HARO BIKES

Today's entry is an exercise in diverting focus away from a rider/ground interface involving me at the end of last Thursday's club ride by directing attention at anything vaguely embarrassing involving anybody else...

so thankfully this week saw the return of Rapha man to a club run with Cairngorm Cycling Club. I missed Brian's last ride with the club, prompted by a visit to Mike's Bikes, when he was persuaded to come out with the club on his holiday/winter bike. Obviously, the lack of success in the intermediate sprints on that occasion has weighed heavily on Brian and for this visit to Aviemore he has been accompanied by his black and pink Parlee aka the Rapha tribute bike.

Mike and I had been out to do the Kincraig loop before the club run, only just managing to squeeze it in between the shop closing and meeting up prior to the start at 6.30 due to the appearance of a 5.25 customer (all our customers are welcome, even those who have lost a screw from a pedal and need a dustcap but not a blue one please and I might as well have a look around while I'm here at 5.25 when the staff have lycra, helmets and sunglasses on!). When we arrived back at Mike's Bikes, Brian was already there and had found a kindred spirit in Ian K. They were engrossed in discussing whether celeste or pink was the prettiest colour for a bike so I was happy to sit on the pavement to catch my breath while Mike tried to join the conversation. Introducing the topic of efficient componentry was eagerly seized upon by Ian and Brian as an opportunity to debate whether celeste or pink pedals were the fastest and whether High 5 tastes better from a celeste or pink bottle. Apparently if you mix your Summer Fruits High 5 with 673ml of water it provides exactly the right shade of pink to match your Rapha jersey...

A good group of 11 riders set off from Mikes Bike's at 6.30 to do a figure of eight with Kincraig at the centre and Kingussie at the furthest point. Given what was to follow and with 20/20 hindsight I now regret reminding Kevin of the emergency stop incident that led to his "clock still running" entry in the results for the "Shop to the Top" time trial however the group was in good spirits as we headed out along the High Street. It might be my imagination but there seemed to be more sprints than usual - I think everyone was trying to escape Ian and Brian who had moved on to sartorial elegance. Every time you wash your cycling top you have to wash your bike or the colours fade at a different rate and then they won't match ...

At Kincraig we picked up Phil to make it three Raleigh Carbon Race bikes in the group - no Ridleys though. Carl is only just back from the etape stage on Mt Ventoux, I've yet to see Helen on her eponymous Ridley and John's training is so secret even he doesn't know he's doing it. On completion of the top section of the figure eight we split into two groups for the ride back to Mikes Bikes. At the head of the field  Brian went on to prove that pink is faster than celeste and Mike found out that even a £2.5k road bike can look ordinary if you choose your company well. In the grupetto I rode with Pete, Graeme and Kevin and discovered what pride comes before when I arrived back at Mikes Bikes and promptly fell off in front of everyone

Meanwhile, back at the Tour de France... good to see such a successful tour for British riders with Mark Cavendish winning the final stage (guess whereabouts in Aviemore you can buy his Uvex Team Columbia helmet) and Bradley Wiggins just coming up short of a podium finish in 4th - the weight of Mike's top three prediction was too much for him in the end. I still think he needs a better name than "Wiggo" though - if he was American he would be Brad Rugged and we would be stuck with Lancely Armstring.

Finally, after the club run Mike and I still had the cycle back to Kingussie to do (for a couple of pints of recovery juice and not of the High 5 variety) and as we headed back through town with Phil we were held up by a Belgian tourist on the zebra crossing admiring the three Raleigh Carbon Race bikes that had stopped for him. It seems that you don't see Raleighs in Belgium - I don't see why not, we ride Ridleys here - and look, they come in pink!

Did I mention that I fell off my bike in the car park? Once, but I think I got away with it...