58′ 50″

I’ve done it, broke the hour target on the way home. Average was
21.4mph.

Why?

Well it is half term so there is less traffic plus most of the
junctions went my way. There is still probably two minutes to be had
if I was really lucky with the traffic. Also today was completely
still. Hardly any wind and what there was appeared to be behind me.
I’m quite pleased about this as I was not blown home. Knocking more
time of this will require better lungs and heart or being really
silly and doing a warm up before going home rather than on the way.

Obviously this does not compare to the Graham Obree’s return to
competitive cycling in article in this weeks Cycling Weekly (did I
mention that I was quoted this week). He rode on a fixed 55 x 12, no
free wheel, no gears. That is beyond my experience. Top gear on my
bike is 53 x 12 but I have loads of other gears, all lower and
although he did not finish, as he fell, you have to admire him. Well
I do. Micheal Hutchenson won at over 30mph.

So back on topic I broke the hour journey home and am now looking
for a new target. I guess I will have to pay more attention to how
fast I get to work.

Tag: Cycling

HHGTTG

Bank Holiday “entertainment”. Finally went to so
HHGTTG and despite having low expectations for the film having read
the reviews it was worse than I expected. I laughed just twice and
they were not belly laughs of the kind that the radio program could
reduce me.

Just very disappointing.

Tag: HHGTTG

Online bookmarks

I’m arriving late to this party, the drinks are gone and people
with kids are calling for cabs to get home to relieve the baby
sitter. What is more I’ve only brought two tins of beer.

However this party looks like it will go on until the early hours
or even for many days. Keep your bookmarks on the internet and load
them directly via RSS that is a great idea, but then the whole thing
of being able to see other peoples bookmarks and who else has book
marked the same items. Cool.

My bookmarks are here.

Tag: Web

ID cards. The opposition grows.

I’m feeling a bit more optimistic today that the ID card bill will
not actually get through parliament. Why? First the debate on Any
Questions (It starts 29′40” into the program if you want to
catch it on listen
again. The Labour MP Bob Marshall Andrews spoke against the bill
and gave some hope that there are enough Labour members with enough
back bone to allow sense to prevail.

Secondly I went down the pub on Friday, which in itself is cause
for celebration.;Particularly as the friends I was with seemed, with
one exception, to come round to my view that they are a very bad
thing. The one exception is a serving Police officer who thought
that it would help him in his job, I’m not sure he is right as the
technology is not actually going to work very well, and anyway the
government claim that we won’t have to carry them.

Thirdly the article
in the Times by Matthew Parris, (yes I had to by the tabloid Times as
the newsagent had sold out of all the other quality papers. Still
don’t like it.) which made me realise that at least part of the
establishment is opposing them and I can only see that opposition
growing as people realise what they will really mean.

Clearly it is much to early to declare the cause won, but it is
not lost yet either.

Sorry if the link does not find you the Times
article. Typing Matthew Parris into the search box gets it but they
only stay online for a few days. The same is true for the BBC listen
again service.

Tag: ID Cards

Devils Punch Bowl Again.

We took a "flat run" to the Devil’s Punch bowl. 9 riders
left but One turned back before Old Woking. One of “Team
Tripe” has managed to put a permanent target on his back of one
of those not present by letting slip that he is riding with another
group as “we are not fast enough”.

Great weather
for the run and apart from the final climb to the cafe was pretty
flat. Just before the climb, while we we regrouping, we were past by
some tourer types which was never going to be allowed to stand (as an
ex tourer type I can attest to the fun I used to have in younger days
bating any roadies that were going up hills. It is a no loose
situation on a tourer. If you are slower then that’s OK as you are a
tourer. If you are faster, it’s just good).

Luckily the tourer types did not go for it so the hill only hurt
due to two of us racing each other we arrived at the top together.

We were then led us back via a nice quiet roads to Guildford and
then back roads to Old Woking and home.

70 miles, not sure
how fast, but it’s only a leisure ride and
we were BBT.

Next week there is the South
Western Road Club’s Randonnee starting
in Cobham at 9am 85 miles which we are going to ride. I’ll be
ignoring the advice about Helmets for obvious
reasons.

Tag: Cycling

We are famous!

Just picked up this weeks “Cycling
Weekly” which contains a write up of the Gran Fondo Felice
Gimondi which features the Molesey
BBT now also known as “Team Tripe” due to the kit we
bought at the expo when we signed on. So Molesey
BBT is now famous! The write up even includes comments from the
riders.

Hopefully there will be a big crowd out tomorrow for the ride (7am
outside Friendly Triffids, East Molesey) and now the Gran Fondo is
over the excuse for training is over I’m sure we will take it a bit
easier.

Tag: Cycling

Why??

What was that all about. So I’m cycling down Red road minding my
own business resigned to the fact this won’t be a fast run home due
to the head wind and the fact it is 28C and I notice a cyclist up in
front. Why could I not have just said to my self: “That’s
interesting a cyclist in front of you, I wonder where he is going?”
and left it at that. Instead it’s lets see if you can catch him.

Well it turns out that I could catch him but then the trouble
started. I caught him at the roundabout on the Bagshot road and past
him just as we joined the road to Chobham. It’s downhill so I’m not
surprised that he is still with me at 30mph. As the hill eases
28mph, then I steady out at 26mph and start wondering if I will
expire due to dehydration or just Bonk first and wonder if I can get
the bag of Lucazade out of my pocket. Finally my speed drops to 24mph
and he passes me lifting us back to 26mph after a bit I take my turn
on the front secure in the knowledge he will turn right in Chobham.

We get the Chobham, he follows me left. No problem he will go
straight on, (now this is a delusion. If you were going straght on
you would never have come down the main road) he does not he follows
me and we hit the now climbing road to Ottershaw. 23mph all the way
to the airfield where the road climbs some more, still trying to work
out how to drink the Lucazade. I’m on the front and the speed has now
dropped to 21mph and he passes keeping us above 20mph all the way to
the little climb outside Ottershaw. I pass him and get a gap on the
hill by simply not slowing down. I then sit up in the hope he will
catch me and we could talk, but the gap is to big and he does not
catch me until the lights in Addlestone. We have a short
converstation:

Him: “A bit fast for me”.

Me: “Sorry”

Him: “It was a bit fast for me”

Me: “Oh, where are you going”

……

So it would seem that we were both going “A bit fast for me”
and neither of us would slow down. One day I might learn. On the off
chance he is reading this. Thanks for the tow.

I never did drink the Lucazade.

Tag: Cycling

Todays quick question

When running find down a single file system how can you exclude a
particular directory?

For example you wish to search /var but do not want to search
/var/spool/mqueue. The problem here is that if you do the obvious:

find /var \( -name mqueue -prune \) -mount -print

the find will stop on any file called “mqueue” and not just
/var/spool/mqueue.

The solution is to use the -inum option to find:

find /var \( -inum
$(ls -di /var/spool/mqueue | nawk ‘{ print $1 }’ ) -prune \) -mount
-print

There must be a
better way, so let me know what is is.

Tag: Solaris Unix find

Why we need IDcards

The Times
reports that the government have once again changed why we need
ID cards. It’s not terrorism, it’s not illegal immigration, it’s ID
fraud. Well that’s OK then. Quite how a bank is going to be able to
check your ID card unless they are all hooked up to the central
system is a moot point.

Given that the Government can’t make up it’s mind as to why ID
cards are a good thing you have to wonder why they are so keen for us
to pay all that money for them?

The good news is that they are going to struggle to get this
through so like Liverpool last night, we should not give up.

Tag: ID Cards

Cup drama

It is not over until the fat lady sings…… Well she is singing in Liverpool tonight. I’m gutted as I stopped watching at half time…..but then I do support Chelski.

Great result, great keeper.