Two Factors Preventing Cycling

Two factors, this weekend, prevented the bikes getting an airing:

1. The Weather – Saturday morning was pretty rough but it did improve through the day but then the heavens opened again in the evening and the rains fell.  First thing Sunday morning was similar, but again things cleared up nicely.
2. Dickensian Christmas – Another one of Rochester’s annual festivals.  This one brings loads (!) of visitors to the town so everywhere was packed.  No cycling in the high street this weekend.

I did venture out today though, Sunday, to see what was going on in town; to sample the ‘Dickensian’ atmosphere.

It was packed!

High Street was shoulder to shoulder with locals and tourists all trying to see the procession and to sample the foods for sale.  The Castle Gardens had been invaded by a fair and people roamed the town dressed in antique clothing and as Dickens characters.

More photos over on Flickr.

The Pampered Dahon

I do like my Dahon but I don’t really go over the top with its care – honestly!

It’s not relaxing after a hard ride, it’s drying off in the bath after cycling home in the rain last Thursday night.  I suppose that’s one of the downsides for keeping the bike inside the house: if the bike gets dirty, what do you do with it?

A funny sight though for visitors to my house when they pop into the bathroom.

CTC Gift Membership (Free Buff!)

Free Buff headwear when you give a gift CTC membership!

Quote from the CTC weekly email newsletter:

“CTC Festive Gift Membership is the perfect present that lasts all year and it comes with a free Buff® worth £18. It is the ideal present for a cyclist as it includes all the benefits of being a CTC member. Prices for CTC membership start at just £12. To order CTC Festive Gift Membership, simply call 0844 736 8451, quote ‘Buff’, give us the details of the lucky person and we’ll do the rest! For delivery in time for Christmas please call before 15 December.”

Cycling At Night

I was driving home from work tonight wishing that I could cycle instead of drive…

Unfortunately I cannot but my mind drifted back to my childhood and the Government safety campaigns of the 80s.  Thankfully Google and YouTube remember everything – even things which weren’t around prior to their conception.

Another Bad Weekend For Cycling

Another wet and windy weekend and again both bikes stayed in the house, warm and dry.

It’s quite frustrating but I’m sure I’ll be out soon.  I need to go to the bottle bank on the Dahon and I also want to get out for a ‘burn’ on the Trek – we’ll see if I can get out during the nights this week…

No Cycling – Weekend Away

No cycling again this weekend as I headed back to Pembrokeshire to see my family.  A great weekend away and very relaxing – it’s far nicer there than here in the South East of England!

Didn’t take either of the bikes so I hope to get out on them during the nights this week.

Some pics of Pembrokeshire over on my Flickr account.

Brompton Designer Receives Royal Award

Brompton’s inventor Andrew Ritchie has been awarded a design award by Prince Philip – the Prince Philip Designers Prize.

Congratulations to Andrew Ritchie and the guys over at Brompton!  This is great news and highlights the world of ‘folders’ to the wider community.

Link: BBC News story

Prince Philip Designers Prize

The Cycle Show, Earls Court

Took a day off work today to headed into London’s Earls Court for the 2009 Cycle Show.  It was nice to not have to wake up at the unearthly hour I normally do, instead I slept in and crawled out of bed around 0730.

A cycling friend arrived at 0915 and we walked off to the train station and headed West towards Victoria Station in the centre of London.  Although rain was forecast for later in the day, it was a mild and bright day – good for cycling!

The show was well attended but it wasn’t over-crowded.  It was the first public day of the show, Thursday being a trade-only day, and I suppose that Saturday and Sunday are going to be the busiest.  Most of the big names were there, Cannondale, Scott, Bianchi, Colnago, Specialized, Brompton…  No Dahon though.  Thinking about it, not all the big US manufacturers were there, such as Marin, Trek, Giant.  But the Europeans were.

Bikes ranged from under £100 kids’ bikes to £8,000+ road bikes.  My eyes were watering at some of the price tags and my credit card was screaming to get out of my wallet – but I controlled it!  I didn’t buy anything

The high-end road bikes were incredibly lightweight.  I was really surprised at just how light bikes can be made these days.

I hung around the Brompton stand for a while taking a look at what was on offer.  These bikes are hand-made and to prove it they had a guy making bikes there, right in front of you.

It was the first time I’ve got my hands on a Brompton and it was very small and very light.  It was much smaller and lighter than my Dahon D7HG, but it was considerably more expensive too.  There were other folders on show too.  Moulton and Airminal were there, with the latter really catching my eye (but again, very expensive).

After a few hours of touring the stands, browsing the bikes and keeping my credit card in my wallet, we headed out for a few pints and a sit down before returning home on the train via Victoria Station.

More of my Cycle Show photos over on Flickr.

http://www.cycleshow.co.uk

Another Folding Bike Concept

Here’s another ‘concept’ folder, this time it’s by Dominic Hargreaves and it’s in the running for the James Dyson Award.

Also check out his ‘hoist’ design.

Recycle Cycle

I’d been thinking about how do I stop the empty Grolsch and wine bottles from stacking up in my kitchen.

I could put them out in the ‘blue bin’ for recycling, but they don’t truly recycle that glass, it’s just reused (hard core or other such filler).  I was thinking that I should take it to the bottle bank and get rid of them that way, ‘real recycling’.  The next question was how to get them there on the Dahon.  The ride was going to be about a mile and a half to the bottle bank and I don’t have a cycle trailer.  Hmm…

The Crate Folded

I had a look around the house and realised that I had the perfect solution!  A small Tontarelli folding crate that appeared to be the ideal size (10L) to mount on the back rack of the Dahon.

I added some small plastic blocks to the bottom of the crate to help it engage with the rack – a few screws and some foam pads keep things together.  Then a couple of bungie straps secure the crate to the Dahon’s rear rack.

Unfolded

I left the house early this morning with a full load of glass in the crate and headed off to the bottle bank.  Bumps in the road caused the bottles to rattle around a fair bit, so it was a little noisy on the way but not too bad.

I’d quickly popped all the bottles into the bottle banks so thought I’d take a look around town before heading back to the house for breakfast.

It was the last of the four Castle Concerts in the grounds of the Castle last night so the stage was still up (photo).  There were some fantastic fireworks at the end, over the River Medway, late last night but there weren’t any remains as I cycled around this morning.

It’s a nice day out there and the Dahon has helped me be that little bit ‘greener’ this morning as it became my Recycle Cycle!

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