It’s definitely not my best bike (that’s my old ‘racing’ bike), it’s not the bike that I cover the most miles on (that’s my touring bike), but it is the bike that I use the most often. I have had it for nearly twenty years now, . It lives outside the front door, ready for action. It’s the bike I ride to the shops, to the pub and occasionally when the work I have to carry out and the sites I need to visit on a particular day fit in, the bike I ride to work.

It was found in a skip, although probably the only part of it that is left from the original bike is the frame. The handlebars and brake levers were salvaged from a bike that a friend of mine had wrecked. He did quite a good job, the handle bars were just about the only part that was reusable. How he managed to do it without causing similar damage to himself is still a source of amazement. Some bits, like the super-duper suspension seat post, were bought for another bike, then discovered to be the wrong size when I got them home. Other parts were acquired from my other bikes as they wear out, or are replaced by something newer and shinier.
Below is a slide-show illustrating some of the unique features, such as the aerodynamically enhanced duct-taped mudguard, the custom ‘chipped’ paint job, the Christmas tree of lights (in the hope that Wallington drivers will actually see me on winter nights) and last but not least the ‘D’ lock that is probably worth more than the bike itself.

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Yesterday’s (20 May) Tour of California time-trial threw up what for me was a quite interesting result. Not so much that Dave Zabriskie won the stage, in what was a record time for the course, what caught my attention were the results from the women’s time-trial that was run on the same course just before the men’s race.

What I have done in the table below is to superimpose the results of the women’s time-trial on the results from the men’s. Although none of the women came close to beating the top men, all but two of them finished with times that were better than some of the elite of the male professional peleton. The winner of the women’s race Kristin Armstrong (no relation and not his ex-wife) would have finished 94th which is more than respectable.

In the United Kingdom we have had women in the past such as Beryl Burton and Yvonne MacGregor who could compete with and beat the men. Beryl Burton famously broke the British 12 hour time-trial record by catching and passing Mike McNamara who was on his way to setting a new British Men’s record. Yvonne MacGregor found that the men who were scheduled to start anything up to five minutes before her, frequently pulled out of the time trial, not wanting to be caught and passed by a woman.

However, Beryl Burton and Yvonne MacGregor were in the main competing against amateurs, good amateurs, but amateurs never the less. The men Kirstin Armstrong and the other women were up against (indirectly) were some of the top professionals in the world. Nick Nuyens whose time was beaten by four of the women won this years Ronde Van Vlaanderen..

I suppose I should add a couple of caveats: The women were racing a one-off event and not one stage in an eight stage race. They are some of the best female time-trialists in the world, and a lot of the men, like Nick Nuyens, are not exactly famed for their time-trialing abilities.

It is still, I think an impressive performance by all the women concerned.