Stage 4

The time came when I felt it was safe to venture outside on my beautiful new Legend bike, now desecrated by the addition of a set of tri-bars. Some things just don't look right. Tri-bars belong on bikes made for time trialling or triathlon. The geometry of these machines is completely different to that that of a normal road racing bike. Mine now looked as if it wasn't sure what it wanted to be.

Aesthetics was the last of my problems when I tried it for the first time. It felt like I was having to learn to ride a bike all over again and I was not at all a good pupil. Perhaps it would have been better had I chosen a day when there wasn't a howling gale trying to push me into the gutter or overtaking cars, but that would have ruled out the whole of 2012 so far. Call me a wuss but I have got used over the years to having 2 brakes immediately at hand. There is something vaguely comforting about the thought that if you are tonking along and something unexpected happens (and when cycling it pays to expect the unexpected whether that comes dog shaped, pedestrian shaped, white van shaped and yes, also other cyclist shaped).

With clip on tri-bars you are in an odd, stretched out position, almost prone on the bike rather than sitting on it. Because your head is down your field of vision is limited to the road immediately ahead. Yes, you can lift your head but that makes your neck hurt and, as your back is already complaining, why double the grief? And there are no brakes. Well, that is not quite true. The brakes are there where they have always been of course - at the ends of the handlebars. But although bike technology is improving all the time, thought activated braking systems are still in their infancy being tested in some laboratory in Japan.

Currently, to slow or stop a moving bicyle you need to apply pressure on your brakes with your hands. Or you can of course just fall off, which works just as well but is generally considered a one off solution. And here's the rub. With tri-bars your hands are somewhere else entirely. For all the use they are they may as well be in another galaxy many light years away, or so it seemed to me that windy day when I was taking my first hesitant pedal strokes and couldn't rid my mind of multi-shaped unexpected reasons I might need to stop this stupidity urgently and how I would achieve that without needing immediate paramedic assistance. But riding with tri-bars is in some ways like learning to ride a bike. One minute it seems it is all going to end in tears and the next it feels the most natural position in the world and you are wondering if you have left it too late to claim your rightful place in Team GB for London 2012.

Stage 3

It has been an interesting couple of months. First I decided to treat myself to a new frame and have it custom made for me through Bike Science, specialist bike fitters based here in Bristol. All very exciting especially as the frame was being built for me in Italy by renowned frame builder Marco Bertoletti. It was the first frame he had made for the British market and he was able to present it to me personally when visiting Bespoked, a posh bike fair for handmade machines which took place in Bristol in April.

However in the meantime I had something of a setback in my plans and training for the big ride in September. In March I realised I had a problem with my right hand. I was out on a ride and found I lacked the strength to change gear. I had it checked and the diagnosis was entrapment of the ulnar nerve. After nerve conduction studies (sounds innocent doesn't it but having electrodes applied and then 6 volts every minute or so for the best part of an hour is the nearest I hope I ever come to torture...)I was told the problem was in my wrist and that the nerve was being compressed at Guyon's canal. You've heard of tennis elbow and housemaid's knee - well, welcome to Handlebar Palsy so called because it particularly affects cyclists. Oh, and for good measure I also had carpal tunnel syndrome. I had it bad and would need surgery but the initial advice was that this could wait until after the Ride Across Britain.

Something didn't quite seem right about this so I saw a hand surgeon who specialises in sports injuries and he advised that I should not delay in case it got any worse. The good news was that I could be back on the road after about a month although I would have to use tri-bars for a month or 2 so that I was carrying my weight on my forearms rather than my recovering wrist. So the knife it was! Training could not stop completely. I set up a bike on a turbo trainer in the kitchen and instead of enjoying the delights of this wonderful early summer weather we have been having resigned myself to churning away indoors, going nowhere and producing a pool of sweat on the floor almost as deep as the puddles of rain in the garden outside.