During the ride home from work it was apparent that the wind had strengthened during the day. Despite this, it was a pretty warm evening with all the signs that Spring had finally arrived. I made a mad dash up to Astwood on the time trial bike, without really paying attention to the choice of front wheel - I was riding front and rear trispokes, as usual.I could feel the wind tugging strongly on my front wheel, particularly when I rode past gaps in the hedgerows. Nevertheless I pressed on, as I have rarely been unable to race due to strong wind. I made it to the start line in time to see the first riders lining up to start. Grabbing a number and signing on, I awaited my start. I was the last rider off, and I suspect the wind had been continuing to rise while I waited. I was frustrated to have to stop for a line of cars before I could join the main road, shortly after the start. Once on the main road, I found the wind was a real problem on my front wheel, and I was unable to hold a decent straight line. I was worried about being blown into traffic, but in the end I decided to call it a day after nearly being blown off the bike twice in quick succession. I felt that discretion was most certainly the better part of valour.Riding home wasn't a great deal of fun - though I did see most of the guys powering along as though there was no wind at all! Maybe had I been riding a different front wheel... perhaps I was unfortunate in encountering a particularly strong gust on an exposed part of the course.

This is going to be de rigeur on my next turbo training soundtrack. It's a remix by Death Grips of The Prodigy's Firestarter.[soundcloud id='87437928' comments='false' color='#ff7700']

As I've whined about lately, this season has not got off to an excellent start. This event was only the second event I've started and the first I've finished in 2013. This has been due to a severe bout of back pain that has only abated in the last day or two, and which has sidelined me from training and indeed riding bikes for the best part of a month.  The last event I attempted was something of a disaster. Meanwhile, I've kept eating  as if I was actively training and racing with the consequent impact on body weight.Riders for this event were greeted by overcast skies and a chilly breeze. It was with some apprehension that I rode down to the event. I really don't feel fit at the moment, and I was concerned that my bad back would flare up again. We had quite a good turnout of 11 riders - I was off number 2.Heading out, I immediately found myself struggling to keep a decent pace - partly of course, this was due to the headwind (gentle though it was), but also I found it difficult to get comfortable in the aero position on the tri-bars. I'm not too worried about that, because early season events are always like that for me. I gingerly negotiated the first roundabout, successfully avoiding the potholes, and pressed on through the second roundabout and on to join the dual carriageway section. Once up there, the head wind was rather nagging and I had difficulty keeping the effort up. But after the turn  I found the return leg quite a bit quicker and more confortable. I eventually finished in 24:41. Not a particularly good performance, but somewhat better than I'd expected in the circumstances. More importantly, I finished without a recurrence of back pain. It can only get better from here, I hope.Results at the NBRC website.

I can safely say that since I took up cycling again in 1990, I've not experienced such a dreadful start to a season as this year. Following a horrid cold (and subsequent post-viral fatigue) that effectively took me out of training for nearly a month to late January, by the end of February I had dragged my form back to where it had been in December. Then, I ricked my lower back again. This had the effect to making climbing on a bike sufficiently painful that I was unable to train for at least three weeks.During that period, I tried a race (the NBRC club event in early March) only to find myself housebound with backache for a couple of days), and failed to start the Port Talbot Wheelers 2-up 25 in mid-March. Following that, the NBRC club event at Astwood was thankfully abandoned due to snow - thankfully because I might well have been tempted to try riding it.The final club event of March was the so-called 'Hardriders 22' - this was held on a cold morning with a heavy frost. I rode out to see the start, but declined to race as I was a bit worried I'd aggravate my back injury which by this time seemed to be on the mend. Indeed, in the last week of March I've been able to resume training, albeit restricted to the joys of the turbo trainer.Talking of turbo training, for some time now I've been using the Polar chain tension power meter to keep an eye on my training progress (see the review in six parts). Unfortunately this has been going through something of a hiatus after I unshipped my chain at speed, and it has proven rather difficult to coax the unit into working again. The explanation is that debugging problems with the device is rather complicated as the power unit is complicated to both set up and keep working. Complicated because there are three separate components:1. The main sensor/transmitter. This picks up vibration in the chain, so needs to be the correct distance from the chain, but also positioned correctly on the chainstay. This requires judicious positioning in 3D for it to work consistently. The second function is to collect cadence data from the magnet on the crank arm. So the position of the sensor on the chainstay needs to take proximity to the crank arm magnet into consideration. If either of these don't work, no data is sent to the head unit, with no indication where the problem lies.2. The chain speed sensor. This is mounted on the rear derailleur, and the instructions aren't terribly clear on its exact positioning. As I discovered yesterday, if it isn't just right, no chain speed data are obtained. If it's incorrectly positioned, the system may work in some gears only. The chain speed sensor is connected to the main sensor by wire - this connection can fail. If this doesn't work, no data is sent to the head unit, with no indication where the problem lies.3. The battery pack. Batteries can wear down, and the connection with the main sensor can fail. If this doesn't work, no data is sent to the head unit, with no indication where the problem lies.So, you can see that there are several points of failure, with no real diagnostics in place. If any point fails, the main symptom is that no power or cadence is displayed. This is the main reason I'm dissatisfied with the system. The most recent problem related to the position of the derailleur mounted chain speed sensor, which isn't something that I'd suffered before, and frankly it hadn't occurred to me! I'd think about reliability issues with any power meter system that I were to consider buying in the future. For the time being, I seem to be able to get along with the Polar system and I'm not inclined to change just now - though the cleat based system from Brim Brothers looks interesting (but may ultimately never be released).So, to end in an optimistic frame, I'm hopeful that I've turned the corner and training can resume. I may even unwrap the CTT Handbook.

Well, it's unfortunate, but my season has begun with a whimper rather than a bang.I've been suffering from the latest bout of lower back pain, but I'd promised Tony I'd show up for this, the first in the NBRC series of time trial events. Notionally a medium gear event, riders usually pitch up with their regular time trial bikes. I cycled over, 18 miles in cold and wet conditions, and by the time I arrived, I seriously doubted I'd make any kind of impression. Other than a bad one.To be honest, the opening mile or so were reasonably OK, and crouching over the tribars wasn't in itself particularly uncomfortable. But when I had been through Beachampton, I found I was unable to race uphill to Nash, and indeed, by the time I passed through Nash I'd had enough and down-geared to offer a degree of pedalling comfort.Accordingly I cruised back down the hill, mostly suffering an acute sense of embarrassment because of passing club runs (which seemed to be going faster than me). I finished with a less than impressive 33:33 for last place. Results over at the NBRC website.

Here's a playlist of all 40 versions of the classic garage song Louie Louie that I could find in Spotify, after removing a few duplicates. It makes for great listening while training. The original version (or as close to it as makes no difference) is in numbers 9 and 10 on this list, while the version that really got the ball rolling is by The Kingsmen, number 3 in this playlist.[embed size="compact"]http://open.spotify.com/user/therealgrumpybob/playlist/3YIE7t3XjYcgAR0x1hE9kO>[/embed]Astonishingly, this song was the subject of a 31 month FBI investigation into supposedly obscene lyrics. The FBI concluded that the lyrical content couldn't be divined from listening to the song. More at Wikipedia's page on Louie Louie, and the web page devoted to Louie Louie.

So I finally shook off the post-viral fatigue and began the slow haul back to form.The good news is that by mid February I was back where I was before falling ill on 22nd December - at least as judged by the critical mean power data I was collecting via the Polar computer on my turbo bike. I'm presently focussed on regaining as much form as possible prior to my first open event, the Port Talbot Wheelers 2-up '25' on 17th March. Fortunately this event is unusually late this year (by about two weeks). But on the downside, my 2-up partner has suffered the same illness as I have, but running a week or so behind me. It's generally felt that a Team Grumpy Omnishambles beckons.In preparation for the opening of my racing season (on 9th March with a club event) I've cleaned up my time trial bike, which has hung unloved since returning from the 2012 Duo Normand. I've scraped off the mould growing on spilt energy drink, and I've replaced the bar end levers that got damaged in the September crash. As far as I can see, the bike is in better shape than I am. I'm overweight and undertrained, after all.The turbo trainer bike, an old 531 frame from Ribble with miscellaneous parts sourced from the parts bin, has finally given up the ghost after about 15 years mounted on the turbo. It is very rusty and irreparable. As a stopgap measure, I've put my old summer bike on the turbo. On the upside, it's lovely and smooth compared with it's predecessor. On the downside, I'm not happy with a Record-equipped custom built 753 frame going the same way as the Ribble. So I'm in the market for a second had or otherwise cheap 23.5 inch road frame for turbo use.

Way back in my late teens when I was first exploring the world of music, the usual way I would choose LPs would be browsing the inky music papers and by judging an LP by its cover. Shallow perhaps, but both avenues left me liable to be misled by the general scorched earth policy of punk and post-punk, particularly when informed by the NME. I particularly recall seeing albums by the three bands below in the racks at the Ezy Ryder record exchange in Greyfriars Market.The first of these, by the then London-based Ghanaian/Caribbean band Osibisa, was characterised by a Roger Dean cover, which naturally (if unfairly) led me to think this was some kind of ghastly Yes style prog rock. I say unfairly because, as the Wikipedia page on Osibisa observes, these covers predated Dean's work with Yes. I took advantage of my explorations on Spotify to have a listen to Osibisa's eponymous first album. I think I can safely say my younger self would have hated it (though partly to keep up with the prevailing taste of the era). Now, being a bit more broad-minded I actually quite like the record - at least enough to give it further listens (but probably not enough to buy it).[embed size="compact"]Osibisa – Osibisa (Digitally Remastered Version)[/embed]Van Der Graaf Generator are one of those bands which one definitely couldn't like by the time 1977 rolled round. Unfortunately, one of the things that determines whether or not I like something is the vocal. And I must say I didn't much care for this record too much.[embed size="compact"]Van Der Graaf Generator[/embed]Punishment of Luxury's Laugh Academy is an LP I definitely recall from EzyRyder's racks. Goodness knows why I never gave it a blast at the time. Listening in 2013 (34 years after its original release!), it's definitely a record of its period. But given that's an era I am particularly fond of, it's perhaps no surprise I rather like it. More listens forthcoming.[embed size="compact"]Punilux[/embed]

I caught some of this when it was broadcast live yesterday (at 5am!). Here's the video...[youtube fymChgeO00g]

I have decided to try a 30 day trial of Spotify premium. This is kind of alien to me, really, as my whole music listening past has been focussed on collecting music - mostly in album form - and the concept of merely accessing music from the web is anathema.I've installed the Mac app, the iPad app and the Logitech Media Server plugin.Actually, though, I can see this being an avenue to listen to music before buying it in a higher resolution format (I usually go for flac). I will give Spotify a month (i.e. the trial), then decide whether I'm really going to be getting £9.99 (per month) of value from it. Even the Premium account delivers pretty lo-res music.

Here's a digest of recent music added to my collection.Black Pus - This came across my radar via the music site The Quietus which featured a track (1000 Years) from an upcoming album.[soundcloud id='70726224' color='#ff7700']There area  few Black Pus albums available on Bandcamp - I bought Pus Mortem. I kind of like the stripped down clatter of Black Pus and find it unaccountably invigorating.[bandcamp album=408643617 bgcol=FFFFFF linkcol=fa1520 size=grande]Cyclopean is a collaboration that includes a couple of founder members of Can. They have a four track EP out on Mute. You can get flac downloads, but not I think from the Mute shop. It's pretty straightforward electronica, but nonetheless enjoyable for that. Here's an edit from one of the four tracks on the EP.[soundcloud id='77259492' color='#ff7700']Fire! Orchestra - Exit! Slightly unusually for me, I added a free jazz album this month - Fire! Orchestra's album of late 2012, Fire! I've kind of been inveigled into Gustafsson sax jazz via Neneh Cherry and The Thing - see their cover of Suicide's Dream Baby Dream. Despite being live, this is quite laid back a lot of the time. Two tracks - here's an edit of one of them[soundcloud id='76288623' color='#ff7700']Merzbow Pandi Gustafsson Cuts A rather noiser outing for Gustafsson, this time in the company of Hungarian drummer Pandi and Japanese noise artist Merzbow. Bought as flac download. Here's a snippet:[soundcloud id='72072638' color='#ff7700']This I rather like. There's a general thread in my listening these days, to include sound textures as much as music, hence my liking for both the introspective analogue bleeps and gurgles of Pan Sonic and wilder noise.My Bloody Valentine mbv.  This caused something of an interweb sensation when released - the website crashed due to all the hits. I'm not a major MBV fan, but I bought it in part to see what the fuss was all about. To be honest, I wouldn't rave about it ... yet, but it's definitely growing on me. It's really a bit of an old-fashioned shoegaze type album, and I'd have to leave it to the MBV fans to identify whether it represents a significant advance over previous MBV offerings.Finally, today's the release date of the new Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds album, Push The Sky Away. Keenly awaited, the download link is still not active - I ordered the super deluxe edition to be released in April, so all I'll get at the moment is an mp3 download. I am sure it will repay the patience. More on that later.

This has quite frankly been the worst start to a cycling year since I took up cycling seriously about 20 years ago. In the last instalment of My month in cycling, for December, I noted that I'd been quite ill over Christmas. I don't know what that was that afflicted me so badly for a few weeks with heavy coughing and fevers, but it left me with persistent fatigue. My resting pulse rate has risen and fallen from day to day, and on some days the slightest exertion causes my heart rate to rocket.So, it's not been good. Having lost weight over Xmas, I'm now piling the pounds on as I was unable to take serious exercise for 5 weeks.From about 26th January, this began to change, and I have not only begun training again, but I have started cycling to work again. Turbo training has never seemed to attractive! I use a Polar power meter on the turbo - it may be at the less sophisticated end of the power meter market, but at least it can give me a useful estimate of where my fitness is at. And it's rather clear that this extended illness has cost me dear. It will be interesting to see if I bounce back, or grovel back.

Pere Ubu - Lady from Shanghai. (Bought as flac download) David Thomas and Co are still at it, with another good album. From the website, it would seem that an accompanying paperback book is available outlining the way the album was constructed. This may seem a bit over the top, but note the extra special limited edition of Nick Cave's new album - perhaps this is a trend!The Haxan Cloak - I bought the eponymous first Haxan Cloak album, again as a flac download), after hearing one of the tracks (The Mirror Reflecting (Part 2)) from the forthcoming second album on Soundcloud, which I found via Cosey Fanni Tutti's Twitter. I suspect the new album, due in April, is likely to present a more atmospheric sound.Todd Snow - Emergence - This is something I also noted from Cosey's tweets. Quite atmospheric and almost ambient, it's available on Bandcamp in any format (of course, I chose flac).Magazine - Live and Intermittent - Bought on CD via the wire-sound website. Bit of a nostalgia trip for me. Magazine always were one of my favourite bands of the late 70s/early 80s. Their post-reform album No Thyself (it's on sale at the moment, good value at £5) is better than I expected and a worthy addition to their discography. Anyway, back to the live Magazine CD - it's a bit lo-fi in places, but if you were there back in the day a nice reminder. I also picked up Dave Formula's CD Satellite Sweetheart, but haven't  had a chance to listen to it much so far.

My last post, on the first records I bought, reminded me of the days in which I used to spend time rootling through racks of LPs. I was something of a late starter in music buying, not acquiring any kind of record player until I left home for university. In my case, this was a 'music centre' - it was several years before I obtained components that might reasonably be termed 'HiFi'.  In any case, I enthusiastically explored many genres of rock and pop before moving off down a direction informed by punk and its sequelae of post-punk and industrial genres.Anyway, in those days record buying was a far more satisfying business. One hung on the words of the inky music papers, alerted to upcoming releases, deciding whether to believe Paul Morley's review which seemed to feature his grey socks, picking out what one should be seen to like, etc. Of course, the inky rag of choice both reflected and directed one's taste - in my case I favoured the NME. Down in the record shops, we leafed with great dedication through the racks of greasy plastic covered sleeves trying to divine from the graphic design what might be within.But back to record shops. It's always seemed to me, looking back, that we've moved from smaller local shops (staffed by people with a real interest) to a more supermarket approach (Virgin Megastore, HMV), and now to a general disappearance of record shops from the high street (presumably as we move to online shopping and buying music via downloads). I did a quick google search for one or two of the shops I frequented and came across this serious nostalgia-fest: Record Shops (at the Edinburgh Gig Guide website).Thing is, I can recall both the circumstances of the purchase, and the shop in which I bought almost all of the vinyl LPs in my collection. These LPs are really a series of hooks into the memories I have of being a student.  Also I have a better memory for individual tracks on these LPs than those bought on CD or as download. I think this is at least partly due to the punctuation of turning the record over halfway, but also to the element of scrutinising the record sleeve and I suppose the sheer dedication of my listening in those days. There are very few CD sleeves I've ever spent much time with, and of course the lack of decent artwork and sleeve notes is a major let-down of download purchases.I find myself in an era where - probably as a result of my age and lifestyle - music listening and discovery has become a very solitary activity, though much, much easier. I'm not a luddite: the majority of my music these days is obtained online, and I enjoy Last.fm, Soundcloud and Bandcamp as avenues to find music, but I have to confess to moments of nostalgia for the days of leafing endlessly and greasily through racks. 

There's a news story over at the BBC website, First records, and where you bought them, which made me think. So, confession time.My first single was Roadrunner, by Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers.The first LP I bought was Dark Side of the Moon, by Pink Floyd.Both were, I think bought on the same shopping trip in late 1977 at a rather ace record shop in Edinburgh called Phoenix Records. Located on the High Street, it is sadly no more. These were the days when browsing for LPs was a process of leafing through racks of sleeves covered with clear plastic jackets, all greasy from other people's  fingers. It may be that my ageing memory is at fault, but I am sure I recall the LPs being arranged by Record Label rather than artist.Shortly after, I got caught up in the Year Zero of punk/post-punk (you can see my current tastes in this graphic representation of my last.fm scrobbles). The Pink Floyd disappeared, but more mysteriously (given the cultural circumstances), so did Roadrunner. Both are now present in my digital and digitised collection. Here's a YouTube video:

Here's a nice video of John Cale performing Venus in Furs - it's a TV broadcast from 10th January this year. h/t Here Comes The Flood

It seems that December has proceeded pretty much as the whole of the 2013 season has done: appallingly.My training has gone pretty well in fits and starts through the month, and monitoring the Critical Power estimates (obtained by the budget Polar power meter fitted to the turbo bike and analysed by Golden Cheetah) has indicated my training has not been completely ineffective!As I write, I've woken early yet again at the behest of my persistent chesty cough, which is showing no signs of shifting after about 5 days. So my last training was on 22nd December, a day before I left for a brief Christmas break. That turbo session went pretty well, and I was somewhat encouraged. Unfortunately, I've been so ill that it's looking unlikely that I will be able to ride the New Years Day '10'. I have decided to adhere to Team Grumpy's Rule #5:

Team Grumpy Rules

Over the years, Grumpy Bob and 'Grumpy' Art have developed a set of rules.  These are of course intended to be implemented at all times, however exactly.  Originally posted at the Team Grumpy blog.Rule #1. Remember to make your excuses before the race, not after. Otherwise it will just sound pathetic.Rule #2. Don't tinker with your bike the evening before the event. It will break, either then or, worse still, during the event.Rule #3. If all else fails, buy some new bike kit.Rule #4. And if rule #3 fails, new skinsuits are probably a good option.Rule #5. Never train or race with a bad cough - it will destroy your entire season.Rule #6. Tantrums are appropriate if provoked (e.g. by mechanical problems), but try to avoid damage to equipment.Rule #7. Team Grumpy riders are allowed to use whatever equipment they wish (and their wallets permit). However, the official team energy drink is always pop belge.

Well, this album was really a little out of the ordinary for me. The only other record I have featuring Scott Walker is a Walker Brothers collection of some of their 60s output.I bought this as a flac download  several weeks ago, on its release date, and I've been listening since. I don't actually buy into this godlike genius thing - I think a genius might release more records - but after a few plays of samples via the web, I decided to buy it. And I'm not disappointed, though on the other hand I'm not overwhelmed. The record has an interesting juxtaposition of Walker's voice with a odd array of sounds and aural textures, which on the whole I really like. My reservations are more that I haven't really got to the bottom of the lyrics, and with an album like this, it's difficult to really form an opinion too quickly. Many of the songs seem to be making quirky connections between widely disparate people and events. It's safe to say this one's going to take a bit of concentration.

This is a Rouleur publication (under the Bloomsbury imprint), and in common with that magazine, it's chock full of photographs, printed on high quality paper. In his introduction, Sykes admits he'd always promised that he wouldn't write a biography of Fausto Coppi (there are quite afe of those around). What this book represents is a collection of photographs from Coppi's career, punctuated with interviews with some of Coppi's contemporaries. Sykes' intention is to preserve the memories of these veterans.In this, the books succeeds admirably. It's not a book that provides a detailed biography of Coppi - you have to look elsewhere for that - but for all that it's delightful to read and to savour the often superb photography, with some of the often painful eyewitness testimony.The design of the book is lovely, with excellent reproductions of the photos on heavy paper. Unfortunately the photos are not captioned, so relating them to thw interviews is not always easy. As a nice touch, the text pages are tinted in what appears to a pale Bianchi celeste.Coppi: Inside the legend of the Campionissimo, by Herbie SykesPublished by Rouleur via Bloomsbury Sport £27-ishISBN 1408181665

From Stars to Stalagmites - How everything connectsWorld Scientific 2012 ISBN 13 978 981 4324 97 7Paul S. Braterman*I am a pretty avid reader of popular science books, but generally speaking I've mostly read books with a general emphasis on biology, particularly evolutionary biology. From Stars to Stalagmites is therefore a bit different from my usual reading fare, taking a chemist's view on the world. In essence, the book spends 16 chapters explaining how we know stuff. Stuff ranging from the age of the Earth to how CFCs were incriminated as the cause of the ozone holes. Many of these accounts are told with specific reference to the people who shaped the theories and the science. I don't mean just the scientists - policy-makers and politicians also feature highly - a good example being the chapters on figuring out the cause of the ozone hole and on global warming.I could summarise this book as "a collection of stories about stuff", but that would ignore the central theme that comes across as one read through the book: how we know how natural processes work, and how we can use this understanding to probe the deep history of our planet, figure out how to rescue our planet from anthropogenic destruction and so forth.On reflection some, if not all, of the chapters come across as excellent material for presentations. Whether such has been the origins of the work or not, I do believe that the book itself would have benefited from a bit more in the way of illustration...For me, stand out chapters include the opening chapter on the age of the Earth (Chapter 1), that on Fritz Haber, the First World War and explosives (Chapter 6), and the 14th Chapter on why water is weird. But I guess those preferences reflect my interests; the book is consistently interesting and clearly written.In dealing with the evolution of ideas about the Earth's antiquity, Braterman effectively sets the stage for all the controversies manufactured by the biblical literalists who insist in (mis)interpreting the bible to deduce that the Earth is a mere 6000 years (give or take a little). The chapter takes the reader on a journey in the changing scientific understanding of earth science, which neatly encapsulates the nature of scientific discovery. I think this example illustrates the value of this book. It's not necessarily in its factual content, but in the way rational and thoughtful investigation of the world and its material phenomena can lead to clearer understanding of the world around us. And more than this, several chapters describe how current understanding can and does change as science advances, both in terms of techniques and in the application of knowledge from disparate areas of investigation.To conclude, From Stars to Stalagmites is a valued addition to my bookshelf and a fine example of popular science writing.*Disclosure: Paul Braterman is a BCSE committee member, as am I.[cross-posted from Wonderful Life]