Bummer

Take a look at this film from Andyb0000 on YouTube - pause it and note down the time in the film at which you’d identified what was going to happen: Thankfully, Andy is on the mend, but his footage raises some interesting questions about the degree of vigilance that’s needed to ride on the roads...
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There’s something going on, y’know. It seems that this thing where women cyclists in That London are at more risk than men are just refuses to go away. According to this report by the BBC , women account for only 27% of the capital’s bike journeys. Yet of the eight cyclists killed by drivers of...
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This is all that’s left of Trixie The Fixie: I bought this bike (a mid-’80s Raleigh Record Sprint) in October 1989, to replace a stolen Dawes Lightning. Six weeks later, I got arrested in a case of mistaken identity over this bike, subsequently resprayed her white to prevent that ever happening again. Later, when the...
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If you come here often, you’ll probably know that I’m far from pro-helmet, and absolutely 100% anti helmet compulsion. Basically, the protection offered by bicycle helmets is fairly marginal in situations other than static falls (which is how they’re tested), and I’m a firm believer that compulsion does more to paint an image of...
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So at the weekend I fixed the slow puncture in my back tyre. It’d been a slow puncture because the inner tube had had the slime treatment. Any. Way. I followed the advice of the guy from the bike shop, and used the old inner tube as a tyre liner. After cutting the valve off, I...
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Our car failed its annual MoT test. That means mandatory remedial work before it’s allowed on the road, we won’t get it back ’till Monday evening . . . and an unplanned bill of around £800. Bah! You could buy a great town bike for that sort of money. But on the bright side, it means...
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Jazz legend & bewildered quiz master, Humphrey Lyttelton died last night. As well as being a trumpeter that even Louis Armstrong looked up to (no, really), the 86 year-old was the accidental anchor-man for Radio 4’s long-running quiz, I’m Sorry I Haven’t a Clue. This has been one of my favourite shows for years. The...
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17 years ago, I was living with my parents during the placement year of my degree. My bedroom backed onto their garden, down the bottom of which was the shed that my father kept all his fishing tackle in. This was your average garden shed, with security features borrowed from Fort Knox - bars...
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There are several roads near here which would be just great for cycling when you’re in a hurry to get somewhere. Roads like the A1058 Coast Road, which takes you in pretty much an arrow-straight line from the coast (the clue’s in the name) to the centre of Newcastle. The problem is that this...
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