If I'd finished the blog that first day it would have been ok but as you know tragedy struck the Giro only 2 days later and I, along with the rest of the cycling world, was left reeling by the death of Belgian sprinter Wouter Weylandt on stage 3 of the race.

Writing a blog had to go on hold for a couple of days whilst Sean Kelly and myself did our best to honour this likeable young man's life in our broadcasts. I wasn't a close friend of Wouter's but his death should what a close family cycling is at it's very core.

And then something strange happened that has never happened to me before in 25 years of riding a bicycle. I began to question whether it was wise to attempt to ride a bike as fast as Magnus and I will be in the attempt on the RRA 25 mile record, or even if I wanted to. I have ridden a motorcycle for just as long and never questioned the logic of that but suddenly the tragic events of the Giro brought home to me just how dangerous hurtling downhill at speeds approach 60mph could be.

Fast forward to the end of week two on the Giro and we have a race dominated by Alberto Contador, the best grand tour rider of his generation who's brilliance is plain to see and yet the clouds of suspicion hover above him ahead of his CAS hearing in June. If the verdict is that Bertie should serve a ban for the presence of Clenbuterol in sample he gave during last years Tour de France then his stunning performance in this years Giro will prove meaningless.

If that weren't depressing enough the news week has been dominated by the ongoing collapse of the once great Armstrong edifice with new assertions of his alleged use of PEDs to become the greatest Tour rider of them all, the most damning of which seems to have come for none other than his closest lieutenant in the peloton, George Hincapie.

So what can you believe in?

Well one thing's for certain you can believe in the sheer joy of riding itself, of pushing your own limits to achieve whether that be tackling the Wiggle Dragon Ride for the first time this June or breaking a 25 mile record. Forget those who want to succeed at any cost, real biking is for those who want to give their all and not more than it.

It's now 6am and I'm wide awake again, my mind racing through the prospect of the day commentating, fitting 2 hours fast bunch riding in but mostly about pulling together the team logistics for the record.

As I suspected it might, it's all coming together with huge speed and when master frame builder Terry Dolan sent me a photo of the Rocket 2 frame in the raw the hunger come flooding back.

We hope that it will all be painted and ready for show at the Wiggle Dragon ride on June 5th, if it is make sure to come and see it.

Meanwhile check out a video of the route Magnus Backstedt and I will be taking in our attempt by visiting the following this Dropbox link.

Till then, ride safe

DH