You came into my life in the summer of ’95.
I had to spend all my pocket money just to get hold of you. After a lot of mmm’ing and aaarrr’ing I settled for a Principia MTB for various reasons, built locally by hand by fellas who went to the same university as I did back then, and very light. But, above all, I just fell in love with you at first sight since you looked so beautiful, gunmetal grey and no other distracting colours or patterns, just simple and clean. Which I haven’t always kept you and hence your name: ‘Dirty Pia’.
At first I kitted you out with some basic gear. As I saved up, you got new wheels, tyres and XT groupset. And you really came into life and the wonderful frame you have just took the beating I gave you without a moan.
I’m sorry that I haven’t been the nicest of owners but you have always had a place in my heart. I had to give you a new front wheel when we got broad-sided by a Parisian car driver who didn’t look. The broken front brake, along with the scar for life I gave you, when I …

What this base ball cap have is a solar panel and two lights (LED) build into the brim of the cap. So while you are wearing it doing the day it charges and you can then use light in at night.

I have had this trailer for around four years now and simply love it. It is a TW-Bent trailer which is pretty much the same as the BOB Yak trailer but is called Revolution Cargo Load Trailer and is from Edinburgh Bicycles Coop.
At time of publishing this post it is going at £149.99 though when I got it was £125 :) Which is more than half the price of the BOB Yak. though I haven’t used the BOB I think that the Revolution Cargo Load Trailer does the job just as well.
It has been bashed to bits and is still going strong. I have used it for everything and still get some looks when I cycle around London with it.
It takes a bit of time to get used to as there is the extra length and weight low down, but I can’t say it is anything different to starting to cycling with panniers. As you get used to cycling with both quite fast.
The only gripe I have with it, it is when you are trying to park your bicycle and trailer it is easy to forget that it is heavier and much longer. So it is not just “drop …

There is a petition ‘Cyclists THINK! Watch out for HGVs‘ which calls for an addition to the LGV license.
The measures should create a two-part Safety Standard that is an addition to the LGV license. The safety standard would commit to Best Practice in both driver training and in vehicle specification. This would be achieved by: A) implementing additional driver safety awareness training; and B) recognising that vehicle specification must include suitability of the LGV for the city centre. The combination of both an LGV Safety Certified driver and vehicle, would grant an implicit permit that allows access to city centres during peak hours. Any vehicles or drivers lacking certification would not be permitted access to city centres during peak hours. These measures can be rooted in bigger government strategies – combating obesity, congestion, global warming – while supporting and encourage cycling. Eight people have died, directly as a result of collisions with LGVs, on London streets so far this year. The petition aims to make clear that “share the road” has failed to address the fundamental issue that sharing is not possible when the LGV drivers do not always see the cyclist. Implementing these measures could make the UK …

I found this one in my daily crawl on the internet. This is many ways correct, though you don’t have to be on your bicycle to make you feel alive a good walk in the local park will do the same. Do you really need to jump into your car to go to the shop for a pint of milk ?
I’m all for cars if we just use when thoughtfully and plan our journey ahead. Ask yourself can this journey be done on foot or on your bicycle before you grab the keys for you car.

Go on, get on your bike it will make you smile :)

This comic made me think about the people I see in Richmond park very weekend.

If you can afford to strap your bling bicycle to you car, which quite often is bling too, why are you driving to a park inside London. And not outside London, say to the Surrey Hills or even further afield to do your afternoon ride.
And Richmond Park isn’t that far away from most of London so why not ride to the park. If the park is too far away for you to ride then you are closer to many other places around London that is nicer to ride to than Richmond Park.
Go figure.

A request for Google to create maps for the best cycling routes in any particular area has been posted on their “Suggest It” page.
Let’s try to make this a happen!
Here’s how you can help:
A.
-Go to http://maps.google.com/support/bin/static.py?page=suggestions.cs
-Scroll down the list to the Route Information section
-Click the “Suggest It” button after the last choice
“Add bike trail information and biking directions”.
B. Write to the discussion forums on Google
Some suggested talking points:
Bicycle Maps on Google will help locate safe and friendly streets for cyclists to plan their commutes.
More people will use the dedicated bike/ped facilities if they can map the in locations and connections.
Transit maps often indicate walking routes to and from terminals/stops – but not cycling routes, which vastly increases the range of travel for cyclists. Bicycle maps should be integrated with the transit maps.
This was taken from http://errcmagazine.com via touring.bikelist.org

As part of the Pendle cycle or bike Fest 2009 (they are not sure what to call it when you search the net for it) yesterday we saw the Colne Grand Prix 2009, circuit road race.
 
The peloton zooming past, in the warm up race.
 
An early retiree, technical reason we were told.
 
The peloton trying on the last lap to catch up with the leaders.
 
And the winner is …
 
I could do this couldn’t I ?
 
The winner got £100 and some flowers, I must say there was a lack of podium girls, and Peli didn’t fancy going up.
Winners in the support Race:1. Lewis Craven, Herbalife Wheelbase2. James Farnaby Crosstrax3. Jeremy Robinson, Crosstrax
 
A Rapha team member, having a chat and a rest before the main race.
 
All lined up ready to go,if you click on the link below and see all the pictures you will see that someone cheated and went before the bell.
 
The peloton zooming past.
 
The winner zooming past followed by the rest and his brother (in the white tour leader top) in 3rd place.
 
Winners in the elite race:1st Place – Russell Downing2nd Place – Rob Hayles3rd Place – Dean Downing
 
The winner being interviewed by the commentator. Who was on form, …

My review of the Surly LHT

… causes chaos to London commuters.
Yeah it was a pain for me to ride to work today. I really do hope that this is the last ever tube strike, because I can’t handle this.
I’m mean it took me 10 min less to commute the 7 or so miles to work today, it is just not on ;)
Traffic was at a stand still and I just zoomed past, didn’t have to slow down for other traffic and plenty of the roads were empty.