Tyres

It's all been about the tyres these last couple of weeks. 

The story began when I left the Dahon for a couple of hours in the office of a company where I work sometimes.  However, when I came to cycle back to my own office, I noticed that the front tyre was flat as a pancake.  I had a quick look to see if there was anything obvious sticking in it but on discovering nothing untoward, I whipped out the pump and reinflated.  I cycled back to the office without further incident.

I generally use "Slime" in the tyres on my bikes - a self-sealing compound designed to plug small leaks as they happen. 

I have had some very positive experiences of its ability to seal a puncture (especially on a cold, dark night when changing a tube or fitting a patch would have been more of a pain).  However, I am starting to go off the stuff and I'll explain why...

My usual experience of punctures has been that one either notices the offending thorn or piece of glass/wire/roadside detritus sticking out of the tyre or a small quantity of the delightfully green "Slime" goo leaking out before it plugs the hole.  However, in this case, I found neither and have to confess that my first reaction was that someone had played a schoolboy prank and let my tyre down.  I resolved to have a look later on and see what was up but as the tyre inflated well and stayed inflated, I didn't bother and then ultimately, forgot altogether.

Anyway last week, during a bit of routine maintenance, I decided to remove the tyre and take a look.  I found that I did indeed have a puncture, as evidenced by the amount of green stuff wetting the inside of the tyre.  Much more disturbingly, I noticed that the tyre, where it had been in contact with the leaky patch had worn right through one layer of reinforcement.  I didn't get a picture but the damage was a patch anout 5cm by 3cm where the inner layer of fabric had completely worn away.  Clearly this is not a good thing for the structural integrity of the tyre!  I have little idea how it happened, except perhaps by the "Slime" lubricating the surfaces of the tyre and tube allowing them to rub against one another while the tyre rotated. 

As a secondary matter, I also found that I had a smaller hole in the inner tube which I'd never even noticed had happened.  To be honest, it's not the first time that a puncture has gone unnoticed but it is the first time that other, more serious damage has been concealed.

I changed the tyre to an old one I have as a spare (one of the original Dahon Rotolos) and cycled to work the following morning as usual.  However, it did get me thinking about the disadvantages of "Slime":

1. It's easy to get a puncture and never even notice.  OK this is the point of the stuff but if having a bit of slime sloshing around in the tyre after a leak is going to cause damage, it kind of defeats the object. 
2. I've also found that when patching the damaged innertube, the "Slime has a tendency to push out of the leak underneath the patch and unstick it from the tyre.  Not a good thing on the move and infuriating when trying to repair a bike late at night before needing it for the commute.

I think that "Slime" has a place and I suppose that if I'd been more organised I'd have removed my tyre the night the puncture occurred and found the problem sooner.  However, on another bike I've found punctures long after the last time I'd ridden the bike because the "Slime" had sealed the small leak before it became noticable.  I don't really want to be removing the tyres every week as part of any routine maintenance either. 

However, every cloud has its silver lining.  As I had to replace the front tyre, I took the opportunity to replace the rear as well with a pair of these:

I've long wanted a pair but have always stopped short of forking out.  However, I have heard and read such good things about their robustness that I spent the extra to find out how good they really are.  My first impression is that they are very sturdily built tyres and the thickness of the tyre crown is impressive indeed.  It would have tobe a long, sharp and tough foreign body in order to make its way through one of them to cause a puncture.

My brother-in-law has done thousands of touring miles on Marathons and trusts them to the point that he no longer carries patches or a tube.  I'm a little less certain and know that the day I don't have a repair option will be the day something makes its way through one of them.  However, I won't be using "Slime" in them.  At the worst I'll get a puncture on the aforementioned cold, wet ride home and have to pull into a garage/shop/mate's house to swap the innertube.  I've carried out this operation so many times now that I'm much more confident of my ability.  The only time in the past when this strategy has failed was when I couldn't actually remove the rear wheel because of the poor quality of spannner I was carrying.  I now carry a good quality adjustable one so that won't be an issue again.

Hopefully I won't have to eat my words but I'll let you know how I get on.

War on Britain's Roads

Like a lot of cyclists last night I watched "War on Britain's Roads" on the BBC.  Having read some of the grumbling complaints prior to it airing, I wasn't going to bother but then figured I'd rather be part of the informed debate than stick my head in the sand.

For those that didn't have the pleasure, it was supposed to be an hour-long documentary showing the relationship between cyclists and other road users in UK cities (mainly London).  I say supposed to be because it was actually like an hour long cycling version of "Police, Camera, Action" for bicycles.

Bluntly, I thought it was overly sensationalist and concentrated mainly on footage of incidents and accidents.  Car drivers ranting at cyclists, cyclists ranting at car drivers and a ridiculous "Alley Cat" race through the Capital. 

It did not (as far as I could see):

• Explain why more people are using their bikes to commute
• Explain why it is a really good idea for people to get out of cars and onto a bike
• Suggest what could be done to improve the situation (in particular the patchy cycling infrastructure in the UK)
• Highlight very much considerate use of the road by cyclists or motorists

There was one person on their whose story could really have been used to made a difference.  The lady who lost her 26 year old daughter to a collision between her bike and a cement mixer.  I genuinely felt for her but any learning points the documentary made from the tragedy were thin. 

A lot of the footage was dedicated to "exciting" confrontations between cyclists and other road users.  It was hard to say whose side the documentary was on as both were made to seem as bad as one another at times.  Sure we've all shouted in alarm when someone's pulled out on us but to follow it up to the degree that one particular cyclist did is asking for trouble.  If he hasn't had his head kicked in by now it is a minor miracle.  Motorists who drive like idiots are idiots. Cyclists that ride like idiots are idiots and give us all a bad name.

I was actually left feeling genuinely dismayed for the state of cycling in our cities.  I am blessed that my commute is not usually so busy, although it has its own unique issues.  It would be easy (on either side of the discussion) to have watched "War on Britain's Roads" and feel considerably more animosity towards the other party than you might have beforehand.  When they had the opportunity to make a situation better, I feel the documentary makers passed it by.  It was tabloid-esque voyeurism from start to finish.

And as for those of us getting angrier on the roads? 

Fighting fire with fire just makes a bigger fire.  How many times do we need to be taught that consideration for our fellow man and peaceful means better resolve conflicts.  Jesus said it, St Paul said it, Gandhi said it, Martin Luther King said it... the list goes on.  One day we'll actually listen, wise up and change our behaviour.  One day.

I can't help feel that there is something deeper going on here.  The "Me first!" and "Now, now, now!" pressures of modern life mean that many of us are carrying around a lot of pent up stress and anger.  Inevitably it is finding an outlet where it is felt worst - on the roads.  I'm sure that even if we all cycled, there would be instances of "cycle-rage" but as cardio exercise is proven to reduce stress, I doubt that it would be as bad.

To attempt, in my own limited way, to address the issue, I made a conscious effort to be observant and considerate in my cycling this morning.  A smile and a thumb up was given to anyone who let me pull out or even just didn't pull out on me at an island.  I even refitted my bell, the better to alert pedestrians on the shared pavement sections.       

A better infrastructure isn't going to happen overnight so we need to keep campaigning.  Car drivers aren't going to change over night so we still need to keep our eyes peeled and ride carefully. 

And above all, we all need to chill-out, get along and share the road considerately.

Peace and love.



On another note, this video has nothing whatsoever to do with the article, it was just the song I had on the mental iPod on the way to work this morning.  I like Billy Bragg and dislike tabloids.  Two birds with one stone - enjoy:

By the light of the silvery moon

Last night, like almost all nights recently, my commute home was in the dark.

Irritatingly, I had spent the day with my bike folded under my desk watching a perfectly good clear, sunny day come and go outside the office window. To have the two-wheeled antidote to my paperwork-induced boredom so close was a temptation almost too much to resist.

So it was with the disappointment of a sunny day missed that eventually I cycled off in the dark towards the station and home. Despite the traffic, once pedalling, my glum mood brightened pretty quickly.  It's always good to be out on a bike, whatever the weather or time of day.

However for the last few miles, once clear of the town and traffic, the ride became simply magical.  Just me under a clear sky, the moon and all of the stars.  Moonlight so bright that it cast shadows and that amazing silvery light which lets you see for hundreds of yards.  Had I not needed my headlamp to be seen by oncoming cars, it wouldn't have been necessary at all.  The light of the moon was more than enough.

Maybe on nights like this I'll have to switch back to the unlit lanes that I use in the Summer months.  Mile after mile of unlit lane, with very little traffic would be just awesome under a bright moon.

Happy days (and nights!)

Food glorious food

I like food and I like a beer now and again. Nothing wrong with that.

It is however a lifestyle which, if overindulged, will cause a rapid and alarming expansion of the waistline. I have long promised myself that I would not become the out of shape 40 something that populates so many of our workplaces. A belly bulging over trousers is not a good look and health-wise it's a real worry. We are as a population getting fatter though and there's a reason why it is so common a sight.

Before cycling to work, my daily activity consisted of little more than walking to the car, from the car to the office, around the office a little bit and then a reverse of the process to get home again. Most evenings, I'd then crash out on the sofa infront of the TV to recuperate before sleeping and starting the whole thing over again in the morning.  Day after day. Month after month. I started to get fatter and unfit. I did used to work out now and again but arriving home tired does not leave one in the right frame of mind for serious exercise and so it's easy to let it slip.  Excuses I know, but also just a sad fact of modern life.

I've always had a decent appetitie but once I started cycling to work, I got noticably hungrier.  A casual Google revealed that, on average, someone of my build cycling at the speed I do burns off 600 calories in an hour.  I cycle for just under two hours a day and so I now burn an additional 1,000 calories or so every day.  My expanding waistline, and fear of my rising weight, meant that I had not been near the bathroom scales in a while so consequently I have no idea what I weighed in March when I started riding.  There's no doubt though that I've lost fat.  Previously "snug" trousers now have plenty of room around the waist and I'm not nearly so paranoid about wearing slightly tight T shirts any more.  All good really.

However, it does mean that I need to carry food with me to work and try to make sure it's something that will fuel my commuting well.  Being obsessed with carrying as light a load as possible, I tend to try and make sure that my food is pretty light too.  As a result, tins and large containers of liquid are out!  Furthermore, as I work in an office, kitchen facilities are minimal (toaster, kettle and microwave tops) and so anything thast needs cooking also needs careful thinking about. 

Dried noodles are pretty good but I find that heavily flavoured "Pot Noodle" type things end up tasting dreadful after a couple of days of a similar thing.  Oddly, the cheaper supermarket "Value" noodles are not nearly so bad.  Fruit is good fuel and I always try to bring a banana or two with me.  When I'm organised enough to remember to buy some, dried fruit and nut mix is cycling-nutrition gold!  I continually plan (but have yet to organise) a mixture of porridge oats, powdered milk and sugar that I could just pour boiling water on for second breakfast when I get to work.  Both received wisdom and my own experience have shown that a combination of good, high calorie food grazed throughout the day give me the most energy in my legs for the ride home.

But, if push comes to shove, as it frequently does at the end of the month, I'll pack pretty much anything.  Jam, cheese or peanut butter sandwiches are great and also very cheap.  Inevitably though I am ravenous when I get home  and have to try hard not to scoff half a packet of biscuits before dinner is ready.

Despite all of the above detail, I'm not too obsessed with losing weight.  I don't have much of a spare tyre any longer and I suppose all of these hard Winter miles will get rid of a bit more.  Just staying healthy and staying in shape is what matters most to me now, which cycling manages in spades.  Best of all though, with so much exercise in the week, I can eat or drink more or less what I want the rest of the time and it doesn't shoot automatically to my waistline! 

Another beer?  Don't mind if I do! 

Road or path - a bit of a rant

There are two immutable facts about travelling by bicycle.  Cars don’t want you on the road and pedestrians don’t want you on the footpath.  So what do you do?

The better-lit “Winter Route” (as it has now become known) which I use to commute at the moment follows for the most part one of the Sustrans National Cycle routes.  This can mean one of many things from a dedicated, traffic-free pathway, a spilt level pavement, a cycle lane at the side of the road or a shared pavement.  I’m glad we have the cycle route system as it’s something which many countries cry out for.  It’s not perfect, but it’s much better than nothing and I think Sustrans are doing their best with the hand they are dealt.  I digress…

My route is generally of the shared pavement type.  It is well signposted but that doesn’t stop pedestrians blithely dawdling along in the bike lane (which I note they don’t do in the road).  The pavement (shared or otherwise) also has the disadvantage of plenty of kerbs to bump up and down which, on 20” wheels can be bone-jarring. 

So then there’s the road.  Cars, vans and trucks simply don’t want bikes there at all.  They are so locked into the rush hour race to get to the next static traffic queue as fast as possible (or so it seems), that a cyclist is quite an inconvenience to them.  Incidentally, I found an interesting site the other day explaining that historically, roads were not built for cars.  It is, appropriately enough, at www.roadswerenotbuiltforcars.com and makes an excellent point.  A point which is sadly lost of my fellow road users, every morning and evening. 

My solution is to use whichever option is the safest and most considerate at the time.  If the road is busy and the pavement not, I’ll use the pavement.  If the pavement is busy, poorly lit or poorly surfaced I’ll use the road.  If there is a clear, well lit and well surfaced cycle path, I thank the Lord for my good fortune and cycle on unimpeded and with a huge grin on my face*.  Sometimes there’s no option and I just have to use whichever route is at hand in the best way that I can.  In other words, I stay switched on and ride to the conditions at hand.  This is something that car-drivers, on commuter auto-pilot, are shockingly bad at doing. 

Ideally, I don’t want my journey to work to be an inconvenience to anyone.  On the contrary, I want to have less of an impact in terms of noise, pollution, congestion and general annoyance to those around me.  However, very little of our transport infrastructure is built around the needs of cyclists.  This is despite the fact that cycling offers a genuine sustainable alternative to most car journeys (which are I believe under 5 miles).  Until the Government wises up to the fact and design roads and towns with cycling in mind, we cyclists are just going to have to keep campaigning, keep our wits about us and ride in the best way we can.

And to end on a lighter (but relevant) note, there’s this sign which I found somewhere on the internet (credit to whoever took the picture – it’s not one of mine):

 

 

A valid message!

 

*Throw in a decent tail wind and I’d die happy there and then. 

In the moment

A beautiful clear, crisp and very cold morning. A full moon so bright that lights were not necessary (for vision at least) on the lane. Wheels crunching through the thin layer of ice on puddles, ears burning from the cold. I knew I should have worn my skull cap. Sitting on the train now, breathing settled, feeling the glow, thawing fingers with a cup of tea. It's good to commute by bike. It's good to be alive.

Some general randomness

I had a lovely ride into work this morning. One of those rides where everything seems easy, one's mood is positive and the miles fly by. It was in high spirits that I sat at my desk this morning with my usual banana and mug of tea. Even the prospect of an exceptionally dull day at work was not enough to break the spell!

When I used to run a lot, folk talked about the "runners' high" - the rush of feel-good, pain-killing endorphins that comes after exercise. No one really mentions a "cyclists' high" but there is a definite feeling of all being rosy and right with the world after even a short ride.

People pay good money to bad people or need a prescription to feel this good. When all you have to do is get out on your bike and get pedalling, it seems almost too good to be true.

Having used my large-wheeled, multi speed hybrid for a few weeks, I mused as I pedalled this morning some of the main differences between it and my Dahon.

Gear inch calculations show that, on paper, there shouldn't be much difference in speed between the two bikes. In truth, the hybrid is a bit faster and I think this is for a couple of reasons:

Narrower gaps between the gear ratios mean that one can maintain a particular cadence under most conditions by going up or down the gears. That is, after all, why they were invented!

Greater inertia from the larger wheels means that when coasting (or at a more micro level, between power strokes on the pedals) the bike carries itself forward better i.e. it slows less. This seems particularly so when grinding uphill or pushing into the wind.

However, though it may be a bit faster, it's not by a large margin. The minutes saved on my reasonably modest commute don't add up to much and anyway, who's racing? Besides, the lower weight of the Dahon make it much nippier and, well, just more fun to ride!

I have waxed lyrical about gearing a few times before and had planned to mess about with the Dahon's gears some more. However, I recently came across Justin Simoni's website (http://gdmbr.justinsimoni.com). He seems like a pretty serious cyclist having ridden the Tour Divide a couple of times (a 2,750 mile monster, unsupported mountain bike race) among other achievements. From his blog, most of his general riding (if you can call a 200 mile, mountainous, ultralight bike-packing trip "general") is done on a sort of single speed bike. Using a flip-flop hub and clever "dingle cog" arrangement he actually has (albeit with some mechanical messing about required) the choice of fixed and free in a few different ratios. What really interested me though, was that Justin's highest gear is set at about 60 gear inches. That's pretty low by geared bike standards and so it must be possible to spin along quite nicely at high speed in a low gear. Justin also wins races on this bike after all.

So it made me rethink. If such things are possible with relatively low gearing, I'm not going to mess with my Dahon's gearing for a while and just spin the pedals faster instead! It is after all supposed to be easier on the knees too.

I think when I'm managing 180 rpm with ease in top gear on the flat, I may have to rethink. But I doubt those days are just around the corner.

Happy spinning everyone!

It's dark out there

With just a month to go until Midwinter, it is very definitely dark out there and my commute in both directions now starts and finishes in pitch blackness.  I'm lucky enough to live in a small village which, although on a reasonable busy road, is a couple of miles out of the nearest town.  The upshot of that is though, that most of my usual and very lovely rural commuting route is completely unlit.

I discovered in short order on my first night ride that my front light, bright though it is, struggles to illuminate much beyond the first two yards of road ahead of my front wheel.  The road surface is not that great in parts either and so, with some regret, I looked for an alternative winter route.

I've found that by taking a different route to the station in the morning, it's only the first couple of miles out of the village that are in pitch darkness.  OK there's more traffic going that way, but a seriously bright, flashy rear light and a high viz jacket mean that I've done as much as I can to be seen.  No close calls yet either so it must be working! 

To be honest, commuting in the dark is not nearly as bad as I thought it might be.  As with riding in the wet (and to a degree, the wind) one's mind tends to make a bigger deal out of the situation than ever transpires to be the case.  Through a sleep-fogged, pre-coffee brain first thing in the morning, getting on the bike in the cold and dark is not often an appealing prospect.  However, after the first few pedal strikes, the world is a brighter place, figuratively if not literally!

To paraphrase something I read recently, it is not what you ride that counts but that you ride at all.  In any conditions, it is preferable to commuting by car.


In other news, I spent some of the weekend mucking about in the garage on the resurrection of my fixed-gear MTB.  It's an old bike that I used to commute on years ago which was converted to fixed-gear knock-around duty when I found this site.  An addiction to fixed gear (and other quirky bikes to be honest - folders being a case in point) was born that, even though I have other bikes, continues to this day.  I have raided it for parts over the years but decided to get it back together for reasons which escape me now.  It's not going to be pretty but will (I hope) be an absolute hoot for bombing around the local lanes and trails in the mucky winter weather.  Bring on a bit of snow is what I say!

I've been unfaithful...

Dear Dahon Vitesse,

I have a confession. 

While you were left cold and alone in the garage this last month, I have been seeing another bike.  In fact not just seeing but riding her as well.  Sometimes as often as two or three times a day.

It's not my fault.  She enticed me with shiny red paint, promises of 21 gears and a high top speed and I, being but a weak human, was taken in.  Alas her promises were shallow.  Yes, she was faster than you but not nearly so reliable.  I even treated her to a rack, new slimmer tyres and mudguards.  But two broken spokes in as many weeks have shown her to be the needy, high maintenance bike that you never were.  She promised so much but failed to deliver.

So now I look to you my faithful old companion to forgive me and continue to deliver the reliable service that you always did.

Sincerely

Bloke (back on a Folding Bike)



Yes I've been back on my hybrid for a few weeks. 

I can't honestly put my finger on what made me make the switch but it seemed like a good idea at the time.  In truth, it has been a reasonably pleasant few weeks change and there is definitely a benefit in speed and flexibility to having 21 gears.  But a second broken spoke this morning in as many weeks has seen it go back in the garage in favour of the Dahon.  I only suffered spoke breakage once on the folder after a particularly rough ride home.  The hybrid hasn't been over any such terrain though so I think it's just the physical limitations of £250 Halfords bikes showing through.

So this morning I whipped out the Dahon again for the ride to work.  I had forgotten how light it is in comparison to the hybrid - really light and nippy - and I had a really pleaseant ride in.  I'd love to take it on a decent city tour (fantasy bike-ride plan no. 457...) as it would be perfect in and out of traffic.

It was nice and sunny this morning if a little windy, though that headwind will be an awesome tailwind on the way home so no worries there.  Best of all I was treated to a couple of huge queues of cars to cycle past, beating then through the traffic lights with ease.

I am constantly surprised how much faster a bike is than a car in even moderate traffic.  Between work and the railway station (4 miles) there are some decent roads but also several sets of traffic lights and buses etc.  The result is that I can usually get to the station in around the same time as a car that leaves the office when I do, even on the folding bike. 

As another case in point, last night was utter chaos on the rail network.  After a very long delay, the train I needed was eventually cancelled and the single replacement bus was nowhere near big enough to get everyone on.  To burn off my rising frustration, I elected to cycle home the remaining 19 miles.  This decision was vindicated when I passed through a small town about half-way there and passed a couple of people walking who had earlier been waiting at the station with me.  The bus had driven them about 7 or 8 miles in only a little less time than I managed on my bike.  I was enjoying myself anyway by then but that put a large smile on my face!

Cycle commuting for the win!

By jove, I've finally cracked it! (part 1)

I've generally been pretty happy with my Dahon bike since buying it.  However, there have been a couple of things that have niggled at me persistently throughout that time.  First among these was the need to carry my worldly goods in a rucksack with the attendant achy shoulders (on heavy days) and sweaty back that it caused.
I have always looked with envy at the front mounted luggage available to Brompton owners and wished that something similar existed for my Dahon.  There used to be a Dahon bracket listed in their website to mount bags and baskets on the front of the frame but it seems to have been discontinued (think it might still be available in the US).  I did consider modifying a Brompton one to fit the mounting holes on my bike but at over £100, the bags are a bit pricey had it not worked!  Pricey but with a super reputation for good quality, I might add.

Panners would be good too - I know plenty of cyclists who swear by them - but the standard Dahon rack sits too close to the floor and if anything sticks out beside it (as panniers would) you tend to hit your heels on every pedal stroke.  Not great.

Eventually however, and very randomly, I found an online link the Rixen and Kaul "Klickfix" range of products and was more than pleasantly surprised!  They do such a huge range of bike luggage and mounting options that it would be hard not to find a solution to most problems.  The website and downloadable catalogue is here.  They do a front mount that fits the Dahon and also a seatpost mount - all with a common interface to a range of bags and baskets.  The rucksacks that they make look great but I was concerned about the weight limit of 5kg quoted in the catalogue.  On a "heavy" day recently, with my own rucksack full of laptop, charger, change of clothes and lunch, I weighed it.  Unfortunately it came in at over 7.5kg and some of the roads I ride are a little uneven to say the least.  I had visions of snapping the bag from it's mount in the middle of a ride and, given the price of the kit, wasn't willing to fork out to try it!  Am I coming across as a cheapskate?

However, I did really like the idea of mounting luggage on the seatpost, out of the way behind me. 

Sooo, a short Google later, I found a number of seatpost-mounting luggage racks compatible with lots of standard panniers.  Even the good quality ones (with plenty of positive reviews on Amazon) were relatively cheal and so fewer than forty pounds later, I became the owner of a luggage rack and panniers.

I've had them on for a couple of weeks now and have to say that they are excellent.  It is so nice to ride unencumbered by a rucksack and although I still work up a sweat, it is nothing like before.  When heavily laden it does sway a lttle and make the bike feel odd - usually when standing up out of the saddle to pedal up hills.  It's nothing too bad though and I think would be improved if I fix a way of securing the bottoms of the panniers.  They have straps but I want something that will release more quickly to get on and off trains.

Both of the items I bought were "Avenir" products which I think are made by Raleigh:

Simple, strong and lightweight.  You can get them with removable sides
but those were wither expensive or had poor reviews.  This one is excellent.

Simple but good quality and most importantly my laptop (just) fits in.
A netbook or tablet would be no problem whatsoever.

And here's a (poor quality) picture of it all installed.  Not sure why the back tyre looks flat in the picture
as it wasn't!  Just the angle or a trick of the light I reckon.

The only slight issue I've had is that the Dahon has such a fat seatpost!  Most of the seatpost mounted luggage state that 31-32mm is the maximum diameter that they will fit.  The Dahon's is about 33.5mm.  However, although this means that the quick release link doesn't reach, by replacing it with a longer bolt and packing out any gaps (between seatpost and clamp) with rubber pads It is fitted safely and securely.  This set up has endured a couple of heavy days without any problems at all.

So the upshot of it all is that I am now a much happier bunny with a less sweaty back and less achy shoulders. 

And the second thorn in my side?  Well that'll have to wait until I have a bit of time to write it up!

2,000 miles and counting!

Well, well, well, another mileage milestone rolls beneath my wheels!

If I managed to update my blog more regularly, I could've bee closer to real-time with this post but sometime during last week, I topped 2,000 miles on the Dahon.  OK that's over several months of riding and not a few weeks touring but I never thought that my experiment in cycle commuting would go this far.

Although the nights are drawing in and the mornings are darker, I'm still enjoying it and wouldn't go back to the car out of choice.  Not that I have that choice as I don't own a personal car any longer, just the family one my wife needs.

If you'd told the overweight me a year ago (who was worrying about how best to keep his old car running againsta rising repair bill) that I'd be cycling everyday and lighter, fitter and happier as a result, I wouldn't have believed you.

I used to arrive home having battled traffic for an hour or more in a foul mood and literally buzzing from stress hormones and other such undesirables.  I can't have been too pleasant to welcome home or be around to be honest!

Nowadays, the only buzzing I do is on endorphines and so even after the toughest ride home, I feel great!

Getting rid of my car was out of necessity to be honest.  The repair bill had got to the point where it was more than the value of the car and so it had to go.  However, as I was already cycling at the time and hadn't used it for a while, it was pretty easy to let it go.  No borrowing money for a new one for me, either.

What being (sort of) car-free has done for me is reduce and almost remove entirely the crutch that a car provides.  On those cold, windy mornings or tired days when one just can't be bothered, it would have been easy to jump back in the car.  That would've gone from a day per week, to two days, to three and so on...

But I don't cycle simply because I have no other option.  I do it because I love being out in the fresh air on my bike immersed in my surroundings.  I love travelling cheaply and not harming the environment with my actions. 

I do it because I love cycling.

And so, here's to the next two thousand miles.  I hope they are as fun, inspiring and eventful as the first two thousand have been.


Mileage to date:

Week 30 - 102 miles
Week 31 - 92 miles


Total mileage so far - 2,186.5 miles

Another puncture

Last night, for the second time in a couple of thousand miles, I got a puncture. Now don't get me wrong, two flats in all that cycling is pretty good going and testimony to the robustness of my Michelin City tyres. I always carry a spare tube and repair kit with me and, as the Dahon doesn't have quick release wheels, a spanner for the wheel nuts. I do not fear punctures - I am prepared.

So after feeling the inevitable "thump, thump..." from the back wheel on the way to the train station, I pulled over expecting to have the inner-tube swapped over in a jiffy. I flipped the bike over, took the spanner from my tool-kit and set to work...

It is here that I should explain about the spanner.

I used to carry a good quality, six-inch adjustable spanner. However when sorting through tools at home one day I found one of those flat "multi-spanners" which you often get free with a new bike. "Wow!" thought I, "This thing is versatile and so much lighter than my original spanner! I'll pack it instead." In truth, the weight difference was probably only a handful of grams but we cyclists are a weight-obsessed crowd. The puncture last night was its first test in anger.

And it failed.

Miserably.

I tried to turn one wheelnut but and the spanner bent and slipped right off.  I tried the other.  No chance! Next to busy, noisy traffic I didn't fancy my chances at finding and repairing the puncture hole. Also mindful of the fact that I had a train to catch and becoming increasingly desperate, as a last resort, I pumped a load of air into the tyre and carried on. Unlike the last puncture I got, this inner tube did not have "slime" sealant in it. This is a shame as my ride to the station, even with a puncture, would have been a simpler affair. As it was I limped along stopping every quarter of a mile or so to pump the tyre up some more. Eventually even this stopped working and I ended up running and pushing the bike, making it to the train just in time. A quick emergency "Rescue me!" text to my wife and I collapsed, sweating into my train seat.

Later in the evening, I changed the inner tube in the comfort of my own garage and with a proper spanner. I found that riding the bike with the rear under-inflated had caused the tube to slip within the tyre partially tearing the valve out of the tyre.  Result - one dead inner tube but fortunately no other serious wheel damage. Writing off the tube, cheap though they are, is a shame as the puncture itself was actually pretty small.  It could have been worse though.

All of life's experiences, good and bad, serve to teach us something. So the lessons I learned were:

- Don't sacrifice quality kit to save weight
- Don't place your trust in cheap, poor quality tools
- Test out any emergency kit you plan to use before you need it
- "Slime" in your tyres is a good thing

And finally, stop to offer help to other cyclists! Three or four cyclists rode past me while I was attending to a broken bike and not one offered to help or even asked if I was OK. Maybe I looked like it was all under control but I'd have made a point of asking if the roles were reversed.

So lessons learned and bike back on the road. It ought to have been easier with better preparation and hopefully will be next time.

If all I have to fix in the next 2,000 miles is a couple of punctures, I'll be a happy man indeed!

Mileage to date

It was another monster day of traffic on the way through the city today.  I have no idea what the problem was that caused it all (it never seems to take much to be honest) but it didn’t slow me down one tiny bit.  Having just checked on Google maps, one of the queues was a full mile long!  I simple cruised down the outside of it, to the front of the queue and turned right at the traffic junction as usual.  No fuss and no delays – lovely!

OK, so it wasn't quite this bad but you get the picture!

As predicted, the week before last was a big week on the bike for me and certainly the longest to date since buying the Dahon.  Five full days in the office plus a bit of to-ing and fro-ing from a clients resulted in a total of 117.5 miles for the week.  Last week was much shorter though, in large part because I worked from home for a couple of days.  Not so good from the point of view of exercise but very restful and my legs thanked me for the time to recuperate!  As a result, Thursday and Friday last week were (almost) effortless blasts of cycling fun in beautiful Autumn weather. 

Mileage to date:

Week 28 – 117.5 miles

Week 29 – 48.5 miles

Grand total so far:  1,992.5 miles

So I’m only a whisker away from the 2,000 mile mark.  I think I’ll allow myself a small moment of self-congratulation and a celebratory cup of tea!

Life is good to be honest

Today is another one of those beautiful Autumn days.  It’s not that warm but the skies are clear and there is minimal wind, so the cycling is excellent.

I just took a lazy spin from one of our client’s offices back to headquarters, taking in one of the city’s largest parks.  On the way, just for the sake of it, I snapped a few pictures for the blog:

It's a tough life when your cycling route looks like this.



A nice bit of greenery in a city.



I could have a bit of a whine about the state of the bike lane but at
least there is one and when the scenery is this good, little else matters!

I sometimes moan about my job but to be honest, when I get to do this as part of it (or at least transportation between parts of it) life is pretty good really!  Winter, schminter – bring it on I say!

In other news, I fitted some new bar-ends to the Dahon over the weekend. 

The previous ones were a manky set of cheap steel ones which used to be on my fixie MTB beater but I wanted to see if I would use them on my folder.  Long story short, I find bar-ends most useful as the variety of nahd positions the bars allow take the load of an old elbow injury I seem plagued with.  This old set were pretty long though and interfered slightly with folding the bike.  They were also extremely scruffy and more suited to life aboard my fixie, whose bars they will soon, once again grace.  So I stumped up the princely sum of £6 for a new set of snazzy alloy ones on eBay:

Et voila - £6 well spent

These are shorter, smarter looking set and complement the rest of my bike nicely (I think).  It folds better with them in place, too.  I’m also pleased to report that they are supremely comfortable and therefore an all-round top bargain!  Quite why anyone would need to pay over the odds for a set of bar-ends, given the function they fulfil, is beyond me. 

We do like our toys though, don’t we, so maybe that explains it?

I blame Bradley Wiggins!

I do love to see another cycle-commuter out there on my way to work.  If little else it means one car fewer to clutter things up but it's nice to have that sense of kindred spirit so lacking in car-commuters.

Over the summer I've noticed a huge increase in the number of bikes out there.  Both on the train in the morning and locked up at work when I get there.  I have joked, though I do also believe, that the upturn is due in no small part to the fantastic achievements of our Olympic cycling team and a certain Mr. Wiggins in "Le Tour".  In general, I think that this is a brilliant thing though it does have a couple of downsides.

Our small commuter train has a bespoke space to carry two full sized bikes and for ages it was only another lad and I storing their bikes in it.  Now however, there can be as many as seven bikes (including my folder) packed into both the storage space and the doorways at either end of the carriage.  To the train company's credit, they do get as many on as they can, and I've never known them to leave a cyclist behind, but it is somewhat congested at times!  Of course I have the advantage of being able to fold the Dahon which opens up another couple of places on the train that it will fit in comfort.  The lady who gets on with a Brompton from time to time has it even better.  I cannot believe how small those things fold up - a fully functional and very capable bike which will fit in the smallest of luggage spaces.  A versatile combination and (fingers in your ears please Dahon) very tempting when the Cycle Scheme comes back around.

There's also the issue of more bodies waiting to use the only shower at work once I get there.  Again, we've gone from one or two regulars to a gang of about five or six all wanting to shower in the morning.  I get on well with many of my workmates, but draw the line at cramming into a single shower cubicle with them.  Eurgh!  Pass the mind-bleach!

Inevitably, once summer turns to autumn (as it now seems to have done) then numbers will drop off.  In one way that is a shame but will make the experience more comfortable for the rest of us.  On a more serious note though, it just goes to show that if the government and employers want us to make greener choices in our transportation arrangements, the infrastructure needs to be improved to make that possible.  Unfortunately, the way the system works at the moment, it is reliant on more people using an overstretched system in the hope that some of th eprofits get diverted into making those services better for all.

On the whole probably a bit much to lay entirely at Wiggo's doorstep, he is an awesome athlete and all round hero after all.  But it is something that needs to be thought about in order that more people can make cycle commuting a practical reality.

Having just won the TdF and an Olympic gold,
he deserves a sit down, I'd say!

Mileage to date

I am planning to do a decent review of my Dahon Vitesse D3HG at some point along with a host of other blog posts. Time, the old enemy...

Anyway, just time to do a mileage update:

Week 24 - 116 miles
Week 25 - 64 miles
Week 26 - 69 miles
Week 27 - 81.5 miles

Total mileage - 1,826.5 miles

So the next big milestone of 2,000 miles cycled edges near. This week looks like being a big one as well so that barrier should be broken shortly.

Also worth noting is that I've passed the six-month mark and in all that time, only used a car on a handful of occasions. This time last year that would have seemed laughable. Now, anything is possible. The cold, dark half of the year has yet to come though I'm sure I'll cope. At least there might be more room for bikes on the train!

Autumn

We are having utterly awesome weather here at the moment! There's definitely a chill in the air each morning but the lung-boosting power of cold, crisp air and bright, golden sunshine more than make up for it. When I look back over my shoulder to see dawn breaking through the mist in the fields behind me, it feels great to be alive and part of that scene! It also takes much longer to warm up than at the peak of summer so although I get a sweat up, being the air-cooled creature that I am, I never feel overheated. It's lovely weather in which to cycle. :-)

Not a bad place to have to commute!  This is looking back from the top of the first hill of the morning.
At this point, my legs are usually feeling somewhat shocked and I am very definitely awake!

All of the schools are back in full swing now after their summer break which means much more traffic in the city. I did think this would be an issue but to be honest, as most of the cars are generally stationary, they don't pose much of a threat, ha ha! I travelled in to work about an hour later than usual today which meant I hit town at the peak of the rush. The queues of cars waiting at traffic lights were enormous. One of them must have been a full my long and I cruised past the whole thing, straight to the front in perfect time to hit the green light. Sweet!

I know it's going to get colder and darker before long but for now I'll take this autumn weather with thanks. The memories will keep me going through the short days until spring.

Happy travels all! :-)

A lovely evening out

There is a group of guys at work who go out cycling once a week during the longer days (April – September).  I’ve been out with them before but not as often as I’d like to.  The busy evenings of a husband and father sometimes preclude it and, to be honest, I’m getting plenty of cycling in on my own!

Nevertheless, last night I went out for a spin after work.  The weather was really nice (apart from one random heavy shower) and our 24 mile route took us out through some leafy lanes, VERY nice villages and even a couple of those “special” barely-surfaced tracks so beloved of sat-nav devices!  The bikes coped with it better than many cars would to be honest.

They are a good crowd of lads who, for the most part, ride lightweight race bikes although the outings tend to be pretty sedate.  Even so, it was with a little trepidation last night that I took the Dahon out with them.  I know it’s not really up to the same sort of average speeds I manage on a 21 speed bike but I have to say I was very pleasantly surprised!  I was nothing like the slowest in the group and didn’t feel at any point as though I was holding them up at all.  More than one person commented on how capable my bike was on its little wheels.  Distances of that order on country roads are no problem for the Dahon - they are the bread and butter of my commute and I’ve done 20 miles+ on it several times.  I think the slightly raised gearing (of which more later…) have helped to boost my average speed too.  Both the Dahon and I are capable of a lot more and I have a numerous adventure plans bubbling away as I type…

Of course, once we returned to the office, I still had to get home and so tacked my usual commute onto the end of the ride.  I ended up cycling the last leg back from the railway station in the half light after sunset which, on such a clear evening, was a beautiful treat.  All in all (both commuting legs included) I covered 47 miles yesterday and I arrived home starving for a hot shower, fajitas and a mug of tea – lovely!  My legs were a little tender last night but I still felt OK this morning and got straight back on the bike for another day in the office.

Another highlight of last night’s ride was the bike ridden by another of my colleagues.  It is a 45 year old, 5 speed British road bike with proper “old-school” handlebars and pedals.  It really is a cracking machine and the guy who rides it has owned it since receiving for Christmas at the age of 14.  How lovely to see a nice bike like that being cherished for so long and not struggling to keep up with the pack either!  I’ll get some picks and do a bit of a write up for the vintage bike fans when I have the chance.

Which brings me neatly (!) to my most recent mileage update.  I will at some point figure out how to put mileage tracker on the front page of this blog (like I’ve seen others do) but for now, the latest stats, to the end of last week) are as follows:

Week 21 – 95 miles

Week 22 – 89 miles

Week 23 – 74 miles

Grand total to date = 1,496 miles

There will clearly be a load more to add in from this week as well when I next do an update.  Happy riding all! :-)

A random musing

I’ve written before about the need to plan ahead a bit when cycle commuting, especially if (like me) each commute could be to one of a few different locations. 

Now that I have taken the plunge and sold my car though, the need for planning is even more important.  With one car for the family, which is needed most days by my wife for running the kids around, the option to just jump in the car has disappeared.*  Car driving friends are full of such cautionary, critical advice as “Oh, it must be really difficult having just one car”.  Well no it isn’t, not at all - it is a wonderful and liberating experience!  You just have to be smart about it.

A simple week is, well, simple really.  If I am in the same office for five days running (which happens but not too often), all of the heavy kit (lapdog etc.) can be left there and I cycle pretty light.  Once things get more complex than that, I have to think around the issues a bit.  What I’ve found though is that I’m becoming less afraid to ask people for help.  I have a number of workmates who live nearer to the office than me and cycling to their house for a lift in makes a heavy day (or one that starts at a train-unfriendly time) much easier.  I don’t need to do it that often, but it’s nice to have the option there if required.

I think that as a race, we humans have become more and more insular, suspicious of others and self-absorbed.  Hardly anyone asks for help these days (maybe it’s seen as a weakness?) but I find to do so genuinely humbling.  All the more so when you then find out how generous and happy-to-help people really are.  For centuries, monks and nuns of every denomination have known that to live for a spell in poverty, dependant on the goodwill of others is rich development for the spirit.  I’m not planning to go that far, but the principles work on a small scale too.

I knew that cycling to work would benefit my health and cost less.  I never expected it to be so good for my soul. J

And in response to the comment about a lack of pictures, here's a gratuitous
"waiting at the train station" picture of my beloved Dahon.  How's that for client-focused? :-)

*As a side note, my wife has mentioned that she’d also like to cycle now and again when taking the kids to school.  We live a little bit out of it in a village and school is a good four miles each way.  However, my older two kids ride competently and my wife would pull our youngest along on the trail-gator.  Excellent stuff!  I doubt we could ever go totally car-free – I wouldn’t want to as they are very useful for certain things but cutting back bit by bit can only be a good thing.  In even the smallest way, being personally fitter and less dependent on the volatility of oil prices and fuel taxation has to be an all-round win!

Performance enhancement

Since starting to cycle more regularly, I have become more aware of the factors that influence my ability to cycle quickly (or not as the case may be…).  Nowadays, I generally make sure that I’m eating enough of the right things and not too many of the wrong things, drinking plenty (of water) and more recently trying to get enough rest and sleep. 

However, on my cycle all the way home the other Friday, I knew I needed a bit of a pick-up for the extra effort.  I don’t usually cycle with headphones in, but on a whim I decided to and was amazed at the effect that the right tunes had.  I now have a playlist on my iPhone entitled “Power and Motivation!” which is compiled from the hardest rocking and motivational songs from my collection. 

I tried it out the other night.  Fuelled by a medley of Sabbath, AC/DC, Led Zeppelin, Green Day, Rage Against the Machine, Audioslave, Skunk Anansie and Iron Maiden, I blasted home in what seemed like record time!  I love rock music and find that hard-rocking, riff-based metal is just the job for pushing me on to greater efforts. 

I even found the breath from somewhere to “sing” along and must apologise to the residents of one village who were subjected to my rendition of “Children of the Damned” at full volume!  Fortunately, one village further on, I held my tongue during the chorus of “Killing in the Name of..”  It’s a sleepy little place and I don’t think that they’d have got over it!

So keep your nandralone, EPO and other performance-enhancing drugs.  All of our nation’s sportsmen and women should be boosting their results using the pure, unbridled power of metal!

Let’s rock!!!