Alright guys, this is one of those rare non-competitve posts that I occassionally put up and this one is about women, in particular women's cycling and my girlfirend Verity; I am going to begin with the latter first. As many of my readers might be aware not only is shes studying in Siena, cycling heaven, but even though she might be in cycling Valhalla she's not much of a cyclist as proven by the fact that she travels uphill quicker than she does down due to her inate fear of gravity and general worry. This is something I struggled to deal with intially when I first began going out with Verity in Swansea, for whilst at university there, the fanatastic mountain biking and downhill routes available locally were numerous, let alone for road cycling, but also having been ripped into by mates at university about my own handling abilities on the bike who also happen to be great at the first two disciplines of cycling mentioned, namely Greg Hampton, Will Soffe and Duncan Houlden, seeing Verity's fear and handling skills was something of a shock.

However, I am pleased to say after a fornight there Verity has finally began to come round to hear fear of going downhill on a bike and has really started to embrace the place in general, settling down and saying yes to everything. This also included going downhilling in the Tuscan Hills, something I never thought she would do, but I am proud to say she loved it and did multiple runs. Hopefully she will see the light soon and realise how rubbish off-roading is and turn to road cycling quite quickly instead and not get stuck in a rut.

On another note the support for improvements to be made to women's cycling and the amount of coverage gained has increased momentum in addressing the issues with even more people from a broader spectrum all speaking out and having similar ideas on how to improve women's cycling. This can only be a good thing and should lead to changes pretty soon, something that would benefit all and the quicker these changes happen, hopefully the better.  Here's Victoria Pendleton's views on it http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/cycling/19775379

And here is another article on the idea of a fan-funded women's cycling team and the power of social media; how this format can really help equality in cycling be achieved in the present as well as the future http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/fan-funded-womens-team-nearly-a-reality

Anyway better go now, all of you stay safe until the next post