HELMET USE

Whilst at the Giro d 'Italia i have little opportunity to access a computer so the photos are piling up and so is the frustration .

Those who follow Twitter and people like the GreenEDGE team and @Richie_porte will have seen recently a photo of me sitting on my butt !

Briefly , i should like to thank Matt White for getting out of the team car to check my health , a really generous thing to do whilst doing a difficult job . Also it should be said that whoever used his camera to take the photo is a quick thinker !

Please ask anyone who has seen this photo to email the links so that i can add the photo to this post !

                                SKIPPI@AUSI:COM

Having driven from Denmark in 15 hours to Kramsach where i currently live , i replaced the bikes used in Denmark with the recently resprayed Pink Bike . After a nights sleep i drove through to Verona area and parked at the Liquigas Hotel about 10km from Verona . Using the bike for the first time since testing after the rebuild i headed towards Verona looking for action . Travelling down a slight grade , i spotted a Squad heading my way . Saw a Petrol station on my left before the squad would arrive so headed in there quite quickly . Regretably the surface was gravelly so skidded to the amusement of the Guys .

 Hit the head three times rapidly and sat up to find Matt White at my side .  Knowing that i knew his name and where i was he accepted that i would survive so went back to work . After straightening the handlebars and checking ALL was working as it should i headed on into Verona and started mixing it up with the other Racers out training .

Luckily i had been to visit RUDY when i was with the Giro del Trentino so when i got back to the car i was releived to see the new helmet was there . Funnily enough before starting into Verona i had been talking to RUDY's man , Ivan , at the Camper he uses to entertain the Racers about the new helmet . I NEVER CYCLE until i put the helmet and glasses in place !

IF IT CAN HAPPEN TO ME let's hope it won't happen to YOU !

HELMET and Glasses are as necessary as Brakes , DO NOT LEAVE ANYWHERE until they are in place !

 Yesterday i rode with a Lady Olympian , she nearly left the coffee break without her helmet . Like me she is so used to not taking it off , and so does not notice that it is in place , it is a fact of life for us both !

Helmets do not spoil your hair do BUT gravel rash or a more SERIOUS INJURY will do more that spoil your day !

SAFE CYCLING starts with the correct equipment and for 14 years RUDY PROJECT have made my life safer !

MARGARET WHITLAM RIP

Not being in Oz these past few years i rely on the Internet to keep me aware of what is going on there . So much of current events rarely comes to my notice but earlier this month t saw that one of the most important Women in Australia's recent history had died ! Margaret Whitlam was a person of immense stature in Australian Affairs and was befriended by ALL sides of the Political Arena as well as other parts of Australian Society . She had the common touch also , and i recall sharing a lift several times as i had occasion to visit the Double Bay apartment of an acquaintance . The following article best sums up her impact on Australia and it's peoples !

 Copied from “ The Age Newspaper ”

 " ST JAMES was never going to hold the crowd coming to farewell Margaret Whitlam. So they stopped the traffic around the old church in the middle of Sydney. Broadcast vans parked in Queens Square. Prime ministers rarely get such a send-off, let alone prime ministers' wives. But Margaret Whitlam bonded with this country a long time ago. She spoke her mind, at times with startling frankness. She was funny. She never claimed privilege. In the long run, such grace wins out. She seemed always a little amused by public life. And it was no betrayal of her bedrock loyalty that she didn't always hide the absurdities of living side by side with the Great Man. That loyalty was also a loyalty to Labor. This is the funeral of a Labor matriarch, perhaps the matriarch of the party. She didn't marry into Labor. Her grandfather was a Labor candidate. She cast her first vote in the 1940s for Labor's Jessie Street.  Gough Whitlam yesterday at the funeral at St James Church, Sydney, for his wife, Margaret, who died last Saturday at 92. Photo: Pool Some Tory at the coronation dinner in 1953 asked the wife of the new member for Werriwa what a nice girl like her was doing in the Labor Party. She replied: ''I belong to the party that cares about people.'' She loved people. She was endlessly curious. Margaret Whitlam was the old, wise, unshockable woman at the party locked in conversation with total strangers, listening and laughing, offering her brand of spare, no-nonsense advice. Her daughter, Catherine Dovey, told the crowd packed into and outside St James: ''She really felt she had been dealt a fortunate hand in life: loving parents, a compatible and loved younger brother, a good school and education; a perfect match with father that produced 'acceptable' children, and a stimulating and full life.'' Turning out to pay their respects to this distinguished woman were a Prime Minister, a Governor-General, a Governor, a High Court judge, several ministers of the Crown and senators - all women. But what would Margaret Whitlam have thought of this gathering and this ceremony? Hoo-ha, probably. Not to be countenanced. But because she isn't around to put her foot down any more, she got what she deserved."

 Julia Gillard is currently Prime Minister of Australia and she will have a hard road to hoe as she strives to gain the same sort of respect that was Margaret Whitlam's due ! I was alerted to this story by a previous Prime Minister of OZ , that being Kevin Rudd , who recently tried to resume his service to Oz by stepping down as Foreign minister to seek re election to the post of PM !

INRNG COMMENT !

REad an interesting blog post by Inrng but when i compose a comment all i get is : Your request timed out. Please retry the request Well i did that several times and even got " Duplicate Post " a couple of times ! I have tweeted asking him to read this blog and copy it into his comments ! My comment for what it was worth , composed on Word processor: "It makes me laugh when I see people talk about the Penalties for Crime ! Whoever sets out to practice “ Sporting Fraud “ deserves the Harshest Penalties ! If the goal posts are moved whilst awaiting punishment , TOO BAD ! There should be uncertainty about Punishment since people “ Should NOT make an informed decision about , “ if I do this , the worst will be this “! My personal POV is that the racers in the ProTour usually know they represent their country at some point so they can’t expect equal treatment to those in the lower ranks ! Nor should they think they are entitled to perform for their country after serving a suspension . Can they expect to have their Country’s Reputation besmirched to accommodate their desires ? My answer is a DEFINITE NO ! Those in the ProTour choosing to “ Cheat or unwittingly breaking limits of UCI /WADA proscribed Drugs ” should go before an International panel drawn from the various national Federations to have their case decided within a month ! With Internet and “ Teleconferencing “ available , it is quite easy to bring ALL parties together , and , without the need for Lawyers thrash out 95% of the disciplinary cases . Justice needs to be done with celerity and using the National Federations only leads to the sort of problems in which Contador found himself . Rotating the membership of the panel will also mean that vested interests do not get involved . This past week has seen several different cases with a variety of results and I hope that ALL will follow Jan Ulrich and leave matter as they stand . Please support “ Cities fit for cycling on your blogs , here is the Html to put the logo there : On blogger , open Design , go to add a gadget , look for +java , paste ! Simple ! Lets hope the roads will become SAFER and friendlier ! Of course he may not like me commenting a length , so be it !