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 of Lowestoft. That might sound like a hugely long way, but it’s pretty flat and...
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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 head warm when it’s cold - once the vents fill with snow Some shyster lawyer may...
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One of my mates, Mike, is a style-conscious chap about town. He wears a tweed waistcoat, often sports a beard, and runs an advertising agency. Don’t hold the latter against him - he’s a top bloke for advice & fat-chewing when you’re in a fix (and also has an eye for design, copy and...
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It’s been a couple of years since I bothered to track my mileage. But a brief Twitter conversation with Neil from the Stockton Cycle Hub got me wondering how far I ride my bike. In previous years when I’ve bothered to measure this it’s been because I was training for something or other, so...
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In the early 90s, I graduated, got my hair cut and got a job. I also ended up living 30 miles from where I worked, and petrol was cheap - it cost me just £1.20 a day to get to work. I stopped riding a bike for anything other than the very occasional summer...
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Lorries … and Taxis … and Buses Oh My! (So why do girls in britain stop cycling?)
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Declaration of interest: this post is about a Sustrans project. Sustrans are monthly contributors to the keeping-a-roof-over-my-head fund, and I have definitely drunk their Kool Aid (”Tune in, turn on, drop out & build your own transport network”). But that doesn’t mean that what follows isn’t true! One of the criticisms levelled at cycle infrastructure...
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Like most children in the UK in the 70s, I had a bike. The one that really got me my independence was an orange Raleigh Commando, which lasted me from Christmas day of 1977, up to the spring of 1981. I only lived 400m from school, so I didn’t use it for “commuting”. But after...
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I was at a health & wellbeing event last week for work. One of the other exhibitors as Northumbria University’s Sport Central, who were doing all sorts of health & fitness tests on willing victims volunteers. After one of my colleagues had done the test, and found out that her metabolic age was 32, compared...
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… There’s always Unicycle Hockey. And you can play against your bicycle polo playing refusnik friends if you really want to spice it up (apparently less is more - the unicycles trashed the opposition): Can we just file this one for later?
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My simian friend from Manchester reminded me of this classic advert from the 70s: Clearly the PG Tips chimps are from Yorkshire, and will no doubt be somehow involved in organising next year’s race.
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Whitley Bay has a large network of traffic-free streets. Like those elsewhere, they’re more desirable places to live, where people don’t have to worry about traffic noise, and children can play free of the fear of failing their Green Cross Code. You see hopscotch grids chalked on the paths, and people chatting with their...
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There seems to be some confusion about how people on bikes should be treated. The tradition (and legal standing) in the UK is that we’re a vehicle, and subject to the full weight of most of the highway code, road traffic acts, etc. The trouble is, when this definition was settled in 1888, things were...
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That’s the caption suggested by Andy Lulham for this photo from the Leeds University Bicycle User Group: Can you do better?
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Remember the video of Martyn Ashton pulling some mad crazy stunts on a road bike? How about this via Cyclelicious suited company man doing the same on the Japanese mamachari “granny” bike. “Granny” bike… you mean like the Dutch omafiets? With a few modifications, this sort of silliness could probably get quite extreme… (turn up volume before...
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I got sent out to the shops on my winter Fugly bike. 19kg of “essentials” later, I’m home: Yes those are lever arch files, and yes that is tramp-strength Dutch lager & fighting-talk Hobgoblin beer. Oh, and some cider. And some fizzy wine. And a shedload of chocolate. I just want to reassure you that it’s...
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Today’s I Bike London post references some statistics collated by the Cycling Silk on the outcomes of 20 court cases this year in which a driver was charged with causing death by careless or inconsiderate driving. He breaks the sentencing down, listing the lengths of any driving bans, prison terms, or other punishment (community  orders...
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Unfortunately my Pashley is STILL at the shop (Just. Don’t. Ask.), and I needed a bike that could handle icy roads for the winter. Neither the road bike, Christina, nor my commuter, Byron, have clearance for spiked tyres, so I was really excited (yes, I know - I really need to get out more)...
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This is FAR cooler than the Lotus Esprit Submarine from the 1977 Bond film, The Spy Who Loved Me: Go on - admit it. You know you want one!
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Nice weather this afternoon, so I took the Frankenbike to the shops to pick up dog food supplies. Seeing as the light was so good I also took some photos of the bike - named after another Dead Poet, she’s Mary Shelley - for obvious reasons: Mary Shelley, Frankenbike. Around 3m long and with a...
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Like many, I watched that programme on the tellybox last week - “The war on Britain’s roads“. Like many, I was left feeling rather depressed by the whole thing - its sensationalist chasing of the biggest shouting, and whole futility of it all left me feeling empty. The two parts that were worth watching was...
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