Combing my hair….

Barbara forgets she was on the radio when responding

Of course it isn’t summertime yet, but I was reminded of the Mungo Jerry song this morning, you know where they sing ‘have a drink, have a drive, go out and see what you can find’. Poor old Mungo Jerry. They weren’t to know that their feelgood song embodied an attitude which would become socially unacceptable within a generation.

Now I happen to think that a 20 miles per hour residential speed limit would be a rather good thing. See Twenty’s Plenty for more information. Some people disagree, but then again some people disagreed about the breathalyser when it was introduced. For the next few days you can hear Barbara Castle defending it on the The World This Weekend from 1 October 1967 over on the BBC website here (Go to 18minutes 30 seconds and press play). The killer quote ‘….you’re only a woman, you don’t drive, what do you know about it?’

It is fascinating how participants often try to disenfranchise non-participants as way of winning the argument. Still we remember Barbara and her achievements, her questioner rather less so.

Nesh (adj) Dialect
1. sensitive to the cold
2. timid or cowardly
(from Old English hnesce; related to Gothic hnasqus tender, soft; of obscure origin)

The snow is going from Sheffield, slowly but surely. The CTC club run to Hathersage was going to go ahead this morning. Without me unfortunately. It could have been the cold but it could equally have been the red wine last night. This was worrying because all of that hard earned fitness from the summer is ebbing away. Nothing for it but to brave the turbo trainer. 60 minutes of mindless torture should preserve a little fitness without the risk of falling off.

I have five tips for turbo training:

1. Start with an easy cadence – you still have to warm up and at least ten minutes is needed to get your mind used to the idea that it has been parked for the next hour.

2. Put a towel over the front of the bike. You are going to sweat like crazy and if you don’t then you are not doing it right.

3.  Drink plenty of water

4. Have a good soundtrack. Here’s mine:

A pretty standard fast transatlantic mix, it finishes with the distinctly odd ‘Thank You, Lord’ by Hellwood which is a Johnny Dowd/Jim White occasional pairing. I like it because by the time I hear Dowd’s dulcet tones I know the suffering is nearly over.

5. Finally, if the turbo unit is anything other than a fan (now pretty rare), don’t touch it after you have finished. All the energy you have expended has to go somewhere. A bit will have been sloughed off as noise, but the bulk will be heat retained in the unit. That’s why some designs have fins to cool them down.

44 miles on the Tikit this weekend. Julia and I put the Tikits on the train to Stevenage and spent the weekend visiting our parents and exploring rural Hertfordshire. Feeling good about the bikes, but I need to get a rack. Fortunately, Bike Friday have pointed out that a small spacer will enable me to fit the standard rack. The order’s in!

And the picture, well that’s an earlier visit to Knebworth. Waiting for Pink Floyd in 1975 to be precise – thanks for the reminder Ian!

Photo by fotorobbie on flickr

Two Tikits folded and on the train to Leicester for a 32 mile round trip to stay with Malcolm in Kimcote. A great ride. Leicester has a good network of cycle routes including the Great Central Way which runs from north to south. an excellent way to get out of the city.

Unfortunately, a nut was shaken loose on Julia’s rear mudguard leaving it rubbing on the rear tyre. Unable to fix it I decided on an alternative course of action. The mudguard was removed and hidden behind a tree, to be collected the next day.

While there we took in Otis Gibbs at the Musician. A great show, albeit a little short as Otis was the support act, and should have been headlining.

On our return, it took a moment to locate the tree, but the mudguard was still there. All in all a successful trip, and few more miles in the saddle for the Folding Bike Challenge.

New Year, New Blog. The title is a nod to the fabulous Jim White.