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February 1st – this is one for the bike anoraks. I spotted this classic, original, early 80s Raleigh Arena frame on the train home. It’s been converted to a nice fixie, with modern wheels and a nice Brooks swallow saddle. I think it’s quite new, as the chain was bright and the rims and tyres looked like new. In the original design, there would have been 5 or 10 Sachs Hurret gears, controlled by down tube shifters. I wanted one of these as a kid.

The effect was only spoiled by the owner leaving his empty water bottle behind. Odd that he didn’t appreciate being reminded that he’d forgotten it…

January 31st – Someone asserted yesterday that I should be glad of increased cycling facilities in the UK. I am, and I’m not. Here’s why.

On the Coventry Road, Birmingham, near the St. Andrews ground, there are lights to control a ‘y’ junction. Prior to the junction, there is a green tarmac filter lane leading to an advance stop line (ASL). The idea is that cyclists use the green lane up the inside of the traffic to access the green ASL box to place themselves safely at the head of the queue. This rarely works in practice, and to me, is actively encouraging dangerous cycling behaviour.

If I were to take the lane up the side of the traffic, as the skip lorry is occupying the ASL, I’d likely stop next to him. Right in his blind spot. Cyclists tend to be quicker off the mark at lights than lorries and chances are we’d interact at the pinch point a few yards ahead. If the lorry goes down left fork here (which he did, without indicating the intention), he would not see the cyclist and possibly lead to the cyclist being crushed at the pinch point between the railings and the lorry.

This road position kills the vast majority of adult cyclists mortally injured on the roads in the UK. It’s bloody stupid to get up the inside left of a line of traffic, as drivers don’t expect it and often, physically can’t see you. Between the ‘safety’ railings and the lorry wheels, you’re toast. Or rather, puree.

This cycling ‘facility’ encourages dangerous road positioning, and in my view, makes this junction more dangerous to the inexperienced cyclist.

I’ll celebrate cycling facilities when they’re safe, and designed properly. Not ill-thought out lip service like this.

January 30th – Another sign of the season’s wheel inexorably rotating came to my attention tonight. Stopping to attend to a sticking gear cable in Shelfield, on the corner of the verge, just under a hedgerow, something is stirring. Quietly, determinedly, a yellow army is emerging. Using only the power of cellular hydraulic action and the mystical imperative for growth, some celestial trigger has kickstarted spring. Soon, the foot solders will be amongst us, bright, yellow and beautiful.

It’s started now. There’s no going back. This makes me very happy indeed.

January 28th – The weather continues to be warm and windy. Fighting it coming home from work, it was hard to believe that only a few days before, it was sub-zero temperatures and ling snow. No trace remained as I hauled the bike over Shire Oak Hill. The lights of the pub looked welcoming, and the temptation to pop in for a swift pint was strong.

January 28th – Marbles. I go on about them repeatedly, with good reason. The roads are absolutely covered right now in debris – bits of wood, bits of vehicle, grit residue and gravel, left behind by the snow and ide. This material gathers in hollows and patches on the roads, and passing traffic grinds and polishes it ind it’s wheels. The result is a loose material with very low friction, that lurks on bends and junctions, ready to snatch your wheels from under you. It’s particularly bad in backlanes, but even busy roads like the Chester Road are affected. 

Motorbikers call this debris ‘marbles’ due to the similarity to riding on glass beads. The problem will remain until either the road is swept, or heavy rains wash the worst away.Take extra care, please.

January 17th – It was snowing quite hard when I came home. Racing another cyclist out of Walsall in that unspoken duel that often happens between two homeward-bound cyclists, we played cat and mouse along the Lichfield Road. Sadly, my younger, fitter counterpart was carrying less stuff (including less middle-aged spread!) and just outclassed me. But he set a cracking pace and I was heading home in good time. At Anchor Bridge, I stopped to admire the snow on the frozen canal. It was settling quite well now. Weather-heads are predicting heavy snow tomorrow, and the world’s going bonkers again…

We’ll see.

January 15th – Today, I had to go to Butlers Lane instead of Blake Street, as I had somewhere to call in on the way. I’ve passed through this suburban halt many, many times, but never alighted here. I was impressed with the ramp/steps design for access. No good for the disabled, obviously, but this was clearly an old solution. I’ve documented steps with bike gutter-channels before, but this is a new one. You could, conceivably push a pushchair up there. The access to both platforms is the same. Neat, really.

January 13th – It was cold, winter at last. I could smell snow in the air as I left home on a day that was so chilly, it caused my sinuses to and forehead to burn. I pottered up to Chasewater, delighting in riding over the icy puddles, and then over to Hammerwich, which is always nice at dusk. On the way up Meerash Lane, I pulled up short; the ice here – caused by water raining from the still-saturated fields, was thick and treacherous. Staffordshire Council never seem to grit up here, and I advise anyone without ice tyres not to bother. Under a fresh coat of snow, this could be an unpleasant start to the week in the morning for someone…

January 8th – It’s still very mild, and in the morning, I started out into a dull, overcast and hazy day, with a high mist that cloaked the top of the Sutton Coldfield TV transmitter masts. It didn’t bode well, and true to my expectation, the commute home was wet. Why do railway stations always look so dramatic in the night time rain? All those textured surfaces, I guess, and bright lights, I guess.

I think I’ve spent to long admiring stations in the rain, of late…