Farewell to h2h

I've no real excuse (other than it's good to have a break now and then) but I've not been out on the bike today. However, that left some extra time to watch the last broadcast of Head to Head on BBCi. H2H is "a lively topical discussion programme, with two studio guests from opposite sides of the political debate going head to head over the week's big issues and controversies".

Or at least it was.

I'm sorry to see the end of this excellent programme, which has been head to head, and shoulder to shoulder, above the normal standard of political coverage on the television.

With one notable exception, all the participants were pretty high value, but I reckon that David Aaronovitch and Janet Daly have been the most thought-provoking and challenging pairing. They proved willing to listen to each other's views, they responded thoughtfully; and in the process we discovered a surprising amount of common ground.

Goodness knows why the BBC is bringing this programme to an end. My inner cynic wants to think that the standard of debate proved too embarassing for producers of other programmes with higher profiles, and bigger budgets. More likely the viewing figures were just too low. It's a shame.

Here we are

A quick nineteen miles today, in great weather, so lots of people were out enjoying the sun. I took a well worn route, down the Jubilee River to Eton, across the bridge to Windsor, and then back home along the Thames path.

Meanwhile, in an alternative universe, I've now covered enough distance to be half way to Rome on my virtual European tour. I've reached Haute Savoie (virtually pictured above, thanks to Google Earth), and thanks to Meteo France, I virtually know it is raining here. So I think I'll head off for a virtual tartiflette, then back to reality.

Glory, hallelujah!

Today I reached another church on my Jenkins quest, bringing the total so far to ten, out of the twelve I have on my list.

This is St John the Baptist in Little Missenden, which ranks as the ninth most distant, but it is the first to be open when I arrived, without a service under way. So it is the first that I have been able to look around without seeking out a key.

It was well worth it. It's a lovely church, with a core that goes back at least to the twelfth century, and according to the plans in the church, to Saxon times.

Despite the grey skies and a fair amount of wind, the ride out was quite pleasant, with no rain, and the wind mostly urging me on. As soon as I left the church, though, things began to change. The rain built up, and the wind was pushing me back. By the time I was approaching High Wycombe it had really turned quite unpleasant, and a fast descent into Hughenden valley, through driving rain, was getting quite exciting.

I don't know a nice route into the centre of High Wycombe from the north-west, but I now know how to find the good cycle route from High Wycombe out to Loudwater. By this stage the weather had eased up a bit, and despite a continuing headwind it really wasn't too bad completing the loop back to home.

Little Missenden was definitely the highlight of the day, but I also managed to climb the hill from Wooburn Green to Beaconsfield without getting off the bike. It was all in bottom gear, but I'm still quite pleased with myself. I think it is called Glory Hill, because that's the name of the farm at the top, but in any case, I will think of it as Glory Hill from now on. Glory, hallelujah!

Mountain unicycling

"The unfortunate thing about mountain unicycling is that you don't get to look at the view"


There is more here.

Roundup of the week

Despite the crummy weather this has ended up as a reasonable week for cycling. For the first time, I have managed to get out on the bike every day (though, to be honest, today was a bit of a token gesture with only a couple of miles in gusty wind, mostly to put something on the board).

Overall, I've covered more than 75 miles in the week, which ranks as my second highest weekly mileage this year. I'm now somewhere near Bourg en Bresse (north of Lyon) on my virtual European tour. Bourg en Bresse marked the transitino from Stage 6 to Stage 7 of the 2007 tour de France. Oh, and during the last week, this blog has welcomed its first visitors from Sweden and South Korea.

The nicest trip in the week was an evening trundle around Cookham and Bray on thursday, with little wind, and some lovely light. The longest was a slog through driving wind, rain and worse on monday, which was mainly memorable as an exercise in grit and determination.

The weather forecast for the coming weekend is best described as "unpredictable", but I hope to get out a couple of times. Regardless of how the next few days turn out, after a couple of lean weeks, the graphs are starting to look a bit healthier. In a few days it will be the end of March, the clocks will spring forward, the current deadlines at work will either have been met, or missed, and we can look forward to a bit more progress.

Sonning bridge

I've always had a bit of a thing about numbers, and my business training and work on market analysis hasn't helped. I do sometimes wonder, though, whether the complicated set of cycling targets that I have set up is getting a little out of hand. Or to be more honest, I already know perfectly well that it is over the top.

Today, though, it worked as it should.

The idea, as regular readers know, is to set myself a series of goals, as an incentive to keep riding when the novelty wears off, and hence avoid my cycling getting usurped by less important priorities.

Over the last couple of weeks, I've not been doing too well. A combination of bad weather, more travel than usual, and pressure of work meant that all the graphs were starting to move in the wrong direction.

I did a little bit better over the first three days of the long weekend, and the forecast promised better weather today, so I was looking forward to a longer trip, and getting back on top of my targets.

It didn't quite work out that way.

The weather was still grim this morning, and by lunchtime I was beginning to wonder whether I should go out on the bike or not. In the end, the pressure of the numbers won out. I put on an extra t-shirt, packed a waterproof, and set off into a cold wind and light rain, hoping things would improve.

They didn't.

By the time I had covered a dozen miles, the rain had turned to sleet, and the wind showed no sign of letting up. Still, I pressed on rather than turning back. After a few more miles the rain cleared briefly, and things began to look better. However, on the way home, it all turned worse, and I was hit by a heavy shower of hailstones. By then there wasn't much I could do, other than press on.

Finally, as I covered the last few miles, the clouds cleared, the sun came out, and the wind got behind me, instead of blowing in my face. By the time I was home, and treated to a large mug of hot chocolate, I could see sunny late afteroon light through the window.

So was it worth it?

Yes - no doubt about it.

Apart feeling good after an afternoon's exercise and plenty of (very) fresh air, I have the satisfaction of having braved the elements, and overcome temptation. I also have another 37.5 miles on the log. That doesn't break any records, though it is among my longest five trips, and contributes to quite a lot of future Eddington numbers. It also means that I shouldn't have too much trouble achieving this weeks targets, and might even be able to bank some extra miles to cover future shortfalls. The graphs are starting to move in the right direction again, and I've covered some new routes around Sonning.

Job done.

Give me liberty or give me death

On this day in history, Patrick Henry, an advocate of the American revolution, made a speech urging military action against the British, which ended with the stirring words "Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!".

But fine words butter no parsnips, and today is also the anniversary of the founding of Mussolini's fascist party in Italy, the first broadcast of Midsomer Murders, the birth of Wernher von Braun, the death of Peter Lorre, and the launch of John Major's citizen's charter.

So much to commemorate, and so little time...