Cardboard Spaceship

Sheldon Brown RIP

I was saddened to see that Sheldon Brown has passed away in the last couple of weeks.  If you are a not a cyclist, you will possibly never have heard of him, but if you are, then you will know that his website was the "go-to" for all the technical tidbbits and technical advice on cycling that you could wish for.  He also seems to have been a nice person along with it, and always had an interesting anecdote or story to go with his engineering expertise.  RIP, Sheldon, and my thoughts to your family and friends.

Bummer! Literally.

I will not go to the Mountain this Year. 

I made the promise that I would be riding in the bloggers Mt Ventoux charity ride this year.  Alas, it is not to be.  I injured my bum about two months ago in an ill-advised fairground incident.  As a friend of mine said, “what were you thinking of, that NASA had a talent scout hidden in the crowd?”

As a consequence I have been on the bike, once maybe twice since then, and it has not been very pleasant.  Now, real cyclists would say “No Pain, No Gain”, but to quote an old Fusco Brothers comic “No Pain, No Way!”    Not really, but I do not see the point in attempting what would be a demanding ride for me while in poor physical shape. 

I am sorry not to be riding with Sig and Thomas, both of whom will be there, and to miss the party afterwards at Sig’s.  I guess I will just have to be a sponsor, and ride next time.

Join me in sponsoring here, and good luck guys! 

Training Required!

Been looking at some mechanics for the hill climb that I am going to be doing.  Will be a tough one.  According to my calculations I will be struggling to beat the three hour mark...

Well, here is the hill:

Now, I reckon that this is an average grade of about 7.5% according to the information that I have seen.  So using the calculator here for hill climbs, I get the following information:

Gonna be a busy next three months if I am to better that one...

Fat Wheezy Bloke Trundling Up Different Hills

Thomas Otter, one of my colleagues, and all round good guy at SAP announces that we will be trundling up Mount Ventoux in Provence at the end of September, which will require me doing some more training. 

And it's all for charity folks! 

I will be doing my training here by trundling up the Col de Saxel, which then merges immediately into the Voirons, which is about the right height and steepness to be comparable.  Wonder where Thomas will find a big enough hill near Walldorf?  Sig I assume will train on the right hill, being closest.

I have also created a new category "Cycling" to cover my painful progress or lack of it...