Candy Cranks

London to Southend, about 60 miles of rolling quiet roads from East London to the seaside town with the longest pier in Europe, with the promise of fish and chips at the end..how could I refuse?

The Dunwich Dynamo is fast approaching, and worried that I hadn’t got any serious miles in my legs, I signed up for the Southend ride on lfgss.com. I’d done the ride several years before and remembered how great it was, plus a lot of my friends were doing it.

This ride was also going to be the inaugural outing of the new Surly Crosscheck light tourer that my good mate Nhatt was building up for me at Brixton Cycles. Disaster struck late on Friday - the bike wasn’t ready! Whilst I didn’t really want to ride it fixed (my only other ride), I had another idea.  So with a borrowed brake lever from Brixton cycles I did some last minute work on the fixed, and stuck a freewheel and a rear brake on it, packed the saddlebag with tools and food, filled the water bottle and was good to go!

After getting up at 6am on Saturday, I met some friends down the road from me and we rode the 10 miles to the start point in East London. After a fresh bagel from Brick Lane, around 40 of us headed off out of London.

Highlights of the trip were a herd of bulls running along side us in an adjoining field as we rode and the weather which was amazing! One of the guys had brought his mate on a massive mountain bike totally unsuitable for the ride - he was pushed up hills, given food and one of the fixed guys even swapped bikes with him for a stretch (he’d never ridden fixed before). He thoroughly enjoyed himself! The pace was fairly slow and there were a few hills, but even I managed to get up them all.

After the inevitable puncture and water stops, we made it to Southend just after lunchtime, fish and chips had never tasted so good! This was followed by beers on the beach and sunbathing in the glorious weather for the rest of the afternoon, then the train back to London and home.

All in all a healthy 80 miles under my belt - which will stand me in good stead for Dunwich in July.

The next ride will be a ladies London to Brighton ride in June, I’ll be sure to report back on that as well.

Today will be spent watching the Giro, rubbing cream on the wierd spots of sunburn from yesterday and doing as little as possible!

Southend Beach!

On the Road (pic courtesy of Spybot)

Regular readers may remember the ride I organised last year (see candy cranks archive). Well it’s back! This time it’s a spring affair, a more Southern route to avoid the chaos of the London Marathon, riverside riding and finishing at a nice pub by the river in Hammersmith. Around 60 ladies signed up so far. More details here. Hoping the weather will hold out - I’ll report back with pics.

Tally Ho! What!

This Saturday I was lucky enough to be one of the Head Marshalls on the Tweed Run, a charity cycle ride in dapper attire around London. The ride is the brain child of Ted Young Ing and whilst last years ride for a fairly informal affair, this year it went ballistic! Around 400 people cycled through London’s mostly friendly traffic on a beautiful spring day, a lot of them rather warm in their Tweed attire! We had penny farthings, tandems and all manner of marvellous wheeled machines.A Best dressed rider, and moustache competition,  a tea and cucumber sandwich stop in Hyde Park, and finally G&T’s all round at the finish.

Even better I got to meet fellow Candy Cranks author Clemence from Paris, who cycled over from Paris in 24 hours straight with the Mittens! A truly spiffing time was had by all and we raised over £1000 for Bikes for Africa - enough to send a shipping container full of reconditioned bikes to Africa!

Massive thanks to all involved especially Ted & Jacqui and all the marvellous marshalls and volunteers. I doff my cap to you all!

Being too busy helping to stop traffic and guide tweeders around London I didn’t take any pics, however there are literally hundreds on Flickr! and one of me and the FlockSpok!

FlockSpok!

It’s been a while since I’ve posted and it’s been a funny couple of months. ‘What’s a wedding and a funeral got to do with cycling?’ you ask. Well in this case a great deal!

On the 23rd January two good friends of mine Jenne and Aram got married. Now even though these two are Yankees we’ve gathered them into our British Bosom and were determined to make sure the day was great! Most of the guests rode to the wedding and then with the bride and groom (the bride constantly worrying about getting her dress caught in the chain) rode to the reception! There must have been around 30 of us on the wedding ride through the streets of South London - it was great! We arrived at the reception tucked into home made enchiladas (thanks Aram’s mum!) and a magnificient bike themed cake (made by my fella) The night then descended into drunken dancing and frivolity as any good wedding does!

So, after that happy event there came a sad one…

On New Years Eve our friend Paul (also known as 50/14 or affectionately ‘fiddy’ due to a badly chosen gearing on a fateful trip to Brighton one day) passed away. He was 62.

Paul was amongst us, somewhat of a legend - a penchant for bling bikes that he wouldn’t think twice about lending you if you were in need. The ability to turn up dressed for a ride completely inappropriately (100 mile ride=jeans, pub ride=full lycra) being involved in some spectacular crashes, amazing stories, a cheeky smile and a heart of gold. He was a man who could fit into any situation, charm every individual he spoke to and inspire so many of us. I remember when I rode to Dunwich last year, I was struggling up a hill in the pitch black cursing myself for thinking I could do the ride, when Paul cruised past me looking as if he wasn’t even trying. I thought if he can do it, I need to HTFU! Paul had that affect on almost everyone he met. He made such a mark on our lives during the short time that we knew him.

Paul was taken from us quickly, when we learnt of the seriousness of his illness our community rallied round like nothing I’ve ever seen. Paul had no immediate family, actually I should say he did..us. The care he received in his last days by everyone involved touched me..it actually brings tears to my eyes thinking about it. Everyone pulled together to ensure he had a fitting send off. So on Friday 29th January around 100 of us met on our bikes to take Fiddy on one last ride. We went round the streets of West London and through Richmond Park, we even crashed the hearse! Well it would be a ride with Fiddy if there wasn’t at least one crash. We rode slowly - several of us taking turns to pull Fiddy along decked out in his favourite Moser decals and world championship stripes. Traffic stopped, people stared - we all rode with smiles on our faces. As we came out of the service the sun came out and the wake was one of the best parties I’ve ever been to. Over a hundred people laughing, drinking, sharing stories. Everytime I went outside I half expected to find Fiddy sitting outside with a pint and a rollie chatting away.

Goodbye you old scrote, I will miss you but will always ride with you in my heart.

Paul, on the bike that named him

Well, its been a while since I’ve posted - my bad, work and life has been busy! So I’d thought I’d do a little catchup of what’s been happening in London Town in the past couple of months.

First of all, I’ve made my first foray into the world of track riding! A friend of mine and cycle coach down at Herne Hill Velodrome ran a couple of ladies only training sessions, and they were a roaring success. Track can be a little scary so it was really nice to have a private session with a bunch of my bike girlfriends.

It was hard work though. After changing my gearing to a more suitable 83 GI we all lined up and wobbled round the track for a while, we all became gradually more confident and by the second session we were riding in stack formation, rotations and racing!

Racing is a lot of fun, I’m generally as slow as a 2 legged dog with a Krypto chain on, but even I managed 3rd in the ‘Joker in the Pack’ race. The idea is that each of the 6 riders is given a playing card by the coach - no rider knows what any other rider has, one rider will pick the joker. The race itself is a 2 lap dash, at any point on lap 2 the Joker can start the sprint, however no other rider is allowed to start sprinting until either the Joker has gone or they are past the 250 yard line on the final lap. Guess what..I was the joker! I started middle of the pack, bided my time, then BANG I went early, throw myself into the sprint- looked over my right shoulder I see Rebecca - she’s a proper racer, so I’m expecting her to pass me..I’m thinking ‘hang on, I’ve suprised them all!’ I look over the left - Damn! My friend Sam is whizzing beneath me on the black (fast) line. Sam is bloody quick and almost beats Rebecca at the line. I still make third though and am pretty happy with that!

Ladies of the Track!

London Cycling Campaign Ladies Ride and London Cycle Show.

I blagged a free pass to the show by offering my marshalling services on the LCC ladies ride. The ride started at London’s Imperial War Museum in Lambeth, and went through some quiet roads through the city, ending at Earls Court where the show was based. Apart from getting comically lost after one of the ladies had a mechanical - we finally made it and I walked round looking at all the shiny things!

Highlights for me were the Pashley 3 Speed Fixed, some beautiful Colnago’s and a fixed Moulton!

Pashley 3 Speed Fixed

Fixed Moulton Belt Drive

Octagonal tubing Colnago!

Finally, but by no means least - after 2 years on the waiting list - I finally received my Archie’s Grobag!

Archie’s Grobags is a one man custom bag making business - based in East London, he hand makes every single bag.

My bag is MASSIVE, maybe a little too big for me to use daily - it constantly amazes me how much I can actually fit in it. For day to day bimbling around I have one of his other smaller ‘Ninja bags’ this is a perfect hip pouch, or it can be worn as a mini courier bag. It holds loads of stuff and has useful essentials like pump loops, light holders, D-lock holders and tarp lining. I’ve also just invested in a ‘Rosie’ pouch - these things are currently going like hot cakes - 4 batches in as many weeks have gone almost instantly, and have even been mentioned on Wired magazine’s website. A few pics below - Archie’s not taking orders for large bags at the moment, but if you want to get your hands on a ‘Rosie’ pouch start watching this thread on londonfgss.com - a 5th batch is planned soon but beware they go quickly!

My Grobag

Grobag Open

Side View

Rear view - lots of padding!

Rosie Pouch - Yes you can get all that in there.

Rosie Pouch in use

Hopefully I’ll have more time for posts this winter, and the next update won’t be so long!

So, after much planning,  taking my bike apart to fit in the boot, and packing the car to capacity. My other half and I set off for our Euro-Road-Trip Holiday. Having refused to take my new ride on a plane, and the fact that we were camping, and moving around so much I’d somehow managed to persuade him to drive around 1600miles around Europe (I don’t drive). First stop Dover, and after a rather uninspiring ferry crossing to Dunkirk we hit the road! Stopping in France, Belgium (Never drive in Brussels - NEVER), Luxembourg before stopping at our camp site in the Netherlands - which meant I could finally get on my bike!

Our little camp in NL

Cycle path in NL

I was a bit nervous about riding on the ‘wrong’ side of the road (Mike had been freaking out all week in the car) but I’d needn’t have worried..I had my own road! We were camped near the Veluwe National park, lush forests and green as far as the eyes could see, families out on their bikes - no helmets, no special clothes..this is what cycling should be like! Cars stopped for you, were patient and overtook you carefully.

Awesome cargo bike

After 5 great days in NL, I stripped the bike down, we packed up and drove 500miles to Bavaria in the south of Germany..lots of hills!

Three of us decided to do a bike ride one day, riding to Toben - also known as ‘Little Berlin’ as it was split in two by the Berlin wall during the cold war. 25k away - easy..or so we thought. The three of us looked like the most ridiculous riding party ever. Me on my blinged up fix, Martin on his recumbant trike, and Liam on his mini Dahon folder!. In an effort to avoid too many hills we decided to follow the river in the valley. Needless to say the 25k ride turned into a 75k ride and we didn’t even make it to Toben!  We did however cycle through some amazing countryside, have a great cyclists lunch of spaghetti and schnitzel in Hirschberg - whilst the locals laughed at our wierd bikes and attacked some hills on the way back.

Back in London now, and commuted in today - back to the angry drivers and fumes - bah!

Carb loading Bavarian Style

The wierdest looking touring party ever!

Wow, what a weekend! With 40 teams from all over Europe competing; the inaugural European Hard Court Bike Polo Championships were held in London. Held over two days  - the cream of European Bike Polo competed for the title of European Champions, and some amazing prizes, including flights and entry for the winners to the World Polo Championships in Philadelphia USA this coming September!

I spent the weekend looking after a core group of volunteers, making sure gates were manned - security was..er secure, people were in the right places and things were getting done. Two 14 hour days or pure mayhem! The event ran without a hitch - largely thanks to those volunteers who endured me shouting at them - telling them to carry crap, sweet-talk local businesses into using their toilet facilities and pick up litter!

The polo I did manage to see (which wasn’t that much!) was amazing - the final came down to L’Equipe from Switzerland versus Malice - a London team who had literally fought their way to the final - the atmosphere was amazing and as the light was failing after drawing 3-3 for most of the match, L’Equipe took the match 5-3.

Prizes included - new bikes for the winners, flights to the Worlds and various other goodies donated from the likes of Shop14, Brick Lane Bikes, Brooks, Archie’s Grobags, Knog, Crumpler and too many more to mention.

All in all an amazing if somewhat exhausting weekend, I’m glad to be back in the day job today!

More pics here

Another bump for the Euro’s which I’ll be heavily involved in this weekend. Photos to follow and a proper write up next week. We’ve even been featured on the BBC!

This isn’t a particularly nice subject, but it’s one that needs talking about. This year in London of the 7 cyclist deaths caused by  Lorries, 6 of those were women. That’s a pretty frightening statistic, below is a list of those women.

1. Eilidh Cairns, 5th February, Notting Hill Gate
2. Rebecca Goosen, 8th April, Old Street
3. Meryem Ozekman, 9th April, Elephant & Castle roundabout
4. Adrianna Skrzypiec, 15th May, Woolwich
5. Emma, 12th June, Charterhouse Street
6. Catriona Cockburn, 29th June, Oval

I myself passed the site of the 6th victim minutes after the accident on my daily commute , to see tarpaulin shielding the scene as the Emergency services frantically tried to save this poor woman’s life. It was a truly chilling sight.

With the upcoming Olympics here in London, and a large Rail project in progress there is a lot of construction going on, which also means there are a lot more HGV’s on the roads. This article is not here to blame either cyclists or the HGV drivers, but merely to raise awareness that we need to be very careful on the roads.

Below is some info very kindly offered up by a truck driver called ‘Nozzer’ on the blind spots of HGV’s and the dangers involved. Thanks to him and  Buffalo Bill @ Moving Target for getting this information.

Transport for London have also finally done something and released this informative video

“Turning Left

(The HGV is in Blue, The blind spot is in Red)

Pic 1) and pic 2) Truck turning left/on a left hand bend.
Rear of the trailer will be moving closer to the kerb and further to the left than the cab.
The cab will be on the white line or even crossing into the other carriageway depending on how sharp the turn is and how wide the road is.
Driver is HIGHLY unlikely to be looking in his right hand mirror unless to check if the corner of the trailer is in the right hand lane-and all he’ll see in it is the headboard of the trailer if he is.
Predominantly he’ll be looking in the left mirror/ahead.

Straight Line

Pic 3) Truck going in a straight line.
This is also the same visiblity as a rigid or non-articulated vehicle. Assume the driver is using   his mirrors only in the direction of travel in a rigid vehicle.
If the truck is stationary or it’s safe to do so-(ie assuming no oncoming traffic there needs to be no bends in the road coming up and the truck isn’t indicating) then this is the safest time to overtake.
DO NOT UNDERTAKE while it’s moving-and if you MUST undertake then only do so if you KNOW the truck isn’t going to move before you’re past.
DO NOT pull up in the nearside red zone by the cab.The kerbside mirror shows very little. If the driver is going to miss you,unless you’re directly behind the trailer this is where he’ll miss you while the truck is stationary.
We’d far rather you pulled up directly in front of us and we could see you.

Turning Right

Pic 4) and pic 5) Truck turning right/on a right hand bend.
Rear of the trailer will be on the white line or even crossing into the other carriageway depending on how sharp the turn is and how wide the road is.
BEWARE the back end of the trailer-if this is a very sharp bend the rear of the trailer will be moving to the left as it pivots round the axles. This is a SERIOUS crush hazard and the driver CANNOT SEE IT at all and is unlikely to know the trailer has hit someone. I once ripped the front bumper and valence from a Discovery that tried to push through and I didn’t feel it.
Driver will be splitting attention between right mirror(back of trailer),left mirror(Is the headboard going to intrude on the path?) and ahead.

Overall

If an articulated lorry isn’t stopped in a straight line DON’T undertake. Your chances of being seen are slim if bent left and nil if bent right and you’re likely to get crushed as either the cab or trailer will be coming very close to the kerb.
For the same reason don’t cycle up behind one in the red zone at speed then pass-the driver may already have comitted to a manoevre because his mirrors look clear.”

If you see an HGV stop and put his hazards on directly after a turning/side road make CERTAIN he can see you. He’s likely to start reversing into the side road as soon as he thinks he’s clear behind. Many HGV trailers DON’T have reversing lights so don’t rely on seeing them and hearing a beeper coming from 45′ away on the cab is a bit of a tall order.

The triangular red zone on the right of the cab that appears to be out in the middle of nowhere isn’t actually a blind spot as such-but is an area that may well be obscured to the driver by the window pillar and isn’t actually directly visible while driving. If the vehicle has a right-hand lower wide angle mirror then this won’t be a blind spot.

BUT…

Be very aware that the wide angle mirrors are extremely difficult to see a cyclist in,given the amount of time we can dedicate to them whilst moving.That goes for both sides.We’ve still got to look in the direction we’re travelling in.

And an aside-in defence of us…

We’re more likely to be looking in our mirrors and to have seen you than the 50 car drivers you just passed.

Incidentally, I used to ride motorbikes through London regularly. I still ride regularly and have a fair idea of what to avoid. Even with more BHP/tonne than a Ferrari under me and being twice the size of a cyclist passing lorries is an unpleasant experience. I think you guys are f*cking crazy and as such should be thoroughly encouraged (take it as a compliment-it’s meant as one).”