Winnersaint

Got bored waiting for Uncharted 4 so needing a Naughty Dog fix I bought the remastered version for PS4, finally! Quite brilliant so far.

Lescott is Villa's whipping boy, that much we know., but Martin Keown did an analysis on MOTD which suggested Lescott's shortcomings yesterday were more the product of a collective failure rather than him routinely performing badly. He is slow though!

Kudos just given. Keep going!

Ahh well the relegation fight could make for a different type of entertainment.

Just occurred to me that a few of us are doing sportives, event rides and cycling abroad over the summer, so it would be good to have reports of how the things went and what it was like. My next one I think is the Evans Ride It Reading next month 60 not 90 mile so I will post a report on that. I want to do the Wiggle New Forest 100 to end the season in September.

Fingers crossed. Hope it all goes well. Enjoy.

So Sunday saw the Guide Dogs Tour of Berkshire. Initially I entered for the Epic 125K but half expected to only do the Classic 85K. All my training had been for the shorter distance but got in with my club group who were all doing the longer ride. I've ridden in West Berks before so knew some of the course.The first part from Burghfield Common around Sulhamstead I didn't know but we were soon on familiar territory with three stiff climbs through Bradfield and under the M4. The drag up towards Ashampstead and Compton was assisted by a tail wind before dropping down into Theo Walcott's home village via Applepie Hill. The next bit is known as the Ilsley Rollercoaster, passing through the home another famous ex-Saint Mick Channon in West Ilsley. From here we headed along the Lambourne Valley and having gone through the home of horse racing in the area we climbed out towards a large mast on the top of the hill. It was here that I got a sense of how far out we'd come as it was the huge radio/telecoms mast by Membury Services. The climb out of Lambourne towards Membury was a bit a pig. It was like a short alp at around 7-9%, but there was no respite at the top as we turned into a headwind which was there for the next 60K or so. I was on unfamiliar roads back eastwards and there were a few spiteful climbs particularly around Peasemore. After negotiating Chievely it was then negotiating traffic getting into Newbury Showground before grinding out of Hermitage and on to Mrs Cambridge's home village of Bucklebury. So by now I pretty much knew where I was. I was expecting a drop back down to the A4 but didn't reckon on the climb in Chapel Row which although short, topped out at nearly 17%. It was a ***** after 65 miles. Eventually we dropped down to the A4 near Midgham where I was able to hoover up a few more Jaffa Cakes at the last feed station, before heading up another climb to Brimpton. The climbs weren't over yet. Kicks out of Aldermaston village and by the perimeter of AWE had me chewing the handlebars once more and even then on the flat there was the ever present headwind. One more descent and 9% ascent before the finish and I was done in just over five and a half hours. Not fast, but with around 5000 feet of climbing it was a good first long ride of the season. Particular thanks to Team Boutique. Anyone looking for a cycling club in north Hampshire/Berkshire that has good riders, but really doesn't take itself too seriously should come and take part in the Saturday social rides. 14 -16 mph no-one left behind. Rides start from shop just off the A30 at Murrell Green, between Hook and Hartley Wintney.

You able to do AG or is that it?

Enjoy, at least you won't have cobbles to contend with this year. On a more mundane level I'm doing the Guide Dogs Tour of Berkshire next Sunday.

Garmin is certainly a global brand with a local and also interestingly a Swiss connection, although for obvious reasons they've been heavily involved in cycling sponsorship. Chipotle, Transitions, Slipstream, Cervelo, Sharp and Cannondale have all had Garmin in their names as a headline sponsor. Morphed into Cannondale Pro Cycling this season I wonder if Garmin will look elsewhere, after all their cycling products are pretty much ubiquitous among cyclists. The value of sponsorship in cycling is in company visibility in big televised events. Without Garmin as a title sponsor that visibility is lost. I know nothing of the viability of this as such, but it wouldn't surprise me if they became our shirt sponsors.

A true artist right up there with those two. Make no bones about it. Only one missing from that group was probably the Best that these islands will ever produce.

Thank fook for that!

Is this going to get in the way of Amstel Gold?

The Hollow Crown by Dan Jones, basically his take on the Wars of the Roses and the Tudor succession. The history is narrative, doesn't get get sidetracked by analysis and the writing is fast paced and exciting. All in all a rattling good yarn! Drawn to this as it was a period of history I knew nothing about.

A bit too young to have caught The Nice, but ELP at Bournemouth Winter Gardens was the first gig I went to possibly in November 1972. Also Pictures at an Exhibition was on at cinema about the same time. Remember seeing it in a small cinema in Southampton, possibly The Classic. Big fan back in the day. He was a tremendous musician and one of my most striking memories of him apart from his assault on his Moog was of him playing on Parkinson with Oscar Peterson. RIP.

Irish lads at work really rate him as do I. One, a Liverpool fan would have him there in a shot. They reckon his GAA background is at the root of his astonishing workrate, fitness and courage. It's hard to argue against it. His goal return may not be in the £12M class but his all round contribution to the team is worth double.

Out for the first time on club ride today. Really enjoyed it despite fog and some very questionable surfaces particularly between the A30 and A33.

Another one for John Bailey and Adrian Heath. Peter Crouch for bottling it at Nottarf Krap in 05.

OK my take on TP for the younger generation was that he was a better crosser than Beckham by a country mile. Even relatively late on he could take a man on the outside using brains rather than the speed of youth and he was a goal scorer. 183 goals in 713 games for Saints doesn't look too impressive, but he was basically a midfielder in modern money. I have no doubt that were a player with his qualities were to arrive on the scene now, they would be heralded as an absolute superstar, he was that good! Had a nasty streak in him mind, but I suppose facing agricultural full backs week in week out you had to have that. In my Saints watching years which are now beyond half a century he stands out along with Mick Channon and MLT as the greatest Saints players I have seen. As a youngster in the late sixties standing towards the East Stand corner on Archers Road there was always a palpable sense of excitement when he was in a crossing position, invariably as a result of quick one two that put him in good position on the by-line. With his crossing and Ron Davies in the middle you could almost sense that a goal was inevitable.

There is a singular lack of hard factual information out there in so far as how a Brexit or otherwise would affect individuals and their families/communities. Neither side is able to produce a coherent argument based on facts. It renders the referendum at this stage at least, to an emotional vote rather than a rational or reasoned one. My concern is that a sizeable proportion of the electorate will be drawn to populist issues perpetuated by a Eurosceptic right wing leaning press and see the vote as one about the current immigrant crisis rather than about the EU.

I believe that this was the title of a thread earlier on last week. 'The Not a Derby Derby.' That said' I'll concede it is a bit of one.

There was me thinking the consensus was that it wasn't a Derby! At least it improves the chances of it becoming one in the future.

Grow up!

See the bedwetters are back in force!

He should have stuck to C&W!