My latest attempt was to explore the area between Broxbourne and Hatfield, with the aim of having a ride that actually started within the M25. The ride I found was certainly worth the effort. Fast forest tracks and quiet lanes linked up well to make a satisfying ride. It was so good that clearly Evans cycles thought so as well and there were hundreds of mountain bikers of various abilities streaming the other way. I look forward to going back to have the paths more to myself sometime soon.
It's a decidedly suburban ride where there is as much chance of a burnt out car in the woods as there is of seeing any number of expensive cars being washed in the driveways of an area famed for footballers and the nouveau riche. Still it's a half hour drive from home and that makes it worth exploring further and I'm not complaining about a bit of countryside time so close, finally.
The ride started beset with irritating mechanicals, a puncture, a wonky stem (my fault for fitting it off centre when I sorted the headset) and bizarrely my rear brake caliper worked lose and was rattling along until I tightened it down again. No idea how that even managed to happen...
Enjoy my suffering here:
In other big news Chris Akrigg has made a quite simply brilliant film:
Chris Akrigg - five from chris akrigg on Vimeo.
In London the results of the Cycling Awards were announced in a ceremony with Ned Boulting.
At the Giro there was a reminder of just how hard pro cyclists are:
Reconstruit mes 2 dents un samedi soir en annulant sa soirée avec des Amis. Grazieà Francesco Iaderosa!!! Merci a tous pour vos MSG SMS...
— Laurent Pichon (@lauPichon) May 5, 2013
In the race Wiggins had a tough Friday, falling on a tricky descent and putting himself nearly a minute and a half off the pace. Saturday was a chance to regain those losses in his top discipline. It was far from straight forward as he looked off his game, changing bikes not gaining enough time on his rivals. He leaves himself a hell of a lot to do to make an impact on this race. Alex Dowsett won the time trial with a super ride that he was chuffed with. Wiggins sat fourth and still over a minute behind.
Sunday saw more rain and more reason for Wiggins' fans to worry as he dropped off the bunch on one of the last climbs. He was paced back on terms but looked vulnerable especially if the rain continues. In the end Hesjedal was the favourite who lost time, nearly a minute back. Belkov stormed away and stayed clear to take a spectacular win and Wiggins stays in the fight, just, but it's Nibali and, the largely invisible so far, Evans who look strongest at the moment. There is a suggestion that Wiggins is suffering with a stomach bug, or missing any number of Sky staff, form Sean Yates to Mick Rodgers, but whatever the reason he's not dominating as we expected. Still there's two weeks to go and a rest day today to recuperate so let's see what happens in the mountains?
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