live-cycle

Okay, now that I have your attention, I just want to add to my previous post about cycling around London - always make sure that you are seen, especially with the winter nights drawing in. Wear ridiculously coloured clothing, with reflective strips everywhere, and make sure that you always have lights at night. And carry spare batteries. If you are a belt-and-braces chap like me, have two lights behind (in case one goes out).
Which brings me to my Hump. Polaris (and others) produce a cover for your backpack that keeps it waterproof, visible and is reflective and my wife very kindly gave me such an article (no, I’m not going to prompt sniggers in the back row by saying she gave me one) for my birthday last week. Clearly she still wants me around for a little bit longer.

I cycle through London almost daily and some friends think I am mad to do so. Almost weekly we read reports of cyclists inolved in accidents, and about the perils of the road.
Well, I have one simple rule to deal with cycling in London. Actually, I really have several, but one chief rule that encompasses all the rest: be paranoid.
Yep, that’s it. Just believe that everyone is out to get you. Think that every car door you pass is about to open, every bus and taxi is going to cut you up, every driver is going jump the red light or stop street, and NEVER pass a high-sided vehicle on the left.
Over course, there are other lesser hazards, such as turning on wet box junctions, where the painted lines are like an ice rink.
But there is always something that you just do not expect. Yesterday I was (almost) involved in two incidents that I could not legislate for: in the first, a motorcyclist passed me at speed and turned left without signalling, almost taking me with him. In the other, a fellow cyclist, in the dark and without lights, turned right across my direction of travel. I don’t quite know how we avoided colliding.
So, all in all, it’s a little like Monty Python’s (40 years old this week) Spanish Inquisition - you never know when to expect it. That’s enough to keep me paranoid.

The Times reports today that cyclists are to be allowed to go the wrong way down one-way streets (Green light to ignore one-way signs). Did this really come to pass as a result of the hopeless Dave Cameron being caught pedalling the wrong way along a one-way street? And will such a move really encourage drivers to give way to oncoming cyclists?
This report comes hot on the heels of another that says cycle lanes encourage motorists to travel closer to bikes than on unmarked roads.
In London cycle lanes are a joke - taxi drivers use them to park up and have their lunch, lorry drivers stop in them to unload, joggers use them to avoid crowded pavements, and utilities dig them up and fail to resurface them properly. Until the police and traffic authorities enforce cycle lanes strictly, treating them like red routes, they are just a waste of time and money and proof that no one takes cycling seriously.
The Times, that truly balanced newspaper, offers “for” and “against” columns debating the merits of the one-way move. The against column, predictably, says that, for cyclists, the Highway Code “has always just been something to pick and choose from, a bit like the Argos catalogue”.
Well, in one state in the US - I think Idaho - cyclists are treated differently from drivers and can regard stop streets as yield signs and red lights as stop signs. It makes sense, if you think about it: the cyclists are safer as a result, but motorists retain their sense of grievance, not that cyclists are breaking the law, but because the law is finally on their side.

Suddenly, everyone seems to want more than ever to enter next year’s Absa Cape Epic. Well, Paul certainly does, and judging by the internet chatter, quite a number of other riders also want an entry. Even I can’t say that the thought of a return hasn’t crossed my mind.
But why the sudden desperation? Word has spread that Lance Armstrong may grace the event with his presence - and now every amateur finally has a chance to say that they competed against the seven-times Tour de France winner.
At first I was sceptical - why would Lance enter months before the Tour and risk injury and throw his training schedule into jeopardy. So I went straight to those in the know, and I can confirm that there is a distinct possibility Armstrong will be there - the organisers are holding thumbs. Should the big man turn up in Cape Town, well, that would be a coup indeed.
Suddenly, I’m thinking, will some strong-arm tactics persuade the organisers to give us another Press entry for next year?? Hmmm.

The wheel has been around (no pun intended) for almost as long as man has been on the move. Once it was invented (or was it simply discovered?), it has been almost impossible to improve upon. Likewise the bicycle. We can improve on the materials but it is very difficult to improve on the design. But that, of course, doesn’t stop people from trying.
And that brings us to the revolutionary Stepper. Except that it isn’t revolutionary because, where you pedals would normally go round, this bike has paddles that you pump up and down, a bit like climbing steps. And it has no seat, so you’re standing all the time.
It looks like fun, but I’m not so sure that it will catch on. You can see the “bike” being ridden on TimesOnline.
Of course, folding bikes are a different kettle of fish, and an area where there is ongoing search from improvement.

Brompton has set a very high standard that all others, even my beloved Airnimal, are still struggling to achieve. Now a Royal College of Art graduate has come up with a radical idea that just might catch on - if it proves quick and easy to fold.
It has been named the Contortionist - let’s just hope that that refers to the bike, and not the person riding it. I hope that everything fits into place properly - I would hate to think what might happen if you hit a pothole at 30mph while tearing down the Embankment. More on this at thelondonpaper

Sometimes it’s a soap opera, sometimes a melodrama, sometimes a comedy. There have been moments of tragedy, and of high farce, but there is one thing that it never fails to be - a thriller. Of course, I’m talking about the Tour de France. And the 2009 edition more than lived up to expectations. I missed the first two weeks because I was on holiday, sailing in the Greek islands. (There are not many things that I would miss the Tour for, but this was one of them.)
But I arrived back just in time to see Alberto Contador blow away Lance Armstrong and all his rivals on the climb to Verbier with one week to go.
But the excitement of the last week was more than enough - Bradley Wiggins’s temporary climb up to third place, the attacks of the Schleck brothers, Armstrong’s overpowering presence, and, of course, Mark Cavendish’s incredible ability to squash all challengers almost with impunity.
So, for the Brits, it was a great race, and let’s just hope that they can build on such an amazing achievement.
And amazing it was. We watched them climb Mont Ventoux with such apparent ease. Last Monday Paul rode L’Étape du Tour, which covered the Mont Ventoux stage. It was anything but easy, judging by his account in The Times. Read it, and weep with him. And salute the men who made it look so easy.

Wow it’s ages since I last posted anything, good job dennis keeps writing to you guys.
It’s been all work and no play really for me although I’ve been cycling pretty much everyday mainly on road, I’m preparing to face the mighty Ventoux in July as I ride the etape . I can’t wait, well that’s what I keep telling myself.
Last Saturday I managed to break my rear wheel after hitting a brick that bounced from under a car. A case of objects in front of you will be hard to avoid at nearly 40mph! It also earned me my first puncture in 12 months!
This weekend Dennis and I are joining Ray Hince to tackle the south downs way, 100 hilly off road miles from Winchester to Eastbourne.hope it stays nice!
And finally if a pretty girl asks if she can take you for a ride, who wouldn’t say no?so like Everyman I was a willing victim to take the rear on a tandem around bedgebury the other day. The view was lovely, the ride was White knuckled but lots of fun. If the same girl is at bedgebury next time I go, please let me go on the front for the whole journey.

The perks of my job are a bit like hens’ teeth, so yesterday’s time at the coalface was akin to being attacked by a rabid, fully dentured chicken - I got to go for a bike ride. Which, as you might have guessed, is something that I like. What made the ride so special is that it was with Chris Boardman, Olympic champion and Tour de France yellow jersey wearer, among many, many other achievements. And it turns out that he’s a regular guy, too.

After riding a Boardman bike in the Cape Epic, I got to interview the people who produce them, including David Wild, the ceo of Halfords, and then, yesterday, Boardman himself. It was hard to say no to an offer to go for a ride with him, but we hummed and hahed a bit about where to ride. He wanted to go for a road ride, while my preference - I hesitate to say my discipline, perhaps I should call it my indiscipline - is for off-road.
But finally we agreed to stay on-road, and were joined by Andy Smallwood, Halford’s point-man in the Boardman bike project.
Chris B and Andy didn’t laugh when I turned out in my lycra, but I did feel kind of puny when they displayed thighs like tree trunks. And when he saw my 23-year-old steel-framed Zini, Andy asked if I liked the retro look.
They were kind to me, and towed me around the 22-mile course on the Wirral’s back lanes in an hour and a quarter. Chris and Andy chatted while I hung in there, trying to breathe. Afterwards Mrs Boardman kindly proffered coffee and ham rolls to restore us. Not your regular day at the office, but one to remember.

So just what is the condition of cycling in Britain? The news over the past week or so gives a confusing picture.
On the minus side We begin with a National Audit Office report that the number of cyclists killed or seriously injured rose by 11% between 2004 and 2007. In 2007 alone, it said, 136 cyclists were killed and 16,000 injured.
On the plus side But, confusingly, the CTC put out a report at the same time saying that the number of cycle accidents had gone down by 33% since the mid-1990s. The CTC added that the number of regular cyclists in London had increased by 91% in the past nine years.
One the plus side One place where the number of British riders has increased is the Giro d’Italia - a record nine British riders started the race, and Mark Cavendish has already snatched two stage wins and, lazily, as he admits, missed a third.
On the minus side David Cameron has again become the victim of bicycle thieves. His Scott went missing while chained to railings outside his house. (Even in the leafy bit of Kent where I live I wouldn’t chain my bike outside my house.) This gobbet of information was accompanied, in The Guardian, but yet another picture of our wannabe Prime Minister cycling along bare-headed, helmet over the handlebars.
On the minus side The Tour of Wessex, due on bank holiday Monday, has been cancelled after the police asked the organisers for £140,000 to train motorcycle outriders. It is the fourth amateur event to be cancelled this year.
So, with all that going on, where is the “bounce” in cycling that we expected after such a successful Olympic campaign last year? Where are our next Nicole Cookes and Mark Cavendishes (and, indeed, Chris Boardmans) to come from, if we can’t manage to hold events for aspiring beginners?

When the English weather is good, it is perfect, and today was just such a day. My ride over the North Downs could not have been further from the Cape Epic, but you need all sorts of rides to keep you on your toes. I just wish that we had been able to train in weather like this for the Epic - it would have made the whole process a lot more enjoyable.
I share today’s ride with you in pictures. Enjoy …