Blogs

Bike hitched to turbo. This is cycling in its purest form. Just pedalling. It makes no sense to freewheel here. No sense at all.

I start the clock. A half hour of this. Enough time to sweat up a storm; enough to get my fix.

There is no computer. That would be a distraction. Numbers without meaning. The only competition here is me against my heartbeat, seeing which can go faster.

Welcome to my blog. Perhaps you've already met. I've been using questions from the forum as springboards for flights of fancy.

Just to put a face to the name, here's a recent pic of me:

Sorry, I meant this one:

which may be less flattering.

Jim at the forum writes:

Okay, so my girlfriend is worried about me being hit by a car and wants me to get some sort of high vis top whilst cycling. She suggested a high vis sash, I refused. I use a front/rear light combo everytime I'm out. I was thinking of getting a fluro top (do these only really work in dull light or will they be good in summer too?) but wondering if I'd be better off with a bright coloured top...

spicypedro at the forum writes:

I need to replace my cycling shoes and I have big feet. This is an issue.

You know what they say: the bigger the feet, the bigger the… issues.

Throwing your budget of £140 to the wind, my suggestion would be to visit Cyclefit in London. A bit of a trek from York, to be sure, but it can't be helped.

sm at the forum writes:

Just wondering! Too difficult to peel? Slippy skins a danger to the peloton?

Bananas are bad luck, and most pros are superstitious. Herewith a gallery of the wrong fruit at the wrong time:

Rob at the forum writes:

Obviously its starting to get a little warmer now, and nearly time to break out the shorts. What are your feelings on whether to shave legs or not?

That many of us are already obliged to frustrate nature's wishes to satisfy the aesthetic preferences of our partners is reason enough to consider the enlargement of this mandate a depilation too far.

Dylan at the forum writes:

Ive been cycling road bikes for about a year now with no real structure to my training. My Friends are trying to convince me to start racing but im nowhere near fit enough. Now here is where the main problem is Im a fully border at school and im not aloud to go out cycling even at weekends. The facilities availible include Bike maschines, a swmming pool, rowing mashines and all the various other gym equipment like treadmills theyre is also a weights room.

A combination of pressure by cyclists and London Assembly members successfully achieved an increase of £52m in the cycling budget during the next three years. On the 18th of February the Mayor confirmed that the budget for the three years was £334m, after two weeks of pressure in support of an Assembly motion proposed by Jenny Jones AM, that total had increased to £386m. We didn’t get the 2% of the TfL budget that a cross party Assembly report said that cycling deserved, but it was still a big success.

“That’s quite a pizza dish you’ve got there”, says the veteran club cyclist, viewing my new cassette with its 30-tooth biggest cog. My shame grows as I follow his disdainful gaze forward to the compact chain rings. I can almost hear his brain make the calculation: this clown has a 30-inch gear! On a racing bike!

That tickle at the back of your throat...

Thursday and Friday last week I drove to work.  Didn't feel like riding, blamed the kids getting up in the night, I felt tired, I felt lazy, I didn't do the usual pre-race mental preparation, I just wanted to go to bed.  Sure enough, Saturday morning arrived with that slight niggle at the back of my throat.  I just wanted to get through the day, unfortunately the race wasn't until 2pm.