Tom Amos started a petition on NR10’s web site, and called it 3feet2pass. I signed the petition, as did a disappointing 2 600 others.What is important here is not the numbers, but rather the response. The Government’s response starts off by stating they will do nothing about the situation. It then continues with little gems like … Read more
This morning, whilst commuting to work on the black bike, I had a hair-raising experience. I was going through a series of crossings by the Britannia Inn, on Outland road, when a car skipped the lights. The picture below is of the intersection. The yellow line shows where I was cycling, the red line shows … Read more
I’ve been a fan of night riding for a long time now, but pretty much all my night riding so far has been done on well-lit urban roads. This is easy to explain: for proper night riding you need a decent light and I didn’t have one. Being a natural-born-geek one of my favourite sites … Read more
Had to happen sooner or later! I’ve been commuting through all the bad weather we’ve been having in Plymouth, without a single mishap. True, we didn’t get the amount of snow as other parts of the country, but we still had a fair bit. Of course, we had the rain, which led to ice. And … Read more
Well, not really! Nuh-uh! Not at all! I have however noticed a distinct pattern of blogging amongst several cycle blogs, which consists of something like this:“Outside it wasn’t simply snowing, it was chucking down ice-bergs (with pieces of Titanic still attached!) but I went cycling through it all! Of course people asked if I’m mad, … Read more
Idiots – the planet’s one commodity that is becoming ever more plentiful. Take for example this site: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Theres-a-perfectly-good-path-right-next-to-the-road-you-stupid-cyclist/190080667052 – God only knows the depths of depravity that spawned the mind that felt compelled to create this rubbish. And Facebook is washing its hands in an admirable Pontius Pilate impression. “Freedom of speech”, “No violence against … Read more
And suddenly 2009 is gone, vanished, never to be seen again! I’m not really one for analysing the past year, nor do I believe in New Year’s Resolutions. To be fair, I quit smoking on the 3rd of Jan, 2008, but that was pure co-incidence. I woke up that morning & realised that it was … Read more
I used to follow a blog entitled “Crap cycling and walking in Walthamstow” – http://crapwalthamforest.blogspot.com – but I’ve had enough of it! Now being a bit of a cycle advocate myself, I’m all for pointing out what is wrong, such as poor cycling facilities, or just how cyclists are being ignored by councils. However, there … Read more
I thought I’d quickly post some pics taken recently, while cycling on the Plym valley cycle path. When I left home on Monday morning (21 Dec 09) at 07h45, it was still darkish and freezing cold, with ice everywhere. As I cycled towards Laira bridge, I passed over a few roads that I doubt had … Read more
With Copenhagen in full swing, and headlines all over reporting what progress (or lack thereof) is being made on reaching a global climate change deal, other things are happening. For starters, Denmark is full of German police vehicles (now THAT must trigger some unhappy memories!) as apparently they don’t have enough of their own. Whether … Read more
OK, it just HAD to happen: sooner or later I had to aquire a road bike. This eventually took the shape of a dangerously-close-to-brand-new Raleigh Pioneer. It’s a city bike, complete with proper mudguards and a carrier and it’s in immaculate condition. This changes things for me in a number of ways. Firstly, this bike … Read more
Went to see Plymouth Argyle play a home game against Barnsley yesterday, after having been invited by a collegue. Given that I’ve lived in Plymouth for some 10 years now, and that I’ve never actually seen Argyle play, I figured that it was probably about time I went, despite not being a football fan. Metcheck.com & … Read more
I suppose most people wouldn’t have the foggiest who Crocodile Harris is (was?). He’s a musician and had a hit with an anti-war song called “Give me the good news“. Mind you, despite the song’s title, don’t listen to it when you’re within reach of sharp objects! But I digress. Been doing a fair old … Read more
The post just below shows the UK way of creating and running ads to keep people safer on the road. It places all responsibility on the pedestrian and cyclist, allowing car drivers to get away without any sense of responsibility at all. The Dutch do things differently, and significantly better: this video is part of … Read more
The Department for Transport have been running these very artistic animated ads aimed squarely at kids.There’s a few of them, and while I broadly support anything that makes kids safer, I have a problem with where the balance lies here: Have a look at the end: all three kids are wearing hi-viz something or the … Read more
OK, I’ll hand-on-heart admit that I suffer from roadrage. To be honest, I have been making a sustained and deliberate attempt at taming this (and a few other!) unruly aspect(s) of my character and I do believe I’ve made at least some progress. Having said that, I also need to point out that I don’t … Read more
I’ve been eyeing helmet cameras for some time now, but life being what it is I cannot at this stage justify spending money on a helmet camera.After all, while it is nice to have, and very interesting, it is a toy. However… Some time ago I made the mistake of signing a mobile contract with … Read more
I’m a great fan of Intructables.com, a site that is absolutely dripping with information on making lots of things. Trawling through the site a while ago I stumbled across something called he Nokia BikeLight. Bike lights are a pain, at the best of times. Basically, they’re split into two categories: Lights to see by, and … Read more
OK, I’ll admit it to the entire world (or at least the small handful of people reading this blog): I don’t like ponces. There! I said it and there’s no going back! Want to seea prime example of a ponce? Go look at James Martin, supposedly a celebrity chef and car enthusiast. In case you … Read more