UKC

Starts today ... I live here and will be at Velodrome next Wednesday and at Mens and Womens Road Race and Time Trials. And maybe other stuff. Shame Scottish summer ended in June but hopefully just a little showery.

We're doing some volunteering plus tickets for indoor cycling: cycle-ball and artistic cycling.

I fancy BMX Freestyle Park but sold out so we'll go to BMX Freestyle Flatland (Glasgow Green, unticketed & free?).

Basically we're going to the stuff we've barely heard of and never seen before.

Looks like there's still tickets (or unticketed for longer route?) for Glentress.

Pity some competitors will be missing the games - https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2023/aug/02/africas-top-cyclist-biniam-gi...

I think that article is inaccurate - better info here https://www.bbc.com/sport/cycling/66380572.amp

Looks like it was an unsatisfactory slow process but all can join now

I’m working pretty much just off the race going into Kelvin Groove Park. Missing most of it but what a mission it is getting around just now. 

Jealous of everyone enjoying it with a coffee or pint. 

You're not bothered about the parking then?

https://road.cc/content/news/locals-blast-ridiculous-car-park-closures-duri...

🤣🤣🤣

My friend's daughter got a gold yesterday! She is a pilot in a tandem pair, her partner is partially sighted. They won the women's 1km time trial! 

And they won again last night! 2 golds for them so far!

Gold and Bronze in the Mens Downhill MTB

Close to a medal in the Womens Downhill, Top 8 for 4 Brits, one rider with a busted hand and one who dislocated their shoulder 2 days ago and put it back in themselves on track.

Women's track team pursuit- get in !

Headcam video of the downhill: 

youtube.com/watch?v=mFlQLrgGeVE&

Frightingly fast!

bump for road race..

And full-on it's been too. Not really fussed who wins, but the likely looking rider is a deserving contender

Make that three!

Indeed, I just saw that!

Great to see the road race on the streets I know, past places I worked, where I met my wife and where we got married.

They are just so incredibly fast round the corners. 

Crazy that city centre and Woodlands Road soaked but much of the West End bone dry.

Fun to do the ordinary cycle home on the still closed route getting the odd jokey cheer.

Me and my mate stumbled upon a section of the Bolton Iroman cycle route recently,  it was funny getting cheered on as we tootled by on our considerably cheaper bicycles and rough, casual cycling attire.

Myself and a couple of mates were at Shipley Glen yesterday and got talking to a couple of Dutch lads on trials bikes who stopped for a mornings play on the rocks before heading off at lunch time  to compete today.

Cracking lads. 

The UCI made the guy from Vatican City amusingly visible - a Dutch man married to the Australian ambassador to the Vatican - a flexible approach to nationality!

Fair play to him for trying to bridge over to the breakaway, though I didn't see him do much work on the front of his group of 3 (if any)

I did a couple of loops of the course on Sat morning - great fun but the thought of doing it in a bunch and in the wet is super scary!

I wondered what the backstory was there!

Well he's not very aero...

...a former pro though...

...and savy enough to let others do the work.

This morning we saw cycle ball and artistic cycling - the latter turned out to be the better. Saw a woman with another woman standing on her shoulders doing a hands off forwards wheelie transition to a backwards hands off wheelie. Except it was more complicated and more impressive than that. 

A very niche sport but spectacular skills. Possibly invented so Germany, Austria, Switzerland or part of the former Austro-Hungarian empire can get another rainbow jersey.

Worth a look on iPlayer for the final (this evening?) or the German, Austrian and Swiss teams this morning.

And massive congratulations to Scotland's Charlie Aldridge, who took gold in the U23 XCO at Glentress today.

I quite fancied the cycle ball. I'll look it up later on.

I did manage to get through to Glasgow last night to see Pippa York at the science centre though, which was great, what with her being my no.1 sporting hero since the early 80s.

Spectating the MTB at Glentress tomorrow.

To put the last weeks action into some sort of perspective see

https://www.tissottiming.com/CyclingWorldChamps/Medals/en-us/Default

That looks like a stunning team result to me with one day to go.