Tag: Cycling

February 6th – It’s been chilly now for a couple of weeks, and I now have my winter cycling skin on, and barely feel the cold. It gets you like that in the end; you become tempered, inured, used to the climate; so much so that you feel it when it warms up that much more acutely. I love being in this position. It means when spring comes, it’s even more joyous.

At Green Lane on another cold, icy commute, I was wrapped up and felt warm, and the barren beauty of the season really struck me.

I’d like spring to hurry up, of course: but I can live with this, for now.

January 27th – It’s been over a year since I reported the brickwork n the local canals collapsing into the water – both on the bend between Pier Street and Catshill junction, and on the stretch between Catshill and Clayhanger Bridge.

The Canal & River Trust came out once, and erected safety tape, which the guys cutting the grass removed.

Since then, loads of other spots have deteriorated.

This cavity is large enough to trap a bicycle wheel or child’s foot. If you rode or stepped into it, you’d fall into the canal. 

Watch out folks – the C&RT don’t give a toss so you’d better be on your guard.

January 21st – another one for Bob’s big book of bicycle breakdowns. These are a pair of Shimano SPD XTR clipless pedals – the mechanism on them engages with a metal piece on the bottom of special shoes that means I ‘click in’ to them and can pull the pedals up as well as push down. 

These are considered a fairly high-end pedal, and have a platform – the black grooved frame – around them for additional foot support. They cost about £70 a pair, I guess and are generally good quality. This pair had done about 10,000 miles.

They are built around a cylindrical bearing held together internally by two nuts – an adjuster and a locknut, and this keeps everything adjusted and spinning without play.

Except when the threaded part snaps from fatigue, the bearing falls apart and the pedal tries to come off the spindle. The one on the right is normal, the one on the left, fatally broken.

Thankfully, it wasn’t far from home and was still ridable with care. That’s an unwanted expense in January…

January 21st – On a grey, depressing day, I stopped to check out the new magic bicycle symbols added to the footpath in Pleck just by the motorway Bridge on the Darlaston Road. I guess this is part of the commitment to safer cycling routes with the road improvement scheme here. It’s dismal.

A bit of tactile paving, blacktop some verges and a splurge of magic paint. A grim, shared use path hazardous for pedestrians and cyclists, along the front of a factory gates with little visibility.

The people who design and implement this rubbish aren’t cyclists. They aren’t thinking about cyclists. They’re ticking boxes on a form to satisfy a requirement.

This is why we can’t have nice things, people…

January 5th – A fiddly maintenance job this evening. Studded ice tyres currently fitted to my bike have small, very hard carbide studs in them to grip black ice. They sit in pockets in the tyre tread, and on the back in particular, if you skid on tarmac or brake very hard, they rip out.

Once I’ve lost ten or so, I delve into the spares box and whip out a small bag containing replacement studs, supplied by Schwalbe, the tyre manufacturer. 

By deflating the tyre and pinching the cavity, with pliers one can pop fresh studs in, using a drop of washing up liquid as a lubricant. Fiddly at first, once you’ve got the hang, it’s easy to do.

It may sound overzealous, but for the want of a couple of studs, you could slide. A stitch in time, and all that…

December 28th – The winter boots are on. These Schwalbe Marathon Plus Winter are on their third season now. A 38mm 700c tyre with grippy central rubber tread, flanked by twin rows of proud, carbide studs, they grip well on black ice and make short work of snow. They’re not infallible but give me confidence when cornering and feel sure-footed and secure when the chips are down.

They are, however, noisy in use and not terribly fast; but they’re home for the next few weeks at least.

If you’re out on the roads over the cold spell, here are my tips for safe cycling, even if you don’t have winter tyres…

  • Stick to main routes where possible. Avoid backlanes and canal towpaths.
  • Ride on the road, out of the gutter where standing water freezes.
  • Take it steady, and ease off on the speed – particularly downhill.
  • Use your momentum and judge it – avoid braking where possible.
  • Turn gently without braking.
  • Use your back brake rather than your front, and pulse it don’t clamp it on. Just light touches.
  • Move with the bike. Go with it if it slides, don’t fight it.
  • If you lose the back, you can pull out of it with care. Lose the front and you’re gone. Bear that in mind in a slide.
  • Give other roadusers more space, and consider the consequences if they slide. 
  • Let a little air out of your tyres to increase contact area.

Take it easy, folks.

December 27th – Another foul day. Overcast, misty and cold, it came on to rain in the afternoon, with the lying, dirty snow still stubbornly refusing to shift.

I went out – togged up for it this time – to Chasewater to see just how good the ice tyres were. A blast down the bog boardwalk proved them grippy, as did the surefooted handling on wet mud, slush and ice.

Rolling resistance is high though, and they’re very, very noisy.

A decent ride though, in very poor conditions.

My name is Aiden and I am a Cyclist.

aideym:

There are very few situations in normal society where you are expected to look out for the incompetence of others and if someone else gets it wrong you are responsible for the result.

The victim is usually a very normal person going about his lawful business, cruelly interrupted by the inconvenience of killing, maiming or injuring a cyclist. After all cycling is an outdated mode of transport,…

View On WordPress

This is important – the victim blaming must stop. I was outraged at the coverage on Midlands Today last night. I got out with big lights, body actions and am an assertive, confident cyclist. But against people who can’t, won’t or are too distracted to see me, I stand no chance, whatever measures I take to protect myself from the stupidity of others.

How about the cops  nick some of these buggers on mobiles for a change?

Cheers, Aiden – very well said.

November 11th – A word about rubber for the cyclists out there, if I may.

After the spoke failure of last week, I looked at the tyres and decided I’d replace them at the same time as they were wearing out. On that bike I’ve always used Schwalbe Marathon Plus tyres, for wear and flat resistance – a really good tyre. 

When I came to order new one, I find the range has changed, and the Marathon Plus has had a redesign with a new tread design, and what feels like a different rubber mix. 

Been riding these for two days now in mucky, greasy and wet conditions and I must say, they’re a vast, vast improvement. They roll much better, and feel less ‘sticky’ than of old; at 100psi they’re hard but grippy, and feel much more sure footed. 

So far, I’m very, very impressed – but time will tell how they wear and if the flat protection is as good – it certainly seems as thick.

November 4th – The darkness hasn’t seemed to affect me as much this year as it normally does, or indeed, as badly as I expected. It normally makes me weary, depressed and listless. Maybe because we’ve had such a fine autumn and summer, I don’t feel it this year at all.

Of course, it makes for a change to habits. The days of casually throwing a jacket into the bag are over, as are the days of fingerless gloves. Warm hats, thermals and scarves will soon be on the agenda. 

Lights are clean and fully operational, and at certain times, the hi-viz is on (although one has to consider that in low sun or bright days it’s worse than dark clothing for visibility).

Here at Green lane in pitch dark, the advantage and necessity of good ligts is clear. This image taken without a flash.

That’s a Hope R4 on low, by the way.