Stories from
the road
(and beyond!)
Glasgow belongs to them - and we should take notice!
Back in Northamptonshire, and back on my commute (soon, I hope), I will remember the gritty city on the Clyde, and the practical statements of intent made manifest on its tarmac. Utrecht it ain’t - not yet - but fair play, guys. You’ve made a start, and it really is starting to show.
“How far have you come?” - my first ride to the office
Tearing round the house as quietly as a could, I grabbed my carefully-prepared rucksack, remembering to throw in the pair of socks I forgot the day before yesterday, and disappeared out of the door. A clear, cool morning met me as I zipped through a town centre yet to rub the its eyes to greet the new day, and arrived on the platform with time to spare. Ironically, the train turned up at just the time I would like there to be one - in the middle of a half-hour-or-so gap in the timetable.
Has the last train gone?
As I wait for the next train at Corby, which was itself until relatively recently the largest place in Britain without a railway station, it occurs to me that the idea of cycling 25 miles to catch a train that travels 13 miles, to obviate a 35 mile drive, is in many ways really quite silly. But I did it. I stuck my Lycra on, to my colleagues’ amusement, I got out of the office door, I got on my bike, in what looked liked decidedly iffy weather, and set off...
Commencing Commuting - cycling to work in a post-COVID world.
Suitably emboldened by our pandemic-induced embrace of doing all our local business by bike, and the last train having left 57 years ago, I told myself I would ride to my new office, conveniently overlooking the fact that my old commute, (which was less than half as far) got driven more often than I’d like to admit.
“Twice the fun, since ‘71!” - Why clubs matter more than ever.
For all the benefits of data-driven fraternisation, the immediate answer to a question from a random, if enthusiastic and potentially knowledgeable person on Facebook is perhaps not as valuable as the shared expertise of someone who knows you a little better, and who you can trust - where there is the ‘after sales service’ you get from friendships built around mutual investment in sharing an interest.
My #Festive500 - By Ruth Jones (age 7¾)
On the first day, I started the Festive 500 with my Daddy. I felt excited and determined to do 500 kilometres in 8 days. We went on roads that I knew and roads I had never been on before.
How to boil a baby - and get them to sleep in a tent.
The back garden of an urban residence, especially your own, where you have neighbours to stay friends with for the longer-term, is a high-stakes place to take your baby camping for the first time they will remember. In fact, my distinct preference for such a trip is to be as far from the sight and sound of others as possible - in the wilds of Scotland worked nicely for the girls, and in Thomas Ivor’s case, it was a soggy field in mid-Wales. Campsites are less conducive to the objective, because on the one hand you want noisy neighbours so you’re not the people everyone’s glaring at in the morning, yet on the other, you want the little one to actually sleep.
Cycling to the sea - 77 miles in a day
It all started when Daddy was in the kitchen, chopping up carrots. He said to me "You keep asking to go to the sea, Ruth - wouldn’t it be wonderful if you could ride all the way to Kings Lynn. Would you like to try that? It’s a long way" And I said "I would love to do that!”
A day of two rides
…there it sits, provocatively on its stand, just waiting for a turn of the key and an immediate trip into town. It doesn’t need lights finding, or a change of footwear, never mind clothes, to ride it - and it will carry several children and a load, at the drop of a hat. Of all the bikes available to me, it’s the most useful, the most practical.
In the hall, sits a very different machine…
Back in business after birthing
It was 14 weeks since I folded my Brompton up for the last time (at 35 weeks pregnant), and I haven’t sat on a saddle since. What I have done is to give birth: to a 10lb 5oz whopper of a baby.
A change of pace - entering the Brompton World Championships
Tom had been saying for some time that he would like to enter a bike race. I was pretty certain he meant a time trial, or a road race. Still, riding a Brompton around central London in office attire is sort of like that, right?
Three key ways to survive a family cycle tour
When we’re on the road, we find that the progress we make in a day is defined far more by the time we spend off the bike, than the time we spend off it.
The day that Rhoda went viral
Well, that was a bit of a surprise. We got back from our training trip to Northumberland and popped up a video clip, and 24 hours later over half a million people have watched the clip on Twitter
Another day, another tandem…
Last night I took the children for a swim, and after a text from Katie about an eBay listing, came home via Cambridgeshire, with a whopper of a tandem on the roof!
'Pimp my Tandem' Update - Nearly roadworthy again!
Katie and Thomas Ivor's first ride on the bike showed up a few immediate deficiencies… brakes were a bit uneven, the stoker bars were really scabby and poked the captain up the bum when getting on and off.
World Autism Awareness Week - The Final Cut!
Thomas Ivor raised over £450 for the National Autistic Society - and made it into their 'Thank You' video!
Our new, old bike - Just how green are we cyclists?
The question, as usual with an old bike, becomes ‘how far do you go?' We’ve ridden the bike, it works, it goes and stops, but the handlebar grips and twist shifters are ergonomically heretical, the chainrings look like a circulating shiver of sharks, and the ‘it’s knackered, change everything’ 0.75mm chain wear gauge flaps around in the links of both chains like a drunkard's wotsit in a pub toilet.
Two's company; three's an aspiration! Buying our first tandem.
I think I actually saw '3 seconds' just as I hit the button, and the screen went blank for a what felt like at least a week.
Eventually, it became apparent that yes, we had just bought our first tandem - a Thorn Voyager - for the princely sum of one hundred and eighty-two pounds and thirty-three pence.
Five reasons to ride your bikes even when it all goes a bit wrong
What is training for, if not a bit of conditioning?! A small dose of hail in the faces, endured by choice and survived, makes for better endurance next time it comes and can't be avoided. Use mitigations (being able to turn round and put the wind at your backs, and doing that before things get ugly) and rewards (hot chocolate and a warm bath at home afterwards) while you have them.
Magic Moments - Rhoda's Rolling!
Our approach to teaching children to ride has developed over time. Thomas Ivor had stabilisers and a heavy bike. We've learned a lot since then!