Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear!A chilly morning greeted me as I left to ride over to Pitstone for the Icknield RC hilly 30k time trial.  This is a regular feature on my early season, which I enter either solo (as this year) or as a 2-up event with my Team Grumpy partner.  No problems riding over to the race HQ: I chose to ride along the new Stoke Hammond bypass, a nicely surfaced dual carriageway.  Having left in good time in case of incident (punctures spring to mind!), I arrived at the hall in plenty of time.  Well, actually, a bit too much time.After a spot of conversation, I trundled off to the start line.  By this time I was feeling rather chilly, and I noticed that all the riders lined up at the start were shivering, so I wasn't alone there.Eventually, my start time came, and off I went.  The course leads past a recreation ground and through Ivinghoe.  The recreation ground is a bit of a problem, with parents in large 4x4s stopping to deliver children to Sunday football matches.  As has happened before, I got stalled quite badly by one such monster vehicle.  Shortly after Ivinghoe, the course turns left and climbs up the shoulder of  Ivinghoe Beacon.  At this point, I knew I was in for a tough ride: I really struggled over the top, and indeed got caught for a minute on the way down the other side (only about 10 minutes into the race!).At the bottom of the descent it's a sharp left to join the road out to Billington.  This was characterised by some pretty bad potholes, and then the sharp climb that is Billington Hill.  This year I decided against muscling a big gear and slipped the chain into the small plate.  Nevertheless, I crested the hill in an embarrassingly small gear.  Fortunately the speed picked up as I descended to the roundabout where I joined the Leighton Buzzard bypass. from there it was reasonably quick, past a couple of roundabouts and up to Wing.  During this stretch, I was passed by #78, and was caught by the scratch rider (Steve Golla, #80) in Wing.  The roads continued to be of really poor quality* as I descended from Wing.  Dodging the potholes and traffic, I eventually reached the turn to Wingrave.  Up the slight hill and through Wingrave - turned left at the duckpond (has to be one of the more quaint course descriptions), where my right tri-bar pad decided to leap off into the abyss**.  Ignoring the abrasive possibilities of riding on the remaining velcro patches, I pressed on to Mentmore crossroads and turned right towards Mentmore and the final climb.  Not too bad, though #79 caught me shortly after cresting the hill - now I was the last rider on the road!  The descent could have been fast, but I found myself inhibited by the big red signs exhorting road users to go slowly: "Failed Road Surface" was the hazard*.  Dodging huge potholes and associated gravel, the descent past the Mentmore country club was quite quick.  One last sprint and I crossed the line to finish in 50:41.This wasn't a particularly triumphant performance, but hopefully will contribute to returning form as I return from the injury and illness of recent weeks.*I rode a total of about 1o9km today, including riding too and from the event, and I can say that I was appalled by the state of the roads I was on: they would embarrass a third world country, and this must be one of the wealthiest counties in England.  Shame on the local councils!  Last winter has absolutely trashed them.  It made riding the event rather unpleasant at times.**I chose to ride home via Wingrave and retrieved the tri-bar pad, which will henceforth be secured with a rubber band.

This event was the first in the North Bucks Road Club time trial league, and a designated 'come and try it' event.  As it turned out, we got a good turn out of at least 20 riders from local clubs, a few NBRC riders, but no new time triallists as far as I know.  It was slightly chilly as I rode over to Astwood, but nowhere near as cold as last week.  Lightly overcast, the sun was just trying to peep out from behind hazy clouds, and managing to warm the conditions up.  In fact the racing conditions seemed pretty similar to the previous two events.After my last two events, I was needing the confidence boost of an improved time, but as I rode up to Astwood, I really had little enthusiasm for racing (partly due to the fact I was to race the Icknield RC hilly 30k the following morning).  Anyway, once I started I soon dropped into racing mode, and for a change found I was able to stay a little bit more focussed.  I had my pal and arch-nemesis Tony starting one minute behind me - given my present form and his recent Majorcan mileage, it was really a matter of when rather than if he would catch me.  This he did shortly after North Crawley and a little over two-thirds of the way round the course.Ultimately I finished with 24:51 - still not great, but an improvement of 37 seconds on my last two rides on this course.  It was really good to see so many riders turn out for an event: it gave the impression we were all emerging from the long winter hibernation.Here's a map, with associated speed, heart rate and altitude traces (if you click the link).And the results:

Pos	No	Name	Club	Time	Cat	Vets Std	+ / -	Vets Std
1	8	Tim Carter	Virgin Active	22.10	V45	26.30	+4.20	1
2	5	Campbell Noon	TeamMK	22.57	V44	26.18	+3.21	4
3	14	Steve Torley	TeamMK	23.24	S
4	13	Tony Parks	NBRC	23.31	V46	26.42	+3.11	5
5	15	Jeremy Honor	TeamMK	23.32	V40	25.30	+1.58	9
6	18	Richard Golding	TeamMK	23.57	V42	25.54	+1.57	10
7	4	Ian Holmes	Virgin Active	24.10	V42	25.54	+1.44	11
8	20	Mike Smith	Team Corley	24.40	S
9	12	Robert Saunders	NBRC	24.51	V51	27.46	+2.55	7
10	17	Geoff Perry	TeamMK	24.54	V51	27.46	+2.52	8
11	11	R. Ashton	TeamMK	25.22	V44	26.18	+0.56	12
12	9	John Buchanan	TeamMK	25.59	V41	25.42	-0.17	14
13	16	Rich Connor	TeamMK	26.04	S
14	2	Daren Haseldine	TeamMK	26.12	V44	26.18	+0.06	13
15	10	Rob Chaundy	TeamMK	26.35	V59	29.34	+2.59	6
16	19	Steve Abraham	NBRC	26.38	S
17	1	Clive Faine	TeamMK	26.53	V64	30.45	+3.52	3
18	6	Gilbert Wheelwright	NBRC	27.44	V68	31.45	+4.01	2
19	7	Alex de Vries	TeamMK	27.49	S
20	3	Ian Stokes	NBRC	28.23	V51	27.46	-0.37	15

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="444" caption="Beauty"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="If you're not religious, say so in the 2011 UK census!"][/caption]The British Humanist Association has been campaigning for UK citizens to accurately respond to the census question on religion.Why should I answer the question at all? Well, this is a personal thing and I wouldn't pressurise people into any specific answer or none. But census data get used for all sorts of policy decisions, among them the role of religion in our everyday lives. What tends to happen is that people confuse the cultural heritage with religious beliefs they do not hold to.Why does it matter? The BHA has prepared a concise summary of how the 2001 census data on religious belief were used (or misused may be closer to reality. We should not be logging ourselves as Jedi Knights as some kind or prank. We should not say we are christian if we not longer practice the faith. We should be upfront and truthful about our religious faith.

I've updated this website to Joomla! version 1.6.  At the moment, I'm aware of problems with the display of some images, but I'm working on it.  The main blogging platform is Wordpress, implemented using a Joomla! extension from corePHP.  Let me know of any problems...

A lovely sunny morning greeted me when I got up: unfortunately it was slightly deceptive to start with: there was a heavy frost which made my ride up to Astwood rather nippy on the fingers.  Still, by the time the small and select group of foolhardy riders lined up to start, the conditions were getting milder by the minute.The event was really billed as a 10 mile 2-up, but at the time we all went to the line, there were only five riders.  Now this, ignoring the 'odd man out', wasn't really much cop for a 2-up event, so we decided to ride it as a solo event.  Needless to say, a few more riders turned up, so there was at least one 2-up team riding.Off I went, and after about a mile, I was seriously disappointed by the lack of energy in my legs.  I actually toyed with the idea of packing - but of course this would have been the beginning of the slippery slope.  I pressed on with the idea that it would at least be a good training session, and help to regain fitness lost recently through injury and illness.  The frankly pretty moderate head wind on the Chicheley leg of the course (the BBC weather page suggested it was a measly 4mph) did seem to dent what little speed I could muster, as once I rounded the turn at Chicheley, I found my speed picking up.  Unfortunately, this didn't last, as I climbed the awesome 'Col de North Crawley' (it's a tiny rise in the road - it just seems big when racing!) and wound my way past the University and returned to the finish line.As usual, the elastic nature of time when time trialling was evident - I genuinely though I'd improved to a long 24, but in the event I finished in EXACTLY the same time as last week (25:28).  Most disappointing, though I must be honest and say that training has been minimal over the past week.  Still, onwards and upwards.  I hope.2-up event:

1	8	Ian Marshall	TeamMK	24.38	V42
		Richard Golding	TeamMK		V42

Solo event:

Pos	No	Name	Club	Time	Cat	Vets Std	.+ / -	Vets Std
1	6	Simon Cannings	TeamMK	23.06	V40	25.30	.+2.24	1
2	4	Robert Saunders	NBRC	25.28	V51	27.46	.+2.18	2
3	1	Steve Abraham	NBRC	28.08	S
4	2	Ian Stokes	NBRC	29.12	V51	27.46	.-1.26	4
5	3	Gilbert Wheelwright	NBRC	30.29	V68	31.45	.+1.16	3

Timekeeper: Tony FarmboroughPusher-off:  Bryan Scarborough

This event was the first in the 2011 series of North Bucks club events, and followed a period of injury and ill-health on my part: beginning with a spectacularly painful back injury (which led on to sciatica) and followed by a cold for most of the week prior to the event.  This has been particularly disappointing, since all the signs were that my winter training had been going well as far as early February.It was with some trepidation, therefore, that I set out for the event, which was being held on the popular Astwood 10 mile 'sporting' course.  There had been some discussion about whether the village hall had been hired: in the event, it turned out it hadn't, and a last minute booking enhanced the social aspects of the event.  In fact, the morning proved quite mild, with overcast skies, with sunshine peeping through and a 13 mph SE wind.The event itself was a bit of a struggle for me.  I couldn't get particularly comfortable, nor could I bash out enough effort on the tougher uphill sections.  I finished in 25:28, a rather disappointing time though not surprising given the last few weeks.  Simon Cannings pulled off a long 22, which was pretty damned good for the time of year (he'd said before starting that he'd done masses of base training but little speed work and was unsure how he'd do - well I guess he answered his question!).Result of the NBRC time trial 12/3/11 (Astwood, F5v/10 - including medium gear event)

								Pos. on
Pos	No	Name	Club	Time	Cat	Vets Std	.+ / -	Vets Std
1	9	Simon Cannings	TeamMK	22.54	V40	25.30	.+2.36	1
2	8	Lindz Barral	i-teamCC	23.54	S
3	5	Phil Melling	TeamMK	24.22	S
4	12	Richard Golding	TeamMK	25.20	V42	25.54	.+0.34	4
5	11	Robert Saunders	NBRC	25.28	V51	27.46	.+2.18	3
6	10	Ian Marshall	TeamMK	25.33	V42	25.54	.+0.21	5
7	7	John Buchanan	TeamMK	27.00	V40	25.30	.-1.30	7
8	2	Yvonne Gurney	Baines Racing	27.48	SL
9	4	Clive Faine	TeamMK	28.23	V64	30.45	.+2.22	2
10	1	Daren Haseldine	TeamMK	28.59	V44	26.18	.-2.41	8
11	3	Ian Stokes	NBRC	29.12	V51	27.46	.-1.26	6
12	13	Dave Carrington	TeamMK	30.22	V45	26.30	.-3.52	10
13	6	Katherine Dilks	TeamMK	30.46	LV41	27.20	.-3.26	9

Winner of the NBRC 2011 Medium Gear Event is:-

1

13

Dave Carrington

TeamMK

30.22

V45

Time keeper:- Tony Farmborough NBRCPusher off:- Bryan Scarborough NBRC

The Guardian reports that the police bill to protect the Liberal Democrats at their part conference in Sheffield this weekend will reach £2 million (Police spend £2m to protect Liberal Democrats at Sheffield conference| guardian.co.uk).

Police are spending an estimated £2m to protect this weekend’s Liberal Democrat conference, with measures including a 2.5m high steel and concrete fence to deter up to 10,000 protesters.A thousand officers will be on duty or standby from Friday until Sunday to shield the deputy prime minister, Nick Clegg, in his own city from anger over public spending cuts and his party’s U-turn on student fees.

Apparently Nick Clegg is to tell his party to ‘hold their nerve’ – I wonder how successful he’ll be with Lib Dem support slumping.  The Guardian reports (Clegg tells Lib Dems to hold nerve) that

The latest YouGov survey for the Sun puts the Lib Dems on just 9%, trailing far behind their Conservative coalition partners on 34% and Labour on 45% – the largest lead recorded by the poll for the opposition since the general election.

And this on top of their hardly stellar slump to 6th place at the recent Barnsley Central byelection.  I guess this is the penalty you pay when you discard your principles for a slice of political power.One wonders whether the 1000 or so police officers would rather be doing something else, particularly when faced by the police service cuts to be imposed by the minority Tory government with support from those LibDems inside the conference centre…

The BBC reports that Fred Goodwin, who led the Royal Bank of Scotland to financial[caption id="attachment_1350" align="alignright" width="189" caption="This man is not a banker"][/caption]disaster bringing the UK to brink of financial catastrophe has secures one of those bizarre gagging injunctions (BBC News – MP raises Goodwin media ban order).  This one of these bizarre “super-injunctions”, which not only bans the reporting of the subject of the injunction but also bans the reporting of the existence of the injunction.  This is an astonishing crushing of press freedom really.  According to reports in the Guardian (Fred Goodwin gets superinjunction to stop him being called a banker):

“In a secret hearing this week Fred Goodwin has obtained a superinjunction preventing him being identified as a banker,” said Hemming, the MP for Birmingham Yardley.

I suppose on the one hand, this smidgeon of information isn’t unreasonable, given that he presumably isn’t a “banker’ any more, but what else is in this super-injunction, and why should reporting of it’s existence be proscribed.  Anyway, the story’s now out and around the blogosphere (e.g. The Plashing Vole)This is a man who presided over a significant component of the financial crash that afflicted the UK, and other countries, and which has seen spectacular negative effects on large swathes of the UK population, who are presently suffering a largely ideologically-driven assault (by a minority Tory government shored up by the LibDems) on many fronts.  Meanwhile, the banking system carries on regardless, awarding themselves bonuses even as the banks make losses or at best marginal profits.

The 2011 UK census forms are being mailed around now.Visit the Census Campaign to find out why you should check the "No Religion" option if you have no religious belief.