Trust me on this one

In a month or two, I am leaving my employer of the last 28 years and setting off into the uncharted waters of self-employment.   I find myself spending an unhealthy amount of time thinking up bizarre business schemes which will make me the next Bill Gates.

Many of these flashes of brilliance come to me on the bike: which is either vindication of the claim that exercise clears your mind of excess distractions and allows your elemental free-thinking soul to flourish; or evidence of oxygen starvation -- which leads the brain to think that rubbish ideas are better than they are.

I had one this morning.  

A clear, cold but very windy day in the South-East -- I was just finishing a session in Richmond Park when the lightbulb came on. 

Coming off the long descent to Robin Hood Gate, I spotted a lovely old gitanes-blue Citroen 2CV a hundred yards ahead.  I put on a half-hearted sprint, caught up with it and, for the next mile or so, sat in behind.  It was bliss.  Cruising along at the legal limit, hardly turning a pedal, the spluttering, air-cooled engine of the Citroen sounding like a giant Derny.  

The driver, clearly unnerved by the gurning idiot in her rear view mirror, tried to speed up - but even I can keep up with a 2CV on the flat.  

My riding companion compared it to  having your own personal super-domestique -- like being towed along by a big, blue Sean Yates.

And that's when it struck me.  Get a couple of 2CV's, and hang round well-heeled bikie's haunts -- Richmond Park, Box Hill, Crystal Palace parade etc.  Offer, for a substantial fee, to pace groups of city boys on their training runs. 

Just think, boys, now no-one needs to take a turn on the front!  Or read a map -- just ask the driver for whatever's required -- "A hilly 65k, sir? I've got just the thing.  Tuck in behind, and follow me". 

The drivers would, of course, be competent mechanics with tools and spares in the back -- to aid the suprising number of riders you come across with £4k carbon bikes and no idea how to change a tyre.

And the deluxe version would include a video screen on the back of the car -- showing inspirational films, commercials and -- for the truly dedicated -- a Bloomberg ticker.

I'd better get started on the business plan before Rapha pinch the idea.  Dragon's Den, here I come.