Thorn Audax

After several weeks of research, I've finally taken the plunge and ordered a new bike. I was looking for something that would be suitable for winter training, comfortable for the long distances I seem to be doing these days, and would be strong enough for Lands End to John O'Groats next year.

It had to be a steel frame for comfort, strength and longevity, yet I didn't want the weight of a full tourer. Obviously, it needed a wide range of gears, good quality components and have comfort options like mudguards. A bike built for Audax events seemed the obvious solution, and of the ones specifically built for these events the Thorn Audax comes very highly recommended.

So after a chat with the very friendly folks at SJS Cycles, one is now on order and should be made for me by about the middle of September.

Forbidden Broadway

Kim and I went to see Forbidden Broadway at the Menier Chocolate Factory. It had been recommended by a friend who had seen it in New York, and it turned out to be a great recommendation. It’s a tongue in cheek look at the big commercial shows on Broadway and London’s West End, focussing particularly on musical theatre. If you’re fan of the big musicals – Phantom, Les Mis, Hairspray, Lion King and the rest – or are just a little bit ‘camp’ you’ll love this. Cruelly funny, bang up to date and brilliantly performed it was an absolute delight. And it was made all the better by the intimate and participative atmosphere of the Chocolate Factory – a very small off West End venue. Wonderful.

We went on a ‘meal deal’ ticket, which at £34 for a two course meal, plus show tickets, was excellent value. Forbidden Broadway is running for a limited season only, so don’t delay, book now!

100 miles

Last weekend I took part in the London to Southend bike ride in aid of the British Heart Foundation. At 59 miles it is slightly longer than London to Brighton, but with 3,000 riders – instead of the 27,000 on London to Brighton – it is a much more sensible field allowing for clearer roads and faster progress. I had decided I would ride up to the start in Victoria Park, complete the ride, then ride home. That would make for a round trip of about 100 miles.

Getting to London early on Sunday morning meant I had a choice of river crossings, none of which I’d used before – the Woolwich foot tunnel, the Greenwich foot tunnel, or the Rotherhithe Road tunnel. I’d read that the Rotherhithe tunnel was safe for bikes if you stayed on the walkway, but that pollution from the cars could make it a very unpleasant experience. However, both the foot tunnels have lifts that operate only during regular hours and would definitely not be working at 6.30am on a Sunday morning. That meant walking down and then up the stairs at either end hauling the bike whilst wearing cumbersome bike shoes. In the end I opted for the Rotherhithe tunnel figuring that at that time of day on Sunday, the traffic would be light and the pollution would not have had time to build up. That turned out to be a good call, as it is an easy ride and made the journey to the start very straightforward and direct. I was fascinated that the tunnel bends at the start and again at the end and have since found out that this is so that when it was originally built, the horses could see the light ‘at the end of the tunnel’ and make a bolt for freedom too early!

The ride from Victoria Park to Southend was delightful, passing through some of the better parts of Essex. I stopped at Battlesbridge for a comfort break and some refreshments, where I got talking to a guy riding a Thorn Audax bike – identical to the one I’d just ordered. I’d never even seen one on the road before, so that was a little spooky.

The last few miles into Southend became hard work as the winds were very strong across the open farmland we were riding through, however, arriving at Priory Park we were met by a large crowd of people cheering and clapping to receive our medal, certificate and bottle of water. That was a great feeling!

For many that was the end of the day, but for of course, I still had to ride back home. I got chatting to a guy in full Saxo Bank pro race gear, and on a very expensive full carbon bike and who was obviously fairly new to cycling. He was moaning about how much his rear end hurt. I didn’t have the heart to tell him that his ultra stiff pro-bike was probably contributing to his woes! He looked good though ;-)

The ride home was uneventful, although I had to contend with the very strong headwind the whole way, and there were a couple of very heavy, sharp showers which I confess I sheltered from. I met up with another guy at the Dartford Crossing also making his way home, although he had cheated just a little by taking the train from Southend to Upminster.

All in all though a good day, and I proved to myself that 100 miles isn’t so scary, and is possibly a daily distance for next year’s Lands End to john O’Groats ride.

Tiger Tales

I’ve recently had the car out again at Brands Hatch. Two track days in fact. The first was on the legendary Grand Prix circuit, and then earlier this week on the Indy circuit. Getting another chance to drive the GP track was brilliant as it has to be one of the best anywhere in the world. It’s the place of legends, and it’s easy to see why – Paddock Hill bend, the hairpin at Druids, and the turn out into the country at Surtees. I particularly love the series of corners from Dingle Dell through Sheene, Sterlings and back down to Clearways where you need to get the line just right in order to maintain speed for the main straight.

It’s also fair to say that the GP circuit always attracts a fair amount of exotica, and this time was no exception. The usual Lambos, Ferraris and Porsches were in evidence, together with a couple of Russian Touring cars, with full supporting crew. And although the Tiger is built for acceleration and cornering, not really straight line speed, it held its own very well and was by no means the slowest out there.

This week, I took some people from work to an evening session organised by Focused Events for a taste of track day fun. It was sold as a sessioned event, but there were insufficient cars booked and so it became an open pit lane – meaning cars could go in and out as often as they liked for the two and a half hour session. This time, there was not much exotica around, being replaced by a lot of novice drivers and a surprising number of road going saloons. The large number of first timers in relatively slow cars made for some interesting and at times, frustrating laps. However, the track soon started to clear and we had a much better run at things.

Unfortunately mechanical troubles cut out evening short by about 45 minutes though. The trigger wheel – which indicates the position of the crank and pistons to the Megajolt electronic ignition – decided it had had enough of Brands and made a break for freedom. As we speak, it lies forlorn somewhere on the grass by the side of the track on the way down from Druids. Of course, without it, the car won’t run and so we had to be recovered by the excellent marshals at the track.

I’m very grateful to Dave for the tow home after we’d finished, although I suspect Dave doesn’t tow regularly as at times we were doing 60mph!!

This is the second time the trigger wheel has come loose – it is welded to the crank pulley – and the welds were pretty good. However, I suspect the absence of any damping and the sheer forces involved – track days are a harsh environment, even for a race prepared engine – have worked it loose over ht past few weeks. Fortunately, no other damage was done as the wheel, which is (was!) thick steel the size of a side plate, broke away. A quick call to 7-Indulgence, who carried out the installation, and we’re already thinking of fitting a new one in a different way. This time, I think we’ll need to replace the cast crank pulley with an aluminium one which can be drilled so the trigger wheel can be bolted in place. Until then, Tiger is off the road.

Change is happening

1. From communications to engagement

2. We can do stuff without IT…..

….. and they don’t like it.

3. Uses are emergent, and business benefit is emergent…..

….. so business case processes are inappropriate.

4. Communications people don’t understand it, so…..

….. they ignore it, or try to control it…

5. Users don’t understand it, so…..

….. they just use it….

Another bike

As a typical 'bloke', I love machines and gadgets. Also, in the last three or four years I've become an enthusiastic cyclist, using a bike both to commute to work and for leisure/training rides at the weekend.

Putting these two things together, means I am always on the look out for a new bike. Sometimes, the excuses are quite thin, however, sometimes they are genuine. This time its genuine. I need a new bike.

I'm in the early stages of planning to do LeJoG next year, and such a serious undertaking will require a serious machine. So I'm looking at Audax, touring and Cyclocross bikes as potential steeds for such a long trip.

If you have any advice on what would be most suitable, let me know! And if you know me and fancy LeJoG as well, give me a call!!

What is an intranet

Whilst preparing to present to the Intranet benchmarking Forum the other day, I started to think about what an intranet actually is. Of course, it's many things to many people, and for sure our definition has changed over the 16 years or so since the term was first coined. However, here is my stab for what it is. It is:

• A critical part of your organisation's landscape
• A platform for the paperless office
• A place to collaborate
• A catalyst for change

All of which are pretty obvious and probably not too contentious.

However, and intranet is also:

• Taken for granted (or at least it should be)
  
• The battlefield between technology and business
• The place where people can have personality, opinions and express themselves.
  

These are not so obvious, and are certainly not so comfortable for the organisation. However, as has always happened, intranets are once again challenging the old paradigms - and that can be quite threatening for those affected. The one thing we can be sure of though, is that change in this space is pretty much unstoppable as an intranet world is a democtratised world and has an organic life of its own. The most successful intranet managers will be those who can harness that development and growth through the various phases.

I am a Philistine

This week, I went to see Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellan and Simon Callow in Waiting for Godot at the Theatre Royal Haymarket. I'm afraid I didn't get it.

No story line, juvenile character development and a pointless production left me feeling I'd wasted my money. As it's such a famous play, put on by famous actors and watched by a theatre full of people who laughed at everything, even though none of it was funny, I can only conclude I am a Philistine. Or maybe I'm just too superficial and it was all over my head.

I can't wait for the panto season ;-)

Tiger Tales

Yesterday I had the Tiger on track at Brands Hatch. It was a track day organised by Focused Events. Although it was very hot, the car was impeccably behaved and the event very well organised and run. It was a ‘sessioned’ evening (as opposed to an open pit lane), however, this was probably a good thing as limiting drivers (and their cars) to 20 minutes of track time at a go was very sensible in the heat. As is often the case, it was an eclectic mix of cars – a couple of TVRs, a Porsche GT3, several 7-type cars (including a guy in his brand new Caterham, and someone in a yellow Tiger), a Radical, and a few racing saloons. A good mix, and plenty to talk about in the pit garages. We were on track right after the Formula BMW series cars had completed testing, so they were also around to chat to.

The marshals at Brands Hatch are excellent, but last night there were several novice drivers who seemed totally oblivious to the correct racing line, or other cars behind them trying to get past. In these circumstances, drivers need to be extremely patient and not take any risks trying to overtake. The marshals could have helped the more experienced drivers in the faster cars by using the blue overtaking flag a little more often. I only saw it being waved once.

Other than that, it was a great evening.

Informalisation

Tomorrow I’m hosting the Intranet Benchmarking Forum meeting looking at our intranet. In putting together my 15 minutes of fame, I started to think about a potential clash between the increasing centralisation and formalisation we’re seeing in business right now, which is a natural consequence of the economic challenges many businesses face, and the increasing ‘informalisation’ of the intranet. We face a surge of user generated content via wikis, blogs, microblogs social networks and so on, most of which is spontaneous and informal. However, over the past 15 years or so, intranet professionals have focussed on governance of content, making sure it’s up to date, accurate, owned and so on. As the balance between this legacy ‘governed’ content and the new wave of informal content changes, so our governance approaches will have to change. Not only that, the governance we managed through the early days of intranet was necessary because users weren’t particularly savvy and we needed to take care of the content on their behalf. The user is much more aware these days and doesn’t need us to cosset them in quite the same way.

Does this therefore mean the end of intranet governance as an activity? Can we just leave it to the network to organise itself and the crowd to keep content up to date? Well, possibly yes, but also, no. Some form of governance will still be required – people in business still need reassurance that the information they are using is valid and accurate. That cannot be left to chance. However, as there will be many, many more content providers than before, we’ll see a few power users emerge in the information farmer role. They will assume responsibility themselves – in other words we won’t ‘appoint’ them – to look after content. These farmers will need our help and support. That will be a vital role for the intranet professional going forward.

The tools we use will also need to change. Content management systems have grown up supporting this formal world. They are entirely inappropriate for this new wave of less formal content, where users neither have the time, nor the desire to be trained on how to use a system. They’ll be looking for a user experience closer to that of Facebook, Blogger and the other social media platforms. They’ll just want to start using it. However, in our corporate worlds, change of this type is not comfortable for our programmes and projects. IT projects in particular have long lead times and there is a very real danger we won’t be able to reap the benefits of this greater knowledge base and collaboration because we can’t get the right platforms in place.

A final thought. We mustn’t get too precious about our governance processes. They are a means to an end. If we can achieve the same ends in a better, cheaper, faster way, then we should do so. Change affects us too!