Cycling and working in Manchester

2012-02-06T08:36:00.001Z

I'm no ranting cyclist - I am a level-headed chap who cycles as much as he drives. It takes something out of the ordinary to get me to post a comment on a newspaper website, and this horrendously silly article by Mr Grimes is just it.

The litany of nonsense that flows from his pen is compounded by a complete lack of factual information. Start with maintaining that capital cities Amsterdam and Copenhagen are 'mere villages' compared to 'most British cities'. Really? Take Amsterdam - its metropolitan area comprises c.3m people, in what can only be described as a thriving metropolis - if we compare it to our beloved Manchester. I know this - I've been.

As for declaring that cycling cannot be healthy since it has such a 'high mortality rate', this is an assertion without head or tails - cycling is generally safe as a mode of transport, and like any exercise it does promote good health. It is green and it is inexpensive.

Mr Grimes then latches on to the fallacy that classes cyclists as an entirely separate tribe, opposed to 'ordinary' people, and who want to subvert civilisation as we know it to accommodate their extravagant sport. Far from it, most cyclists, like myself, are ordinary people who want nothing more than for other road users (drivers, pedestrians, other cyclists) to observe the law and act and follow the highway code - thus avoiding, for instance, sudden turns at junctions without indicating.

One could go on for ages but that would mean bestowing on Mr Grimes a journalistic status he does not deserve. He mascarades as the voice of the common man - he is not.

Read more at: http://menmedia.co.uk/manchestereveningnews/comment/blogs/s/1472953_andrew-grimes-why-the-bicycle-has-no-place-on-our-city-roads

Tips for cycling in snow

2012-01-04T10:36:00.001Z

Only the BBC in their unassailable wisdom would think of complementing an article on extreme polar cycling with a text box full of advice on how to cycle in snow. God bless Auntie Beeb, and -by the way- thank you for bringing ciabatta to the heart of Salford, in a civilising effort worthy of Rome.

Saddle sore: Rawtenstall cyclists baffled by 20-yard cycle lane | Manchester Evening News - menmedia.co.uk

2011-09-30T10:25:00.002Z

Saddle sore: Rawtenstall cyclists baffled by 20-yard cycle lane | Manchester Evening News - menmedia.co.uk

Ah, the trouble with cycle lanes... is that, in the UK, they are a measure to appease motorists, angry at the failure of the powers that be to remove obstacles in their journey - cyclists being just another category of obstacles. UK cycle lanes typically consists of nothing else than creative use of broad brush and paint - green paint, white paint: you get my drift. They are for show. They are not designed or intended to make cycling easier, or safer. The 20 yard lane of this news story is, to add insult to injury, only an 'advisory' one (cue the broken white line): it does not mandate either motorists or cyclists to abide by it.

The paradox is that, in fact, cycle lanes are a good idea. Real, proper, segregated ones like what you see in the Netherlands. They cost money, they use space - and they get people cycling, properly cycling, replacing car journeys to shops or work or socialising.

One man, one dream, one wheel: Dad's 170-mile charity ride on a unicycle | Manchester Evening News - menmedia.co.uk

2011-09-16T12:37:00.000Z

One man, one dream, one wheel: Dad's 170-mile charity ride on a unicycle Manchester Evening News - menmedia.co.uk

Manchester City-mad cyclist will follow Blues on Champions League journey - on his bike | Manchester Evening News - menmedia.co.uk

2011-08-31T07:18:00.000Z

Manchester City-mad cyclist will follow Blues on Champions League journey - on his bike | Manchester Evening News - menmedia.co.uk

Bloody daft idea

2011-08-19T07:43:00.002Z

036, a photo by cocosolis on Flickr.

... to cycle in jeans, in the pouring rain. Even the 15' journey to my friends flat left me feeling like I was lifting weights with my thighs, so soaked were my trousers. Ah yes, I had my Altura jacket on. And it wasn't cold. I hate to think what it would feel like in, say, January.

Nailed it!

2011-08-02T12:36:00.002Z

I have now worked out a good route to work. Time this morning: 15’. Time back this evening, 11’ - better than 60'!! So far, the good news. The bad news, of course, is that such a short journey is not what I am after. In the old days back home in Manchester I used to do 45’ in the morning and 55’ in the evening – in other words, a good free workout. Showers and storage room at work enabled me to keep some items (shoes, for instance, or a winter coat) in the office, while in the pannier I carried the clean clothes for the day. It worked a treat – it became a well-oiled routine.

Now the future is uncertain and the present, well, the present is the future, if you’ll forgive the Orwellian tangent. As I’m enjoying a temporary period of living quite close to work, which in a few weeks may be replaced with moving further afield or going back to the Rugby commute, I don’t really feel like spending time exploring more leisurely routes to extend my cycle to anything approaching what I used to cycle before. Also, now I work in a small office with only very basic facilities – so I’m cycling ‘a la Europea’, dressed as I intend to work. It’s worked reasonably well on mild days, but this week there’s a heat wave (yes, really) and I just want to let go and put some power into my pedaling, sweat it out and enjoy the ride.

Finally, there’s the bike. The Ridgeback Attaché is great as fold-ups go – it is a million times better than my £30 contraption. But it is still a fold-up – closer to the ground, the handling a little bit less stable. How I would love to get on my trusty old Tourismo24! Nostalgia, this is – of cycling to the hills on days bright and sunny or murky and foul, feeling that freedom for once is a place on earth, and that ‘beyond the horizon’ no longer means that it cannot be reached.

Justice

2011-08-02T09:26:00.000Z

Driver admits hitting and killing cyclist while driving without licence in Eccles | Manchester Evening News - menmedia.co.uk

Justice done, at least. The fact the victim was a 'promising researcher' (and the perpetretor, it is implied, was not promising, in research or otherwise) is neither here nor there. The fact is, in this case it seems careless driving caused an unnecessary death - and it is motorists who cause most deaths on British roads, disproportionately so when compared to pedestrians, cyclists and other road users.

The Road to leafy Islington

2011-07-29T08:17:00.005Z

007, a photo by cocosolis on Flickr.

After a month commuting to London from Rugby, cycling to the train station at the Rugby end on my Father-in-Law’s 1970’s compact bike, and trying to use the Boris bike in London, I am now enjoying a month in leafy Islington, a mere 2 miles from my workplace, thanks to the generosity of some friends. To put the icing on the cake, the flat comes complete with a Ridgeback Attaché fold-up bike.

Setting it up took me longer than I’d expected – it’s not that it was difficult, but it has to be done in the right order and instructions aren’t always as crystal-clear as the manufacturers tell you. And I don’t read instructions anyway. It’s all about where you put the things that perhaps are not meant to fit nicely – the pedals, the handlebars, the saddle.

My friend explained they hadn’t used the bike for years – bought it, then a couple of accidents they heard about put them off the idea – and the tyres were totally flat. I pumped them up, then left it for 24 hours, the idea being to make sure the flat tyres were just lack of use and not a puncture of some sort. Meanwhile, I would walk to work and plan my route a bit – I’ve come to the conclussion that in London you should cycle on quiet roads whenever possible. My route seemed pleasant yet very effective – it took 25’ on foot, crossing a canal over a pedestrian/cycling bridge. No major roads were involved.

The next day I got up early and set off to work on my bike. Needless to say, I didn’t manage to replicate the route I’d taken while on foot. A wrong turn somewhere and presto! I was lost. Eventually I got to work but via Hoxton Square – I had gone a bit too far north.

Getting back was, however, even worse. This time I got lost from the start, and compounded the mistake so that, after 25’ of cycling (by then I could have done it on foot faster) I realised I was going in the wrong direction altogether – literally, back to work. A check of the map enabled me to retrace my steps and eventually get home – an hour after setting off.

Now, a word of caution about cycling in London: you can cycle on quiet roads, but have to do a lot of navigation; or you can stick to main roads, brave the traffic but make navigation much easier. In my view, you can’t do both – not unless you have the brain of a homing-pigeon, but bigger. Like a London cabbie.

Much more bread to slice....

2011-07-13T23:36:00.003Z

It's a Peruvian expression - meaning there is still a long way to go - no room for complacency. Which, I wonder, may be a danger in London when it comes to promoting and enabling safer cycling. In a nutshell, London seems to think that it, alone in the UK, has 'cracked' cycling - no need to go envy your fellow Europeans, cycling in London has doubled - and who ever cared about the rest of the UK anyway?

The reality is that, while there's been progress and numbers have certainly grown dramatically in the capital, there remains much to do, and some of the things being done could be better. This chimes with views expressed by David Henbrow about cycling in London.

Take this as an example. These very short clips show a dedicated cycle lane near King's Cross/St Pancras. It is a segregated cycle lane - cor blimey, isn't that enough? What more do cyclists want?

Now, look at the picture again. I am prepared to accept the cycle lanes, even though they are very narrow - some sort of passing scrape or collision can only be a matter of time. You can see how the change of direction so imposed baffles most people - one fellow just ignores it and carries on, others weave back into the traffic, almost recklessly.

Then you have this absurd design, in which suddenly all bike traffic going one way is directed to cross the path of bikes coming in the opposite direction and, a bit more abruptly than anyone wanting to live to cycle another day would like, rejoin the main carriageway and go back to competing against motor vehicles.

It's just not good enough. I can't quite see why this is an OK arrangement. It isn't. And don't even get me started on the Boris Bikes.

Chain reaction: Stockport brothers who go to school on unicycles | Manchester Evening News - menmedia.co.uk

2011-07-01T09:50:00.000Z

Chain reaction: Stockport brothers who go to school on unicycles | Manchester Evening News - menmedia.co.uk

I guess it cuts down on maintenance...

Boris Bikes... Ltd.

2011-06-26T21:28:00.000Z

Having turned into a London salary-man, I had to try a Boris bike. I mean, you arrive to Euston and the options are to join the medieval melee of peak-time tube travel, negotiate the bus network hoping you don’t end up in Watford, walk – which is fine but time consuming and, at certain points, just as competitive as boarding the tube – and cycling. Many have their own cycle – indeed some carry it in the train, and Euston has notably increased the number and sophistication of its cycle parking points. For those who don’t or won’t, the Barclays Cycle Hire scheme (to give it its proper name) offers a great alternative… some of the time.

The theory of it is great : within the area served the stands are indeed ubiquitous. The prices are very reasonable – first 30’ free, a quid for 24h, a fiver for a week: how good is that!? The bikes look well designed – why, they even have gears (3-speed hub gears – I believe they are Sturmey-Archer: a true British classic).

The reality is more mixed. The booking process is reasonably straightforward, but nobody tells you that the first time you ever hire a bike you need to go through it twice – once to register your card, the next to actually obtain the release code and take a bike. I stood there for 10’, waiting for something to happing at first, then poking alternatively the machine and various bikes, then rang the helpline where, unsurprisingly, the first thing you heard was a recorded message related to this problem – so, alone I am not.

Then there’s the vagaries of usage patterns. Yesterday, for instance, the whole thing worked a treat – I took a bike from near work, made it to Euston in twenty reasonably pleasant minutes, parked easily in one of several empty bays, and away I went.

Today, by contrast, I arrived to Euston to find a lone bike left in its stand. I obtained a release code and, alas, a red light in the stand showed me this last remaining bike was in fact a dud. I rushed to another cycle point to find none left. Then another where there were many – but when I put my card in, after a long delay the machine displayed an error message. This happened a second and then a third time as I tried successive cycle hire points, so I gave up and walked the rest of the way, having squandered a precious half-hour trying to get a Boris-bike.

Boris, by the way, didn’t actually father the creature, so to speak – not this one, at any rate. Not only were other European cities (like Paris and Barcelona) quicker off the mark, I am reliably informed the ball for this scheme got rolling on Red Ken’s watch, even if the bikes (unlike Barcelona’s) are blue – or rather, the livery on them is, for the bikes have the sort of grey-brown finish of 1970s office furniture.

2011-06-26T21:20:00.001Z

My £30 fold-up

They do say you get what you pay for. Fork out hundreds of pounds and you can fetch the queen of fold-ups, that jewel of the dying breed of British engineering excellence, a magnificent Brompton. Spend a couple of hundred quid and you can get one of the cheaper imports, reasonably decent items that may well take a few more seconds to put together or pack away, with gears that perhaps don’t purr along quite as smoothly as those I am told a Brompton offers.

Spend £30 on ebay and you get a cross between a circus prop and a sophisticated instrument of torture, bound in equal measure to amuse passers-by and set you up, on an early morning, to be grumpy and on a short fuse all day, dwelling on the prospect of having to ride it up hill back home when the train finally makes it to whatever God-forsaken sleeper town you happen to have your lodgings in.

That is exactly what I am contending with. The bike, pictured, is something I bought for completely different purposes – mainly, the idea was that if we wanted to take the kids to the park to ride their bikes, we could only fit three bikes on the bike rack, and two small bikes in the boot: this meant we could only have one adult bike – so I got a fold up for the other adult. The seller was the Brazilian wife of some bloke who lived on the Cheshire plain, West of the M6 somewhere between Chester, Wrexham and the civilised world. The chap, the Brazilian assured me, had an identical one he used every morning to cycle to a train station from which he then carried on to Liverpool. That, the cynics may say, explains a lot. The fact that is a single-speed is not in my view its main shortcoming – it may not be great up the hill but it would be bearable. Nor is so badly made – it may be heavier than the better bikes, being made of steel, but the joints lock well enough and have only a little play in them. The main problem is that the wheels are smaller than those of the more expensive folding bikes, and the frame is proportionally shorter. This results in an awful ride, really unstable. Stopping becomes an act of defiance, as is steering too much, and since it has no racks and all the load has to go in my rucksack, I am forced to ride leaning forwards a lot, because with the seat-post fully extended to suit even my modest height, the saddle actually hangs almost further back than the rear whell – lean back and you’ll land the back of your head on the tarmac.

So, what next? I have to choose from a number of options. To be fair, the little bike has done the job, reducing the time it would take me to reach the train station from 45’ (on foot) to 20’. I could therefore grin and bear it. I could buy a Dawes fold up for as little as £165 at a shop I know. I could look for a good second hand fold-up on ebay. I could transport my proper bike to my commuting base and enjoy the experience. My host – my ever generous and helpful Father-in-Law – has offered to dust off his long-forgotten bike – in which he used to cover pretty much the same distance – for me. This would be the most efficient option in terms of cost and effort. It would also catapult me into the world of 1970s cycling, as the machine in question has the features we all regarded then as innovative – a smaller frame with longer, V-shaped handlebars, looking almost like a bigger fold-up bike except that it doesn’t fold. To be honest, I don’t mind that – it will be better than my £30 eBay bargain, and for the time being that is enough for me.

Ze biggh zmok

2011-06-23T22:27:00.001Z

003, a photo by cocosolis on Flickr.

So, my new life has started - at the moment, it includes catching a very early train to work in London. So early, I can do with cycling to and from the local train station, as it's only 20' as opposed to 45'. I had no better idea than to recommission a cheap fold-up bike I got on ebay 4 years ago for £30.

It is a crude contraption indeed, but one that does that the job - poorly, but it gets me there. It also amuses people. What could possibly go wrong?

Transport chiefs in bid to get more people cycling to work | Manchester Evening News - menmedia.co.uk

2011-06-16T08:43:00.004Z

Transport chiefs in bid to get more people cycling to work | Manchester Evening News - menmedia.co.uk

Laudable, but I fear it's got "misguided" written all over it. According to the Evening News, this is "a radical bid by transport chiefs for government cash". Right. So, it's not about cycling or indeed transport - but to get some cash. It may be misreporting by the M.E.N., but that's not the only problem I see.

The fundamental error appears to be an emphasis on doing the things that are easy rather than the things that are necessary. Yes, it will be jolly nice to have 'secure storage' for my bike and wet clothes, and access to showers - but lack of those things are not the main deterrent for people to cycle into Manchester city centre. It is safety on the roads that stops most people I talk to: safety from the actions of other road users - chiefly motorists. Safety from those who will act carelessly or incompetently and from those who - very occasionally - harass you, angry as what they wrongly perceive as your 'intrusion' on 'their' road, the one they think they pay with their 'road tax'.

If Greater Manchester really want to be pioneering, they need to invest in, among other things:
- Real, segregated, cycle lanes
- Information campaign aimed at drivers ("There's no road tax"; "Cyclists are good for you" etc)
- Better law enforcement - and how about some coppers on bikes, on main routes?
- Legal support for cyclists involved in accidents - not to thwart justice, but to even the odds (hey, they could partner up with the CTC)
- Better (less car-centred) road/junction design so that cycling routes actually lead into the city centre, not circle around it or force you to go counterflow
- Bikes on trams! or at least, good, easy bike parking at tram and rail stations

And lead by example - I know Lord Smith may be past his cycling years, but I'm sure there are plenty of councillors and town hall mandarins who are not - some may already cycle to work, so why not make it visible?

23,000 cars clocked breaking 30mph limit on Hyde country lane - in just 10 days | Manchester Evening News - menmedia.co.uk

2011-06-15T10:16:00.000Z

23,000 cars clocked breaking 30mph limit on Hyde country lane - in just 10 days | Manchester Evening News - menmedia.co.uk

This highlights how, while media and politicians are always happy to brand cyclists as rogue road users, the truth is that associating behaviour on the road with mode of transport is just plain silly: driver are no less likely to disregard the rules - and when it comes to speed limits, nobody can cast the first stone, since we all do it. Yes, there are shades of grey, some drivers break the limit more carefully than others, some drivers compound speeding with recklessness, but let's stop portraying cyclists as 'rebels' and motorists as 'law-abiding'. You cannot cut it like that.

One good thing to say about cycling in Britain...

2011-06-13T09:50:00.000Z

... is that, by and large, nobody here would bother you to stick slavishly to cycle lanes, as happened to this chap in New York. But before we uncork the Buck's Fizz, let me say that in fact that maybe just reflects how little people care about provision for cycling on the roads - cycle lanes get invaded and obstructed all the time, but even when they are not they can be so poorly designed as to make them useless.

This morning for instance I cycled from Whitefield to Bury town centre. Along a section of the A56 there is a cycle lane approaching a traffic light. It is so narrow that, although it was clear of cars as the light changed to red, I still could not get through to the front, so had to wait in line with other cars and lorries. This is actually worse than useless - when traffic there is moving, cars can sometimes assume I will fit in the cycle lane, and in effect push me into the kerb. Bonkers!

View Larger Map

"Accidental" ...

2011-06-06T22:53:00.000Z

A case of "someone cocked it up" which means nobody is held accountable for the death of a cyclist:

"An inquest into the death of a cyclist who was hit by a lorry in Old Trafford has recorded a verdict of accidental death"

I shudder at the velvety, cushioned language in which the Police try to obfuscate what they reluctantly admit: that CCTV footage which would have been needed for a successful prosecution, was lost due to their actions (or lack of).

One should ask Andrea Leadsom whether she thinks her tinkering with the law in recent months will help address injustices like this.

A lesson in bravery: Teacher recovers from horrific bike crash and bids for place in top triathlon | Manchester Evening News - menmedia.co.uk

2011-06-06T10:49:00.001Z

The M.E.N. has given this an 'inspirational recovery' slant - focusing on the person concerned's bravery and determination - and that is fair enough. I however would like to highlight this paragraph:

"Sarah had been cycling as part of a training regime in a bid to qualify for the 2010 Euro and World triathlon championships when a car pulled out in front of her last June on Wilmslow Road, Didsbury.

She slammed on her brakes and was thrown in the air, landing on her head.

Despite wearing a helmet, Sarah suffered multiple facial fractures, a broken cheekbone, nose and jaw and her lip was badly torn.
She also broke several bones at the top of her spine.
The driver of the car involved was later convicted of driving without due care and attention."

In other words:

- This was an accident caused by a careless driver

- The helmet made little difference

Dangerous, careless road use, and car-centric design, are the things to tackle if road safety is to be addressed.

A lesson in bravery: Teacher recovers from horrific bike crash and bids for place in top triathlon | Manchester Evening News - menmedia.co.uk

6ft hole appears in residential Bury road used as short cut by HGV drivers | Manchester Evening News - menmedia.co.uk

2011-06-06T09:21:00.000Z

Today, 6 June, at 10am, the road is still closed - against what the article seems to say...

6ft hole appears in residential Bury road used as short cut by HGV drivers | Manchester Evening News - menmedia.co.uk

Fold ups

2011-06-04T23:12:00.000Z

Well, in a few weeks this blog will no longer be about cycling in Manchester - not strictly. I will be working in London, commuting on weekdays. Yes, it's complicated - but the simplicity of unemployment somehow didn't appeal to me.

So, I plan to join the growing hosts of London cyclists - the scourge of the Earth, according to some. In preparing for that day, I have re-discovered a folding bike I 'won' on ebay years ago: I paid £30 and collected it from somewhere in Cheshire. It's a crude single-speed contraption, and the only time I ever used it in anger (to reach a garage and collect my car before they closed for the day) I was ridiculed by school children all along the route.

I have, however, re-commissioned it - and found it is not as bad as all that. I'm not sure I will stick to it, but it will do for starters. I have no intention of forking out hundreds to purchase a Brompton - I'm sure one of those would be beautiful and ride like a dream, but I can't afford to splash out in that way. Also, how I arrange my accommodation will bear heavily in the choice of bicycle. If far away from the centre, I could have two cheap old bikes, one for each end of the journey. If I can manage to rent a room relatively centrally, I may want a reasonable hybrid or town bike I can do most things in - in fact, I already have such a thing, my beloved Tourismo 24.

Inspirational teacher to be honoured by the Queen for helping disabled children take up cycling | Manchester Evening News - menmedia.co.uk

2011-06-03T15:40:00.000Z

Inspirational teacher to be honoured by the Queen for helping disabled children take up cycling | Manchester Evening News - menmedia.co.uk

Who are you calling feral?

2011-05-26T12:07:00.002Z

I’m reading ‘The Bicycle Book’ by Bella Bathurst, and I’m loving it – not only because the content is interesting, but because the writing is so good and engaging.

Just one quibble: the chapter on ‘Feral Cyclists…’ – esp. the conversation with a bunch of London cabbies – seems to try a bit too hard to say ‘hands up, we cyclists have no great respect for the law’ and then goes on to try to justify the sin and gain sympathy from those we seem to ‘wrong’ with our cycling.

I would argue that it is unhelpful at best to single out a particular mode of transport when it comes to routine, habitual failure to follow the highway code. Take speed limits, for instance. In any kind of road, whatever the speed limit, you see people disregarding it – not always dangerously, but that’s not the point, is it? And how about traffic lights: how often do we see drivers speeding to ‘make it’ when the amber light shines? This is low-level flouting of the rules that those who engage in it will do without thinking – certainly without thinking they are doing anything other than ‘what everyone else does’. Add on top the real hooligans of the road – the ones who drive at silly speeds on urban roads, or jump the red light. Suddenly, it’s not just cyclists who appear ‘feral’, is it?

Just a quick topical comment

2011-05-09T20:30:00.000Z

Belgian cyclist Wouter Weylandt has died during the Giro d'Italia. Don't get me wrong: his death is a tragedy which should only attract sadness, regret and prayers for his family and friends. It's just that one quote in the report caught my attention: "As the camera probed between the branches it could be seen that his helmet was still in place, but a pool of blood was spreading on the dark grey asphalt beneath his head". It is further reported he died from a fractured skull - even though medics got to him quite quickly.

I fear this is something I'm going to be referring to whenever I hear people harping on about the 'need' for cycling helmets and how much better we would all be if they were made compulsory. Cycle helmets are not designed for extreme impacts - whether from going downhill at speed, or from crashing against a ton of steel in the form of a motor vehicle. They protect cyclists from, say, an accidental fall at normal speeds, or a glancing blow from a low branch you hadn't seen (provided your teeth don't hit the branch first -happened to a friend, she spent a month in hospital).

To afford us the protection some people think helmets give us, we'd need motorcyclist helmets, sturdier and with protection for chin and face. Ludicrous.

Bury photo printing errand

2011-05-09T14:21:00.002Z

Shinewalk 2011-5-1 CPmob 030 - Copy, a photo by cocosolis on Flickr.

Had to print some photos at Boots in Bury's Mill Gate - cycled there straight after leaving kids in school. Nice to have the place all to myself (well, almost) - the early hour, competition from The Rock, or both?

I put the photo order in, then had an hour to kill. The lure of good old Katsouris too strong to resist, I went there for a coffee and a sweet, I confess. The place is at its best at this time, get all the good things about it (the coffee, the sweets, etc) without any of the ludicrous overcrowding the the poor layout design of that shop causes on a Saturday morning. I realise there's background music - a succession of pop songs in many European languages - I guess it's there for atmosphere, the assumption being that customers won't distinguish between Greek, Italian or Spanish. On a Saturday you can't hear the music, only the din of shouted orders and constant chat.

I sit outside: my coffee is good, the 'home-made' paklava is ok - not sure what kind of home it may come from, for what I get is a solid brick of flaky pastry, ground mixed nuts and congealed syrup. The plastic cuttlery I'm given must be some sort of private joke, as it clearly doesn't cut it (literally).

Any aroma from the coffee is soon drowned by the smell of fish from the market hall. I don't mind - the smell of a real market takes me back, to childhood days spent with my mum or my grandma, filling up their bags through a miriad of quick transactions, stall after stall.

Signals

2011-05-03T11:05:00.000Z

What a good idea. Or what a bad one. Paramount.com advertise bike signal lights - indicators in other words. Don't rush to order them, they're out of stock - flown off the shelves, have they?

I'll go straight to the point: I have a problem with this, in principle. The law does not require cyclists to have indicator lights - but it does require that we indicate, by using conventional hand signals, as specified in the Highway Code. Or rather, the Code says that all road users must use signals when appropriate - using our judgement, and your hands if necessary. To resort to gadgets like this seems to me to be a sop to those who think that all use of the road should mime the experience and appearance of car driving, to make it more "acceptable". In a way, it is a bit like the argument for using cycle helmets - to use the road 'unprotected' is not at all like being in the cocoon provided by a car, so it is 'wrong', and in some people's heads, helmets help to make it 'right'. The same may apply to using lights like these - yes, great, but if we all start using something that the law does not require, soon people will either come to expect them (like high-viz clothing) or campaign to make them compulsory.

Lune Valley

2011-04-19T22:40:00.000Z

Kids off school. My other half is working two days this week. I want to be good, force them to spend time outdoors, do some real exercise (not just Wii Sports Resort). Cycling seems a good option - but where? We are not a confident lot, my youngest is still on stabilisers (I don't like to force them...). We've done Tatton Park to death - I want something a bit more interesting. After some research I decide to try a bit of the Lune Valley. Lancaster - Caton, a short section of the Way of the Roses.

It was a great success. Granted, the weather was fantastic, but the route was great too. And Lancaster was easy - to drive into, to park, to find a toilet, coffee and ice cream afterwards. I hope to do it again. Perhaps do the whole Way of the Roses one day?

Into Spring

2011-04-15T22:51:00.000Z

The shorts are out, even if a good tan is not. The rainjacket begins to feel superfluous, even when it does rain. Woolen socks and fleecy gloves are no longer necessary. And yes, there are more cyclists about - on roads, on pavements too. Groups of kids on BMX, novices on mountain bikes - like I was, only 6 years back. Lycra-clad types, old codgers on touring bikes, the lot. Yes, the numbers are up, though i suspect it's only noticeable to cyclists, the total figures still a very small fraction of traffic, a marginal form of transport.

Auntie Beeb gets it right!

2011-04-13T16:19:00.001Z

It isn't often that I find such a well balanced article on cycling coming from the BBC - so here's one:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-13040607?postId=108037642#comment_108037642

It links to the proposal by MP Andrea Leadsom to change the law so as to enable the tiny number of cyclists who kill people on the roads to be jailed for doing so. Fair enough that they should be if found guilty - but the article does well to remind us that the proportion of cyclists causing death of injury is microscopic when compared with injuries and fatalities caused by motorists.

I’ll keep riding vows cyclist, 73, attacked by yob in car in Bolton | Manchester Evening News - menmedia.co.uk

2011-03-31T08:17:00.000Z

One can only applaud the determination of this man from Bolton, pushed off his bike by some unbelievably stupid pillock - or rather, group of, since it must have taken at least one to drive the car, the other to stick out of the window and push:

I’ll keep riding vows cyclist, 73, attacked by yob in car in Bolton | Manchester Evening News - menmedia.co.uk

So, get well soon, ride again and may these rejects of nature be caught before the cause somebody else injury or worse.

This house acknowledges...

2011-03-26T13:38:00.000Z

Early day motion 1393 is a breath of fresh air - let's hope it succeeds. It proposes to put the onus on motorists to prove their innocence in the event of a collision with a cyclist or pedestrian - a helpful measure!

Compare that with the (successful) efforts by Andrea Leadsom MP to introduce 'tougher penalties for cyclists who kill" - even though the numbers of such unfortunate events are microscopic. I entirely sympathise with the plight of the parents of the victims of the so-called "cyclist" in this case, and fully agree this individual should have gone to jail for what he did.

Ms Leadsom assures us that there was no political point-scoring in this. Ms Leadsom is an honourable person. However, as reported in the press this can seem like one of those campaigns aimed at the soft target of cyclists and cycling - who cause so few fatal incidents but are also a "hard to hear" minority, a fringe group against whom this legislation is easy to introduce.

The fact is, when it comes to fatalities on the road, injustice is visited on cyclists just like on any other group of road users. The idea that somehow the law treats motorists more harshly is nonsense. It would be far more helpful for people like Andrea Leadsom to look at good and bad road users than to attack the problem piecemeal, concentrating on a particular mode of transport (usually cyclists) first.

Which takes me back to Early day motion 1393. Ms Leadsom has not signed it - I'll request that she does: let's see what happens.

No, it's Manchester

2011-03-23T15:21:00.001Z

No, it's Manchester II a photo by cocosolis on Flickr.

I must get better at photos: this was supposed to show (a) what a nice day today was; (b) the contrast of the modern Manchester buildings in the background and the solitary mill in the middle.

I cycled to Ikea - 24m round trip. No, I didn't buy a flatpacked bed - or anything else for the matter. Just a cooked breakfast and coffee for £1.65. Not a bad journey but for the roadworks to make room for the tram, and the ludicrously car-centric cycle lanes leading to the Ikea roundabout - in the end, I joined the road to avoid stopping at every traffic light.

Pilsworth Rd, again

2011-03-22T10:53:00.000Z

21 March 2011: the workmen are gone and the tarmac, I assume, is being left to dry or set? A yellow sign announces the re-opening of the road for 27 March: a few more days to enjoy the peace and quiet on this normally busy road.

Pilsworth Rd

2011-03-14T15:06:00.001Z

Pilsworth Rd is closed East of the M66. This must be a real nuissance to hauliers and drivers who have to access Heywood Distribution Park.

It is however bliss to me, since it means that for a few weeks my favourite run is even better - at least for a mile or so I have a traffic free route with a great variety of surfaces. Perfect for preparing to go touring again.

Alas, it will not last.

View Larger Map

And we thought it was bad here...

2011-02-28T21:29:00.002Z

KSF 026
Originally uploaded by cocosolis

Drivers vs. Cyclists clashes do not get much worse than this: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-12604066

Interesting to hear the driver 'felt threatened' - yet there were children and young people among the cyclists, which he indiscriminately drove over. Sheer luck prevented fatalities.

News, in brief

2011-02-07T09:21:00.000Z

Add caption

Three recent cycling-related news pieces from the BBC website:

- Crown Prosecution Service cock up again: lorry driver does not even stand trial over killing a cyclist: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-12338526

- More cyclists are using helmet cameras to capture bad driving - prompting the usual anti-cycling comments from regular BBC news site readers, together with predictable calls to do something about the plague of 'lunatic cyclists' and suggesting that perhaps pedestrian who suffer oh so much because of them, should carry cameras too - and of course, cyclists should be licensed and 'pay road tax' and all that turgid, predictable nonsense: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-12334486

- More cyclists are dying on the roads - that's the BBC's take on the stats, although deep in the news item they do acknowledge CTC's crucial, crucial point: there are more cyclists than before! The real measure of risk would be the proportion of deaths to journeys made... but that wouldn't be news, so why report it?:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-12356618

And this place our forefathers made for man!

2011-01-17T11:51:00.002Z

Milton Keynes
Originally uploaded by alexliivet

Milton Keynes... I don't know. Un-British, car-centric 1960s monstrosity, where glass meets steel and modernism meets lack of taste.

Suburbia's own Jerusalem, all this I survey from a bus - long story, a job interview as it happens. I have been through MK before, but it was in a taxi which stuck to the periphery as soon as we left the train station. It is different from the bus, as it weaves its way in and out of neighbourhoods - and here's the link to cycling: beneath the car-centric surface, MK may well be more cycle-friendly than most large British towns and cities. For a start, more bikes I saw parked outside the railway station than I've seen anywhere else bar the rather a-typical Oxford. Certainly many more than in any Manchester station, by a long chalk.

Second, the town seems criss-crossed with segregated bike lanes - and by 'segregated' I mean really segregated, not council-speak for lip-servicing green paint on the verges of main roads. The place reminded me of parts of the Netherlands. The only caveat was that, in the whole journey I saw many more cycles parked than being ridden. Indeed the paths over green and gently rolling terrain looked like the ideal setting for a Silent Witness opening sequence - eerie, but with easy access for the productiont team.

There was once a chicken and an egg...

2011-01-07T14:05:00.002Z

This article will not surprise anyone, but it's not cheerful stuff either. In essence, Boris' cycling scheme has all the traits of the Curate's egg. Fittingly, everyone seems too polite to say so.

It is in the latter half that the article addresses the real problems cycling faces in London, and indeed pretty much anywhere in the UK: fear and infrastructure. The Economist is realistic (or pessimistic) as it fails to dig out the underlying causes of these two barriers - rather, it seems to conclude, with some cynicism, that they cannot be solved. Poor Yorick!

http://www.economist.com/node/17860075?story_id=17860075

First of 2011

2011-01-06T07:55:00.001Z

The snow, the ice, the travelling to see family, the food, the booze: all these things conspired to keep me off cycling for the last three weeks - which felt like an eternity. So yesterday I cycled into town and got refreshingly drenched, Manchester back to its usual winter self, grey, wet and grim - none of bright, sunny and dry, if freezing, weather. No snow and ice covering our streets.

It was a freezing Friday morning

2010-11-29T10:56:00.000Z

Last Friday was the last 'bike Friday' of 2010. Forgive the accumulation of 'Fridays' - this used to be called 'Critical Commute' and is supposed to be a demonstration of the effectiveness of cycling for practical purposes (the younger generation, I believe, stage on the same day their 'Critical Mass', a demonstration of the ability of young people to be self-conscious on two wheels too).

Let's face it, for a city the size of Manchester, Bike Friday is a fairly low key affair. I used to be a regular, and numbers for the North Manchester lot (departing from Prestwich) hovered between 3 and 11 - with 5, I would say, being the more likely number. Since I stopped working in the city centre (or anywhere else for the matter - for the time being) I had stopped joining this event, so I thought I'd come along this time, for old times' sake, because with it being so cold we are all feeling in the Xmas mood, and to support some sort of petition to the GMPTE which seemed to make this ride special - something to do with bikes being allowed on trams (tricky, I'd say - but visionary: while trams may only carry 5% of public transport traffic at present, in 50 years I'm sure the network will have expanded enough to compete with buses).

Well, a good time was had by all. I saw some friendly familiar faces and met some people I had wanted to meet but so far hadn't managed to, photos were taken in front of GMPTE's rather secluded offices opposite Piccadilly station, and - taking advantage of my current freedom - I even joined in the post-ride coffee in Piccadilly Gardens. OK, waiting 15' or so for the photographer and the tame GMPTE notable to arrive (he confessed, his tram was delayed!) it was bloody freezing, and while I had a couple of fleeces to put on, I didn't want to spoil the yellow & reflective look of the group. Then at the cafe (well, Pret-a-Mongrel, neither fish nor fowl when it comes to defining it) staff refused to close the door, quoting some company or building policy (never mind their customers turning blue) - still, it was warmer than outside, in the same way the fridge is warmer than the freezer.

Will this 'campaigning' achieve anything? It might - just to have a senior GMTPE official on board is a positive thing. The trouble for me is, the people cycling needs 'on side' are Joe & Josephine Public, the people who give us dirty looks when they overtake us, having been delayed by 0.1 second because we had to negotiate a delivery van parked on a double yellow line going up a slope. Congregating 40-odd cyclists in a public but almost invisible place one frosty November morning is unlikely to achieve this.

European style city cycling, attempt 1

2010-11-20T21:33:00.001Z

I had an event to go to yesterday - something at Salford University. Options were to fight the traffic and probable shortage of parking spaces, take the tram to Victoria then walk a mile, or do what would take me door to door most easily: to cycle.

I settled for the latter. I thought I'd try to be more European - do away with the lycra and wear civy clothes, so as to arrive ready for the event.

The experiment was a qualified success. I settled for a hybrid combination of casual cords, cycling shoes and tops, with a fleece to put on top on arrival so as not to get cold. Mostly it worked fine, and I achieved the overall goal. I found however that to cycle so slowly that I would not break a sweat was just not practical, so I picked up the pace and sweat I did, profusely. Despite refreshing myself on arrival in the university gents, once in the meeting room I realised the idea of wearing a fleece was not good, at least at first, since I was still overheated and needed to cool down.

After the meeting and some lunch kindly provided by the friend through whom I heard of the event, I cycled to Prestwich on another errand. My friend suggested I followed NCN Route 6 instead of going on the road. I did try, but gave up after a couple of miles. It wasn't that it was so lonely as such, but the errand was important, time was tight and, should I had had, say, a flat tyre, I would have needed a plan B, eg. access to public transport (leaving the bike behind). On the isolated bike trail I would have had no such alternative. And although in theory the path follows the river so getting lost should be impossible, in practice it crosses the rivers and briefly detours in and out of estates, and there I found the limited signposting the route required to be incomplete or confusing.

Will I try again? Sure, yes. But you will not see me cycling to a job interview wearing a suit.

Winter's back

2010-10-20T13:50:00.000Z

Today, at least, felt like winter - though the official start of that season is not until the 20-something of December. Out on my bike it felt really cold - the summer mitts gave way to fleece gloves, the layers got added and I wore a buff round my neck.

In a last attempt to resist the change of seasons I stuck to shorts this time - it was manageable, although my legs were rash-red by the time I got home. And despite the woollen socks my toes were pretty numb by then.

At least it was very dry and sunny. I hope I can keep my resolve when the truly wet and dark days of early January make staying at home or going to the gym a tempting possibility.

The river glideth at his own sweet will

2010-10-08T08:11:00.013Z

papaOct10 117
Originally uploaded by cocosolis

I was talking to a friend of mine yesterday. We both have been to London in the last two weeks. We both have noticed the new Londo n... sorry: Barclay's cycle hire scheme. They are everywhere. They look great. My friend was there during the tube strike - so the bikes were flying off the racks, so to speak.

We both also noted that many users of this scheme don't seem, well, that at home with cycling in a busy city. Or maybe the city is not at home with them - the latter, I think, is the underlaying problem, and it applies to the whole of the UK, but nowhere more so than in London, where cycling has exploded thanks to congestion charging and the fact that it is probably the country's most compact city (ie. people actually live in it, and do so in high density).

This isn't just a "cyclists vs. rest of the city" problem. The mistrust and misunderstanding between different groups of road users is total - pedestrians, motorists and cyclists all have grievances against the other groups and against the state. Just try crossing the road from Euston station on foot - it takes ages, mainly because the traffic system is designed to keep motorists going. But motorists will then complain that pedestrians jump the lights anyway. And cyclists... well, they'll complain about that too, when a driver isn't cutting them off, or they are not cycling counterflow - a neat idea which some people back, but while it remains illegal can be inconvenient - ask a pedestrian who nearly got run over because he or she wasn't looking that way, since it was a one way street!).

So, my message to Boris is this: cycle hire schemes are great, but you have to do better than that. And where London goes, the rest of the UK may follow.

This house notes...

2010-09-02T10:50:00.001Z

Cool and normal, baby

My RSS feed from the Hansard has just brought to my attention an early day motion that notes "with dismay" that, when refurbishing Birmingham New Street, they have only catered for a handful of bikes, while in Amsterdam they do it for thousands.

I have no idea of what an "early day motion" is, but I suspect it means "a weeny-teeny idea that may never go anywhere".

On another front, the Guardian yesterday quotes as-yet-unpublished research (by the Univ. of the West of England) that says that people, on the whole, like cyclists. Or at least, don't mind them. The actual headline goes "Cyclists! The public thinks you're cool and normal". Yes, just like labradoodles, but not as hairy. I reckon the research must have been limited in its goals or hypothesis. The real issue is one of value. To put it bluntly, the interesting research question would be how much of a scarce resource (eg. road space) are people prepared to share with those who cycle. This lies at the heart of both behaviour (what motorists are prepared to do when they see a cyclist) and policy choices (what politicians believe the public to want or to be willing to tolerate regarding cycling).

What is a cyclist, Part III

2010-08-18T12:56:00.001Z

021
Originally uploaded by cocosolis

CTC publish a summary of research by market intelligence company MINTEL - there seems to be no punchy headline, as the situation is a bit mixed and there is no real change. OK, for MINTEL customers - those who sell us the bikes - small percentage shifts in bikes bought and kinds preferred will be important, as will the data that enable them to 'segment' the market (by age, gender, supermarket of choice - seems to be Waitrose, though I for one have never been there!).

The overall picture, however, is that cycling in the UK remains marginal, a sideshow, and that - Meester Hembrow, brace yourself - "39% of all adults think “It is too dangerous to ride a bicycle on the road”, rising to almost 50% among those with a household income of under £25,000".

It is also interesting (to me, anyway) that the "main motivation for cycling, or being interested in cycling, is fitness (41%)". Great for those trading in lycra, but it pigeon-holes cycling into 'leisure' and leisure is something politicians can always pay lip service to without much harm - do up the local playground, photo; organise a marathon, photo; put some green paint next to the kerb, photo - of a cycle lane, no less. You know the kind - the one that runs 200yds then says "cyclists dismount".

See also: http://oxygen.mintel.com/sinatra/oxygen/display/id=479870&set_access_filter=unl-ZDE&about=full

Skyride 2010

2010-07-30T13:14:00.001Z

Jul09b 016
Originally uploaded by cocosolis

This morning I lined up the 'fleet' to inspect and prep up for this Sunday's 2010 Manchester Skyride - it is 'go' for us as all units were serviceable, save some topping up of tyres and adjusting of saddles. Which sadly shows we should cycle more as a family.

The reason we don't - and why we like Skyride so much - is that, while I'm confident riding in the Manchester traffic alone, I'm not when it comes to taking kids on the street. I've stopped feeling guilty about it. Even in the quiet-ish streets away from the main roads around us, there is always a speeding eejit, perhaps lighting up a fag or texting - why not?.

And while I'm an 'all weather' cyclist, my family are not. Yes, in the Netherlands everyone cycles in all weathers and I admire them for it. But meanwhile, back in Blighty, I have only this family and I have to live with them. So, Skyride here we go - I hope that the fun of that one day helps us instill the joy of cycling until the time when it becomes self-sustaining. Or perhaps I should do more.

What is a cyclist, again

2010-07-30T13:04:00.000Z

And now, robber cyclists! Yes - not content with being reckless yobs who terrorise motorists and pedestrians alike, cyclists, says the BBC, are into committing armed robberies too. Whatever next.

I'm sure I don't as often see the label 'motorist' to robberies in which the getaway vehicle is a car (which, I reckon, are the majority). Or I've yet to see the headline "pedestrian snatches bag and runs away" in cases where that, one could say, is exactly what happened.

I'm not sure what my point is, except that the media, even the oh-so-impartial BBC, seem to have a liking for the label 'cyclist' as a catch-all to be used in conjunction with all sort of negative things. It wouldn't matter if we were not living in an age in which policy makers have the attention span of a fruit fly (and in some cases less intelligence - eg in the Lords where cycling debates have sometimes descended into outright farce).

Shortened run

2010-07-05T13:16:00.002Z

This time I cut my new favourite ride short by turning left at Whittle Lane. Nothing wrong with this, although I expected the time saving to be greater than the mere 10' it did save me.

View Larger Map

Extended run

2010-06-28T23:14:00.007Z

009
Originally uploaded by cocosolis

Last Friday I set off planning to do my usual Whitefield - Heaton Park - Birch - Pilsworth - Whitefield run (about 12m in 1h10'). It was such a ludicrously sunny day that I decided to extend the ride, going from Birch to Heywood and from there, I hoped. to Scout Moor and its wind turbines - a run I had done two years before in preparation for my first C2C.

Of course, I took a wrong turn, which led me further East, to Queen's Park Road and on to Norden, where I joined the A680 to Scout Moor. I then went back down the road I had intended to follow up: Ashworth Rd, by the Ashworth Moor reservoir.

It all took 2h30' - haven't counted the miles but I reckon I did a good 20-odd. Total delight.

Baby is back

2010-06-03T23:50:00.002Z

My baby is back, but I am now counting the cost. After a week in a box, following our tour of the Low Countries, I have re-assembled my humble but cherished Tourismo24 bike.

Now for the butcher's bill. A spoke is gone in the rear wheel - maybe it happened in transit, but I did wonder at various points whether I could feel a little wobble. The left-hand rubber grip on the handle-bar is ripped - I had to cut it so as to pack the bike, in a bit of a hurry, at Schipol airport. Brakes need tightening, and the gear indexing is all over the place.

So, as soon as I can, it is back to the shop in Prestwich. Get my pride and joy mended and start cycling again.

What is a 'cyclist'?

2010-05-29T23:52:00.000Z

"Woman dies as bus avoids cyclist in Manchester". This is the BBC's damning headline today. The police are looking for this 'cyclist', we hear - and therefore, in the eye of the community at large, any of us could be the monster who appears to have caused this tragedy.

But of course, look at the image the BBC has released and what you see is not a 'cyclist' - not if by this we mean a person who takes cycling seriously as a sport, a mode of transport or a passtime. This is a youngster in a BMX - the kind who you often see jump pedestrain traffic lights, ride dangerously on pavements, or indeed harass other cyclists, as it happened to me a couple of years back.

Of course, I know nothing about this particular 'cyclist' - apart from his photo and the fact that GMP are looking for him. He may be inocent, a scapegoat. I don't know, and shouldn't assume that riding a BMX makes him automatically guilty. My point is more about how loaded the term 'cyclist' can be, and whether perhaps the BBC and the media in general should mind these nuances, lest they stoke negative attitudes towards us, the cyclists.

In the Low Countries

2010-05-27T21:20:00.006Z

Photo0066
Originally uploaded by cocosolis

First of all, apologies to the couple in this picture. Neither of them is me, I'm afraid: I'm the one behind the camera, taking a subreptitious shot as I shared this stretch of the road, just out of Norwijk.

But I say road: I mean cycle path. One of thousands of wonderful, dedicated cycle paths, veritable highways for pedal powered vehicles (and a few scooters, but more on this later).

I won't bore you with the details: suffice to say my two friends and I had a wonderful time cycling from Bruges to Amsterdam in three days. This was our itinerary:

21 May: travel to start line - Manchester, Schipol, Antwerp, Bruges
22 May: Bruges - Goereedere (70miles)
23 May: Goereedere - Norwijk (60miles)
24 May: Norwijk - Amsterdam (30miles)
25 May: tourism in Amsterdam, fly back to Manchester

The accommodation was good in all cases, with similar prices:
Bruges: Botaniek hotel
Goedereede: De Gouden Leeuw
Norwijk and Amsterdam: Stayok (Dutch youth hostels)

We were very lucky with the weather, which may have influenced my perception of the experience of cycling in Belgium and the Netherlands, but I really felt this was cycling's paradise on earth. For those who follow David Henbrow's informative blog, you'll understand if I say I feared I'd be disappointed - but I was not. The cycling infrastructure is genuinely superb, and the cycling culture is really widespread. What the initial spark was for this revolution, nobody seems able to say. But I was bowled over by the sight of cycling by old and young, male and female, with or without dogs, bbqs, babies, etc.

I saw people cycling to work, to a party, cycling for pleasure or for sport. I saw 'normal' bikes, recumbent bikes, trikes, 'bakfiets', tandems and even one (only one) Sinner 'mango'. We, the 'brits' could be easily recognised, not so much because of our helmets, which many a racing cyclist did wear, but because of our 'hybrid' status - riding hybrid bikes, hybrid clothing and a speed that was faster than your normal commuter but slower than the colourful lycra-clad racing lot.

I also saw a couple of crashes, or their aftermath - in the more congested cycle roads arounds towns - and I can say that in Amsterdam cycling is no fun - it's just like driving a car in a big, busy city, such is the high proportion of cycling in relation to cars. I reckon that's a price worth paying for living in a country where people 'get' cycling and just get on with it. Only in Sheveningen (the Dutch Blackpool?) did I feel cycling was a bit like in the UK - in conflict with car traffic and with carefree pedestrians along a busy waterfront.

Now my bike awaits to be re-assembled after being packed for the return flight. I will then hit the British roads and relish the challenge - but in my mind there will always be the thought that there is somewhere where things are different, where cycling is not a 2nd class use of the highway.

A new era

2010-04-13T23:30:00.004Z

This is my first post in nearly two months, and what two months they have been. In a nutshell, I took voluntary redundancy from where I used to work. So, for now at least, I will not be 'cycling and working in Manchester'. Cycling yes, but working... not exactly.

This season as a gentleman of leisure was officially inaugurated today when I took to the bike and rode round Heaton Park, to Heywood Old Rd, Birch, Hareshill Rd, Pilsworth and back home. It's a pleasant ride, aprx. 12miles, with ups and downs and few traffic lights after Heaton Park. One has to brave the heavy vehicle traffic at the end of Hareshill Rd, site of an industrial estate between Heywood and Pilsworth.

This route has plenty of potential as it can be extended - eg. continue to Heywood and from there to Bury, or from Heywood on to Scout Moor and Edenfield. I've plans to do a big circular ride encompassing all of the above and then on to Ramsbottom, Holcombe Brook, Affetside etc etc.

New shoes

2010-02-16T10:37:00.004Z

When I started cycling I was against what I saw as 'cyclist paraphernalia' - I thought I would stick to cycling in 'normal' clothes as I did when I was a kid, and dismissing cycling clothing as show-off and unnecessary.

So, it takes a big man to eat humble pie and admit not all cycling gear is unnecessary, and that there's truth in the maxim about there being no such thing as bad weather, only the wrong clothing.

So, like in all Western films where battle-hardened 'indians' seem to dress in a mixture of their own stuff and items taken from the enemies they've scalped, I have gradually acquired bits of kit which I've mixed in an unorthodox way. First I got 'normal'-looking cycling trousers (the baggy ones, which could pass for cargoes on a dark night). Then I replaced these with tighter lycra trousers - first big inhibition down. The I got the lycra tops, short and long sleeved so I could 'layer' in winter. And a micro-fleece for the really cold days. Then the Altura high-viz cycling jacket (what took me so long?).

And yesterday, as my multipurpose walking shoes' soles have grown as thin as rice paper, I acquired my first pair of proper cycling shoes. Normal-looking, you understand - and absolutely no intention of ever using anything other than 'normal' pedals (with half-toe clips, ok). Never...

Black Ice

2010-01-15T14:59:00.007Z

I must really make this the last posting about the snow and ice season of the last four weeks. The good news is, I made it to work on my bike today. It took me twice as long though - I had to walk the first 1/2 mile, treading carefully as the pavements were treacherous - but the roads were absolutely impossible. A thin layer of ice covered them, and combined with the rain it made them into the most slippery surface I've come across yet.

Only when I got to the main road (A56) was I able to start cycling - what a delight! After so many weeks, it felt fantastic to be, to use the cliche, back on the saddle. But traffic was very heavy at first, and only the main part of the tarmac was clear - stray to the side and you'd be back on ice, so until we reached Prestwich I had to crawl with the traffic. Only as I approached Cheetham Hill did it become possible to cycle properly and warm up.

I am hoping a lot of the stuff will have melted by the time I go back home, and that the heavy rain and over-zero temperatures forecast for today and tomorrow will clear it all up so that next week I can resume normal service, get back into my cycling routine, begin looking ahead to some good rides this year.

PS: I made it back in one piece - again, main roads fine but there was still ice on the side streets, though not quite as much or as bad as in the morning. I followed the car tracks, nice and slow, especially when approaching junctions.

Ice and snow

2010-01-06T14:36:00.003Z

Just a quicky - I've already mention in reply to a comment that, this week, I have not cycled. It's not the snow, it's the ice - and is not the whole journey, only the 'last' mile, the side streets where I live and which don't see a gritter unless the snow fails to melt in a week: an event so rare, I've only seen it once in ten years, last week!

The Guardian offers advice on snow cycling - cheerful and positive tips. It all sounds sensible so I'm doing the lazy blogger thing of agreeing with them and providing a link. They don't like ice either - I've tried falling on it while on my bike, and it's not nice. The trouble in the UK is that ice does not get cleared quickly enough - from neither pavements nor roads. And it never will be, unless snow becomes a regular feature of winter - which in most of the country, it won't.

Snow

2009-12-18T13:57:00.005Z

Yes, snow fell overnight and made the journey in the morning "interesting". It's fine on the main roads, generally - although I noticed many stretches where the cycle path had been carefully avoided by the gritters - so on to the main carriageway, positioning and good observation the name of the game.

The main problem is the mile between home and the main road - here the gritters didn't make it, so the snow stays, freezes up and becomes slippy. I go slow, on a low gear. If going downhill, I walk - bikes are not good at stopping on ice. The late Sheldon Brown is spot on in his advice: front brake is best on dry surfaces, but on slippery ones you have to use the rear one. Since this one takes longer to stop the bike anyway (ie even on dry surfaces), the conclusion I reach is that you have to really slow down on ice. Really. Call me Sherlock.

Jack Frost

2009-12-15T15:00:00.003Z

What a beautiful morning the last couple have been. Cold, but dry - no ice on the roads, and very little wind. Less and less traffic too, as we near Xmas. No complaints. May it long continue!

Danger! Risk! Menace!

2009-12-06T23:16:00.005Z

Tell you what is dangerous these days: entrust journalists with the results of scientific research, especially if it involves emotive but little understood subjects - like climate change and, er, cycling...

Let's start from the end. I'm watching the morning news as I get ready and - oops! - the BBC is covering cycling! Surely, surely, the BBC who devote so much time and attention to climate change, subtly supporting those who care about it, will say nice things about cycling? But alas, no: they've picked up on 'scientific research' that 'proves' that cycling is more dangerous than driving.

For the sake of impartiality they interview a few random cyclists - we don't get to hear the question put to them, but the consensus amongst them seems to be - as edited - "yeah, cycling is pretty scary, what with all them cars and traffic, like". As the BBC are not just impartial but a saintly thorough lot, they need a quote from someone 'official' - cue a Sustrans volunteer, who tries to explain that the more cyclists there are the safer it is. This is true, and is what for instance CTC argue tirelessly - but he forgets to say (or the BBC remembers to edit out) that for all the perceived risk of cycling, there are huge benefits etc etc.

When the recorded report ends, it's back to studios and we have the live presenters 'completing' the picture by reading viewers emails - the usual rants about how cyclists are a damned race of road hooligans, in stark contrasts with holy drivers who never ever break the speed limit or push their way through an amber/red light. Thank you, Auntie Beeb: you've just caused a few people to abandon cycling, increasing their cardiac risk and impoverishing their lives.

The Guardian picked up the story - they are a little bit more balanced: at least their headline makes it clear where they stand, ie if cycling is more dangerous than driving then it needs to be made easier and safer for the benefit of everyone. Commendable, innit?

But hang on a minute. It is clear, when you read the Guardian article, that the research quoted seems to lump pedestrians and cyclists together in most instances. They are looking at what kind of cases arrived at A&E departments in UK hospitals.... between 1999 and 2004 (so, not exactly current,is it?). I've only had access to the abstract (I wonder if the BBC journalist who started this read much more) and in it the objective of the research is stated as "To report on seasonal variation in hospital admissions for traffic injuries to car and truck occupants, motorcyclists, cyclists, and pedestrians". It concludes that, while for car occupants seasonal variations are not significant, cyclists appear to have a harder time in winter. In passing the abstract remarks that "From April to September, there were more admissions for pedestrians and cyclists in England (44 875 in the six years of the study) than for car occupants (34 582)".

The italics are mine. In short, this is a non-story - and I can see someone, somewhere, being rattled by it, staying off their bikes and missing out on the benefits to their health, just because some stupid BBC journo (but I repeat myself) spotted a news angle in a piece of science they neither understood nor cared about. All paid by the TV licence-fee payers - us, ze pipol o'brittn.

Eye of the Storm

2009-11-20T00:14:00.004Z

Gale force winds today - or at least, that's what I expected. I did consider chickening out (I sort of did yesterday - had an appointment, just 'had' to drive), but I'm glad I didn't. Going into town in the morning there was a steady head wind - hard but didn't feel dangerous (it's the sudden gusts I don't like).

In the evening, I must've caught, literally, the 'eye' of the storm - it was fairly quiet almost all the way, having been windy earlier, and even windier as I write this. Thank Heavens, good luck when it comes is not to be sneezed at.

Moments of joy

2009-11-12T09:55:00.004Z

In my journey back home there's three 'moments of joy' - three 'checkpoints', if you like, where I feel I've achieved something.

The first one is precisely leaving the city centre - reaching the MEN Arena or thereabouts.

The second one is leaving Cheetham Hill and heading for Heaton Park - don't get me wrong, but Cheetham Hill's shopping area, buzzing it may be, but traffic-wise it is chaotic in all sorts of ways - parking is haphazard, speed limits are ignored (if traffic is moving at all!), pedestrians are notoriously careless (my Sep 2007 fall bears witness). Then you reach the crossroads with Middleton Rd and the change is stark - the same road becomes quiet and residential.

And the third one is turning into Thatched Lane in Besses O'Th'Barn - the home run begins there, and I know I'm 10' away from home.

View Three moments of joy in a larger map

In the bleak midwinter...

2009-11-12T09:40:00.003Z

Well, not quite - it's a few weeks until winter 'proper', but we've had the first frosty mornings. Two weeks ago I checked and replaced batteries as my journey back home is now done after dusk. Last week I replaced shorts with long trousers and light mittens with fleecy gloves. Other people I've seen wearing hats or skull caps, so I'm not the only wimp!

It's not bad when, like this morning, it's bright out there, and dry. Other days I've got drenched, soggy shoes (must sort out better ones) being the main problem (I think by now I've got the right all-weather gear on the other departments).

Meanwhile, the city begins its Xmas preparations - the markets are being assembled, foreign vans are unloading their goods, the lights are on or soon will be. There is also that added bustle of people spending more time shopping. It's not a good time for cycling in Manchester city centre, I tell you - it is bad enough as it is, with poorly lit streets, careless pedestrians and diabolical one-way systems. But I dread Xmas time as it exacerbates all these things.

Yellow leaves

2009-10-26T14:00:00.002Z

Yellow leaves cover the roads now: they shine under the October early morning drizzle. Very poetic, except they accumulate on the side of the roads - if there's a cycle path, they completely cover it. Once moist with rain they are as slippery as a laundry floor after an overspill of soapy suds.

As I get to Lower Broughton a kid cycling to school with his mates proves my point the hard way - they are riding on the pavement (just as bad) and trying to climb the kerb slightly off angle ends up with him on the floor. At least he combines lower height and lower mass - sorry, but better him than me: when I fall, it hurts. He, on the other hand, bounces straight back and carries on, to my relief.

So, I ride well away from pavements and leave-covered cycle paths, and keep an eye on my speed downhill, especially if there are traffic lights, pedestrian crossings, traffic etc.

Learning to ride

2009-10-19T20:20:00.003Z

You can read it in books, but teaching your child to ride a bike is one of those life's experiences. Each child is different -

my 2nd one learn to ride at nursery, one day I turned up to pick him up and he was pedalling this tiny bike all on his own. My eldest didn't seem interested, but eventually learned the same way I had - you push them by the seat until they gather speed, then at some point let go.

The method involves a few falls, which is why I favour grass surfaces these days (my younger brother back in Peru wasn't so lucky; come to think of it, neither was I - it was pavement for us in them days). So I took No.3 to the park a couple of weeks ago, and gave it a go. Long overdue.

The good news is that she did get to ride on her own. We just run out of time as the weather closed in, and have not had the chance since, so next spring we'll have to try harder, for longer - so that she can reach that tipping point of self-belief that enables us all to carry on when our senses tell us we shouldn't be able to, without anyone else holding on to the back of our seat or rack.

Come to think of it, how handy reaching that tipping point would come in other spheres of life.

Something I saw last week

2009-10-01T22:08:00.004Z

Nothing to do with cycling - except that this is the sort of thing that tends to get missed when in a car: somewhere between Cheetham Hill and Heaton Park a bunch of orthodox Jewish kids are going to school. Out of one of their rucksacks something falls - they don't notice it and walk briskly on.

A muslim gentleman picks up the thing - a notebook or pencil case - and follows them. He catches up them at the traffic light and hands the thing over with a kindly expression. The kids look mildly bewildered.

That's it. The whole thing lasts 30", then we all move on, get on with our busy lives.

Should've got on me bike

2009-09-28T13:57:00.003Z

Went to the Southport Airshow yesterday. Yes, it's like admitting to liking bullfighting or Top Gear: I shouldn't, but I do. Hadn't been since 2005 - because then, getting there took hours stuck in traffic jams. But I thought this year I would be clever. Think again.

Going in took 2 hours - of which the last 4 miles took 1 hour. Getting out took 3 hours, of which getting out of the car park took 1h15min, the next 4 miles took 45' and then it was fine again.

What I should have done - what I saw others do - is cycle in. Perhaps not all the 45 miles, not with the children (yet!), but easily the last 5 miles. And who knows, one day we could do the whole hog on two wheels. In fact, I saw plenty of cycle lanes, just like in Crosby and Morecambe, so perhaps there's a 'West Lancs' cycle ride waiting for us?

More cyclists out there?

2009-09-22T13:23:00.001Z

At first I thought it was all down to pesky 'fair weather' cyclists - those who when the sun shines get the old bike out for a bit of exercise, then store it away at the first sign of rain.

Sorry, I'm talking about cycle parking and shower facilities where I work. In the past, most of the time I had the freedom of the building yard when it came to parking, and a choice of showers as there's one on the ground floor (open to all building occupants) and another one upstairs in my employer's offices (two in fact, since one is designated 'male' and the other 'female' but they are both individual showers, so the distinction is purely academic).

Yet recently I experienced for the first time a queue for all 3 showers - OK, a queue of 1 in each, but it meant a wait of 15'. And I notice that the yard bike racks are busy even in bad weather. So, it must be a sign that more people are cycling than before - or that the building's occupancy has risen. Or perhaps that Manchester College (one of the tennants) is using more of their space here as classrooms. I suspect is all of the above.

Now, it would be fine if it wasn't because many fellow cyclists (and this is an old bugbear of mine) tend to park their bikes in between racks, rather than mount their rides ON them. I know, these racks are not the best and they risk being 'wheel benders' but there's only so much room, yet people merrily plonk their bikes, on the ground, in between two racks. In some cases this is because they've got D-locks and that's the only way they can wrap it round both frame and at least the bike wheel. In other cases, it's just sheer laziness. In all cases, it feels inconsiderate and is a bit of a bugger for those of us who, after the school run, arrive at work that little bit later.

There is of course extra (and more secure) parking in the building's basement, but getting to it is like making it through the 36 chambers of Shaolin - three flights of stairs, four doors, a combination lock. The basement in question is the old factory loos of when this building was some sort of factory, complete with wooden panels separating white toilets against a background of green tiles. Behind so many doors, it is a very eerie place - nobody would hear you scream if you came across a ghost...

The James Martin Bandwagon

2009-09-19T23:17:00.003Z

Yes: me too! me too! I too have read about James Martin's silly (and now edited) little article, ostensibly about a modern electric car.

Despite the Mail editing out the description of James Martin callous offence, Mr Martin's infantile diatribe against cyclists has remained:

"God, I hate those cyclists. Every last herbal tea-drinking, Harriet Harman-voting one of them. That's one of the reasons I live in the countryside, where birds tweet, horses roam, pigs grunt and Lycra-clad buttocks are miles away. But recently, there's been a disturbing development.

Each Saturday, a big black truck appears at the bottom of my road, with bikes stuck to the roof and rear. Out of it step a bunch of City-boy ponces in fluorescent Spider-Man outfits, shades, bum bags and stupid cleated shoes, who then pedal around our narrow lanes four abreast with their private parts alarmingly apparent. Do they enjoy it? They never smile. I'm sure they just come here to wind me up.

So, "we" - ie all cyclists - drink herbal tea and jump red lights as a matter of routine, while the likes of Mr Martin, surely, have never broken the speed limit in their lives and drive their cars with saintly restraint and patience?

Just like Nigel Havers before him, here's another moronic part-time journo trying to pander to their ultra-conservative (nay, bigoted) audience, by showing that they 'hate the things you hate' and that they can match their audience's ignorance (of, for instance, taxation - there is no such thing as 'road tax'!).

James Martin goes to show that a flashy car does not make you into a knob - but it helps!

Missed chance

2009-09-14T22:54:00.003Z

We went to the Peak District this weekend. Alas, we didn't go cycling - we thought about it, knowing that the Tissington Trail and the High Peak Trail run near Hartington Hall (where we stayed). We decided to keep it simple and spend Saturday walking instead - and Sunday visiting Chatsworth House - the ultimate haven for the terminally aspirational. We felt that packing enough bikes for everyone would be too much hassle for a Friday night, that the weather may not be so good, that renting bikes would be difficult.

Funnily enough, the weather was extremely good, and at the youth hostel we run into friends who had organised themselves and did go cycling - they carried some bikes, hired some and with a bit of planning managed to get two days of family fun on two wheels - why, they even hired a tandem bike to cater for a young lad with special needs, who thoroughly enjoyed it.

I try not to be consumed by shame when I make mistakes - we have vowed to return, properly equipped and armed with knowledge. Our friends' friends were also full of good advice on adult bike rides other than the C2C, so we had a good conversation about, for instance, Brugges to Amsterdam...

Public humiliation

2009-09-09T12:51:00.002Z

No speed; no style; no dignity...

I was working at home yesterday so as to be able to drop my car in the garage in the morning and collect it at the end of the day. I had planned to take a local radio cab to collect me from the garage in the morning, but they let me down - so I walked home, 30' in the rain.

By 4pm I realised I had to get the car - they close at 5pm religiously and leave your car in a dark alley overnight. Options:
- Call a taxi and risk being let down again
- Walk 30' in the rain again

Would cycling be an option? Not with a small car: how would I get the bike back home once I had the car? and then I remembered...

Three years ago I bought a cheap fold up bike. Ebay job, £30, this ain't no classic British beauty, no Brompton or such like. But could it rise to the ocassion and be the solution to my problem?
I got it out of the loft, pumped up the tyres (gone flat after 3 years). On the plus side, assembly was very quick indeed - one-two-three job with saddle post, steering and central hinge. Rear brake never worked, but at least the front one did.

So I set off - and how quickly did the bike's shortcomings become apparent! Not tall enough, my legs could not extend well. No gears - I know, I've gone soft but I do like my gears. Tiny wheels, too short a frame, it was more like riding my kids scooter propped on a stool on top of it. With my Altura hig-viz jacket, I must have looked like a circus clown - a group of youths I went past on the way told me as much (and more!).

Sorry, I took no photos.

Back to school

2009-09-01T12:38:00.005Z

Schools are gradually going back this week - some not until tomorrow, so roads still relatively quiet. Most of the summer roadworks that turn so many parts of the route into chaos are finished or nearly done. The routine of school time quickly reasserts itself. Once at work, a bit of fair weather had once more flooded the racks with bikes, all slotted in between racks rather than mounted properly on them - so, each bike takes the space of two or even three. Irksome, but infrequent - come the rain, two thirds of those bikes will disappear from view until the next sunny morning tempts their owners back on the saddle (and that only while summer lasts).

Not a lot to report otherwise - must clean & lubricate my bike. Must take the kids out on the bike more. Must teach my youngest to ride. Must start thinking about next year's touring ride - do the C2C for a 3rd time? Or try something else - and if so, what?

My Sheffield bike

2009-08-24T12:59:00.001Z

When I first came to the UK, as a student in Sheffield in 1989, getting a bike was not in my list of priorities - I had plenty on my plate with coming to grips with the language, the accents, customs, etc.

Eventually, some friends I made lent me a number of items that they knew would come in handy - first among them the TV (black and white - cheaper license!). One day they offered me a bicycle. In Sheffield, you understand, you don't think 'bike' immediately - what with all the hills to climb!. But I figured that I could always walk up the hill, but going down the hill a bike would save me time. I was right. Going from Broomhill to the railway station became much quicker (handy for early morning trains). Where before I'd have spent 45' walking, I could get there in 15'. Going back to Broomhill would take me an hour - but then, it always did.

The cycle in question was an old red Raleigh, a bit rusty in places but on the whole serviceable. There was a catch with this bike loan though: I was supposed to do my best to get it nicked, as my friends hoped that they'd claim it on the insurance and buy a swanky new stead to replace it. I have to say I signally fail to oblige. One day I went to the station and locked the bike using a D-lock I'd borrowed. A couple of days later my friend told me when I saw him "I saw the bike the other day at the station: Jay-sus man, with a lock like that you'll never get it stolen!". Another time it was Friday night and I'd parked the bike at the computer centre (remember, when all PCs where in a single building you had to go to). We all went to the pub afterwards and I "forgot" the bike. The following morning I turned up to retrieve it, hoping it'd be gone. It wasn't. Moreover, as I unlocked the flimsy padlock (I'd learnt my lesson) an old copper on the beat approached. "Young man - he said - if you leave your bike like this you'll have it stolen" he warned me sternly. If only........

Trailer bike part II: freedom of the city

2009-08-02T21:59:00.004Z

In the end, the solution was ready at hand: I managed to sort out the trailer bike - used a piece of plastic packing from an old D-lock holder and with some hammering it went snuggly around my seatpost. I tightened it well and presto! the trailer bike was up and running.

And what for? To take part in the Manchester Skyride. I'm no fan of big media, but this was a good event - it certainly was perfect for the family. We all enjoyed the city being turned over to us - roads closed, cars made to wait at traffic lights by diligent stewards. We enjoyed doing a lap round the impresive velodrome, and having a picnic in the good weather (Rupert Murdoch's influence obviously is far-reaching. I liked the free high-viz vests - the way in which they created a sense of shared purpose among the many participants. I liked the oddballs - the relatively few whose rides were unusual - unicycles, Danish-style utility trikes, chopper cycles glittering in the sun, a modern version of the penny farthing, and a telescopic bicycle with a frame that puts the rider six feet above the ground.

Do you know anything about trailer bikes...?

2009-07-30T08:12:00.002Z

I have a kid's trailer bike - or is the right term a 'tag-along'?. You know: a bike's rear-half, with wheel, seat, pedals, chain and a fixed handle-bar to hold on to. We got it from friends and I've used it once. The hitch is... well, it is the 'hitch' - the attachment that secures the tag-along to my bike's seatpost. It is too wide for my seatpost, I suspect because it was meant to come with some sort of plastic packing that got lost along the way.

I tried to pack it with bits of my old rubber inner tubes, and it seemed to work... but alas, only when going in a straight line. Any bends would cause the hitch to shift to the side, and because of the way it articulates with the tag-along, the more the hitch was out of aligment with my bike, the more the tag-along tilted. This happened, luckily, away from traffic one day I took my kids to Tatton Park (yes, I drove there - spare me the sermon).

My eldest gave me a shout at some point, for I had no idea there was any problem. My poor youngest was holding on precariously, the tag-along tilted at an angle behind me. Another bend and she'd ended up on the ground. Not something a 4-year old is likely to forget (or forgive) in a hurry.

Last summer we gave family cycling a miss - it was, if you'll remember, such a washout, and what with the two weeks in Spain (rented car for 1 week) etc. So, yesterday I naively went round a couple of shops with the 'hitch' in my hand, looking for alternatives to fit my bike. It is not, I fear, as simple as that. "Make and model of the tag-along?" No idea - it's a rusty old thing we got from friends. "Ah, well, there are different attachments depending on the manufacturer". And as for a new tag-along, they are, in my view, too expensive for what they are - half-bikes which won't carry heavy loads and for not very long.

The answer is probably to grasp the nettle and teach the little one to ride - off with the stabilisers!

JZU

2009-07-23T10:48:00.002Z

Blue little van, unmarked, driven by youngster in blue sweatshirt. Plonked on the cyclists green 'start line' at the junction of Princess and Portland St. I often use the red light time to shift to the right hand lane, so I can more easily turn when I get to Whitworth St (the next set of traffic lights) - at that point the right lane is 'right turn' only, and normally there's too much traffic for me to shift from left to right just by sticking my right arm and being 'assertive'.

Most motorists don't mind - I can see some feel I'm going to 'delay' them or that somehow I shouldn't be there, but on the left and out of sight. But once they overtake me (on my left - there's plenty of room) that is the end of it.

Not today. Today the chap in the van was of the redneck persuasion - territorial and with a big, big chip on his shoulder. How dare I get in front of him? It took him but a second to overtake me, but not without looking at me and shouting abuse like I had just taken his lolly. Poor baby.

School is out

2009-07-20T10:40:00.004Z

Ah yes. The summer holidays have an effect on my cycling routine. No school means some days I have to work from home (yes, really) so I can either look after one or more of my progenie, or deliver them to 'playscheme'. It just wouldn't make sense to go all the way into Town only to head back home by 3pm. Luckily my employer (in these times I should say 'my current employer') gives me a lot of flexibility in that respect.

So, today I said 'sod it' and went for a 40' ride after dropping the kids - so what if I start work 40' later? It's still 10am - my normal 'start work' time on Mondays and Tuesdays. I cycled to the end of Heaton Park and back. Just enough to give me a bit of a workout and keep my joints from rusting as they so quickly do nowadays.

The other thing about the summer holidays is that there is less traffic - but is it just me, or this year not as many people have bolted abroad as soon as the whistle went? I feel that, say, two years ago, Manchester on the Monday after the end of the school term was more like a ghost town. Now, while the usual mad race for the school gates is off, the roads were far from quiet. Yes, I did see quite a few cars with rooftop boxes, so perhaps it is next week I'll notice the difference, once all those Mancunians who have opted for UK seaside holidays this year have gone.

Shedding a load...

2009-07-09T12:02:00.005Z

For four years I have always carried a rucksack on my back when cycling to and from work. I did it because I wanted somewhere to put my valuables (now you know!) - my Peruvian instinct telling me that a pannier is all very well but it could possibly be nicked at the traffic lights or something. Sometimes the rucksack came in handy for extra loads, esp. in the winter, but more often than not it just filled up with stuff because it was there - the trully essential items didn't amount to that much.

But with the recent hot weather, I decided it was time to try something different. Why not load more in the pannier (those pieces of paper from work, my lunch, etc) and keep the valuables in a 'bumbag'?

After a week, I'm wondering what took me so long - how much unnecessary sweat my back has produced, for lack of ventilation.

I'll still carry the rucksack for longer rides, to carry my hydration bag (or perhaps I'll get myself one of those nifty little packs with a lower footprint). It may be that in the winter I come to need the extra room if I have to carry, say, a jacket or coat to work. But on any other weather I can't see myself going back to the old rucksack.

Poetry in motion

2009-07-07T23:42:00.005Z

Many an unsung poet the English language has! Take for instance the anonymous bod who penned the following verses:

"Caution!

Bollards in motion!"

A veritable urban haiku! In this case, a safety announcement used in various Manchester city centre locations to warn motorists about the moving, sensor-activated telescopic bollards that open restricted roads to buses only, and on which distracted or stupid drivers have been known to end up.

Of course, they are no obstacle to us cyclists - unlike pedestrians who mistake the absence of motorised traffic as a license to roam the road at their leisure and completely disregard us.

Huffing and puffing

2009-06-26T08:51:00.005Z

Leave the bike for three and a half weeks, and you'll feel the fall in fitness when you get back on the saddle. To be fair, I'm looking after my knees too - happy that they are not hurting anymore, but weary the problem may flare up again if I give them too hard a time - so I'm not.

Patience, I think, holds the key to a full recovery. I'll take a couple more weeks easy, then start increasing the pace, then try longer rides, little by little, so that by the end of the year I feel ready to plan the next C2C. The peace of the moors, even in the thick rain and cold wind, beckons.

The Angel of the North

2009-06-17T06:27:00.007Z

Her smile was pure, 100% British: honest, sincere and untouched by modern dentistry. She was young, but clearly a seasoned road cyclist - nothing about her had that air of 'new' that many other cyclists (especially, dare I say, female ones) have - the little rucksack, the lycra clothing, the bike itself all had the weathered look of things that have seen hundreds of miles.

All this I observed in a fraction of a second, as she overtook me on the way back home, just at the north end of Heaton Park. I was huffing and puffing with effort, trying to keep my blooming knees in their comfort zone, while she just seem to effortlessly glide past me.

By the time I reached the M60 I'd lost all sight of her.

4 years later, part II

2009-06-15T13:36:00.004Z

It seems as if I've broken the back of my knee trouble, at least for now: I've cycled to work and back, twice, and I feel fine (a bit of a tingle down at the knees, but nothing too bad).

I took it easy, mind - keeping the gears low and trying to be extra patient on the up-hills, even if to the passer-by I must look a bit ridiculous, pedalling fast while moving slowly. I imagine that's the way it's going to have to be, at least for now.

So, four years (and a day) since I started cycling, I'm still at it. To think that for the first year I pedalled on the higher seven gears - is it any wonder my knees give me trouble now?. Like then, this week the weather has been rather good in Manchester. Like then, work laid out a free breakfast for Bike Week (though it was a full English back then, now it can only extend to a bagel!).

Baby steps, 4 years later...

2009-06-13T22:59:00.002Z

Yesterday I got on my bike for the first time since I did the C2C, over 3 weeks ago. It was only to do 400yds, but it was a start. Today I was even more ambitious: 30' of cycling pleasure, to test my knee joint before I resume normal service.

The good news is the pain I felt before didn't oome back. But there is a bit of a tingle, in the wrong kind of way, there. So, I'll have to take it easy.

Meanwhile, tomrrow Sunday 14 June 09, I will celebrate 4 years since I started cycling again - my best decision in years.

Knee trouble

2009-06-05T06:07:00.003Z

Went to the doctor last Weds. Since doing the C2C, over 2 weeks ago, my knees have been bothering me, particularly the right one. Plus, I'm a hypochondriac and reading up about knee trouble in cycling websites may have worsened my condition (?).

Doctor says I shouldn't worry - a condescending smile as I explained I did the C2C with not much more training than my commute to work (from zero to heroe...?). It must be a sprained ligament, keep rubbing ibuprofen gel in, and take another week. So, back on the saddle next Weds, and then gently - build it up etc.

On another tack, yesterday I saw a cyclist and a pedestrian collide at the junction of Whitworth St. and Princess St. Or rather, I saw them get up - they were reasonably civil to each other. I don't know whose fault it was, but the pedestrian looked apologetic (and very shortsighted).

C2C 2009

2009-05-21T23:47:00.008Z

We did it. In a larger group, against a contrary wind, but we did it.

I'm not going to bore you with too many details - the route was a variation on last year. After overnighting in Penrith (for the sake of accommodation for 15 of us!) we were driven to Workington, where we started from this year. Then we rode through Cockermouth and on to Keswick (brief stop) and then for lunch to Threlkeld - a long story... here goes: some of us wanted to watch the Man Utd - Arsenal game. Yep, that one that ended 0-0 (hindsight is a wonderful thing). Mate Ian had googled the Keswick area for a pub that would show the match. He came across The Sanitation (or sumffin like'aat). When we turned up.... there had been a big mistake. Yes, the Sanitation had Setanta... but the match was on Sky Sports (the girl Ian spoke to was either thick, devious or just didn't give a monkeys).

The group at that point split into three - the fitter ones who had arrived to the pub in time for the game and decided to stay anyway; the three at the rear who were in still Keswick when the van got to Threlkeld, and managed to find a pub there that did show the match; and Ian and I who decided not to grace the offending pub with our custom, but to press on to Greystoke for a coffee instead (which we did). Then on to Penrith, where we all met back at the same accommodation.

The second day was the big one. This year we had decided, based on Ian and my advice (from last year's experience) to end not in Rookhope, but 7 miles further, at Parkhead Station. Don't get me wrong - Parkhead Station is an absolutely fine place to stay and I'll happily recommend it to anyone, and we did want to make the last day an all-downhill one, a rest, end on a high note etc. But we hadn't counted on the wind blowing from the East, a strong wind at that. The first day this had affected us a little - on the second day it made going downhill hard work, and going uphill (which you do, a lot) gruelling. The morning was fine otherwise, sunny and reasonably warm, but as we got to Hartside Top Cafe the weather began to turn. Suffice to say, hours later, as we stopped for a life-saving coffee at the Rookhope Inn (where Ian and I had stayed last year) I was cursing myself for having added 7 miles to the second day. It was 6.30pm and the weather was trully foul. We got to Parkhead Station at 8.15pm, wet, cold and shattered after 90' on the open moor under icy rain with bits of sleet thrown in for good measure.

The 3rd and final day should have been a breeze, but my knees were aching after day 2 - the right one seriously so. I limped to Sunderland at the rear of the group. It was a delight to get to the end, but I've not been able to cycle since (it's been a week now) and my right knee still hurts a bit. Watch this space.

Lessons? Larger groups are tricky to manage - navigation can be a challenge, as it is impossible to avoid becoming separated. Training pays off (I didn't do enough). Having bike serviced pays off (well, it cost me a bob or two, but it was worth it as the gears worked a treat).

Will I do it again? Yes, I hope I will - or perhaps a different route (Brugges to Amsterdam has been mentioned - all flat and more time for beer!).

London calling...

2009-05-15T11:01:00.002Z

Compared to Manchester, cycling in London is thriving - there's more of them, a wider variety of shapes and sizes and styles, from the Hell's Angel, nazi-helmet character to the genteel, continental style high-heeled lady - and of course, the lycra brigade in its various sub-species (incl. mine) are well represented.

That said, the experience of cycling in central London cannot be pleasant. The traffic, the pedestrians, the tourists, other cyclists, it all seems to me bound to make the ride that little bit less enjoyable. And the things I see some cyclists do - this chap, for instance, at high speed between the two slow moving rows of cars, then a sharp bank to the right and then counter-bank to the left to zig-zag around a double-decker - either consumate skill or tremendous folly. A pedestrian stepping in the way at the wrong moment or a car door opening, and it could all end in tears so easily.

Sometimes I toy with the idea of cycling in London - ie if I have to go to Head Office as I sometimes do, to take my bike in the train and then go from Euston by bike, then back to Euston etc. Or perhaps I could dust off the little, primitive foldable I bought nearly three years ago.

Arse of bike maintenance III: I never learn...

2009-05-11T22:29:00.003Z

"This is my father's hammer. The head was replaced once, and the handle six times"

Old chinese proverb (or was it Polish? Australian? Who cares!)

When I first bought my bike, back in July 2006, I knew very little about bicycle maintenance. Strewth! It's not something I'd ever bothered with as a child - much as I spent idyllic summers on the saddle, worn chains and shot bearings were not an issue you worried about. Thirty years and 80Kg later, I know more but do almost as much - very little.

By the time I started practising to do the C2C for the first time, in early 2008, my gears were slipping so badly I had to be careful to start any pedalling very slowly. Needless to say, I paid for my lack of care, in cash - the good people of the Bicycle Boutique restored my bike for almost the amount of money I paid for it in the first place! Add kevlar tyres (bought from Prestwich's "Bike Factory Shop" - where I got my Tourismo from) and I'd invested quite a bit on the old thing.

Come last October, I had to do it all again - well, almost. New chain etc. To be honest, my bike worked a treat after this. But how many times did I clean and lubricate my bike between late October and now? Twice. And by 'lubricating' I mean only the chain - greasing hubs and stuff like that are simply beyond my poor skills.

So, should I be surprised when, having taking the bike to the Bicycle Boutique again, the bill came to an eye-watering £99? I guess not. I was shown the chain and cogs - which I myself never inspect, precisely so as not to be burdened by guilt - and they were visibly worn.

Special mention should go to the pedals, which I'd had since October 2006 and which I never ever lubricated - they had more play in them than my car's gear stick. I did consider not having the work done until after the C2C ride - after all, this is the bike I've been riding to work and back, 14 miles at least 3 times a week. Why would it break just because I'm cycling 150 miles in a weekend, including steady climbs over the Pennines? Why indeed... so on reflection I chose to have the work done - and enjoy the ride.

Bicycle Boutique were as good as before - I did have to remind them to transfer my recently acquired toe-clips to the new pedals! But they are true cyclists' cyclists and know far more about bikes than I do - plus they are in the right place for me, and I still think they offer value for money.

Close Encounters and Near Misses

2009-04-28T22:19:00.004Z

I was cycling home along Bury Old Rd, just before crossing the M60. I know, one should always be at max. alert, ready for anything, etc. But the mind drifts after 45min. Suddently, I felt something to my right - not 'heard', felt, for my bike had been 'touched', only slightly. t was another cyclist. A lycra-man, nice racing bike, shades, no luggage other than a bottle of orange stuff, clad in white-red-n-blue like blooming Chris Hoy.

A black van was next to him. I figure he'd been overtaking me, the man in the black van had decided to overtake both of us, and the road had decided to narrow just at that moment. How very inconvenient. I did the only thing I could, which was to stay the course in as straight a line as I was able. The van gave a bit more room, and lycra-man raced ahead, swearing loudly and waving a fist at the van. The the van sped away, and I continued my way home, shaken - not stirred.

Heating, uniforms and the return of...

2009-04-20T12:42:00.003Z

In many countries of Eastern Europe, the 'central' in central heating means central government: heating comes on at a certain date late in the year (when cold weather is expected to kick in) and is turned off when Spring arrives. I once spent a few days in Skopje in early March (OK, it was 10 years ago) and because it was unusually warm at 16c, I had to sleep with the windows open to counter the effect of a huge radiator in full blast.

In Lima (Peru) the Police used to have a very rigid distinction between 'winter' uniform (a green jacket over a khaki shirt) and 'summer' uniform (just the shirt, no jacket). The changeover took place at a certain time of the year - usually, they'd end up enduring the odd day of hot weather in their winter attire, or shivering in Lima's persistent winter drizzle in short sleeves.

And what does all this have to do with cycling? Well, not a lot - I was just thinking that, luckily, I'm not bound by rigid rules like those, so I'm responding to the good weather... and the shorts are back!. It's a highlight of my cycling year, just like when I have to switch the lights on to go home in October.

Also, only four weeks to the Coast to Coast...

The lady again

2009-04-17T09:12:00.003Z

As I've said in a previous post, often on my ride bike home I come across this seemingly continental lady cycling the other way - into town. Well dressed in civy clothes (in winter these include leather boots and quilted coat), her bike very much a 'town' one, built for comfort (though I did notice a change from the original one - and hoped it wasn't due to theft). And no helmet - just like in the continent, some may say.

Worringly though, yesterday I saw her again, but this time... wearing a helmet. I sincerely hope this has not come about due to an accident or mishap, or that at any rate it was a near miss and no actual harm came to her. I can't imagine, though, that she's shifted to wearing a helmet out of a desire to keep up with UK fashion. I suspect that, like the rest of us, lack of safety (perceived or real) has led her to adopt this (perceived or real) safety measure.

Quosque tandem, Catilina...

Collecting bikes...

2009-04-12T08:02:00.002Z

It's Easter. Time to visit family - and collect a couple of bikes for my children. One is a hand-me down from Big Cousin. In perfect condition, 20" frame, front suspension and complete with cycle computer, my boy has been looking forward to getting it for weeks. He's very pleased with it - his first 'real' bike, one could say - a full size bike, almost too heavy for him to hold, but he'll grow into it.

The other bike has a more complicated history. My F-in-L's friend found it in his garden. Someone had thrown it over the fence. I reckon it's a 22" frame - a mountain bike, with front suspension and good 'rapid fire' gears identical to the ones in my 'Tourismo 24'. Even the brakepads seems fairly new. The only hitches with it are a bit of rust in two of the cables (but another cable seems brand-new) and the rear tyre shredded to bits (yet the front tyre is in good condition). A mistery - but still, a bargain: £13 on new parts.

Turning left, the friendly way

2009-04-01T10:26:00.003Z

Not all drivers are nasty pillocks. Some of them are polite pillocks - like this chap yesterday, who caught up with me as I approached a junction, and hovered, signalling to turn left, until we made eye contact.

I played it safe and stopped - I waved him on, my hint of sarcasm seemingly lost on him, who smiled and gave me the thumbs up: cheers, mate!

I count myself lucky that he didn't just make the turn and run me over. But how little effort and time it would have taken for him to just get behind me - I'd have cleared the junction in no time, and he'd been on his way just as quickly.

The location? Cheetham Hill, of course. Perhaps I need to try a different route.

The helmets debate

2009-03-26T09:51:00.004Z

This is a written answer to a parliamentary question to the Transport secretary :

====================================
Mr. Bone: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what timetable he has set for the publication of his Department's review of the wearing of cycle helmets. [261798]
9 Mar 2009 : Column 10W
Jim Fitzpatrick: The Department has commissioned a research project looking at a range of road safety and cycling issues. This will examine the following topics:
Road user safety and cycling data;
Cycling infrastructure;
Attitudes and behaviours;
Bicycle helmets.
The project has been commissioned from a consortium led by the Transport Research Laboratory.
The contract began on 21 August 2008 and will run for 24 months. The Department expects to publish the final reports in autumn 2010.
====================================

So, there we are - watch this space and all that

That fiscal year end

2009-03-25T13:55:00.003Z

End of March: end of the fiscal, or financial year in the public sector. Link to cycling? All cycle lanes and road markings in Manchester city centre have had a shiny, new lick of paint. I'm sure it was planned months in advance, you understand.

Half toe clips

2009-03-18T09:28:00.005Z

I've just fitted a pair of half-toe clips I bought on ebay. I had had the full toe clips before, with straps n' all, but after a couple of almost-comic falls (comic to bystanders - I wasn't laughing!) I gave up. Great while touring, but not for city commuting. So far, so good with half-toe clips - they provide some of the grip while being easy to get out of.

I know some people will say 'but why not just get SPD?'. It's a matter of choice, I suppose - personally, I can't bring myself to the idea. Special shoes, for a start. And although I've seen 'dual' pedals, the whole point is that you have to wear special shoes - not for me! To cap it all, SPD cyclists always seem to prefer to hover on traffic lights - showing that clipping on and off the pedals can't be all that straightforward.

Photo from: http://www.flickr.com/photos/14169178@N04/3278867421/

Juu, Juu

2009-03-16T13:43:00.004Z

A near miss - nearer than normal. On Princess St, just past the Princess Hotel, as I've cleared the set of traffic lights on Portland St, a car showed its nose on my left, ready to pounce onto Princess St when traffic was clear - which it was, except only for me...

Not for the first time, I thought that I'd made eye contact - the driver had definitely stopped and looked in my direction. Alas, she was one of those whose brain cannot fully process all the rich information her eyes convey - so, the road clear of cars she decided the coast was clear (never mind the pesky cyclist in bright reflective clothing!) and off she went - or nearly. Both my quick reaction - a stroke of the steering away from her path - and hers (she did manage to stop, just) prevented a tragedy - at my expense, it would have been.

I can't lip-read but she looked apologetic - I'd like to think she was actually saying 'sorry' and acknowledging we'd both had a lucky escape (hers from insurance complications, mine from ending with my bones in A&E).

The car in question was an acrylic green Ford Fiesta (or was it a small Focus?), last 3 letters of the number plate 'JUU'. The date was 16 Mar 09, time about 0940.

That competitive spirit

2009-02-26T15:34:00.003Z

You must have been there: cycling, slightly uphill, then you sense someone's behind you. Then a tranquil ride back home turns into a war of wills until:

a) You regain your distance and leave the challenger well behind

b) You react too little too late, the challenger rides past you without breaking sweat

c) You struggle for a bit, but in the end yield to the inevitable, honour preserved having fought the good fight

I'm usually into (b) or (c). Of course, it can get more complicated. More than once I've been 'chased' by newbies who, for instance, try to 'under' take, passing between the kerb and myself - they must feel 'safer' that way. Very irritating. I have in those cases tried very hard to keep ahead without getting too close to the kerb myself, until a widening on the road would enable me to let them past. Pillocks!. Usually, these newbies' speed is down to straining hard on their top gear, 'walking' on the pedals for far longer than it is sensible if you want your knees to remain serviceable when you are 50.

And there are the cheaters. Yes: those you leave behind because clearly you are the stronger cyclist. Then you stop at the traffic light... and they don't.

The funny thing is, I always say to myself 'I'm not the competitive sort, I'm just commuting' but most of the time the desire not to be out-done kicks in.

Ocassionally, I'm overtaken by the friendly sort - they tend to be the serious performance, tour-de-Manchester cyclists, who glide effortlessly past you, often smile at you, perhaps even share some comment or witticism. Bless them.

My noble Lords...

2009-02-20T14:40:00.005Z

According to the Hansard, the House of Lords debated walking and cycling on 16 Oct 2008. The starting question, put by Lord Krebs (a real name), was "What steps they are taking with local authorities to encourage walking and cycling in urban areas?".

I'm not being political here (not in the 'party' sense) but I'm left feeling we shouldn't put too much hope in this kind of debate producing much of use to real cyclists - or walkers.

Yes, it is good that cycling should be on the agenda and that Parliament should worry about 'cycling' and 'walking' levels in the UK being well.

Yes, one noble Lord did manage to correctly identify that not feeling safe when cycling is the main deterrent (the point David Hembrow is always making).

But it all seems to have fizzled out into statements that either reinforce prejudices or seem detached from reality - or at least, lacking in a holistic view of reality. Take this utterance:

"the big challenge for us is to see that children and adults alike feel confident in riding their bicycles on the streets and taking them out into those superb national parks and other areas of rural beauty and extremely healthful living that my noble friend highlighted"

So, it's not about cycling to work or cycling to school or to the shops - rather, it lumps cycling firmly on the leisure sector, as a pastime to be made enjoyable. Perhaps I exaggerate.

Then, a Baroness what's-her-name interjects with a spiteful-sounding

"My Lords, can the noble Lord tell us how many successful prosecutions have been brought against cyclists who have jumped red lights?"

Never mind that she's just been told the UK ranks very low in cycling levels in Europe! Let's focus on cycling as the problem, rather than the problems for cycling!

And although this quote is about walking, it surely gives a good picture of the level and relevance of the debate I'm referring to:

"My Lords, a lot has been said about cycling but not as much has been said about walking, although all the evidence shows that the amount of walking that people do is declining. I know what keeps me walking: it is my dog. Perhaps the Government should consider encouraging more people to keep dogs."
(Lord Hanningfield - own blog an'all!)

So there you have it, my noble Lords and Ladies: forget cycling, it's dog walking the nation needs.

Daylight!

2009-02-11T09:06:00.003Z

I left at 7am today, lights on and flashing. And then at some point in the journey, it hit me: daylight! The worst of winter is over, at least as far as cycling in the dark is concerned.

I still cycle in the dark on the way back - though sometimes when I leave my desk it is still light, by the time I've changed and walked into the yard, the light is almost gone. But that too will change...

Learning to cope

2009-02-09T11:06:00.001Z

This year's snow and ice did affect me. Having slipped on ice back in December, I was a bit coy about cycling on snow or icy roads. The problem was not so much the main roads (which make up most of my route) but my road and those around the house.

In the end, common sense did prevail. I walk the kids to school, for instance, then walk on to the main road and then I get on the bike. It takes a bit longer, but spares me the frustration of driving or using public transport. And what with going soft in your heated car and all that.

Bad back

2009-01-26T12:50:00.003Z

Perhaps it's not cycling-related, but on Saturday night something just 'went' and I got a pretty sore back - a sharp, movement-related pain just below the right shoulder-blade.

On Sunday I went to the walk-in centre in Bury to have it seen to. Muscular, it seems - just rest it, take painkillers and enjoy!. Not a bad way to end the first week of my 44th year!.