Acts of cycling stupidity

With cyclo-cross season comes a cautionary tale. A junior known to this column spent much of the summer working on his cross skills. He was particularly proud of his running mount, which he practised in the garden.

His dad, tired of hearing about it, and tired of tyre marks in his lawn, quietly put his son’s saddle up a few inches.

Next day, the kid got his bike, ran down the garden, and launched a full-on flying leap aboard. Crotch and saddle met in an unexpected place, with an entirely unwelcome impact.

He lost control and demolished his dad’s garden shed. Which just goes to show that you shouldn’t take this sort of mean-spirited revenge on your children.