It's a game of two halves...

Back in the day when I was learning the ropes as a trainee journalist my dear old dad impressed upon me the importance of avoiding clichés like the plague.

 

He hit the nail on the head but when your bread and butter is writing about sports to earn a crust, well, you're on a hiding to nothing.

 

It's a little known fact that when Pheidippides legged it from Marathon to Athens to let everyone know the Persians had just been dealt a right royal kicking, then promptly dropped down dead, Plutarch was heard to remark "...the boy's left nothing on the pitch, he's certainly given it 110 per cent!” and those, folks, are the first ever recorded clichés. Honest!

 

So where's this leading? Well, as I was cycling to work this morning in sub-zero temperatures the thought occurred to me – as it has done every winter for the last 20-years – that motocross gloves are bugger-all use when it comes to keeping the tips of your fingers warm.

 

Marigolds would probably be more effective. Luckily, the wind chill factor soon numbed them to the point where they could have snapped off and I wouldn't have noticed. At least not until I tried to grab a couple of handfuls of brake.

 

Luckily, to compensate for this loss of feeling the pain when they finally started to warm up after ten-minutes in the office was pretty intense.

 

So I have  ordered a pair of super-deluxe, toasty warm winter cycling gloves today. Have I hell!

 

I've managed 20-years without them – why should I buy some now? So in short, while I may be older I'm certainly no wiser!

 

All of which brings me – in a roundabout, highly contrived fashion – to Sunday's Tough One, which was a triumph of age and experience over youthful enthusiasm.

 

Obviously, something like the Tough One demands incredible levels of skill and physical fitness but also some serious savvy is called for when tackling the huge climbs and descents around the fearsome Nantmawr Quarry. 

 

Watching Graham Jarvis and Wayne Braybrook pick their lines in the big Pro race was an education – two former top-flight trials riders using all their accumulated wisdom to make something very, very hard look almost easy.

 

The same could be said for Mark Jackson, who finished a clear second in the Experts and that's despite being almost old enough for Steve Ireland to give him an OAP discount on the entry fee.

 

Still, for all their toughness I bet none of them are hard enough to have cycled to work this morning in MX gloves though, which just goes to illustrate the truth of yet another cliché – no sense, no feeling...

 

I know I'm not just speaking for myself when I say that some of the best, most memorable times of my life have involved two-wheels and an engine and everyone who rides off-road will know where I'm coming from.

 

Sadly, the sports we love are not without their risks – although for speed-based disciplines in particular the risk factor is definitely part of the attraction – and every now and again we lose one of our own.

 

This week we've lost two...

 

The death of Tom Smith after an accident at a BSMA meeting at Mepal on Sunday is a tragedy. By all accounts Tom, 32, was a great bloke and a pretty handy club racer and a Facebook tribute page set up in his memory picked up almost 3,500 ‘likes' in just a couple of days.

 

The fact he died indulging one of his passions is hopefully of some comfort to his loved ones and our sincere condolences go out to his family and friends.

 

At the other end of the spectrum, five-time World Enduro champion Mika Ahola – a true legend of the sport – died on Monday morning. Initial reports suggested he succumbed to injuries sustained in a crash at the weekend but in the hours after his death a different picture emerged.

 

The 38-year-old Finn, who from 2007 to 2011 won back-to-back titles across all three major championship classes, shocked the enduro world when he announced his retirement on New Year's Day.

 

At the time it made very little sense – he'd just signed to race for new Spanish marque Jotagas and was reportedly relishing the fresh challenge after winning five consecutive crowns for Honda – but subsequent revelations following his death go a long way to explain his decision.

 

Apparently, Mika crashed before Christmas and had been in hospital more or less ever since but kept his condition quiet, explaining his absence from the FIM Gala as the result of a bout of flu. His death reportedly came hours after an operation in a top Barcelona hospital to remove a kidney.

 

It's a tragedy made all the more poignant by the statement Mika released when he announced his retirement.

 

"Even though the sport took a lot it also rewarded me with more than I could ever have imagined when I first started. I have fulfilled my ambitions and I feel that it is time to move on and see what else the world has to offer.”