Videos

July 12th – Red light jumpers really annoy me, whatever type of roaduser they are. On the same morning commute, two classic examples, 15 minutes apart. The first turns left toward Lichfield at the Shire Oak Junction in a car. The second, a cyclist, drifts off the pavement and into lane at the Church Street junction in Lichfield, only to drift back again and cruise through the junction illegally. Both are idiots, and there’s no need for it. 

June 28th – Taking a shortcut through Wall to the A5… a little-known byway called Back Lane runs from Wall Lane to Market lane. Normally clear, an irrigation pipe now crosses it barring normal traffic. It’s now beautifully overgrown with grass nearly 3 feet high. On my right is a field of broad beans. On Market Lane, I gently pass the parked car blocking the top of Roman Walk and into Wall Butts. A lovely summer run on a fully loaded bike that rolls downhill well….

The soundtrack is the beautiful ‘Letter to Bowie Knife’ by Calexico.

June 27th – On my way to work, I stopped on the Ring Road by the Leather Museum in Walsall for the pedestrian crossing. On this bright, T-shirt and sandals warm summers day, a breath of Copenhagen sailed gently and confidently over the crossing. A relaxed, normally dressed cycling mum, bag slung casually over her shoulder with a content, happy child in a seat behind her. No silly closthes, no fear, just  casual young woman out on her daily business.

Lovely to see.

June 19th – I love Cannock Chase, and I have a special fondness for the Sherbrook Valley. Here’s a condensed run from just by Pye Green, to the car park at Milford Common. this run was quick, and there were few people around. The few cyclists I saw seemed to have very clean bicycles, but then, it is summer, so lots of recent purchases about. This run is on a touring bike with no suspension and thin wheels, not a mountain bike.

The soundtrack is ‘Raining’ by Ancient Beatbox, vocals by Sheila Chandra.

June 10th – I often hear folk saying that it’s easier to ride the canals, because they’re flat. This isn’t actually the case. This film shows every lock and over bridge from Longwood Junction, near Aldridge, to Salford Junction, situated under the famous Spaghetti Junction motorway interchange in Gravelly Hill, Birmingham.

The soundtrack is ‘From Rusholme With Love’ by Mint Royale: a lost classic.

June 8th – Cycling the old railway route up through Goscote to Walsall often throws up unexpected challenges – gangs of loafing youth, grass fires in summer, intemperate canada geese. By far the most frequent seems to be negotiating the wrath of often rather stroppy horses. This particular equine highwayman  casually stops me, presumably after a mint or food, receives a bit of welcome fuss and then lets me pass.

June 6th – Cycling home, enjoying the sun I took to the canal through Pleck, south Walsall. Passing under the bridge, I slowed to a crawl as I couldn’t see the towpath ahead. True to form, a prat hurtles round the blind corner, nearly ends up in the canal, and as he steers around me I notice he has a toddler in a child seat at the rear of his bike. The kid is strapped in. If he’d gone in the water, there’s a real chance the child would drown.

Moron.

May 30th – Rabbits don’t do clever, but this one at Farewell, Staffordshire was quite unique. Taking a suicide run out of the hedge on the left, he doubled back when he realised the danger and ran straight ahead, in the same direction as me, for about a quarter of a mile. The camera loses him for a bit, before I catch him up again and he jumps into the hedge. Never seen that before.

The video quality is quite poor. I’ve had to zoom in quite a bit, and you may need to turn the quality setting up on youtube.

May 24th – This is the evening commute film from the same trip. Changing trains at New Street, Birmingham, this time for a Walsall bound train, at about 5pm. The crowds, the dreadful lifts, the bustle – not a single part of this interchange will improve with the revamp of New Street, which is primarily about providing a ‘retail opportunity’. Note that the bike is being pushed and not ridden throughout.

The soundtract is from Mainframe, unofficially called ‘I make my way back home’, officially just ‘Track 4’. Check them out at http://mainframe-music.info/– a great blast of eighties synth-goodness, mostly made on an Apple II computer in 1983.

May 24th – Change trains at Birmingham New Street at 8:55am for a 9:05 departure to Telford. This is the reality of using trains with a bike. Bear in mind that for all the millions spent, nothing seen in this film will change with the revamp of the station. The unreliable lifts, the dingy, menacing subway, the cramped, overcrowded platforms. The revamp will just give a ‘retail opportunity’ for big business. 

I love travelling by bike and train, but this tries my patience. Life shouldn’t be this hard. Part 2 to follow.

The soundtrack is Artie Shaw’s ‘Special Delivery Stomp’, the music that plays in your head whenever you’re late for anything…