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Place Your Bets Please

Place Your Bets Please

This is all over the Twitters and the Internets: The cyclist involved, Toby Hockley, wasn’t seriously hurt… but it was a close thing. He’s lucky to be alive, and it’s only due to the cushioning effects of nettles & restorative nature of post-ride ice cream that he’s alive to tell the tale. We’re not going to...
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The War On The Drinks Industry

The War On The Drinks Industry

So the fine for using a handheld mobile hone while driving will be increasing from £60 to £90. Apparently the Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin is getting tough and cracking down on drivers, saying, “We want to send a clear message to dangerous drivers: If you continue to show complete disregard for the safety of other...
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Bike Share - Osijek, Croatia

I go to Osijek in Croatia once a year to teach on a postgraduate programme. It’s a good gig that’s made even better by the hospitality and the places - generally travelling out and back via Zagreb, and Osijek itself has the feeling of a small university city with some great weather. Normally when I’m...
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Tyne Pedestrian & Cycle Tunnel CLOSURE

Tyne Pedestrian & Cycle Tunnel CLOSURE

I met the HR Manager for TT2 Ltd at an event I was presenting earlier this week - TT2 are the operators of the Tyne Tunnels. In discussion, he brought up something that’d quite passed me by - even though...
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Friday Caption Contest: Stunt Edition

Friday Caption Contest: Stunt Edition

First up, let’s look at the results for last week’s caption contest. The winner is of course Betty, who correctly identified that on high-end bikes like the Townsend pictured, almost everything is now seen as an optional add-on that...
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I’ve Just Realised Why People Stare…

The funny thing about riding my Frankenbike bakfiets, Mary Shelley is the reactions it gets. Slack-jawed amazement from drivers, intense excitement from shall children (who shout things like, “What a totally amazing bike!”. No, really.), and incredulous hilarity from teenagers...
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Friday Caption Contest: What’s Missing?

Friday Caption Contest: What’s Missing?

Simple enough challenge for you today: Just identify what’s missing from this snap by CyclingVillage, and provide an explanation of what’s happened: Best answer gets our usual level of fabulous prize: A CCTV system to keep an eye on your...
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It’s Health & Safety Gone Mad

Some people say that riding a brakeless, 4m tall bike, in a crowd, along busy streets, amongst other motorised traffic isn’t the sort of thing we should be encouraging. What’s worse, there’s no helmet and no hi-viz. This is...
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Lots of People Ride Bikes In The Netherlands Because it’s FLAT!

That’s what people will tell you. And in some places it might be true. The trouble is that a flat country next to the sea will also tend to be windy: Give me hills instead of a headwind any day...
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The Joy of Slicks*

The Joy of Slicks*

I’m always puzzled whenever I see someone riding a so-called “mountain bike” along the street. These things are frequently supermarket models, with frames made from girders, useless & heavy suspension, brakes & gear components made from Kraft cheese, and...
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Carspotting

Carspotting

Choose life. Choose driving. Choose congestion. Choose no fresh air and an ever-expanding waistline. Choose a f**king long commute, inhaling the exhaust from the car in front. Choose massive fuel bills that get bigger every year, HP, depreciation, and...
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Tips For Riding A Bike To Work

Tips For Riding A Bike To Work

1. Think about your route. This applies if you’re a complete novice, or a rider with tens of thousands of road miles on your pedals. I regularly ride into the centre of Newcastle, and part of the route is...
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Fixie Vs Reynolds Roadster

Fixie Vs Reynolds Roadster

My mate Tom has been working on a Project. Basically he had a Very Sensible Dutch Bike (VSDB), but was frustrated at its lack of agility & the Grand Canyon-esque spacing of its three gears. So he hatched a...
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Putting A White Tail on The Pashley

Putting A White Tail on The Pashley

In the early 1930s, there were over 7,000 road deaths a year. Yet this was an era which we now look back on as some sort of rural idyl when compared with today’s roads - they had just two...
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WHY Would You Choose To Drive…

WHY Would You Choose To Drive…

… when this is right there? Most people live within a 25 minute ride of where they work. Yet even on days like this, they believe the big lie that they *have* to drive. Maybe it’s a trick of the glass...
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A Hot Bike?

A Hot Bike?

I’m working a bit in Blyth at the moment, and ended up back at the Sustrans office yesterday afternoon. Looking at the setup, I decided that it was time to put the tools onto a shadow board, and after...
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I’d Like To Apologise To You, Mr Driver

My behaviour after you’d passed me this morning was not what I’d have hoped. I let the school down, I let other cyclists down, but most of all, I let myself down. I realise now that when you drove your...
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Freak Cycling Accident

As Daughter and I were riding along the Coast Road cycle path last week, one of the many people who use it as their commuting route overtook us. I’d seen him coming up behind, and were were in single...
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Riding Sea to Sea With Daughter

Riding Sea to Sea With Daughter

Last autumn Daughter and I were talking. One of her friends is now a regular at our local Park Run with her dad. Daughter wanted to do something similar, but really doesn’t fancy running. So we hatched a plan to...
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Dunwich Dynamo 2013

Dunwich Dynamo 2013

For the last five years I’ve done the Dunwich Dynamo, and I wondered if YOU would like to take part this year. This is a 120-ish mile overnight bike ride from London to Dunwich on the Suffolk coast, just shy...
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The Inconsistent Skid-Lid

I’m not a big fan of cycle helmets. But I also recognise that wearing one may sometimes be beneficial. Here’s my pro- and con- lists: On The Plus Side Might prevent head injury from a low speed fall or impact Keeps my...
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