When Francesco Schettino, the captain of the doomed Costa Concordia claimed that he “tripped and fell into a life boat” which took off before he had the chance to get out, his excuse went down in history as the second worst/best (depending on how you look at it) excuse of all time behind only that of Alberto Contador who once claimed his positive test for the banned substance Clenbuterol was the work of a tainted piece of meat he eat during a Tour de France rest day.

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Both Cavendish and Wiggins have the opportunity to help bring unprecedented glory to British cycling

Twenty hundred and twelve has the potential to be a huge year for British Cycling. With both Bradley Wiggins and Christopher Froome proving last year they can podium in a grand tour and with the 2012 Tour de France route suited better than ever towards one or both of them competing for the GC, and with Mark Cavendish going for Green again, not to mention the Olympic road race, and a stack of track riders looking to aid to Britain’s gold haul, this could be the year Britain becomes the best cycling nation on earth. To have said that not even ten years ago would have brought sniggering from all angles and much ridicule.

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I had hoped to get this site up and live around the turn of the new year but unfortunately time, among other things, conspired against me and so we find ourselves into the middle of the first month of the new year, but before the year of our Lord twenty-hundred and eleven disappears too far into our rear views, let’s hand out some awards for the year that was…

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I just so happened to have opened up this site on the eve of the first WorldTour race of the season. It wasn’t planned that way but since the the pro season is about to kick-off, I might as well say a few words about it and indeed give you someone as a prediction to put your hard earned cash on, but with no guarantees it’ll actually make you rich.

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Sizing up the two words that surely haunt any cyclist, good or bad, pro or rank amateur, the most: ‘Winter Training’.

As I sit here writing this, 18 stories above the frozen, frigid and snow lined streets of Toronto, Ontario, we’re already entering the third week of January and depending on who you are and perhaps your location on the globe your 2012 cycling year will be at some stage or another. If you’re one of the paid few on the books of this new WorldTour, your season of racing is only a day away down at the Tour Down Under. If you’re an amateur enthusiast from a part of the world with an acceptable year round climate (ie. not Canada) you might well be trudging out the miles and racking up the stamina on those weekend road rides ahead of your season (if you race that is, for otherwise your season may never begin and therefore never end). Or, if you’re like me — the fair weather cyclist — in a climate that sits well into the negative digits for three-point-five months per year, with a mental allergy towards gyms, you’ll be on the fringes of beginning a pre-season — having put it off long enough — in the hopes that the mountain bike sitting in the spare room (soon to become a nursery) and very soon to be relegated to the storage cage until the snow melts, will get value for money when the hammer drops on the first race of the season in 15 weeks time.

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Welcome to The Cycle Seen! Not just a cycling website, but a state of mind.

Hello! I hope this finds you and your loved ones well and in good spirits in the early throws of 2012? Good to hear. Well, you’ve either happened upon here by design or by freak accident, though I make no apologises for either, but I hope you’ll stick around for a little while or at least to hear me out as I take a minute to explain what this is all about.

The Cycle Seen is a gawk into the life of one average amateur cycling hobbyist who rides for fun and spends some time indulging in armchair expertise by watching the little stickmen do it best on the television as well. Hence, my own cycle, or the wider cycle scene, as seen by me.

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