Ambient rock noodlings from yours truly! Enjoy 🙂

If I should die, think only this of me;
That there’s some corner of a foreign field
That is for ever England. There shall be
In that rich earth a richer dust concealed;
A dust whom England bore, shaped, made aware,
Gave, once, her flowers to love, her ways to roam,
A body of England’s breathing English air,
Washed by the rivers, blest by suns of home.

And think, this heart, all evil shed away,
A pulse in the eternal mind, no less
Gives somewhere back the thoughts by England given;
Her sights and sounds; dreams happy as her day;
And laughter, learnt of friends; and gentleness,
In hearts at peace, under an English heaven.
Rupert Brooke. 1887 – 1915

I’ve been reading a number of newbie roadie threads about handlebars positions, aching hands, fear of the drops, and so on. It got me thinking about the way I use my drops, and I decided to try and share this with you. It is in no way the right or wrong way to use them, and I’m sure there are other ways. I hope my post might help you.

Firstly, being a veteran, and a bit stiff, I use very shallow drops (like a lot of the TDF riders do).

I use 8 different hand positions as follows……

Right on the tops – For long seated climbs, or sitting up in the buch. For easy riding. Though I sometimes ride hard in this position, especially with a tailwind.


On the tops – A sort of ‘ready’ position where I can relax but quickly and easily more to a more serious position.


On the corners – I use this postion a lot in a bunch. When riding close. It’s easy to ‘touch’ other riders from this position. They like it! ? Slide forward and you’re on the hoods.


Touching the hoods – I use this position a lot when training. It’s a little lower and a good ‘working’ postion. Can be used standing.


On the hoods – Fully on the hoods. I can brake from here. A good position if you are riding with riders you are not sure of. Or communting in heavy traffic. Low enough to go fast, high enough to see ahead. Can be used standing.


On the hoods top – when the pace is high I’ll ride here. It allows you to get down and suffer.


On the drops/brakes – Going fast and needing to brake. Voila! Can be used standing.


On the drops – Going fast on my own, or in a small group, or if it’s raining and windy. On the drops. Bend elbows and grimmace for better effect. Also used for ‘commited’ sprinting. Can be used standing.


FWIW – I’ve been riding on the road since the early 80s. I was schooled in road riding by scousers, mostly from the Liverpool Century Road Club. Happy days!

During the ‘confinement’ here in France I kept busy recording and collaborating. The result….a secret Funk EP from Sven Bennick! 🙂
You can check it out here…….

Sven Bennick · Secret French Funk

My friend’s band The Bellrays is trying to make the best of this virus situation by doing live sessions on Facebook and YouTube. To take it to the next level they need 1000 YouTube subscribers. So far they have 744. Could you give them a sub? If you want to do a sub for sub thing, leave me a comment with a link to your channel and I’ll happily do that.

Thanks, and stay safe!.

Since the start of this social distancing era the Ruts DC have been putting out some great stuff to their fans (of which I am one)…….check this…

Hey Folks, tonight is the last episode of our series. Can you believe we have done 9!
We are also pleased to say that this is a special tribute to Malcolm Owen & Paul Fox, so please join us on this special occasion! ? See you then!! ??????
Cheers!
– Segs, Ruffy and Leigh

#punkrock #punk #ruts #rutstv #rutsdc #segsjennings #ffruk #ffrukits #peopleunite #punktv #sosumi #daveruffy

What a fuck up! There are no words that can express my contempt for the Conservative party and what they have done to the United Kingdom. Bastards!