Combing my hair….

Tony Gore on his Airnimal heading for the Col de Sarenne

In a discussion in yesterday’s Guardian Bike Blog about car free cities, dan1973 used the single word ‘Sheffield’ to start a comment about the limitations of the idea.

That the car will always reign supreme in hilly places, is a popular misconception it seems to me. While it is true that some of the UK’s flat cities are also the places where there there is the highest concentration of cyclists, it is also true that Read the rest of this entry »

Warning Sign in Sutton (Photograph by Adrian Short)

If you listen to some people they seem to think that cyclists are the enemy. Certainly when a pedestrian death is caused by a cyclist it gets disproportionate media coverage. Why is this? The reality is that pedestrians face a massively larger risk of injury from cars.

According to Ryan Russo an engineer with the New York Department of Transportation quoted by Tom Vanderbilt in ‘Traffic‘ it is because bikes are silent and relatively rare:  ‘As opposed to cars which make a noise and are prevalent. You don’t see it [the cyclist] because it is smaller, you don’t hear its approach because it silent and you don’t expect it because its not prevalent.’ This he argues makes a near miss or a collision with a cyclist a memorable event.

Could be. But this doesn’t explain the way some cyclists feel about pedestrians on shared pavements. My feeling is that the behaviour which can lead to a near miss is comprehensible – when a pedestrian who is listening to an iPod and texting suddenly changes direction in front of you, you can see why it happened. It is clear that the someone, an individual, is not paying attention. When a car passes too close it is potentially far more serious, but usually it is over before you are able to work out why it happened. It is a car driver, in the abstract, who is the problem, not a specific individual who is immediately in front of you.

Nigel Bennett on Pea Royd Lane

Sunday saw us on Pea Royd Lane for the National Hill Climb Championships. It was a good field with some 150 competitors and Read the rest of this entry »

Sheffield Peace Gardens by Lighthelper

It’s getting dark. Yep, it happens every year and until we find a way to interfere with the solar system, it is going to carry on doing so. So what do we do? Do we apply all our ingenuity to working out how to make the best of it. Nope, we just do what we do every year. Read the rest of this entry »

Jose in the Andean Desert

My good friend Jose Navarro is planning a cycling trip. He asked me if I was tempted and without a moment’s hesitation I said yes. Then I started to think Read the rest of this entry »

Alfine Tikit waiting for Sheffield Supertram

Following my post about the issues I was experiencing with my Alfine Tikit, Jordan Bishko, Bike Friday’s Head of Customer Service rang me on Friday evening. He accepted that the bike could go to the local bike shop and Bike Friday would pick up the bill. I am pleased that Bike Friday have accepted my suggestion on this.

So this morning, I wheeled it (somewhat noisily) to the tram stop and delivered it to Tony Butterworths. Chris took a look and is confident the wheel can be trued. The issue with brake calliper will take some investigation.

The trip to the shop allowed me to try out the new handle for pushing the bike. It is a clever design, neatly executed and Read the rest of this entry »

On 9 September, my Seasons Tikit deposited me on the road. Following emergency braking, the left fork blade snapped, the front wheel twisted until the tyre jammed against the right fork blade and I went flying over the handlebars. This is what the bike looked like after the incident.

Front view after the fork failure

Luckily because I was on an organised ride I was quickly attended to by a doctor who treated my injuries. If you really want to see them, there is a photograph here.

When I returned home I emailed a set of photos with a description of the incident to Rob English at Bike Friday. Read the rest of this entry »

Monsal Head Hill Climb (Photo by Greg McNeill)

Autumn – season of mists and mellow fruitfulness -and suffering. Hill climb time trials are an exercise in masochism. I love the indifference shown by the photographers in Greg’s image above. Voyeurs wanting to see the national championships do not have far to go from Sheffield this year. Details on the South Yorkshire and North Derbyshire CTC site here

Over at Bike Friday they have been working on an electrically assisted Tikit according to employee Walter. More details on his blog