This was a glorious evening for a time trial: clear, sunny and warm with a light breeze.  The ride up to Astwood from work was really quite pleasant, and I lined up to start with a rare bit of enthusiasm (usually, I'm a bit shattered from a dash from a hectic day at work but today hadn't been too bad).However, from my perspective, there's not much to report.  I set off in good style and felt like I was going well, only to suffer a front wheel puncture just before the Chicheley turn.  I had enough air left to get me most of the way back but for the last mile I was just bumping along. The event was won (I think - results haven't been sent in yet) by Chris Dunwoodie with a long 22, with Tony Parks a few seconds back.  Also worth a mention is Lindz's hird place in 23:12 (or thereabouts).  And many thanks to the start crew: Tony, Steph and Dick.Fortunately I could cadge a lift home, otherwise by the time I'd have got everything sorted, it would have been quite gloomy.  Like me.

I've been playing around with the beta version of the upcoming Ubuntu Linux. 11.04 (Natty Narwhal).  What's of interest to me is the much talked about (and quite controversial) change to the default Gnome desktop introduced in this release.  Canonical have decided to include the Unity desktop as default - Unity is, as I understand it, a shell operating on top of Gnome, and it was originally developed for use on netbooks, intended to make best use of the limited screen size on such devices.  Having played with it for about a fortnight, I've decided to return to my old Gnome desktop setup.What I used to use:I have for some time used a tweaked Gnome desktop in which a single Gnome panel at the top of the screen hold some frequently used applets (importantly, a workspace switcher is there).  Also there are three menus Applications, Places and System.  This provides really quick access to all the installed applications and system settings.  I use Docky to provide a set of icons for the most frequently used applications: this sits at the bottom edge of the screen and autohides.  I have four workspaces, accessed quickly from the workspace switcher on the Gnome panel(which also indicates which workspaces applications are on.My experience with Unity:Unity provides a Mac-like task bar at the top of the screen, though I believe rather better used than the Mac version in some respects.  There are no menu links there (other than app menus when apps are maximised), nor is there a workspace switcher.  The most obvious object on the screen is a vertical taskbar on the left of the screen.  Obviously on a small screen (such as the notebook I'm running this on has), there is a limit to how many icons can be displayed: Unity copes with this with a neat stacking effect.  Unfortunately, on my notebook, this doesn't work too effectively, so for ease of use, you can only quickly access the top eight or so icons.  And to start up other less frequently used icons, is really annoyingly involved (as is adding applications to the taskbar).So, for the time being, I've decided to revert to what seems to be known as 'Ubuntu Classic' - in other words, the Gnome desktop.  I'll keep an eye on Unity and periodically try it out.  But based on my current experience, I'll wait for further development before switching more permanently.  (I also periodically try out KDE, but generally don't like it, either).

This event features fairly regularly on my annual race calendar.  It's always good to do open events on one of the most-used courses in our club event calendar.  This year Gerry and I entered to two-up section of the event.  As it turned out, there was a relatively small turnout for the solo event (30 riders), and only three 2-up teams.  As may have been surmised from recent event reports here and on the Team Grumpy blog, the early season events have been a bit of a struggle for both of us as we fight injury and illness, compounded by demands of work.  Still those are the breaks, I guess, but nonetheless, sets the background for our early season race performance.Unlike the North Bucks club events, the start for this version of the course is between Cranfield and Bourne End, but otherwise the course follows that described here.  Team MK's version of the course also means that the finish is not at the top of the climb into Astwood, which changes how I at least ride that climb.The organiser seems to have a magic touch in arranging weather for this event.  This year, I was a bit disappointed as clear skies gave way to dark clouds.  However, by time we rolled up to the start line as the first 2-up team to start, the clouds had begun to break, letting the sun through.  Unfortunately the performance of Team Grumpy was not as stellar as in previous seasons.  I had neglected to pack my bike computer and so was riding blind to speed, time and heart rate.  As it happened, this was rather good - at least in the context of a 2-up time trial, as I could focus on team riding without worrying about our speed.At the start line there was a single pusher-off, which meant that I would have to clip in once Gerry had started.  Of course, this then led to the usual situation of Gerry pausing to look back, while I need to avoid careering into his back wheel!  Anyway, we started reasonably efficiently, then dropped into a good style of changeovers.  We climbed to Astwood, negotiated the potholes and bumps and joined the A422 where we proceeded at a decent pace towards Chicheley.Here the problems started.We could see a solo rider ahead, and we were gaining quite rapidly.  Gerry was leading, and we were due a changeover.  Unfortunately as we started the climb to Chicheley, it became clear the solo guy wasn't giving up without a fight.  Eventually, we managed to execute the changeover, and I led us up the climb.  By this time Gerry had been dipping into the red, and as I got to the top, I could hear a strangled shout.  Looking back, Gerry was some way off my wheel.  I eased back to let him back on, but in our race post mortem, he reckoned he never really recovered from that effort (this could be seen in a reversal of our usual roles, where Gerry leads us up climbs with me generally hanging on for grim death).While this represented something of a lapse in Team Grumpy race skills, at least we can say that we altered our strategy to give me longer pulls at the front, rather like we did at last year's Duo Normand.  So how did we fare in the results?  Not too well, I am afraid.  We came third and last in the 2-up section, with a time of 49:51.No course map for this report, as I had no Garmin with me!

This time trial, the second counting event in the 2011 series of NBRC time trials, was the first evening event.  Somewhat disappointingly, the rather pleasant weather of recent days had disappointed us, and was replaced with dark, cloudy skies and cool (if not cold) conditions.  There was also the sense of a comedy of errors, as a group of shivering cyclists gathered at the club room to await the start-line crew.  At 15 minutes to go, we decided they must have been down at the start area, so we all dashed down hurriedly...Once there, we got proceedings in order quite quickly.  In fact Lindz was so late getting there he had to act as pusher -off for the first couple of riders while Dick dashed back to his car for the numbers.  The evening wasn't just cold, it was quite breezy, with a headwind facing the riders as they started up the inclines to join the dual carriageway section.  Once on the dual carriageway, the breeze could be felt tugging at my front trispoke.On the encouraging side, this event was the first time since last season that I've felt comfortable riding in the aero tuck position - a problem that almost certainly results from my back injury back in February.  I finished in 23:37 - not too bad, I feel, for the conditions and in relation to recent events.  Simon won with a great ride, chased by Steve (who was clearly stung by his performance in the New Year's Day event!) and Lindz.

Disgraced cyclist Riccardo Riccò apparently wants to make a comeback to professional cycling (Riccò Wants To Make A Comeback | Cyclingnews.com), having retracted his statement allegedly made while doctors battled to save him from his 'mystery ailment'.  The statement, of course, referred his self-administration of a dodgy blood transfusion.Thing is, what team would take him?  With his doping record?

I don't suppose most people are aware of the continued threats against Linux by those companies who feel threatened by the growth of Linux.  Many out there believe that Linux is just some minority OS that's not user-friendly and is not going anywhere.  Actually Linux adoption bubbles along just below Apples OS X - at least on the desktop.  Interestingly, Linux (in the form of Android) is doing well in mobile devices, in web servers, and in supercomputers.  Anyway some years back, an excessively complex and convoluted legal assault on Linux was mounted by SCO, a Utah company formerly engaged in selling a Linux distribution.The whole farrago of legal action seemed to many in the Open Source world to be a campaign to nobble Linux adoption, by spreading FUD - with conspiracy theorists seeing Microsoft as one of its financial backers (there was a suggestion that MS took a Unix licence to help fund the lawyers).Chief in the pro-Linux camp (and some might actually say pro-truth camp) has been the weblog Groklaw, which began when paralegal Pamela Jones wanted to write about these issues on the net - from May 16th 2003, Groklaw has been the number one place for the truth about SCO's attempt to squash Linux (and several other stories): in the 8 years since then, PJ has suffered considerable abuse from SCO and their lawyers, and has stuck to her mission to sift out the truth in this tortuous legal case.  At all times, she's maintained her position on the moral high ground.Now PJ has announced that from May 16th, 2011, Groklaw will no longer publish new articles ( Groklaw Articles Ending on May 16th): it's time for her to move on in her life.I just wanted to say how much I have enjoyed PJ's coverage of the SCO affair, and the other stories she's presented.  Groklaw has been a fascinating read at all times, and has been an excellent example of what can be achieved by a community effort on the web.Thank you, PJ.

This was a gloriously sunny morning: chilly when I set out to ride over to Stony Stratford, but warm for the race and even warmer for the ride home.  This event was the last of the early season morning time trials - the next event being on Wednesday evening.This isn't my favourite course - I dislike the climb to Nash, which doesn't really suit an overweight time triallist, and the road surface is pretty poor in places after two harsh winters.  I arrived very early and hung around for about 40 minutes or so before I started.  Once off, I felt pretty good for the first few miles, despite having to dodge some new potholes a dead rabbit and a live pheasant.  I still felt OK when I started the Nash climb, though I intentionally selected a lower gear than I normally would (this generally slows my ride overall).  I got to the turn in reasonably good shape, and could see that Richard, who'd started a minute before me was on a good ride (he did a PB, I later found).The return leg from the turn was fairly straightforward - I'd noted some of the worst potholes and road surfaces on the way out so I expected the really dreadful section just after passing through Beachampton (why can't those responsible for the roads repair the blasted potholes?).  Unfortunately I felt the time on my computer just slipping away as I made a last effort before the line to finish in 28:52.All in all, a really good morning - lovely weather, very sociable - I had an enjoyable ride home with Richard.

This event in the annual series of North Bucks time trials uses two laps of a course starting in Bow Brickhill, running down the A5, across to Woburn, through Woburn Sands and back to Bow Brickhill (see map below).  The final coup de grace is an ascent of the climb at Bow Brickhill, which is used for the annual hill climb championship.  So it's quite a tough circuit, and one notable aspect is that the man who devised it has, as far as we can tell, yet to ride it in anger!I woke with a nagging ache in my lower back - not painful, but enough to make me less than enthusiastic about 22 hilly miles in my time trial tuck.  Accordingly, I turned out on my road bike for this event.  There wasn't a massive turnout - only six riders - but it was rather a nice morning, with only a gentle wind.  It was actually quite interesting to time trial on a road bike for a change, as I've not done this often before.  The bike in question is fitted with a Polar power metering (see my reviews at TeamGrumpy.org), and I have to say that during the event I rarely bashed out much power!Anyway, I was last man off, and set off towards the Bow Brickhill roundabout as best I could.  From that roundabout, it's a gentle climb to the A5, and then more climbing to pass under the flyover near Little Brickhill.  I was surprised to see my minute man ahead of me in this section - actually this pattern was repeated through the event, as I was climbing faster than he was, only to see him accelerate away from me in his aero position on the level and downhill sections.No real problems (other than worrying about my back), except I got occasionally held up by traffic (for example getting through Woburn Sands on the first lap, and getting stuck behind an aged motorist who sailed through Woburn at a very sedate 20mph in the second lap.  The road surface had suffered over the winter, but not to the extant seen at last year's running of this event.  Eventually I reach the final section, the ascent of the finishing climb.  I shifted into the small ring and in fact during the climb I ended up in 42x23 as all my energy deserted me.  I was reduced to pulling anguished faces to generate sympathy from motorists coming down the hill.Still, not a bad ride - I took second place!

I've been using Ubuntu Linux for quite a few years now, attracted by its ease of installation and use. Through those years I principally used the Gnome desktop in preference to KDE (which I always found a but too garish) or the lightweight desktop environments - Gnome always seemed to have the right amount of flexibility. I had finally reached a point where I had Gnome enabled with a single task bar at the top of the screen and an application dock (Docky) for those most frequently used applications running along the bottom of the screen.  All applications are easily accessible from the main menus dropping down from the taskbar. I routinely had four workspaces that I would navigate through using the Compiz enabled Desktop cube, which also provided some nice eye candy.Canonical are moving to make a new Gnome environment shell, Unity, the default with Ubuntu 11.04 onwards.  I'd read that Unity was originally developed for Netbook users, but that it might ultimately have a role in touch screen devices.  This brief note is a quick 'first opinion' of Unity - thought presumably quite a bit of work is to come as 11.04 moved towards release (and bear in mind I'm still figuring out how to use it!).This weekend I decided to upgrade to the first Beta of Ubuntu 11.04 (Natty Narwhal), in part because I wanted to see what Unity was like, particularly in the ease of use where smaller screens are concerned.  I upgraded an ageing Sony Vaio VGN-TX5XN notebook with 1366x768 screen resolution, 1Gb RAM and Intel integrated graphics chip.[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="430" caption="Unity Screenshot"][/caption]The image shows a view of the new Unity desktop.  A panel of application and admin icons runs down the left of the screen.  This is fine as far as it goes, but accessing less frequently used applications becomes a bit more of a chore - you need to click the icon with a magnifying glass and a plus symbol to see further applications, but to reach one you may need three or four clicks of the mouse.The application panel autohides - you bring it back by mousing over the top left corner of the screen.  I imagine you can tweak these settings, but I've no idea how yet!To switch desktops, you click the desktop icon and choose the desktop you want to move to.  Again, this is clunkier that my previous Gnome incarnation, where I could just click on the workspace switcher in the task bar to do this.  If any reader knows how to add applets (such as a workspace switcher) to the Unity taskbar, please tell me!The taskbar is a bit like that on Apple's OS X - when applications are maximised, it takes on that application's toolbar menu items - unlike OS X, when the application isn't maximised, these revert to the window title bar.  This seems an excellent compromise, especially where screen real estate is at a premium.I'm less happy with compiz )the compositing engine for fancy desktop effects) on this notebook: it won't run.  This may be having an impact on some of the fluidity of the application panel and desktop workspace navigation.  The non-functionality of compiz is not to do with Unity per se: it's not working if I start Ubuntu in old-style Gnome (via the Ubuntu Classic option at the log in screen).  Still, I dare say I'll work on that.  It would be nice to switch workspaces by mousing to the edge of the screen and rotating a desktop cube.  Interestingly, at one point in my monkeying around in Unity, I persuaded Docky to run, so maybe compiz isn't completely broken.

Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear!A chilly morning greeted me as I left to ride over to Pitstone for the Icknield RC hilly 30k time trial.  This is a regular feature on my early season, which I enter either solo (as this year) or as a 2-up event with my Team Grumpy partner.  No problems riding over to the race HQ: I chose to ride along the new Stoke Hammond bypass, a nicely surfaced dual carriageway.  Having left in good time in case of incident (punctures spring to mind!), I arrived at the hall in plenty of time.  Well, actually, a bit too much time.After a spot of conversation, I trundled off to the start line.  By this time I was feeling rather chilly, and I noticed that all the riders lined up at the start were shivering, so I wasn't alone there.Eventually, my start time came, and off I went.  The course leads past a recreation ground and through Ivinghoe.  The recreation ground is a bit of a problem, with parents in large 4x4s stopping to deliver children to Sunday football matches.  As has happened before, I got stalled quite badly by one such monster vehicle.  Shortly after Ivinghoe, the course turns left and climbs up the shoulder of  Ivinghoe Beacon.  At this point, I knew I was in for a tough ride: I really struggled over the top, and indeed got caught for a minute on the way down the other side (only about 10 minutes into the race!).At the bottom of the descent it's a sharp left to join the road out to Billington.  This was characterised by some pretty bad potholes, and then the sharp climb that is Billington Hill.  This year I decided against muscling a big gear and slipped the chain into the small plate.  Nevertheless, I crested the hill in an embarrassingly small gear.  Fortunately the speed picked up as I descended to the roundabout where I joined the Leighton Buzzard bypass. from there it was reasonably quick, past a couple of roundabouts and up to Wing.  During this stretch, I was passed by #78, and was caught by the scratch rider (Steve Golla, #80) in Wing.  The roads continued to be of really poor quality* as I descended from Wing.  Dodging the potholes and traffic, I eventually reached the turn to Wingrave.  Up the slight hill and through Wingrave - turned left at the duckpond (has to be one of the more quaint course descriptions), where my right tri-bar pad decided to leap off into the abyss**.  Ignoring the abrasive possibilities of riding on the remaining velcro patches, I pressed on to Mentmore crossroads and turned right towards Mentmore and the final climb.  Not too bad, though #79 caught me shortly after cresting the hill - now I was the last rider on the road!  The descent could have been fast, but I found myself inhibited by the big red signs exhorting road users to go slowly: "Failed Road Surface" was the hazard*.  Dodging huge potholes and associated gravel, the descent past the Mentmore country club was quite quick.  One last sprint and I crossed the line to finish in 50:41.This wasn't a particularly triumphant performance, but hopefully will contribute to returning form as I return from the injury and illness of recent weeks.*I rode a total of about 1o9km today, including riding too and from the event, and I can say that I was appalled by the state of the roads I was on: they would embarrass a third world country, and this must be one of the wealthiest counties in England.  Shame on the local councils!  Last winter has absolutely trashed them.  It made riding the event rather unpleasant at times.**I chose to ride home via Wingrave and retrieved the tri-bar pad, which will henceforth be secured with a rubber band.