Well damn my hide it's been a beautiful day out there today! On Monday the day started quite cold and so when it warmed up later on I was still resplendent in black Ron Hill's and a long sleeved T shirt. I ended up with my trousers rolled up to mid-calf in order to avoid my legs melting but ended up resembling something from Pineapple Dance Studio as a result! Today I wore shorts from the off but was still hotter than hot on the way home. However, I'm not going to moan about it - I'll be lapping up this hot spell because I know that on all of those freezing, dark commutes in the winter, I'll be praying for days like today!
There were a lot of bikes out on the way home too. Some commuters I guess but loads just out enjoying the sun. I'm finding cyclists quite an unfriendly bunch on the whole though. Strange as there was lots of cameraderie between my colleagues and I on our weekend adventure. Whenever I pass another cyclist going either way, I smile and say hello although it's rare that my greeting is returned. There's no reason that two strangers should be best friends just because they choose the same mode of transport, of course. However a little friendly courtesy never hurt anyone.
Walkers are friendly, runners are friendly, bikers are friendly so why not cyclists? Car drivers all seem to hate each other though and that's no way to be.
Life's too short and the weather too good!
Wednesday, 23 May 2012
Bargain
I've often heard that Aldi sells good but cheap cycling kit though I've never bought anything from there. I popped in yesterday evening for a few essentials and found a load of cycling gloves in one of the bargain bins. A quick rummage later and I became the proud owner of a pair. All for the princely sum of £3.50!
First impressions are good to be honest. They seem well made and padded (gel on the palms) and they also have the all-important towelling "snot wiper" on the back of the thumb part.
Having seen similar, non-branded gloves in bike shops for a tenner, these are a bargain indeed, I'd say.
First impressions are good to be honest. They seem well made and padded (gel on the palms) and they also have the all-important towelling "snot wiper" on the back of the thumb part.
Having seen similar, non-branded gloves in bike shops for a tenner, these are a bargain indeed, I'd say.
The scores so far
Seems I've fallen behind a bit with keeping this up to date but hey-ho. The scores so far are as follows:
Week 9 – 64 miles
Week 10 – 67.5 miles (plus 100 mile weekender on my other bike)
Total to date – 679.5 miles
So the total on the Dahon is certainly racking up and the total on my legs is even higher. In just ten weeks of bike commuting I'm slimmer, fitter and a lot happier. I should add wealthier as my weekly travel costs are lower than they used to be but for some reason saving money rarely manifests itself as a pile of casj in my pocket. However at least what I do spend isn't going to some big oil company.
On a side note, the weather is bloody lovely in the UK today. Blue skies and bright sunshine so it'll be a hot one going home tonight. Long may it continue because I'll be praying for days like this in the middle of December!
Week 9 – 64 miles
Week 10 – 67.5 miles (plus 100 mile weekender on my other bike)
Total to date – 679.5 miles
So the total on the Dahon is certainly racking up and the total on my legs is even higher. In just ten weeks of bike commuting I'm slimmer, fitter and a lot happier. I should add wealthier as my weekly travel costs are lower than they used to be but for some reason saving money rarely manifests itself as a pile of casj in my pocket. However at least what I do spend isn't going to some big oil company.
On a side note, the weather is bloody lovely in the UK today. Blue skies and bright sunshine so it'll be a hot one going home tonight. Long may it continue because I'll be praying for days like this in the middle of December!
A bit of an update
"It's been a long time since I rock and rolled..." sang Led Zeppelin and it's also been a long time since I blogged too. In the main this is down to my inbuilt idleness but also because I spent the weekend away cycling.
I went down to Herefordshire with a bunch of work colleagues where we rode 100 miles around the Malvern Hills and Forest of Dean in two days. Unfortunately (for this blog) I didn't take the Dahon, rather my hybrid. I have no doubt at all the I could have done the distance on my folder but I worried about its slight lack of top speed. I have ridden with the same crowd a few times before and it tends to be a speedy experience! That said, there were a lot of hills to climb which slowed everyone down although hammering down the other side of them proved to be exilerating indeed - I have never been so fast on a bike!
I was also really pleased at my general level of fitness and how well my legs stood up to the experience. Clearly the effect of high weekly mileage, even if broken into smaller chunks, builds up and makes a strong body. Everyone felt a bit dead at the end of the second day to be honest and who wouldn't with 100 miles of cycling in their legs
There's always an upside though and being able to indulge in much beer and curry on Saturday night without so much as a thought for the calories was wonderful. I did however also discover that a pint of bitter and a bacon and egg roll are not ideal sports nutrition prior to the longest, highest climb of the weekend...
We have a few Sundays out planned and maybe another weekend away too. I've offered a "home match" of a Sunday out in the lanes near where I live so one way or another, the Dahon will have its day!
I went down to Herefordshire with a bunch of work colleagues where we rode 100 miles around the Malvern Hills and Forest of Dean in two days. Unfortunately (for this blog) I didn't take the Dahon, rather my hybrid. I have no doubt at all the I could have done the distance on my folder but I worried about its slight lack of top speed. I have ridden with the same crowd a few times before and it tends to be a speedy experience! That said, there were a lot of hills to climb which slowed everyone down although hammering down the other side of them proved to be exilerating indeed - I have never been so fast on a bike!
I was also really pleased at my general level of fitness and how well my legs stood up to the experience. Clearly the effect of high weekly mileage, even if broken into smaller chunks, builds up and makes a strong body. Everyone felt a bit dead at the end of the second day to be honest and who wouldn't with 100 miles of cycling in their legs
There's always an upside though and being able to indulge in much beer and curry on Saturday night without so much as a thought for the calories was wonderful. I did however also discover that a pint of bitter and a bacon and egg roll are not ideal sports nutrition prior to the longest, highest climb of the weekend...
We have a few Sundays out planned and maybe another weekend away too. I've offered a "home match" of a Sunday out in the lanes near where I live so one way or another, the Dahon will have its day!
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| Ready for the off. This looked better on my iPhone! |
Tuesday, 15 May 2012
This has everything!
Clearly the title of this blog alone reveals that I am a fan of folding bikes. However I am fond of fixed gear bicycles too and have, in brief moments of madness, considered combining the two. I am also a great fan of the late Sheldon Brown's cycling website. It really does have everything for the cyclist but for me this is the icing on the cake:
A fixed gear folder and an old-school one at that! The link to the full story is here:
http://www.sheldonbrown.com/raleigh-twenty.html
There's also another link from Sheldon Brown site to the site of a friend of his who has riden a pimped Raleigh Twenty for over 25 years:
http://www.bikexprt.com/bicycle/mytwenty.htm
Needless to say, I want one!
A fixed gear folder and an old-school one at that! The link to the full story is here:
http://www.sheldonbrown.com/raleigh-twenty.html
There's also another link from Sheldon Brown site to the site of a friend of his who has riden a pimped Raleigh Twenty for over 25 years:
http://www.bikexprt.com/bicycle/mytwenty.htm
Needless to say, I want one!
Monday, 14 May 2012
Time to stand and stare
Tonight's ride home was an absolute dream! The sun was out, I had a strong tailwind and the sky was full of those big lumpy clouds just like the start of "The Simpsons". Beautiful so I took the opportunity to take a few photos.
One of the downsides of the Blogger app for iPhone is that it won't let you put photos in line with the text. Or at least figuring out how to do so is beyond me so far. As a result, I've just put a load of pictures of my commute at the end of this post. As you can see, city commuting it is not!
A lot of the route is along country lanes and even the built up parts are really nice. The photo of the bike next to a tree was taken in a beech wood that I cycle past in the city where I work. OK so the main road is about three metres behind me but, it's still picturesque. For a country boy like me, it's just the ticket.
I find that on the bike I notice much more than when stuck in the car. It's not just a speed thing either because car commuters spend a lot of time stationary. More likely it's that you're immersed in the environment so to speak.
And as the poet wrote, "What is this life if, full of care, we have no time to stand and stare?" so here you are:
One of the downsides of the Blogger app for iPhone is that it won't let you put photos in line with the text. Or at least figuring out how to do so is beyond me so far. As a result, I've just put a load of pictures of my commute at the end of this post. As you can see, city commuting it is not!
A lot of the route is along country lanes and even the built up parts are really nice. The photo of the bike next to a tree was taken in a beech wood that I cycle past in the city where I work. OK so the main road is about three metres behind me but, it's still picturesque. For a country boy like me, it's just the ticket.
I find that on the bike I notice much more than when stuck in the car. It's not just a speed thing either because car commuters spend a lot of time stationary. More likely it's that you're immersed in the environment so to speak.
And as the poet wrote, "What is this life if, full of care, we have no time to stand and stare?" so here you are:
Friday, 11 May 2012
Be prepared
One of the complications I face as a cycle commuter is that I don’t always work from the same office. If I did, it would be great in one respect as all of the “heavy stuff” (laptop, charger, notebooks etc.) could be left at the office all of the time. However, the nature of the work I do means that, from time to time, I have to spend a day or two on a client’s site working from there. I am lucky at the moment though in that the client I work with most is in the same city as our company’s office and only ten minutes from the train station. Even so, using my bike means that a little judicious forethought is required in order to be successful.
Basically it all comes down to planning or, as every good boy scout knows: “being prepared”. I have an ongoing quest to find the best way of carrying luggage on my Dahon but that’s a subject for another post. Suffice to say, resultant damp back aside, my favoured option at present is a decent rucksack. I use one that is (just) big enough to get everything in if I need to. Thus, even on lighter days, I use the same bag keeping all of the "everyday" things (tools, first aid kit, wallet, iPod etc.) in one place. I know full well that if I constantly decamped my kit between different bags, eventually something essential would get left behind! My load varies between occasionally very full (a complete change of clothes, all of my cycling and office kit plus laptop, charger and lunch) and very light (empty lunch-box and every day cycling stuff)
I manage pretty well by leaving things at the office where I can. I don’t need clean work trousers daily so leave them folded in my desk drawer and most days my smart shoes and the laptop stay there as well. With the client being so near our office, sometimes I leave the heavier things there after a day on site. After cycling to our office the following day, I pop by the client's in a borrowed company car to pick my stuff up again.
The single most important practice in my opinion is getting things ready THE NIGHT BEFORE! That means bike clothes ready, work shirt ironed, lunch made, bag packed and even (sometimes) breakfast things laid out ready for a quick and organised get away. It sounds obsessive (maybe I am) but it gives me the peace of mind to know that I’ll have everything that I need with me the following day. It takes a bit of an effort of will to be honest but pays dividends with reduced stress in the morning.
I barely notice the additional weight of the rucksack on lighter days when I only need to take lunch and a clean shirt. And on the heavier days like yesterday? Well sometimes they are unavoidable so you just have to cram it all in, grit your teeth and go for it. I really don’t notice any difference in how I’m balanced on the bike either. Ok I’m not lugging Royal Marine-esque loads here but believe me, it weighs enough! Just like riding in the rain though, it’s never as bad once you’re doing it as you imagine it might be beforehand.
So just click down an extra gear, think of all the calories you’re burning and enjoy the ride just the same.
Basically it all comes down to planning or, as every good boy scout knows: “being prepared”. I have an ongoing quest to find the best way of carrying luggage on my Dahon but that’s a subject for another post. Suffice to say, resultant damp back aside, my favoured option at present is a decent rucksack. I use one that is (just) big enough to get everything in if I need to. Thus, even on lighter days, I use the same bag keeping all of the "everyday" things (tools, first aid kit, wallet, iPod etc.) in one place. I know full well that if I constantly decamped my kit between different bags, eventually something essential would get left behind! My load varies between occasionally very full (a complete change of clothes, all of my cycling and office kit plus laptop, charger and lunch) and very light (empty lunch-box and every day cycling stuff)
I manage pretty well by leaving things at the office where I can. I don’t need clean work trousers daily so leave them folded in my desk drawer and most days my smart shoes and the laptop stay there as well. With the client being so near our office, sometimes I leave the heavier things there after a day on site. After cycling to our office the following day, I pop by the client's in a borrowed company car to pick my stuff up again.
The single most important practice in my opinion is getting things ready THE NIGHT BEFORE! That means bike clothes ready, work shirt ironed, lunch made, bag packed and even (sometimes) breakfast things laid out ready for a quick and organised get away. It sounds obsessive (maybe I am) but it gives me the peace of mind to know that I’ll have everything that I need with me the following day. It takes a bit of an effort of will to be honest but pays dividends with reduced stress in the morning.
I barely notice the additional weight of the rucksack on lighter days when I only need to take lunch and a clean shirt. And on the heavier days like yesterday? Well sometimes they are unavoidable so you just have to cram it all in, grit your teeth and go for it. I really don’t notice any difference in how I’m balanced on the bike either. Ok I’m not lugging Royal Marine-esque loads here but believe me, it weighs enough! Just like riding in the rain though, it’s never as bad once you’re doing it as you imagine it might be beforehand.
So just click down an extra gear, think of all the calories you’re burning and enjoy the ride just the same.
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