ULM Germany

After the TDF i called in on a Ski Buddy from the mid 1990's living in ULM area. His partner had recently moved out and his house was in need of extensive renovation.

The roof was missing tiles , the water was cut off so water is being piped in off the neighbouring house through a hose pipe and there are other less serious issues needing attantion.

I always knew that George was a good cook but hopeless at getting going on practical issues. Fortuneately he is reasonably fluent in english so communication should not have been an issue.

One demand i made in July was that the internet be connected so that i could deal with my communication issues, well a variety of excuses ensued through until i moved in after returning from the Vuelta in early October. Since the beginning of the residency i have chopped the winters wood ,cleared the garden of falling leaves and chestnuts spending mornings before going riding the local roads on the wintery afternoons. Fortunately i have not had to put in much time on the tacx as though cold and bleak there has been little rain.

The past two weeks has seen 70+ hrs of my time digging a trench 12m long by 1.4m deep and 1.2m wide to accomodate the new water pipe. Can you believe the local regs(DIN 4124) call for Wood hoardings using 5cm thick wood at each end of the trench which is mainly solid mud not unstable loose soil. Topping all this is the lack of Plans to show where the Electricity,telephone,television cables are buried and in addition there are no plans for the existing Water and waste pipes. Regardless of all this effort not only has "Prof. Workshy "decided to short change me on recompence but offered the opinion that the work was good exercise . He also revealed that he was in no hurry to connect the internet since he is in the process of changing telephone suppliers. Thought i should have bought a "stick" since i have 2 for Austria.

Well any of you wondering why i have not added to my blog recently will now see the difficulty i have had baring in mind the nearest internet cafe is about 12km away with parking difficulty both for car and bike. Those of you who helped me out during the TDF and Vuelta will i hope be patient as i plan on return to Austria to set to work reporting on those events. I had also planned to have thanked some of my "Sponsors" during the past year by this time but lack of facilities has deferred that task also.

Currently i am seeing little interest by "Para Athletes " in joining me next year so i think that any efforts next year will be directed to assisting another segment of the community. Sad to think that these people do not wish to help themselves.

Recently i have offered a few "comments" to SBS Cycling Central and Roads.cc amongst other blogs. Georgethecyclist.blogspot.com offered me the opportunity to join his latest jaunt in Turkey but after reading his recent blogs i am in two minds as to which situation would have been the more enjoyable way of passing the last few weeks.

Christian Van de Velde

Looking at Twitter today i see that Chris V. is involved with a new charity www.savealimbride.org which has been supported in the past by George Hincapie.

About 1% of the population is born with limb deficiency so this is an important charity although it is based in the Baltimore area. With the Paralympic Games less than 2 years from now it is important for people to support any organisation which helps athletes to participate .

The World Road Champs are on in Melbourne currently and i recall when they were in Salzburg and shortly thereafter in a NZ road race Paul Crake became a statistic and now uses a wheelchair as primary transport. Alex a friend in Jenback was at his wedding last year so was able to tell me that Paul is adjusting to his new life style.

Too often we forget that Wootton Bassett "Repatriations" are only the visible tip of the casualities returning to the UK from work in "Harms Way", and Sport plays a growing part in the rehabilitation of these service personnel. Over the past year i have tried to encourage "Help4Heroes and Wounded Warrior Project" amongst others to take my "Relay idea" and see if they can get support for a "Team of Disabled/Adaptive Athletes " to ride the route of the Major Cycle Tours to publicize the need for more Sponsorship of "Para Athletes". At these events there are numerous journos looking for a story and "Free Publicity" goes begging whilst the people i speak to consign my idea to the "Too hard basket"!

Anyone who is able to help me get through to those who can assist please email me on skippi@ausi.com

WHERE IS THE HELP

During the past year i have been trying to interest many organisations in helping "Disabled / Physically Challenged Sport" because whilst i enjoy doing things in my own way i am aware that MORE should be done for this section of the community !

When you find yourself in Wootton Bassett watching a Cortege pass you are only seeing a part of what is happening for our security. The price paid by these individuals and their famillies is enormous but the real story is the returning Service personnel who are rarely mentioned but are transported into a new "Lifestyle" by their involvement in their chosen profession. When "Signing up " for the "Forces" rarely do the individuals realise the significant chance of being "retired unfit for duty". These people go from hospital to rehabilitation and sport plays a major part in this thus there are many who seek to excell and even find themselves on the path to serving their country once again in a new way.

Paralympic 2012 is even closer than we realise, many formar athletes are still in training after Beijing2008 and there will be competition for the limited places in National Teams.

WHAT can you do to help these Aspiring individuals?

Burgos

Paid my money to stay somewhere in Burgos and because i did not produce immediately the "Camino Passport" at 1830hrs, a little after 2000hrs i was bombarded in Spanish( the english speaking receptionist had gone home) and i was given my money back and put on the street !

This is the way that the "pilgrims/guests" are treated at the Albergi Pelogrini in Burgos?

Let me tell the story later (using a friends computer for access) but even though you have the credentials that they require , if it is not in your hand expect this unhelpful "Spanish Behaviour"!

BE WARNED !!