When they started by stating numerous times (the ill-informed Julia Hartley Brewer and callers alike) that car drivers pay to use the roads so should have exclusive use of them, I was hoping for ANYONE to point out that Vehicle Excise Duty (VED) does not pay for the roads, but roads are paid for by regular taxation, so I do pay for the roads, even if I don’t have a car or a bike. Check ipayroadtax.com for more details on that, but safe to say they are wrong. I did call in but unfortunately LBC didn’t call me back.

And MOTs, licenses and registration plates for cyclists is a useless suggestion, considering the police struggle and pretty much fight a losing battle against motorists who drive without insurance, how the hell do you expect this to be enforced. If anyone has any ideas I’d love to know.  Before anyone mentions insurance, I have third party insurance on my bike, although I would never expect to use it.

Next, callers were virtually threatening cyclists. I don’t remember his name but the driver that said of cyclists “I’ve hit one before and would do it again. If they’re in my way I’ll run them down.” WHAT THE FUCK. I guess it says something that the caller drives a BMW but I wish he had given his number plate so I can avoid him altogether. And report him to the police if he tries to use his car as a weapon.

Cyclists that “wear lycra and think they’re professional cyclists” should dismount and use a footbridge (as suggested by a caller) is bollocks. We have a right to use the road and when we are traveling at a fair speed, why should we sacrifice journey time by minutes when we would only hold up cars for a few seconds, most of the time.

To the cyclist who is the only one who doesn’t break the highway code and thinks other cyclists (and I think he included the LCC in the statement) are arrogant scum is living in his own little world, I see hundreds of cyclists every year that are fine cyclists and don’t jump lights and so on.

And as for the presenter I don’t remember the complete build up, but saying that if you kill a cyclist you should be the one people feel for is pathetic, you come across as a selfish cow. You have no more right to use the road than a cyclist, and while I can’t remember the incident as you described it, I do remember thinking you did not have right of way, so it would have been your fault. Maybe you can email me at matt@mattbee.co.uk to explain it again, because I now simply believe you to be a danger to myself and other cyclists for not even knowing the highway code.

I am very sorry that LBC couldn’t call me back so that I could defend cyclists and point out their errors, ask why they think the aggressive behaviour of some motorists is acceptable and why a 4 year old case has brought the fact that a cyclist could kill a pedestrian into the media spotlight when hundreds (or thousands) of cyclists AND pedestrians are seriously injured by motor vehicles all the time (no pedestrian deaths in the last 4 years involving a cyclist hitting a pedestrian, there have been 3 people killed by cars or lorries in the past 2 weeks!).

And don’t get me started on Advanced Stop Lines (ASLs)… when will drivers/motorcyclists get punished for entering those I wonder.

Having been paid $70,000 to carry out the transport the owner and captain apparently then held out for more. With no more funds being given over and the initial funds recovered, the hostage situation came about. Leaving the harbour by force and half closing the drive on ramp with a vehicle still on it I’m sure there might be more to the story than anyone but those aboard know about.

Bit worrying for Kieran, but I know he is well versed in the politics of wherever he goes and has 12 years experience in the aid convoy business, so hoping that everything works out.

Following quite a bit of pressure through social networks from Kieran’s friends on twitter and facebook, it seems we’ve got some action by the press and government agents with the BBC hopefully picking up the story (thank you @KirbyVictoria), earlier featured on CNN. I’ll await news from the media all evening and I expect for a short while yet.

Where’s Jack Bauer when you need him. Or the Expendables, remembering the first scene from that film.

More links on the story:

BBC News

The Independant
Waltham Forest Guardian
Salem News

The Pyrenees are beautiful and while we knew we were in for a tough time with a few big hills, no one really expected to be staying at the bottom of a hors catégorie climb in Col du Tourmalet. Round the corner was the Col d’Aspin too which has featuredin Le Tour de France 66 times. So the climbing was awesome, tough, beautiful, painful, challenging, sweaty and required a lot of determination.

Climbing the Col du Tourmalet as soon as we got there on Saturday morning was difficult enough. Of course the next day, the riding an undulating 70km (via Lourdes and Bagneres de Bigorre) and climb the other side from the West to on Sunday was unbelievably tough.

On Monday we managed to fit 2 Cols into out ride, by riding a nice small road Col near Heches, then up the Col d’Aspin from the East. It was in between these two Cols that we discovered Richard G didn’t actually have the compact chainset that he asked for on his Specalized Roubaix S-Works. Which provided amusement, expect for the fact it just showed his strength while he beat me up most hills, or mountains!!

Tuesday was the last day so it was a straight sprint up Col d’Aspin from the West and back down again to pack up and head home.

What a fantastic few days it was and I absolutely want to do this again, only next time I want to take those hills by the scuff of the neck and keep up with the rest of the boys, if not bethe first up! Although as I was riding with 2 Ironmen, this might be more difficult  than it seems.

The stumbling back into transition and subsequent struggle to get into my shoes prompted attention from the marshalls around me, and after careful consideration and advice I decided to not even try and start the run. A quick check to the paramedics to check I wouldn’t lose my leg or anything and I was sent on my way. Disappointing end to my race, but caught up with a few people I hadn’t seen for a while and made some progress in the parts I could do.

Friday 8th May: This morning I went to the physio to have my knee checked out, after a few days the knee was already feeling stronger and free of pain, so I was a lot less worried than I was. I see David Bolton of Limbus Physiotherapy when I am very broken, as he is incredibly good and exceedingly knowledgable.

Thankfully David believes it is just ITBS, or runners knee. This is good and probably means that my shoes are worn, my bike ill fitting or some other random problem that could randomly occur. So this weekend includes a run tomorrow morning to test the theory, new running shoes ASAP and a professional bike fitting with Sigma Sport in Hampton Wick.

With these all done I should be fit and raring to go cycling mad in the Pyrennes on 6th – 9th June. Which is a relief.

Bugger was it hard.

Well, I say hard, up until Hythe (next to Folkestone) I was absolutely great and loving it! It was a hell of a lot more of a challenge than I thought it would be, and further, with 107 miles being the final distance. The main problems being the number of very steep hills, by the time I was riding along the coast with its hill after every town I was ready to give up! I was still easily making 20-30mph on the flat and even faster downhill, but I couldn’t face the hills. It really didn’t help that my new gears (badly adjusted by myself I must add) were slipping like mad!

But the final achievement and the struggling up hills wasn’t what the ride was about. It was training for my 3 capitals in 3 days cycle challenge for MAG (sponsors still welcome at www.challengebee.org) and it was just a test of my capabilities, but in the end it was far more enjoyable than I thought it would be. Cycling through tiny villages with truly quaint village shops and little coffeeshops where the same people must meet for cup of tea every Saturday morning was absolutely brilliant!

Earlier today I was thinking that the London marathon must be great to run, but as much as I like London, Deptford and Charlton are exactly my idea of scenic. Yes, The Mall but The beauty of the countryside (including the hills) was a refreshing change. The tree lined single track roads, the waving at fellow cyclists and the sun shining felt great. Mind you, When I got to Folkestone there was one fella I didn’t take kindly to, with him suggesting I “try harder”. Yeah mate, you too after about 80 miles.

But even though I did have to stop for a few more rests than I planned from Hythe onwards, I did manage to make it all the way to Deal. Although this is probably thanks to Chris Woollard (despite letting me down on actually completing the charity ride with me!) and Adrian H at Evans in Wandsworth for helping me (even if it cost a small fortune) ready to make the trip, and if I am honest make the trip easier. And I do have a new wheel for the June trip!

If I can do 107 miles through the hilly South East of England though, I think I can do flat Holland, although the way my legs felt back on the bike today, I better do a little bit more training, and when I get more time to myself, just ride for the hell of it.

Anyway, I suppose I better give you the unimpressive stats!

Cycling Time: 7:48:10
Trip distance: 107.3 miles
Average speed: 13.7 mph
Maximum speed: 34.5 mph

I have had my confirmation through, so now I really better start training and fund raising. To help I have put the site www.challengebee.org together, designed by my mate Griff. Hopefully that’ll give some easy methods for people to get money to me. The PayPal option has been quite popular.

I’ll be doing all sorts to try and raise money, from raffles and auctions to gigs and parties, so keep checking for my upcoming events. They will be fun. I hope!

SO there it is, the easy ways to donate are set up and now I can get down to the hard part of making people part with their money and preparing myself for 300 miles on my bike.

Chas ‘n’ Dave were awesome, by the way…

My GP has signed me as fit to participate so on the 6th-9th June 2008 I will be cycling from London to Amsterdam and onto Brussels. That’s about 320 miles, approximately 100 miles a day 3 days running.

Starting at St Pancras in North London, we move straight onto Harwich, Essex (East coast, East of Colchester) where we will jump on an overnight ferry to Hoek Van Holland. Once in the land of windmills and clogs, the 59 miles to Amsterdam are tackled. Since that is only given 4 hours to be completed in, I think the 3 hours spare in Amsterdam will probably be a little rest for my body. But once 3pm hits we are straight back to the business of 60 miles on to Kinderdijk, near Rotterdam. Now by this point I expect my legs to either be the size of tree trunks or ready to fall off, so naturally the longest stint of the weekend is welcomed. 120 miles from Kinderdijk to Brussels where I assume there will be a huge party and I will be allowed to get extremely drunk and not move my legs for 21 hours until the 1556 Eurostar to St Pancras.

Here’s a rough map of the route to give you an idea of the scale of the task (click to enlarge):

Then I’ll probably have to cycle home.

So that’s the itinerary, which I hope I will be able to keep up with – training better start now, but of course there is also the matter of the sponsorship of £1350 I have to raise by then for The Mines Advisory Group. So keep your eyes peeled for the fund raising site and blogs demanding your money that will be starting very very soon.

Please send me any possible fund raising ideas you might have as soon as possible!

Now since I’ve had this problem the former bike mechanic at work was very doubtful it was the shifter (Shimano Sora STI) – but I could see no other problems, the cassette and chain work verifying this. I was going to buy a shifter straight away, but thought I would wait until after I fit my cassette and chain and checked the dérailleur was moving freely.

Having replaced the chain, cassette, cables and cable housing the problem was slightly improved in that I found it was only changing from the very high gears that wouldn’t work. Now this is fine, I have some gears, and know how to fix the rest, so went back to cycling to work quite happily.

However as I joined the A3 at Tibbets Corner, a heard a load crunch and my rear shifter seized. So after wedging a tyre leaver into the dérailleur so that I could get up a hill I got to and from work.

Shiny new cassette and tyre lever keeping me in a friendly gear.

The Sora Shifter is definitely the problem, so now I just need to find £67.99 for a new set (unfortunately they only come in sets, although I have only tried Evans cycles so far, definitely not the cheapest…) so there’s another job for when I get back form working on my mini.

After watching SiCKO by Michael Moore I feel very lucky to be British and have the NHS. Should I have been American, 4 major operations wouldn’t have been cheap and after this who even knows if I would be accepted for insurance followowing my pneumothorax in 2005. Obviously I don’t know all the facts, but based on what I saw and read lately this is what I think.

People often complain about the NHS and , and I know people have, even those I know criticise the treatment I received after getting an infection at a chest drain site, but I think it’s excellent from first hand knowledge. I found a cockroach in hospital after my leg break – so maybe that’s worth criticising – but at least I didn’t have to pay for the priviledge!

Now I know there will be elements of bias and fights for both sides of the story, as Moorewatch.com points out – but I think that I have grasped the fundamentals.

Both systems may need work – but I think that I am better off for being ill in England. You shouldn’t have to pay for healthcare in my opinion, nor insurance in case of illness, nor should the decision of allowing treatment be based on money or decided by anyone that isn’t the doctor treating you.

That is not a Mini Clubman.

This is a Mini Clubman:

And so is this:

It looks like some kind of futuristic concept car, not something that is going on sale on 10th November in Dublin. It is bad enough soiling the Mini name but to also ruin the Clubman image too is unforgivable!

It hasn’t had a bad review on the Auto Express website, however I think it will still bring the same reaction from Mini lovers as the original introduction of the BMW version. You’ll love it or hate it (and BMW to boot)!

I hate it.