The weather forecast didn't bode well for today's ride - it was predicted to become overcast with light rain. In the end, the weather improved as the day went on, and evening in  Strontian saw completely clear blue skies.After another fine breakfast, we rolled out of Mallaig, along the main road. This isn't very busy first thing in the morning, particularly on a bank holiday. Nevertheless, we always get abuse from at least one driver who thinks we should be riding on an entirely inadequate cycle path. This path is about a metre wide and is shared by cyclists and pedestrians in BOTH directions. Anyway, we kept to the road, and soon traversed the ups and downs of the road, reaching Lochailort in quick time.Loch Ailort is a lovely sea loch, and there are numerous opportunities to stop and admire the view (in common with much of the country we cycled through, Loch Ailort is seeing quite a lot of housebuilding). Indeed, we dawdled along until Glenuig, where another of my favourite road signs is to be seen (watch out for elephants). From Glenuig, the road goes up and up, until it descends to Loch Moidart. We stopped beside the road to heat up some lunch. We were much amused by watching seagulls stamping on patches of seaweed, presumably to scare tasty morsels out. From Kinlochmoidart, the road climbs once again - this is the section being worked on and about which we were warned about. Fortunately, no work was going on due to it being a bank holiday.Once over the newly rebuilt road, we descended into Acharacle, where we stopped for ice creams at the village shop, before once again climbing over to Salen and Loch Sunart. The road from there is delightful, with mixed broadleaf woodland, and stunning views. at one point we stopped to look at some seals basking on a rock. Unfortunately, this comes at the cost of a whole succession of switchback climbs and descents on singletrack.Eventually, we reached the turnoff for our B&B for the night, Heatherbank. This is a really nice B&B about 2 miles up a lane. Fortunately, there's a Tearoom/restauranf about halfway up the hill: after getting cleaned up, we walked down for dinner (we had venison). Returning to the B&B exposed us to midgies, but walking briskly kept them at bay.As I type this it's hard to believe the weather will turn tomorrow, the last day of the tour!

This was billed as the day on which the weather would turn, with light rain afflicting our final day's cycling. But would it? As I looked out of the window when I woke, the skies were still cloud free.The bathroom window had unfortunately been left slightly ajar, admitting quite a few midgies! This was pretty minor compared to the clouds around our heads as we loaded our luggage back onto the tandem and prepared to roll off. The planned route was to cycle to the end of the loch, then cycle over Morvern to Lochaline (about 23.5 miles), catch the ferry to Fishnish on Mull, then cycle about 5 miles to catch the Craignure to Oban ferry. If we were able make the 11.55 Fishnish ferry, we'd probably make the 13.00 Oban ferry.The ride along the loch was flat and easy going, with the water pretty smooth as there was no wind. The weather b this time was cloudy with sunny spells. However, the road was single track and motor traffic was quite disruptive to our progress. Eventually the road reared upwards. The climb itself isn't spectacularly steep, bit it is quite long. And either it gets steeper nearer the top or we were flagging! Fortunately we didn't encounter too much traffic on the way up, though we did have to stop twice to let vehicles past. Between the summit and Lochaline, there isn't another major climb, and the road descends from pretty bare hillside through wooded valleys. It does undulate quite a bit and this, with passing motor vehicles made progress quite tiring.  We did reach Lochaline in time for the 11.55 crossing. The ferry is quite small, and the provision for bikes seems a bit lacking - not a problem for solo bikes, which can be stashed anywhere, but finding a suitable spot for the tandem required some originality!The crossing takes only 15 minutes, and even after waiting for the motor vehicles to disembark, we were off and riding by 12.15. The ride to Craignure is pretty straightforward, though pretty dull, as the road is lined with trees which cut out the views. We reached Craignure about 20 minutes before the ferry was to leave, and by the time we boarded (before motor vehicles), there were about a dozen cyclists of one kind or another. By this I mean some were clearly touring (like us) while others were merely using their bike as transport for themselves and quite a bit of baggage only short distances.The crossing takes about 45 minutes, and motor traffic was unloaded first. Riding out into Oban after over a week on the Isles and west coast is always a shock to the system - Oban can be a surprisingly busy and bustling town. We quickly found ourselves negotiating traffic jams as we made our way back to the garage to pick up the car. By 14:15 we'd transferred our baggage to the car, mounted the bike on the rack and were driving home from Oban.We had no rain at any point in our tour - we had 9 dry days cycling in Scotland! That's unprecedented in our tours. As we approached the Forth Road Bridge, the rain began...

Again, two rides today. First off, Gerry and I rode round the main part of the Duo Normand course (slightly over 25 miles). Quite good, though I felt rather lethargic to start with. Much cow muck on road. A brief rain shower caused serious muck spattering!Back to house via one of the Cerisy La Salle boulangeries. Had sandwich lunch before nipping out on the tandem to explore lanes around L'Abbaye d'Hambye. The abbey was closed (as usual). Many very steep (though short) climbs. La Baleine with the Krill restaurant (complete with baleen whale on signpost). Back via Roncey and Notre Dame de Cenilly.

Carol has caught a cold. Naturally enough, this has led to galloping hypochondria in me - though I do feel a little bunged up - not good preparation for the Duo Normand. So we both felt a bit under the weather (in contrast, today was the finest weather of the trip so far - very sunny and warm all day) as we set off in the car for Le Molay-Littry, where we planned to leave the car before pedalling off for Port-en-Bessain Huppain. This was a town that we'd always passed through rather than investigated in its own right. Actually it has a fine working fishing harbour which bustles with activity. We stopped there for Moules and frites. Also we picked up a pair of almond croissants for later consumption.Trundling west along the coast, we stopped briefly at the Omaha Beach military cemetery, always a sobering sight, particularly when you see the long list of names of soldiers whose bodies weren't identified. There's a profusion of Omaha beach related places along the cast road, ranging from small museums to collections of miscellaneous WW2 hardware to campsites and pizzerias. It's a bit hard to identify where to actually get down to the beach.Further along the coast, we stopped in Vierville sur Mer where the Omaha beach landings began. It's an astonishing long beach with a few people sunbathing, seagulls standing around, and with a banked set of duns on which holiday homes perch, punctuated by the occasional relic of the German 'Atlantic Wall'. We paused here for a bit, to eat the almond croissants. It was pretty hard to imagine such a peaceful scene was the site of such ferocious fighting during the D-day landings.Turning inland, we passed an enormous iron bridge brought by the D-Day forces. It wasn't obvious whether it was used in the actual landings or later in the campaign - in any event we couldn't stop for a proper look as we were being chased up a steep climb by traffic. On the other hand, incoming traffic was all slowing to have a good gawp.From there it was a pretty straightforward ride back to Le Molay to collect the car. An excellent day's ride, with lots of time to pause for the sights (and smells!) of the Normandy countryside.

Last year, I wrote a couple of blog articles reviewing my year's cycling: 2010 Season Review and My Year in Cycling.  Last season, of course, saw something of a resurgence in my racing.  A combination of motivation (new time trial frameset, defying my entry to my second half century on this planet) with a revised approach to training saw me post my best short distance (10 mile, 25 mile and 50 mile) time trial results in about 6 years.  So, how did things pan out in 2011?RacingThe early months of the year saw me following the same sort of training strategy used in 2010.  Essentially (and as usual) the main place I train is on the turbo trainer in the garage.  Boring, maybe, but it's a place where I can get the effort out without dodging traffic or being restricted by short days.  As in 2010, the majority of these sessions were done quite early in the day, before heading off to work.  Everything was going swimmingly well (resting heart rate dropping, threshold power rising) when disaster struck in February.  About three weeks before my opening event in the season, the now traditional Port Talbot Wheelers 2-up '25', I seriously ricked my back parking the tandem in the bike shed at work.  This took me out of training for at least three weeks, and indeed was still giving me trouble at the 2-up.  Our combined lack of fitness meant we posted a pretty deplorable time, but at least we collected the prize for the fastest Composite team.  In all honesty, that was due to a lack of other teams in the category.  Still, at least that was a start to the season.Unfortunately the season continued to disappoint.  I had about three heavy colds during the season, all of which knocked me back in fitness terms, and the weather during much of the 'summer' remained atrocious.  All in all, I did not race much and when I did, I did not do well at all.Finally, the season's close heaved into view, and as usual this was marked by the Duo Normand, possibly my favourite event.  This year's edition was the 30th and the eighth time Gerry and I had ridden.  In 2010, we'd finally won a category (Corporate) and we were anxious not to do badly this year.  In the end, we had the most atrocious conditions we'd seen at the Duo (as you can see from this video), and we were rather relieved to make it to second place.My performance at the Duo seemed to me to be OK, given that a week before going to France I suffered a heavy cold, and a few days before the race I picked up another.  Frankly had this been a local event on the F1 I wouldn't have started in those conditions and with a cold but, hey, this was the Duo Normand...And with that, my season was over.  Oh and another cold...TouringThis year's Scottish tour started from Ullapool and we intended to proceed around the north coast of Scotland, and possibly make an excursion to Orkney.  As you can read elsewhere on this site, it all went pretty much awry, with a major mechanical on day 2.  We then revised out plans and decided to base ourselves in Pitlochry for a series of day rides.  The second mechanical took the form of a front tyre blowout descending Ben Lawers.  A front tyre blowout on a tandem at 25 miles an hour is a bit of a terrifying experience, though mostly in recollection as it all happens so quickly.  Fortunately I can report that my jaded 50-something year old reflexes are still functioning in top-notch style - I successfully brought the tandem to a safe stop without falling off.  Getting home on a shredded tyre was rather nerve-racking, however.As usual, a second tandem cycling excursion accompanied our trip to Normandy for the Duo, though to be honest, we have explored Normandy to our satisfaction now, and we're looking into the possibility of a week in Brittany prior to the Duo Normand in 2012.All in all 2011 was a bit disappointing.  But never fear, I'll be back in 2012, hopefully firing on all cylinders.  Certainly my winter training seems to be going well at the moment. 

Just quick updates, internet access flaky!Packed a.m. then drove to Portsmouth. Despite stopping for lunch, we still arrived very early (2h early, around 3h after leaving the house).A very smooth crossing, despite the rising winds. Interesting "Ocean Nature Documentary" with no sound. Sun over Normandy as we approached Cherbourg.As we were first on the ferry, we were first off, and zoomed off southward. Took less than 1:30 to reach the house, which is between Cerisy la Salle and Notre Dame de Cenilly.Unpacked, bite to eat, checked weather forecast, not good. And so to bed.

Only brief notes just now, due to flaky internet access!Very windy today, with occasional showers (remnants of one of the american hurricanes, apparently). Slept late, then out to do shopping. It was clearly not a day for going out on the tandem. Discovered french supermarkets close at noon on Sunday. Eventually went to Villedieu where bought baguettes and an apple tart.Back to house where cooked dinner (butternut squash risotto) and awaited Gerry & co.

Just a brief note. We left Ullapool along the A835 - some definite climbs - before turning off on an unclassified road to Achiltibuie. Lovely road, stopped to brew up a cuppa on our trusty Trangia. Pressed on to Achilibuie, but couldn't find any B&B accommodation.We backtracked to the Lochinver turnoff, then spent 12 miles of really beautiful but challenging cycling to reach Lochinver. We stopped to heat up some lunch, but got overrun by a shower, which curtailed this culinary extravaganza. We also had an impassive audience of nosey-parker sheep.Found a B&B in Lochinver, then had beers and dinner (local scallops on black pudding mash)43miles

Today was a day with many climbs, starting from Lochinver, with the eventual destination being Durness. Unfortunately, it didn't work out according to plan.We began in lightly drizzling spells, though with light winds. As the day went on, it got sunnier and sunnier. The cycling was quite tough, with climb after climb as we passed many of the frankly astounding Assynt mountains. We stopped for lunch in Scourie, after which we tackled a 12% gradient, which proved too much for the rear wheel, who's freehub began to give up. We returned, cautiously, to Scourie where we were lucky enough to be in time for the only bus of the day to Ullapool.To cut a long story short, we returned in the car to Scourie where we found an excellent B&B. The current plan is to get to Thurso for repairs to be effected, and then to rescue what we can of our cycling holiday.

We sat in the B&B breakfast room looking out at the weather blasting in from the sea - howling wind and lashing rain. Having a broken tandem suddenly seemed not so bad...After our excellent breakfast (the best so far on this trip), we set off in the car for Thurso, via Durness. We stopped in Durness to go down and look at Smoo Cave, which turned out to be pretty impressive - the waterfall inside was a raging torrent after all the recent rain and was generating clouds of fine spray. Somewhat damp, we returned to the car and drove on to Thurso.At The Bike Shop, we described the problem (bust freehub), fetched the tandem and set about the repair. This wasn't trivial, as Shimano have changed freehub design. Turned out the bolt that holds the freehub body to the hub had shattered. In the end, one of the bike shop guys sacrificed his own hub. Amazing service.After getting something to eat, we decided to head south (in the car), eventually reaching Helmsdale.Quite how we'll proceed from here is still to be decided! But we probably won't be heading north. We may base ourselves in Pitlochry for a few days.

From Helmsdale, we set off in the car- destination Pitlochry. This was Plan C, in which we stay three nights, for four rides in Perthshire. This was a rather dull drive down the A9, though broken by a supermarket visit in Aviemore.Good weather all day!Once in Pitlochry, we looked for a B&B for three nights, though we actually went for a self-catering house instead. After getting unpacked and buying a few supplies, we set out for a short ride over to Loch Tummel and the Queen's View. Along the way, we stopped to eat one of the meals we'd taken for the tour. For this we stopped next to a sandy bank where sand martins were nesting (much too their dismay!)

This was a really warm and sunny day, and was forecast to be like this all day. I'd planned quite a long ride, encompassing climbs over Schiehallion and Ben Lawers, scenic rides on the Foss road and up Glen Lyon. In total this came to about 75 miles, and in the event brought with it some excitement!We set off quite early, and negotiated our way to the Foss road. Annoyingly (since this is a road that would particularly appeal to cyclists), it seems one has to venture onto the A9 to get there. After the A9, the road rolls up and down before running alongside Loch Tummel. The loch was particularly still, and offered near-perfect reflections of the other bank. It was particularly idyllic, with the sounds of birds and livestock among dappled shade and lushly green meadows and trees.Shortly after reaching Foss, we joined the road that winds its way over the side of Schiehallion - a lovely climb. Reaching the top, we paused for a snack bar and a drink before descending. At the bottom, we took the turn to Fortingall, where we stopped to look at the famous Fortingall yew.From Fortingall we pressed on up Glen Lyon. Here we saw a couple of red squirrels. The road up Glen Lyon is quite severely undulating, and I was sustained by memories of the tea room at Bridge of Balgie - memories disputed by Carol. However the tea room did exist, and we tucked in to scones with jam and cream, washed down with tea. We also bought a bottle of chocolate milk, which will assume significance later.From Bridge of Balgie, a little single track road ascends Ben Lawers - a delightful climb, and passing motorists helpfully used passing places appropriately (except twerp in a delivery van that occupied more than the width of the road). The descent to Loch Tay was rather steeper, and I had to brake rather a lot. This had disastrous consequences just as we were reaching Loch Tay. The front tyre decided to explode, presumably from braking heat. Somehow I managed to stay upright and bring the tandem to a stop (not easy with the front rim running on Tarmac). I set about repairs. The rim was far too hot to touch, so we shared the chocolate milk before starting. The tyre was quite badly shredded, with bad damage to the bead. I booted the worst section with a small piece of tyre carried for the purpose, but had to leave the other. With the tyre only pumped up soft, we pressed on, nervously. At this point, we had about 30 miles to go.A few miles down the road, we stopped at Fearnan to see how the tyre was getting on. It was developing an alarming bulge. We scratched our heads for a while, considering how best to keep the show on the road. Eventually I remembered the now-empty choco-milk bottle. We cut a section, and used that as am enormous tyre boot.From Fearnan, we had a pretty uneventful ride via Kenmore to Aberfeldy, where we stopped for a quick drink. The tyre was bulging alarmingly. On to Logierait, where we rested briefly before joining Cycle Route 7 to Pitlochry for the last 4 or 5 miles back to Pitlochry.Beer this evening was very well-earned, as was the curry!Tomorrow we'll see about getting a new tyre...

After yesterday's debacle, a new front tyre was needed, the spare we have being a bit aged itself. So it was back across the road to Escape Route Cycles, where we bought a 32mm folding tyre.When fitting the new tyre, it was pretty clear how lucky we were to make it back OK - the inner tube was badly worn by the choco-milk bottle tyre boot, and was on the point of puncturing. At least the choco-milk bottle tyre boot had stopped the tube pushing out between the tyre bead and the sidewalk!It wasn't until the afternoon that we set off in the car to Kinloch Rannoch, from where we rode round the loch. Weatherise, this was quite a change from the blazing conditions we'd had yesterday - we'd woken to rather cooler temperatures, and during the morning it had not only got cooler still, but the overcast skies had started to drizzle at times.Anyway, we left the car in what appeared to be a parking place for canoeists. We chose the unclassified south road to start. This was delightfully quiet, with only occasional cars, and we mostly saw fishermen in the Loch, with occasional tents by the Lochside. On this section, we saw another red squirrel, but once again could't take a photo.Once round the west tip of the loch, we returned to Kinlochrannoch, passing even more fishermen. We also stopped to photograph an exotic four horned ram in a field.When we returned to the car, we chatted briefly to a fisherman (I asked if there had been a fishing competition), then loaded the bike on the car and set off back to Pitlochry.We had dinner at the Auld Smiddy in Pitlochry, which turned out to be pretty good pub grub (onion and manchego tart, venison sausages on roast veg and mash, creme brûlée). I also had my first pint of Belhaven Best in a few years.One more night in Pitlochry before heading a bit further south.

I've written up an account of our 2011 cycle touring escapade, though really (as far as cycle touring goes) it was a bit unsatisfactory. The initial aim of touring the very north of Scotland came apart quickly when the tandem's freehub body shattered a few miles north of Scourie.

How did the 2010 time trialling season pan out?I approached the 2010 timetrialling season having made some changes in the organisation of my training.  I had decided that I was no longer able to continue training in the evenings after work because I was getting home later due to work commitments.  Instead, I was to be found pounding the turbo trainer in the garage at 6am…often dark, generally cold (sometimes extremely so!), but as it turned out a more effective strategy.Another change made at the outset of the training phase had been the adoption of a power meter on my turbo trainer.  I have never been particularly impressed by the concept of power measurement in cycle training: too often I’d seen riders become obsessed with their power data (“Oh, but I rode a power personal best” is a common refrain after a mediocre performance).  Because I was less than fully convinced of the value of power training, I chose the “budget solution” – a Polar CS600X with Power and Cadence, which I fitted to the rusty old turbo trainer bike.  The Polar power meter works on chain vibration (apparently rather like a guitar string and pickup) – the system needs to know the chain mass and length – and seems to work reliably enough.To back this up I used Hunter and Coggan’s Training and Racing with a Power Meter, now in its second edition.  This gives a pretty good overview of how to look at and analyse power data in the context of a training programme.  Of course all these data are pointless without some means of dealing with the number crunching – for this I chose the excellent Golden Cheetah, an open source programme with significant capabilities.  During the year I've been using it, it has seen significant development, reaching the version 2.0 milestone a few weeks before Christmas.A further hardware upgrade was the new time trial bike.  For my 50th birthday, I received a Cervelo P3 frame and forks – I built this up mostly by transferring kit from the old time trial bike to this one, with a few new components.  This machine has been a delight to race on, from 1st January to the Duo Normand in September.Pre Season TrainingMy preparatory training for the season generally begins in late October after a brief gap in cycling (at least intense cycling).  I decided that I would be rather circumspect in how I made use of power data, and pretty much continued my usual programme, which fairly closely follows Pete Read’s Annual Manual (aka the Black Book).  It’s probably inappropriate to detail this programme, as it’s undoubtedly copyright, but suffice it to say that it involves a steady base that gradually builds through progressive interval sessions to deliver one in good shape at the start of the season in late February or early March.The Black Book uses heart rate as a measure of effort: the main criticism by power meter afficionados is that this can be a poor reflection of effort due to “thermal drift”, and indeed this effect was quite clear in eyeballing the traces from turbo sessions ridden at a steady heart rate – generally power readings would start declining after bout 12 to 20 minutes.  This was quite interesting to see, and when I moved into the season, I focussed on interval training for this reason.Of course, I did monitor my progress by analysing the quality of each session, and by periodically estimating my threshold power.  However, the proof of the pudding was in the racing.  How did my season go?Early season events -  a mixed bagI turned out for the club’s New Years Day ’10’ and did a reasonable performance on a bitterly cold morning – it was about -4 Celsius.  I think this result surprised me a bit, and it was probably the closest I got to Tony P’s time all season!   Then it was back to the turbo treadmill before the NBRC club events got under way.As in recent seasons, the first four or so club events were held up at the Astwood circuit – these were rather uneventful.  This account really deals with the open events I rode in 2010, so I’ll mostly ignore club events.  The 2-up time trial outings with my regular Team Grumpy team mate Gerry are pretty rare nowadays since we live about 250 miles apart.  It has to be said that this year our two traditional early season 2-ups were not especially successful.The Port Talbot Wheelers 2-up ’25’ is held on the first weekend in March on a course near Neath in South Wales – the course is about 50% dual carriageway and 50% severely undulating back road, and this year the weather was dry but bitterly cold.  It’s actually rather a nice course, but not particularly quick.  Usually at this time of year, I spend a considerable proportion of the race grimly hanging on Gerry’s wheel.  This year I seemed to be setting the pace a bit more strongly.  Unfortunately Gerry punctured about 3/4 of the way through the event and despite pressing on (at his behest), it was game over for Team Grumpy.Team Grumpy’s second 2010 outing was at the Icknield RC’s sporting course time trial in late March on a 30km circuit.  Unfortunately the day before I’d punctured on the way home from a club event and had to walk a considerable distance.  the consequence was that I’d got mud in my Speedplay pedal cleats.  A tiny amount of mud, but enough to prevent me from clipping onto my pedal.  So my race was over before it began – Gerry rode solo in the event (but of course his ride didn’t count).  We rode no further 2-up events until the Duo Normand in late September, of which more later.Mid-season eventsThe first significant ’25’ was the Lea Valley ’25’ on the E2/25 over by Newmarket.  This was the first of three outings on this course in 2010, and saw Tony and I sitting in his car by the HQ before the event apprehensively anticipating how we’d do – this being our first ’25’ of the season.  In the end, we did rather well, and I did my best time in about 5 or 6 years, recording a 55:38.  I never managed to rival the E2/25 times with performances on the F1!On the two subsequent outings on the E2, I recorded 55:29 on a spectacularly horrible day that saw many riders DNS, and a 55:43 while trying to take it easy the day prior to riding a ‘100’ on the F1.  Actually, none of those events were on particularly ‘float’ days.That ‘100’ was the North Middx & Herts CA ‘100’, and by the time I’d plugged up and down the F1 for 86 of the 100 miles, I was getting distinctly bored.  Unfortunately the finishing circuit was truly brutal, with a nagging headwind adding to the misery of cramping legs.  I was riding unsupported, relying on a Camelbak for my nutritional provision.  This was rather problematic as the Camelbak’s bulge interfered with the tail of my aero hat.  Still, despite the previous afternoon’s ’25’ I managed to finish with a 4:25 – not as quick as I’d have liked, but not bad all things considered.‘10’s don’t figure very highly in my usual programme of open events, partly because there just don’t seem to be many locally, and partly because I prefer longer events.  Anyhow, a good ’10’ time certainly seemed to be likely by the time I rode the Norlond CA ’10’ (25/4/10).  This event was on the F1/10, and was on a particularly wet morning.  By the time I reached the turn, I was closing on my minute man.  Unfortunately just after rounding the turn, I suffered a puncture and had to make a rather soggy return to the HQ, pondering what might have been my best ’10’ in several years.It wasn’t until an evening event on the F20/10 (the Whitewebbs CC ’10’ on 3rd July) that I pulled off a decent ’10’ – a 21:05.  Once again this wasn’t a particularly quick feeling evening, but the time was only 14 seconds slower than my all time best ’10’ – and my second fastest ever.The club’s designated ’25’ championship event was the Hemel Hempstead ’25’ on the F13/25 – the odd course that has traffic lights at a pedestrian crossing!  The lights are marshalled, and anyone jumping the lights gets disqualified.   I was the fastest of the three NBRC riders to take part, and did a respectable time for this not-very-fast course.  Similarly, I was one of the few NBRC riders to ride at 50 miles this year, and I think the only NBRC rider to enter the nominated ’50’.  My top 50 mile performance was at the Finsbury Park CC event on the F1, where I recorded 1:57:45, my best in the last five or six seasons.The Duo NormandThis was Team Grumpy’s seventh ride in the Duo Normand, and we’ve posted write-ups online (see flies&bikes and the Team Grumpy blog).  Suffice it to say that while this wasn’t our fastest time, we did win our category (Corporate), had the glory of a motorcycle outrider, and climbed onto the podium to receive a glass trophy, a bunch of flowers and the all-important podium girl kiss.  Well, we got the podium kiss once they'd realised we were cyclists and not a pair of old duffers who'd climbed onto the podium van by mistake!All things considered, 2010 was an excellent season: my entry forms will have 2010 times for 10, 25 and 50 miles.  Sadly, I couldn’t quite get there at 100 miles (and there was no way I was riding a '12' this year!), but hey – not bad for someone just starting their second half-century!  But what of our touring?2010 Summer TourThis year's tour once again saw us returning to the Hebrides, with a route encompassing several ferry crossings - visiting Barra, The Uists, Skye, Ardnamurchan and Mull.  While a little cold to begin with, we got away with decent weather.  Except, that is, for the time we spent on Skye, when it pretty much tipped down mercilessly.  By the time we made it to Ardnamurchan, the weather was delightful.  Unfortunately, that didn't last, with the final day's cycling from Tobermory to Oban being rather murky and drizzly.  We stayed in B&Bs and Hotels, accommodation highlights being the Tigh Dearg Hotel in Lochmaddy (North Uist) and the Salen Hotel.Normandy 2010In September it was back to our stamping ground in Normandy - once again we took the trusty tandem for a spot of cycling, this year mostly after the Duo Normand.  As per usual with our cycling jaunts (and this is a recurring theme in write-ups of our tandem tours) a lot of our energy is focussed on finding nice food and drink to consume.

Once again we visited Normandy for the Duo Normand time trial, and to do a little cycling on the tandem.  This time we were there for a little over a week, based in a cottage between Cerisy-la-Salle and Notre Dame de Cenilly just south of the race's base in Marigny.An overview of the cycling, with route maps and photo galleries can be found via the Cycle Tours option in the CYCLING menu on the left side of the website, or by following this link: 2010 Normandy.  Bear in mind this is something of a work in progress!

Team Grumpy have been riding the Duo Normand since 2003, only missing one year since then. We've had quite good placings in that time, either in the Veteran or Corporate categories. We came second in the corporate category last year, but that doesn't quite indicate the magnitude of the whipping we got from the winners! The Duo Normand website has started listing riders registered to ride. At the moment there are only two teams in the Corporatif category, one being Team Grumpy. Plenty of time for more entries to flood in, though. So is there anything to be said in a preview for this event?Well, we're staying near Cerisy La Salle - in the same location as last year - though our travel plans will preclude any significant 2-up technique practice before the event. And Team Grumpy's 2-up outings this season have been less than stellar (the Port Talbot Wheelers 2-up ‘25′ and the Icknield 32k). I guess we're just hoping that we've done it so long that we'll just fall naturally back into the swing of things.As usual, we'll take the opportunity to do a little exploration of the Normandy countryside on our tandem, see for example 2008 and 2009, enjoying the local food and drink, particularly the moules et frites, a particular favourite of mine.  And of course, drinking freely of the Team Grumpy official energy drink.Finally, for those who've never ridden the Duo Normand and want to see what the course is like from the rider's perspective, can I recommend the world's most unlikely video, which we dubbed Silent Movie.  This was recorded on a small video camera mounted on Gerry's handlebars.Here are our previous performances:2009 - CorporatifsWe may have been second, but just look at that margin!  The BikeRadar team of Jones and Coomber came flying past us...and can be seen in the video of the event.1 COOMBER Robin - JONES Jeff 01:15:222 ORAM Gerard - SAUNDERS Robert 01:25:022008 - CorporatifsBy 2008, Gerry had persuaded me to switch to the Corporatifs category.  Not entirely sure why, but the effect is to ride at a better time of day than the Unlicenced and Veteran categories.  Also the Veterans category has no handicapping.  The guys who won rode a storming race, particularly since they didn't look much like time triallists and were riding road bikes with clip on extensions.

This year's tour visited the Hebridean islands of Barra, South Uist, Benbecula, North Uist, Skye and Mull, with a bit of mainland cycling too! I did attempt blogging as we travelled, but this was problematic due to patchy mobile broadband coverage (Vodafone). I've now updated the reports and included maps and photographs.You can access the list of reports through this link - 2010 cycle tour - or via the Cycling menu (select Cycle Tours, then select the desired tour).I'm having one or two problems with the website just now (I fear a major restructuring is imminent).  If you have problems accessing these reports, please leave a comment to this article,

So, I refurbished the transmission on the tandem before our cycling holiday, and on the evening before we're due to head north, I discover a serious problem with the chainset, and the thing needs to be replaced...the main (right hand) drive crank is seriously mangled and isn't in line with left hand crank. The granny ring also now strikes the chain stay.Cue phone conversation with the excellent Spa Cycles of Harrogate, and I've arranged to collect a Stronglight Impact tandem chainset en route to Edinburgh tomorrow.

After a staged journey via Leeds and two nights in Edinburgh (and along the way buying and replacing the tandem's chainset, we departed first thing in the morning for Oban. As per usual, we transported then tandem by car on the roof rack. The journey was pretty easy, with no delays and rather pleasant and sunny weather (but a little cooler than over the last few days).
We arrived in Oban about 3.5h before the ferry was due to depart - even after leaving the car in the tender care of Hazelbank Motors, buying tickets (Island Hopscotch tickets 15 and 21), and having coffee we ended up hanging around. Despite the brilliant sunshine, the temperature was falling by the time we queued up with a surprising number of cyclists to board the ferry. On this occasion, cyclists were boarded first.The ferry departed on schedule, and after a voyage of 4:50 that took us along the Sound of Mull (Tobermory clearly seen in the afternoon sunshine) and beyond. We arrived in Castlebay on schedule. We were a bit surprised by how cold it was as we rolled off to find our B&B (Ravenscroft).
From our window, we had a great view across the bay, with Kisimul Castle lit by rays of sunshine.
Pretty soon, though, we turned in - looking forward to exploring Barra tomorrow. But not optimistic about the weather!