HARO BIKES

I turned into a bit of an armchair cyclist on Tuesday despite starting off the day with good intentions.

Rob and Alistair were planning an evening mountain biking on Tain Hill and I had been invited along. It was a difficult decision as the weather was good and the Delny 10 mile TT presented an alternative but as the day progressed and the breeze picked up I decided that there would be better days for time trialling and I opted for the opportunity of being guided round the Tain trails. I should have been out on them before now but they've never been completely official, having been established by an amateur enthusiast, and in the absence of trail maps a personal introduction is preferable to riding 'blind'. Initially I was a little concerned about my skill level being a hindrance but I consoled myself with the knowledge that even if my bike skills were the lowest in the group, at least I can drive a car. Come on Rob, your mum and dad won't be reading this - did the brakes really fail (and then start working again immediately after your mishap), or did you run into the back of that car because a car takes longer to stop than a mountain bike with hydraulic disc brakes?

In the event, the afternoon's breeze brought heavy clouds that burst over Tain and we decided to take a rain check. There's a rumour going about that the trails are about to be dismantled because the Forestry Commision don't want interest in nearby official trails diluted, so I'll need to get out on them soon before the guys go back to university.

So, on a wet Tuesday evening my attention was diverted to ITV4 and the Tour de France. Not a lot happened to change the GC positions and the most impressive performance of the day was the ability of the commentators to come up with things to say. As Mike's top three tip rode along with Lance Armstrong we were treated to "I wonder what Bradley Wiggins is thinking now?" - we reckoned he was thinking "I wish I had a cool name like Lance", let's face it, Lance Armstrong is a cool name even outwith the context of cycling and Bradley Wiggins isn't. To compound matters, instead of going for a Lance-like "Brad" the cycling press have adopted the "Wiggo" nickname, which if anything, is more geeky than his full name. Like I said, not much happened in stage 16.

Stage 14 however was a different matter, featuring a win for Serguei Ivanov on a Ridley bike. We were chatting to Serguei after his victory and he had this to say to Mikes Bikes

“During the race I dream to take the victory after the first one in 2002, at the Tour de France. Today we started very fast. It was an incredible victory. To win is, often, a question of feeling and experience. I didn’t think to be the strongest and I said to myself: I can only win if I take the right moment. And I did so!”

Jenny has taken delivery of the full Team Katusha race kit and has quietly stated her intention of setting a surreptitious time for the "shop to the top" though how she thinks she is going to be able to ride incognito wearing the colours of a Tour de France pro team is beyond me!