danceswithsheep

Labels: film, Shoot me I'm a geek

Back on the bike for the first time since I got whipped off by some nubbin and I've got a nice little regular route to hammer out a couple of times a week to start getting my puff back ready for summer riding. It's pretty flat and should be a good judge of how I'm getting on.

The route's on Bikely, but it's pretty easy to follow as once you get near Bourne End you should see where the big left turn is needed


Who land's a 747 there?

Labels: bikes, mountain biking

The last thing you want 2 miles from home after a 12 mile slog through the muddy Chiltern Hills is the amazing vanishing gap at a traffic lights which ends in a Sunday afternoon trip to casualty.

I rolled up to the lights on the inside of a line of cars pulling faces at kids in the back of cars who were staring in amazement at how a lump could ride a bike. The lights flick to green just in time saving me unclipping when the clown in the Vauxhall at the front decides he needed to drive in the gutter oblivious to the creature from the black lagoon rapidly approaching. Countless driving instructors have slapped me in the face telling me to check my blindspots at lights and as I pulled up alongside the comfortable gap suddenly closed up and I was on my arse halfway in the gutter with blood pouring from my hand and one foot still clipped in.

The broken bones in my wrist spoilt an excellent ride, jumping off the kebab van at the vineyard just outside Skirmett. Opening with some entertaining mud-filled downhill singletrack through the woods the route then zipped through the fields and forest around Fingest before a particularly brutal climb up Hanover Hill to Lane End. Up, over and down through Lane End before a quick dash through Hellbottom Wood and then a nasty slog up to West Wycombe Estate and Toweridge. By this stage you're blowing out your arse and the sight of a bullet straight tarcmac downhill brings a smile to your face; sadly 6 ramblers were walking abreast blocking the route leaving you crawl down to them in tears at the missed opportunity to feel the wind in your hair.

Twunts.

Labels: bikes, mountain biking

Road Rage: The Battle for Britain's. Streets

Mon 7 Jan, 9:00 pm - 10:00 pm 60mins

Britain is in the grip of an escalating road rage crisis. Filming on some of the UK's most traffic-choked streets, this special investigation exposes just how bad the situation has become; as violence and abuse in the war between motorists, cyclists, wardens and police escalates without any solution in sight.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcone/

Following on from Matthew Parris' comments in The Times on December 27, looks like there's more fuel for the car vs bike war that seems to be the latest issue in the media spotlight.