Thorny gets a trim!

I took my Raven to Bicycle Workshop finally last Saturday for a quick tune and (more importantly) to get the top of the fork trimmed off. It looks much tidier now! I've also put on a Klik Fix map holder, which is great - it obscures the cyclometer, which doesn't cause any trouble because it isn't working anyway!

Advice from the Met

We saw this sign affixed to the cycle racks in Cavendish Square, behind John Lewis. Seems more like the work of a resourceful criminal looking for easy pickings than legitimate advice from the police!

Report on CCC Waltham Abbey ride

I've written up a small report on the ride I "led" to Waltham Abbey on December 18th on the Camden Cyclists website.

Kindred spirits at the zoo

No, not the residents of the monkey house! As we were on our way out, another couple cycled in with their 17-month-old perched in another Bobike seat just like ours, complete with windscreen!

I'd passed this couple with thier baby on the canal before, but that would have been a highly inconvenient time to talk. We had a quick chat this time, though. The Bobike Mini was mounted on a Dutch Filipak from a shop in the Netherlands called 't Mannetje. I had a look at the website, and there's some really interesting stuff there - lots of exotic but practical city and cargo bikes.

I told the chap at the zoo we're expecting another baby, and he recommended the t'Mannetje Filiduo for us. Interesting, but but I don't know about having TWO kids behind (let alone one), and the next one will be a bit young for that sort of thing anyway.

I wish we'd managed to exchange details, but I'm sure we'll run into them again - that bike is hard to miss!

Gem's first bike

I've been looking forward to this since before Gem was even conceived. When I saw the Like-a-Bike a few years back, I began anticipating the day when I'd have a child to buy one for, and that day has finally arrived!

We picked out the special edition Puffin from Velorution and Kim ordered over the phone. (It has a cute striped saddle, and it comes with a little puffin to ride along!) We had thought about getting the propstand with it, but Andrea assured us that we didn't need one, but we did go for a red matching saddle bag that drapes over the crossbar (of sorts).

I'd hoped to be able to pick it up myself, but work plus holiday pandemonium scuppered that plan. Instead, Velorution arranged to have it delivered by Zero Couriers on a three-wheeled Christiania, which attracted lots of attention by passers by when it arrived.


We kept it under wraps until Christmas morning. Gem was delighted with it of course! She's a bit small as yet, only able to touch both her tippitoes at once. She loves being pushed along, though, and she has lots of fun stuffing various things (the puffin included) into the saddle bags. We went out on Boxing Day for a trial run and she had a great time. We'll head out again once the weather improves a bit, or when we've got time to head to Kilburn Grange where she can have a proper go.


This is the start, though - her own custom-built Thorn just like daddy's is only around the corner!

London cycling around the holidays

Seems like ages since I last posted... well, that's the holidays for you. Since my last post, I had a lovely ride up to Waltham Abbey along the canals with a nice chap I met through the CCC - but nothing really notable to report apart from a nice pub lunch.

Visiting relatives and brutal colds all round then scuppered any chance of good cycling for a while. I did do lots of biking around for domestic stuff - picking up the Xmas turkey, seeking out proper marshmallows at the various American shops in NW London, etc. And with the closure of the Jubilee Line between Xmas & New Years (for train lengthening) and the Underground strike over New Year's, I've been all the more thankful for a reliable means of transport!

Cycling directions to LBS are up!

The cycling directions I wrote for London Business School are on their website now! I was pleased that they were so receptive, and they posted the blurb I sent virtually unchanged. May be a small thing, but I think I'll start offering to do this for others as well, and encourage my fellow activists to do the same.

Nice pre-dawn ride to Herts

Yesterday I was up at five and out the door by a quarter to six, heading north through Barnet.

I was hoping to get 50 miles in before ten via my usual straightforward route up the A1000 to the B158 - out 25 miles then back.

It was blissfully quiet on the roads at that hour, and neither as cold or as wer as I'd expected. I managed to turn off the A1000 after Potters Bar, but before the B158, which set me off on a nice tour of old manor houses an nouveaux riche McMansions, plus lots of horses, always a welcome sight.

The ride was a great success in the end thanks to the Ordnance Survey map I'd remembered to bring along. There were enough hills to keep it interesting too, but nothing too daunting. (And no hill ever seems as steep as the one between my place and the Spaniards Inn!)

I met the girls after music class after, and had a nice time at the playground.

When we got home, I borrowed the neighbour's hose and finally gave the bike a bath. It was nice to see it al cleaned up again, and I LOVE how easy it is to take the wheels off (to clean them, and inside the mudguards). I probably need to do a better (and more regular) job cleaning the drivetrain - must find out about that.

Route to Ware posted on Cycle Routes UK

What the creator of Cycle Routes UK lacks in web design skills, he certainly makes up for in PR prowess. Somehow this site has had press coverage in at least two of the magazines I read. It's a site dedicated to good cycling routes around the UK - a good idea!

I typed up my route to Ware and sent it in - it's now been posted at http://mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk/cycleman/30mileleevalley.htm

Good ride in South Herts!

But not exactly as planned...

It all started well enough. I found waypoint 19 from the station easily (I'm following offroad route number 3 from Nick Cottons book of rides north of London). and the riding was gorgeous, too - after a bit of busy road, it was all forest tracks with solid surface carpeted by freshly-fallen leaves. Couldn't have been better.

Then things took a turn for the muddy. After about a half hour, I started an interminable uphill on a surface of what seemed to be congealed motor oil. My Paselas are great for most terrain, but not this. After reaching the top of the climb, my mudguards were so crammed with the stuff that the wheels wouldn't even turn as I pushed the bike along!

No real choice then but to take the wheels off and scrape. Or as Gemma would say (more appropriately, even), scoop. Things definitely worked better after that, but I decided it would be wiser to stick to paved roads for a while.

I knew I wanted to head towards Bovington anyway, so I just followed signs along pleasant B roads and found my way there after a bit. Along the way, I noiced that my cyclometer seemed to be acting funny - must be the quarter inch of mud packed around it.

At Bovington, I went into a little shop for a sandwich, figuring that the police car parked out front would mean it was safe to leave my bike for a sec. Inside, the copper was watching the security video with one of the proprietors. I paid he other one for my sandwich with my last two pounds and asked where the cash machine was, and he said "it's nicked!"

I figured I'd better head back to my bike... And on the way out I heard them calling after me "let us know if you see it!"

It was getting colder then, and I didn't want to risk going wrong, so I took a reliable B road to the Grand Union Canal, which eventually took me back onto the planned route. Lovely riding along there, with lots of swans, anglers, and narrowboats with fires going inside.

I stopped along the canal after a while to eat my sandwich (I'd been fueled exclusively by peanut M&Ms for far too long at that point). Not too long after that, I saw the landmark I'd been looking for and popped off the canal right at King's Langley station.

So, while not exactly as planned, it was a beautiful ride on a less than beautiful day. The big question now is how I can clean my bike before taking it into the house!

Day off!

I'm on the platform @ Finchley Rd waiting for the Metropolitan line that will take me to Chalfont & Latimer for a nice 22 mile country ride. A train is due soon, but I'm not too optimistic.

At least the weather seems to be cooperating today - it's cold and overcast, but no real rain (or snow, as predicted) as yet.

I'm prepared for whatever comes my way, though: my Freestyle outfit, plus mid & base layers and overshoes on top of my cleats. Maybe overprepared for such a short ride, but I'd rather not be caught out!

I also have my new rear tyre, which I replaced without incident yesterday, and my new frame-fit Zefal pump. Worked great yesterday, let's hope I don't need it today!

Jacket repaired!

Hooray! My jacket was returned from Freestyle today, virtually good as new! Sure, there are still some dark stains that I incurred while patching my tyre, but that doesn't bother me. (And I didn't raise the issue with them anyway.)

They also mended my overtrousers, which are a couple years (and at least a couple thosand miles) old. They even fixed a seam I didn't know had a problem.

In each case, they sewed a matching Gore Tex patch over the tear and sealed it on the back. Absolutely remarkable service! I'll never buy bikey rainwear from anyone else.

I should also have a chance to test out their handiwork tomorrow, with snow and freezing rain predicted.

Be careful what you wish for

I always look forward to the new issue of Cycling Plus. It's a wonderful mass circulation magazine about road cycling published here in the UK by Future Publishing. I end up reading virtually all of each issue - it has industry news, gadgetry, sport, public policy, and great road tests.

Which is exactly how I used to feel about Rodale's Bicycling Magazine, the only remaining US offering. It's outlived all the other entries (like Bicycle Guide back in the 80s, which I also really liked), but it's really a shell of its former self. It hasn't been interesting since 1990 or so, when the format was changed to be more bite-sized and bullet-pointed. I don't even buy this one when I'm in the US any more. I don't quite understand how the UK can support Cycling Plus and several other cycling mags (including a weekly), when the huge US market can't even have one decent one.

In any case, I'm happy with C+ and VeloVision (which is only quarterly and definitely on the fringe), but I do still love the old Bicycling Mags from the 70s and 80s and I watch out for them on ebay. I have a had a few issues sent to me a while back, and they're really good fun. So the other day I came across the mother lode. A collection of 23 years, from 1978 to 2001 for sale by a guy in Pennsylvania. I bid and won, now I have 165 lbs of magazines on their way! Pure madness. I can't wait to get my hands on them, but it will be a while since it's ridiculous to have them sent here, so they'll be in storage in New York for a while.

Leafleting in Soutwark

After work in Southwark today, I found that my bike (and all the others on the street) had been leafleted with the Southwark Cyclist newsletter.

As much as I support the LCC, I think that this sort of thing is really not a good idea. Most of the leaflets will invariably end up on the street, which is wasteful and an eyesore. It also doesn't do the LCC's image any good when people see these leaflets blowing along the pavement along with day-old newspapers and unwanted take-away menus. I'm sure they could generate much more interest and goodwill by having a volunteer meet and greet cyclists around busy cycle routes - and handing out newsletters to anyone who's interested.

I've emailed the coordinator of the group and copied the LCC - we'll see what (if anything) they've got to say.

Improvements at Waitrose

Seems that I'm not the only dismayed about the ridiculous placement of the sheffield stands at Waitrose.

Yesterday I noticed that there were now stickers affixed to the ones along the Finchley Road reading:

DANGER - IF YOU WANT TO USE THE OUTSIDE OF THIS BIKE RACK TAKE CARE! BUSES PASS CLOSE TO THE KERB AND COULD HIT YOU IF YOU BEND DOWN - IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS CALL TFL STREET MANAGEMENT ON 0845 305 1234

Then today, I went by and found that they were in the process of uprooting and refitting all the racks on a diagonal. Still not ideal, perhaps, but definitely an improvement! Makes you wonder what they were thinking in the first place, though.

Lovely morning in All Saints Road

I finally got around to taking the Fahrrad in for a follow-up service this morning. On Saturdays, the Bicycle Workshop does a first-come, first-served thing - but only the first 10-12 people get lucky. So turning up early is a must.

I got there earlier than I needed to (queues are much shorter in the winter) and was on my own from 07.30 until 07.45, when I was joined by a nice bikey chap with a broken spoke. Turns out he's a Mercian owner and an ex-Thorn owner, so we had lots to talk about!

Ninon (the owner) turned up around 08.15 and assured me that they'd sort out the Fahrrad and sent me on my way. She also said that they'd be getting in the oil change bits for the Rolhoff hubs, which I'll need pretty soon.

Here she is checking in the rest of the bikes for today:

These motorbikes make me cough

How could this kind of thing be allowed on the road? It may look pretty boss to some, but the angle of these exhaust pipes points straight at the face of any unfortunate cyclist immediately behind. At least the cars & buses spew out their fumes at knee level, allowing them to dissipate a bit before I have to breathe them in.

Here's a quick snap I got near Tower Bridge today, showing how it looks from my point of view as a cyclist... note the tailpipes of the one on the right.

Waitrose parking as expected....

... crapola! Here's my bike locked as a normal person would here, unfortunately taking up three of the stands instead of one. And if they'd been installed correctly, each rack would take two bikes comfortably.

Baby bowl!

Today, I took a break from work to visit Andrea Casalotti's new shop, Velorution. It's a fantastical cornucopia of exotic utility bikes. Nice website & blog too - and our bit about the bobike is featured there!

What I really wanted to have a look at was the Christiania trike with the nice compartment for kids. Gorgeous! Made in Denmark to order, with whatever options you want. It's no rocket ship, but it would be great for muling two kids plus shopping around - year round.

I asked whether a car seat would fit inside, and it seems that it might, but most of them are so unwieldy there wouldn't be much room left for another passenger. So serendipitously, I was reading the new issue of the CTC magazine and came across report from the Eurobike trade show this year featuring exactly the right thing. It's the Babyschale from German company Weber. (Google claims that the translation is inelegantly "baby bowl".)

Here's a couple photos from the Weber website.



Wouldn't that be perfect for Gem and another?

An offer made to LBS

I've noticed that the website of London Business School provides directions via public transport and by car, but not by bike, so I've volunteered to write some directions that they can post on their "Getting to the School" page.

Here's the message, which I sent to the general inquiries address and the head of alumni relations; we'll see what they have to say!

Hi,

I'm an LBS alumnus (EMBA96), and I use the library and other facilities at the school frequently. I'm also a cycling campaigner, and I generally cycle to the school.

First of all, I've been pleased to see how the number of cycles (and cycle parking) has grown since I was attending the programme here. I also notice, however, that your website (which has also become really very good since I was here!) does not include any directions for those arriving at the School by bike.

I think that including directions via cycle, including details of parking facilities at both buildings and proximity to official London Cycle Network routes, would be a real benefit to your visitors and students alike. It would also demonstrate LBS's dedication to sustainability.

I would be very happy to write a paragraph that you could include on your "Getting to the School" page if you're interested.

I look forward to hearing from you. And as I am on campus frequently, it wouldn't be a problem for me to pop in to have a chat about this.

Best regards,

Andrew Conway
LBS EMBA96