Brudenell Racer

2006-08-24T21:35:00.000+01:00

WORD! Don't know why my last entry was posted twice......

Just back from a couple of days in the lakes. Had an awesome time and we had good weather as well, unusual for the lakes. Especially as it was chucking it down all the way in the car. Think I managed to drive Niki almost crazy with my 'backseat' driving. Particularly when I made her drive up Wrynose and Hardknotts pass which is officially the most mental stretch of road in the UK. You heard it here first. Hardknotts climbs upwards at a gearbox and clutch wrecking 30% grade with hardly any passing places which is just mental. The insides of the hairpins must be near 50%, they look almost vertical. CRAZY PAVING. This clearly has to be ridden on the bike. I would like to see the national hillclimb champs up there, that would sort the men from the boys/corpses.

Had the first decent ride in a while today and I'm still buzzing now. They have a new man made trail in the lakes at Grizedale Forest. It's called the North Face trail. Quite short at 10 miles but very sweet, loads of awesome singletrack and knarly boardwalk sections like at Laggan in Scotland. The weather was amazing and I felt quite good so gave it full beans. Rinsing past people struggling, nailing the technical sections and gazing on the amazing views reminded me why cycling is so cool. Hopefully I will soon be turning a corner and getting back on it. Wicked.

To follow up on a previous blog entry the Tettets now have 2 tenants signed up for their house. However they are still hermit-ing it up in the Brudenell, Alex tells me he hasn't been out for 3 months apart from DIY, biking and work. Cool. SO, I'm starting a charity fund with the aim to get them out of the house and socialising. Donations are welcome and there comes a time when you have to help out those in (special) need.

Talking of the Brudenell it will soon be back to full strength as 2 of its 06 - 07 inmates are returning from abroad. Dave 'The Sultan of Brown-eye" and Tim "The Sultan of Sleaze" will be taking their place in early Sept.

XC and DH World Chimps on at the mo. Hopefully good resultd for the Brits. DH is almost a cert but as for XC who knows? Oli had the ride of his life for 9th last year. I don't think he'll better that but I hope so, with Killeen around Oli doesn't get the recognition he deserves.

2006-08-13T22:03:00.001+01:00

Just to update what I wrote last time Landis has now has his B sample returned with similar abnormal levels. So the reputation of the sport is in tatters, AGAIN! Worst of all though is all the mush brained footy fans who I have to listen to smugly slagging of all cyclists as drug users. Coming from fans of possibly the worst sport out there (think violence, cheating, intentional injuries of opponents, match fixing, diving and the list goes on) it is a bit much. However football does have its uses, mainly in keeping these idiots away from a decent sport like cycling.

I'm currently visiting my parents and called in at Sleepless in the Saddle on the journey down south. I was pleased to see that the event has grown again this year and is verging on becoming as big as Mountain Mayhem, which can only be good for the UK MTB scene. It was good to meet up with a few people who I've not seen for a while due to my lack of racing and I left with the sun beating down. This didn't last though and it apparently turned into a bit of a mudbath. Its a shame I wasn't able to ride it as I love the mud and a strong willed team would have done well as a lot of people tend to give up in 24hr mud!

If anyone is still interested then I'm not riding yet. Not particularly happy about it but nothing I'm doing at the moment seems to make any difference. Back down the doctors soon so I hope that it gets sorted. I'd be happy just to start back in winter training at the moment, progress is slow so I think I need to be realistic.

Also, thanks to those few that have expressed messages of support with my recory. Cheers.

2006-08-13T22:03:00.000+01:00

Just to update what I wrote last time Landis has now has his B sample returned with similar abnormal levels. So the reputation of the sport is in tatters, AGAIN! Worst of all though is all the mush brained footy fans who I have to listen to smugly slagging of all cyclists as drug users. Coming from fans of possibly the worst sport out there (think violence, cheating, intentional injuries of opponents, match fixing, diving and the list goes on) it is a bit much. However football does have its uses, mainly in keeping these idiots away from a decent sport like cycling.

I'm currently visiting my parents and called in at Sleepless in the Saddle on the journey down south. I was pleased to see that the event has grown again this year and is verging on becoming as big as Mountain Mayhem, which can only be good for the UK MTB scene. It was good to meet up with a few people who I've not seen for a while due to my lack of racing and I left with the sun beating down. This didn't last though and it apparently turned into a bit of a mudbath. Its a shame I wasn't able to ride it as I love the mud and a strong willed team would have done well as a lot of people tend to give up in 24hr mud!

If anyone is still interested then I'm not riding yet. Not particularly happy about it but nothing I'm doing at the moment seems to make any difference. Back down the doctors soon so I hope that it gets sorted soon. I'd be happy just to start back in winter training at the moment, progress is slow so I think I need to be realistic.

Also, thanks to those few that have expressed messages of support with my recory. Cheers.

Oh dear......

2006-07-27T20:36:00.000+01:00

The Praying Landis has been found to have had unusual levels of testosterone after his "inspirational" ride on stage 17 as reported on here. This may explain as to why when he came across the line on stage 17 he was so angry/fired up that he nearly fell off his bike punching the air and then went on to nearly chin the photographer. Also would explain why he was able to accelerate at 25 mph uphill in the Alps and ride the entire peleton off his wheels for a 120km break after being on his arse the day before!!!

Although I have said on here that I'm not his biggest fan I sincerely hope that he is able to prove innocence through natural phenomenon or a false test. It will be absolutely disastrous if he is found to be guilty. Is there anyone in the Phonak team that is not on something?

It does make you wonder how rife drugs are in MTBing, there have been few positives recorded to my knowledge. However it is nowhere near as hard to get into a MTB World Cup as it is to get into the equivalent level road event so the temptation to take something is probably less either that or no MTBers can afford drugs!

2006-07-25T12:14:00.000+01:00

I have now graduated and am hence a graduate with a Masters of the Universe Chemistry degree which I hope to put to good use at some point.

The tour is now over and the praying Landis won. I'm not the guy's biggest fan, I can't put my finger on exactly why but he does look like a gargoyle. Gargoyles aside the way he bounced back after cracking on stage 16 was nothing but inspirational and he is as deserving a winner as anyone. I'm still hoping for a European winner one day (sorry Liz)!

Rasmussen, Rabobank's P.O.W made a magnificent break on the Queen stage of the tour and took the King of the Mountains. I really like this guy, mostly because he used to be an XC racer, it's a shame he can time trial though. McEwan's Lager won the green but was outdone on the Champs Elysee by Hushovd who became the Tour's bookmark after winning both the prologue and the last stage.

Still no riding for me which is not great and now that the tour has finished I'm not quite sure what to do in all of my free time. Maybe I will update my blog more!

GO MILLAR!

Le Tour baby!

2006-07-10T19:12:00.000+01:00

Due to lack of riding at the moment I have been following the tour religously, watching other people ride is almost as satisfying as doing it yourself and you don't get tired - it may catch on....

First week was the usual affair of sprinters riding the armchair until the last 250 m before giving it maximum beans and scoring a beautiful 'victory'. The last 5 km's are always the best as professional riders are blown off the back once the fatties at the front put the high fat max beans down in an oxgen mask enducing effort to get the fattest (their no.1 sprinter) to the line.

So far McEwan's Lager has seen them off with some truly awesome rides. Darling of the Belgian media Tom Goonen has been given a right pasting by the angry Aussie and has been possibly the most miserable yellow jersey ever- GIT! Special mention must also go to 'Kes(sler) you Bastard' from T-mobile who executed a brillianty timed attack on the Cauberg to keep the fatties from the podium for another day.

Saturday saw the TT which was MEGA! Segiy Gonchar nailed everyone else in the TT, either he's just that good or he's on some good drugs - nevertheless it was an incredible ride from the Ukranian to see off everyone. Clearly it wasn't 'Millartime' as the Brit got a bit of pasting but I have every confidence that he'll get back up there as soon as he finds himself a new team doctor..... Levi 501 had what can only be described as a catastrophe (forgot to take his drugs), George Handicap was just as crap and even Evans Cycles didn't do as well as I had hoped. The praying Landis put in good ride considering he had to change his bike halfway through the TT and now looks like a serious contender for le tour. I h ope he doesn't win it though because I think we've had enough of American victories now.

COME ON EVANS CYCLES AND RAS-THE-MAN!

CH-CH-CHucklevison.....

2006-06-29T19:47:00.000+01:00

Alex Inglasias and his 'beater'

Derek Tettet and his 'BAD-self'

Would you rent a house from these two??

Well clearly no one would or will, as they are still without tenants for Tettet towers as of tomorow. Oh dear. With the untimely demise of the Bangbus it looks as though the Chuckle Brothers will need to work 'Salmon style' and rush home from work for a shift a Jacksons to keep the Bailiff's from the door.

The recent diagnosis of severe Autism for Alex cannot of helped. However an explanation for his outbursts of grade A tripe in front of the TV will provide comfort and help can be sought.

Here is a shot before the start of yesterday's Otley Town Centre Criterium taken just before Alex asked me "Do you have a track pump on you? Or a spare wheel?". Clearly not with it, I offer my deepest sympathies to the Pettett family.

On a positive note though Eric finished a race without falling off, a better result than his finishing position for sure. His knees survived another day without reducing their working life. With NHS waiting lists as they are it may be wise to get yourself put down for plastic kneecaps now Eric?

Sadly I must also report that Alex's condition has been taken advantage of by some shady Polish 'businessmen' trying to sell 'Apartments' in Poland. He travelled down to London to help do the dodgy deals under the premise that he would fulfil his lifelong dream of obtaining Polish citizenship but he returned used and dissapointed. Here is an extract from a friend who had Alex to stay while he was down doing the deals:

He turned up on Sunday afternoon as I was nodding off having just got back from a very hard race. I was forced to get up and help him unload ("I didn't know what to pack so I just brought everything" - this included water, Marmite, Morrisons OJ, ironing board, THREE suits etcetc) and then make the tea.

He gave it "yabber this, I can help you with that while I am here, yabber yabber" before "popping out for a bit" to see his Polish mates "definitely back by 11".

At 10 there was a text "going 2b later than 10 maybe 11:30, love alex". At 2am there was a crash, the lights came on and in he stumbled. He had driven home so hope he wasn't drunk.

On Monday evening I arrived home... just as he was leaving "to see the Polish boys". Apparently they had done well that day and sold 30 dodgy flats in Poland from the pavement outside the property fair (they were too cheap to pay entry). All seemed well at the house until I found the Marmite covered knife on my nice new worktop. Later that night when I got back from seeing my chums he was already tucked up - phew.

On Tuesday he and the Poles decided that a trip to the Isle of Wight would be a good idea (?!). That evening I came home to discover that he had kindly scoured my brand new hob (looks nice and scratched now!); I received a text at 10:30 saying "going 2b a late one 2nite, i'm staying in a hotel".

When I got home last night there was a birthday card waiting for me (only 46 weeks late or 6 weeks early depending on your view) with a cheeky message ("yabber yabber, zuffle towers, yabber") and a losing lottery ticket for today (I would have rather had the cash). The final insult was the washing up which still smelled of that rancid Dolmio stuff.

But now he has gone and my life can return to normal. Praise the Lord.

UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES SHOULD YOU INVITE THIS PERSON TO STAY!

You have been warned.

2006-06-18T14:20:00.000+01:00

Well I successfully avoided the Desmond, in the end by some margin. It appears my fears over a set of dismal last exams were unfounded and all was well on the path to a 2.1.

So now Uni life has finished I would like to say that I'm training harder than ever....BUT, that is yet to happen as I'm still feeling a bit under the weather. Hopefully I will be back on track soon though but this MTB season is rapidly flashing past me and its looking increasingly unlike I'm going to make a comeback. I've got my sights set on a good cross season though, something which I've not done with full commital before so I'm looking forward to it. Cross is a lot more lucrative for someone of my capabilities than MTB though as its cheaper to enter and there is always a cash prize at the end for the top 5 or so. I don't think I'll be earning my millions though but if winnings pay for entry and fuel then I'm happy.

By popular demand...

2006-06-08T00:53:00.000+01:00

Just to reassure those out there who are waiting by their computer for the 'Pettett files' that the blog will be updated soon. I've been a bit tired recently and working at Stif is draining my will to live so I haven't got round to it as of yet. All in good time though.

Speculation is rife for who will be the next interviewee with odds on favourite Burnett (2-1) and Brown Dave (5-2) being the current frontrunners. Place bets now! Ban-zaaaaaaaaiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!!!

Picture of the Day: A classic shot from Halloween 05's Jimmy Pub crawl. A truly memorable night for the right and wrong reasons. J-impact (Jimmy impact) was massive but club goers missed the full effect when several were refused entry to Gatecrasher and I was in a car park watching the missus chuck up and wandering off with a jingle-jangle to do my own - good skills.

2006-06-04T18:25:00.000+01:00

Now then, Now then. Started working back at Stif this last week and as expected its crap and I come home knackered after standing up all day, too knackered to ride which was supposed to be the whole point of working there. Need to get a new job. If anyone knows of a part time job where I can get paid loads and sit down all day then fill me in.

Another NPS no show from my bad self due to 2 weeks off le velo in an attempt to stop feeling like a girl and start back in training. Hope to take out some good results late season i.e. late July/August/September once I get back on track. Might even do some proper cyclocross this year due of lack of racing at the moment, perhaps even the bad boy 3 peaks. Will all depend on whether I can get myself back together though.

In other news, went out Wed night, drank way too much to handle and was found laid out on the bathroom floor in the early hours gibbering. Booze is bad for you kids, take it from me, leave that stuff alone.

New 'interview' up soon when I can be bothered. The Sluicer is pestering me for it, mainly due to hoping he's not going to be the only one featured abusively on my blog. Insider info tells me he was misquoted in the interview and may sue, or cry himself to sleep for the next 6 months.

2006-05-27T22:56:00.000+01:00

Well exams are now finished and I've spent today relaxing and sorting my life out after having it on hold for my finals. I'm glad its all over but it does seem strange that I've now finished uni, 4 years has gone very quickly.

Excluding a major disaster I should be on course for a nice secure 2.1 and not the Desmond (tutu = 2.2) that strikes fear into my heart after getting a bit carried away with sport over the last year and not so carried away with lectures and extremely boring material. But its all over and upon theoretical receipt of a 2.1 I'll be more than happy after all my extracurricular 'activities' on top of my course. If anyone fancies a thrilling 82 page read on "Vehicular Sources of NOx" and why you should avoid tunnels at any cost I can hook you up....

I have also embarked on another e-bay extraveganza which will be online as of Sunday 28th at 8pm so if you're in the market for some bike bits then check out my items: http://search.ebay.co.uk/_W0QQfgtpZ1QQfrppZ25QQsassZchm2was

My 10 speed road group has also arrived and I spent a therapeutic post-exam afternoon/early evening getting the training mobile pimped out with a compact chainset and puff's cassette (12-27). You may well say that those gears are for Julian Clary but with the aid of the powertap round here they're essential to be able to train to power and go up any climbs. Looking forward to some hilly rides again.

Also if you missed it then the exclusive mini interview 'Interview with a Sluicer' is below....

Interview with a Sluicer

2006-05-25T12:27:00.000+01:00

In the first of the series I have conducted an exclusive interview with the sluicer where you can gain an exclusive probing insight into the man behind the glasses and what makes his juice boil.

"Sums........UP 'ERE!"

Nicknames: The Juicer, The Sluicer, Sluice-UuuNit, Biddy-Cent, Shop mobility, Fanny Taylor.

Age: Jurassic

Lives: With morose lodger Alex Inglesias in the limb deprived centre of Leeds, aka Crossgates where everyone is disabled.

Says: "Spray and leave", "xxx hours of Raaaaaa-aaaa-aaace Pace", "Me knees are foooked", "Absolute toss", "Proper bastard", "Ruuubbish", "I spent £200 to save 35 grams but it was worth it" and too many others to mention.

Firstly Andy I hope middle age is treating you well and I'll start with a question that is on many people's lips, have you always been a fanny? Well I started at a young age really and its just become part of who I am, if I'm not being a fanny then I don't feel truly alive. In my youth I used to avoid going outdoors to avoid damaging my knees (more of that later) and things like that you know. Best not to push it really, I am 29 after all.

So what exactly is wrong with your knees? Nothing at all. I just like to pretend and it gives me an excuse for avoiding riding my road bike, doing any general hard training or the probably fatal 2 days racing in a row. The slightest imaginary twinge will have me off the bike for weeks. I have even influenced malleable others such as tighty [Dave Wright] with my knee fanny-itis and managed to get him off his bike for a month or so. My new disciple Leon is doing well and has superceded me with actually being medically advised to stay off his bike for 6 months, truly inspirational.

Juicing? Juicing really is where its at and I like to think of myself at the cutting edge of UK juicing. The purchase of the juicer was a revelation, you can juice anything!! My favourite is beetroot, swede, lime, potato, cabbage and banana - it looks and tastes like shit, probably has bugger all in it apart from water but I bloody love it. The juicer also gave me a comic book villain style nickname of The Juicer.

Sluicing? "That boy needs a good sluicing out". I have an extraordinary catalogue of old wives tales to sluice people out. Somewhat unbelievably none of these actually work and I was rumbled in France 04 when I couldn't shit for days despite drinking cups of warm water first thing in the morning, odd.

"Spray and leave"? Spray and leave is my suggested tactic for a rather unsightly bird who wishes to have a relationship. Upon pulling said bird the recommended action is to return to her house/room/ squat, lay her down, SPRAY and LEAVE. Staying any longer can be dangerous and as the great man Jimmy once said "more than 2hrs with a woman gives you brain damage". I do have to be careful though as a few of my spray and leavers have ended up in the burns unit at the local hospital and...Ok Andy we'll leave it there!

So there you have it the frank confessions of the Sluice-Unit. Part 2 of the interview where we talk Thai brides, decanting old women's urine and piss-sacks will be posted at some time in the near future.

Giro off-road climb to Plan de Corones

2006-05-24T16:57:00.000+01:00

Gutted! The climb that everyone has been excited about in the Giro to the ski station at Plan de Corones with a final 5 km offroad with ramps of up to 24% got shortened today. The offroad part got cancelled because of bad weather making the surface so soft that team cars or race motos couldn't get up it. It looked pretty grim at the top with sleet and strong winds so good decision for the riders but bad for the tifosi.

I was looking forward to seeing the pros struggle in the 27 but the shortened stage finished early on lesser slopes and was taken out by Leonardo Piepoli of Sanier Duval, who after dropping his team leader Simoni just beat Ivan 'the terrible' Basso to the line. That makes it 2 stages for the man Pieopoli, some good drugs for sure.

Someone who's not on good drugs is Danilo di Luca, 4th last year but nowhere this year. Rumours are rife that he was drugged up to his eyeballs on a Mexican 'training camp' prior to the Giro last year when drug laws over there didn't really exist or matter. As a result he won 2 classics and was kicking arse at the Giro in 2005. No drugs this year.

2006-05-24T11:59:00.000+01:00

A bit of info about me:

I race the odd hillclimb, cyclocross and MTB. MTB XC is my main interest and I'm in the elite category this year which means hot competition.

Before getting ill the MTB season started well with a 3 victories, a 2nd and 6th. Most importantly I managed to bag the BUSA (British Universities) MTB Championships. I was pretty close last year and was pretty gutted to finish 2nd. Competition was tougher this year but finally having time on my course to commit to training properly and being coached properly seemed to do the job. I think that will be the last bottle of champagne I'll be spraying for a while though!

I also got slected to represent GB at the World Uni Cycling Champs in BElgium, March 2006. Pretty daunting to say the least but the course was 'interesting' and I had a good laugh. Through 3 sand pits, over a BMX track, flat as a pancake and 11 laps in the 50 min race. There was a distinct possiblity of getting lapped in the race as a few bad boys turned up, some guy had finished top 20 in the proper Cyclocross World Champs. Although being a skinny MTBer doesn't exactly help you on the flat against some big Euro bad-boys I managed to hold em off and got round for the full 11 laps and 14th. Not too bad.

Then I picked some stomach bug up and have been way off it for what seems like ages now. Bit dissapointing but with my Masters project and exams out of the way I'm hoping to get back to doing some training soon. Late MTB season and early cross it looks like at the moment!

2006-05-24T11:32:00.000+01:00

Hi,

Welcome to my blog.

I'm just about to finish uni and embark on a year of part-time work and full time riding and will be charting my progress here. Currently recovering from illness at the moment so not much going on but hope to be back on it soon.

1 exam to go and I'm finished, looking forward to it.