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...
Read more »

I’ve been REALLY BUSY of late. But this afternoon, I spent a happy hour noodling around the stats of the latest release of the National Travel Survey. I was keen to see if recent-ish localised changes have made much of a difference to the country as a whole. With some Excel jiggery-pokery, I found...
Read more »

It’s been a while since our last competition - our team of judges were too busy laughing themselves sick at the entries. But the winner is… Andrew: “Dave was still trying to prove that the ideal number of bikes was N+1″ because the truth of it hurt too much. Your prize is in the post -...
Read more »

A very sensible and practical car that gets 9.0mpg, and can do 179mph: You could buy a whopping 82cm of widened M25 - for such a short stretch, you’d only need a little digger: You could do 1% of the work required to refurbish just one of the Trident programme’s two hundred W-76 thermonuclear warheads: The NHS...
Read more »

There are usually just two different kinds of century ride - Metric (100km ~62 miles) and Imperial (100 miles). I do a lot of baking at home (kneading bread dough is good for my anger issues), so I go through semi-industrial quantities of flour. I’ve also become known amongst Wife’s friends as the man to...
Read more »

I’ve been busy. It’s been summer (ish). You’ve been elsewhere. But now it’s back - our flippin’ fabulous fun Friday caption contest. So what do you make of this: Leave your answer below. The lucky winner will win one of these fabulous bikes to add to their stable. 1,999 runners up will also receive one of...
Read more »

Here’s how they want you to see the world: It’s not really like that though, is it? If you drive regularly, the chances are, this is more like what you experience: Let’s face it. Thanks to the power of advertising spend, your car (and mine too) is a form of mind control. It’s time to wake up.
Read more »

The other weekend I took my DIY cargo bike to the shops to do a major stock up. The advantage of the bike is that I can park it right by the shop’s entrance: You’ll notice that I’ve only locked it with a D-lock through the back wheel - it’s hard to find things to...
Read more »

There could be a reason for that: And if the wheels seem slightly less than round (really, really round), there could be a reason for that too: Hat-tip to Andy for these!
Read more »

I know I shouldn’t really. But it’s the captions that do it for me here: “Be careful, that’s a hell… “Oh “Oh “Sshhhh “Oh “Shhhit “Oh my… “Oh hell “Oh shit “Oh “You alright? “Did you film it?” “Yeah.”
Read more »

The Brooks B17 I have on one of my bikes has now done a few thousand miles, and when comparing with a new saddle on Algernond’s bike last weekend, I noticed that it was starting to spread a little. I also looked at yet another B17 on someone else’s bike, and noticed the lacing on...
Read more »

It was that time of year again - the time when I meet up with a couple of thousand of my closest friends at a pub in That London and head off to a café for breakfast, just 110 miles or so up the road. Yes that’s right: Last Saturday was the Dunwich Dynamo! In case...
Read more »

Several sports have their roots in acts of violence - boxing (OK, that’s still pretty violent), archery, javelin, and of course, motor racing. But how’s about this for a new cycling sport, demonstrated at last year’s Cycle Messenger World Championships: When a driver comes within inches of killing you, this can be pretty tempting. But it’s...
Read more »

This is a disgrace. Only Jake and Colin are wearing helmets. Do these people not understand the risks in a typical home? Apparently, the film maker was just 15 years old. Makes me feel ancient!
Read more »

This caught my eye in yesterday’s Guardian: Alice Furguson and Amy Rose organised getting their Bristol street closed for a street party but without the party bit - they just wanted their kids to be able to play outside without having to worry about cars. With minimal organisation from the street’s parents (they just gave the...
Read more »

I love the lighting, over-exposed feel and focus of this time-lapse film from Budapest’s critical mass. It somehow makes it feel like a stop-motion film instead - there are parts of it where my brain is telling me that I’m watching someone’s Hornby train set rather than real people:
Read more »

I knew the ride to work today was going to be WET. But an unexpected tailwind made it surprisingly fun - at one point I passed Rich Rothwell going in the opposite direction. He was going downhill but tucked down and straining into the wind on some svelte road bike. Meanwhile I was sitting...
Read more »

Apply Brooks Proofide during the breaking in period, and every 3-6 months thereafter. I did the one on Byron today. But not like this:
Read more »

I’m a big fan of Gary Larson’s The Far Side comics. Like all the best surrealism, they have their roots in reality. Like this one: This got me thinking… Diagnosis Treatment Tired Ride a bike Sad Ride a bike Happy Ride a bike Late for work Ride a bike Rainy weather Ride a bike Overweight Ride a bike Look good in Lycra Ride a bike Comfortable clothes Ride a bike Meeting friends Ride a...
Read more »

We got factories to build Nissans and Toyotas and Hondas. They got one of these: To be honest, I think we got the rough end of that deal. Though to be fair, poor Noda-san did have to pay the ultimate price price for this bike:
Read more »

For the last couple of years I’ve been using a pair of Dawes pannier bags on my Pashley. The trouble is that they’re not really designed for the chunkiness of the Pashley’s rack, and they’d also be really easy for someone to just lift off when the bike’s parked. It was to overcome these shortcomings...
Read more »