Topic: Outdoor Life
I Really Love Cycling
So I’m probably never going to compete in the tour or be able to keep up with some of the really skinny riders I see around the place. But I just love to be out on the bike. No matter how much it seems to hurt or how cold I get or occasionally how wet I get. I can’t really explain it.
When I came back to cycling 3 years ago, I was very much into the special clothes and equipment scene. If some company made a gadget that looked a bit pretty I bought it, to the point where my knackered old mountain bike looked like a Christmas tree. When I bought the Kona I started doing the same thing.
In the last six months whilst cycling through the winter for some reason I felt compelled to do the opposite to the point where all that is left is the bike, some lamps, a computer, and a rack. I’ve stopped wearing Lycra and now just wear some Craig hoppers and a shirt and tuck my trousers in my socks. The only piece of special equipment I use now seems to be my shoes which double as comfy trainers.
And before anyone shouts I do wear a helmet.
The difference now is that I have stopped trying to be this ultra fast commuter who is training for his place on the next race while getting to work. But someone who rides because they enjoy every minute they get on the bike. Even if it’s snowing.
Keeping The Wheels Turning
This is an observation made on another site on the web, unfortunately I can’t remember the address.
“If you ask a motorist if they would
like to see more cars on the road,
the answer is almost always NO”
“If you ask a cyclist if they would
like to see more bicycles on the road,
the answer is almost always YES”
Peace.
Bike Trashed, Feeling Blue
After the joy of getting the hybrid dew deluxe back on the road after it’s spell without a rear wheel; disaster struck. Somehow on the way home from the remembrance service yesterday the rear derailleur committed suicide and fed itself round the cassette and sheared the hanger. Unfortunately the derailleur also tore itself in half smashing one of the jockey wheels in two, I could only find half of it. Probable cause at the moment seems to be some very apparent wear in the lower jockey wheel, this didn’t show up at all when I serviced the bike probably due to being packed with muck and grease.
The short of it means that I’m stuck out on the white bike for a bit at least until the dew is fixed. The white bike suffers from all sorts of quirks like chain slip and wobbly axles and such but just seems to keep tanking along. Shame it’s not very comfortable or quick, in fact it’s the opposite. One of these days I’m going to strip it down to the frame throw all the dodgy mechanicals away, paint it bright pink or yellow, and build a fairly cracking bombproof shopper out of it.
I now need to find somewhere in the region of £50 to £100 to get this sorted out so I can start covering my commute normally again. All in a month where I’m struggling to find the money to eat, begging at this point seems an attractive option.
Peace.
WooHoo Back On The Bike Again
After a short break from work due to quite a nasty chest cold, and having some repairs made to the bike. I cycled to work this morning, quite comfortably and easily the new rear wheel giving me no problems whatsoever.
I worked out that the previous rear wheel must have travelled somewhere in the region of 10,000 miles (16,000 kilometres for the Europeans) before giving out, the rim only doing slightly less after being replaced previously and built on to the original hub. The guys at Scott cycles offered me a choice either a new hub built into my existing rim or a whole new wheel. In the end a had an entirely new wheel for the quite reasonable sum of £45, although I spent about £56 after having the job of transferring the cassette, disc, tire and a new tube fitting. All I had to do was put the wheel in and adjust the rear calliper a touch.
I must say the new wheel is slightly trick, for me anyway with black rim, hub, and spokes; it looks quite cool stuck in the back of my muddy old Kona. After a week or two it’ll be covered in muck and blend in but at the moment it looks quite nice.
To celebrate riding again (I was off the bike for a whole week), I have ordered three new bottle holders, two bottles and a mount to sling one of the holders under the down tube. I’ll keep the lower holder for the airzounds air tank so the thing is out of the way, and I can remove the nasty Velcro mount they supplied.
Peace.
Summer Cyclists
With the daylight hours getting longer and the weather better with them, more and more cyclists seem to be joining me on my morning commute. So many to the extent that I was stuck in a traffic jam on the towpath last week. I congratulate them on their effort and yes it is really great to see people making an effort to get to work in an environmentally sound way, which is generally considered good for you.
But …
Please don’t ride on the footpaths, they happen to be for pedestrians, cyclists get the roads and occasional cycle paths. Riding on the pavements just makes everyone’s life harder, some of us cycle all year round and hate being reminded about how cyclists endanger pedestrians with our reckless ways even though the majority of us don’t. (It is also an illegal act that has a fixed penalty associated with it.
Please don’t block the tow path and cycle at 3 miles an hour, honestly I can actually walk faster than that and the timing of my commute means that I need to travel at 16mph at least on the tow paths. If you can’t ride at pace that’s OK but please don’t block the path for other cyclists.
Red lights mean stop for all traffic, not just cars, they include bikes as well. Please just follow the rules of the road. Crossing a red light is a particularly stupid thing to do and a collision with a motor car really hurts, more so when it’s side on.
And Finally …
Have fun and be safe out there, while remembering that some of us cycle all year round regardless of weather and such and are not going to be impressed by our commute time trebling so you can pootle along slowly.