Hi! I'm Ruaraidh Gillies, and
welcome to my world! As you have no doubt detected already, I am
a keen cyclist, and a member of the Birkenhead North End Cycling
Club. Mind you, 'keen' does not mean 'brilliant' - let's just say
that the title "Oversized Tubing" applies to more than
my bike frame! What else should I tell you about myself?
"How do you
pronounce that name?" Ruaraidh is the Scots Gaelic word for Red, and is
pronounced Ruary. It should not be pronounced Rory (which is its
Irish equivalent), Rudi, or, as one chap at work called me (when
introducing me to someone else), Ruriad. All close, but no cigar!
"Where
are you from?" The Wirral peninsula, across the River Mersey
from the city of Liverpool, which you can see on the
right. Liverpool is east (i.e. right) of the Wirral, with
Wales on the west side. I was born in Wallasey, but now
live in Bebington, in the house circled below (not giving
away very much am I!).  |
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"Married?" Yes, to Vicky.
"Kids?" Nope - too many friends with kids to
fall into that trap at the moment! But I do have 2 charming
nieces: Amy and Melissa Rankin, who you can see here:
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"Age?" Next question!
"Other interests?" Besides cycling, I'm a staunch Liverpool FC supporter. Click here to go to the best LFC website currently around.
That's enough about me: here's the low-down on my friends!
July 1998, and six of us went to Dublin to see the opening stages of the Tour de France (yes, the Tour de France started in Ireland!).
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Introducing, from left to right (on the right-hand photo), Vicky, Mair Kennedy, Rhian Boult, Ian Boult, and Les Kennedy. To confuse things entirely, Mair and Rhian are sisters. Mair wasn't letting on at this point that she was pregnant (but we'd sussed anyway!). Find out how the baby's getting on at Kennedy's World of Cycling & Babies & Stuff (and you thought my site had a funny name!)
You can see the cycling-related pictures of our Dublin trip on my Images Gallery. Here, though, are a couple of examples of human behaviour at its more bizarre.
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| A few
years ago, we held a 'Bad Taste' Fancy Dress party:
everybody had to come in the most appalling clothes. This
photo is a worm's-eye view of the party (taken by setting the self-timer and
putting the camera on the floor). Les, Mair, Vicky and myself
you (might) recognise, but also in this picture are Alan
and Angela Howgate. PS: Mair and I were voted 'Worst Dressed Girl and Guy'! |
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New! Photos of the August 1999 eclipse - click here.
More photos to be added soon (unless large amounts of cash start rolling in!)
If you have any comments, preferably nice ones, e-mail me