Well by righteous democracy I’m once again given the privilege of inscribing Le Tour De Farce into the annals of history, this year being the 13th consecutive year of OPIG’s summer social cycling pub crawl extravagansa. I will try to recount as much as I can from pieces of other peoples memories (my own is a less reliable source). Here is a reasonable portion of the group standing with steeds at the back of the Stats department as is tradition (Figure 1).

Figure 1: The canonical Stats department group assembly

With what is now becoming the industry standard (SOTA) route, we started on our way to the Up In Arms. The warm up stage was scenic and steady (Figure 2 for epic action shot). Classically British, pints were enjoyed in the shade because it was over 30°C. Onwards.

Figure 2: Epic action shot

Our next stop was the Victoria Arms upon Thames. This is apparently where the stakes were raised. Kingsley, an elite athlete long distance runner and fellow OPIG 1st / 2nd year DPhil, challenged me to a race to the next destination, the Trout. Because I don’t play fair, I cycled leading to a scientific battle of two wheels vs two legs. Odds were on and bets placed: if I lost I had to write the blog, if Kingsley lost there were 0 consequences. In my defence, the route seriously advantaged the runner —* I travelled a total of 3.6 miles versus Kingsley’s < 3 miles (evidenced by Figure 3). Place your bets….

Figure 3: My path in blue, Kingsley’s in red (some artistic freedom used)

With a healthy 8 minute lead I was waiting at the Trout for Kingsley, content in my relinquished blog writing responsibilities. Either way, the group diffused back together for more drinks into the setting sun before making our way to the open-air port meadow dining room for pizza. Although I had proved the superior mechanical efficiency of the bike earlier, poor transmission posture from an undersized bike can lead to the medically important Charley horse as demonstrated by Ace (Figure 4). The lesson being, choose your steed wisely.

Figure 4: Charley horse

Sources close at the time tell me that this is where democracy triumphed. Matt used his blog writer delegation authority in place of Charlotte (who unfortunately was unable to make this year) to nominate 3 candidates: myself, Kingsley and King (who had organised this years Tour De Farce well enough to only just turn up). The people spoke and now we have this blog.

* human placed em dash