u ram choe

if there's one thing myself and t like (esp t) it's a bit of kinetic sculpture. much is the time we've spent in front of a bit of sharmanka. so we weren't going to be passing by the likes of the splendid u ram choe

stage 9

an early start for me but no respite from this season's hayfever so i dragged myself back inside to sit and watch stage 9. and what a decision. if i had only terrestrial tv and could endure the paul and phil show i'd have missed the early stage fireworks. and from then on i was glued.

true, i'd enjoyed stage 8 but even then i couldn't but associate the froome attack with its landis like proportions. it is. i told myself about the spectacle. so stage 9 was all about what the response would be. surely, as many commentators were wont to say, the tour wasn't over (tho it is looking over for the green jersey).

and neither it was. sky's efforts of yesterday, in stark contrast to the accusations of doping, followed that pattern that, if you burst yourself one day, you're going to pay for it. and, aside from chris froome, that's exactly what happened. also, for those in accord with the comparison with us postal, it sky'd team position should be noted.

the anticipated gang up of the spanish on froome happened a lot sooner than i'd predicted. thos first three hills were gripping but after that it all kind of fizzled out even if froome and the others looked proper done at the end. movistar should surely have done more. and there itself lies a question. just how, when sky were so prolifically burned out yesterday, did movistar manage to get almost their whole team up front. certainly, in the english language speaking of the cycling internet, this has been met with an almost astonishing silence. only sky it seems are fit for conspiracy.

and there's a problem in this. the old rubric of if it looks too good to be true it probably is does not serve a supposedly drug free sport well. in the past the fastest team was on drugs ergo the fastest team is on drugs. even if they're not. (and if they are? metabolic modifiers - that's all i'm saying)

which leaves the viewer of a certain age with a problem. is it possible now to watch a performance in cycling, indeed in any sport, without having it tainted with suspicions of doping. in which case what are we doing still watching. are we somehow the equivalent of internet trolls pouring scorn over everything? certainly this aggressive scepticism doesn;t seem to be helpful in terms of sports development.

as has been said of the epo generation, maybe it's time to leave it behind. and maybe, along with that, it's time for that generation of spectator, of fan, to do exactly the same. leave the modern sport to the young and the rest of us to those racks of books that were never more than myths anyway. the bike is better so get out on that instead.

best strava segment - ever!

can be found here. all backed up with actual, if unfeasible, cycling. congrats to  mike and the other finishers. good luck to the others still out on the trail. bad weather brewing which is good for putting out the fires but not so much for anything else. top effort!

tour news

ever get annoyed with the people running at the side of the bike race? watch the guy on blue. and down he goes. that's never getting old!

so what else is new? orica green edge win a stage at last which is notable because simon gerrans is a) tiny and b) sounds like he's been inhaling helium. speculation abounds that green edge might put the first african in the yellow jersey. i thought chris froome... oh no, wait he's english now...

but it's good to see everyone performing so well. as surely everybody knows allergies confine themselves to the month of may so it's great to see that contador, valverde et al have 'recovered' and seem back to their time trialling 'best'. expect to see 'great things' from the spanish contingent come the itt. and bet against a non-team orders all spanish finish? i wouldn't.

and then cavendish, fighting off the effects of 'antibiotics' (is this a pro cyclist euphemism? i can't tell any more), gets his first win. great lead out and a great second place for ebh. sagan's a nap for the green jersey so he didn't really need the sulky face and i;d like to see greipel getting at least a stage.

i do like cav tho, not least because watching him getting interviewed the other day he looks freakishly as if he could be my younger brother, but also because he's eschewed the green edge baseball cap for a proper cycling cap. this is not motogp, f1 or any of those things, it's not downhill with their gooner headwear. it's road cycling and the cycling cap should be retained. cav is correct, gerrans should sort himself out.

all this is in sharp contrast to pierre rolland. now maybe it's just me, and i'm not about to admit that if i'd got the polka dot jersey for being first up a couple of minor climbs in the first week i wouldn't be super happy about it, but really wtf is he wearing. there is no need for the whole polkadot combo at this stage. worse than that it's not even matched up properly at the back so that the rear view of roland resembles a row of bifurcated pac men.

and talking of rolland with all the crashes folk are going down quicker than rolland's cortisol levels. hard man awards to tony martin for cycling on from his did he/didn't he concussions and various abrasions but especially to geraint thomas with his cracked pelvis..

as for me, inspired by all the above i hopped out for a cheeky wee fifty yesterday post all the wedding fatness. legs popped good and proper around the forty three mile mark. what's all that about!! so a curtailed version of today's planned climbing epic as i attempt to lose some kilos in order to gain some seconds. downhilling still a bit ginger post the accident but, at the end of the day, it's all okay because no-one, least of all me, wants to see a middle aged fat man in a tree

derek walcott

I got asked to post Walcott's ruins of a great house but the only version I can find is pretty well copyrighted so i'm not putting it up here but this interview with Walcott is well worth a view. the poem itself can be seen, with a recording of Walcott reading it here. and, should it be that a wee bit more info re the poem might be required see here