Einsturzende Neubauten have released a significant catalogue of music, which has metamorphosed from loud metal bashing to more sophisticated sounds such as Silence is Sexy, from the album of the same title.  I found this video at YouTube.

This was a particularly tough morning on the F1/25 - perhaps the hardest I can recall, though at least the heavy rain we saw on Saturday did not make a reappearance.

 The initial section, roughly southbound to the Sandy RAB, gave me a little taster for what was to come later on: after descending the sliproad to the A1, it was most definitely going to be tough on both southbound legs. Unfortunately the reverse didn't seem to the true, while it's true I was whizzing along with a tailwind after the Sandy RAB (I topped 34mph at times), the benefits of the wind seemed to be absent some of the time.  Presumably this was due to the slightly serpentine nature of the course.  Despite most peoples' opinion, I'm a bit of an optimist, and usually on days like this I reach the turn think that maybe, just maybe, the return leg won't be as hard as I expect.  For today's event, I can safely say the return leg exceeded my direst prognostications.  On some of the more exposed sections, I was battered down below 20mph, and I'm sure I saw 17mph at one point.  (Jason Gurney claimed afterwards to have had to drop to the small ring at one point!).  I was caught by #90 for 3 minutes shortly after the turn, and even he seemed to be struggling into the wind after that.

These photos were taken during our 2005 cycle tour of Uist, Harris and Skye.  Visit the tour description to see the context of these images.

Here are photographs from our 2006 cycling holiday, when we were based at Lochcarron.

Well, I have finally plucked up the courage to present a link to the video press release that the BBSRC issued on youtube:

  [video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGQwz2Wv9FU 425x344]

Not, I think, peer-reviewed science this time, but two articles from Nature and Science respectively, both on the subject of sports doping, a subjetc which is of course very topical given the Beijing Olympics, due to start tomorrow, 8th August.  The first is a Commentary article from Donald Barry on the statistical significance of doping tests, focussing on the case of Floy Landis, who was stripped of his 2006 Tour de France victory following a positive test for testosterone.  The second article is one of a series of News articles in Science related to the upcoming Olympics, and questions whether performance enhancing drugs really do benefit performance.

The figure on the left is included in the article - it shows delta notation of isotope ratios of 167 samples tested at the LNDD (who tested the 2006 TdF samples, including Landis'), those considered positive are in red, those negative are in green.   I don't think these samples are necessarily derived from the Tour, if any, since a good number are considered positive.

 A warm, sticky evening brought out some great times from the riders who turned out for this visit to the Stoke Hammond bypass course.  Personally speaking, this was yet another occasion when I actually thought I'd go sub 22:30 on this course, but was thwarted by the false flat on the run up to the finish.  Still, I seem to be edging closer to Tony.  Having tried out a pointy aero hat last week, Gilbert paired that move to the modern world with a set of aero bars this week!

Tim Carter's fine ride of 20:39 was particularly notable, beaten only by the tandem.

Here are some photographs taken during our 2008 cycling holiday in the Outer Hebrides, Skye, and the west coast.  To view these images in the context of the narrative, click here.

{gallery}tour2008{/gallery}

New Web Pages

My website is now pretty much reconstructed (though with a paucity of comments on the stories I've restored from the old database!).  Let me know of any broken web links.

Cyclingnew.com reports that Emanuele Sella (Team CSF Group Navigare), who won three stages and the King of the Moutains in the 2008 Giro d'Italia, has tested positive for the latest formulation of EPO, CERA.  CERA is the same stuff that Ricco (second placed in the 2008 Giro overall) tested positive for in the Tour de France.

CERA seems to be the endurance athlete's dope of choice at the moment, presumably due to rumours that it was less easily detected. The Olympics start in two days - I wonder how many athletes, of all disciplines, will be collared.