Archive for September, 2008

Our local council has tried to do the right thing for cyclists. They spent some money & put in quite a lot of effort to uncover & re-surface the old railway lines (”Waggonways”) that crisscross the area. These make for excellent cycling surfaces, being as they’re all pretty flat. BUT The council also fell into the...
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Yesterday I mentioned Billy Connolly’s bicycle joke, which seemed particularly relevant after seeing this German bike-promoting advert on Copenhagenize. Somehow, I just couldn’t find any actual footage of the scene on the Michael Parkinson show. And that was a little annoying - I thought you could find anything on the Internet. SO I tried a...
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I came across this on Copenhagenize, and just had to show it here, ‘cos it reminded me of a gag told by my favourite comedian, Billy Connolly (who just happens to be a bit of a cyclist too).You can see the video after the joke, because by then, you’ll have guessed what the film’s...
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Omigosh! A real bicycle race . . . coming right past our front door! An ideal way to spend half an hour - waiting in the drizzle to see over a hundred bikes come whizzing past in a little over two minutes. Actually, it was great fun - mugs of tea & a chance to...
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So here’s where I am with the Pashley tandem I bought a few weeks ago. As I write this, it’s components are in a small box. In front of that is the frame - stripped of everything except the head tube badge. Over the weekend, I’m going to strip the paint and clean up...
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I came across these this weekend, while I was supposed to be researching for an article I’ve got to get submitted by Friday. Oh, the seductive lure of the internet! First up, we have Freemans Cycles - a UK-based, family-run bike shop that’s been going since 1890.  I found them because I was looking for...
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I’m ashamed to admit that I drove into Whitley Bay today on an errand. That’s about 0.8 miles each way. Sorry. My excuse was that it was absolutely p!$hing down, and I’d just had enough of getting soaked - soaked last night on the Tandem, soaked this morning when I ran to the shop to...
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No, that’s not a misquote from some French royalty. It’s the motto of 617 Squadron, whose story was told by Paul Brickhill in The Dam Busters - one of my Thrilling Yarns that I read over the summer. It was Daughter’s first swimming lesson after the summer break. And although the weather forecast was for...
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I’ve heard from several places that cyclists, out in the open air of our cities, are actually exposed to fewer chemical nasties than drivers of cars. It sounds a little counter-intuitive, when you think about the clouds of exhaust gasses we ride through, while drivers have their windows shut and the aircon keeping them...
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