Combing my hair….

Gold Hill in Shaftesbury, Dorset is famous for being the location of this Hovis advert from the 1970′s. It is the first ride listed in the excellent 50 Quirky Bike Rides by Rob Ainsley. Rob suggests cycling down Gold Hill as in the advert, I wouldn’t recommend it. Far less risky to try cycling up. If you do try, I suggest:

1. Attack the hill on the tarmac section, so you have enough speed to keep going on the cobbles – this is where I think I went wrong

2. Aim to put more than 23 mm of rubber on the road – this also did not help

Anyway, chapeau to Tim who made it despite a wrong turn near the top.

Of the 50 rides in Rob Ainsley’s book I have done only two others: cycling across the Humber Bridge (boing boing) and through the Ashbourne tunnel on the Tissington Trail (echo echo). But I will be trying some of the others. A book well worth getting.

Local trails ala cx from Andy Wardman on Vimeo.

Have been on holiday in Dorset and while you are waiting for the awesome video (ahem) of Gold Hill, here is something that will no doubt give Barry ideas for next season’s CTC runs.

(Thanks to Greg for alerting me to this video)

Thanks to Ian for flagging this

I’ve signed up for the World Championships, I’ll be riding in the Barnsley Hospice A team. This sounds good but I think the ‘A’ stands for ancient.

There will five of us and timing is on the third rider, so we can afford to drop two riders. As I have learnt to my cost, team time trialling on a folding bike requires concentration and a knowledge of the fellow riders, so I have been trying to pick up tips from this video (and failing). Meanwhile there is just one small problem, the absence of a Brompton. The plan is to buy one from eBay and then to sell it afterwards, thus keeping the costs down. We’ll see.

No anyone familiar with Manchester and Sheffield will know that there is a range of hills in-between. Now you wouldn’t want to ride your fixed up the Snake Pass. Maybe Joseph Lobato has the answer. Or maybe not. But I liked the video when I saw it on Bikesnob NYC, so here it is here.

Lynne Jones talks about a visit to Cambridge by the all party parliamentary cycling group in this video by Carlton Reid.

For those not in the know, Section 106 agreements are referred to, these agreements are often known as ‘planning gain’ where a Local Authority can reach agreement with a developer for community facilities in return for planning permission. As a way of funding cycling facilities they are problematic because honey pot locations such as Cambridge can extract more in return for planning permission than areas desperate for employment. Net result, the environment is developed more in the places which are already attractive, making them even more attractive comparatively.

There is also the wider question of whether paying to improve cyclist specific facilities rather than creating better general cycling conditions by enforcement of a generally safer environment for road users is the the way to go. Having said that, I like the idea of guided bus tracks far more than tram tracks.

I’ve been using the Assos winter gloves kit since early in December when the weather turned nasty. Too early to say about durability, but they certain work well to keep your fingers warm – I used them on day long rides with the CTC when the temperature has been around freezing. Expensive though, certainly not something you want to leave on the train by mistake.

Value:                ♥♥♥

Usefulness: ♥♥♥♥♥

Sheffield Supertram tracks represent a real danger for cyclists. At any time there is the risk of a wheel dropping into one of the two parallel groves, in the wet there is also the risk of sliding on the metal tracks. The best route to take is to cross the tracks at 90 degrees, but this is rarely possible. A particular problem is Hillsborough Corner which links two main routes out of the city to the North West. The video shows me negotiating the corner from South to North, but it is actually more difficult in the other direction as the road slopes uphill and turning from Langsett Road into Ripley Road to head up Walkley Lane is effectively an impossible manoeuvre to do safely when the road is wet.

To judge by media reports, the big cycling legal issue is cyclists running red lights. Lycra louts are running amok. Well yes, some cyclists do run red lights, but is this really the only narrative worth considering. How about the fact that any cyclist will tell you that they frequently have their rights abused. In the video above, proceeding straight along the bus lane I had right of way over the car turning left. At the last moment I noticed the indicator flashing and stopped. The car driver may have seen me and been prepared to wait while I passed, but it just isn’t worth the risk. Read the rest of this entry »

I’ve ridden a few Audaxes and enjoyed all of them, but never longer than 200 km which strikes me as quite a day out in the saddle. I’ve enjoyed the camaraderie and the opportunity to meet new cyclists, and the routes are often carefully crafted to show the best of the local countryside.

I’ve never been tempted by the longer distances and particularly not by the killer Paris – Brest – Paris, all 1200 miles of it. It’s the talk of hallucinations and fall asleep while riding along which rather put me off. To my knowledge I have only met one person who has ridden it and she struck me as slightly bonkers. But I have to say that this video did make it appear to be quite a fun experience. Love the Twin Peaks music at the night-time feed station.