Tour of Britain - Photos

It is clear that I have neglected this blog lately. When I was trying to gain readers, I tried to write one post per day, about some article on the BBC news site, before I went to school.

But something about the political situation is wrong. I'm missing a sense of confrontation, of a fundamental clash of ideas, or some big issue, to get me worked up enough to bother writing a post. And I got very worked up, if you consult some of my starting posts.

Just to give an idea, today's main political story was Harriet Harman reigniting the class war at the TUC conference. I am far too young to remember the last time the Labour Party used class warfare, and as such, I have no comment to make or opinion to express on this issue. We're clearly getting the wrong kind of politics now. Either that or I'm becoming much more amenable in my old age.

But enough about that. In my absence from the frontline political scene(!) I have been seriously indulging the other love of my life (you can tell I'm sad/romantically unattached at the moment!): cycling. Yes, I don the lycra shorts, but more often trousers in the chilly Oxfordshire wind, and bomb around the otherwise peaceful countryside with my GPS plotting speed, calorie and timing information, as well as directing me on my route. I can even upload some of my routes for other people living nearby with Garmin devices. This is seriously WEIRD for an 18 year old, you may think, although hopefully the Olympic triumph that was British Cycling may help.

Anyway, back to the point for the umpteenth time. I love blog posts. You start writing, and then you get seriously sidetracked. In the olden days, I planned my posts meticulously. Not any more, as you may tell. ANYHOW, I went to the stage finish of the Tour of Britain in Newbury on Monday, and saw a pretty quick bunch sprint. Twas very exciting, although we had a non-cyclist in our midst who had to have the situation explained. Top Tip: If you go to any bike race, especially ones on the track, take somebody who knows what is happening, as it is not very obvious. Especially telling your Points from your Scratch, and working out the leader of the Madison is deceptively difficult. The non-initiated find the Individual Sprint confusing, or even downright silly.

I have pictures, you will be pleased to hear. Firstly, all pictures copyright me (David Webster). If you are sad enough to want to display these in any medium, a link to this page must be provided, or an acknowledgement that they are mine must be displayed.And be warned. My Law course at Cambridge has the option to study copyright law! Firstly, Julian Dean, Kiwi National Champion and Chris Sutton contest the sprint. Ironically, the stage winner was Matthew Goss. You can see his front wheel (I think) in the picture:

Bradley Wiggins' backside, anyone? One of the irritating things about pictures of a bike race is that because they move so quickly, you are forever taking pictures of people's bums.

And Alessandro Petacchi on the podium. This picture I got using my extraordinary height advantage over the slightly short/portly/under 12 nature of the rest of the crowd:

And to show how close we got to the stage winner, here is Matthew Goss's back (see what I mean about rears of people):

And my personal favourite, an artistic(ish) picture of the solo breakaway rider (almost 50 miles on his own at 30mph):

Altogether a very exciting ten seconds racing, and half an hour's photo grabbing afterwards. Heartily recommended if the Tour comes past your town (wherever my faithful readers may live) next year. I have about 40 pictures of this event, and can bore anyone rigid with them if you want me to!