Monthly Archives: October, 2010

"Only in Grenoble" is stamped in red on this file - a track standstill competition. If Vik was here at the Grenoble Six Day 2010 he'd rush the track shouting bad things about la Belle France, the French, and their ways.

The average speed last night for the first madison of Night Two at the Grenoble Six Day 2010, run over 35 minutes, was 52.310 kph - file under 'not as slow as Vik says it is.' The thing you have to remember is that when you're in Grenoble, you're much closer to the Mediterranean than you are to the Channel; 'le Munich Six jours est finis? ah!' The cold, grey North is a long way away.

There were politics in play before a ball was even kicked; ‘how have you guys got that big cabin, you only have two riders?’ Kris’s response was succinct; ‘Because I’ve been coming here for 30 years and the organisers are friends of mine!’ A Six Day wouldn’t be a Six Day without politics and plaudits.

"It's not a real Six," says our pal Viktor - coincidentally, riders like Marc Hester (Denmark) and Danny Stam (Holland) used to say the same. But that was before the Munich Six disappeared - now they're more than happy to head south to Grenoble at the end of October. As have we, for the Grenoble Six Day 2010...

It seems like a lifetime ago that we (that's the 'royal we' i.e me, Helen Wyman and hubby Stef) were packing the car and heading off for the first world cup of the season in Aigle, Switzerland.

VeloVeritas waited until we were sure that James McCallum was displaying no symptoms of dengue fever before we caught up with him at Starbucks for a chat about his third Commonwealth Games.

It was a typical cold grey Scottish autumn day for the 14th International Critérium de Levallois - even though we were in Paris.

the end of the season has arrived on the Dan Patten Blog. All in all it's been a good year - I've learned a lot, showed my strength (although sometimes a little too much) and certainly had some success along the way.

Gilbert was excellent today in the Tour of Lombardy 2010. Scarponi was very good and Nibali showed grinta; especially given that he rode and won at San Luis, Argentina way back in January.

Ian Field Blog on VeloVeritas. Some days are good, same days are bad, and some days are a bit of both. Yesterday was a bit of both which left me very frustrated and disappointed with my result.

'I cycled from my house in the West End of Glasgow to Larkhall, that would be around 30 miles, rode a 140 mile road race - it went away down over Beattock - won it, then cycled home - so that was around 200 miles for the day.' Things were different in Jimmy Rae's day. VeloVeritas took a run up to Crieff Hydro to interview one of the very few Scots to have won national tours - Mr. James Rae. Ours neat list of questions went out of the window and we decided it would be best to let Jimmy off the leash, year by year, popping in questions where we could...

Hey folks, first round of the GVA series - it's one of the big three (World Cup, Superprestige and GVA) top 20's at these races were my aim for the year, I got 13th at Namen.

Contingencies & Champions. The world road champs were held in Australia for the first time ever, and by lucky happenstance we had an Australian defending champion going into the race (Cadel Evans), and an Australian bronze medallist coming out of the race (Allan "Alby" Davis).

A Scottish team has again been invited to ride the end of season event in France — the 14th International Critérium de Levallois - which will take place on Sunday 17th October. As always the race will be 60 laps of a 1.8 km circuit, a total distance of 108 kms (approx. 70 miles).

The French have an expression for it; 'une erreur de jeunesse' - a mistake of youth. The youth in question being Grant Ferguson. When VeloVeritas saw Grant's bike at the top of the climb, we winced and advised that it disappear into the back of the family camper van, pronto - the back brake had been removed as an aid to weight saving.

Promoted by Sandy Wallace Cycles, the Scottish Hill Climb Championships 2010 takes place on Sunday on the Purrin Den ascent in Fife, and around 35 hardy souls are preparing to put themselves through the seven minutes (and more) of pain it'll take to see the relay station at the finish...

Hey everyone, Ian Field here - it's great to be here on VeloVeritas! Well, after a really good opening race to the season recently it was always going to be difficult to back it up seven days later - and so it proved.

Alistair Robinson (Team Leslie Bike Shop) was the winner of a damp edition of the Tour de Trossachs 2010 on Sunday with a rapid 1:06:01, putting him two minutes clear of roadman turned clock basher for the day Robin Wilkins (Stirling BC); with evergreen Jim Cusick (Glasgow Couriers) rounding off the podium a further minute back.