This was the first of two events planned for this weekend: tomorrow I plan to ride the North Middlesex & Herts CA '100' on the F1.  Well, we'll see how that goes, with only about 13h separating the two events!This 25 mile time trial was held over on the E2/25 near Newmarket, where earlier this season I'd knocked out a couple of 55 minute rides.  Today, Tony and I were pretty apprehensive as there was a very strong and gusty wind with occasional showers.  What's more, the wind promised to make the outward leg rather difficult.And so it proved. I found myself pushing along at a surprisingly slow speed, that correlated with low HR (I think my chest strap was playing up a bit), at least initially.  There were of course some faster downhill sections, but all things considered, the outward leg was slow, and indeed I wasn't really pushing it too hard - in the back of my mind were thoughts of tomorrow's '100'.Things changed once round the turn, when I could feel the full benefit of the tail wind, and thoughts returned to trying for a decent time.  Indeed, by the time I was passed by #95 with about 4.5 miles to go, I found myself cruising well in excess of 30mph.  I crossed the line in 55:43, my third 55 of the season.  It left me wishing I'd put a bit more effort in!  But we'll have to see what tomorrow's like for the '100'.  Tony finished with 54:40 and Geoff with 57:50, results we were all quite pleased with.Actually, once the race was over, my legs felt reasonably OK, so I'm quite optimistic about the bigger event.

I rather like today's xkcd cartoon...even though they understate homeopathic dilutions...[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="271" caption="Dilution"][/caption]

The much-disliked company Phorm, who develop probably illegal systems for probing web traffic using deep packet inspection with a view to selling on internet users' browsing habits, have been hitting rocky times lately.  With no commercial partners currently working with them in the UK, Phorm have moved further afield and explored markets in Braxil and South Korea.  In both locations, their plans appear to have hit the buffers (according to postings at the No DPI forums).  Faced with a bit of a crisis, they appear to be trying to raise a spot of cash, accroding to The Register (Phorm issues shares to raise cash • The Register).What's interesting there is the named markets currently being explored are Brazil and China.  Now there's a market the might succeed.  In the meantime, I wonder who would buy the projected shares in light of the woes that Phorm have been suffering of late?

This evening's club event was the Club Time Trial Championship, held as usual over two laps of the Astwood circuit.  We had a pretty good turnout at the event (including at least one newcomer on a road bike), and though I felt a bit tired and unenthusiastic I felt pretty good at the start.  Unfortunately things most certainly did not go according to plan!After a lengthy period of hot and sunny weather, it was quite heavily overcast and rather windy.  The opening leg to Chicheley was harder than usual, due to the head wind, but as usual once round the sharp turn after Chicheley, the leg up to North Crawley was quite brisk.  Coming out of North Crawley I rapidly picked up speed again, and indeed was feeling rather good as I caught and passed Gilbert, who'd started three minutes ahead of me (#12 - #13 was Tony, #14 was the tandem pair).  Passing the turn to Cranfield University, I was momentarily distracted by a small car that pulled out in front of me, but on this occasion the drive rmanaged to get up to speed without holding me up.Unfortunately at the left hand turn towards Bourne End and Astwood, disaster struck.  Since I was approaching the corner rather fast (about 27mph, I think), I thought it prudent to brake as I entered the turn.  At this point there was a "clonk" and I lost all front stopping power and found myself heading rather fats towards the verge.  Somehow I avoided the low kerb and found myself bouncing along the grassy verge.  Which might have been OK, except there was drainage ditch which propelled me upwards and off the bike.Picking myself up, I checked myself and the bike.  Gilbert stopped to check I was OK, which was much appreciated - he accompanied me back to Astwood as I rather gingerly returned to the finish area.  It turned out my front brake's bolt had come loose (something I've never had happen before), and when I applied the rake it had shot out of the front fork.  Still, not other damage seemed to have happened (pending a close look at the bike).  Physically, I received a large bruise on my right shin and my wrists took some of the impact (as I write the following morning, they are rather sore).  So apart from those injuries and one or two smaller scrapes and bruises, I seem to have escaped without major injury.Oh, well. there's always next year...

This year, as I enter my second half century, I've seen consistent improvement in my time trialling performances. As I write, I have ridden my best times at 10 miles (21:05, my best since 2002, and my second best time ever), 25 miles (55:29, my best since 2004) and 50 miles (1:57:45 and again, my best since 2004). So, what's this down to?The sceptics out there seem to reckon it's due to my new time trial bike, built around a Cervelo P3. I suspect it's more down to changed training practices. Back in mid-2009, I figured I needed to re-evaluate my work-life balance, since my working pattern was leading to ever-later finishes each day, and directly impacting on my ability to schedule training sessions. And as anyone should realise, the key to decent performance is a detailed and thoughtful training schedule. Indeed, way back when I was setting my personal best times in 2002-4 I was rigorously following Pete Read's Black Book, which is actually a fixed schedule of sessions based on heart rate monitoring.On the basis that a change is as good as a rest, I've been dabbling with power-based training for my time trialling habit since October (after last year's Duo Normand, in fact). I've reviewed the hardware I selected over at the Team Grumpy website - the Polar CS600X cycle computer with the WIND power meter attachment.Thus far, I've principally used the device on the turbo trainer bike. Despite frequently offered advice that the power system doesn't work on a turbo trainer mounted bike, it does seem to deliver pretty robust data. I also plumped for the Polar G3 GPS device. This bit of kit picks up the GPS satellite data and relays it to the CS600X head unit. My main reason for investing in the G3 was that I'd not need to get speed sensors for all my bikes. I'm pretty pleased with the G3, it seems to generally work well, once one has figured out the hopelessly inadequate documentation.I don't particularly like the Polar Pro Trainer (PPT) software that came with the CS600X - I have continued using the training software that I've used since about 2003 (VidaOne Diet and Fitness - formerly known as MySportTraining), but need to use PPT to get the GPS data downloaded. Both the Polar and VidaOne applications lose out quite markedly on the matter of displaying and analysing power data. After a spot of Googling, I came across an Open Source project - Golden Cheetah - which produces releases for Windows, Mac OSX and (most importantly) Linux. This offers a neat set of analytical tools which mean that power metering can be really very effectively used to deduce the effectiveness of training sessions.I have found Hunter and Coggan's book Training and Racing with a Power Meter to be realy invauable in making sense of a lot of the graphs and charts that GC can use to display data. The book's just come out in a second edition. GC aims to display data derived from a number of devices (and their individual file formats). Unfortunately the Polar CS600X produces two files - the first containing the session data in hrm format, and the GPS data within a second file in gpx format. GC imports GPS data in the Garmin tcx format. In itself, this isn't a major problem (for example the GPSies website offers format conversion, except that the session and GPS data remain in separate files.Fortunately Rainer Clasen has developed a series of perl scripts to do a number of tasks with such data files, including merging datasets - see perl Workout library. These do an excellent job, though you do need to know a little command line work. I got the scripts installed with a minimum of perl expertise (and I mean minimum!), though there were one or two snags in the files I was seeking to merge that required a little help from Rainer (for which, many thanks). Now I'm able to merge hrm and gpx files into a tcx format file, which imports well into GC.Next on my plan is to take power-metered bike(s) out on the road. I have fitted a second Polar WIND power sensor to one of my road bikes, and over the last week I've been evaluating the kind of training I can do with the extra information at my fingertips. Whereas on the turbo I principally use the power data to analyse my training sessions after completion, on the road I tend to keep an eye on the power output. In part this reflects the nature of the sessions - extended efforts on the road vsintervals on the turbo - but also that the readings are a little more stable than on the turbo. Neatly, GC has a Google Earth display which shows the GPS track of the ride, coloured to show 30s average power readings along the ride. Now, I'm not convinced of the importance of the power colouring, but seeing the route is quite useful.Despite all this movement towards power-based training, my main emphasis has remained on using power metering to analyse the training sessions rather than dictate effort applied. In particular, I've been using it to estimate my threshold power in order to monitor my progress through the training schedule. Instead, I rely mostly on the physiological readout of my heart rate. What remains is to incorporate all this information into a much more structured scheme over next winter in preparation for the 2011 season.

After some parents were ticked off by social services for allowing their kids to ride their bikes to school, the Daily Telegraph has a Yes/No opinion piece (Should the Schonrock children be allowed to cycle to school alone?).  My sympathies lie with the Yes opinion writer.  It seems to me as a non-parent that kids are too looked-after these days.  Back when I was a kid, we used to roam off at weekends, get up to all sorts of scrapes, fall down hills and into gorse bushes, fall off bikes, fall into streams and the like (yes, I know it all sounds a bit Just William).  All part of growing up, discovering one's limitations and the like.Anna Maxted's 'No' argument begins with an explanation of the emotional response to an awful event happening to one's children:

Most parents are accustomed to that involuntary lurch of fear in their chest. It occurs when one of their children narrowly escapes death.In my case, it was the day on Hampstead Heath when I let the five-year-old push the baby along in his buggy. We heard screams and turned to see the buggy hurtling down a steep slope and smash violently into a metal fence. By great good fortune, the baby’s head missed the bars.Mr and Mrs Schonrock, of Dulwich, west London, are immune to such fears. They face the threat of being reported to social services for allowing their five-year-old son and his eight-year-old sister to cycle one mile to their private school every morning, alone.

But how does she know the Schonrock's are immune to such fears?  Perhaps they believe their children have received adequate training and preparation.  And in her example, why did she permit her five year old take charge of the baby (indeed she acknowledges here responsibility later in the article)?Where I live, we no longer see children out and about on their own, you just see them being ferried around in cars.  Is it wise to protect kids right through to adulthood?  How dangerous is childhood (and how dangerous should it be?On the other hand, perhaps my non-parental status influences my opinion...

Over the last couple of days, the fine weather had continued, but since Wednesday it had become less humid making for better racing conditions.  I travelled over to the race HQ in Great Amwell with Tony.  The course for the event was the F20/10 (map is at the end of this report), a course I'd not ridden for a few years,The HQ's about two or three miles from the start which, once reached, there's no exit from (other than the course), as it's in a layby on the A10.  En route to the start I stopped to check my wheels - they've taken to making an annoying ticking noise - and found myself talking to rider #1 who strangely had the same model/colour of frame, same overshoes, same shoes, same helmet as I did!  Anyway, after a bit of banter with the start line crew (during which they let slip Bradley Wiggins' performance in the Tour de France prologue), off down the A10 I went.After a bit of heavy traffic just before I started, traffic levels seemed OK, though I did keep a careful look-out at each sliproad.  Soon after the start is a gentle rise that knocks the speed a bit, from an initial burst at 30+ mph, I found myself falling back briefly tp 23-24 mph.  However, soon back up to speed, I made it to the turn in good time (I estimated about 10 minutes) and set off on the return leg.  The gentle start-stop breeze had I think helped me to the turn, so I wasn't surprised to find it a little harder on the return leg.The finish lies at the far end of a very long layby, and by the time I crossed it, I'd been closing down on #2.  I'd also been looking at my computer, and was a little disappointed not to sneak below 21 minutes.  On the other hand, 21:05 is not half bad - as far as I can tell, the last time I went faster was on 6th July 2002 (8 years ago!) when I set my all-time personal best of 20:51 on the F1/10.  At that time, the F1/10 was a course that's no longer used - south on the A1 from Little Paxton to turn at the Black Cat roundabout.A gentle ride back to the HQ to find my result just going up on the board (I'll post results later when available).  Tony returned from his race a few minutes later, having recorded 20:46.  Altogether we felt pretty damned pleased with ourselves!
View F20/10 3rd July 2010 in a larger map

Perusing the UK Governments web consultation on the repeal of unnecessary legislation, I came across this one - Repeal the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics — HMG - Your Freedom.  Woohoo!  Just for posterity, the proposer ays:

The second law of thermodynamics has been responsible for the decline in order everywhere since it was passed by the 19th century Kelvin-Planck coalition. It is high time we abolished this antiquated law and took the steps reduce the massive entropy deficit left by decades of inefficiency. This would, in a single stroke, deal with the world energy crisis and start to increase the amount of work available for British citizens, in an efficient cyclical process.

Well, at least it stands out among the more dull but worthy suggestions, and the reactionary suggestions.  And I have to say that I broadly concur with Big Brother Watch's list of ten suggested repeals.

Another lovely evening (though rather too hot for me) for this club event.  A depleted number of "regulars" was augmented by some cyclists keen to give time trialling a shot - this was a nominated "come and try it" event.  I pounded out to the meeting point, getting there with a little time to spare.I decided to play around with gearing on the evening, and chose to tackle the main climb in a slightly lower gear that I would usually muscle up the hill.  It didn't seem to help - either I need to drop it further or I need to carry on grinding out big gears!  More problematic were the obstacles on the course this evening.  Firstly, a large tractor/trailer combo seemingly abandoned just outside Beachampton; secondly some silly kids leaping out into the course near the turn; and finally, I got stopped at the turn roundabout ("foot on the ground stopped") by a nose-to-tail line of cars coming from the right.  I don't know how much time that cost me, but I had to re-catch a rider I'd just past, and was myself caught shortly after while I was struggling back up to speed in a rather high gear.Anyway, roaring back down to Beachampton was pretty quick, and I was helped a bit by having a bit of a ding-dong with the guy who's caught me - I think I could descend a bit quicker, especially with my enormous top gear engaged.I finished with 27:51, which I wasn't hugely pleased with.  But I suppose taking into account my "excess baggage" and the hassles at the turn it wasn't too bad (any anyway this course doesn't best suit me).  I have a rare outing at an open '10' at the weekend, and it'll be good to see how that goes.

								Pos. on
Pos	No	Name	Club	Time	Cat	Vets Std	.+ / -	Vets Std
1	2	Aaron McCaffrey	AWCycles	26.10	V40	29.20	.+ 3.10	4
2	7	Tony Parks	NBRC	26.18	V45	30.29	.+ 4.11	2
3	13	David Glossy	Team Corley Cycles	26.38	S
4	8	Chris Dunwoodie	TeamMK	26.54	S
5	12	Robert Saunders	NBRC	27.51	V50	31.41	.+ 3.30	3
6	3	Martin Paul	NBRC	29.42	V40	29.20	.- 0.22	5
7	4	Clive Faine	TeamMK	30.49	V64	35.22	.+ 4.33	1
8	1	Alan Lawson	NBRC	33.26	V42	29.47	.- 3.39	6
9	9	Simon Knatchbull	TeamMK	33.40	V42	29.47	.- 3.53	7
10	11	Mike Edge	Private	36.58	V42	29.47	.- 7.11	8
11	10	Laura Powell	Private	38.59	L
	6	Adrian Cox	TeamMK	DNF Punc.
	Tandam Event
	5	Christina White	NBRC	29.09
		Brian Primmet	NBRC

So, there appears to be a new Microsoft XBox 360 campaign running on UK TV, hot on the heels of the annoying Windows 7 shorts - I caught it last night on ITV. The first part of the catch phrase is:

Here today

which any rational observer would expect to be followed by

Gone tomorrow

But instead we get

Ready for tomorrow

Now, which slogan sticks? The one you expect, or the one you get?

Pez Cycling has a brief article (Toolbox: What Does Every Masters Athlete Have in Common?) which touches upon the physical decline that faces the ageing athlete, and what to do about it.  For one in his second half century, there's always something a little depressing about such articles, but at least there is advice, most interestingly on the subject of recovery from training:

To me, the key is fitting workouts together like a puzzle. For example, perhaps one day the focus of the workout is strength type efforts, where the cardiovascular system is not overly stressed, but the essential component of strength is benefited. The next day, a focus can be more aerobic. In other words, you are working on different “systems” on different days.One addition item. In a recent study, 75% of athlete’s polled (not sure of the amount in the study, but it was large) said they applied some type of recovery program to their training, like recovery drinks, massage, etc. I still think the biggest and most important, regardless of all the other things you try is sleep.

Anyway, I'm encouraged by my performances this season - routinely hitting levels I've not seen since 2004.  A testament to more structured and analytical training?  Or just luck?

It certainly seemed as though summer had arrived when I arrived at Launton for the Hemel Hempstead '25', held on the F13/25 course.  Riding out to the start, it was immediately clear that my headset adjustments made before leaving home had left the bearings too tight.  I returned to the HQ and retrieved my mini allen key set.  A quick adjustment and I was on my way (with the allen key set in my pocket to be on the safe side).Before starting, I reconnoitred the finish area, since on a previous outing in this event, I'd been misdirected off-course by a charity ride marshal. It was quite clear that the finish comes after an annoying little climb.  I also straightened my handlebars a little. Lining up at the start, rider #4 asked if I had an allen key, as his saddle clamp (this was also on a Cervelo P3) wasn't tight enough - I was happy to oblige, and I think he was rather relieved.  Unbeknownst to me, #3 also had a mechanical - the nipple on his front mech cable had just popped off the cable en route to the start.  I've never seen this happen before!  He bodged a permanent shift to the big ring by wedging a stone in the front mech, which must be the most enterprising start line tech fix I've ever heard about!Anyway, my start finally arrived, and after some banter with the start line crew, it was off and joining the A41.  The F13/25 cruises along the A41, through Waddesden (where there is a pedestrian crossing with traffic lights - running red lights earns a DQ), turning at the first roundabout in Aylesbury.  The course is cerainly not flat, and there are some quite stiff, but fortunately short little climbs.  In particular, the road surface has degraded quite badly between Waddesden and the turn, particularly after the turn.  I'd caught all three riders in front of me before the turn, so the return leg was a little lonely.  And surprisingly tough - more so than the outward leg.  At least I never got caught at the lights in Waddesden (unlike the unlucky rider #3).By the time I reached the little rise to the finish turn, I was really hot, tired and my HRM was reaching in excess of 190bpm.  At last, I turned and yanked the gears up a notch for one last hammer down to the finish line.  My time of 58:50 was good enough for 10th place (start sheet of 49 riders had several non-starters.  the event was won in impressive style by Danny Axford with a 53:22.After the event, we pushed off to the Waddesden Garden Centre so C. could buy some requisites for the garden.  Oh and coffee and cakes.  Then home, where after lunch we nipped out on the Longstaff tandem for a 20 mile circuit.  A bit hot, really, and my legs knew about this morning's effort.
View F13/25 27/6/10 in a larger map

Pos	No	Name	Club	Time	+/-	std	Std Pos
1	50	Danny Axford	Arctic Premier RT	53:22
2	45	Jesse Elzinga	Beeline Bicycles RT	55:46
3	20	David Johnson	VC10	56:08	+	16:03	2
4	40	André Dyason	St Ives CC	56:22	+	14:45	3
5	37	Thomas Bell	Twickenham CC	57:44
6	15	Pete Lawrence	VC10	57:51
7	22	Thomas Sutherland	Twickenham CC	57:53
8	25	Neill Coventry	API-Metrow	57:55	+	14:16	6
9	35	John Dowling	Hemel Hempstead CC	58:19	+	14:24	5
10	5	Robert Saunders	North Bucks Road Club	58:50	+	12:17	8
11	21	Jonathan Page	Bicester Millennium CC	1:00:15	+	13:01	7
12	11	John Bourton	Bicester Millennium CC	1:00:18	+	14:37	4
13	6	Stephen Hewitt	Hemel Hempstead CC	1:00:48
14	16	Jonathan Gillham	Stevenage CC	1:01:04
15	42	Nigel Atkins	Twickenham CC	1:01:17
16	28	Clifford Price	London Dynamo	1:01:30
17	10	Ian Brazier	Verulam CC	1:01:35	+	8:29	13
18	49	Rob Luff	Brighton Excelsior CC	1:01:35	+	11:08	10
19	4	Neil Fisher	Welwyn Wheelers	1:01:40	+	4:50	17
20	3	Mark Smee	Fenland Clarion	1:02:59	+	6:34	15
21	9	Richard Hutt	Lampard RC	1:03:17	+	8:54	12
22	36	Christopher Greig	VC10	1:03:44
23	48	Simon Hemington	Hemel Hempstead CC	1:03:52	+	2:08	19
24	27	Jody Conibear	Hemel Hempstead CC	1:04:30
25	18	Ian Huntingford	Hemel Hempstead CC	1:05:31	+	6:08	16
26	7	Julian Barnard	Dulwich Paragon	1:05:35	+	6:36	14
27	17	Tim Carey	A5 Rangers CC	1:05:44	+	3:49	18
28	14	Steven Abraham	North Bucks Road Club	1:06:41
29	33	Nikki Hunt	VTTA	1:07:04	+	17:18	1
30	32	Les Church	Camel Valley C&TC	1:07:19
31	34	Josephine Perry	Thames Turbo	1:08:36
32	24	Robert Major	Welwyn Wheelers	1:09:11	–	1:11	21
33	47	Brian Foran	Lampard RC	1:09:21	+	1:46	20
34	8	John Wheelwright	North Bucks Road Club	1:10:25	+	10:16	11
35	38	John Pfeifer	Icknield RC	1:10:51	+	11:39	9
36	44	Stephen Roffe	Hemel Hempstead CC	1:12:51	–	4:51	23
37	19	Christine Yuill	Stevenage CC	1:15:25
38	29	Michael Richardson	Icknield RC	1:24:04	–	2:11	22
39	2	Nigel Goffin	Hemel Hempstead CC	1:25:12	–	9:43	24
	43	William McFarland	East London Velo	DNF	Went off course

Here's a photo of me on the new bike, in action in the VTTA '25' last weekend.  Apologies for the vanity posting![caption id="attachment_902" align="alignnone" width="622" caption="Riding the VTTA '25' on the E2/25, 19/6/10"][/caption]As noted, the photo is copyright Sarah Brooke.  Visit her website for photos of this event (and other events).

One of the more irritating things about the internet is the apparent inability of the "old media" to "get it".  Rupert Murdoch's recently started to implement a program of changes to his News International newspaper websites.  I noticed the other day that access to pages at some of the UK newspaper sites required me to register for free.  I declined - The Times doesn't exactly square with my political world view, and I figured that I'd later get harassed to begin paying.  Ars Technica has published an article on the immediate impact of the new access policy (UK paper requires free Web accounts; traffic plunges).

But, according to Hitwise's numbers, simply adding the registration barrier has cut traffic to the site almost in half. Prior to the change, The Times was seeing somewhere in the neighborhood of four to five percent of the traffic going to the print news media category; after, it was hovering around two percent.Hitwise also tracked where users were going once they hit the registration page. About a third stay on one of The Times' properties, but many head straight to another news site (The Telegraph and The Guardian are big winners here), or simply to Google.

Ars Technica does note that the data depend on a single company's analysis.  What'll be more interesting to me will be the consequences of a shift to a payment mode.  Will this push more of the traffic towards the other broadsheets' website?  And in the long-term, will the income compensate for loss of page views?As an aside, over the last couple of years, AP has been moving to protect copyright on its news service.  How about the content of this news story (which you will note is copyright, so I'll merely state the entire story is 14 words long.

Well, a bit of a change from the weekend's racing - a lovely sunny and warm evening greeted us as we gathered for the NBRC's club event on the Astwood circuit.  In actual fact it was the sort of evening that would have been rather pleasant to spend sitting in a pub garden sipping beer...but that was not to be as I lined up, yawning, to ride as #13 in this evening's event.We had a good turnout of 18 riders plus a tandem pair - we even had a visiting rider, Emma from Gillingham & District Wheelers, who'd enquired about the event via the NBRC website.  Emma turned out on her mountain bike.  Other notable riders included the "legendary" Karlo Porter.  I say legendary because people where he and I work keep saying "You must know Karlo", and because his club hill climb record for the Bow Brickhill course will be 20 years old next year.The light wind was enough to take the edge of my speed as I headed off towards Chicheley, but once round the corner the speed picked up substantially and before I knew it I was approaching North Crawley. I was riding without speed most of the time as the GPS kept dropping connection. By this time I was feeling a little "dry", but decided to hold off on drinking until the finish.Once through Crawley, it was the usual scramble to get back up to speed, but I felt pretty much OK other than being a bit thirsty!  The final push up the climb to the finish was really tough as I was determined to catch #12 (Darren) - unfortunately I failed!Tony took the honours, despite suffering a broken spoke on his from Zipp.  I was pretty pleased - according to Tony F.'s records, this is my fastest ride at Astwood since May 2006.

								Pos. on
Pos	No	Name	Club	Time	Cat	Vets Std	.+ / -	Vets Std
1	10	Tony Parks	NBRC	22.42	V45	26.30	.+ 3.48	4
2	19	Aaron McCaffrey	AW Cycles.co.uk	22.49	V40	25.30	.+ 2.41	6
3	15	Will Hilton	Virgin Active	23.06	S
4	13	Robert Saunders	NBRC	23.21	V50	27.33	.+4.12	2
5	16	Chris Dunwoodie	TeamMK	23.37	S
6	6	Brian Primett	NBRC	24.01	V43	26.06	.+ 2.05	7
7	12	Darren Haydon	NBRC	24.20	S
8	7	John Buchanan	TeamMK	24.58	V40	25.30	.+ 0.32	11
9	8	Trevor Hook	TeamMK	25.15	V52	27.59	.+ 2.44	5
10	14	Karlo Porter- Price	Private	25.46	V46	26.42	.+ 0.56	9
11	4	Clive Faine	TeamMK	26.12	V63	30.30	.+ 4.18	1
12	18	Richard Pratt	Beds Roads CC	26.43	V51	27.46	.+ 1.03	8
13	17	Gilbert Wheelwright	NBRC	27.26	V67	31.30	.+ 4.04	3
14	1	Alan Lawson	NBRC	28.02	V42	25.54	.- 2.08	12
15	2	Eddy Page	NBRC	28.36	S
16	9	Nick Crook	NBRC	28.41	V59	29.34	.+ 0.53	10
17	5	Emma Bradley	Gillingham & Dist. Whls.	31.38	L	MTB
DNF	3	Chris White	NBRC	Off course	L
	Tandem Event :-
	11	Kevin Stokes	TeamMK	21.21	V47
		Geoff Perry	TeamMK		V50
Time Keepers :- Steph Cousins & Tony Farmborough NBRC

Somewhat to my surprise, the other half of Team Grumpy volunteered to organise the 2010 British Time Trial Championship.  This meant of course that I felt duty bound to offer a spot of web support.  We ended up deciding to use the Team Grumpy website to host the course description and other contact information.Now riders are beginning to think about entering, Team Grumpy has swung into action to add information to the site.You can see a listing of BTTC pages.Entry forms are available on this page.You can follow website updates on Twitter or by our RSS feed.An outline of the course.

Checking the BBC weather forecast before setting off with my North Bucks Road Club team mate Tony, I was a little worried.  While the forecast was for white clouds and light showers, the wind was straight from the north and about 21-22mph.  It should also be evident from the weather icon to the left that the BBC turned out to be rather economical with the truth!As we drove over to Newmarket, Tony and I got increasingly worried about the weather.  The wind was certainly as forecast, the trees and foliage were bending alarmingly.  More bothersome were the heavy showers that were cruising along.  Some of the showers were really very heavy.  Reaching Newmarket, we found the race HQ rather more easily that in the past (cf the API-Metrow event last summer) - it was in a modern and rather swanky leisure centre.  We grabbed our numbers and waited for a particularly heavy shower to pass before going back to the car and driving over to a wide-verged lane near the start.We sat in the car while more heavy showers came over.  I got ready, but sat in the car.  At some point Tony realised that he'd forgotten a crucial bit of kit - his skin suit!  This gave him a pretty good excuse not to ride in vile conditions...  I waited in the car until the rain eased, then rode over to the start.  So - no warmup! I realised pretty quickly that my GPS unit was on the blink, so I ended up riding with only the timer and heart rate to inform me of my effort.Down the sliproad and onto the course.  I wished at this point that I knew what speed I was cruising at - it seemed fairly easy (despite pushing a very big gear) and I quickly raised my HR to respectable levels.  The outward leg clearly benefitted from the stiff wind, which was something of a diagonal tailwind.  A map of the E2/25 can be seen in my report on my previous outing on this course, the Lea Valley CC '25' on 10th April.  I reached the turn in around 25 minutes, had a bit of interference from traffic at the turn, and set out on the return leg somewhat worried about how tough it would be.In the event, the return leg was a fair bit easier, with some shelter from the wind provided by the hedgerow, particularly on the later section on the A14.  At places the broken nature of the hedgerow made for very gusty and buffeting conditions.  Overall, though, I didn't suffer particularly from rain - indeed the far end of the turn seemed bone dry.As I got closer to the finish, I became increasingly optimistic that I might pull off a decent time.  I was momentarily flummoxed by the cones up the finish sliproad as at first I couldn't see the timekeeper.  I checked my computer as I crossed the line and figured I'd done 55:29 (confirmed later in the race HQ).  This is 9 seconds faster than I did in the Lea Valley event, and this now becomes my fastest '25' since 2004, so my form continues to pick up.More to the point, what a horrible day it was - not what one would expect from mid-June!Results

Pos	No	Rider	Club	Group	Standard	TIME	+/-	std	Pos Std
1	120	Peter Balls	West Suffolk Wheelers	EA	01:07:60	50:12	+	17:47	15
2	15	Mick Hodson	St Ives CC	EA	01:06:00	51:15	+	14:45	28
3	110	Ian Cammish	Planet X	EA	01:12:43	51:26	+	21:17	9
4	105	Stuart Walker	Walsall RCC			51:36
5	60	Neil Dowie	Shorter Rochford RT	EA	01:07:30	53:15	+	14:15	29
6	75	André Dyson	St Ives CC	EA	01:11:07	53:33	+	17:33	18
7	100	Ken Platts	Cambridge CC	EA	01:15:29	53:47	+	21:41	8
8	45	Tony May	North Road CC	EA	01:12:11	54:14	+	17:57	14
9	70	Stephen Wilkins	Walsall RCC	Mids	01:12:43	54:40	+	18:03	13
10	90	Michael Wills	Hinkley CRC			54:44
11	61	Ron Keeble	34th Nomads CC	Kent	01:18:55	55:10	+	23:44	2
12	111	John Golder	Chelmer CC	EA	01:14:55	55:12	+	19:42	10
13	30	Robert Saunders	North Bucks RC			55:29
14	40	John Iszatt	API Metro - Silverhook	EA	01:11:39	55:53	+	15:45	24
15	46	Colin Bunnett	Kings Lynn CC	EA	01:20:41	55:59	+	24:41	1
16	106	Neil Colvin	7 Oaks Tri	Kent	01:12:43	56:04	+	16:38	19
17	35	Malcolm Jeffries	VC Elan	Kent	01:06:30	56:27	+	10:03	38
18	107	Carmelo Luggeri	CC Ashwell	EA	01:12:43	56:46	+	15:57	22
19	16	Clive Nye	San Fairy Ann CC	Kent	01:12:43	56:58	+	15:44	25
20	11	Geoff Bunyan	Spirit Racing			57:04
21	124	Graham Painter	Chelmer CC			57:11
22	5	Tony Boardman	Team Swift	Man & NW	01:13:16	57:24	+	15:51	23
23	80	Simon Best	North Road CC	EA	01:07:30	58:05	+	09:24	42
24	31	Christopher York	Maldon & District CC			58:17
25	87	Mike Shean	Ford CC			58:20
26	41	Ralph Richardson	Hinkley CRC	Mids	01:08:31	58:33	+	09:57	39
27	56	David Rogers	Hemel Hempstead CC	L & HC	01:12:11	58:34	+	13:36	31
28	12	Clayton Knight	Easterley RC	EA	01:10:35	58:52	+	11:43	35
28	126	Peter Thomas	West Kent RC			58:52
30	125	Simon Boyle	Stowmarket & Dist CC			58:53
31	43	Bill Broadfield	Flitch Crono	EA	01:21:53	58:54	+	22:58	5
32	67	Andrew Bright	Team Sanjan Design	EA	01:07:00	59:05	+	07:54	46
33	72	Alan Crane	Team Sanjan Design			59:09
34	12	Peter Hardiman	Maldon & District CC	EA	01:14:55	59:12	+	15:42	26
35	6	Richard Moule	Bossard Wheelers CC			59:27
36	1	Jeremy Temple	VC Elan			59:28
37	11	Michael Coulter	Gravesend CC	Kent	01:17:45	59:34	+	18:10	12
38	96	Steve Peck	Newmarket Cycling & Tri	EA	01:12:11	59:52	+	12:18	34
39	26	Peter Anderson	Kingston Wheelers	EA	01:16:03	01:00:04	+	15:59	21
40	6	Corinna Francis	Chelmer CC			01:00:12
41	17	Peter Walton	Herfordshire Wheelers	EA	01:13:49	01:00:23	+	13:25	32
42	64	Roger Selmes	Wolsey RC	EA	01:18:20	01:00:41	+	17:39	17
43	57	Andrew Gibson	Gravesend CC			01:00:51
44	58	John Parkes	Wolsey RC	EA	01:19:30	01:00:58	+	18:31	11
45	113	Brian Martin	PCA Ciclos Uno	EA	01:17:11	01:01:33	+	15:38	27
46	73	Michael Fry	Glendene CC	EA	01:10:35	01:01:38	+	08:57	44
47	29	Peter Lock	Victoria CC	EA	01:07:30	01:01:44	+	05:45	49
48	32	Geoffrey Martin	Glendene CC	EA	01:13:16	01:01:46	+	11:30	36
49	8	Ann Shuttleworth	Chelmer CC	EA	01:11:39	01:01:48	+	09:51	40
50	33	Brian Lusk	45 Road Club	EA	01:09:02	01:02:00	+	07:01	48
51	77	Stewart Kirk	CC Sudbury	EA	01:14:55	01:02:05	+	12:49	33
52	53	Dominic Whitehead	29th Wheelers CC	EA	01:11:39	01:02:10	+	09:28	41
53	38	David Mellor	Chelmer CC			01:02:48
54	2	Keith Dalton	Southend Wheelers	EA	01:12:11	01:02:55	+	09:15	43
55	102	Merv Player	Herfordshire Wheelers	EA	01:26:56	01:03:30	+	23:26	3
55	9	John Dupen (T)	Godric CC	EA	01:20:05	01:03:30	+	16:34	20
57	23	Brian Foran	Lampard RC	EA	01:11:07	01:03:32	+	07:34	47
58	118	Peter Baumber	Cambridge CC	EA	01:28:14	01:04:57	+	23:17	4
59	3	Trevor Parrish	A5 Rangers CC			01:04:59
60	18	Adrian Perkin (T)	Godric CC	EA	01:27:35	01:05:37	+	21:58	7
61	7	Angela Nye	San Fairy Ann CC	Kent	01:16:37	01:05:40	+	10:56	37
62	13	John Baines	Yorkshire RC	Yorks	01:23:44	01:06:00	+	17:43	16
63	104	Peter Horsnell	Chelmer CC	EA	01:28:54	01:06:54	+	22:00	6
64	84	Andrew Porter	Welwyn Wheelers	EA	01:10:04	01:09:09	+	00:54	54
65	36	Karl Read	North Norfolk Whlrs CC	EA	01:07:30	01:11:51	–	04:21	56
66	9	Jeanette Degiorgio	Victoria CC	EA	01:17:45	01:12:54	+	04:50	51
67	4	Bob Loader	Sydenham Wheelers	Kent	01:26:56	01:13:03	+	13:53	30
68	2	Lynda George	Maldon & District CC	EA	01:19:30	01:14:23	+	05:06	50
69	19	Ray Legg	West Suffolk Wheelers	EA	01:18:55	01:14:55	+	04:00	52
70	114	Brian Foster	Norwich ABC	EA	01:24:22	01:15:45	+	08:36	45
71	69	Phil Paffey	Chelmer CC	EA	01:11:07	01:20:47	–	09:39	55
72	3	Barbara Law	CC Sudbury	EA	01:25:00	01:21:04	+	03:56	53
	59	Chris Hutchinson	Redbridge CC	EA	01:14:55	DNF
	22	Geoff Bores	Ford CC	EA	01:13:49	DNF

Having opted out from having my medical records exposed to an astounding number of people via the NHS Summary Care Record (SCR) scheme, I'm always interested in seeing opinions on the SCR. There are a couple of open access opinion piece articles in the British Medical Journal. In the first, Mark Walport (Director of the Wellcome Trust) offers the view that the SCR will do more good than harm (Do summary care records have the potential to do more harm than good? No -- Walport).  Walport takes the view that the SCR represents an excellent opportunity to benefit medical research - I have to confess that the usage of the SCR as a research tool had escaped me, and it occurs to me that this isn't one of the original functions intended for it.  I'd also worry that this would represent a further extension of the already large group of people with access rights to the data.  As Walport says:

The primary purpose of electronic patient records is to improve patient care. As a patient I expect the following: that my records will be accurate and that I can work with my carers to improve their accuracy; that they will be treated confidentially; that they will be shared between the members of the healthcare team that collectively look after me in primary care and in hospital; and that they will provide a basis for accountability for the quality of my health care. In addition I would hope that my records could be linked to "expert systems" that would minimise the chance of treatment errors and maximise the chance of my being prescribed the best treatment.

^{Of course the expected benefits depend on quality data being entered in the system, and this is one issue that's been highlighted as a potential problem (though it's been noted that GPs and other medical practitioners make informed judgement on the information held).  As an aside, how accessible will these data be to a practitioner attending to someone who's unconscious on the roadside?  How quickly can unambiguous identification be made?In a counter opinion, Ross Anderson (Professor of Security Engineering, Cambridge University) takes an opposing view (Do summary care records have the potential to do more harm than good? Yes -- Anderson), principally taking into account the security of the data, the potential for misuse, and indeed the illegality of the means of enrolling patients into the scheme.  As one might expect, Anderson approaches the issue from a very different perspective than Walport - that of data integrity and security.  Anderson points out:}

The showstopper though is privacy. In 2008, the European Court of Human Rights decided the case I v Finland. Ms "I" was a nurse in Helsinki, and HIV positive; the systems at her hospital let her managers find out about her status, and they hounded her out of her job. The court awarded her compensation, finding that we have a right to restrict our personal health information to the clinicians involved directly in our care. Other staff must be unable to access records, not just "not allowed." In 2009, colleagues and I wrote a report for the Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust, examining the impact of this and other cases on UK central government systems and concluded that the summary care record had serious legal problems. With the additional data being added, it is now clearly unlawful.

There is always a great worry about "function creep" in large-scale database systems - for example, it may well be that Walport's view of the SCR as a research tool is an example - but the real issues for me are in data integrity and security.  Both relate to individual privacy, and the letter I received explaining I was in "by default", and giving a very one-sided and over-optimistic opinion of the benefits of SCR raised my ire.  That, and the hoops one has to jump through to avoid being included.  Recall that once your data are in, they are there for good.As I write this, Neil Bhatia (who maintains a website providing an opposing view of the SCR) has written a "rapid response" comment.

More (albeit relatively small scale) data losses by the NHS (NHS still rubbish at caring for data • The Register), but once again the totally toothless Information Commissioner's Office response appears to be "Don't do it again".So, does anyone really think the Summary Care Record is a good idea?  I mean other that the datacrats in the NHS...

This year's tour visited the Hebridean islands of Barra, South Uist, Benbecula, North Uist, Skye and Mull, with a bit of mainland cycling too! I did attempt blogging as we travelled, but this was problematic due to patchy mobile broadband coverage (Vodafone). I've now updated the reports and included maps and photographs.You can access the list of reports through this link - 2010 cycle tour - or via the Cycling menu (select Cycle Tours, then select the desired tour).I'm having one or two problems with the website just now (I fear a major restructuring is imminent).  If you have problems accessing these reports, please leave a comment to this article,