I used to be in an Experimental Rock Band, and I guess that is how I met @accidentobizaro. She knew our bassist’s girlfriend through her housemate/landlord (that’s a long story in itself).

I knew she cycled.

She knew I played live in a transparent plastic cape (yes, that kind of Experimental).

That is where Chris Boardman comes in: I was taken out by a car driver on the Essex Road cycling back to my flat to watch the Tour de France  coverage, Boardman having won the prologue that year and the Tour being  in Britain for a few days (Sean Yates wore yellow that year too). When I finally spoke to her on the phone that day (from our bassist’s flat, where I was hiding and feeling sorry for myself) I was in a state of ill repair, having left a man-sized dent in a saloon car, and suffered bruising and minor cuts. I wasn’t a very confident guy back then, and I think the accident helped me to loosen up…

I remember that day and people’s kindness and love so well. I never really thanked the couple that looked after me and transported me home in their van with my bike, or the St John’s Ambulance guy who checked me over by the road side.

We are still together in 2012 but part of me is still in 1994, at the beginning of things. I cycled to our first date…