Whitley Bay

Almost a year ago, I want to see our local councilor with responsibility for transport to talk about cycling. In my dealings with the Cycling Projects Officer, I’d got the feeling that there was more going on than the council were being entirely open about. I thought that perhaps there was some sort of...
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I had a bit of a strange day yesterday. A short 45 minute blast on the training bike (quicker than intended), and then when I got home, I thought the weather was just too perfect to drive to work. So after I’d showered, I saddled up Siegfried, and headed off to visit clients. Just...
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I’ve had an unusual week. Full of highs and lows. On the plus side . . . My ride to work on Wednesday was just brilliant, despite the weather’s attempt to rain on that particular parade. And as I explained to the people from Sustrans - my skin’s waterproof. On that ride . . . I...
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So Trixie the Fixie is gone away . . . but in the spirit of Mary Shelley’s story from the fireside at the Villa Diadati, all is not lost. Out of the body parts of Trixie rises another bike. Continuing my theme of naming bikes after Dead Poets, this one’s called Byron: This is basically...
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This was the soundtrack of my ride today - Out Ta Get Me, from Appetite For Destruction. (The bleeping out on this version of the song is really subtle - even if you’re not a G’NR fan, it’s worth watching for the awesome audio edit ) So, to my ride today - visiting a client...
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It’s taken me a week to get to write this post, as I was hoping to get CCTV footage of what happened. Unfortunately the response from my Freedom Of Information Request was that the camera overlooking the scene was not working. So you’ll have to take my word for this. Last Saturday afternoon, we all...
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Every now and then the local or national papers here will go off on a rant about cyclists with no respect for the law riding on the pavement (sidewalk), terrorising innocent pedestrians. I’m troubled by this, because I think they’ve got a point. No, I have no problem with considerate, just-above-a-walking-pace cycling (which is actually illegal...
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Yesterday was a fine spring day - bright sunshine, not a cloud in the sky and only a light breeze: While I was out taking Huge Dalmatian for a walk along the sea front, I was surprised to see this coming along: Recumbents aren’t the sort of thing you see every day here, and the rider...
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Tall Friend’s Wife says that I’m competitive, and get the impression that she doesn’t mean it in a good way. I’ve always just shrugged it off as projection, but I also have the feeling somewhere at the back of head that she may have a point. Especially after this morning. I ended up racing another...
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On a bike you move at a more human scale of speed. Peak human speed on-foot is around 26mph, though if you can manage to hit that inside of 100m, the chances are you’re a world record holder. But on a bike, you can easily amble along at 13mph, without even breaking a sweat, and...
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