I've been a Spotify subscriber for about 9 months now, and I view it as a really exciting and useful way to listen to new music. But some in the music industry view it more darkly - see for example comment articles by David Byrne and Thom Yorke. These two articles provoked a response from Dave Allen, who takes a different view.Personally, I think there's a fundamental problem with the discussion (though I think I tend towards Dave Allen's view): that is that none of these articles really contain hard data on music purchasing within the Spotify subscribers (and indeed comparing those people with non-subscribers).For my part, I'm of an age where my music listening and buying has seen several game changes. My first record was this:[embed size="compact"]https://open.spotify.com/track/2A0VyjrAJQPXVKxRzxEePG[/embed]And my first LP was Dark Side of the Moon:[embed size="compact"]https://open.spotify.com/album/3a0UOgDWw2pTajw85QPMiz[/embed]But in those days, finding and buying music was very different. I spent loads of time browsing through the inky music papers (NME in my case), listening to friends' LPs (and taping them), and above all frequenting dark record shops. Most of those record shops were bizarrely idiosyncratic in their owners' attitudes (see this listing for examples!). My memories of those days are obviously coloured by rose-tinted spectacles, but the sense of community was great, along with pressures of poverty meaning that every music purchase was most definitely considered thoroughly. And not just in terms of the music itself - peer group issues were very definitely an issue! My affection for vinyl remains because my shelf of LPs, perhaps 5 feet of LPs, contains records firmly registered in my memory as markers of my life: I can recall the circumstances in which I bought virtually every one of them. I recently digitised the majority of them, and the process became the most astonishing memory trip. I suppose the affection I have for vinyl is obviously related to the the packaging, almost invariably superior to a CD package, but also relates to the need to look after, cherish, the object.CDs became the medium for music (I ignore the cassette tape). Oh how wonderful it was to not have to worry about scratches, crackles and generally damaged product. But something was lost for me - buying records became a rather humdrum and unexciting business, and as internet ordering became the norm, I found myself less and less likely to actually visit record shops. I live in a town almost bereft of record shops now, and the overall effect was that my interest in, and purchase of, music reached an all time low.A few years ago, a review of a device made by Logitech - the Squeezebox - in a Linux magazine piqued my interest. I've blogged before about this system, sadly discontinued by Logitech, though it lives on beyond the grave (see also other systems such as Sonos). I quickly began ripping my CDs to disk - running a music server on an old Ubuntu linux box, I made the initial false move of ripping to mp3. Recognising my mistake, I re-ripped to flac! Listening to music through my home network really revitalised my interest music. There were so many advantages in accessing albums without ferretting around shelves of CDs, searching for obscure tracks became so much easier and so forth. Over the years, my Squeezebox system grew. Now I operate a Squeezebox Touch, my original Squeezebox 3, two Squeezebox Radios, plus I use a software player on my MacBook Pro, and apps on iPads and Android devices. Along the way, I started using last.fm as a way of interacting with others, and trying to find new music. But still, accessing new music remained an issue, despite buying Mojo (for classic rock music and dead, decrepit and generally missing in action musicians) and The Wire (for my more avant-garde tastes).Enter Spotify. Admittedly, I was a little late to the music streaming party but I've been enthusiastic ever since. I rapidly upgraded from the advert-laden free account to a paid Premium account, largely to enable listening on my iPad. I only interact with one friend on Spotify, but even that is enough to open my eyes to a wide variety of music I wouldn't normally here. I frequently don't like her suggestions, occasionally hate them, but quite frequently really enjoy her playlists. I also widely use Spotify to check out albums I've read reviews of.So, in all this, what effect has Spotify had on my music listening? Well firstly, it's enabled me to listen to music I'd ordinarily never hear. Secondly, it allows me to check stuff out before shelling out for it. I can use Spotify in conjunction with the Squeezebox to generate "Smart Playlists", uncovering some hidden gems.And guess what? I have greatly increased the numbers of albums I buy. This is an impact on the music biz that doesn't seem to be considered in many commentary articles on music streaming services. Maybe I'm an outlier here, but the exposure to music leads to increased purchasing, at least in my case. And I blundered across a review of music listening/purchasing trends among 'young' people (with a foreword by Feargal Sharkey) which as I recall seemed to indicate an unexpected (to me) desire to own the music rather than merely have a download. Another important factor is that the young do have a lower disposable income, and I would expect them to use copying to increase their music collection - much as I and my fellow students did with cassette tapes back in the 1970s. I guess what I'm trying to suggest is that this whole issue of fair remuneration for artists is wholly unresolvable without a robust dataset. And, of course, we can add to the discussion the role of the music companies in all this.

Thorn Cycles have a 100 day return policy (with some obvious conditions). Those 100 days are pretty much expired. Will we send the new tandem back? Absolutely not. See the multi-part review for the explanation.

I haven't written a preview of the 2013 Duo Normand, principally because both of us have had particularly lacklustre seasons this year for reasons of pressure of work and of illness and injury. However, on a recent joint holiday to Normandy, we did seem to see the vague signs of returning form. I built on this by riding five events between coming back from Normandy and returning for the Duo Normand. Everything seemed to be falling into place. From my perspective, at least. Things began to change a few days before we were due to leave for the Duo Normand - Gerry reported he'd picked up a cold. What was worse, it appeared to be quite severe. Not to worry, I observed, it'll probably pass before the race itself. But I found myself sharing a cabin on the overnight ferry to Caen on the Wednesday before the race with a severely bunged up and coughing team mate. It was looking a bit bleak for our tenth outing at the Duo Normand.

This event was the second time trial of the weekend. It is also likely to be the last event to be held on the F1/25, as scheduled roadworks are expected to affect the Black Cat roundabout, and may leave a legacy of traffic lights. I've never really got on with this course in recent years and usually find myself floundering on the return leg - there's often a head wind on those exposed sections of road.I got up quite early and sorted out my kit in advance of being picked up. I noted it was really very cold, with a real end-of-season autumnal feel. I could also hear owls hooting as I pumped up my tyres. I travelled over to Tempsford with Katja, a friend from work who's quite new to time trialling - this was her first ride on the F1, I think. The sun was low in the sky, and there was quite a bit of low lying mist. Over on the F1, things were pretty clear as we got our numbers and set out to try and warm up.By the time I started, I was thoroughly chilled - my Garmin data for the event showed that it was around 8 degrees, and it had bee colder than than. I had a good start and rode off to join the A1. Coming down the slip road onto the A1, I picked up a decent amount of speed, though it was obvious that the southbound sections would, as so often is the case, suffer from a nagging headwind.Once round the Sandy roundabout, my speed picked up with the tailwind, and the northbound leg was pretty nice. Except for my Assos skinsuit, the legs of which were riding up. This had been evident at the start, where another competitor had noted that this showed off my leg tan quite nicely. This, however, wasn't really uppermost in my mind, as the skinsuit was rather uncomfortable. In an email exchange with my Team Grumpy colleague and so-called team mate, it was asserted that this problem must have been due to my stick thin legs. I prefer to claim that the leg grippers are defective. Anyway, this situation made the photograph that David Jones took look remarkably odd  - to the extent I am reluctant to post it (oh, vanity).Despite the sartorial defects of my ride, by the time turned at Buckden (unusually, I was held up there by traffic), I was becoming increasingly confident that I might record a decent time. One of the ways I try to keep focus is to continually recalculate my ETA at the finish line. At some point before crossing the Black Cat, I'd concluded I was possibly going to do a long 57. This spurred me on, and indeed I crossed the finish line in 57:52, my best time on the F1/25 since August 2010 (and 2010 was my last good season, when I was knocking out 6 season best times). 

The weather continued in its cold, wet and windy trajectory for this North Bucks club event on the Astwood circuit. I set out on the bike in a a pretty heavy drizzle, and I was thoroughly wet after  a couple of miles. By the time I got to Astwood, I was pretty cold too. Amazingly five other idiots hardy souls turned out for this event. I had pictured being the only one!I was warming up in Astwood when I spotted a very large diesel spill on the road - this really isn't the kind of thing one wants to see when riding a bike on wet roads. Up to this point, the main road hazard had appeared to be the large numbers of road kill amphibia littering the tarmac!Anyhow the six riders lined up to do their best (I was #3). And off I went. Fortunately the short queue of traffic waiting to join the main road that had built up while I waited to start all managed to clear by the time I started. Unfortunately, once out on the road I realised that the diesel spill was out there as well. It was big enough that almost the whole of our carriageway was covered - just a couple of feet in the gutter was clear. I was somewhat apprehensive, particularly when choosing when to pass a rider on this section. This state of affairs continued all the way to Chicheley, and it wasn't until after turning off towards North Crawley that the roads were free of drizzle.Once round that corner, the wind provided immediate assistance (it had been a bit tough to Chicheley, but the diesel offered enough of a distraction!) and I made pretty good speed at least until the road began to rise up towards North Crawley. Oddly, I was finding my neck a bit uncomfortable while in an aero tuck, which is quite unusual and which left me worrying about tomorrow's '25' and, indeed, the upcoming Duo Normand.Anyhow, I pressed on, catching a second rider before finishing in 24:55. I was in second place behind a guy on a road bike with mudguards! However, being the only veteran meant I was first on vet's standard. Oh, such is life that I need to grasp at such straws!That was the last club time trial of 2013, with only the Hill Climb Championship remaining on 5th October.

This was my second '10' of the day, just as it was almost exactly a year ago to the day. The reason this sticks in my mind is that in last year's Icknield RC '10', I was brought down at around 26mph by a couple of kids messing about on the old A421. This, of course, was occupying my mind a bit, as was the prospect of charging down Brogborough Hill at the start of the F15/10 on a fairly windy afternoon (also on my mind was that I was starting as #30, a position not really warranted by my time trial performances over the last couple of years).The last time I rode on the F15/10, roadworks forced a last minute change to the course, so I suppose that it shouldn't have come as a surprise that this had happened again on this event. Fortunately this time the amended course was still 10 miles (last time we'd been reduced to 6.5 miles!). The new course, as described verbally by the organiser, used the section between the two roundabouts twice. We were to start heading west, turn at Marston Moretaine RAB, head east to the usual turn RAB, return to the Marston Moretaine RAB, head east once more to the usual turn, then head back to finish somewhere before the start point. This was all rather confusing, as the description didn't leave me with a clear picture of how far it was from the start to the first RAB turn, or where the finish would be in relation to the start. Still, I was sure it'd all become crystal clear!I rode down to find the start in plenty of time, and rolled up and down the road until nearly at my start time. This was rendered rather alarming by the large numbers of kids messing about on BMX bikes and scooters (see opening paragraph) - surely history wouldn't repeat itself! I stopped briefly to explain why all these oddly costumed cyclists on weird bikes were riding up and down the road to a couple of small kids and their mother. It was interesting to hear that they'd figured out this was a time trial (presumably recent TdF and Olympic success is responsible), but they thought we were racing on a residential street! I said we were actually racing on the main road.As I started, I wasn't sure how far the start was from the first roundabout. As it turned out it was just under a mile. Unfortunately I'd thought it was going to be a bit less, and had kept the gear a bit lower than I'd normally use in preparation for the roundabout. Oh, and did I mention the headwind? Once round the first roundabout, things got a bit quicker due to the tailwind. On the first eastbound leg, I was quite surprised by the distance between the finish line and the start point, but at least having clocked its position, I had a bit of clarity regarding the course layout.I was relieved that there were no children at all playing on the course, and indeed the event went quite well. Overall there were three sections heading west and into the headwind, which broke up the difficult sections quite nicely.I thought this amended course was rather good, though I suspect that the finish line time-keeper must have had an interesting time, with riders coming past twice in the event. I suppose that if the finish could be on an exit road from the course, things would have been easier. To be frank, I preferred this course to the 'real' F15/10 despite the multiple RABs.I finished with 23:47, which at least was consistent with the morning's '10'. I left before all the results were out.

Rather a cool morning, which I suppose indicates autumn is now upon us! There was also a rather stiff breeze as I rode over to the start area for the first of two 10 mile time trials (the other being the Icknield RC '10' on the F15/10). Also rather annoying was that the problems I'd been having with my cadence sensor while in France recently were persisting (erratic readings often at least double the real readings), and indeed compounded by absolutely no HR data being received from the chest strap. Ho hum. And we can add another of those cases where the Garmin couldn't start up properly.Nevertheless I lined up to start while trying not to think about the defective computer. I'd been warned about a trench-like road defect at one of the roundabouts, and I had my eye out for that - particularly since I had had an alarming incident on this course last time due to a roundabout pothole. In the run up to the first roundabout, some twonk driving a khaki coloured van or 4x4 towing a big trailer scared the pants off me by driving close and hooting his horn. Apart from that, I had no trouble with traffic, despite the traffic volume, which at 9am on a Saturday was somewhat higher than we see in the evening events. At some point just before the second roundabout, the Garmin decided to announce, via a loud beep, that it had begun to function.As I'd thought as I rode out to the event, the ride up to the dual carriageway was into a rather stiff headwind, what was rather depressing was that this persisted after turning onto the dual carriageway. Still, I thought, it'll be easier on the return leg. And so it proved, at least until the final straight (which always feels much harder to me than it looks like it ought to). With one eye on the Icknield RC event later in the day, I did try to keep the gears a bit lower than usual, but I found as usual that this just slowed me down!I finished with 23:41 - quite reasonable given the conditions - and wondered what the afternoon's event would be like - particularly the fast descent at the start - in the windy conditions. Results at the NBRC website. 

This is merely a brief addendum to the previous four parts of this tandem review, and really addresses any additions and/or modifications to the original spec of the tandem as delivered. While I think this tandem is a real tandemist's tandem - by which I mean that the frame and component choice have been really well chosen - I do think that fine-tuning even such a high quality tandem is inevitable.

The rain was just starting as I left work to ride down to that start of this club event. It was also rather twitchy riding in blustery wind, so the signs weren't great! When I got down to sign on, I found a clutch of riders sheltering from the rain in the lee of Tony's car discussing whether or not we should ride. Some did not, but a core of nutters (including me) decided we'd go ahead.By the time we lined up at the start, Anthony B. had decided that having ridden round the course he wouldn't start - he reported the roundabouts may be a bit slippy. Another rider joined him in not starting, leaving the rest of us entertaining all sorts of doubt. However, at the appropriate time, I found myself launching off up the road in the a stiff and blustery wind. This had the effect of making my front wheel really twitchy. Nevertheless, I pressed on to the first roundabout which I negotiated with some care, given Anthony's warnings - and the fact this one's ridiculously potholed. For much of the rest of the event, I was mostly either whizzing along with a bit of wind assistance or grovelling along trying to control the bike.The only truly alarming moment came when I was crossing the last roundabout (i.e. the first one in reverse) and I hit a pothole. This threw my front wheel to such an extent that I thought I'd bought it! Somehow I managed to regain control and made a final effort to the finish. Third place with a paltry 23:50.Here's the Garmin trace, and the full results at the NBRC website.

This was only my third '25' of the season, and on the F1B/25, the somewhat less flat version of the F1. This course heads south from Tempsford to turn at the Baldock interchange, just where the A1 changes into the A1(M).A nice enough morning heading out to the event, but by the time we reached the race HQ at Tempsford hall, the skies had clouded over and light had fallen a bit. Fortunately, by the time we started, things had improved a fair bit. As regards the event itself, it was marred somewhat by a stiff sidewind, which at one point threatened to overturn me! I had a pretty clear run through all the roundabouts.There was an annoying diesel spill at the miniroundabout near the start, but I don't think it caused any trouble with the riders.All in all an uneventful ride - I finished in 59:49, and went home to feed Tony blueberry pancakes!Here's the Garmin trace.

Can anyone explain why tubeless tyres are such an advantage for road bicycles?  The push towards tubeless tyres is exemplified by this review of Easton tubeless aero wheels at Velonews. Early in the review, we see this:

Cars, motorcycles, and mountain bikes use tubeless clincher-style tires almost exclusively. Road bikes are one of the few wheeled vehicles that still rely on tubes to hold air. And tubes go flat.A clincher rim with a solid spoke bed (and a few design tweaks to help the tire bead seat against the rim) is capable of running tubeless with minimal changes. A special valve, a tubeless-specific tire, and a little sealant are all that is required. Nipples thread into the inner diameter of the rim. And if anything goes wrong with the tubeless setup, these wheels can be used as standard clinchers as well.The EC90 Aero 55 clincher was designed to run tubeless without the additional headache and pieces involved in converting a standard clincher. More shallow aluminum (read: not aero) road rims wheels are adopting this construction, and the EC90 Aero 55 is the first aero wheel to do so. Tubeless specific tires are thicker than standard tires, so rolling resistance is a factor when deciding to use a tube or tubeless setup for a race, although practically eliminating flats is a very appealing advantage.While tubeless road wheels haven’t yet exploded as they did for mountain bikes, nearly 30 tubeless tires are currently available and the number is growing.

I really wasn't aware that mountain bikes almost exclusively use tubeless tyres - is this an American thing? Apparently the fact that tubes puncture is a reason to go tubeless - but to puncture a tube, the tyre has to be punctured first. And it seems as though the response to puncturing a tubeless tyre is to put a tube in, and that'll presumably be mucky with the sealant that's needed!  Oh and only a few tyres are available, and they tend to have higher rolling resistance.I can't help feeling that tubeless road tyres are a solution in desperate need of a problem! On the other hand, I presume Easton figure there's a market out there for high spec tubeless wheelsets.

Rather a nice evening for a time trial - sunny, but not too hot, and with only a fairly gentle wind. Unfortunately I felt pretty grotty and found the ride quite tough!I set off from the start feeling reasonably OK, made it through Beachampton OK, but fell apart a bit as rode up the climb to Nash. I had the added impetus of knowing my colleague Katja, on her second race on her new TT bike, was starting a minute behind me! I was unable to read my bike computer, due to sunglasses an age-related vision issues, so mostly I was riding on feel. This wasn't really good enough, as all I was aware of was feeling really rubbish as my speed dropped away on the climb to Nash. Once up there, things got a fair bit better.I was doing a good job staying on the tri-bars round the bends and corners. Well, mostly. I did descend well from Nash through Beachampton, but lost a bit of speed on the twists and turns over the last few miles to the finish.The event, overall, was a bit of a let-down after last week's ride at Astwood. I finished fairly low in the pecking order with 28:32. Full results at the NBRC website.Tony and Amy were out on the tandem to see the race: I rode back part of the way home with them (they did seem to be going rather fast for my tired legs).

I was quite pleased that the current heatwave abated slightly for this evening event on the Astwood circuit. As usual, I lined up at the start yawning widely and proclaiming that I was too tired and hungry to do a decent ride.A few minutes before I was due to start, I had to nip into a field for a nature break. Unfortunately, upon emerging I found my Speedplay cleats had clogged up with mud and I had to spend some time poking the mud out with a stick retrieved from the verge. This was rather disconcerting as even after I dug the mud out I found that unclipping from the pedals was most erratic.Anyhow, I started as number 4 and pretty soon after starting, found the outward leg to Chicheley rather twitchy and difficult due to the wind. Once round the turn things got easier, and I began to entertain hopes of a sub-24 minute ride. By this time, I'd caught one rider and had a second in my sights. I redoubled my efforts and pressed on to catch the second rider. In these evening events, I find I'm unable to read the smaller numbers on my bike computer (a combination of vibration, low light, and needing reading glasses). I was able to make out the elapsed time, and I figured I'd need to put in a serious effort.By the time I reached the final descent before the climb to the finish I could see the last of the riders in front of me, and I threw everything into the effort needed to catch him. This I managed, just before the finish, with a final effort that saw my heart rate reach 203bpm! Gagging and gasping, I slumped to a standstill, hoping against hope I'd got under 24 minutes...and when the results were sorted, I found I'd done a 24:00 for third place.I was reasonably pleased with that result, which may just be showing some signs of a recovery of form. Here are the results and the Garmin trace. 

We had a weather forecast of thunder and lightning for this event. On the day, however, it was another very hot afternoon, that mostly made me want to loaf around instead of exert myself! Tony came round to my place, and we rode over to the race HQ at Lidlington. When we got there, we were told by a timekeeper that roadworks on the course had necessitated a last minute change to a course thought to be about 7 miles. Instead of turning at the second roundabout (Wootton), we'd turn at the first roundabout (Marston Moretaine), retrace to the foot of the hill then turn left along the wonderfully named Sheeptick End, finishing just before Lidlington level crossing. Supposedly, this was about 7 miles (actually I made it about 6.5 miles). Another amusing factor was that this was a 'flying ant day', when all the new queen ants were emerging. I could hear these beasts bounding off my aero helmet, and see dragonflies and swifts zooming around eating them!Off to the start, and I did my best to warm up. I cruised up and down Sheeptick End, until I was confident I knew where the finish was. This section needed a bit of care, as there are several fairly sharp bends with large parked vehicles such as camper vans. The start was a little alarming, as the pusher off seemed to be having a little difficulty holding my bike, but soon enough I shot off down the starting hill. The outward leg wasn't too bad, and I was holding a decent pace to the turn. Unfortunately, the turn was affected by a line of half a dozen cars and their drivers seemed to be a little alarmed by the rider ahead of me that I was about to catch. After negotiating my way through that, I passed the rider and set off back along the course, dodging potholes as I went. The surface of the road seems to be deteriorating quite quickly.The return leg wasn't so quick, and I was quite relieved to reach the little rise before turning off onto Sheeptick End. This lane was quite quick at times, quite slow at others, but with a rather rough road surface. I eventually crossed the line in 15:02. The race was over, seemingly not much more than a warmup!Here is the Garmin trace.

This was another warm and humid evening, with only a gentle breeze to bother the riders. We had a reasonable turnout of 14 solo riders and one tandem crew. I was what you might call well-rested, having been off the bike for a few days because of work commitments, so I was keen to gauge my fitness against my peers. I ended up as the penultimate starter, with only Tony P. behind me. So obviously, the fear was that he'd catch me embarrassingly early in the event.My start was pretty uneventful, and was pretty quick. Approaching the first roundabout, I was aware of a car coming up behind me, and took a conservative line through the roundabout. Unfortunately, this really slowed me down as I had to negotiate the huge potholes somewhat carefully! From there on, things did get better. As usual, the climb up to the main dual carriageway was a bit slow - I think the wind direction had a bit to do with that. Onto the dual carriageway, and my initial speed was around 30mph, which was encouraging. Unfortunately, this soon dropped away as the gradient flattened and the breeze took its toll. I began to get a little worried! Coming out of the turn, I could see Tony, who seemed to have gained rather more on me than I had hoped.Once round the turn, things got a bit quicker, and I felt a bit more up for it. I had no real issues negotiating the last roundabout crossings, and finished in 23:20. This was somewhat slower than my last ride on the course, but as far as I could see from looking at the results, everyone seemed to have gone a bit slower in comparison. The traffic levels seemed OK this evening, but several riders said they'd found that cars had been passing a bit close - this was certainly my experience. Nothing dangerous, mind, but it does remind us to keep our eyes open!Here's the Garmin trace for the event.On Saturday, I'm off to ride the Norlond '10' on the F15/10. Thunderstorms are forecast, which may liven things up a bit!

I think this is only the second time this year that I've raced on this course, owing to illness, injury and pressure of work (it takes a while to ride over from work, so late meetings are quite disruptive). This event was true to form, my back pain had returned, and I only managed to make the event because a new colleague at work wanted to ride and offered me a lift to the event. The lengthy period of hot and sunny weather continued, with the event being run on a hot and sunny evening. There was a rising head wind for the closing section, but really, the conditions were pretty good.I was quite a late starter, and found I was feeling pretty good as I set off. By the time I reached Beachampton I thought I was going OK - indeed I only felt like I was in any real difficulty at the steepest part of the climb up to Nash. On the other hand, this is far from my favourite course, and it's particularly unforgiving for riders who are a little overweight (as I am) or who have a niggly sore back (as I did)! I could see most of the riders on their return leg as I headed out - they were whizzing back down the hill looking for the most part like they were enjoying themselves.Riding through Nash, I could see there were kids on bikes in a schoolyard. After I turned (no issues with traffic or farm animals), I was concerned to see people, including the kids, wobbling about in the road. This brought back memories of the Icknield '10' on the Brogborough course (F15/10) last September, when two small kids caused me to come off at speed. On this occasion, everyone kept their line and I safely negotiated the twisty road through Nash and started the descent. This was quite quick, and I was still feeling good as I passed through Beachampton. Over the rise after Beachampton, and into the last few miles of twisty lanes and I felt I was flagging a bit. Indeed, I crossed the line with 28:18. Not bad I suppose, given my recent performances, but I'd have liked to do a '27'! Full results here.  

This was a blisteringly hot day - according to Tony's car's thermometer it was 29 degrees (my Garmin registered a maximum of 33 degrees during my ride) - and with a stiff old breeze from the north that greatly exceeded the 7mph draft that was forecast. It was my first outing on the E2/25 for a year or so.Driving out there, it was clear that the conditions were going to be 'interesting', due mostly to the heat, but also the wind. We collected our numbers from the HQ and retired to a lane near the start. Tony was off slightly more than an hour before me, and I found what little shelter I could beside a hedge and waited. After a while I rode up and down the lane, but it was so-o-o-o hot! By the time I rode off to the start, I'd drunk almost everything I'd brought (clearly insufficient!) and eaten a banana as I was feeling a bit hungry. I reached the start line a bit early and waited in the shade of a tree while talking to one of the women riders (I was starting three minutes after the women in the race). Passing riders who'd already finished observed that it was pretty tough on the return leg.The start was pretty straightforward, though I always get nervous when the pusher-off actually pushes me off, as it always feels like I'm going to depart in an unfortunate direction! But everything was OK as I zoomed off down the sliproad onto the A14. The breeze instantly had its effect, and indeed the outward leg was pretty quick all the way. Coming out of the turn, I was caught by #80 for three minutes, then at the bottom of the slip road by #78 for one minute. No-one else passed me, though I did catch some of the women riders.I found the nagging head wind a bit tough, especially on the slight uphill gradients (the course is actually really flat for the most part). I was also getting very thirsty, with what little saliva I could muster gluing my mouth up! So it was something of a relief to see the finish line looming! I finished in 57:02, which isn't too bad given my season so far.After the race, we returned home for home-made pizza and Leffe, which rounded off a hot, sticky and reasonably successful afternoon out.Stats-wise, I spent most of the race at rather a high pulse rate, often in excess of 190bpm. I think this reflected both the temperature and the effort, though the power recorded by the Powertap wheel was rather lower than I'd expected. All these data and more in the Garmin trace! 

One of the main reasons for buying a new tandem was an improvement in transportation. Not, I add, in transporting us and our luggage but in transporting the tandem by car. In the UK it's pretty much impossible to travel by train with a tandem, so each time we plan a cycle tour, we need to allow for getting the tandem to the starting point using our car.

After a few days of really hot and sunny weather, it came as something of a shock to arrive at Astwood on an overcast, cold and windy evening. This event was the annual two-lapper on the Astwood circuit, and I think I was still feeling recent bike rides in my legs. In any event I really suffered in this event, and in particular I found the headwind in the second half of each lap rather more trouble than I should.So, essentially, I went like a bag of spanners, finishing with 51:20 or thereabouts. Not much more to say really!The Garmin trace is here.

This was forecast to be one of the, if not the, hottest days of the year. It was also our first long ride on the new tandem - a 63 mile trip involving some steep gradients, notably the 10% climb of Tram Hill that takes one up to Brill itself and so representing a test of gears and brakes.  The ride itself was something of a shakedown ride, being an opportunity to make sure that the bike was spot on in its setup for both riders - very important, given that the intention is to tour on this bike.