Malmesbury Bikes

The Tour De France may have snuck up on some of us, especially me, but Mark Cavendish is on top form. He rode off in a breakaway this afternoon that included Lance Armstrong and the yellow jersey holder, Fabian Cancellera - crossing the line 41 seconds ahead of the main peleton. See the BBC Sport for exact details.

Having watched the highlights, Mark Cavendish’s Columbia team put in an extraordinary effort to keep him protected until the end. I have to say that I was disappointed that Lance A didn’t seem to be helping out that much at the front of the breakaway, but it could be that the TV cameras weren’t looking when he was grinding the bunch forward.

So hats off to Monsieur Cavendish - he’s having an astonishing year, which just adds more weight to his achievements today. Hears to several more stage wins over the next few weeks.

The speedo sensor on the computer (an old Cateye Astrale) packed up a few weeks ago, so the whole lot got stripped off – the cadence meter had been useful, but taking all the wires and tape away has made for a much cleaner bike. Mind you, it was a right pain cleaning away the sticky debris from the insulation tape that had held the wires in place – the answer was to use lots of white spirit.

I also took off the aero-bars (Profile Century Aero ZB Aero Bars clip-on types), so there’s now loads of space for different hand positions and the bike doesn’t feel nose-heavy anymore.

Overall, the bike looks much better in its original rusty-orange livery and it’s great to just be out and riding, rather than worrying about aero-tucks and speed… I’m still wearing a Sigma heart monitor and I reckon that my overall times are quicker now that I have more flexibility to find more comfortable positions.