Not only was this a classic Team Grumpy domestic 2-up disaster, but it was an event marred by course problems (changed from 25 to 15 miles due to roadworks) and by bad weather (blustery rain showers), but ultimately an excellently organised event with a very plush HQ at the Marston Forest Centre.Team Grumpy had regrouped the evening before, and had spent quite a bit of time looking glumly out the window at the gathering elements. On the day, it was cold and windy, but the rain had backed off to quite light precipitation. We were down as scratch riders in the 6 team 2-up section of the event. This had given us some cause for concern that we might be cruelly humiliated following our recent illnesses. Still, we went over to the HQ to do our best.The HQ was comfortable and warm, but 4.2 miles from the start of the F15/15. Fortunately we had allowed plenty of time to get to the start, as about halfway there, I heard the characteristic 'pssh' and my front tyre went down. This, as regular readers of this miserable blog of cycling cockups may recognise, was my fifth puncture of the 2012 season. Gerry dashed back to the HQ to get the spare front wheel (a Xentis) pumped up, while I limped back on a rapidly softening tyre. Quickly getting the wheel installed, we debated driving back to the start, but felt we had enough time to ride. Of we went, for what was a very brisk warm-up.We made it to the start with about 4 minutes to go, in time to see a team start (the team in front of us did not start). Unfortunately, as we arrived at the start, we heard...another deflating sort of sound, this time from my back tyre. With the comedy of errors now complete (and how we wished we'd driven to the start - the car had a spare back wheel in it), I tried to persuade the start time keeper that since we'd reported in time for our start, we shouldn't get a late start penalty if we were delayed from starting due to repairing a puncture. But that cut absolutely no ice, and I was left forlornly looking down the road as my team mate rode off for a solo ride.I rolled cautiously back to the car and got changed, and waited for Gerry to reappear. When he did finally return, he was terribly cold and wet and not particularly happy with his time. As we'd expected, there was a strong and gusty head wind on the out bound legs of the course (pretty similar to conditions a few weeks ago at the Team Salesengine '10' on this course), which made it heavy going.Having had six punctures on my time trial bike this season, enough is enough. I have now ordered new tyres.

In which Tony gets his racing mojo back and I have (yet another) punctureDespite the glorious start to the day, the forecast for the afternoon was somewhat dispiriting: more heavy showers. So it was with a certain degree of unenthusiasm that Tony and I set out for this afternoon event over on the N1/10 near Sawtry. I haven't been going well since my last bout of illness, and Tony seems to have lost his keenness for racing: we were hopeful that we'd both get our 'racing mojo' back at this race. We drove round the course before heading in to the race HQ, where signing on was in a strange green edifice that mostly resembled a container. This was conveniently located next to a sports facility that appeared to be hosting not only 105 bike riders and associated marshals, timekeepers and refreshment personnel, but also two cricket teams (with their associated helpers) and two football teams (and their associated helpers). Peculiarly, though all three sets of sportsmen/women were all intermingled, they appeared to be studiously avoiding eye contact and inter-sport communications were just about nil.Anyway, Tony and I drove off to park somewhere nearer the start. At this point, it was quite sunny and warm, though with a stiff breeze. I set the bike up and went off for a warmup. It seemed pretty clear that the wind was a cross-wind, but probably favouring the return leg. The N1/10 is on the B1034, the old north road, which runs along the side of the A1(M). It's quiet in traffic levels, but undulates quite a bit as it rises for intersections with and bridges over the A1(M). One roundabout in particular was singled out for attention on the start sheet, because it not only featured incoming traffic from the motorway, but had an unfeasibly sharp exit turn. Oh, and some significant potholes...Off I went, immediately feeling I had to push hard in the cross-wind. But at least I felt as though I had some energy to press out. My speed was fluctuating depending on how much shelter I had from the wind, and of course on what the gradient was. I made it through all the roundabouts without delays, including the 'difficult' roundabout (which was enlivened by two small girls cheering riders on with clacking plastic hands). I rode past David Jones, out taking pictures as usual. I sucked my stomach in just in case (recent photos from the Jones camera do indicate I have at present got the stomach physique of Bart Simpson), and pressed on towards the turn. I was almost at the turn when I felt the unmistakeable sensation of a wheel rim bumping on tarmac. Sure enough, I had a front puncture*. About 4.5 miles from the finish. And even further from the car.Well, at least it wasn't raining. Yet. There were dark clouds looming as I began the trudge back. Fortunately, a lady who with her motorcycle riding husband was checking the event for adherence to CTT regulations offered me a lift back to the finish area. This was really kind, and I'm embarrassed to say I didn't ask her name. I was at the start area to cheer Tony off, then I walked back to the car. Somewhat embarrassingly, I noticed that we'd parked very close to the back of an 'Adult Shop', so goodness knows what people thought of two lycra-clad blokes in a parked car in that location.So in the end I did less than half of the race, while Tony did a good 22:17. He said he'd had difficulty with the wind blowing him about at times, but fortunately neither of us suffered from rain. Back to the green portacabin to hand in our numbers and to wait for results. Once again cricketers (who were having their tea break with an enormous spread of sausage rolls and the like) and cyclists mingled without communication. I am sure there's an interesting sociology project in there somewhere.From Sawtry it was back home through heavy showers for a Spanish-themed dinner of Paella and a chocolate and membrillo tart. So not all was bad in the day.*This is puncture #4 of the 2012 season, but the only one that has occurred during a race. The others were either before or after racing.

This was a day which, rather than April showers, we saw April downpours.  This was a pattern all day.  Indeed, I declined to take my time trial bike to work due to horizontal rain (usually I ride the bike to work and go straight from work to the evening '10').  I was still swithering about whether to race when I got home, but conditions brightened slightly (as they do) and off I went.Now, I've used the heavy rain symbol not so much for the race itself, but for the conditions around the race.  I could see extremely dark clouds obviously emitting heavy showers up ahead, and in fact they looked to be on top of Astwood itself. Reaching the meeting point, I discovered five other apprehensive-looking cyclists (but I think not many of us had ridden up) and the start crew.  So it was definitely race on!I ended up as last rider, at #6, and as Lindz and I waited to start, the rain started again.  Thus dampened, the ride itself wasn't affected too much by your actual rain (though the highways were really wet, with significant puddles).  I had fitted a rear light in a vain attempt to increase my visibility to traffic, and I took every corner with some trepidation.In the falling light, I could barely read my computer display.  Actually, that might be characterised better as beng due to a combination of failing light, ageing eyes and steamy glasses.  Anyway, I could see by the time I turned at Chicheley that I wasn't exactly on a ride.  But I did feel a lot better than in recent events, notably the Team Salesengine '10' and the Beds RCC '25'.  No really pressing problems occurred - not traffic, no potholes, so little to report other than the generally wet and depressing conditions.  It did feel as though there was a bit of a headwind out to Chicheley, but thankfully nothing as bad as we'd seen earlier in the day.I finished in 4th place with 24:54, which isn't quite as bad as it sounds given the conditions (I think). Things got really bad on the way home.It was just starting to rain as I set off. I have to say at this point that several people offered me a lift home, so what transpired was really my own fault.  The rain got really heavy, and after a bit I was so drenched that any further rain wasn't really much of a worry.  I was felling a little cold on the descent from Cranfield though!  What really took the biscuit was puncturing just over 2 miles from home, then getting caught at the village level crossing.  I decided I wouldn't stop to repair the tyre, as my fingers were pretty cold, it was pissing down, and the light was failing fast, so I bumped home on a flat rear tyre, in my own personal cloud of blue language.I suppose this is character-building, but this is the third puncture of the year, and in fact happened in exactly the same place as the last one!Results (at the NBRC website)

Well, it may have been sunny, but it was pretty cold. Indeed, we had to melt ice off the car's windscreen before we set off to the race HQ in Roxton.  While temperatures did rise just above freezing, it did remain cold enough for knee-warmers and full finger gloves.  What was a bit more troubling was the strengthening wind, which whistled across the flat fields around the F1B/25 start. One problem I has was that one of the remarkably high tech Boa shoe fastenings on my left show decided to snap as I was tightening it up.  This wasn't the end of the world, as these shoes have two laces - it just left my foot floating a bit in the shoe. [The possibility of one of these shoe fastenings breaking was discussed just the other day over at timetriallingforum.co.uk]Of course, this made the southbound leg pretty comfortable, at least until reaching the 'lumpy' bits near the turn.  Actually, I got through the first two roundabouts without obstruction, only to be stopped by a lorry and a caravan at the third. At this point, I was feeling pretty optimistic, though the last three or four miles where the road, though not exactly hilly is rather severely undulating, was a bit tough.  Of course I had the continued optimism from the knowledge that the F1B/25 turns at hight altitude than it starts and finishes at.  There should, therefore, have been a bit of gravitational assistance against the growing headwind.Unfortunately, someone appeared to have inverted the gradient - there didn't seem to be much, if any at all, descent on the way back to the finish.  Indeed the effort, compounded by the cold air, made it quite hard for me to ride efficiently in an aero tuck.  Despite a late surge, I could manage a 1:03:54, something of a disappointment.  Perhaps I'm still recovering from that recent cold. Upon investigating the Garmin trace (see below), it's clear that the return leg is (overall) a descent, so that headwind on the return leg must have been pretty brisk.  After grabbing quick cuppa and a quick chat, we left before all the results were in.

Typically for an early season evening event, this was a a rather cool evening, with showers cruising past, though fortunately, riders didn't experience too much rain while riding.  I approached this event in some trepidation after my disastrous outing at the Team Salesengine '10' the previous Saturday.I was quite late arriving, and ended up as last rider to start, at #11. Setting off, it was immediately clear that I was nowhere as weak as last Saturday.  The race itself was quite uneventful, despite higher traffic levels than I'm used to on that course. In fact a red lorry that was making me nervous on the approach to one of the roundabouts turned out to have a very considerate driver and gave me plenty of room.  The only irritant on the traffic front was the final two roundabout, where I had to stop due to traffic entering from the right.I finished with 23:43, having experienced the apparent speeding up of time during the closing stages of the race - I'd hoped to do a mid 23.  But still, it was progress from my last open '10'!Results (at the NBRC website) 

This turned out to be be one of my poorest 10 mile performances I can recall. In my defence, I can say that I was still under the weather from the cold that knocked last week's racing on the head.Today was really rather cold. Not as who should say sub-zero or frosty, but that awful nagging clammy sort of cold that seems to be unusually penetrating.  I rode over the the HQ for this course (a social club in Marston Moretaine), as the F15/10 is about as local a course as there could be for me.  The start is about 3 miles from the HQ, and well sign posted by the organisers.  Still, by the time riders reached the start at the top of Brogborough Hill, most were complaining of the cold. Indeed, the pusher-off was complaining of cold hands - apparently due to a metal frame (these do seem to be becoming as rare as hens' teeth!).Anyway, at the allotted time, off I went, rapidly accelerating down Brogborough Hill.  One of the attractions of this course (which I was riding for the first time) is that riders don't ascend the hill on the return leg. Anyway, by the time I reached the bottom, I was really very cold, and upon reaching the level part of the course I was required to pedal.  It was at this point that the after effects of last week's illness became manifest. I had nothing there. My legs felt just hollow.  The head wind in the outward leg was cold and rather problematic, but I think the main problem was a near complete lack of strength.  In fact, I nearly packed within the first two miles.  But I pressed on, noting the slow speed.  I was caught by #16 before the turn, and by #17 on the return leg.  The return leg was a bit swifter as the wind was assisting, but at no stage was I likely to do a halfway decent performance.  I crossed the line in about 24:45, possibly the worst performance in an open '10' I can recall.Still, at least I've made a return to racing. And there is a season ahead of me.  The coming week sees a midweek club '10' and the Beds Road CC '25' on the F1B/25 on Sunday 15th April.

As I write this, I'm looking out at the weather, which seems to me to be a glorious morning for a time trial - brilliant sunshine with a gentle breeze, albeit a little chilly judging by the frost on the grass.  And about now (8am), I should be getting the last of my kit together before cycling over to the race HQ.  So, what's the problem?  Another blasted cold, that's what - I learnt my lesson about training and racing with a cold a few years ago.  This gave rise to Team Grumpy's fifth rule:

Never train or race with a bad cough - it will destroy your entire season.

As you might gather, I have indeed caught another cold. It's intensely frustrating, particularly as the Icknield 30k is my usual season-opener open event.  I do hope this doesn't foreshadow another wretched season beset by illness.

I woke to find rather thick fog, but by the time came to ride up to this week's North Bucks Road Club club event on the Astwood course the fog had pretty much lifted. The same could not be said, however, for Astwood and the time trial course, were the fog was thicker than ever.After a bit of consultation, it was decided to cancel the event due to poor visibility.Oh, and the title refers to my puncture en route to Astwood. This would have been my third event of the 2012 season, and my second puncture while riding to or warming up for an event. 2012 may be shaping up to be classic puncture year.

 I woke to a grey drizzly morning, and then the weather deteriorated into quite heavy showers.  So it was with a distinct lack of enthusiasm that I pedalled up to Astwood for this morning's club time trial.  In fact, by the time I reached the course meeting point, the rain had eased quite a bit (but I was pretty wet and dirty by then).  But the wet and blustery conditions seemed to have deterred most riders, as only four turned out: a pair from Team Corley, Ian  from Chronos RT, and me.  And I was the only rider on a time trial bike.Heading out from the start, I got stopped after only a few yards, due to a line of traffic on the course. I got rolling again, to find that I was fighting a blustery wind all the way down to the first turn at Chicheley.  Never mind, I thought, it'll be easier after the turn.  It wasn't.  In fact the blustery wind didn't seem to give much assistance anywhere, and I felt I made quite slow progress what with taking the corners rather gingerly due to the wet roads, and dodging considerable numbers of muddy patches left by tractors.I finished in 24:42, which I'm quite pleased with... After a short chat with Tony after the event, the rain was back, so I hurriedly cycled back home to get cleaned up. 

Pos	No	Name	Club	Time	Cat	Vets Std	.+ / -	Vets Std
Two up TTT
1	2	Matt Jones	Team Corley Cycles	22.59	S
	1	Mike Smith	Team Corley Cycles		S
Solo TT
1	4	Rob Saunders	NBRC	24.42	V52	26.51	+ 2.09	1
2	3	Ian Markham	Chronos RT	28.08	S

I never upgraded from the first generation iPad to the second. I thought the second generation was more of a generation 1.5. But I was sorely tempted by the upcoming 3G iPad. Indeed, the improved cameras and retina display were what swung it for me, and yesterday I received my shiny new gadget. These are my first observations.First, that retina display. It's astounding. But not so much for photographs as for text. Where on my 1G iPad I had to do quite a bit of zooming to read fine print, the text is spectacularly sharp and clear. And when I return to my MacBook display, it seems pretty poor by comparison ( but not so my very old Sony Vaio Ubuntu laptop, which has tiny pixels).Second, the cameras. Friends tell me that the images captured are significantly better. Frankly, using the iPad as a camera is likely to be something of a minority activity (for me at least), but it makes it possible to use FaceTime.Third, the battery. The iFixit guys show that the interior of the device is mostly filled with battery, about twice the capacity of the second generation model. It does seem to take longer to charge, but the extra battery capacity seems to be needed by the screen, so battery life isn't improved.Fourth, the 3G model seems much snappier than the 1G model.So far, happy with the upgrade from 1G to 3G.

 As is now usual, Team Grumpy prepared intensively for the 48h prior to this event: a preparation which entails consumption of takeaway curry and Belgian beer.  We woke on the morning of the event feeling surprisingly chipper considering the quantity of preparation, and were somewhat disappointed to see thick fog blanketing southern Wales.  Fortunately the weather lifted, leaving clear sunny conditions with a light but rising wind.Team Grumpy performed pretty much as we expected: a good showing of 2-up technique with our overall speed hampered by inadequate training (illness and injury most recently).  That being said, we kept up a pretty good pace over the first half of the event, which is held on a section of dual carriageway, and really only found the second half, which is on an older road with a pretty damaged road surface and quite a bit of climbing a bit challenging - it was here that we found the defects in our preparation exposed.We crossed the line in 1:01:25, fairly respectable we thought - until we saw the winners did a long 53!  Our ride was enlivened by a puncture while warming up (Robert) and an unshipped chain at about 18 miles (Gerry), but was otherwise uneventful.

1	K DAVIES & R PAYNE	BYNEA CC PORTH & DISTRICT	00:53:42
2	J LEWIS & H PRICE	PORT TALBOT WHS	00:55:10
3	W BEVAN & J PILE	ROSS ON WYE CC VC SEVALE	00:56:39
4	J ASPEL & N CRAIG	FORZA CC	00:56:53
5	R HICKS & C WALLACE	PORT TALBOT WHS MERTHYR CC	00:58:09
6	B PHILLIPS & M PHILLIPS	BYNEA CC	00:58:55
7	C JONES & K JONES	M & D / KINETICA	00:59:05
8	R AICHELER & J PRITCHARD	CASTLE BIKES PORT TALBOT WHS	00:59:56
9	G GILES & I REES	PONTYPOOL RCC	01:00:09
10	S BENT & A MEAR	LUDLOW CC	01:00:18
11	C MATTHEWS & R WHITE	FORZA CC	01:00:27
12	J FRANKLIN & D GOUGH	SWANSEA WHS	01:00:49
13	M PORTLOCK & M WILLIAMS	VC L’ESCARGOT	01:01:11
14	G ORAM & R SAUNDERS	BYNEA CC NORTH BUCKS RC	01:01:25

Andrew Lansley continued his push for the NHS bill (which many view as the latest Tory effort to take down the NHS) with another secret hospital visit this week.  Here's a video of him being heckled through the corridors of the Royal Free Hospital.[youtube IBZMTWk1OgI]

Last year, when bemused physicists reported the apparent discovery of faster than light neutrinos, a shock wave ran through the news media, despite professional physicists the world over pointing out that it was almost certainly a technical cockup (ISTR the original experimenters suggested such). In the bizarre world of creationism, the potential upset to such a well-entrenched scientific theory as Einstein's Special Theory of Relativity was seen as evidence that the whole edifice of evolutionary biology was teetering on the brink. Here for example is a brief piece by David Klinghoffer at the oddly named Evolution News and Views (which is a mouthpiece for Intelligent Design creationism) - "Another One Bites the Dust?". Here, Klinghoffer makes a very brief point:

If you think Darwin's theory of evolution is as secure as Einstein's theory of special relativity, well...maybe you're right. [followed by a slightly longer quotation from The Guardian]

Since the judgement was sent down (finally) on Alberto Contador's clenbuterol case, quite a few stories have emerged detailing commentators' views on the matter.  The other day the Pez Cycling news website featured a comment article with which I pretty much agree (The Contador Case: What's Missing)

In the welter of knee jerk reactions to judge/condemn Contador and/or criticize the UCI, the real issues of this situation are being missed [...]

The author does, I think make valid points about whether Contador's guilt has been established beyond reasonable doubt, and adds to this the oddly variable sanctions following clenbuterol positives that have  been applied to athletes in a variety of sports (see for example this case of youth footballers in Mexico).I would add my often-stated position that any system where a positive result can be returned for any level level of a proscribed substance, even where the level is below the sensitivity required of a testing lab must necessarily be unfair as whether a sample comes up positive becomes a lottery depending on which lab the sample was sent to for analysis.  This is an issue that will return again and again.

Cyclingnews.com today reports that yet again Alberto Contador has had a delay in the announcement by CAS of a verdict in his astonishingly long-running doping affair (Contador Verdict Expected Today | Cyclingnews.com). I cannot believe the ineptitude of all concerned in handling this case, and I'm surprised Contador can maintain his equanimity.My own view is that the regulatory structures around clenbuterol testing are such that for individuals with vanishingly small amounts of clenbuterol in their system, guilt or innocence becomes something of a lottery, depending on which testing lab the sample were sent to - any clenbuterol is enough for guilt, even where the amount found is lower than the sensitivity required of a testing lab.In the mean time, all those blood-doping athletes who were customers of Dr Fuentes (and for one reason or another escaped immediate action) carry on regardless.Update: The announcement is on the CAS web page. Apparently the decision will be handed down on 6th February.  Maybe.  Or maybe not.  The CAS announcement concludes:

A confirmation as to the date and time of the publication of the decision will be given by the CAS at the end of this week.

In reponse to the latest crawling from a Student Union over the recent Jesus and Mo fracas, and indeed the recent example of intimidation at an event featuring a dicussion of sharia law and women's rights:

Velonews reports that CAS is to delay the announcement on their verdict on Jan Ullrich's involvement in the Operacion Puerto blood doping ring. (CAS to delay Ullrich verdict)

The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) notified the 1997 Tour de France winner yesterday that it has extended the deadline for its final ruling until February 10, 2012.

Road.cc reports that Alberto Contador clenbuterol case decision delayed till the end of January.  This is insane.  How long will it take to resolve this situation?  And will a decision that has been delayed for so long really be justice?For some time now I've been concerned about how clenbuterol levels are set for testing labs, and how this could end up be a lottery depending on which testing lab samples are sent to.I have posted several times on the Contador case.

Way back in late November, Apple announced that some first generation iPod Nano models had defective batteries that represented a hazard, and that they had instituted a replacement programme. Visiting the website revealed that mine was one of those to be replaced. My Nano hadn't really been used much since I got an iPod Touch (now replaced with a Cowon X7), but I requested the return package, and in due course posted the iPod off to Apple.Much discussion ensued as to what the device would be replaced with.  Some web sources implied Apple were replacing the defective units with refurbished first generation devices, other that the replacement units would be more recent models.My replacement was delivered yesterday, and I can confirm that Apple have replaced my 1st gen 2Gb Nano (left) with a 6th gen 8Gb Nano (right).I've not really kept up with the evolution of iPods, and frankly I'm astonished by this little device.  And it is little.  At first sight it seems little bigger than the sync cable plug.  Despite its size, it still has a battery capable of [up to] 24h music playback (according to Apple) and an accelerometer so tracks can be changed by shaking it.  It has a number of apps installed including a clock, meaning it can be used as a watch if it's clipped to a strap.  It has a radio, which uses the headphone cable as an aerial.  There's no navigation dial, but the touch screen is pretty intuitive and easy to use (in fact after years of iPod Touch and iPad use, I don't find the iPod classic control dial particularly easy).All in all, I'm rather pleased.  Even though this is another device that uses iTunes.Update: I was curious as to how Apple managed to shoehorn all this stuff inside such a small case. iFixit has an interesting iPod Nano 6th Generation Teardown.

Cyclingnews.com reports Valv. (Piti) is back in the pro peloton after serving his ban for involvement in the Fuentes Affair (Valverde: I Didn’t Do Anything Wrong | Cyclingnews.com).  But professing innocence.  Interesting given the match between his DNA and the DNA in the Valv. (Piti) blood bags recovered during Operacion Puerto.

A blood sample taken on the rest day of the 2008 Tour de France in Italy would ultimately prove to be Valverde’s undoing, albeit after a lengthy legal process. In 2009, the Italian Olympic Committee banned Valverde from competition in Italy after matching his DNA to blood bags seized in Operacion Puerto. On May 31, 2010, CAS finally upheld appeals from the UCI and WADA to have his ban extended worldwide, four years after Fuentes was first arrested.