Hemel Hempstead 25 mile time trial F13/25, 6/7/08

 

Slightly more than 12h after the Herts Wh 10, I lined up at the start of the Hemel Hempstead 25 on the F13/25 course, which runs from Launton to Aylesbury and back.  It's an undulating course, that I've always found a little hard. This event was no exception, while the wind had abated slightly from the previous evening, some horrible showers were passing through.

At the time I started, the rain had stopped, and for the most part I only had the wind and drizzle to cope with.  The course isn't particularly quick at the best of times, but with the strong wind coming from the side (but enough of a head wind on the way out to make the return leg a little more pleasant) it was made even hard.  Coupled with this, I don't think my legs had recovered particularly well from the previous evening's event!

I got clobbered by a heavy shower for the last 10 minutes or so.  After making my way back to the HQ in Launton, I discivered why the hall had foam mats laid down: they'd inadvertantly double-booked the hall with a group of small children doing judo!

I ended up with 59:31 for 5th place.  At least I beat the tandem!  Tony did 57:42 for second place, while our club mates brought up the rear, with new member David Skeggs pipping Dave Garrard for Lanterne Rouge (and a bottle of wine!) while setting a PB for 25 miles (it was his first 25!).

RESULTS

No Rider Club Time Notes
1 Adam Topham  High Wycombe CC (IT Professionals)   00:55:58 
2 Tony Parks  North Bucks CC   00:57:42 
3 Gavin Atkins  Hemel Hempstead CC   00:58:21 
4 John French  Bath CC   00:58:56 
5 Robert Saunders  North Bucks CC   00:59:31 
6 Conor Dunne  Hemel Hempstead CC   00:59:53 
7 Paul Davis  St Ives   01:00:12 
8 Ian Brazier  Verulam CC   01:00:16 
9 Tony May  North Road CC   01:01:21 
10 Keith Fletcher  Hemel Hempstead CC   01:01:32 
11 Malcolm Steer  Finsbury Park CC   01:02:27 
12 Nicholas Hay  Verulam CC   01:02:28 
13 John Bourton  Bicester Millennium CC   01:02:29 
14 Tom Silverlock  Hemel Hempstead CC   01:02:46 
15 Malcolm Ash  Aylesbury CC   01:02:55 
16 Mike Bannister  Hemel Hempstead CC   01:03:03 
17 John Lacey  Hemel Hempstead CC   01:03:58 
18 Vince Dey  Westerley CC   01:05:02 
19 Stuart Simmonds  Lewes Wanderers CC   01:05:07 
20 Brian Foran  Lampard RC   01:06:28 
21 Melanie Conibear  Hemel Hempstead CC   01:08:04 
22 Dave Garrard  North Bucks CC   01:11:35 
23 David Skeggs  North Bucks CC   01:11:56 
  John Bevan  MI Racing (EAS Thule)     DNF 
  Michael Richardson  Icknield RC (Compomotive Wheels)     DNF 
  Steven Brown  Hemel Hempstead CC     DNF 
  Nigel Goffin  Hemel Hempstead CC     DNS Apol 
  Arthur Frost   Newbury RC     DNS Apol 
  John Pfeifer  Icknield RC (Compomotive Wheels)     DNS Apol 
  Phil Moss  Hemel Hempstead CC     DNS Apol 
  Gillian Reynolds  Willesden CC     DNS 
  Duncan Smith  High Wycombe CC (IT Professionals)     DNS Apol 
  Andrew Murray  Hemel Hempstead CC     DNS Apol 
  Charles Jepson  Becontree Wheelers     DNS 
  Keith Richardson  Mildenhall CC     DNS Apol 
  Les Church  Camel Valley C&TC (Dales Renault)     DNS 
  Lance Woodman  Archer RC     DNS 
  Joanna Spragg  Aylesbury CC     DNS Apol 
  Dave Devine  Bath CC     DNS 
  Peter Anstey  Welwyn Wheelers     DNS 
  Robert Blackmore  Icknield RC (Compomotive Wheels)     DNS 
  Robert Frowen  Banbury Star CC     DNS Apol 
  Moira Goodway  Banbury Star CC 

 

'

The Aging Cell paper - update

The publishers seem to be making changes at the Aging Cell web pages.  This has meant that the paper is not presently available on open access, for which which Lynne and I paid a significant amount.

In the meantime, I've placed a pdf on this website.

It's also on the Open University research publication repository, Open Research Online.  Click here.

The Whisperers - Orlando Figes

The Whisperers coverI am not a historian (as should be evident from these web pages), but I am fond of reading books on historical topics.  A few years ago, I read Orlando Figes' book on the Russian Revolution, A Peoples' Tragedy, whiach ably describes the events leading up to the revolution and its immediate aftermath.  The Whisperers, published in 2007, concerns Soviet citizens' private lives during the Stalin years.  The work results from a wide ranging research project (more details from the author's website) utilising Russian and Soviet public and private archives. Eight chapters cover the years from  the revolution to the death of Stalin, with a ninth covering the years 1953-2006.

In the first chapter, I felt as though I was setting up to read a book of lists: listsof people, lists of their privations, lists of instances of misused power.  However, as I mad my way through the book, I found the stories of families and individual being told progressed very clearly and accessibly.  The book doesn't deal with Stalin's personality and motives, but does occasionally deal with individuals with quite close association with Stalin.  What struck me as I read the book was firstly the privations that those not Party members had to endure, both in terms of their accommodation conditions but economically, and how they could cope with this in the belief that the Party was a force for good.  Intriguingly, people often chose to believe theit nearest and dearest must have been guilty when they fell victim to the apparently randomly applied purges.  

Overall, the book presents an important story, in an interesting and acccessible format.  This material is relevant in an era where our own personal freedoms are continually limited and eroded in the supposed war on terror.  Our government aims to be able to lock our citizens up on suspicion, and without charge for up to 42 days, riding roughshod over hard won civil rights and liberties.In the modern IT era, we see increased data collection by central government, and even private companies have the ability to pry into our web-sufing habits (see my articles on this site on BT and Phorm).  Yesterday,the Swedish Parliament voted for routine tapping of cross-border interception of communication.  One wonders how the Soviet system managed to so effectively monitor and thereby repress the population in a pre-electronic era, and quite how the impact of IT on surveillance will ultimately impact on our western democratic societies.

Orlando Figes has a nice website with more information.

NBRC Club '10'; 25/6/08 F5d/10

Not the most auspicious way to get to a club event - I returned from London at 7pm, discovered there was no electricity in Aspley Guise (it eventually came back on at 3am the next day),jumped into my skinsuit, pumped up the tyres, and dashed down to the start of the event.  A very windy evening, though sunny and warm, which made handling tricky at times for those of us with aero wheels.

Certainly not the best performance, by a long chalk.

Result of the NBRC Time Trial held on Wednesday 25th of June 2008

Course:- F5d/10 (Stoke Hammond By Pass)  League Round 5

Pos

No

Name

Club

Time

Cat

Vets Std

.+ / -

On Vets Std


24

Leigh Smith

Alpha RC

22.10

S





8

Simon Cannings

TeamMK

22.41

S





18

Tony Parks

NBRC

22.45

V43

26.06

.+ 3.21

1


22

Mark Simmons

TeamMK

22.55

S





19

Ian Marshall

TeamMK

23.22

V40

25.30

.+ 2.08

7

< /td>


25

Rob Saunders

NBRC

23.51

V48

27.07

.+ 3.16

2


14

Geoff Perry

TeamMK

23.56

V48

27.07

.+ 3.11

4


20

Kevin Stokes

NBRC

24.24

V46

26.42

.+ 2.18

5


3

John Buchanan

NBRC

24.25

S





21

Lindz Barral

TeamMK

24.28

S





7

Ian Stokes

NBRC

24.54

V48

27.07

.+ 2.13

6


4

Darren Haydon

NBRC

25.45

S





1

Alan Lawson

NBRC

26.46

V40

25.30

.- 1.16

11


5

Chris Hartley

NBRC

26.49

V51

27.46

.+ 0.57

9


9

Stuart Chung

NBRC

27.27

S





13

Tony Brunton

NBRC

27.42

V43

26.06

.- 1.36

12


17

Gilbert Wheelwright

NBRC

27.47

V65

31.00

.+ 3.13

3


2

Chris Parkes

NBRC

28.52

V48

27.07

.- 1.45

13


16

David Skeggs

NBRC

28.58

S





12

Russell Page

NBRC

29.23

S





6

Yvonne Gurney

TeamMK

29.38

SL





15

Dave Garrard

NBRC

29.43

V60

29.48

.+ 0.05

10


23

Brian Hills

NBRC

31.36

V72

32.46

.+ 1.10

8











Two up Team Time Trial








10

Stuart Tarry

Team Sanjan Design

22.13

S





11

Nick Pitt

Team Sanjan Design


S













Time Keepers :- Mary Hartley & Tony Farmborough NBRC 






Napoleon's Wars - Charles Esdaile

Napoleon's Wars: An International History, by Charles Esdaile,

Allen Lane, 2007

I began reading this book