Re:Cycling

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Week from Monday 2nd September 2024 - Into the final week of the VUELTA... and everything changes as WOUT VAN AERT has crashed out, shaking up both the GREEN JERSEY and POLKA-DOT rankings. Once again, fractions of a second separate the GENERAL CLASSIFICATION, so anything could happen... I shall habitually click over to ITV4 for the TOUR OF BRITAIN coverage. That should also be watchable, if only for the presence of 'big names' REMCO EVENEPOEL and JULIAN ALAPHILIPPE (and a decent professional commentary!). LiDL TREK have entered their 'FUTURE RACING' development team for this one, so no 'big names' but still plenty of those distinctive uniforms to cheer on ("Chapeaux!" as they say, to LIAM O'BRIEN and COLE KESSLER).

I had my person-to-person chat with the Doc, up at that there WHORE'S SPITTLE, whereby we updated each other on what's bin gwine on. The good news is that the MYELOMA hasn't returned (yet?), so any side-effects I am currently experiencing (the tight and itchy torso, the hurty feet, the shortness of breath) probably fall under the general category of 'WITHDRAWAL SYMPTOMS' from various drugs. I shall be back on Friday, to sit still for an hour while receiving an infusion drip of PAMIDRONATE. Yummy!

Week from Monday 9th September 2024 - I ended up muting the commentary altogether for the last couple of days of the VUELTA. I just couldn't stand another single minute of "OH. MY. GOODNESS SEAN!?" "YES WELL... Y'KNOW, WE CAN SEE, Y'KNOW, THE GUYS IN THE PILLOWTONE, WE CAN SEE ROGLIC, WE CAN SEE... Y'KNOW, AND IT SHOULD BE AN INTERESTING ONE..." ad nauseam.

The winner of the race was pretty much a foregone conclusion in the end (ROGLIC again), but LiDL-TREK lad MATTIAS SKJELMOSE was victorious in the White Jersey competition and even managed fifth overall in the GC, thanks to a not-too-bad final day's TIME TRIAL. Which Was Nice.

nota bene: As is so often the case, the LiDL-TREK team(s) have recently had the MOST success in the races that I DON'T get to watch: the Lidl Deutschland Tour, the Renewi Tour, the women's Tour de Romandie, the Bemer Cyclassics...


The Fiftieth Anniversary Edition of FRANK ZAPPA's "Apostrophe(')" has just landed on the doormat, courtesy of the Burning Shed concern. Another year, another box set! I'm a little disappointed by the studio content this time around, as so much of it has been previously released elsewhere (i.e. "THE CRUX OF THE BISCUIT"), but that's a minor quibble. It certainly won't be the first time I've bought multiple copies of the same Zappatrax! Of course, the real meat'n'taters are two complete 1974 live shows from the Vaults. I look forward to many hours wrapped in my headphones...

Week from Monday 16th September 2024 - Not much opportunity for any sort of outing (or even #Walkies) these last few days... so apropos of nuttin', let's see what I was up to in THIS HERE BLOGGYWOTSIT #TwentyYearsAgo...

I had been given a free ticket to use on Wessex Trains at anytime throughout September, so this was the weekend I thought I'd use it! I decided to go for an afternoon of mooching around the myriad lanes and charity shops of ye olde SALISBURY. I found the (rare-as-rocking-horse-shit) cassette of the first album by New Jersey's eccentric family folk group THE ROCHES, the one that ROBERT FRIPP 'produced in audio-verité' - it cost me a whole fifty pee! I also got a couple of TODD cassettes for a similar sum, JUSTIN ADAMS' solo album "Desert Roads" on seedydisk for £2 in a library sale and, from the Virgin MeagreStore, I found the BE-BOP DELUXE anthology I had been seeking. I also took part in a market research interview for the council's tourism department, as I was singled out as an OBVIOUS tourist, heading in the general direction of the Cathedral (...what with the rucksack, shorts, walking boots, perched-on-head sunglasses and that). It was raining, by the way.

Yep! it was still 'Wessex Trains' in them days, it hadn't yet reverted to being 'Great Western Railway'...

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