The BBC reports (DNA data plan comes under fire) that the Government's wholly inadequate response to the European Court of Human Rights ruling that retention of DNA profiles of individuals who have not been convicted of an offence is attracting considerable criticism.

In response to a number of commentators' objections to the Government's plans to continue to retain these data for up to 12 years,

I have just upgraded this site's blogging software from MyBlog version 2 to version 3 (from Azrul), everything seems to be working OK, but let me know if there are any issues.  I have noticed cosmetic changes, most notably the raindrop panel on the front page, but there seem to be significant improvements in the system's functionality (this posting is mostly to see how they work!). 

This week's time trial event was the third counting event in the NBRC club time trial league, and the first of the 2009 interclub events with the A5 Rangers Cycling Club.  It was held on the F5d/10 course, based on the Stoke Hammond bypass.   At the club room, there was quite a bit of discussion of the tragic events of the previous Sunday's tragedy, and certainly it was with some trepidation that I lined up to start (particularly with the cavalcade of fast and noisy motorbikes that passed just after I started). I had chosen to ride the Cougar with a pair of Hed trispokes.

A minute in front of me was ace fast man Tim Carter, so I knew from the off that I'd not see my minute man!  The wind has been strengthening all day, and must have matched that forecast (see symbols above) - it was pretty hard at the start, with a climb into a strong headwind, sufficient to make the bike quite a handful to control  with the front trispoke seemingly determined to alternately trying to dump me into the verge then into the traffic. An added irritation was that my HRM/computer was registering completely aberrant speed details.

 xkcd on Windows 7.  Actually, I'm looking forward to seeing Windows 7 - my experiences with Vista were rather unsatisfactory.  Mind you, I'm a confirmed Ubuntu user these days...

Over at the Team Grumpy website, I've posted an article on the UCI bike regulations and how they relate to the design of time trial bikes.  At the weekend, I'll measure up my bikes to see how they fare - I expect both to need adjusting to fit the criteria, but the dreadful 1:3 rule probably rules out the handlebars on both bikes, also the front fork and seat pin on the Cougar.  Of course the main reason for this is the suggestion mooted a month or so ago on the timetrialling forum that the Duo Normand would be enforcing UCI regulation in all categories (not just the elite categories).  Whether these rumours have foundation, I don't yet know.  I suppose that formally time trials in Scotland, which are run by the BC-affiliated (and therefore UCI-affiliated) Scottish Cycling Union, ought to enforce these rules, as should the BC-CTT jointly run British Time Trial Championship.

Cycling shoes have a number of distinctive features - they generally have very stiff soles (with screw fixings to take shoe plates that clip to pedals), and often have exotic fastening systems (shoe laces are so last millennium!).  Common fastening systems include velcro straps and a variety of ratcheting designs.  Personally, I dislike velcro straps, and prefer the ratchet systems, as these are more amenable to adjustment while riding.

A couple of years ago, I bought a pair of Specialized S-Works shoes (see left), which featured a ratchet system that tightens up a criss-crossing string across the upper, and which fastens the shoe very effectively.  Unfortunately, the other day, the string snapped, leaving me to compete with a shoe held together with gaffer tape.  I disassembled the ratchet this morning and was struck by how the string resembled plaited dental floss.  I repaired the shoe with three lengths of dental floss, and it seems to have worked.  At least, it's stood up to full tightening with no sign so far of giving way!

12-15 mph NW wind - rather blustery. 

Tragedy on the F1

So, despite Home Secretary Wacky Jacqui's decision to scrap the Interception Modernisation Programme (or at least the database aspects of it), she's still desperate for the security services to get their mitts on our internet activity.

The Register today (Jacqui's secret plan to 'Master the Internet') revealed details of the grandiosely named Mastering the Internet (MTI) project, which will see GCHQ using DPI techniques to monitor internet traffic:

A very pleasant evening for the latest NBRC club event, over on the Stony Stratford course.  Following a few days for rainy weather, I chose to ride the trusty steel Cougar, which doesn't let the rain and road spray into the inner reaches of the frame (also, the saddle is a little less rigid than that on my other TT bike).  In the event, the weather was really rather pleasant - sunny and warm.  Unfortunately, of course, it also became quite breezy during the day.

By the time I arrived to sign on, at about 6.30pm, there were quite a few people milling about: I started as #17.  I got ready then rode up towards Beachampton to evaluate how the breeze would be - sure enough, it seemed as though we'd get a stiff headwind for most of the outward leg, and in particular as far as  Beachampton.

During the Beijing Olympics, I kept a tally of positive dope tests (mostly interesting from the horses that were positive - for capsaicin, as I recall).  You may recall that at the end of the Olympics, it was announced that all the samples would be re-tested for the then-new EPO derivative, CERA.

It seems the test results are now filtering out.  Cycling news.com reports that: