mooleur

..Well, not quite, but it's certainly helping. This weeks post is in light of some major changes in the cycling world. From the exposure and subsequent interviews with Lance Armstrong and others relating to the doping debacle. To the likes of Nicole Cooke's outspoken (and quite rightly so!) exit from the professional world. It's been a fairly dramatic January to say the least. Is it a bad thing? Are we now doomed to a destiny laced with judgement and scandal? There is a hell of a lot of work to be done in men's road racing before the trust of the public and the general masses is rekindled. Our national sport has taken a knock, thankfully Britain as a rule has remained strong and we are not as tarnished as our counterparts across the pond. However, it's not great news for men's sport - doping goes on at all levels of ability and it must be stamped out if we're ever to ensure the younger generations of riders have a fair chance of making it. All this asid...

Hello everyone! Quick apology for the fact that I haven't yet posted this weeks blog, my rubbish excuse is that I'm training realllllyyyyy hard and therefore have been slightly knackered and a bit too pooped to post anything worthwhile. However, I am drafting a glorious rant, and will get it up asap.  Stay tuned rouleurs! x

We're mid way through January already, frightening isn't it? Time does not stand still for any man. Yet seemingly time favours the honorable and the humble. How? Time does not alter the great, and it does not dwindle the amazing feats of human perseverance that some of our wheeled comrades are capable of. I ride alone quite frequently, I like the solitude, I enjoy the headspace and that chance to just escape - me and the bike, alone together at last. It does grind. 50 miles in you begin to question your choice in ride partner (air, as it happens, is a boring old man) and so it's a glorious gift when a similarly weary soldier trundles alongside you, in a desperate yet futile attempt to overtake. Mutual agreement is reached and you eventually exchange conversation, share some wheel time and before you know it you've another friend for life. These lonely gallopers, I find, are usually like me - sort of newbies, not quite quick enough to keep up with the big boys clubs, ...

It's been a little while since my last post, for two reasons - I've been on holiday on the Isle of Man, where I was brought up, and also because I wanted to post on my return from holiday about this wonderful place. You might wonder why, actually I'd hope you'd expect it's because of cycling (for those of you who don't get it yet - erm... Mark Cavendish maybe?) . For a small island, stuck in the middle of the Irish Sea, with little goings on bar it's annual motorcycle race, there has been something quite special and unique brewing here. We've seen quite literally some of the worlds greatest cyclists emerge from this place, populated with little more than your average small English town, and there is good reason for this. I train around the parks of London and the passively undulating countryside of Essex, Surrey and Kent. All beautiful places, densely populated with cyclists of every caliber. The weather is generally great, there are little headwinds ...