bikes and things

Don’t try this at home folks. My heart rate was through the roof watching this.

With all this talk of smog and pollution I was reminded of when I first cycled in London in 2001 from Clapham (I know, London for beginners / London for people who don’t like London) to Old Street. I used to wear a face mask then and remember two things about it. The first being the horrid black deposits on the bit where you had been breathing. The second being the nasty set of spots I used to get around the side of it where sweat and dirt would collect. I eventually stopped using it for the spotty reason.

The other reason I was thinking about face masks was that I recently went for a bike ride with James and ended up back at The Gowlett after to have a OJ and lemonade in the sun. This guy rocked up on his bike and clearly wanted to chat. He asked us where we’d been and then went on a big speech about how he uses a cycling mask when riding around London and how much better he felt for using it. We then politely asked where he’d been on his bike that day and if he’d been far.

Oh no, not too far today I’ve just been to the shops to get some cigarettes.

The irony seemed completely lost on him.

Two things that caught my eye today.

Firstly, and I know there’s source no for the figures, but how many people cars have killed vs the number of people dictators have killed. Seems especially relevant due to our current smoggy pollution issues.

Via @evolvingcities

And of course my favourite alternative is the bicycle. The evolution of which is beautifully described in this little video.

I’d had this idea in my head for a while now having seen it mentioned on LFGSS many years back. I’ve long since stopped posting on there but for some reason fancied giving it a go. The arrival of my geared bike back from the shop with a new lick of paint also meant I wanted to try a longer ride without being too far from a train ride back in case of the worst. The idea was to ride all of the bridges in London you could legally ride on a bike. Fortunately this ruled out the one over the M25. It also meant the millennium bridge was out but then I didn’t see that as a problem as I was more interested in the ones less ridden as it were.

I’d originally planned a route on Garmin Connect and suggested it to a few people although the ride never materialised. It’s tricky planning the route as you have to cross each bridge but then aim to get the nicest riding between each one – ie not ending up on a busy 3 lane main road. As it had originally been intended for meeting people from North London the start was a little odd. We rode down the old canal in Peckham and ‘the back way’ via a coffee shop in Bermondsey to Tower Bridge and then promptly turned round and rode back south, neatly avoiding the awful road by the Tower of London. Turning right onto London Bridge a little later put us back on the crappy road but we were soon off again and up over Southwark Bridge, one which I rarely ride over. This pattern continued although with less abortive u-turns.

After some faffing with cleats we got going properly. We ended up riding some bit of the Thames Path I hadn’t seen before as well as a great ride through Battersea park. We ended up on a few more rough patches which were a bit more CX than planned as well as a few trips up stairs with the bike shouldered, but it was all pretty good going really. The Hammersmith Bridge was one I hadn’t seen before and we stopped to admire it if a bit before riding over it. The other treat was riding the north bank of the river around Chiswick. I’d only ever glimpsed this from the madness that is the drive along the A4 by the Fuller’s Brewery to get to the M4 to the West Country, but there’s a lovely stretch of river and path here. We ended up on a footbridge at Putney with some incredible views over London with the hail that had briefly hit us earlier.

As I’d hastily planned the last few bits of the route on Garmin Connect I’d not really checked them all properly, including the section that had us going through the middle of Kew Gardens. The six foot wall kind of put a stop to this but we found our way around and back onto the route again skirting around Richmond, through Teddington and through Hampton Court. The tarmac was lovely on this bit. So smooth and fast! Back around the other side of the Thames and into Kingston which was horrid. Another trip over a bridge and a u-turn to say we’d done it and then up to Richmond park via a few wrong turns. We got there in the end and enjoyed a coffee at the stall at the top after the first hill. James was starting to run out of energy so we got some more food and limped round the other side of the park.

We then retraced some of our steps on the north of the river through Chiswick and Hammersmith before finding ourselves on a strangely diagonal route through Chelsea which seemed to cut through London in an odd manner. This would have taken us on a fast route up to Buckingham Palace but the Chlesea match was kicking out and the streets were mobbed. Fortunately they had won so they were all pretty friendly. We then stopped at the Rapha Cycle Club for coffee and lunch and James headed home and I went to work for a few hours, via Regents Park. All told it was about 105k so a fairly big day out although not at a fast pace due to lots of little twists and turns of the Thames Path. Still great to get some proper distance in and explore some new parts of London and oh so pleasant to be riding geared again! 100k isn’t too shabby for the first ride back.

I’ve avoided using the word ‘pimped’ as it implies a Max Power stuck on type approach to tinkering and adjusting your ride to reach that perfect machine. This thread over on lfgss.com really is quite a treat. Lots of thought, and cash, has gone in to making one of the nicest looking Brompton’s I have ever seen.

Having recently come to terms with my Brompton I’ve completely fallen in love with it for short trips to the station and to site. The only thing which is annoying about it is the weight of carrying it around if you ever have to switch platforms or something. This guy sought to solve that by investigating just how light you could make it through upgrades. There’s also a wealth of information in that thread about longevity of various components, tyres, axle sizes as well as some of the design decisions that went in to making the Brompton so amazing.

Some nice bits include carbon mudguards, lots of Ti bolts, a Ti seat post, carbon bars and even Campag carbon cranks! The end result is pretty impressive but as ever with some of these things it is the working out that proves out clever it is. I bet it flies along!

I’m in the process of selling my white Brompton so I can get the clear lacquered S3L. It’s pretty tempting to go down some of the routes that he has done. A Ti seat post & Carbon bars wouldn’t be too spendy. There’s no way I’d ever go the same extremes but it looks like there’s a couple of easy wins in terms of weight. A lovely project to see and well documented.

That’s what the text said from Magnus. I was completely shagged from driving to Bath and back for teaching the day before. A 5.30am start and not back to the house until 9.30pm as well as a lot more driving required on Sunday. Magnus is pretty fit and is a bit crazy when it comes to cycling. We’d talked lots about riding together but I’d been off my geared bike since early Dec and always had that excuse to use to not join him. But then I had told him at the pub on Thursday about how I was just using the fixed for everything, even longer rides and sprints round the park at lunch.

Somehow I’d run out of excuses to have a good thrashing from Magnus. I’d planned a relaxing day of little bits and bobs. I liked the idea but couldn’t help but invent more excuses… What if my chain snapped? What if… etc etc. Anyway, fuck it. I went. To hell with it.

So we set off from his house near Brockley, out past Catford, Bromley along some awful dual carriage ways which I really wasn’t keen on. Anyway, at the end of that the houses spread out a little, became smaller in scale (bungalows) and then lo and behold we were in Surrey on our way to Kent. My legs felt like lead for the first 25k. But a stop with some water and a gel as well as spinning out down a massive hill seemed to sort that out.

In fact the most alarming thing about the ride was riding down the hills. Whilst going up was hard, spinning out down the hills and feeling ever so slightly out of control was pretty freaky. I generally ride around London fixed so rarely ride down for more than a few hundred metres at a time. The urge to un-clip and let it spin out was tempting but trying to get clipped back in or the risk of the front brake failing was just too much to think about.

A few hills later we ended up under the M25 via a pretty little village that had a pub with the aroma of chips. Mmm chips. Unfortunately we weren’t stopping. We kept pushing on and we kept a pretty decent pace – around 30km/h (I think that’s decent for a fixed ride). We soon realised that Magnus was running a far higher gear than me as I was spinning out a little on the flatter sections. But I preferred that as some of the hills were still a big grind. I found getting on the drops and pushing out of the saddle helped a little. A couple of them I felt the urge to jump off and walk but the thought of defeat in front of Magnus, the loss of pride as well as trying to start again mid hill was far too much to think about so I kept on. I rode through the pain and made sure I looked as un-phased as possible for Magnus when I met him at the top. Being unfamiliar with the route didn’t help either. It’s hard to know when to give it gas and when to hold back for a longer slog.

We managed a quick stop to get more water and some Haribo then back up onto where we’d left off and followed our route sort of the same way back. We had a few sprints on an open section each sitting on each others wheel to keep up the speed. At points we were hitting 40k on a flattish open section. We also had a quick stop to admire the M25. Clearly far better to be on a bike above it watching it all go by than to be driving around it!

We then found our way back towards the more urban area of Bromley without event. Apart from one bit where I sprinted up a short hill and then my brain being so tired forgot to keep spinning around and I felt a jolt and the bike coming up behind me. Fortunately I held it and rode it out but I haven’t forgotten to pedal on a fixed in years! A lucky escape. As we got closer to home it was clear that it was going to be a bit more than the 60k promised. The dial read just over 81k by the time I’d got back to mine with 960m of climbing. Not bad really for a few hours out from the front door. Can’t wait to get my proper bike back this Sat and do some even longer rides! Thanks Magnus.

It’s been a long winter but today I cycled in without a jacket or gilet. Amazing. Feels so good to be riding in just a short sleeved jersey. Roll on summer.

Soundtrack for today, Phil Collins – No Jacket Required.

I’ve been off my Condor for a while now due to a little off on a patch of diesel before Christmas. It’s been in the shop getting rack mounts brazed on and a new powder coat done. I’ve been left with the fixed and the Brompton as my choice of bikes for getting around.

When I had the Condor I was getting in to doing more distance and getting my weekly numbers up. I’d even started doing laps of the park at lunch and finding longer ways home. Having just the fixed to use, for some reason I didn’t feel like it was the right bike to do this kind of activity on. I’m not sure why but it felt like I’d look stupid, not the part, out of place or just wouldn’t be right. Dare I say that it would be too much like hard work too. My bike is a knackered old thing held together with jubilee clips and stickers and is completely filthy. It doesn’t quite match my nice cycling clothes I’ve got and the silly little hat I wear under my helmet. To make matters worse I had added a rack and now ride with a pannier.

As time went on I cared less and less about these things. I still wanted the exercise and to improve my distance ridden during the week. My fitness improved slightly and I gave a few laps of the park a go one lunch to shake some midday stress out. Thoroughly enjoyable if a little tiring. I then started adding some more miles in on the way home, three laps of Regents then up Dog Kennel Hill. Again with rack and pannier and a shitty old bike.

The best thing is no one cares. Well that’s not quite true, some of the roadies in the park hate being overtaken by me. I’m sure the pannier rubs extra salt in the wounds. But as I’ve said before, I’m not racing against anyone else, just myself and my own fitness. I always want to push myself that little harder. Its only self consciousness that had stopped me before. Besides I’m still out on my bike with a reasonable pace getting the miles in and who cares on what bike I’m using.

The whole experience has been liberating and I’ve gained a lot of fitness from riding fixed at a quicker pace over longer distances. I can’t say I haven’t missed a freewheel at times. The sound of a lovely clicky free hub behind you sometimes drives me mad. I’m just hoping that this extra will pay off when the Condor returns. That feeling of the bike running away from you will be hard to get used to at first but I’ve got so many nice rides in mind. I’m also going to join Brixton Cycle Club and join the Sunday club run which was partly inspired by reading the Escape Artist by Matt Seaton.

I’m a bit of a Strava addict at the moment. I even record my Brompton journeys to add a little more to my mileage each week. It’s been fascinating to see how far you actually ride in a week once you record all journeys. It doesn’t take much to knock the miles right down and you can quickly see where you need a make a little more effort. The whole idea of competing against lots of others online doesn’t interest me as much though, especially in terms of speed. I don’t mind seeing how many miles someone has chalked up as that’s always impressive, but it feels like some of the KOMs are just ridiculous. Maybe it’s because I’m riding fixed at the moment and can’t chase them down but most do seem un-achievable.

I generally prefer to race against myself and get those little cups saying you’ve got a PR (personal record). Now when I say race, I don’t mean going flat out like an idiot at all costs. I mean cycling home from the office, getting a good rhythm going and getting a decent speed out of the bike. It makes it all the more satisfying when you realise that you were doing a decent pace and weren’t hammering away at it, just a nice sense of rapid movement.

So to make Strava more personal I found a little Chrome extension to show your results on each segment instead of your placing against others. You can switch to personal each time you click on a segment but this defaults to it which is pretty nice, therefore making Strava infinitely more personal.

So you can now see quickly when you had your best form on a certain segment. I’m far keener on racing against myself than others at the moment. It shows how much you have improved and got fitter which is the most satisfying part of cycling, apart from cake and chatting of course.

Yesterday I went up with Gavin to Afan with the idea of riding W2. We had a later than planned start due to me not wanting to get out of bed and the motorway being down to 50mph due to the awful weather. It’s hard to think about getting your shorts on and heading out went visibility is down to a a few metres.

We ended up getting on with it and getting out after the usual faff. The climb up Whites has been completely changed by the removal of the trees. It used to be dark and enclosed and now is open and barren. This is presumably due to the problems with Ash trees the area has had over recent years. It’s a real shame for many reasons but mainly due to familiar trails not being so familiar any more. It also meant that the trails get a lot more exposure and washed out again completely changing the feel of it all.

The climb seemed easier than usual and I felt far fitter than I had ever felt riding around here. We kept on to the top and found some sections almost completely beneath water. The single track was a stream in places which was entertaining.

As usual the weather opened up a little and we were treated to a lovely view back down the valley with the river in full flow.

Gav wasn’t up for the full W2 so we headed down Whites Level without the extra loop. I enjoyed the Energy section, especially the section in the woods but really wasn’t blown away by the rest of it. Normally I love this trail but it seemed to have lost something to me.

The final descent had a new option which we gave a go. It was nice enough but very wide and open and lacked a lot of the tightness of the original. That feeling of twisting through the trees on a tiny little path was lost and just seemed like a big open downwards path which was pretty sanitised.

So whilst it was good to be out I really didn’t think it was that good. Added to that I checked my GPS and we’d only ridden 16.6k which is kind of pathetic really. This then made me think back to all those years I’d ridden this and felt like we’d done a decent ride! Things have changed now but that’s kind of ridiculous. W2 is a more respectable 44k.

Anyway it was good to get out again but I was left disappointed by the shorter ride.