Along with the website update, I finally got around to sorting out the report of our 2012 Summer Tour (click the Cycling menu item above and select 2012).  I suppose this was almost a Spring tour, as we had to set off quite early due to work commitments. On the other hand, I think this was 9 days of rain-free cycling, and possibly our first tour in which we had no rain. Despite the dates we cycled, we did encounter some midgies - but they weren't really much of an issue. During the nine days, starting and finishing in Oban, we visited Barra, Eriskay, South Uist, Benbecula, North Uist, Harris, Lewis, Skye and Mull. We made nine ferry crossings! Almost every B&B had free WiFi, making this our most connected tour - we took along an iPad to plan routes using Google Maps, to check weather forecasts and on one occasion find out about a road closure. The road closure was suspended because of the Queen's Silver Jubilee.

A reasonably warm evening greeted us for this week's time trial.  As readers will have noted, this was my first time trial for a couple of weeks, and came after cycle touring on the tandem. My usual experience is that several hundred miles of cycling for long days at low speed does nothing for my speed, and this evening was an example of that.The initial sections, across three roundabouts and up to the dual carriageway section seemed quite quick. I always find myself easing off to negotiate the first roundabout - on safety grounds as the surface there is rather potholed and rough. Up on the dual carriageway, I found myself losing concentration, and for a couple of spells allowed my speed to drop off. I think there may have been a bit of a head wind at points, but really I needed to keep a better focus!Once round the turn, things perked up a bit, but despite that Simon cruised past me, looking cool. Off the DC and down the hill, things kept up well, but ultimately the final section, on rough tarmac was a bit heavy. I was stopped to a standstill by a line of cars at the final roundabout, and had to heave myself up to speed. This kind of sapped my energy  for the final push for the line, and I finished in 23:10. This is a bit down on my last few outings, but maybe it's down to the post-tour effect.I'm riding the Hemel Hempstead CC '25' on Sunday - that may give a clearer idea of my form. It's on the F13/25, which isn't a particularly quick course.

This was billed as the day on which the weather would turn, with light rain afflicting our final day's cycling. But would it? As I looked out of the window when I woke, the skies were still cloud free.The bathroom window had unfortunately been left slightly ajar, admitting quite a few midgies! This was pretty minor compared to the clouds around our heads as we loaded our luggage back onto the tandem and prepared to roll off. The planned route was to cycle to the end of the loch, then cycle over Morvern to Lochaline (about 23.5 miles), catch the ferry to Fishnish on Mull, then cycle about 5 miles to catch the Craignure to Oban ferry. If we were able make the 11.55 Fishnish ferry, we'd probably make the 13.00 Oban ferry.The ride along the loch was flat and easy going, with the water pretty smooth as there was no wind. The weather b this time was cloudy with sunny spells. However, the road was single track and motor traffic was quite disruptive to our progress. Eventually the road reared upwards. The climb itself isn't spectacularly steep, bit it is quite long. And either it gets steeper nearer the top or we were flagging! Fortunately we didn't encounter too much traffic on the way up, though we did have to stop twice to let vehicles past. Between the summit and Lochaline, there isn't another major climb, and the road descends from pretty bare hillside through wooded valleys. It does undulate quite a bit and this, with passing motor vehicles made progress quite tiring.  We did reach Lochaline in time for the 11.55 crossing. The ferry is quite small, and the provision for bikes seems a bit lacking - not a problem for solo bikes, which can be stashed anywhere, but finding a suitable spot for the tandem required some originality!The crossing takes only 15 minutes, and even after waiting for the motor vehicles to disembark, we were off and riding by 12.15. The ride to Craignure is pretty straightforward, though pretty dull, as the road is lined with trees which cut out the views. We reached Craignure about 20 minutes before the ferry was to leave, and by the time we boarded (before motor vehicles), there were about a dozen cyclists of one kind or another. By this I mean some were clearly touring (like us) while others were merely using their bike as transport for themselves and quite a bit of baggage only short distances.The crossing takes about 45 minutes, and motor traffic was unloaded first. Riding out into Oban after over a week on the Isles and west coast is always a shock to the system - Oban can be a surprisingly busy and bustling town. We quickly found ourselves negotiating traffic jams as we made our way back to the garage to pick up the car. By 14:15 we'd transferred our baggage to the car, mounted the bike on the rack and were driving home from Oban.We had no rain at any point in our tour - we had 9 dry days cycling in Scotland! That's unprecedented in our tours. As we approached the Forth Road Bridge, the rain began...

The weather forecast didn't bode well for today's ride - it was predicted to become overcast with light rain. In the end, the weather improved as the day went on, and evening in  Strontian saw completely clear blue skies.After another fine breakfast, we rolled out of Mallaig, along the main road. This isn't very busy first thing in the morning, particularly on a bank holiday. Nevertheless, we always get abuse from at least one driver who thinks we should be riding on an entirely inadequate cycle path. This path is about a metre wide and is shared by cyclists and pedestrians in BOTH directions. Anyway, we kept to the road, and soon traversed the ups and downs of the road, reaching Lochailort in quick time.Loch Ailort is a lovely sea loch, and there are numerous opportunities to stop and admire the view (in common with much of the country we cycled through, Loch Ailort is seeing quite a lot of housebuilding). Indeed, we dawdled along until Glenuig, where another of my favourite road signs is to be seen (watch out for elephants). From Glenuig, the road goes up and up, until it descends to Loch Moidart. We stopped beside the road to heat up some lunch. We were much amused by watching seagulls stamping on patches of seaweed, presumably to scare tasty morsels out. From Kinlochmoidart, the road climbs once again - this is the section being worked on and about which we were warned about. Fortunately, no work was going on due to it being a bank holiday.Once over the newly rebuilt road, we descended into Acharacle, where we stopped for ice creams at the village shop, before once again climbing over to Salen and Loch Sunart. The road from there is delightful, with mixed broadleaf woodland, and stunning views. at one point we stopped to look at some seals basking on a rock. Unfortunately, this comes at the cost of a whole succession of switchback climbs and descents on singletrack.Eventually, we reached the turnoff for our B&B for the night, Heatherbank. This is a really nice B&B about 2 miles up a lane. Fortunately, there's a Tearoom/restauranf about halfway up the hill: after getting cleaned up, we walked down for dinner (we had venison). Returning to the B&B exposed us to midgies, but walking briskly kept them at bay.As I type this it's hard to believe the weather will turn tomorrow, the last day of the tour!

After an excellent night's sleep, we woke to brilliantly sunny conditions. By the time we'd had breakfast, loaded up the bike and paid the bill, it had clouded over a little. The first 11 miles were the toughest of the day, featuring the south Loch Carron road - road which as assumed mythic proportions in hour collective mind. It is, if truth be told, quite a hard road for the loaded tourer. Within a mile of leaving the hotel, we were grinding up a 15% gradient, with several climbs following, including a hugely long climb that takes one past the famous "Stromeferry (no ferry)" sign. We paused for a snack when that was done, then began a fast descent to the main road to the Skye bridge.There was a huge volume of traffic heading for Skye - I wondered whether the island would be big enough to absorb them all - and this, together with pretty atrocious road surfaces made the ride to the bridge rather a hassle, particularly as our mobile phone rang at that point! The Skye Bridge is surprisingly steep, but not difficult to negotiate, and once over, we made good progress despite several photo stops. Eventually we turned off towards Armadale. The road initially takes one over some bare moorland, despite this we decided we had time for a stop for a snack and a cuppa.Remounting, we hastened on to catch the 15:20 ferry. The road to Armadale is rather varied - one minute one's riding through bare hillside, the next through attractive woodland; one moment grinding up a surprisingly steep bit of road, the next roaring along at a fine lick.We reached the ferry terminal in good time: I bought a pair of Island Hopscotch tickets to cover the remaining ferry crossings. The guy at the desk alerted us to roadworks and consequent road closures on the road between Glenuig and Acharacle. This caused us a bit of concern, but when we reached the B&B we did a spot of Googling and found that the roadworks wouldn't be happening tomorrow as it was a Scottish bank holiday (prior to the additional Jubilee bank holiday on Tuesday).After arriving at the Western Isles B&B and cleaning up, we wandered into town and had dinner - cullen skink followed by crab wrapped in lemon sole (Carol) and scallops with cauliflower bhajis (me). After dinner we wandered about, were nosey-parkered at by a couple of seals in the harbour, then returned to the B&B.So all looks well for our penultimate day in the saddle tomorrow. That sees us cycling from  Mallaig to Strontian. According to my iPad weather app, we may see our first rain of the trip tomorrow, though I'm hopeful that we can avoid it.

This was to be the longest day's mileage - around 68 miles. I'd phoned the previous evening to book a double at the Strathcarron Hotel, so at least we knew we had somewhere to stay. After breakfast, we set off out of Ullapool, along a whole series of tough old climbs. Actually, the road didn't get at all easy until we'd reached Loch Glascarnoch (very depleted of water after a long dry period). I was concerned about my sore neck, so we stopped every ten or twelve miles to stretch and eat snacks. This section of the day's cycling was pretty bleak, with no obvious wildlife to be seen bar a few red deer carcases on the road side. Mid-way between Loch Glascarnoch and Gorstan, we stopped at a hotel with tearoom for tea and scones. Rather exorbitant, however!From Gorstan, we were on the road to Achnasheen, where we planned to stop for refreshments. The cycling was pretty easy, as we'd picked up a tailwind. The countryside became barer as we proceeded towards Achnasheen, with very little in the way of accommodation, so we were pleased to have planned ahead.There's a gift shop and tea room by the rail station at Achnasheen, where we stopped for a  (very nice) capuccino. We also admired some motorcycles being refurbished ouside! Actually, from past experience, they do a rather nice smoked venison salad. But we didn't linger, and set out on the final 21 mile leg to Strathcarron.From Achnasheen, the road rises through bare landscape, then descends to more wooded countryside as it approaches Loch Carron. At times we were exceeding 30 mph, though the road reverts to singletrack. We arrived at the Strathcarron Hotel at about 4.30, to a warm welcome. After cleaning up a bit, we had a beer (Red Cuillin), before retiring to our room to plan the last two nights' accommodation in Mallaig and Stontian. After that, a rather good dinner in the bar - monkfish and salmon kebab washed down with McEwans 80/-, followed by crannachan.

This was a pretty easy day, fortunately, with only 15 miles or so to the Stornoway ferry terminal. Reaching the ferry terminal, we left the bike, and went to investigate Stornoway. We picked up some bananas and fruit and nut mix from the Co-op (along with a couple of bottles of chocomilk). A visit to the Library cafe dealt with lunch (toasties and apple pie with capuccinos). After wandering around, we returned to the ferry terminal and waited for the ferry.The man loading the ferry was keen to get us on the ferry before the cars, which was good, as it meant we could get good seats on the observation deck. On the crossing, which is about 2h45, we actually saw some dolphins and gannets going after a shoal of fish. Despite the sunny conditions, it was getting a bit cool, even in the ferry. It was quite a relief to get off the ferry - the bloke organising the unloading was very helpful, and got us off before the majority of motor vehicles.Once off the boat, we circulated, looking for a B&B - the one we settled on was a little 'eccentric', and not en suite.  But we both slept well enough. For evening meal, we went to the Ferry Boat Inn. Carol had cajun monkfish, which was great, while I had a mountain of grilled langoustines. For dessert we both had Ecclefechan tart.And so to bed.

This turned out to be a day of two halves - and both suffered from strong head winds.We completed our stay at the Lochedge B&B with an excellent breakfast, and selected our packed lunch. This armed, we set out for the next arranged B&B - up on the west coast of Lewis. First, however, we had to scale the absurdly steep road from Maraig to the road across Clisham. We accomplished this with some style, and set off on the main cycling out of Harris and into Lewis. The weather at this point was rather overcast and cool.We quickly realised this was not going to be easy cycling, as we had a nagging head wind. After about 20 miles, we made a left turn to Garynahine. For eight miles we had anice tail wind! We paused to eat our packed lunches (ham and mustard & salmon and cucumber sandwiches) in the sunshine - by now, the sunny spells were longer and more frequent. Unfortunately, from Garynahine, things got a lot harder as the head wind ad begun to swing and become more northerly. We cycled past the famous Callanish stone circle (and Callanish III, a secondary circle nearby) and pressed on to Carloway.At Carloway, there's a great view of the famous broch from the road. Once again we decided not to stop, since we'd visited the broch before. A little further on, we made a short detour to the Gearannon black house museum, but only because we knew they had a good tearoom, and by this time we desperately needed a pit stop. Tea and scones fortified us as we rejoined battle against the wind, with 15 miles or so to go before reaching the B&B. The cycling remained really tough as the head wind strengthened, and we were getting a bit fractious in the last few miles.Once in the B&B we showered, and pretty much collapsed! Plans to go out for a walk fell by the wayside as we decided to just take it easy.Fortunately, tomorrow should be an easy day - according to Google, we will have a mere 15.1 miles to cycle, and this should have a stiff tail wind. The ferry to Ullapool leaves in the early afternoon. We still need to plan how we return to Oban in detail.

This was to be a slightly shorter mileage today, estimated at around 40 miles, plus the ferry from Berneray to Leverburgh. our destination was a Bed and Breakfast at Maraig, on the shore of Loch Seaforth in Harris.It was quite chilly as we started (though it was another brilliantly sunnydays and quite hot later), and we were a little later leaving than intended (mostly due to chatting to the B&B lady!), so we had a bit of a dash to make it to the ferry - which we did with about 10 minutes to spare. Once again, there were quite a few cyclists. The crossing takes about an hour as it zig zags around various obstacles. Once in Leverburgh, the cyclists dispersed along the road. We didn't ride for much more than half an hour before stopping by a fabulous beach to make a coffee and eat a snack lunch.Our progress to Maraig was quite leisurely due to frequent photo stops, and two major climbs. The first of these was before Tarbert, and features a climb from the golden sands up through the weird rocky landscape that Harris is renowned for. We didn't stop in Tarbert, but did (for a drink)  just below the second big climb of the day, over Clisham. We have memories of this climb from earlier tours, and it was just as hard to get a tandem over as we remembered! At the top, we stopped to stretch, as my neck was feeling a bit stiff. Just over he crest of the hill is the turn off to Maraig. We met Richard (the owner of the B&B) coming up the steep road to meet us, as he'd heard the tandemists he was expecting were looking a bit lost!Lochedge B&B is in a spectacular location. It's also the most lavishly set up B&B I think I've stayed in (more on this when I do the final write up of the tour).  Dinner was excellent (vegetable soup; local mackerel; gin and tonic sorbet). Very good company from other guests, and from Richard. Highly recommended accommodation.Nature points: a seal seen basking, a variety of wading birds, more geese with goslings, loads of dragonflies whizzing about. And at one stop, many sundews.

We woke to brilliant sunshine flooding the room. At breakfast, we looked out onto the bay, complete with swans and cygnets. We rolled off at 8.15 am, to catch the 9.25am Barra-Eriskay ferry. This was the second time we've ridden this dash to the ferry, and this time was no different - a lengthy and steep climb out of Castlebay, followed by a rather undulating road out to the Ardmor ferry terminal, during which the skies clouded over. We arrived with about ten minutes to go, to find quite few cyclists queued up ahead of us. No problems getting a space on board. While  waiting to depart, I spotted what I thought was a sea otter. On the way over to Eriskay, we saw a bunch of seals basking on a small rock.Once on Eriskay, there's a bit of a climb away from the ferry jetty, but once over that, we zoomed down to the causeway over to South Uist. From there, it's an ever-changing landscape, from the dispersed houses of South Uist to the very wet Benbecula, to the more rugged landscape of North Uist. We only paused for photographs, to heat up some lunch (chili con carne), to visit a craft shop and to buy some supplies at a Co-op.By the time we exited Benbecula, it had become very sunny again, though with a stiff breeze that was a direct headwind between Clachan and Lochmaddy. But the scenery delighted, with deep blue lochans amid heather clad hillside. Eventually Lochmaddy came into view, with the Tigh Dearg Hotel plainly visible - resplendent in red.We rolled up to the Rushlea B&B, and cleaned up a bit. We popped out to the Tigh Dearg for some beer (the Tigh Dearg, brewed by the Skye brewery) and food (excellent baked hake for both of us, followed by rhubarb creme brulee for me and cheesecake for my stoker). Then it was back to Rushlea after a brief stroll.Nature points: Sea otter, geese plus goslings, swans plus cygnets, curlews, an owl (of unknown species).   Road kill points: a hedghog (which is good, these were recently introduced and are playing havoc with ground nesting birds).

After the previous evening's appalling discovery of my failure to properly plan the opening destination of our tour, we were left with a more relaxing start to the day, having been relieved of the urgency of delivering the car to the garage and getting to the ferry terminal for an early departure. Instead, we sorted out our luggage, discarding the cycling clothes brought in case the weather was particularly cold, and took the car to the garage (Hazelbank Motors). From there, we rode down to the CalMac terminal to buy ferry tickets. Boarding wasn't until 3pm, so we set off south from Oban on a little jaunt to the island of Seil, connected to the mainland by the impressively named Atlantic Bridge.Leaving Oban involved cycling up a pretty steep hill which, even in the morning sunshine, had us sprinkling copious sweat. Well, actually, my lady stoker (being a lady) merely glowed. Once over the top, it was a speedy descent to Loch Feochan and a pleasant ride alongside the water. Near the mouth of the sea loch, we turned off towards Seil, along a rather nice 'B' road. This was quite challenging at times, featuring a 15% gradient at one point.We entered Seil by crossing the Atlantic Bridge. This turned out to be a delightful (but very steep) stone bridge spanning a few metres of the Atlantic. A few miles further on saw our first Magnum stop at a small shop, after which we headed back to Oban. At the CalMac terminal, we chatted with a bloke touring on a Brompton. He recommended the nearby seafood stall, where excellent crab and smoked salmon sandwiches were to be had. We bought one of each to eat on the ferry.There was a queue of over dozen bikes, including another tandem. The ferry was really quite empty, and the trip uneventful (except for he drama of a passenger who took a nasty fall, requiring the assistance of a couple of nurses). Indeed, the sea was particularly smooth, and the skies astonishingly sunny. It was even warm out on deck.Time passed quite quickly, lubricated as it was by sampling a pint each of Clansman and Islander beers from the Hebridean brewery. We eventually arrived at Castlebay, and disembarked as a gang of about 20 bikes (so my original estimate must have been supplemented by late arrivals). Many of the cyclists seems to be headed for a hostel close to the ferry, but some others pedalled off into the distance. We made for the Ravenscroft B&B, where we'd stayed a couple of nights  a few years ago. Castlebay was looking lovely as it was lit by the low sun, and we went for a brief walk, taking a few snaps along the way. You can just see Kisimul castle from the bedroom window, though it's rather dwarfed by the ferry we'd arrived on!Tomorrow we head for Lochmaddy, so quite a lengthy day in the saddle. Today we did around 32 miles all told.Nature points - geese, herons, hoodie crows, cuckoos (heard not seen, on Seil and on Barra), corncrake (heard and not seen on Barra).As we passed through the Sound of Mull, sight of the Fishnish to the Lochaline ferry suggested an alternative route from Strontian, which would avoid returning to Oban by the A85 trunk road. From Strontian, we'd cross Morvern to Lochaline, cross to Fishnish, then cycle to Craignure to catch the ferry back to Oban.

At last we had some properly seasonal weather after a pretty unpleasant spring.  Treated to some sunny and hot conditions, we reckoned on some good times (though actually, the humidity did seem to affect some riders). The event was the North Bucks Road Club 10 mile Championship event, so for the NBRC members, there was something to aim at. Well, if truth be told, this would be for Silver behind Tony...Lining up behind riders, I was acutely conscious that I'd marked the hottest evening of the club event season by neglecting to bring a bottle. Not that I ever plan to drink in a '10', but it's nice to drink before and after the event. And there's the generally belief that the aero bottle improves the aero characteristics of the frame.Anyhow, off I went at the allotted time. I found the opening sections not too bad - it was a pretty still night, so no assistance (or hindrance) due to wind. I had no trouble with traffic at any point during the event, which made a nice change. I always take the first roundabout carefully, as it's very heavily potholed and falling off in the first mile would be somewhat embarrassing.  I whisked up the hill pretty briskly, then embarked on the dual carriageway section, for which there isn't too much to report.  Coming off the dual carriageway, I hoped to to crank out some speed.  And I did for a while, but the final mile or so is pretty hard, even on a nice evening, as the road surface is pretty rough and while it looks level, I think it's actually a slight incline.  I finished in 22:47, one of my faster times on this course, and enough for silver behind Tony, I think.

Another weekend, another '10'! This time on the Leighton Buzzard course (F12/10). This is a course that I always feel ought to be quicker than I find it - unfortunately it suffers from a heavy surface, is exposed and has a roundabout to cross  twice, where one often gets held up by traffic. But, hey, it's another race...The weather was a moderate but blustery wind, and it was reasonably warm (but still cool for an afternoon in late May).  I arrived at the start line with a few minutes to spare. While being held by the pusher-off, I observed that there was an ominous road kill alongside - fortunately I don't think there were any accidents out there! The timekeeper seemed to take some pleasure in teasing me about my recent spate of punctures (of which, more later).I started in reasonably good style, but pretty much straightaway got stopped by a line of traffic at the Billington roundabout (you can see the drop in speed on the Garmin trace). Despite dropping down a gear, it still took a big effort to get back up to speed again. This was a bit tough, as the outward leg was pretty heavy going, with a nagging cross wind. Reaching the turn, I once again got stalled by traffic at the roundabout, before I set off on the return leg.The return was mostly considerably faster than the outward leg - but despite this wind assistance, there were some real hard sections. I reached the Billington roundabout dreading a further holdup, but passed through smoothly. So, all in all a pretty uneventful event, no problems with traffic (other than at the roundabouts). I would generally expect to do around 23:15 or so, so my 23:29 was about what I expected!Oh, and to return to the subject of punctures. This time it was Tony who was afflicted: just as he neared the start, his front tub punctured.  He dashed back for the spare wheel, but unfortunately he'd forgotten the track pump so he rode the event on a slightly soft tyre. Didn't seem to affect him too much - he beat me by just over a minute! 

I recently signed the Sense about Science petition in favour of their GM wheat trials. I have just received the following email which suggests that the Take the Flour Back pressure group are afraid to discuss the issues around this GM work in a public forum.  I can only conclude that they realise their opinions of this work are without merit compared with the efforts that the Rothamsted scientists have made in engaging with the public and explaining the nature of their work.The research is legal, and has passed all regulatory hurdles. The actions of Take the Flour Back are to be deplored. I urge all to read the information at the website and sign the petition.

Dear Petition SignatoryYou supported the appeal by Rothamsted scientists against plans by a group to take direct action against their research into whether GM wheat can warn off aphids.The Take the Flour Back group is pursuing this action but had agreed with the researchers’ proposal to debate their concerns before 27th May.  The researchers organised a neutral venue and chair for a debate. Unfortunately Take the Flour Back has announced they will not take part. There is a timeline of the exchange between Professor John Pickett and Take the Flour Back at http://www.rothamsted.ac.uk/Content.php?Section=AphidWheat&Page=ProtestThere’s lots of other discussion going on. Professor Pickett will be on Newsnight on BBC2 at 10.30 tonight. Many of you left comments on the petition asking about aspects of the research and we have received many questions and points by email and twitter. The scientists at Rothamsted, and colleagues at institutions doing related work, have been responding to many of them; some of this is now up on http://www.senseaboutscience.org/pages/rothamsted-appeal.htmlPlease send the message far and wide: forward the scientists' appeal to your friends and colleagues, share the petition on Facebook and use Twitter hashtag #dontdestroyresearch.http://www.senseaboutscience.org/petition.phpBest regardsSíle Lane

This was my first ride on the Stony Stratford course in 2012: of the two prior outings in the NBRC calendar, I didn't ride the first because of an open event, and the second was cancelled due to rain.  So I hadn't got a clear picture of how the roads had survived the winter (the course normally has some pretty dreadful stretches of tarmac). In the event, I did reasonably well - slightly faster than this time last year.My ride out the the event was rendered slightly alarming by traffic volumes - indeed I retreated to the redways for part of this ride. The experience was  alleviated a bit by being merrily peeped by a passing Mavic car. And, no, they weren't offering puncture repair assistance! I arrived in time to sign on as #18. To my chagrin, Tony turned up and singed on a minute behind me. Still, I thought, that can only persuade me to put some back into it...I started off down the road behind some bloke on what appeared to be a single speed mountain bike - I passed him right on the first bend. I found it heavy going on the ride out to Beachampton (successfully avoiding some serious road imperfections), but that was nothing compared to the climb up to and through Nash - here my excess body weight told, and I felt like I was dragging the bike through deep treacle. Once through Nash, I found myself rolling along pretty well. Or so I thought until Tony came rumbling past just before the turn. I was horrified by this and decided I just had to put some back into it!Coming out of the turn roundabout, I was about 30m behind, a gap which grew slightly on the run back to Nash. But on the descent, my excess body weight became more of a benefit than a hindrance, and this coupled with my monster top gear started closing the gap on Tony.  Of course I never quite made it, and he began to draw away from through Beachampton and on to the finish.All in all, a reasonably encouraging effort. I finished with 27:49.Results (at the NBRC website) 

 Finally, some good weather!  The wind dropped to more modest levels than of late, the rain went away, and this strange shiny thing in the sky illuminated us all and raised the temperature to more satisfactory levels. Oh, and I am finally beginning to feel like a bike rider again, as I recorded my best '10' time so far this year.Breaking with tradition, the Bossard Wheelers '10' moved this year from the F12/10 on the Leighton Buzzard bypass, to my local course near Brogborough (the F15/10). The Bossard Wheelers are on a bit of an upward trajectory at the moment, and seem to have an influx of riders, a new strip, and a website. The F15/10 has been much-touted as a quick course, featuring a descent from the start that riders don't need to ride back up. A number of test events used the course in 2011, but it's not been until this season that I've had the opportunity to have a bash at it. My experiences prior to this event had been less than satisfactory. I was still ill for the Team Salesengine '10', where I recorded a career-worst 24:48, while my supposed 2-up ride at the TeamMK event left me distinctly deflated.Seeing as how this is a local course, I did of course ride out, taking a longer route through Ridgmont. I noticed many groups of kids with unfeasibly large rucksacks congregated at various points along the route. One such gang passed comment on my bike - in return I asked what they were up to. Apparently it was some Duke of Edinburgh thing, though I'm uncertain why Phil the Greek would be so keen to have groups of teenagers looking baffled in the countryside. Still, at least they had decent weather for it.The HQ for the event was in the Marston Social Club, about 3.5 miles and two level crossings from the start. Signing on was in the bar, and a succession of lycra-clad old blokes (as usual for a time trial, the majority of riders were veterans) must have entertained the drinkers there!Once up at the start, there's little scope for riding about, and I ended up chatting to some of the other riders, and not actually focussing on the task in hand. I was a bit remiss in not getting the computer started exactly as my minute man started. Anyway, after a bit of jibber jabber with Richard and the timekeeper (which seemed to focus on the recent deflationary debacle at the TeamMK 2-up), off I went as fast as I could down the starting slope. Once on the course proper, things always get a bit more interesting - it undulates a bit, and there seemed to be exposed sections. This made my speed seem to vary quite a bit. I did spot David Jones taking snaps out on the course, and I had my very own tifosi out to support me![caption id="attachment_1893" align="aligncenter" width="480" caption="Having spotted the photographer, it's always good to hold one's stomach in! Photo: David Jones"][/caption]Crossing the first roundabout seems to need a bit of attention as the entry and exit roads are offset. I maybe could have taken that a bit faster, but I'm naturally a bit cautious. I took the turn roundabout reasonably well (though I did thank the marshals, so maybe I wasn't going hell for leather). The return leg was a bit tougher I thought. The wind seemed to be a bit blustery and sporadic, and didn't really give consistent assistance. But I suppose the counter to that is that it didn't give consistent hindrance either. The last half mile seemed pretty hard. I finished with 22:39, my fastest '10' so far this year. Despite Geoff's efforts at the results board to offer me a 21:22, honesty prevailed! Still, I made it to 10th place - at least some form may be returning.Overall, the course doesn't seem as fast as claimed. But it's an improvement over the F12/10 as its traffic levels are quite low.Results (top ten places)

Another day of very heavy showers and blustery wind didn't bode well for tonight's club event on the Astwood sporting '10' course. I had pretty much decided to ride the event no matter what the weather was like, but I found myself running a little late by the time we got home on the tandem.  I reached Astwood in time to see the early riders start, signed on, had a bit of a chinwag, and then rolled off for a short warmup.  I soon found I needed a nature break. This delayed my return to the start line, where I found no-one except Tony and Bryan (timekeeper and pusher off). In fact as I reached the line I heard Tony say "5, 4, 3, 2, 1...go". And off I went...I found the outward leg to Chicheley quite tough, and mostly because the wind was twitching my front wheel quite badly, particularly where there were gaps in the hedgerows. In fact I wasn't much above 25 mph for a lot of that section, which is normally quite fast.  Reaching the sharp left after Chicheley I need feel a bit of wind assistance, but as the course meanders through the countryside, the wind never really seemed to add too much help! Fortunately the temperature was a bit warmer of late (last time at Astwood, my fingers got so cold it was difficult to hold the bars!).I had no real problems until the last mile or so - the fast descent before the final climb had quite few twitchy moments then just as I was approaching the finish line, my gears decided to jump up a gear, making a huge noise and denting what little remained of my momentum. I finished for a tied third place (out of 12 riders) in 24:16. I'd been unable to start the timer on my computer until about 15-20 seconds had elapsed due to my almost late start, so I didn't have a terribly good idea on how I was going.This was the second event on the replacement tyres (Bontrager Aero), which not only haven't punctured so far, but aesthetically speaking look pretty spiffy on the H3 trispokes. Maybe that's Puncture Bob banished for the time being!Results (at the NBRC website) 

For a change, it didn't rain today. But it was heavily overcast and remarkably cold for May. Another change was on the tyre front: as recommended by Gerry, I had ordered a pair of Bontrager Aero R4 folding tyres, in the hope of avoiding further puncture misery. An added bonus lay in the aesthetic arena: black tyres with white logos happen to look damned fine on my bike.I was feeling a bit tired and jaded en route to the course.  I'd never ridden the F2D/10 before (and neither, I think, had Tony) - fortunately we arrived in time to drive round the course and recce out the turn. The course was a pretty straightforward dual carriageway course, with a only gentle undulations and a lengthy turn (if that makes any sense!). While the rain held off, there was a stiff wind from the Northeast, which was cutting across the course. While it gave some assistance on the return leg, it did make the outward leg quite tough at times.  I had no trouble with hold-ups at any roundabouts, though occasional motorists came closer than I thought strictly necessary! For about the first time this season, I felt comfortable on the time trial bike, with the exception of some masculine discomfort later in the event (of which the less said the better!).I crossed the finish line with a result of 22:52. That's still a bit slower than I'd have liked, but I think it may be sign of returning form. At last. 

After my recent spate of punctures, I can be forgiven for feeling that I was never going to make it to the end of a time trial. Or even to the start.  So at this point, I'll cut to the chase and say that on this evening, I contrived to make it to the finish line.Of course, what would this report be without a puncture.  As it happens, I generally ride my time trial bike to work and go straight from work to the race.  Today was no exception, and I rolled away from the house with all hope that my ride to work would be uneventful.  For a change, it wasn't actually raining.  Unfortunately, about one and a half miles from home, b-l-a-a-p! My front tyre exploded.  I could see a 5mm gash with fragments of green latex exposed. After a minor verbal explosion which included a large proportion of the four letter words offered by the full breadth of the English language, I stopped at the road side to effect temporary repairs to puncture #7.  After using a patch to hold the cut together and putting a new tube in, I gingerly rode home to sort out a better repair (with a replacement tyre*).Somewhat miraculously, I made it both to work, and down to the event in the evening, without further mishap.  The event itself was ridden in dry but heavily overcast conditions. There was a pretty strong wind, and it wasn't warm.  However it was a tail wind up the hill to the dual carriageway section, and enough of a tail wind to the turn to make the outward leg rather brisk.  Unfortunately the converse was that the return leg was pretty brutal at times.  I was caught by Tony about halfway back from the turn, which came as no surprise to me.  On the final stretch to the finish, I was having quite a bit of trouble holding a straight line, such was the buffeting from the wind.  I finished in 23:46, which was OK, I suppose, a little slower than my last outing on this course, but relative to other riders I think I'm improving.*as I write, I'm still awaiting the real replacement tyres, ordered online following Saturday's debacle.Results (at the NBRC website)