Bamboo Bike

What a superb idea!

It's that man again

The Manx Missile has just won another stage of the Tour de France! With Mark Cavendish, Bradley Wiggins, David Millar and the glorious Nicole Cooke, British road cycling is looking really good at present - which sits nicely with the track cycling exploits of Sir Chris Hoy, Victoria Pendleton, Rebecca Romero and chums.

Simple pleasures lost

I'm feeling a little mournful today - I'm flat on the sofa whilst Mrs Lucas is out doing some shopping - I felt too lousy to go with her. Shopping has never been my idea of a great time, but in a small community like ours, it usually involves meeting a few folk you know and haven't seen for a while. This gives you the chance to catch up the news, and to strengthen the sense of belonging that can be an early casualty of long term illness.

The thing I'm missing most is riding my bike. I bought myself an Edinburgh Bike Co-op Country tourer a few years ago, and used it To commute to work, along with rides around Fife. Over the years, I modified it a lot with uprated gearing - including altering the gear ratios to suit me better, uprated brakes, tyres, saddle, and a new adjustable handlebar stem to get a better riding position. It's now a lovely machine that fits me like a glove, but I can't ride it. I'm going to take off the clip-in pedals and replace them with plain platforms, and try it out, though (I daren't try riding clipped in just now - too scary!). My regular 20 mile commute from Kirkcaldy on it seems a long time ago now - I'd love to get back to cycling.

Tour de Force

Time to be a little less grumpy than I was in my last post. Isn't the the Tour de France great this year? Our boy Mark Cavendish in the green jersey, Bradley Wiggins and David Millar both well placed, and an old guy from Texas looking as if he might well rise from the grave to pee on the French nation's collective chips. (If you are going to mix metaphors, do it boldly, say I)