face saver

bike 180 - ride 20

first ride for a week. spent most of it clearing snot from my head in the form of lime green snot rockets.
i rode with the club and one of our number took a pretty bad fall on a slippery corner. i heard the skidding and then the bike hit the floor behind me. as i looked back, paul was rolling to a stop and looked to bang his head quite badly.
i stopped as quick as i could and ran back to see how he was. he lay in the road with the other boys around him, complaining of pain in his wrists.
after the initial shock, he began moving and got up. the side of his face had took a real whack. the side of his helmet was smashed in and i have to say, without it, his face and head would have been much worse.
i really don't like helmets but this was another reminder of the benefits of them. a reminder that will make sure i'm wearing mine for every ride for at least the next month...

the comical bit was that he handed me his iphone and asked me to call his girl! he could have walked the 15 miles home before i had worked out how to get the thing to work, let alone call her. some of it was the difficulty of operating the thing with my winter gloves on, but i felt like my parents must have when they used to get me to program their vcr because it was fancy, new technology

shoes

the shoes gosia will get married in.

still not riding. tomorrow will be a week off the bike. i can't stand much more! i think i'll be out with the boys on saturday...

corners

day two on the sick
day five off the bike
bored at home
more corners here ---> http://www.flickr.com/photos/placid_casual/sets/72157613087202226/

flat

one of those horrible photo summaries of life. you know the ones?
someone takes a picture of their headphone lead all tangled up and writes stuff like 'life is so confusing... i don't know which way to turn...' etc.

well, i have a cold and feel sorry for myself and my bike has come out in sympathy!

barista

ordered today!
and i just got a mail to tell me it is en route!!!

woo-hoo!

sandwich of the gods

my dream sandwich - better medicine than vitamins or fruit juice!

crusty bread (idealy, tiger bread from tescos), slathered in butter, mounted with 5 (five) fish fingers.

the fish fingers have to be cooked so that they are dark brown on the outside, almost black around the edges and still juicey inside. flash-grilled if you like.

on top of the fingers goes a potato waffle, cooked in the same way.

a good handful of grated red leicester is then unevenly distributed over the pile.

the second layer of bread is matched in thickness by the mayonaise spread onto it (think more like bread dipped in mayo...)

balance the second slice of bread on top and then halve the sandwich. that way, you can look forward to the second half while still eating the first!

serve with cold beer or hot tea.

grand!

wine

bike 180 - ride 19

ok, the furthest stretch to the original plan of 'Take a snapshot (or vid) of you, your bike, or your riding pals during a ride and post it up here on flickr.' but what can i tell you?
i rode both ways to and from work today in the cold and dark. i struggled for the motivation to piss around taking pictures.

so anyway, instead you have another indication of the extent to which cycling and bikes have taken over my life.
rather than choosing wine by reading reviews, tips from friends or even the description on the back, instead, i choose wine if it has a picture of a bike on the front.

now this could tell you more about my wine habit than my bike obsession, i'm not sure.

cheers, salut, na zdrowia.

dirt rag

bike 180 - ride 18

i don't feel good.
not sure why.
a bit beat up from crash last night and just 'out of sorts' y'know?

new things

today i rode for the first time with two new pieces of kit - which is always nice.
(i was going to start this post with 'i have been sent...', which is true, but the bloggers and reviewers who usually do this didn't usually have to pay for the goods they are reviewing/advertising).
anyway, first up is my new front light. it is a hope vision 1. an AA cell powered, LED light, all the way from barnoldswick in lancashire, via chain reaction cycles in ballyclare in northern ireland. the materials used to build the light are lovely. fantastic, lacquered, blue-anodised aluminium body and aluminium-bronze bushes in the ballistic nylon clamp - all beautifully made. however, the shapes that those lovely materials are made into is not so good - not good at all. the thing is ugly. saved only by the loveliness of the bits.

when i ordered it, i also ordered four rechargeable, high-capacity batteries on ebay. they charged overnight and the light was ready for the ride in this morning. it turns on on the 'low' setting and at that, it was already brighter than my cateye el530 and i still had 'medium', 'high' and 'max' to go.
you can find beam pattern pictures and run time charts elsewhere. suffice to say that for my commute along pitch dark country road, 'medium' was enough but 'max' is great. for its size the thing is brilliant and thoroughly recommended.
it also has a flashing mode - useful for built up areas with street lights and traffic. the flash rate is... ummm... leisurely! it flashes on and off at a far slower rate than any blinky i ever used before and while i like the way everything that is reflective* is lit up by it, i'm sure i rode more slowly. my cadence matching the flash rate. *(and it isn't until you get a high powered light like this that you realise quite how ubiquitous 3M's scotchlight is in built up areas - street signs, registration plates, workmen's coats, car trims &c.)
only two negatives for me so far - the button to switch between modes doesn't have a very positive click and with thick gloves on, it is difficult to tell if you have pressed it or not. second is, and it is nothing to do with the light's design, when i'm honking out of the saddle,my face is forward of the light and so i have to keep looking up to avoid being blinded. time to fashion a little hood i reckon. for the lamp, not me.

second new goody was a bike burrito that now hangs under my brooks and carries a tube, spanners, allen keys, tyre levers &c. in the kind of style that no black plastic pouch from topeak or the like could ever do.
buy one. support a tiny business that had an idea and went for it. it came wrapped in tin foil and packed with a mini bottle of tobasco - nice touch

sorry for the crap pictures (again). i had to resort to the phone camera.

despite my goodies, i still managed to fall off today. on my way home from work, a road was closed and i had to take to the pavement. i made the classic schoolboy error and mis-judged the step height and the front wheel, rather than crossing the curb, carried on in a straight line. my body weight was already heading in an opposite direction. i fell to the ground doing perhaps 15mph. my fall was stopped by a dry-stone wall to the hip bone. i've taken skin off my knee and shoulder. my hip and ribs are bruised up and my left wrist is turning grey/purple.

the bike was fine. ironically, the thing that stopped the bars spinning round and denting the top tube was my new light! another reason to buy one... maybe

morning

bike 180 - ride 16

cold one today - seemed to have taken the gritters by surprise as the road hadn't been treated. a couple of interesting wobbles. but i still much prefer the cold to the wet and windy we have had (and will have over next few days)
rode with another commuter for a short distance this morning - he had nicely built on-one inbred and was moving pretty fast. i expect there are not many car commuters who exchanged pleasantries and tall tales with their fellow commuters on the way in this morning

the best thing about this morning though was the light - ok, so there was very little cloud cover but still the best sign so far that the solstice is well behind us and snowdrops and springtime are just around the corner

dry

bike 180 - ride 15
a really wet commute this morning, the wettest ever i reckon.
good to know though that with a chrome bag, everything inside will be bone dry (and warm if i ride quickly). they may b e heavy and expensive, but i'm sure they are among the best there is.

peculiar panda

bike 180 - ride 14

today was the club's annual dinner and prize giving. the sun was out and so the raleigh was dusted down for the journey.
the 17 mile round trip was the furthest i have been on it. i gave myself plenty of time and took it really steady, enjoying the countryside and the traffic free route along the river.

the dinner saw all of the old members attending. on my table, there were two in their 80's and one at 91.
i asked one of the octogenarians how much riding he did these days. he said that the frost had kept him off the bike lately and so he was spending more time on his turbo-trainer!

daylight!

bike 180 - ride 13

only the forth ride in daylight of the year.
while its great that there is the first signs of light in the sky on my commute in the mornings, it is still fantastic to actually get a ride in in daylight - sunshine even.
its also good to ride with people.
i'm like a puppy, riding along, full of energy, chatting to people, loving it. especially the UVs.

in this picture are the three other fixed gears that were out this morning and kim riding another of his £10 bargains. i'm not sure where he finds them but he seems to have a stock of these machines that most of us, especially 'serious' cyclists wouldn't take a second look at. but he just rides them. doesn't matter what it looks like or how much it squeaks.
takes all sorts!

home

bike 180 - ride 12

after such an awful week at work, it was good to get home.
the weekend will be all about riding bikes, eating and drinking.
i'll be interviewed for the new job on monday and will know if i am successful within a couple of hours.
monday night is the club's a.g.m. and hopefully the new kit that i have been working on will be accepted and we can get it ordered. i am sick of looking at it!

long day

bike 180 - ride 11
a longish commute this morning - 15.5miles! i was enjoying myself...
once at work however, things took a decided turn. it seems that i and all of my colleagues are at risk or redundancy.
there are jobs available, but 5 less than there are people.
tomorrow i have to apply for a different job to the one that i am only just settling in to.

i'm looking forward to a long ride on saturday morning with the boys from club.

oh, for the restorative powers of a 60 mile bike ride!


note - both hands on the bars and, although it doesn't look like it, i was moving. first use of my tongue operated shutter!
oh and click the photo for the flickr version with some dull notes

lights

choice of pictures for today's entry.
this was the alternative:

not sure which i prefer.
anyway, cold ride in but great to see some light in the sky. another couple of weeks and i might not need quite so many lights on my bike and these grim, daily pictures of darkness might cheer up a bit.

this post was brought to you by...

this post was brought to you by silk liners, an almost full moon and some daylight on my way to work.

puddle panda

ride day 8 this year.
nice on the way in - torrential rain on the way home.
this photo doesn't show the amount of water around this afternoon but i wasn't going to mess around for a better shot.
maybe time for a mudflap like this ---> from fxdwhl

i've spent the evening trying to design a new kit for my club. their old shirt is truly terrible. someone got carried away with it. so for the new one, i've tried to keep it simple. inspired by the shirts my heroes wore when i was a kid...
trouble is, i've spent too long messing around with it now and don't know if i still like it or not.
i'd welcome thoughts and ideas from blogland...
here's the flickr link

chapeau

dark and light

the latest in my quest to take a picture on each ride this year. ok, strictly speaking, i wasn't actually out on the ride when i took this, but this is the bike i rode today and this is some of the crap that collected on it.
now that the roads have thawed, they are filthy. the salt and grit that has been collecting at the sides of the roads for the last couple of weeks forms a crunchy path of nastiness just waiting to be sprayed onto a steel bike frame whereupon it can get to work on eating away anodising and shiny paint finishes.
i am one of life's bike polishers. i like my bikes to look good at all times. even if it is my commuter that, at this time of year, is filthy by the time i get to the end of the street.
needless to say, this and the other bikes i've ridden this week will be in for a severe cleaning on sunday so that next week i can get them dirty all over again.


ladies and gentlemen, i would like to present to you, for your listening pleasure WINTERSLEEP* http://www.wintersleep.com/index_1.html

*i'm always a little nervous recommending bands to people because maybe i'm the last person on the planet to get into them. maybe they are top of the charts. maybe they are last year's x-factor winners...
anyway - i heard them for the first time last night and through the wonders of itunes now own all three of their albums and love them! i haven't been so excited about a new band for quite some time.

finally, work got a little better. although, i know it will get very much worse soon. and knowing makes it worserer still (if you know what i mean)

church of bike

day 7 - ride 6 - 3rd day commuting

sometimes, my job is sh!t.
really sh1t!
its sh/t at the moment.
and it will get more shlt in the next couple of weeks.
of course, i am fortunate to still have a sh\t job and not to have the worries that many thousands of people are facing just now.

if you're a bicycle commuter who has been riding in the cold and dark over the last few days, maybe this blog entry [ http://lockringnotincluded.blogspot.com/2009/01/dipped-in-silver.html ] will sum it up for you like it did me.


oh and british gas are sh:t too!

videos for you

one for the bike racers...

one for the rockers...

wrap up warm blogland

icy

this morning's ride was the coldest of the winter so far with the thermometer outside my kitchen door reading -6C as i left.
the roads generally weren't as bad as yesterday morning apart from the one through bradgate park. here, the snow had melted and then frozen again, meaning a mile long sheet of ice. i took to the grass in search of some grip but it wasn't much better there.
riding on ice certainly demands your concentration - riding without any change to direction or speed; almost holding your breath, feeling for the twitch that means you're going down.
i'm glad i was riding fixed. i could tell each time the back wheel was losing traction. it also means you can slow the back wheel rather than braking that could potentially stop it turning and start a skid.
on a brighter note (hoho), that is the sun coming up in the background! ok, i was a little late, but this means that commuting in the light is only a few weeks away!!!

as i mentioned a few days ago, i am still please when this little blog gets a mention elsewhere. this time i have been linked to from Rat Trap Press. Thanks a lot - http://rattrappress.blogspot.com/2009/01/blogs.html

first light is the best light

first commute of the year and it was a cold one.
not cold for some of the commuting bloggers in the states - http://lockringnotincluded.blogspot.com/ - http://bike2work2live2bike.blogspot.com/
but cold enought for a layer of frozen slush on all the untreated roads. as usual, that meant another crashed car on the road between cropston and swithland - the third this winter that i've seen.

and please bare with me - i hope to have a new camera in the next couple of weeks!

day 4 - ride 3

i'm just back from cannock chase and a great ride.
i met up with alex and his mate steve and andrew and julie. i haven't seen the two of them since march 2006! it was good to catch up and after a few miles of conversation it was just like old times
the trails were frozen hard with a dusting of snow - the kind of snow that is like broken up polystyrene. it had settled only on the trail, forming a white ribbon to follow.
having brakes again after replacing the hoses and pads inspired confidence and i rode well and so in turn, enjoyed the ride.
next resolution - i must ride there more this year...

like old times

i had to post a real, paper letter today, with a real, paper cheque inside! there was only one form of transport i could use to run such an errand - ok, i could've gone by steam train or stage coach but that would've been daft.

the second entry in my flickr set of photos from every ride i take this year.

2009

first ride of '09 under my wheels and it was a good one.
we were in the lake district for new year and so i rode the 48km from windemere to grizedale, around the north face trail and back again.
i enjoyed the trail. it was ideal for a day such as today where i didn't have a lot of time, i was riding alone and couldn't be bothered with the faff of navigating.
they seem to have gone big on 'shore' sections across boggy bits. i'm happy with this method but this morning, before the sun had gained enough elevation to thaw the frost, everyone of those wooden sections was covered in ice. i'd mastered the technique of going 'light' on the bike and not braking but a couple of them still caught me out.
otherwise the trail is fun for the most part, especially a section that breaks up two fire-road stretches in the middle of the ride. maybe because it is the steepest section of the ride.