Who are you and tell us a little about yourself?

I am Fred’s dad and Becky’s husband.  I am a film archivist, working for the Media Archive for Central England (www.macearchive.org.uk) in Leicester.  My wife thinks I’m a perfectionist but I think I’m an underachiever.

What’s your motivation to get on your bike?

Checking that I’m still alive.

What brought you into cycling?

Simon Bunce and then Stephen Belcher.

What are your short, medium and long term cycling goals?

Short: To finish 46th in the next CX race (13 Jan 2010).

Medium: Ride long and slow all summer; start road racing in July/August and then come in the top 50 in the first Notts Derby CX race in September 2010.

Long: To race on the road in 2011 and finish the year in the mud.

Do you have any strengths / weaknesses on the bike?

Strength: Bloody mindedness

Weakness: Lack of power

What was your first bike?

Yellow Falcon.

And what is your favourite bike that you have owned?

British Eagle Touristique – it’s a nail and the most comfortable bike I’ve owned.  It’s still going strong(ish) after 20 years.

What bike/s do you currently own?

Edison: steel 531c  – metallic blue – currently on turbo trainer after being written off 12 months ago.  Down tube shifters and old Selle Italia Flite saddle.

Dawes: steel 531st – orange – fixed wheel with bull horn handlebars.  With San Marco Rolls saddle.

British Eagle Touristique: steel 531st – grey – currently being used as winter trainer.  Has barend shifters that I’ll swap for some veloce ergo levers soon.  The barend shifters are 8 spd coupled with a 9 spd campag cassette and Sora rear mech.  The mismatch works because the shifters are on friction. Also features a Selle Italia SLR XP saddle.

Fort Cross 7005: aluminium 7005 – White with campag mix and Aksium wheels with old Flite saddle.  (One of the questions that is missing from this profile is “What is your least favourite bike?”  This is my least favourite bike!  It has been nothing but trouble since I bought it on Ebay. )

Chas Roberts: steel 853 – Barbarian black and white (respray by Mercian) with 10 spd chorus, open pros and toupe saddle.

Ridley Damocles: carbon – red, black, white with 10 spd Record, Ksyrium SLs and toupe saddle.

If money where no object what bike would you buy?

De Rosa Titanio with Super Record and a toupe saddle.

What disciplines of our sport and to what degree do you participate in? (ie road / mtb /cross)

Have ridden on the road for years.  Started with touring in the ’80s and then tried to get super fit by riding silly miles in the Vale of Belvoir.  Eventually this made me ill and spent many years recovering off the bike.  In 2008 I started to ride again, this time managing my efforts very carefully.  In 2009 I surprised myself and completed a number of sportives as well as competing in some cross races in the Notts and Derby CX League.

What’s your funniest moment/thing you’ve seen whilst on a bike?

I don’t laugh very often.   Although I saw Laurent Brochard once.  He was wearing near tranparent white shorts and sporting a fetching mullet.  That did make me smirk.

Do you have any favourite rides?

‘Favourite’ rides are generally ruined by familiarity.

Have you achieved any significant rides?

Rode across America (San Francisco to New York).

Describe your ideal ride.

Tomorrow my ideal ride would be  a jaunt in the countryside with the family.  In the summer I’m looking forward to long warm rides with no one in particular as well as gut wrenching efforts that leave you feeling exhausted but full of joy.

What is your favourite bit of kit?

Anything shiny and smooth. I prefer silver to black.

Where is your favourite café?

Top of the Tourmalet.  The best espresso ever.

What do you do when it rains?

Get my umbrella out.

Do the walk, talk, gear freak or fashion victim?

I’d like to be both a gear freak and a fashion victim (and I have tried on occassions) but I can’t afford it.

What wouldn’t we know about you just by looking at you?

There’s was a point in the mid ’80s when I had seen Gene Loves Jezebel perform more than anyone else on the planet.

What activities could Beeston CC do that would be of interest to you?

I’d love to learn how to hold a track stand for more than 20 seconds and ride a unicycle.  I also want to know how to get round a tree at full tilt.

Is there anything else about you, that you would care to share?

I know Marie Ashby!