Recently in Cycling Category

I had a surreal experience today. I decided I would try to attend one of the precursory events of this year's Film Festival. Rather innovatively the organisers were trying to run a series of "punt-in" movies.

By setting up projection screens on the eastern side of Grantchester Meadows the idea was that boat-folk could cruise up and enjoy a film before gliding back to base. Being the sort of practical person I am I envisaged cycling to the meadows and watching from the opposite river bank.

Setting off on my fixed gear bike - newly decked out with high-power lights I blasted over to the venue. Sadly the experience was slightly frustrating, after waiting for ages at one of the screens that was being set up in the darkening night I moved back to the first screen I saw. Sure enough it was half way through the feature I'd wanted to catch - 'Battlefield' by Humphrey Jennings. Shortly after my arrival the projector appeared to fail. So I wandered back to the other screen, the minutes ticked by and having no luck in finding out what was going to happen I went home - avoiding the cottagers by the Newnham Common parking area.

This was a nice idea but obviously the lack of spectators reduced the importance of getting the show on at the advertised 7.30pm. One punt went past and the lack of activity at the time meant the punters cruised on rather than stopping.

While it is a romantic idea the number of people who can either afford or access a punt as the night draws in will seriously reduce the draw of this type of event. Maybe advertising it as a joint cycle-in / punt-in showing would encourage more people?

I had lots of blurry shots from the evening while fiddling with the long-exposure setting on the camera. This one is the best (note the use of the Aguirre Wrath of God DVD that was used to set up the screen - very apt):

So, time for more feedback on this since we’ve had some questions about the bike lets start with those:

1. What gearing are you running? I’m running 46 on the front and 14 on the back, for me this is actually okay I’ve cycled up moderate inclines on this and haven’t found it terrible. Madingley hill, near Cambridge, is a slog (for around here) and I’ve done this a couple of times but never considered getting off. As for top speed, it’s good too, I’ve managed 26 mph on the flat - I’m not in top shape and didn’t take it any faster than I thought was safe given the fact that I’m still testing the bike.

2. How is the braking. Fine. There is a front brake. For the first couple of weeks I was trying to ride without using it. Then I saw Sheldon Brown’s web site and the suggestion that using the pedals for braking could weaken leg muscles, so now I use the brake for heavier deceleration.

3. Have you thought about hub braking to assist the rear ot even front wheel braking? No I haven’t. I could just fit the normal rear brake again, and some may suggest that it would be safest to have both fitted but I’m not riding for sport, just for fun! (Although I admit that a cable snap could be a bit troublesome in an emergency situation!)

So I’ve used this bike for several rides now, nothing major, just a few 14 mile jaunts and a run from Cambridge to Ely which I will detail here. Having fitted bar tape, a slightly less worn saddle, some clipless/normal pedals, and a computer I headed off one evening in glorious sunshine towards the Fens. I had to stop at Newmarket road as the combination of home wound bar-tape and cycle computer mounting wasn’t working. Fortunately I “Heath Robinson-ed” something together next to the cemetery. I took it easy and had a couple of stops for water, and a snack, despite the ride length being a derisory 22 miles or so.

Some self discipline was required having been out of the saddle for a while I tried to maintain a cruising speed of 18 mph, although I noticed that this would creep up to and above 20 along some of the straight Fen roads!

I stopped prior to Ely at a spot known as “Robert’s Bench” on the National Cycle Network path next to the river. This route is currently open despite the work to replace a bridge that has been trashed by a derailed train!

Apparently Robert Gray was a very active member of Sustrans and worked on many of their cycle paths. It was interesting to see this relatively discrete memorial bench dedicated to him:

You can see how low the sun was at this point. The colour of the gold bike looks quite nice in the evening glow I think! After a brief, misty-eyed pause to drink more water and eat a banana it was off on the bike for the last mile to Ely station to catch (just!) a train back to Cambridge again.

I’ve included a Google Earth KML file of my journey as recorded by GPS! You can download and view it here.

So here it is, my highly economic fixed speed bicycle. It’s environmentally friendly too as I’m reusing my old Triumph Tempest steel frame.

As you can see if you click on the picture the pedals seat and handlebars have been reused as well. The rear brake has gone, and the front brake is now reinstalled minus the (so called) suicide bar, a new brake cable was installed as the old one was discovered to be fraying!

I was keen to ride this to our regular monkey lunch meeting despite the rain. I rode fairly carefully and not too fast as this was the first time I’d ridden such a bike; well since being a child anyway.

What a revelation! I thought it would be interesting, but I didn’t expect it to be the great ride that it turned out to be. For a start the old steel frame doesn’t judder like modern aluminium frames seem to, giving a more supple and comfortable ride. True, this will be the same as before it was a fixie. Riding the bike is pretty easy really. Starting and stopping are the only bits that remind you that you are riding fixed speed. The most interesting bit is the level of control you get especially when I was riding slowly through the pedestrianised bit of the roads around Market Square. It is really easy to vary your speed accurately as long as you remain within the bounds of how much acceleration or deceleration are required.

I took the bike along the river; through a small flood which caused me to get my feet wet, and then up the slope to the Newmarket Road Tesco. This was a reasonable climb for this neck of the woods, and it wasn’t too bad at all. I’ve been told going down a steep hill at speed (and presumably trying to stop!) is the thing to watch out for so I will report back when I’ve had a controlled attempt at this sort of descent.

I will probably invest a little more time/money on the bike now. A new front tyre is required as the current one is horribly perished. I may also install clipless pedals, lights, and possibly a holder for the GPS or a simple bike computer. I don’t really want to have too much bumph on the bike as simplicity is really the key here.

It's been a while since I've posted an update on this subject. I've been incredibly busy, but have made some progress on the Triumph Tempest that - as part of my midlife cycling crisis - I'm converting into a fixed speed bike.

Below you can see the photo of the current frame/wheels. The nice people at Mike's Bikes sold me the kit to modify the rear wheel to fixed single-speed. The wheels have come from Doug who cunningly sourced them from someone who was throwing away a whole bunch of bike related stuff, how he knew I needed 27" wheels I don't know. Either way the replacement by these nice rims from the original rusted and bent (from a couple of thousand miles of London cycling with no maintenance) have really made all the difference to the conversion, and we thank him for that!

Also gone are the brown foam bar covers, and the cranks and bottom bracket. The front brake will go back on, minus the suicide bar. New pedals, possibly clipless, bearings, cranks and chain all need to go back.

The big question is whether I maintain the original paintwork, or repaint?There are a couple of patches of surface rust that need dealing with, but apart from that the paintwork is good if not immaculate. Any comments on this?

I was thinking about an article I had read in the legendary Cambridge Evening News about a cyclist moaning about how she had been knocked off her bicycle by two cars recently. It appears that there is a growing feud between the different types of road users in our city. Currently the police are having a crackdown on illegal cycling, fining cyclists for breaking traffic laws and especially for cycling on the pavement. It appears that this is in response to large numbers of complaints from the general public about bad cyclist behaviour.

Without condoning illegal cycling I think it is important to put things into context especially in light of what is deemed to be good use of police time. Speed cameras, drink-driving laws and a whole raft of other legislation has been implemented under the name of safety. It seems counterproductive to blitz cyclists when, for example, mobile phone use is still incredibly rife amongst drivers. How many people do cars kill per year? How many people do cycles kill per year?

Let’s move away from this point now.

It seems that the price that most cyclists pay for their choice of transport is a complete lack of understanding from other road users. The government is pushing for us to reduce our environmental footprint and the occasional cycle to work week or other green-scheme does not give cyclists any respect. I have an alternative proposal that I think would make powered vehicle owners see cyclists and pedestrians in a better light…

What I propose is that Monday the 29th of October 2007 becomes National Drive to Work Day.

Everybody who owns a car should drive to work, and any journeys, no matter how short should be taken on an internal combustion engine powered vehicle. People who do not possess a car should attempt to use public transport. My idea here is that, certainly in places like Cambridge, car users and public transport users will get to experience the congestion that would occur if the usual people who walk or cycle to work took to the roads in cars. Public transport users would hopefully notice how much more full their bus was, or how much longer the journey took. Drivers of vehicles sitting in the jams would maybe notice the absence of bicycles. Hopefully the myth that cyclists get in the way of cars/buses/lorries would be dispelled.

I seriously encourage people to consider this new approach to sending a positive message to the minority of vehicle drivers who oppress more vulnerable road users who do not have the benefit of a steel cage around them.

The government is proposing a potentially troublesome piece of legislation concerning cyclists' use of cycle facilities.  As I understand it this law would go beyond mere encouragement of cyclists to use facilities where provided by leaning in the favour of other road users if an accident with a cyclist did take place when the cyclist was using the road where a separate provision was provided.

In nofear.org's view, regardless of the flaws in the safety argument in favour of the proposal, is that this new modification to the Highway Code is unnecessary.  In addition it will complicate a difficult to regulate set of laws still further.

To sign the on-line petition please proceed to:

http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/roads4bikes/

You need to be a UK resident with a valid email address in order to participate.

I've been thinking a lot recently about the destruction of communities by the overuse of the automobile. To be honest I think that walkers are most in tune with their surroundings than any other mode of transport. Even cycling, whilst being much more environmentally friendly than the car (or even public transport possibly?), leads to people being eager to get from A to B without quite engaging with the people around. I draw the readers' attention to the fact that when I cycle I very rarely get asked if I can ‘spare some change’, whereas if I walk I will quite often be stopped and asked something.

What I'm trying to illustrate here is the fact that our communities have swung into a very non-communicative mode. It is a shame that when I walk that the majority of social interactions are of the less pleasant variety. Even though mobile phones and the Internet have enabled us a mechanism of creating what are now called “virtual communities”. There still is no substitute for a genuine face to face dialogue occasionally. I suspect that if more people walked there would be an increased number of people who knew each other passing the time of day. This would hopefully lead to a better balance of interaction between people in the communities in which we actually exist. Hopefully morale would be higher as peoples' impressions would not be that the place was just being overrun by scavvers!

Of course this is only true up to a point. Since taking up walking as a serious hobby, over ten years ago, I've noticed walker numbers increasing across the land. The interesting effect of this seems to have been that people are getting less friendly. In locations where walkers were rare it would be very poor form to pass someone without saying ‘hello’. With increased saturation of numbers walkers seem to actively try to ignore the presence of another person. The iPod generation walks blithely past without eye contact - presumably because they've come away from a big city and are sick to death with other people. I refer you back to previous comments about over-population in this nation of ours.

So, having strayed somewhat from the point I've reproduced here a very interesting sign from Cambridge. It says ‘cyclists have priority’, this is a good message, but drivers should not need reminding of this. It clearly states in the Highway Code that pedestrians have priority across side entrances. On this street, the exit from yet another development of flats, the cyclists are also in the road, so normal priorities should also be obvious. I wonder if this is yet another indication of the Nanny State? Will we have to have massive posters at every road feature listing the rules of conduct that are expected at that point? If so then it follows that these posters should also be translated into other languages, or even announced by some device so that people who cannot read can be made aware.

I'm overselling my point, but it is an interesting sign of the times don't you think?

For some reason or another I needed to do a walk from Hadleigh in Suffolk, and due to various circumstances I also couldn’t obtain a car for transport. I could have cycled to get one, but after discussing the various logistics I decided to opt for a car free, and slightly more adventurous approach to achieving this.

One of the many nofear.org projects we have on the go is the conversion of the Earl of Cambourne's bicycle into a fixed speed racer.

The bike has a certain emotional cache associated with it, it was the Earl's first proper bicycle - purchased as a birthday present when he was not actually tall enough to ride it! It was an impressive thing back then, having 12 speeds, and was ridden all around London during his heady batchelor days.

Having been stored away for more than 10 years it was decided that this machine should be reborn as a fixed speed bike. So over the next few weeks there'll be a minor photo journal about the redevelopment of this bicycle.

The frame has almost been stripped, as you can see in the blurry camera-phone picture (must learn how to hold the device more still). There was great relief when the crank arms finally came away from the tapered end of the bottom bracket. Using the old blowtorch on the arm gave it just enough freedom to be hammered off. Unsuprisingly the bearings we completely shot on one side of the bracket.

The next stage is to remove all the other bits and pieces and then measure up the frame prior to getting some nice new running gear on to it.

Even though the frame stickers claim that it is a "Triumph Tempest" I noticed that the frame actually was built by Raleigh, so more investigations into the nature of the frame may well have to be done.

Following on from Hamgray's previous rant, I thought I'd continue one of the strands there, the cycling theme. As a regular cyclist, it was somewhat dismaying to read that the local unabomber, cross-eyed loner Miles Cooper was, as The Times screamed from it's front page headline yesterday "A CYCLIST"

What difference does that make to anything? It's like having the Sun rant that "Soham Murder Ian Huntley was left-handed", or "Doctor Death, Harold Shipman wore glasses".

Granted, I get the urge to stab motorists in the eye with a rusty fork when they deliberatly swerve towards me because they think it's funny, but I can't say it's ever occured to me to skulk around the office plotting to send letter bombs as a result of the incidents I encounter when on two wheels.

Still, it's never a surprise to see the pro-car bias in the national media, and one doesn't have to look too far to find evidence of this.   I doubt they are deliberately trying to target the cyclist, perhaps merely an unconscious nod to our oil powered society.