I seized the opportunity for a bike ride yesterday afternoon as it was such a nice looking, sunny day. It was still cool but it looked inviting. I have said before, after the first few miles you are warmed up so the temperature doesn’t matter too much. It was just a quick ride around my short ‘Ouse Valley Route’ to keep my legs turning over. It was very pleasant though and I managed it almost 1 mph faster than a week ago.
Last night on our TV it was the annual BBC Sports Personality of The Year awards show. It’s a review of the nations yearly sporting activity over the past year. I was very happy that the cyclist Mark Cavendish won it on behalf of cycling. It was an amazing result as he polled over 49% of the vote in the poll taken by viewers telephone votes on the night as the show progresses.
Mark Cavendish 169,152 (49.47%) Cycling
Darren Clarke 42,188 (12.34%) Golf
Mo Farah 29,780 (8.71%) Athletics
Luke Donald 23,854 (6.98%) Golf
Andy Murray 18,754 (5.48%) Tennis
Andrew Strauss 17,994 (5.26%) Cricket
Alastair Cook 13,038 (3.81%) Cricket
Rory McIlroy 11,915 (3.48%) Golf
Dai Greene 9,022 (2.64%) Athletics
Amir Khan 6,262 (1.83%) Boxing
Admittedly the golfing vote was split between three golfers but even if you add their totals together it still comes nowhere near Marks total. Likewise the multiple athletes and cricketers. In fact he was only 0.5% off beating the lot if you added all the other results together!
A great result for cycling and an indication of its increasing popularity. On top of that I think he is a genuinely nice guy and always his first words are to recognise and appreciate the efforts of his team mates in his victories.
Next on my agenda, weather permitting, is the Team MK Christmas Eve club ride to Jenny Wrens cafe in the Buckinghamshire country town of Winslow. On this occasion all the groups go to the same venue. It’s a more sociable ride than usual, shorter and more relaxed but I think it’s still a case of not wanting to be last there and making sure of getting a seat. As it’s a shorter route, its my intention to ride the 12 miles to the ride start and then 12 back again to set me up for the next few lazy days over Christmas and have no feelings of guilt !
This could quite possibly be my last post of 2011 so I would like to wish all my readers a very Happy Christmas and a peaceful and successful 2012
