A few days after the event, but well done Team Sky and Wiggo!! I read a comment on some newpaper article or other, where lots of people were saying what a great day for cycling: indeed, but for me it has been a revelation, because until about Thursday last week I never really cared about watching sport and never really new the names of any pros. Now I've read up on road racing, know a whole bunch of cycle pro names, and have actually rushed back from a ride (on Sunday) to get the result and settle down with a brew to watch the highlights show. What is happening!? My OH thinks it's a little strange, and I agree with him. But you'd have to be a real reason-free zone to not be amazed by the achievement of those guys over that time period. Anyone who rides a bike anywhere at all or for whatever reason will know just how far and how hard that kind of riding is. I mean if anyone could do it, there would have been no need to invent cars and we'd all be thinking nothing of 50+ mile commutes over the Pennines each day. But that kind of riding is in another league and we are in awe.
With all that going on, there is one thing missing though. Any ideas?? Well, the only coverage given to women was the boring Twitter spat between two cycle WAGS, apparently bitching about their husband's prowess (oh, grow up girls), but this -- as usual -- represent women as whining, bitching, blobs of over-styled pointlessness and detracts from the many strong, talented, and dedicated sportswomen who also ride hard, push their own boundaries, and achieve great things. The recent documentary about Victoria Pendelton shows just what we can achieve when we work hard and dedicate ourselves to things other than celebrity babies and hair extensions, but also reveals what a mountain we have to climb to feel accepted into areas of life that still feel very much like a mans' world.
And what about women's races? I have Googled about a bit and found evidence of.. well, just one so far. I'll keep searching, and will report my findings shortly. For now though, forget all my sniping about gender balance, and repeat after me... Allez Wiggo!!!
Wednesday 25 July 2012
Tuesday 17 July 2012
Politics and Road Safety
I came to cycling through my involvement in transport campaigning. While going around persuading my friends, neighbours and others living nearby that road building wasn't the answer to local traffic problems, I learned more than I ever wanted to about transport policy and took to two wheels in order to put my money where my big fat mouth is. Those <3 miles journeys turned into <5 miles, <10 miles, and now I cycle pretty much everywhere in any weather and try and make as many trips as possible by bike and train instead of car. The campaign got pretty heavy going, taking a heavy emotional toll, so it was lucky for me that it reached a natural conclusion, giving me the chance to bow out from it all. I was still pretty fired up about it though, so went on to do a part-time MA, focusing largely on the issues I observed during my campaigning efforts, with the end result being campaign fatigue and environmental policy burn out. Since then I've just been riding my bike and doing all I can to stay out of the way of anything vaguely political. But maybe that needs to change?
Honestly, I'm passionate about cycling but that has nothing to do with sport and everything to do with the environment: low-carbon (although not low-carb!) transport solutions, cities and streets designed around the needs of people, safe for all vulnerable road users, getting us to where we want to go, making us healthier and happier too; all these things make sense to me and I find it hard to comprehend why some folks think otherwise. But they do.
Then there are places like the Netherlands. Cycling is prioritised, it is popular. Cyclists are safe, they can wear normal clothes, ride to and from work on dedicated routes, go on trips with the family and (and the dog) at the weekend. You can move house by bike and no-one will think you're barmy! Bikes are everywhere. It is just a tiny slice of bike heaven dotted.
Then there is the UK. Car is king. The Government positively discriminates in favour of the combustion engine because cars, lorries, and vans burn fuel which creates income through taxation (fuel duty), whereas cars, bikes, and trains (the things greenies like me dream of) cost the Exchequer because every mile we do by one of those methods is fuel duty lost. Yes, it really does work that way. We don't have anything like an integrated transport system. Shows like Top Gear actively promote running cyclists over. Since we ran out of money to put actual police out on the streets to monitor speed limits, replacing them with speed cameras, everyone drives at pretty much whatever speed they want, irrespective of the limit, and motorists who knock down a cyclists are given a slap on the wrist (if they're really unlucky) and told not to do it again. Those of us who are crazy enough to get out there and ride on the roads feel the need to dress up in flourescent gear visible from space and ride like the clappers in the primary position in order to hold our own. It's a war out there folks.
And that, in short, is why most ordinary people, those who just want to go to work, go to the shops, go out with their friends, and don't want to be at war with anyone aren't jumping over themselves to swap four wheels for two. It's not about the rain or the hills; it's about fear.
So it's with great joy that I read today about Early Day Motion 407, proposed by Lib Dem MP Julian Huppert, which attempts to bring to the attention of Parliament the current imbalance in the system, which favours the car over the human. The full text of the EDM reads:
That this House notes that many victims of road accidents do not feel that the criminal justice system adequately protects or supports them in the aftermath of their case; further notes that it is important that those who have suffered traumatic incidents are given effective and sympathetic support as they attempt to rebuild their lives; welcomes the work of British Cycling and other groups, including CTC, Sustrans, London Cycling Campaign, The Times, Cycling Weekly, RoadPeace and Brake to raise the profile of the issue; and calls on the Ministry of Justice to review carefully the evidence they have submitted and undertake a comprehensive review of each part of the criminal justice system, from crash investigation standards through to sentencing guidelines, to ensure that it is fairer for cyclists, pedestrians and other road users who are hurt or seriously injured on the country's roads.
Trust me. This is huge. It's a few carefully worded sentences away from calling for the ultimate ideal of "strict liability" -- the norm in Denmark and the Netherlands -- but it's a step in the right direction. So here's what to do...
Write to your MP. Do it now. It's important. You can save yourself alot of effort by going to this site here, aptly called Write to Them and putting something in writing. Write to your local Councillors too. They'll be glad to receive a letter that's not banging on about potholes or pointless cycle lanes (we'll save that for another time). For now, just write to your MP asking them to support EDM 407. Tell them why you think it's important. Tell them you're a cyclist. Tell them whatever you like really. It's no big deal. People write to them all the time. You should get a letter back, which will probably be fairly dry and not particularly informative, but a few lucky ones will get a proper letter written by a real human who geniunely shares your concerns. The thing is, if you don't write to them they'll never know you care. Make the bastards work for it, I say. So stop reading now and get writing. Thanks!
Honestly, I'm passionate about cycling but that has nothing to do with sport and everything to do with the environment: low-carbon (although not low-carb!) transport solutions, cities and streets designed around the needs of people, safe for all vulnerable road users, getting us to where we want to go, making us healthier and happier too; all these things make sense to me and I find it hard to comprehend why some folks think otherwise. But they do.
Then there are places like the Netherlands. Cycling is prioritised, it is popular. Cyclists are safe, they can wear normal clothes, ride to and from work on dedicated routes, go on trips with the family and (and the dog) at the weekend. You can move house by bike and no-one will think you're barmy! Bikes are everywhere. It is just a tiny slice of bike heaven dotted.
Then there is the UK. Car is king. The Government positively discriminates in favour of the combustion engine because cars, lorries, and vans burn fuel which creates income through taxation (fuel duty), whereas cars, bikes, and trains (the things greenies like me dream of) cost the Exchequer because every mile we do by one of those methods is fuel duty lost. Yes, it really does work that way. We don't have anything like an integrated transport system. Shows like Top Gear actively promote running cyclists over. Since we ran out of money to put actual police out on the streets to monitor speed limits, replacing them with speed cameras, everyone drives at pretty much whatever speed they want, irrespective of the limit, and motorists who knock down a cyclists are given a slap on the wrist (if they're really unlucky) and told not to do it again. Those of us who are crazy enough to get out there and ride on the roads feel the need to dress up in flourescent gear visible from space and ride like the clappers in the primary position in order to hold our own. It's a war out there folks.
And that, in short, is why most ordinary people, those who just want to go to work, go to the shops, go out with their friends, and don't want to be at war with anyone aren't jumping over themselves to swap four wheels for two. It's not about the rain or the hills; it's about fear.
So it's with great joy that I read today about Early Day Motion 407, proposed by Lib Dem MP Julian Huppert, which attempts to bring to the attention of Parliament the current imbalance in the system, which favours the car over the human. The full text of the EDM reads:
That this House notes that many victims of road accidents do not feel that the criminal justice system adequately protects or supports them in the aftermath of their case; further notes that it is important that those who have suffered traumatic incidents are given effective and sympathetic support as they attempt to rebuild their lives; welcomes the work of British Cycling and other groups, including CTC, Sustrans, London Cycling Campaign, The Times, Cycling Weekly, RoadPeace and Brake to raise the profile of the issue; and calls on the Ministry of Justice to review carefully the evidence they have submitted and undertake a comprehensive review of each part of the criminal justice system, from crash investigation standards through to sentencing guidelines, to ensure that it is fairer for cyclists, pedestrians and other road users who are hurt or seriously injured on the country's roads.
Trust me. This is huge. It's a few carefully worded sentences away from calling for the ultimate ideal of "strict liability" -- the norm in Denmark and the Netherlands -- but it's a step in the right direction. So here's what to do...
Write to your MP. Do it now. It's important. You can save yourself alot of effort by going to this site here, aptly called Write to Them and putting something in writing. Write to your local Councillors too. They'll be glad to receive a letter that's not banging on about potholes or pointless cycle lanes (we'll save that for another time). For now, just write to your MP asking them to support EDM 407. Tell them why you think it's important. Tell them you're a cyclist. Tell them whatever you like really. It's no big deal. People write to them all the time. You should get a letter back, which will probably be fairly dry and not particularly informative, but a few lucky ones will get a proper letter written by a real human who geniunely shares your concerns. The thing is, if you don't write to them they'll never know you care. Make the bastards work for it, I say. So stop reading now and get writing. Thanks!
Sunday 15 July 2012
Muddy Mayhem 2012
Ah, so it's more than a few weeks later, but the mud was so thick, the riding so hard, the weekend so awesome despite the mud Gods' best efforts, that it is still fresh in my memory. Here's my post-post-race report.
So, setting off on Friday afternoon, Sarah, Anne and myself were starting to realise that our hastily formed plan to put a 4-woman team into Mayhem was actually happening -- this weekend. Oh.
With the British weather excelling itself, as much as we were worried about the race we were pretty damned worried about the weather. Anne, as (self)-designated driver was also a little concerned about driving into a field full of mud and maybe not being able to drive out again. Ho hum, well, we'd paid, no-one had been smart (brave) enough to drop out before the day, so it looked like we were in. An uneventful journed, we arrived, pitched our tents, introduced ourselves to the other group, and did boring things like eat, chatter nervously, and put our race "strategy" together. A few of the guys from the club had been out for the practice lap, and were saying things like "unrideable". Hmmm, maybe it was going to be a hell hole out there. Oh, and the main arena was reported to be ankle deep liquid mudd. Joy. Time for food and good sleep and see what the morning brings.
Morning. It had rained plenty during the night, but I awoke to clear-ish skies and it was warm. Phew. Oh, so now it wasn't warm, clouds were building, it was turning into one of those will it, won't it kind of days, with a warm, no cold, no warm, no cold breeze. A typical British "Summer" then. Breakfast and a fair amount of faffing later it was almost midday. Time to get to the start.
Ruth had drawn the short straw, by virtue of being the fittest out of the four of us, so was our first rider, being the only one capable of doing the run at the start. Well if you will do triathlons... The downside of this is, running aside, that you set off in a big bunch with everyone jostling around, and it's a pretty stressful lap compared to a later one, where folks have thinned out a bit. That combined with the mud meant that Ruth came back and just said that was it, she wasn't going out again. Hmm. At changover she also passed the magic stick, which was to be the most essential piece of mud fighting technology ever invented. It still amazes me that the magic stick didn't really catch on, but it didn't, even though it worked a dream. So, how did it go, my first lap??
The conditions were horrible. Even before setting off I was muddy, the bike was muddy. If I'd had high expections I'd have been dreading it, but I'd pretty much decided the whole thing was going to be hell, and I'd mentally prepared for a 3-hour lap involving a lot of pushing, falling over, and -- if I actually managed to ride any of it -- a fair amount of falling off. I had VERY low expectations. Then a miracle happened. I LOVED it!! My bike, having been set up for the Peaks when I rode last year, was suitably set up with skinny mud tyres, and it rode like a dream. The twisty singletrack through the trees was rideable, and it was nice to remember the course and think "oh, now I'm here," etc. I did get a bit nervous on the section where I came off last year and smashed my hand up, but once I got past there I relaxed again and carried on slipping/sliding/riding as best I could. On through the arena, where I bumped into Keith (one of the other MMB riders) swearing at his bike, over the Lezyne bridge, then out, up the hill towards the obelisk. I was definitely faster than last year. Don't just love it when hills are smaller!? I mean last year it was dry, so with the mud and the water, it should have been bigger, right? But no, it was definitely smaller. On and up I went.
Now last year this section of the ride was the best part. I hated the first part, loved the second part. Rob (@bigrobracing) had said the second half as "dry in places" so I had dared to look forward to this part, but honestly, it didn't look like any of that part of the ride had been anywhere near dry in a month. It was Muddy, yes, with a capital "m". Lots of pushing, which was nice. It levelled everyone and, I think, meant that the atmosphere out on the course was really friendly. Everyone was like, "hey, we're all insane to even be attempting this" rather than "hey, get out of my way, I want to podium," which was nice. Somewhere in the woods up there I bumped into Kathryn, from one of the other MMB teams, who has having a suitably shit one. She'd been out for a while and was very unimpressed with the riding conditions. She'd run out of water too, so I gave her my spare on-bike bottle, wished her well, then set off. Onward. Just after this point I bumped into Grace (@competitivegrace). She was having a tough one, on her second lap of her first ever solo attempt. Now Grace is hard-as. She just goes on and on like the Duracell bunny, but with a much prettier smile. I hung out to ride with her for a while, gave her the rest of my food bar, and chatted to her a bit as we rode through the last section of woods. Then, as we got to the big descent into the arena, I was off again. Actually I didn't mean to, but I just got the wind behind me and pedalled away, and when I looked around Grace was nowhere behind. Back in the arena, handover to Sarah, wishing here the best and handing over the magic stick, it was time to get back to the camp and get cleaned up and fed.
Sarah came back, having enjoyed her lap, then Anne. The plan was for Ruth to go next but that wasn't going to happen so we agreed to skip the night laps and pick it up again in the morning after a sleep. If one of us went out at 3am we'd have enough time for another lap each. Ruth wanted to sleep, so I said I'd go out, then she could meet me at 5am for her next lap.
Then the plan started to go wrong. I went to bed, woke up for my lap but couldn't find the baton thing. I checked in the main tent, where Andy (Ruth's OH) was up, and he said she wasn't getting up for another lap. So I went back to sleep (or what passes as sleep when it's hurling down with rain outside a teeny tiny tent) and only got up when I heard Sarah's tent zip go at about 5am. We had a coffee, decided what to do next, and then... well, we were going again. Fuck it. Let's do it. So out I went. A little later than planned, but out I went. Sarah was there to meet me, so we packed in another two laps, taking us up to fourth place. Anne, who had had a terribe first lap and was injured, was ready to go again, despite that actually being a terrible idea because of said injury, but as it turned out we couldn't have made it to third even if she had gone out, so she was spared. And that, as they say, was that. Fourth place, four very muddy bikes, and good fun had by.. well, me and Sarah. I think we may be the only two people who genuinely "enjoyed" our weekend at Mayhem! Roll on SITS!!!
So, setting off on Friday afternoon, Sarah, Anne and myself were starting to realise that our hastily formed plan to put a 4-woman team into Mayhem was actually happening -- this weekend. Oh.
With the British weather excelling itself, as much as we were worried about the race we were pretty damned worried about the weather. Anne, as (self)-designated driver was also a little concerned about driving into a field full of mud and maybe not being able to drive out again. Ho hum, well, we'd paid, no-one had been smart (brave) enough to drop out before the day, so it looked like we were in. An uneventful journed, we arrived, pitched our tents, introduced ourselves to the other group, and did boring things like eat, chatter nervously, and put our race "strategy" together. A few of the guys from the club had been out for the practice lap, and were saying things like "unrideable". Hmmm, maybe it was going to be a hell hole out there. Oh, and the main arena was reported to be ankle deep liquid mudd. Joy. Time for food and good sleep and see what the morning brings.
Morning. It had rained plenty during the night, but I awoke to clear-ish skies and it was warm. Phew. Oh, so now it wasn't warm, clouds were building, it was turning into one of those will it, won't it kind of days, with a warm, no cold, no warm, no cold breeze. A typical British "Summer" then. Breakfast and a fair amount of faffing later it was almost midday. Time to get to the start.
Ruth had drawn the short straw, by virtue of being the fittest out of the four of us, so was our first rider, being the only one capable of doing the run at the start. Well if you will do triathlons... The downside of this is, running aside, that you set off in a big bunch with everyone jostling around, and it's a pretty stressful lap compared to a later one, where folks have thinned out a bit. That combined with the mud meant that Ruth came back and just said that was it, she wasn't going out again. Hmm. At changover she also passed the magic stick, which was to be the most essential piece of mud fighting technology ever invented. It still amazes me that the magic stick didn't really catch on, but it didn't, even though it worked a dream. So, how did it go, my first lap??
The conditions were horrible. Even before setting off I was muddy, the bike was muddy. If I'd had high expections I'd have been dreading it, but I'd pretty much decided the whole thing was going to be hell, and I'd mentally prepared for a 3-hour lap involving a lot of pushing, falling over, and -- if I actually managed to ride any of it -- a fair amount of falling off. I had VERY low expectations. Then a miracle happened. I LOVED it!! My bike, having been set up for the Peaks when I rode last year, was suitably set up with skinny mud tyres, and it rode like a dream. The twisty singletrack through the trees was rideable, and it was nice to remember the course and think "oh, now I'm here," etc. I did get a bit nervous on the section where I came off last year and smashed my hand up, but once I got past there I relaxed again and carried on slipping/sliding/riding as best I could. On through the arena, where I bumped into Keith (one of the other MMB riders) swearing at his bike, over the Lezyne bridge, then out, up the hill towards the obelisk. I was definitely faster than last year. Don't just love it when hills are smaller!? I mean last year it was dry, so with the mud and the water, it should have been bigger, right? But no, it was definitely smaller. On and up I went.
Now last year this section of the ride was the best part. I hated the first part, loved the second part. Rob (@bigrobracing) had said the second half as "dry in places" so I had dared to look forward to this part, but honestly, it didn't look like any of that part of the ride had been anywhere near dry in a month. It was Muddy, yes, with a capital "m". Lots of pushing, which was nice. It levelled everyone and, I think, meant that the atmosphere out on the course was really friendly. Everyone was like, "hey, we're all insane to even be attempting this" rather than "hey, get out of my way, I want to podium," which was nice. Somewhere in the woods up there I bumped into Kathryn, from one of the other MMB teams, who has having a suitably shit one. She'd been out for a while and was very unimpressed with the riding conditions. She'd run out of water too, so I gave her my spare on-bike bottle, wished her well, then set off. Onward. Just after this point I bumped into Grace (@competitivegrace). She was having a tough one, on her second lap of her first ever solo attempt. Now Grace is hard-as. She just goes on and on like the Duracell bunny, but with a much prettier smile. I hung out to ride with her for a while, gave her the rest of my food bar, and chatted to her a bit as we rode through the last section of woods. Then, as we got to the big descent into the arena, I was off again. Actually I didn't mean to, but I just got the wind behind me and pedalled away, and when I looked around Grace was nowhere behind. Back in the arena, handover to Sarah, wishing here the best and handing over the magic stick, it was time to get back to the camp and get cleaned up and fed.
Sarah came back, having enjoyed her lap, then Anne. The plan was for Ruth to go next but that wasn't going to happen so we agreed to skip the night laps and pick it up again in the morning after a sleep. If one of us went out at 3am we'd have enough time for another lap each. Ruth wanted to sleep, so I said I'd go out, then she could meet me at 5am for her next lap.
Then the plan started to go wrong. I went to bed, woke up for my lap but couldn't find the baton thing. I checked in the main tent, where Andy (Ruth's OH) was up, and he said she wasn't getting up for another lap. So I went back to sleep (or what passes as sleep when it's hurling down with rain outside a teeny tiny tent) and only got up when I heard Sarah's tent zip go at about 5am. We had a coffee, decided what to do next, and then... well, we were going again. Fuck it. Let's do it. So out I went. A little later than planned, but out I went. Sarah was there to meet me, so we packed in another two laps, taking us up to fourth place. Anne, who had had a terribe first lap and was injured, was ready to go again, despite that actually being a terrible idea because of said injury, but as it turned out we couldn't have made it to third even if she had gone out, so she was spared. And that, as they say, was that. Fourth place, four very muddy bikes, and good fun had by.. well, me and Sarah. I think we may be the only two people who genuinely "enjoyed" our weekend at Mayhem! Roll on SITS!!!
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