We went out on a 53 miles ride today joined by five of our friends. Never been in that part of London before and it really didn’t feel like London. Even though we were within the M25, pretty much London still, we enjoyed some rather nice country lanes.
The weather meant that we had to put on our waterproofs four times before we managed to get home as we enjoyed four rather hard showers. During one downpour we had to pull over and wait under a bridge as we couldn’t see where we were going. At least it was not cold so we didn’t end up freezing our bits off.
It was the first time I have really used my new Dakota 20 from Garmin. Before I have only played around with it here in London where I know the roads.
There are two ways of using the Dakota (I think), one which is very close to the typical DumDum erm TomTom where it will tell you when to turn with a beep and show you a big fat arrow on the screen. You can plot a route that way but you are limited to 50 points which made our route impossible …

Sad to say I have to let go of my Dahon Speed Pro TT, 2008, simply because the Surly LHT have ruined all my bicycles as it is just way to comfy and I can’t ride the Dahon any more.
Bad parts :
- I’m selling it, since I can’t raise the handle bars enough to make it comfortable for me.
- I have never been happy with breaking abilities of the Dahon.
- For some reason Dahon decided to fit some “great tyres” on it.
Great parts :
- It is a fast ride and great fun.
- I managed to climb Tourmalet, Hautacam and Luz Ardiden on it.
- It is mango coloured.
So the state of the Dahon :
- Some scratches, but else it looks good, it have been loved and I will give it a good clean before you take it of my hands.
- The hods and leavers have some scratches.
- New tyres (Conti sport contact) very few miles on them.
- Cut down cable outers so not so easy to fold, but you can rectify that.
- Extra bar layer of tape and bar phat.
- It have done around 1800 miles.
- The thread on the left hand side crank are for the pedal is bust.
The …

Thank you all for coming and all the facebook, email, sms or how ever you managed to congrats me :)
I had a splendid day, didn’t have time to talk to you all long enough, I think there was at one point 40 odd people there. I do hope that you all managed to get a bounce, eat enough and drink.
The last few days before were a bit depressing since everywhere I called the companies couldn’t provide me with a bouncy castle on the day. But two days before I found a company who honestly did’t sound like they would pull through on the day, they did and we all managed to have 6 hours or so of fun.
One thing I forgot to say when I posted this the first time around. When the bouncy castle was up, the general mood of the day was happy and joking. Talking about what you did as a kid, if you have seen the new play ground in the park etc. Then when the bouncy castle was taken down the conversion become all about tax, politics and war. So if you have a birthday coming up do get a bouncy castle, you will …

My passport has run out, yes I knew about it last year but was a bit lazy. I did have a few trips to do and didn’t want to run the risk of not going because the passport was not ready yet.
You can’t call the Embassy to book an appointment, you have to go there in person to get the appointment. Because of the number of Danes in this country, I was told, so there is a massive waiting list to get that appointment. So all in all you have to make three trips to the Embassy if you want a new shiny Danish passport.
As soon as you set your feet inside the Embassy you are greeted by posters and magazines telling you that you should have a cycling holiday in Denmark, trust me it is a great place to cycle so do go if you have the chance.
Imagine my disappointment when I saw that the Danish Embassy had put up some massive flower pots outside, well let’s just call them what they are: concrete bollards. Yes, I know there were some issues with some drawings a few years back, but there is a better way to tell …

I really thought that in my line of work I was exempted. Surely, I bring in more people in everyday to the fold, so there are
more new cyclists for them to visit, and more cyclists to bring them offerings? My little way to keep them happy.
But no …
Yesterday when I was getting Stella (my fixed bicycle) ready for the summer (I simply haven’t been on her since I got the Tank, my Surly Long Haul Trucker last year) I got the pump out and while I was at it, I thought that it would be a great idea to check the Tank over since it had been a while since I last checked its tyres. The pressure was only 5-10psi under what I normally run, so not too bad. It was a quick top-up.
But, this morning when I rolled the Tank out of the front door, I noticed that the fairies had paid a visit. A quick check, and the tyre wasn’t totally flat, so I decided that I would just top it up and hope that it would last until I got to work. I’d fix the visitation in my lunch break. But half way there I had to …

Last Tuesday I went and had a little meet up with other bicycle touring mad people, some clearly madder than me, just. Alastair Humphrey’s came up with the idea of a bicycle tourist meet up. We took over the top of the pub and had a good old natter, oh and a few beers was drunk.
It was great to meet Friedel of the travellingtwo.com fame, if you are thinking about jumping on your bicycle for a world tour or just a weekend away their website ain’t a bad place to start you read up.
Then I met David, tra-velo-gue.co.uk, who have done the around the world off road tour a few years back. David also told me about Vin Cox’s attempt on the world record around the world on a bicycle. You can follow Vin on his site, http://www.greatbikeride.com/, he is at the time of press (erm press of the button) cycling across India.
I also meet Justin from www.rolling-tales.com who with his partner Emma is just about to leave for their six month tour from Spain to Turkey and then more ?
I also managed to talk to Stephen Lord who wrote the The Adventure Cycle-touring Handbook, definitely the next book on …

Thursday I had to got out to Greenford in west London to pick up my new toy, more about that in another post. Since I was in NW6 and therefore not far from the Grand Union Canal, which runs from near the Docklands in east London all the way through north/central London to the west. You can even go as far as Bath and Milton Keynes and beyond if you are that keen.
I jumped on the canal in NW6 and started to ride on what I really hoped would be a pleasant ride across London. Away from the cold north westerly wind and traffic, the sun even came out to play a few times on my journey. This part of London is generally very nice and at bit of nature in the city especially in the spring and summer. Spring hasn’t arrived yet in London. A wee bit late because it’s been cold for a loooong time and we even had snow that lasted more than a few hours. The canal does cut through a few parks and next to other green areas like a golf course, so plenty of green to look at. Even the odd wildlife like ducks, …

When Peli came home today she heard the sound of running water. We soon narrowed it down to the pipes behind the shower and it was clearly coming from above.
I’m kinda sad that I didn’t use this blog to list our last problems with running water that wasn’t inside the pipes. Some of you might recall the great flood of 2007/2008 and the resulting lack of kitchen for a year and the bath room for around 3-4 months in 2008. Just because of the “wonderful” tenants upstairs who among other things decided to take the washing machine with them even though it belonged to the owner. They were kind enough to not turn of the water to said machine, which resulted in 2-3 inches of water in the kitchen, hallway and living room upstairs, which of course ended up in our flat. I will not bore you with the other details such as calling out for plumbers, councils, housing trusts and the “brilliant” builders from ROC who had to come back three times to get the kitchen somewhat right. See I’m already going off on one and will leave it at this just for all of us sake.
Anywhoo, we …

I was reading The Travelling Two website tonight as fell over a post there, Alastair Humphreys is planing a meet up for bike tourist, March 9th.
I thought that it may be helpful, now that I have done a few trips, to arrange an evening in a pub when I can try to help other people who are planning their own expedition.
So, if you think I can help you with anything you may be planning then do come along!
I will be on the top floor of the Iron Duke pub in Victoria station, London at 6.30pm on Tuesday March 9th until about 9pm.
Since I’m a self proclaimed pootling cycling tourist I will be there for sure, will you ?
LINK : Travelling two, London Meet-Up for Bike Tourists
LINK : Alastair Humphreys, Can I help you plan your expedition?

I finally had the chance to cycle in the snow with my Surly Long Haul Trucker. What can I say, it is sooo easy.
I have done my fair share of cycling in the snow and snow storms where I couldn’t see further than 50 metres ahead. Quite often I had to stop to remove the snow out of the wheels and away from the brakes. The most “fun” to ride on is when there is one layer of snow that have plenty of tracks from people moving about on bicycles or foot. Which slightly thaws doing the day only to freeze during the night while getting a new dusting of snow.
The main trick to cycling in the snow is pretty much the same when it comes to “normal” cycling.
1/ Don’t brake when you turn, do that before. And don’t slam on your brakes you will only skid.
2/ Cycle at a speed where you have control of your bicycle. Don’t cycle above your skills.
3/ Keep the momentum, not racing, but keep the bicycle going.
4/ Look ahead and around you, so you know what is going around you so that you can plan your route.
5/ If your bicycle is drifting/sliding …