This just in from our Salisbury branch courtesy of Novemberfive blogger Jez. A brief write up of an excursion to The New Forest upon Mountainbike steeds. Read about it here.
Rivendell Jersey (drool!)
OMG!
And normally I pour secret scorn on individuals who say “OMG!” so perhaps you will have some idea as to my depth of feeling over this. The wonderful Bicycle Works from the U.S.A. have produced an absolutely beautiful wool cycle jersey. Everything about it screams “classic”, but don’t take my word for it, take a look for yourself.
I’ve said it before, I think Rivendell are easily my favourite bicycle company, the bikes are so far out of my financial reach that it’s ridiculous for me to even look at a picture of a Rivendell bicycle, but look I most certainly do. Their every product screams “high quality”, actually because it’s Rivendell there is no screaming, only gentle insistence on traditional materials, craftsmanship and crucially, integrity.
Winter into Spring
Tuesday the 12th of February saw me take to the bike for a forty minute ride in a desperate attempt to blast away the cobwebs and force some oxygen into my stalled brain. Work has been hectic of late, which for a self-employed person is of course brilliant, but it does mean my riding time is sparce, right at the point when my waistline indicates it should not be.
As I pedalled out of the village I attempted to formulate some sort of plan for riding. A time trial? An attempt on my personal best average speed? A pootle? Of course, the pootle won out, though I threw in a couple of sprints in an attempt to convince myself I was getting fitter. Leaving the chill in my wake I hit the A36 at speed, hands on the drops, high gears, the wind whistling through the vents of the helmet and roaring in my ears. By the time I turned off to Dilton Marsh I had reached the point where it was too late to go back and get my wallet in case I needed food to stave off the dreaded ‘bonk’. No matter, with the sprint out of the way I could take the rest of the ride at a leisurely pace and a sensible cadence.
The light was absolutley beautiful, bright and clear, but somehow slow. The sun, preparing itself for Spring, stretched out and gently flung its beams across the earth, sending light dawdling across the landscape, almost rolling over itself as it happened upon hedges and furrows in the frost-cracked fields, wrapping itself slowly around shattered elms at the roadside. The ferocity of the winter storms collapsing with a sigh into the outstretched arms of Spring. Again the hedges were alive with birds, their chatter swelling through the lukewarm air, forcing life into the ice-rimmed road shadows still claimed by Winter.
This was a day made for cycling to lift the spirits. It seemed to me that the earth itself turned beneath the tyres, compelled by the revolution of my cranks to continue its slow tumble through space, guiding the earth’s orbit towards the waiting, welcoming sun. This is why I ride.
At Southwick I pulled into the chruchyard to examine a young redwood, at its mighty base the first flowers of Spring had emerged. Redwoods are, I think, my favourite type of tree. I do not know why this is, perphaps it is their sheer size juxtapozed with their soft bark and relative fragility that I find so pleasing. Even this giant sleeps through Winter, the sap reduced to a sluggish crawl. But now this behemoth, though small for his species, was shaking off the frost to begin another year of incredibly fast growth, for though he towers above all other trees in his vicinity, he can be not much more than one hundred years old. If left untouched and unchecked he will keep growing, perhaps for another 2,900 years or so. Then, even he must succomb to his winter.
The wheels keep turning.
Bamboo Bikes on Make (Fishing Interlude)
I have to admit that I’m a bit of a magazine addict, I have subscriptions to Rouleur, Wire, Fortean Times and, crucially for this post, Makezine. My subscription to U.S. Mag Bicycling recently ran out. I rarely get Cycling Plus as I’m just not interested in reading about a road test of a £3000 carbon fibre frame. I feel that if you’re not careful cycling can go the way fishing as a pastime tends to go when it comes to kit and expense*.
It’s Makezine I want to focus on for this post. Make is published by the incredible O’Reilly group, a publishing house run by Tim O’Reilly, the man who coined and defined the words Web 2.0. O’Reilly produce, to my mind anyway, the best instructional manuals and guides that are available. To me though, the jewel in their crown is Make Magazine. This is a quarterly publication for tinkerers, engineers, hackers, coders, guerilla film makers, modders, self-publishers… Ok I hear you, Geeks then.
On the magazine’s blog recently appeared an article about the Bamboo Bike Project
The Bamboo Bike Project is a collaboration between scientists and engineers at The Earth Institute at Columbia University and a bicycle builder at Calfee Design. The project aims to examine the feasibility of implementing cargo bikes made of bamboo as a sustainable form of transportation in Africa. The ultimate goals of the project are:
- To build a better bike for poor Africans in rural areas.
- To stimulate a bicycle building industry in Africa to satisfy local needs.
*One time my friend Lee and I went fishing at Longleat. the first thing we noticed was that the wind was blowing from the car-park across the water, pushing debris against the opposite side of the lake, that’s where the fish would be feeding, basic angling knowledge. So we walked all the way round the water to the opposite bank, to where we could see the carp right up against the bank, and set up there with our one rod each, tiny fishing bags, nets, bread and sweetcorn. Then we watched as every single angler got out of their cars and vans, unloaded masses of kit, tents, rods, bait boats, bite alarms, seats, huge tackle boxes… and set up on completely the wrong side of the water. I’m not kidding we were the only people on that side of the lake. We were also the only people catching anything! Every now and again one of them would wander round the lake and ask what kit we were using, or what our miracle bait was, but when we told them it was just our position, they were a bit put out. The main reason being they couldn’t drive over to the our side of the lake, so they couldn’t get their fancy kit over!
Similarly in cycling I’ve seen guys squeezed into Discovery Channel kit riding carbon frames or specialist TT bikes with clipless pedals and £200 wheels, weighing 17-18 stone with their tummy hanging over the top tube. Nothing wrong with being tubby on a bike, I’m carrying at least a stone too much myself, I think it’s admirable to get out on the bike when you’re a bit hefty. But having all the kit isn’t going to help you get fitter, it comes down to two things only… eat less, ride more. I have to admit, I’m failing on that side of things at the moment myself 
