This is a story of what happens when a simple idea gets taken just that one step too far. Four years ago we did the Dunwich Dynamo - 120 or so miles in the dark, leaving North London at dusk, and arriving on the Suffolk coast some time the next morning for a fried...
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You can now pick up impressively bright LED torches for just a couple of pounds, and these are great for use as bike lights. The question is, how to attach them to your bike? True, you can get special velcro-fastening brackets, with a pair of cups at right angles - one cup sits on your...
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Criticality Accident - Don’t try this at home, kids! Sometimes we achieve critical mass by accident - like in the Newcastle Cycle Campaign’s City Chiefs Cycle Challenge, in which a bunch of politicians, civil servants and cycle campaigners took to the streets of Newcastle last month. Or during my training as a Bike Ability Instructor,...
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Number Five - The Retro Bicycle Birthday Girl: Rod brakes? Check! Hub dynamo? Check! Basket tied up with a ribbon? Check! Regular clothes for a warm summer’s evening? Check! Glasses perched on top of head? Check! Chain guard? Check! Old bike in lovely condition, which was a birthday present from Boyfriend, inducing a big grin? Check! “Really comfortable to ride, especially the...
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Sometimes when I get excited, I get my mucking fords wuddled. Like today - I understand that they used to run simple handicraft production in asylums. Yes, they had psychopaths in their workshops. Yet this roofer seems to have made a workshop on the cyclepath: Apparently, if he’d used his customer’s driveway, he’d have been “in the way”. Whereas...
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Leslie Phillips - the archetypal cad from the early Carry On films is still an inspiration for many cyclists. What’s not to love - superb tailoring, tweed, and a catch phrase that says it all: Which brings me onto these, which arrived in the post at the end of last week: They just arrived in the post -...
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I cycle quite a lot when I’m at work - as I only cover an area that’s 5 x 4 miles, it’s an ideal way to get around between clients. You could view this as being a little indulgent, but it gives me time to think about things, and it’s perfectly aligned with my...
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Number Four - The Busy Mum: Extremely sensible, big-grin inducing bike? Check! Sensible luggage capacity? Check! Sensible, every-day clothes? Check! Cotton-bag-over-shoulder-flower-in-hair? Check! Sleeve of child’s raincoat poking out of that bag? Check! Handlebar mounted child seat? Check! Child? Fail! Actually, the child was just out of camera shot on his / her (what do I know?) own bike. Probably less than...
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Remember last week’s caption contest, with the glitering prize of Bradley Wiggins’ Lambretta & parka coat? The obvious winner was Nathan, with, “Look Ma, no feet!”, and just as soon as we get all the mirrors off the scooter so it’ll fit into the box, we’ll post your prize to you. This week’s caption contest...
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One more than you currently have, of course: Photo credit: Amsterdamize.com. Where else?!
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If your a sad, lonely individual like me, you probably watch YouTube helmet camera footage filmed by other people on bikes. Many of these feature aggressive idiots behind the wheel, but a more common complaint is how much (little) space drivers give bikes when they pass. One of the closest shaves I ever had...
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But very funny:
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A pair of amateur-night close shaves for me this evening riding home - two assassination attempts by the same driver. Not deliberate as such, but indicative of a crass, thoughtless attitude to anyone else on the road. First up, he edged alongside me in the narrow next to the traffic island on the way into...
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David Hembrow writes today about the extensive, €100M inter-city / inter-town cycle route building programme that the Netherlands is engaged in. Apparently, it’s cheeper to build them than not to! The basis for that claim is a report by Fietsberaad, which uses calculations to show how the time saved by people using these routes means...
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Last week Andy Cline wrote about the perennial issue of fuel prices - in the States these are looking like heading below $3.25/gal again, thanks perhaps to the release of 30,000,000 barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. His comment that this is another one-step-back in the inexorable two-steps-forward for fuel prices is...
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Doesn’t look like it to me: Top tip for spectators: Stand on the inside of the bend - you’re a whole lot less likely to be hit by flying bicycle / rider debris.
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Number Three - The Chatty Shopper: Sensible fleecy jumper for our mid-summer weather? Check! Non-Lycra jeans? Check! Hand bag securely over one shoulder? Check! Sensible cycling shoes? Check! HUGE (I mean really HUGE!) pannier bags? Check! Basket on the front? Check! Unlike when driving a car: Time, opportunity and motive to stop and shoot the breeze? Check!
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OK - first up the prizes for last week’s competition. Some really smashing entries, but the winner had to be Primal Tuna, with “To all the shaved lycra racers on your 2kg bikes… HTFU!“. Will be arranging their extensive cycle caravan tour just as soon as the weather turns proper nasty in the autumn. For...
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Things I saw on my ride home today: An aircraft carrier A pair of Top Guns flying in close formation A Ghost Rider I didn’t see any homoerotic beach volleyball being played. Let’s be honest - it’s just too damned cold for that sort of thing here. But if that’s the kind of thing that floats your boat,...
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Seen in Whitley Bay last weekend - a bike with a nice big lock: Nice sensible bike - pannier bags and a basket at the front. Ideal for shopping trips. And the owner has secured it to these nice wibbly-wobbly bike stands. You can probably see the problem though, can’t you? That lock is just HUGE, and it only...
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This is Stuart, who works at Whiptail Cycles in Tynemouth, with his bike: If ever there was a compelling reason why bike shop staff shouldn’t be allowed to get staff discount on components, then this is it. That has to be the ugliest bike I’ve ever seen.
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