Manchester (So much to answer for)

The brothers Parkinson spent an excellent four days at the World Track Championships in Manchester over the last weekend. The racing was fantastic and the results for Team GB unbelievable as the collective British squad took on the World and beat them convincingly in nearly every discipline. Such a display of riding I may never see again and I can say by the final event we were a little jaded as Victoria Pendleton could only manage a silver in the women's Kerin and we felt a little disappointed. There were so many highlights, to be fair and Wiggins third world pursuit title we watched on the telly as an appetiser. Team Pursuit Gold and World Record, Hoy in the Kerin and Sprint (when he beat Bos the current World Champ you could see him going all the way),the women's pursuit's, Pendleton imperious in the Kerin and Sprint did not look like there was anybody to touch her. And the Pièce de résistance to all us die hard track men the Wiggins/Cavendish Madison won with true grit and style when it looked like the title was slipping away, a magic moment for everybody in the crowd that evening.



Alan and I took our bikes but we were treated to some real Northern weather, a non stop diet of wind and rain. Phil took the smart option and went to the local pool to do some length's and probably stayed drier. I was just getting over a cold so I just about managed to make it up Snake Pass before heading back to the Hotel, to my amazement Alan said he would go on in worsening conditions for a 5hr ride through the Peak District, which did him in for the remainder of the stay.