cycling Weekly, the classic, the PR of mags. However, for a number of years it did have the reputation for being too dry and self important. It is now struggling to have the impact and star studded content that the big players have in abundance; the varnish gloss of Pro-cycling’s back cover, the free DVD included with the 2011 TDF guide, the Pro-riders review of yet another >10k hyperbike. The challengers continue to attack.

The MTB mag scene has also exploded. The mtb version of Rouler, Privateer is enjoying rave reviews. Poor old Singletrack may suffer the same fate as MTB-UK-stickers don’t make the mag! We want impartial content, the fresher the better. This then brings me to the web, pdf downloads from the ride journal, a quick look at bikerumour, pinkbike and other esoteric delights and insights can be had for free. So, where does this leave Cycling Weekly? Well folks, in my opinion it’s in yellow from the prologue. No other mag can provide the level of content (‘weekly’ must have something to do with it) and the Brit contingent in this year’s event will no doubt provide some exclusives and gems. And, let’s not forget a little escape to scage the mags, the feel of the paper and the even nod to the chap standing next to you reading the same mag is one of lifes little treats.

wiggo this time round?

In the Criterium de Dauphine last week Bradley Wiggins made an impressive show of himself. He took the lead in the time trial and defended all the way to the finish over some pretty serious lumps including the Glandon/Croix de Fer and La Toussuire.
Kind of makes you wonder what he can do in the Tour de France and could even be convinced that he might just be the first British rider on the podium*. Only one way to find out...




*Clean podium that is, not retrospectively after riders have been banned and their places given up. That would be a mess.

Contador Wins 2011 TDF

The question was posed recently on the VCDL podcast of whether it would be fair to strip Bert of his Giro win and one, probably two, TDF wins, having been seen to win the latter two cleanly. Certainly, I don't think he is daft enough to be doping now, whilst an investigation rumbles ineptly on. He will have been subject to rigorous doping controls and still he makes light of the toughest mountain stages.

But the crux of the matter for me is whether Contador should be punished for a positive doping control or punished for the excruciating ineptitude of the UCI. If they have reason to suspect that his exoneration by the RFEC was unwarranted and that he should serve a suspension then they should bloody well get on with it instead of making a mockery of the sport by allowing him to do pretty much whetever he damn well pleases, whilst the UCI, without irony, can come to a decision in their own sweet time and apply a retrospective ban.

It is an injustice beyond words that this can happen and I believe that if he is allowed to race, which he has been, and can prove that he is doing so cleanly, which he has done, then he should retain the fruits of his efforts. The UCI, WADA and all the other governing bodies need to get their collective heads out their arses and get this nonsense sorted. So they've decided to have the hearing in August? Give me a break.

Forget dopers and cheats, the UCI are the biggest criminals in our sport.

Welcome to the minidrome

http://www.redbull.co.uk/cs/Satellite/en_UK/Event/red-bull-mini-drome-glasgow-021242923679584

When was the last time you had a free pass for the Barrowlands?

creatures of habit

It is one of our many human qualities that, having found something we like we stick with it. A foible no doubt exploited by those in marketing or sales who find ever more sophisticated ways to persuade us to stick with the brand.

So it is with the cyclesguff choice of routes. Though we have built up a repertoire of options over the years we tend to stick to a set 2 or 3 routes. Not always through a lack of imagination since we are blessed with a prevailing Westerly in these parts that influences the way we return home, wind at our backs.

This weekend would have been no different had it not been necessary to accommodate a family gathering on Saturday and a blustery Easterly that has been around of late. Some creative thinking and the aid of a map (beautiful things surely?) provided a chance to do part of the route in reverse and try out some new roads that we usually pass-by. Sunday was a straight reverse route but it too offered up something new.

Well ridden roads where we know every nook, corner and pothole offered new delights and previously unseen glimpses of buildings and vistas that had been hidden behind fences and hedges or left in our wake as we passed in the opposite direction.

Familiar and strange at the same time, the shape of the route, the curves and hills that we had taken for granted now required a different pedalling effort and position. It makes for new insights and appreciation of what we put on the road all those other days without really thinking about it.