Today's Metro paper had one of those classic puff pieces for selling you things that they've been bribed to promote by various PRs. The subject? "Greet the coming of spring by turning over a new leaf by cycling to work on one of these splendid contraptions." So what did they pick? I'd have gone for a tourer or hybrid. Maybe they'll put a folder ( Read more... )

I don't do a huge amount of cycling in London, and that which I do do is mostly out in the 'burbs and beyond. However, I do work in Islington and go through/visit the centre often, and here's my update on the latest trends in more-money-than-sense* London cyclery ( Read more... )

You can get sporadic calls to bring back National Service in the UK, and there was even a pisspoor "reality" TV show about it on ITV a couple of years back. However, what I want to suggest are a couple of alternatives to military National Service, i.e. experiences that should be compulsory for all or a large majority of the British population ( Read more... )

Well, things are improving marginally: it took a massive 13 comments to this Guardian comment piece about cycling in London before the classic put-down got used:

When cyclists start to obey traffic laws and don't regard red lights as optional, then I'll start to take them seriously!Replace "cyclists" with "drivers" and "red lights" with "speed ( Read more... )

A half-interesting piece about pedestrians vs. motorists on Comment is Free, which concludes that "[w]e are left with an unhappy compromise in which pedestrians behave erratically, and sometimes dangerously, because street design favours motorists but those on foot are effectively outside the law." I think it comes down to the different costs of ( Read more... )

One of the long running issues in the cycling community is the issue of cycling helmets, and in particular whether they should be made compulsory (in the same way that wearing seat belts is for car drivers in the UK). Now a study suggests that wearing a helmet increases the chance of getting knocked down by other road vehicles. One can quibble ( Read more... )

Got back last night from the trip to Devon. Full account to follow, but mine and The Tom's recce of the Devon Coast to Coast cycle route was a success. A more leisurely version will be happening sometime next year (either Easter or late summer). A bit tiring, but then we did do it (and the additional leg of Plymouth-Ashburton) in two days rather ( Read more... )

If a non-posting Livejournalist goes on holiday, will anyone notice? Yes, updates have been sporadic of late, but as I'm off for a few days cycling with The Tom they're going to be even rarer (perhaps they'll get infinitely small thereby becoming paradoxically infinite, or at least that's how it'd work if we were in the Star Trek universe). Now, I ( Read more... )

Blimey, does the US ever produce any racing cyclists who aren't triumph-in-the-face-of-adversity winners of the Tour de France? First LeMond, then Armstrong and now Landis. One might suspect that the American cycling system is secretly controlled by the Hallmark Channel or something...

1. When having purchased a new brand of chilli powder it's better to err on the side of caution when gauging amounts.

2. Best not wear flip-flops when riding a (hard, metal) bicycle along a cycle path that includes a large number of (hard, metal) anti-motorbike stiles.