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great scottish bike rides. 25 classic road cycling routes across scotland. dave barter. vertebrate publishing 159pp illus. £25

i confess, it's been a while since i received a cycling adventure book that did not concern the ubiquitous gravel bike. but dave barter has bucked the trend by publishing, in concert with vertebrate publishing, a concise and well-illustrated volume describing just over two dozen road cycling routes north of the border, though i must admit, i don't completely comprehend the pre-fixing of those with the word classic.

as evinced in a recent guardian article featuring couples who moved from the usa to scotland, though scotland is conjoined both physically and politically with the southern part of the uk, in many ways, it couldn't be more different. and possibly the first difference likely to be pointed out by scots and non-scots alike, is the substantial amount of precipitation suffered, predominantly on its west coast.

in other words; rain.

the map preceding the book's contents shows the 25 rides fairly evenly split between west, east and central. however, my parochial island sensibilities found themselves slightly disappointed that the author's only departures from the mainland, were a visit to arran and to mull (skye is no longer eligible to call itself an island following the opening of a bridge in october 1995 and bute is so close to scotland (35 minutes), as to be almost inseparable). the southern hebrides (islay, jura and colonsay), along with the western isles (the outer hebrides), were seemingly thought unworthy of inclusion. that makes it all the more ironic that he begins his introduction with "Scotland is old. It began approximately three billion years ago in the Outer Hebrides..."

he does, however end with the admission, "i'd love to have included many more...", without actually explaining why he didn't.

as with many cycle guide books, the author provides salient advice as to the best means of approaching the contents from the saddle, alluding to fitness, nutrition and hydration, suitable apparel ("Cyclists who venture out must be prepared for a whole range of weather conditions.") before moving onto mechanical considerations by way of tools and spares and coping with unforeseen emergencies, maps and navigation, and a helpful separation of the rides into three categories: moderate, challenging and epic.

each of the 25 rides is copiously illustrated and augmented with an introduction, its location on the map, distance, elevation gain, route profile and the relevant map references. some of this data is summarised in a single table inside the back cover. when it comes to maps, though each ride is downloadable as a series of gpx files for uploading to your gps device of choice, mr barter advises "...I always carry a paper map." alongside each ride description is a single-page, colour map of the route; less sophisticated than an ordnance survey version, but sufficiently detailed to provide at least a taster of what the determined velocipedinist might expect.

the elevation profile for the skye route will give you sleepless nights.

the ride descriptions are commendably 'chatty' in style, as opposed to the more usual step-by-step instructions. "The next section is a bit of a slog [...] I'm afraid there's not much to see along the way, apart from a military firing range." and "The late afternoon light will enhance the views and ensure that you have the lake road to yourself."

for those of us who still consider ourselves to be roadies rather than gravellites, this is a welcome addition to the cycling bookshelf. and the very fact that the author resides in devon would tend to confirm that the joys of scotland are not confined to those of us who live here.

great scottish bike rides

friday 11 september 2026

return on investment

it's always nice to know that people care, even if their reasons for doing so occasionally seem a tad obscure. as a spoiler alert, meaning there will probably be days this coming weekend without any of this velocipedinal nonsense to wade through, the caol ila islay jazz place will celebrate 27 years of existence, part of which will include yours truly being percussive in the local gaelic centre. there will be addditional travel requirements as i attempt to fit as many concerts into the weekend as i dare. however, to return to the caring disposition for a moment, one of the local organisers visited yesterday afternoon to say that he felt i had been somewhat poorly treated with regard to communications about my joint public performance with a few other musicians.

as a non-professional, both in fact and disposition, the situation has caused me no particular grief, but i did find it quite gratifying to learn that my welfare was at least being genuinely considered.

and one can only hope that the apparent concern shown by strands of the bicycle industry are not only as well-meaning, but largely untrammeled by non-altruistic concerns. let me explain: the industry as a whole is keen to engender the reputation as one which cares deeply for its actual and potential customers. any touted improvements to componentry, apparel and the bicycles themselves are, we are often assured, born from genuine concern that we have, at our fingertips, the best that technology and actual concern for our wellbeing can provide. i realise that the last sentence may give rise to accusations of guarded cynicism, a state of affairs that i strenuously deny.

probably.

i assume that we're all familiar with the ancestry of the humble three-in-one oil can, a lubricant that is embedded in childhood memories, and kept a raleigh-twenty shopping bike ready and willing to participate in daily newspaper deliveries throughout the early 1970s. i don't doubt that, in certain corners of civilisation, three-in-one oil cans are studiously continuing this tradition to the best of their ability. of course, i am not personally involved in the high stakes, high performance world of professional cycling. but i can assure you that, were i to fail to forestall a sprint victory against wout van aert, it would not be at the behest of my chain lubricant.

however, those of us who consider ourselves fully-paid up members of the cognoscenti are effectively barred from even considering a can of three-in-one. not for us the simplicity and low viscosity of refined petroleum; our needs are far better served by scientifically engineered lubricant, the latest of which comes from the laboratories of french-based motul.

apparently the snappily-named, 'racing chain lube', "has been engineered to deliver very low friction, high wear resistance and protection against contamination in a range of riding conditions." in other words, it's reputedly better than a spray lubricant featuring the number 40. it's not the sort of claim that the average hebridean blogger is in any position to dispute, and it is more than likely that motul's claims are as true as any others. but the company goes on to contend that "cyclists (are) increasingly looking for products that minimise power loss while protecting the drivetrain." you may already have alluded to my cynicism, but i can legitimately state that i personally know of no cyclists for whom the above question has cracked the top ten.

so is motul, and by implication, every other lubricant provider (with the possible exception of three-in-one) truly invested in our velocipedinal well-being, or is this simply a case of not wishing to miss out on a market that appears to promise future economic growth?

and while we're here, is it at all possible that other strands of the world of bicycle technology are similarly concerned with aiding and abetting our road or gravel-going superiority? i ask, simply because the notorious absolute black has recently introduced a new range of floating disc rotors on which the braking surface hole pattern is reputedly devoid of aesthetic concerns in favour of "greater thermal capacity under sustained braking." absolute black says it analysed the friction track as hundreds of circular paths, "aiming to create a flatter, more consistent material distribution across the main working area of the rotor."

i don't doubt for one moment that this is true, but was it truly necessary? as a luddite, i'm still of the opinion that rim brakes (on road bikes at least), were perfectly adequate for all of us; professional or otherwise. but though admitting that hydraulic disc brakes have succeeded in world domination, are there any, including world tour riders, who have publicly or privately expressed concerns over the material distribution within their brake rotors? and if they have, why? i do understand that allowing the outer portion of the rotor to float minimises any propensity to squeal under braking, but even if these new, thermally efficient rotors can bring a rider to a halt several centimetres sooner than their competitors, to employ the vernacular, "so what?"

if we are willing to acquiesce to the contention that hydraulic disc brakes are more efficient than their rim-brake predecesssors, and that the latter brought hundreds, if not thousands of race victories throughout the 19th century and early part of the 20th, why do we need even more efficiency that probably no-one actually asked for?

remember when we just used to go for a bike ride?

wednesday 9 september 2026

where it's at

this past saturday, my services were engaged by a cycling holiday business, to guide a group of visiting cyclists around a pre-determined route within the principality. i have, in fact, carried out a similar function for the business on previous occasions, presumably based on the notion that i am well acquainted with the topography, history and narrative of the land. to a certain degree, that is a not altogether unfounded assumption, and i am happy to relate that there is a great deal of satisfaction to be gained from showing visitors around your home (so to speak).

in this particular instance, the route topped out at around 62km, leading from bowmore village to bridgend, before turning left and heading, via bruichladdich, to port charlotte. with the most southern point of the trip being ultimately that of portnahaven and port wemyss, the most scenic means of achieving that is to turn right towards kilchiaran, and take the coast road south in an anti-clockwise direction. undertaken direct from port charlotte entails staring out to sea for over 12km, while the kilchiaran road not only provides an intriguing north atlantic coastline, but, speedily remembered by the guide, a visit to windswept farm shop which sits atop a cliff affording (on saturday at least) a clear view of the ocean.

though i doubt anyone was convinced, i did suggest that standing on tiptoe on a picnic bench would allow clear views of canada's eastern seaboard.

those who followed dutifully in my tyre tracks were aboard a mish-mash of e-bikes and acoustic bikes, though adhering to a deliberately slow pace gave no particular advantage to the former, interspersed with frequent stops for photographs and the occasional opportunity to purchase islay-made crafts.

islay residents often display an undeniable propensity to take their surroundings for granted; but not everyone has the good fortune to live on the coast of one of the world's major oceans, and travels along singletrack roads with grass growing down the centre. if i add that we met only one car from turning off at port charlotte until we were on the approach to portnahaven some twelve kilometres later, you will perhaps appreciate just how far removed from the rat race we truly are. on arrival at portnahaven where the bike stop afforded glorious views over the picture-postcard bay (see above), while looking across to orsay lighthouse, celebrant of its 200th anniversary only last year, you'd have been forgiven for assuming the groups christmasses had all arrived at once.

on the return ride north, overlooking loch indaal, there were glorious views to be had across to laggan bay, the hills bordering the sound of islay and the paps of jura. another reason why the route was formed this way. debbie's reputation for serving the world's finest bacon-butties brought demands that we stop in bruichladdich for a mid-afternoon repast, demands to which i cheerfully acquiesced. cheered on by a welcome tailwind back to bowmore, my guests-for-the-day confirmed their delight at the day's activities, and that they would leave islay on sunday morning, harbouring excellent memories of the islands (they had visited jura earlier in the week).

i write of this not to boast of my ability not to lose anyone en-route and keep a group of cyclists happy on a parcours that included a 14% ascent of a gravel and sheep infested road. i write this because the day perfectly illustrated that exploring anywhere, but an island in particular, by bicycle, is incontestably the finest way, bar none. had our 62km trip been by car, we'd have seen very little of our surroundings while having to watch out for oncoming traffic on singletrack roads. and when we came across a view of great interest - kilchiaran bay, for instance - it was a simple matter to stop and look. i feel i need not underline that parking a car, without blocking the road entirely, is simply not a practical consideration.

by car, the journey described above, including stops, could have easily been assimilated in under two hours; by bike, it took us six glorious hours. the land of civilisation proved that everything is better during and after a bike ride.

tuesday 8 september 2026

keeping fit

over fifty years ago, just as i began my third year at art college, a friend in my design class, invited me to sit in as drummer with his band, as a result of his regular drummer having opted to take a holiday. the band held a residency in one of the local hotels, the drumset being a part of the hotel furniture, though it did belong to the vacationing drummer. under the circumstances, as i recall, there was scant opportunity for rehearsal, so i simply spent an afternoon at my friend's (the bass player) flat, running through a selection of the set-list, much of which consisted of elvis presley songs. (it is a session drummer's duty not to query that which he has been asked to perform).

on the night of the gig, arriving in timely fashion as is my cultivated habit, i was somewhat concerned to apprehend the drumset on which i was required to perform. a grey, oyster pearl premier kit, with two rack toms, a floor tom, metal snare and zildjian cymbals, it transpired that the setup was exactly as it had been when removed from the delivery boxes well over a year previously. (how come i can remember all that from over 50 years ago, but not what i had for tea last wednesday?)

when i relate, exactly as it had been, i mean that literally.

though it may be common practice nowadays to tune a drumset prior to packing it for despatch, in the 1970s, it was apparently deemed good enough to sit the drumheads on the shells and loosely place rims and tuning bolts. thus, as i sat behind the kit for the first time, only 30 minutes prior to performance time, i realised that none of the heads were tuned, and that several of the tuning bolts rattled in their slots. you would, perhaps, be forgiven for asking why i didn't simply employ my drum key and tune the darned thing, but the unwritten rules of sitting-in, demand that other than perhaps adjusting the height of the stool, everything else should be left as is; someone else's kit, someone else's rules.

in the intervening years, i have played many other drumsets; some of them mine, some of them not. the only ones that i ever tune, are those i personally own, and i rarely do i play the drum straight from the box without altering the tuning to suit.

a similar set of unwritten rules applies to reviewing bicycles, in that, while there may be favoured components i have come to prefer, during the period of review, the bicycle should be left (other than pedals), exactly as it was on release from the box. that's entirely on the basis that anyone purchasing a similar bicycle, either direct from the manufacturer, distributor or bike shop, would receive it exactly as had i. how would the subsequent review relate to that in the bike shop, were i to have replaced the chainset, wheels and saddle? even where it proved possible to retain a bicycle for at least a couple of months for a longer-term review, the same set of circumstances prevailed. there's really no means of predicting how any of the changes effected by a new owner might impact my conclusion, hence the decision to review a bicycle on its own, original merits.

but could it be that my desire to retain the bicycle's original integrity is a great deal closer to reality than i might have presumed? do the majority of purchasers of new bicycles, actually make any changes at all? and how many undertake even minimal research prior to the act of purchase? for instance, there may be certain makes and models of bicycle that catch my eye and even progress towards the aim of potential purchase. but should that situation occur, i will want to learn if it features tubeless or clincher tyres, at what width, what length of stem, brand of groupset and length of crank? at one time, a decent bike shop may have been willing to make a few subtle alterations before it left the shop floor, but many recent complexities have rendered that process null-and-void.

for instance, it was once a commonality to ask the shop to fit a shorter/longer stem. but with many bicycles now sporting one-piece bar/stem with integral cabling, that you can fully comprehend why asking the question results in a stern frown from the shop owner. and crank length? probably not.

but then how many carry out any of the above, possibly necessitous, alterations following delivery of the bike? based purely on anecdotal evidence and observation, i believe the majority are likely to follow the example of the vacationing drummer mentioned at the top of this monologue. leave everything as is. this could either be the result of a relatively uninformed choice, or, having spent slightly over budget on acquisition, a lack of available funds to make any desired upgrades. those new to the cycling experience are quite likely to set the saddle too low, but those with greater experience and for whom this is not their first bicycle, will have likely been informed about the latter by a well-meaning colleague. but quite frequently, that is the sum total of imposed changes.

and based entirely on my own experience of a complete cyclefit bike fit by the inestimable phil cavell, when the numbers were found to differ substantially from that which i had been riding for years, why did my suspicions fall upon mr cavell, rather than yours truly? especially when his numbers proved to be darned near perfect?

richard sachs has said that very few riders are in need of a custom-made frameset, unless very short or very tall; that today's off-the-shelf bicycles are perfectly adequate. so are the wide range of inexpensive drumsets, but we all have our preferences. ride cymbal low and to the right; a longer stem to suit longer arms; snare drum a smidgeon lower than the tom-tom; narrower saddle than the one supplied by the manufacturer.

i am not advising that you make changes for the sake of making changes, nor attempting to create a setup identical to wout's or tadej's. unless evolution has been remarkably kind, you're probably neither of the above. but i think it's better to rely on your own investigations, rather than those of a manufacturer you've never met.

monday 7 september 2026

feeling lucky?

beloved of many youtube videos and certain types of magazine, is the round table discussion, where an indeterminate number of individuals, often from the same industry or activity, literally sit round a table and discuss a specific topic, reputedly of relevance not only to said individuals, but to those of us out in the wild with aspirations to have been one of those sitting round the aforementioned table. hypothetically, i am thus including my reader as one such individual, then asking whether he/she and yours truly are feeling lucky? and the velocipedinal aspect about which i am theoretically enquiring is the number of sprockets accumulating on our back wheels.

this is in reaction to the apparent discovery that shimano has upgraded its dura-ace groupset to thirteen speeds, bringing it in line with sram and campagnolo. they both had to alter their freehubs to accommodate one extra gear, and there appears to be surmising that shimano has had to do likewise. however, bizarrely, in an industry that relies on selling stuff, shimano has declined to discuss an, as yet, unreleased product. shades of apple computer, methinks. therefore, the many potential customers who have eagerly awaited new trinketry for their bicycles, are excluded from planning ahead in conjunction with the mortgage department of their designated banks.

the luck part, in case you were wondering, is that we find ourselves alive in an era where the number of sprockets on the rear wheel has moved from the five-speed freewheel that originally brought us the ten-speed racer to the thirteen that has now become de rigeur in the peloton. i need not tell you (but i'm going to anyway) that a double chainset up front thus provides a theoretical twenty-six gears. in this particular case, i think the french approach it with the greatest degree of perspective, having provided the alternative word vitesses to describe the function of cassette sprockets. somehow mentioning to the great unwashed, that the bicycle astride which you stand, features x-number of speeds. conveniently associates us with the impression of velocity, and an avowed prowess to achieve it.

but is luck really that which has been bestowed?

if, like me, you have been watching either live broadcast or edited highlights of la vuelta, you will possibly have observed the speeds being achieved by the participants, speeds that few, if any, of us could reach without ending up in hospital. as mentioned but a day or so past, the current average speed in this year's tour of spain is presently at 40.5kph (around 24mph in old money). answer honestly; when was the last time the sunday ride ended at the coffee stop with just such an average speed showing on everyone's garmin? it's possible i may have momentarily reached near 40kph during my galeforce tailwind-assisted return from debbie's yesterday afternoon, but there's not a chance in christendom i could have maintained that past bridgend.

but, of course, whether we refer to them as vitesses or otherwise, does not in fact make life in the saddle any faster. i know the component purveyors would prefer that it not be said in public, but twelve speeds are not faster than eleven, and thirteen proffers no speed advantage over twelve.

so is this perpetual desire for more gears really all about providing smaller jumps between gears, or simply a means of maximising income at the behest of belief in the marketing?

when campagnolo introduced their thirteen speed ekar gravel groupset, it brought with it an inherent need for a new wheelset, whether a fan of vicenza or otherwise. harbouring thoughts of upgrading the groupset on my specialized crux, i approached google to investigate the cost of so doing. a groupset cost of around £800 didn't seem too outlandish, but the likelihood of having to purchase a new wheelset, and thus discarding the two pairs i currently possess, placed it beyond the pale.

but our luck may also be soon running out as highlighted by a sunday morning friend of mine, who has had more wheel problems than anyone else i know, and now encounters the difficulties inherent in finding a campagnolo compatible carbon wheelset suitable for rim brakes. as progress marches on, it has scant regard for that which it leaves behind. none of the big three are continuing to upgrade the mechanical versions of their top-of-the-range gearsets, and in so doing, they have cast aside the humble rim-brake. if rim-brake compatible, mechanical versions of sram red, campagnolo super-record or dura-ace are your holy grail, i hate to say it, but...

adobe's portable document format (pdf), apple's e-books and kindle's versions of the same, could arguably were once viewed as the future of reading material, yet i can still buy a 'real' book if i want to. and according to industry figures, books outsell e-books four-to-one. and isn't the number thirteen meant to be unlucky?

saturday 5 september 2026

currency

in yesterday's guardian newspaper, there was an excellent article by sports/football writer, barney ronay, entitled 'money loses meaning in chaotic carnival of excess'. as i have said to the point of boredom, i have no interest in football whatsoever, but was enticed by a front page click-bait which stated 'it's the fans who end up paying for the £3bn transfer window.' you can perhaps see why, instead of simply discarding the sports pages as usual, i turned to page 40 to read in earnest.

a bit like the business pages in the same newspaper, despite having very little comprehension or insight into the machinations of industry, i find myself strangely attracted to stories of chief executives' often obscene annual remuneration, augmented by very unseemly bonus schemes. and despite having no plans whatsoever to visit across the pond, i check the exchange rate between sterling and the dollar on a daily basis. similarly, though ignoring the sports pages, when perusing the bbc news website in a forlorn attempt to keep myself informed, there is inevitably more than a single instance of some ludicrous amount of money being exchanged for a teenage footballer, who will now receive an annual salary in excess of the money paid to to surgeons.

and all that just for kicking a football about for ninety-minutes.

mr ronay's contention, as if you hadn't already guessed, is that no matter how large the amount spent on transferring a footballer from one team to another, it's the fans that ultimately pay. to quote from the article, "Who pays in the end for this circulation of funds? You for starters. There is no such thing as football money. It's all TV rights, state propaganda funds and hard private investment from the kind of people who really don't give without taking back in the end." what the article doesn't mention is that it's not just football fans who are paying.

i know we've been over this ground so many times that it's almost part of the wallpaper, but tnt sports spent £6.7bn for the sole rights to broadcast premier-league football matches until 2030. not unnaturally, the owners and/or investors in tnt sports did not pay such a ridiculous amount in order to prove their altruism; they will not only want that £6.7bn back by the end of 2030, but a few pounds on top to keep the office coffee machine well-fed. yet the football fans mentioned above are not the only ones being charged £30.99 a month to watch the streaming channel. even if, like me, you only want to watch cycling, or, in my case, cyclocross, tnt still charge the full amount, presumably on the basis that i could watch football if i wanted to.

never a day goes past these days, without almost every newspaper featuring an often derogatory story about artificial intelligence. either because rich tech companies appear to be over-riding planning laws by assembling data centres wherever it takes their fancy, or that if a large pay day does not arrive sooner, rather than later, the billions that have been invested in the genre might well lead to yet another financial crisis. but with all the hype surrounding a.i., there is much truth told about the ability of artificial intelligence to reach hitherto untold heights; surely apportioning proportional subscription costs based on customer demand would be something it could do almost without trying?

however, let's not kid ourselves; inordinate costs are not exclusive to football broadcasts. admittedly, tadej pogacar's salary over the selfsame four years of tnt's premier-league coverage, is rumoured to be almost 50 million euros. while that is still a ridiculous amount to pay anyone to do what it is they always wanted to do anyway, none of it comes from tv money, entirely due to the latter being directed to the race organisers/owners, and not to the participating teams. but at least some of the costs incurred by the broadcaster will require to show a healthy return on investment, even if it occasionally appears that with a smidgeon of perspicacity, costs could be minimised.

while watching channel five's la vuelta highlights programme of stage eleven, coverage provided by tnt sports (presumably for a healthy fee) i identified four different voices from the commentary booth: sean kelly, rob hatch, adam blythe and an unidentified other. the average length of a tour of spain stage is 156 kilometres, with the current average speed pegged at 40.5kph. that brings the average time taken to complete the stages ridden so far as 3.8 hours. if we include some hapless fellow who appears on the finish line or mid-point mountain top, that's five, reasonably well-paid individuals, none of whom have to be on air for anything like those 3.8 hours. and occasionally others are drafted in to cover while sean and rob nip off for some lunch.

most of us probably work at least seven hours a day, and quite likely paid a tad less than tnt's commentary team (and don't forget orla and her daily necessity to have a different outfit for each stage). years ago, we used to happily listen to david duffield and sean kelly, with no pre and post-race punditry to tell us what was about to take place, followed by analysis of why it all turned out completely different. none of this alters the day's racing, and i'll warrant that few, if any, of the race participants are aware of who and how many are commentting on their efforts.

but we know who's paying for it.

friday 4 september 2026

i'm sorry, i haven't a clue

during this year's islay book festival, i met with a friend, whom i've scarcely been in touch recently, but who was promoted to a position of serious responsibility around eight months ago. though promoted within the same company, her previous position was one considerably different than the one in which she now finds herself. it was not, therefore, entirely out of character to ask how she was getting on in a job for which she is undoubtedly qualified. her immediate response was that she was eight months in, and still in the office. but she figured that, by-and-large, she was still flying by the seat of her pants (so to speak). i then enquired about another friend who took on the job my first friend had departed, a girl i've known for many, many years. the implication was that she too was juggling the spinning plates, and only just managing to keep them from falling.

i've been in my current job for just over six years, and i'm convinced that my colleagues and board of directors think i have a far better grasp of the situation than is actually the case. not entirely on purpose, i find myself approaching each day in a remarkably similar manner to my approach to jazz drumming.

i'm improvising all the time.

islay is, to put it bluntly, very far from being the hub of the musical universe. narrow that down to specific genres, and jazz scarcely has a look-in. i have mentioned on probably one too many occasions, that you could probably end a conversation in main street by bringing up either jazz or opera (incidentally, scottish opera will present hansel and gretel in the high school this coming october). though i listen to little other than jazz recordings on a daily basis, apart from a gig each year at the caol ila islay jazz festival, i have no other opportunity to play jazz. thus, when those jazz gigs come along, i am, to paraphrase my friend above, flying by the seat of my pants.

and to place that in perspective, i quite like things to be like that.

at 6pm on sunday 13 september, at the local gaelic centre, i will perform, along with others, a 90 minute concert, the set list for which is still a complete mystery. and simply to top things off, i am aware of only one other musician with whom i will perform, and she's a saxophone player i have never met before. the members of the band in which i play more frequently around the island (very definitely not jazz), would be horrified to find themselves dropped into such a situation without several hours of rehearsal. in the case of the upcoming jazz festival gig, i will be provided with around 45 minutes of practise, ensuring that the subsequent presentation will still be a surprise to both audience and performers alike.

think of it as the equaivalent of rapha's oft-repeated advice to "ride until you no longer recognise your surrounds."

however, it dawned on me that, if i, and my two good friends, think ourselves only tentatively in charge of the immediate future, is it possible that this is a state of affairs which applies to a great many more? to explore that possibility, i queried one or two others whom, i have always presumed, were more than in charge of their destinies. as it transpires, while a couple claimed to be very much in the driving seat, the majority had the same appreciation of immediate matters as do i. and the aforementioned friends. so do we think that might also be the case with professional bike riders? the sort of individuals who regularly find themselves at the head of the peloton?

while watching highlights of la vuelta only the other evening, i observed the commentators behaving as once did my father when watching football on tv, criticising the tactics of either an entire team, or simply one member of same. as mentioned only a few days past, members of the tnt sports commentary team are inclined to take substantial breaks throughout a commentating day, while those upon whom they commentate, are required to persist from the end of the neutralised zone, all the way to the finish line. yet, despite scarcely experiencing the accumulated fatigue of the pelotonese, they find it within their portfolio to point out where each might possibly be making the wrong choice(s).

perhaps it's simply a case of nerves that encourages tadej to accelerate off the front of the peloton some 48km from the end, or maybe wout acts as a super-domestique because he's overwhelmed by the day to day aspects of riding his cervelo? could it be that matthew brennan sprints to victory solely because he has accidentally found himself in front of a bunch of raging sprinters with no easy way out? granted, in the post-race interviews, we are usually advised that the lead-out was the chosen strategy of the day, but how do we know that's true? given this recent appraisal of our own apprehension of the daily grind, other than being a great deal faster, there is surely little difference between ourselves and our pelotonic heroes?

on day one of any grand tour, there can be up to 21 teams of nine riders on the start line; that's almost 190 individuals, all with specific aspirations, but possibly little chance of achieving them as a result of the inherent chaos engendered by a fast-moving, ever-changing peloton. is it not statistically possible that only a handful of that number are able to confidently plan their trajectory towards the finish line? professional bicycle riders might be a class apart, but for the most part, that concerns only their athletic abilities, and not necessarily their personal organisational skills.

i'll never watch the peloton in the same light ever again.

thursday 3 september 2026

the future?

you will perhaps be aware that my absence from the interwebs over the past few days was at the behest of islay book festival, events of which upon i was required to report for the local newspaper. in the process of doing so, i cycled approximately 90km; something of a bonus you will doubtless agree, but alongside the need to take notes in longhand over one hour for each event, made for a somewhat tiring weekend. however, not only did book festival attendance interrupt my bicycle scribblings, but on saturday at least, the daily episode of la vuelta.

those who have been following the spanish grand tour will easily equate that particular evening with the unfortunate exit from the event by its red-jerseyed leader, tadej pogacar. i did learn of this later that same evening during my frequent perusal of youtube videos, but was almost simultaneously appraised of the situation by an e-mail from tim dibden in australia, keen to point out that which we probably all knew was going to happen anyway. i am not regularly given to velocipedinal prognostications of a sporting flavour, mostly because i rarely consider myself top be particularly well-informed.

however, as tim rightly pointed out, i had stated, in pixels, following the opening two stages of the race, that the organisers might as well proceed directly to grenada and hand the trophy to the slovenian, as the following weeks were likely to prove remarkably predictable. of course, i hadn't considered the possibility of tadej suffering a race-ending crash, if only because he has seen a career rarely punctuated by debilitating accidents. if nothing else, this clearly outlines why yours truly should keep well away from cycle-related predictions.

however, having missed saturday's highlights altogether, the timing of my final book festival event on sunday afternoon, ensured that i was at home to watch stage nine, with its knee-breaking ascent to alto de aitana costa blanca. won by the race's heir apparent, enric mas, ending almost five years of a complete lack of stage victories in their home race, he was shadowed to the last few metres by scotland's oscar onley. but what we did see was what racing might be like, were jonas and tadej to take up indoor bowls or beach volleyball.

vingegaard succeeded in italy by a margin of more than five minutes over felix gall, a frenchman currently acquitting himself well in spain. come those three weeks in july, with no jonas to trouble him, after suffering his own race-departing crash, tadej stood atop the champs elysées podium ahead of remco evenepoel by over six minutes. gaps such as these after three weeks of racing obviously bolster the reputations of the dane and slovenian, as well as having a presumably similar effect on their respective salaries, but neither race did a great deal to improve the entertainment value of either.

granted, if you happen to be a fan of either gent, no doubt those winning margins following three weeks of derring-do are as succour to the less than downtrodden. but for those of us who prefer to embrace the whole enchilada, enjoying the frequent comparison between professional cycling and three-dimensional chess, it was twenty-one days of predictability, fostering considerations of switching off and doing something more interesting instead. i cannot deny that precisely that option had occurred following pogacar's victory by a tiny margin in the prologue time-trial. all he had to do, i contended, was follow the wheels ahead for the next few weeks, since the three brits behind him in the victory parade were hardly likely to challenge in the mountains.

i'm aware that so doing is hardly tadej's style, but since public entertainment rarely seems to be high on his strategy list, it would surely have proved the most pragmatic means of retaining the red jersey until grenada.

but, as echoed by tnt sports' apparently endless list of commentators (really, how many blokes does it take to commentate on one stage? most of us work at least seven hours a day, but i doubt any tnt commentator is challenged for much more than a couple of hours at a time), the racing we all witnessed on stage nine was a revelation, providing a clear insight as to the enjoyment to be garnered from a peloton far closer in abilities. i appreciate that it's hardly tadej's or jonas' fault that the competition does not rival their extraordinary abilities; it's not for them to regress, but the others to progress. but it's hard to deny that a gap of twelve seconds between first and third on a mountain stage is far more enjoyable to watch than a gap measured in minutes between first and second.

the next couple of weeks will either confirm or deny, but my ten pence is on the former.

tuesday 1 september 2026