..........................................................................................................................................................................................................
confusion reigns
either we have passed through the multiplicity of bottom bracket standards, or we've simply lost interest, allowing them to continue to flourish, but paying no attention while they do. and yes, it does worry me that i have still employed the words standards in relation to those myriad of bottom brackets; surely any more than two standards (at most) calls into question whether any of them are truly standard? in the days of the square-taper, life was a great deal simpler; the only bit that clamoured for attention was whether the frame sported english threads or italian, the latter requiring that both bearing cups be screwed in 'righty-tighty', while the british had singularly realised that contra-rotation of the bearings was likely to unscrew the non-drive side cup, altering it to a left-hand thread; same as the pedal.
but the hard part of so many reputed standards is not the confusion engendered at the time of such innovation, but during the ensuing years, when some of those standards may have been quietly dropped when no-one was looking. because, when we buy a new bicycle, rarely are we inclined to query the shop floor sales staff as to the particulars of the installed bottom bracket. it's probably a similar tale with reference to sram's recently imposed rear dropout standard. it's only in later years, when the bearings start making noises we'd rather they didn't, or there's a good case for replacing the chainset, that our ignorance displayed at the point of purchase, comes back to bite us.
in my case, we might replace the word purchased with sent for review, something the specialized bike company were kind enough to do in 2016, with a crux cyclocross bike. in this particular case, the bottom bracket is of the press-fit variety, a standard that apparently occupied only one or two years, before reverting to the threaded outboard cups. i cannot deny that the latter option would have made my life a tad less indefinite.
a couple of years back, the noises emanating from the bottom bracket indicated that the bearings were in sore need of replacement, highlighting, at the time, my complete ignorance of the bottom bracket variation in my possession. heaven knows how matters would have progressed, had it not been for google; i was able to search for specialized crux bottom bracket bearings, a search that eventually led me to the correct replacements. i did, of course, have to additionally find the necessary tools to fit the new bearings into the frame. my search was complicated slightly by specialized having opted to fit alloy inserts to obviate the creaking problem exhibited by other makes where the bearings were inserted directly into the carbon frame.
a subsequent problem has now arisen as i toy with the possibility of replacing the chainset. at relatively frequent intervals, the drive-side crank on the crux begins to creak, an irritating noise that can usually be relieved by loosening and re-tightening the drive-side crank bolt. however, the most recent instance of this did not have the desired result, and i now query whether there may be a part of the system that has worn, even if only slightly. one option is to replace the praxis chainset with a sram rival. but do i require a gxp replacement, or a dub version? and, since it's a question i can't satisfactorily answer, how do i find out, without purchasing one or t'other and discovering whether or not it fits. seems nobody thought to consider the future during the moments of implementation.
in the case of the crux, there's a removable plate under the bottom bracket shell, providing access to the rear derailleur wire. if they'd thought about it at the time, perhaps specialized could have indicated details referencing not only the bottom bracket standard, but those of the headset bearings. a colleague of mine owns a specialized diverge on which the headset bearings were recently found to be in need of replacement. on the crux, the headset requires a 1.125" bearing up top, and a 1.25" bearing at the crown race. though the diverge fulfils a similar function to that of the crux, leaving specialized with effectively two gravel bikes (the crux began life as a dedicated cyclocross bike), the diverge, in this case with a future shock, uses two identically-sized bearings that are neither 1.125" nor 1.25".
the word you're looking for is aaaaaaarrrgh.
monday 23 march 2026
..........................................................................................................................................................................................................shepherding
i mentioned late last year, that islay estates had opted to fence off the shore side of the legendary uiskentuie strand, the 3km stretch of coastline which forms the northern edge of loch indaal (coincidentally, the name of the second ferry currently under construction in turkiye, and due to join the islay/jura service in about six months' time) apparently, during the last ice-age, islay existed as two separate islands, divided by the conjoining of loch indaal and loch gruinart, and explaining the tall, raised beaches that border the non-shore side of uiskentuie strand.
at any rate, though largely unpopular with the island's dog-walking population, while fencing the grass and beach area still allowed access via so-called kissing-gates sited top middle and bottom of the strand, the fact that the ground was subsequently populated with cattle, placed a somewhat restrictive barrier to all that walking, an activity that has taken place at this location for many decades. the ground is also home to a small flock of sheep, but given that the latter are not renowned for interacting with human interlopers, they are mere bagatelle in the narrative. cattle, on the other hand, aside from being considerably larger and heavier than the average human, are often inclined to take a belligerent stand with folks interrupting their peaceful grazing, particularly if there are dogs involved. and despite the estate placing large, highly visible signs at every gate along the length of the fence, advising that dogs must be kept on a lead, i have witnessed many instances where that has been completely ignored.
only a couple of years ago, the husband of argyll & bute msp, jenni minto, was seriously injured by cows when walking his dog in an open area of ground from which people were not excluded. the thought of history repeating itself has obviously not been far from the minds of the estate owners, but it's an unaccountable fact that many individuals do not see such signs as directly pertaining to them. from my point of view, if there are cattle in a field, i will not be cycling through that field; sheep are predictably unpredictable, but not dangerous. cattle are also unpredictable, but can be dangerous and can run faster than sheep, occasionally towards walkers and cyclists, if the notion takes them.
according to a spokesperson for the estate, the fencing operation was designed to encourage choughs, birds that are members of the crow family and which feed on the insects that are regularly found in cow dung; hence the cattle. however, local lore would tend to suggest that there have never been choughs on uiskentuie strand, nor are there ever likely to be, no matter the amount of naturescot funding (for the fence) and cattle that are thrown in its direction. but it seems that the only ones who failed to spot a fatal flaw in the otherwise cunning plan, were the estate and naturescot themselves.
the fence stretches the length of the road from uiskentuie farmhouse to foreland road end, on the other side of which is machair (sturdy grasses which grow on coastal areas), and a gravel beach. at the foreland end, there is a fence constructed at right angles to the road and the shoreline, but which ends as it enters the water at high tide. the ground on the southern side of this fence is open to the road, and round which, just over two weeks ago, it seems the herd of cattle decided to wander, ending up on the main bridgend to bruichladdich road.
many, including yours truly, had pointed out this obvious escape route, and one wonders why the cattle owners paid little heed? suffice it to say, while the flock of sheep remains (they're generally less prone to enter the water, or even perceive of the escape route), the herd of cattle and attendant silage trailer have been moved to the other side of the road, where the raised beaches form an insurmountable barrier to freedom. and just in case you haven't been paying close attention, this now leaves the way open for yours truly to recommence weekly emulation of michael vantourenhout and cameron mason, by riding the full length of the strand in search of improved bike handling.
the question remains, however, whether that is a likely outcome, and, even if verifiable, to what end? i have yet to re-learn the art of clambering aboard cyclocross style, and i'm unlikely to carry out that process in such a public location as the strand. but now that the sheep have considerably shortened the length of grass in the upper part of the strand, it's possible to ride the full 3km, even if the upper part is now randomly infected by patches of gravel, some of which are all but concealed within the machair. the sheep have not been in residence for long enough to re-establish the narrow paths they had once carved when last they grazed the strand over two years past, but riding is more than doable.
so i can now ride the full length of the strand in both directions, en-route to debbie's for lunch and home again afterwards, attempting to remain upright as i learn to increase my speed as time goes by. but though islay's roads are increasingly in a poor state of repair, leading to the frequent necessity to avoid newly appearing potholes, and the often erratic behaviour of visiting motorists, i'm not entirely sure that my weekly perambulations of the strand are likely to transform me to wout van aert cyclocross status; in other words, am i simply fooling myself?
probably.
today's monologue was brought to you by david bowden's solo bass album, 'unsung songs', due for release on friday 10 april.
sunday 22 march 2026
..........................................................................................................................................................................................................study leave
i will concede that i have, on occasion, been guilty of stating the glaringly obvious, a skill i share with any number of politicians and sports commentators. but more often than not, this has been done in good faith. and, in keeping with the rest of my public writing career, such statements have rarely been at the behest of intensive research or consideration; most often as a result of being self-opinionated, or from purely anecdotal, and sometimes highly suspect, evidence. however, last year's health scare notwithstanding, i'm quite happy to relate that my weekday walking habit allied to weekends of riding my bike have kept an old fart like me healthier than many of my peers.
the consultant who provided health advice prior to my departing hospital, and several of the nurses who have repeatedly relieved me of blood over the past twelve months, were keen to point out that the fitness i had acquired from the regime described above, would almost certainly speed my recovery. i am pleased to relate that this has proved to be 100% true. granted, the weekly number of kilometres has more or less halved, and the speed at which those kilometres are covered has marginally declined. however, the monday to friday morning walk remains robust in the face of adversity, particularly across the past three months of less than favourable weather conditions.
naturally enough, any prospective fitness programme, contrived or otherwise, will vary depending on the time available, how you view the importance of health and fitness in daily life, and the age group to which you belong. but, in the absence of any scientific research, i think i can confidently say that even a modest amount of strenuous activity on a regular basis, is likely to keep you fit and healthy when allied to appropriate dietary considerations.
but, if i read my audience correctly (and there's no real guarantee that i have), i would think most of us here are already aware of that. you hardly need me to point it out, and were i to do so on a daily basis, i fear that the audience i may have misjudged would be even more severely diminished. perhaps the best that can be said is that no amount of money was spent on venting these suspect opinions, and no pixels were harmed in their subsequent dissemination. yet, perhaps i have missed a trick? maybe, with a tad more judicious forethought, i might have been able to apply for grant funding, allowing the conducting of a survey that would not only provide suitable gravitas and veracity to my assumptions, but offer a modest stipend into the bargain.
the part that concerns me most, however, is that i pen daily updates to what is an admittedly bizarrely-named blog in the first place. let's face it, thewashingmachinepost has no obviously direct association with cycling. as the years since mr obree was a household name have increased in number, i fear any tentative connections have long since fallen by the wayside. but from recently published evidence, it seems that a needless name change from something eminently suitable, to something that sounds as if it was concocted by a committee, the members of which could not agree on anything at all, may have been a necessitous part of undertaking a study to propound the glaringly obvious once again.
to defer from the deliberately cryptic, i am talking about sustrans, whose original name perfectly adequately described the organisation's primary purpose, before it became the far less snappy, walk wheel cycle trust. if i live to be 120, i will never understand why it was found necessary to dispense with the sustrans name in favour of that ungodly mouthful. one can only hope they don't make the staff wear t-shirts with that emblazoned across the front or back. however, dissatisfaction with nomenclature aside, the walk wheel cycle trust has published the results of a survey that, surprise, surprise, indicates that walking wheeling and cycling might well be beneficial for the uk population, reputedly saving the nhs almost £2 billion and preventing a whole host of specifically numerated serious long-term health conditions each year.
quite what this is intended to prefix, i know not. it has long been common knowledge that smoking cigarettes is not a healthy pursuit, knowledge backed up by sturdily presented advice to that effect on each and every packet of cigarettes, packets that are no longer allowed to be on public display and the price of which makes recently increased petrol prices seem trivial by comparison. yet people still smoke, deliberately asking for their favoured brand(s) at the local averagemarket on a daily basis. undertaking a survey in conjunction with 17 regional and local partners to pronounce that smoking kills, would be the very embodiment of a pointless exercise.
likewise the walk wheel cycle trust survey results. had this particular monologue been a smidgeon more upbeat and complimentary, does anyone honestly think that any inadvertent reader would be inclined to close the laptop and retreat to reconsider their particular life choices? me neither. and just before all descends into farce, the selfsame study used societal gain (whatever that is when it's at home) to compare the costs and benefits of cycling with those of driving. this would indicate that the walk wheel cycle trust expects the nation's motorists to pay heed to their hard won data, and immediately consign the motor car to the driveway or garage while reaching for a set of handlebars. but for that to happen, the results would surely have to be endorsed by jeremy clarkson, james may, or lewis hamilton, appearing in print in the motoring media, before the average non-believer might take notice.
i'm going out on a limb here, but i'm guessing that's not going to happen anytime soon.
saturday 21 march 2026
..........................................................................................................................................................................................................close, but no cigar
though i'm aware i'm not the only one to do so, i have moaned incessantly about the substantial increase in subscription costs of watching live and on-demand cyclesport via tnt sports, the replacement, in the uk at least, for the artist formerly known as eurosport. and as also mentioned at the wind up of this year's cyclocross season, i have no serious complaints about that particular sport's live coverage, other than the really annoying propensity to interrupt proceedings with far more adverts than you'd think necessary or desirable. it costs considerably less money to have channel four's streaming service remove the adverts, (about £4.99 per month), than the ludicrous £30.99 monthly subscription for tnt sports which frequently included adverts.
and, as if to add insult to injury, when those adverts appeared in on-demand coverage, the missing piece of racing was still noticeably missing. given that on-demand footage is recorded, obviously the missing half-lap or so, could easily have been shown. i also figure that, with the technology currently available, it would be simplicity itself to either restrict my viewing solely to cyclocross for a reduced monthly fee, or check my viewing history to realise that i had only watched cyclocross and offer the reduction for next season. the word profiteering springs to mind. over the 24/25 cyclocross season, my payments to discovery+ were a modest £35. for exactly the same period of time and the same number of 'cross events in the 25/26 season, someone benefitted from £155 of my money. i very much doubt anyone at tnt would be able to satisfactorily defend the £125 increase.
however, as of 26 march, tnt sports will move from discovery+ over to the new hbo max channel, on both the television set and the web (hbomax.com).
is this good news?
well, it probably is for a number of broadcast moguls somewhere in the town of america, and it's slightly possible it may be better news for those who not only subscribe to tnt sports, but those who do so on an annual basis. if we take the annual subscription to tnt sports at 12 x £30.99, then watching tadej and mvdp romp to an endless number of unchallenged victories will cost an eywatering £371.88. admittedly cheaper than a campagnolo wireless super record rear mech, but not by a great deal. however, the hbomax version of tnt sports will apparently provide the option of a monthly discount of £5, if paid for twelve months upfront. that reduces your annual outgoings to £311.88; still a big ouch. confusingly, a monthly subscription for premium hbo max programming, without tnt sports, is a mere £14.99.
nope, me neither.
i have heard rumours that the subscription price is already being tabled for an increase later this year, taking the monthly cost up to £34.99, but they're hardly likely to confirm that prior to the 23 march launch of hbo max. and since i'm still only interested in watching cyclocross, i'm unable to benefit from any discount across the 25/26 'cross season.
i appreciate that broadcast companies such as discovery, warner brothers, hbo and tnt sports are simply money-making ventures; if watching daffodils grow were to generate a reasonable revenue stream, they'd quite happily add that option too. so the fact that in the space of a few years we've gone from eurosport player to discovery+ to tnt sports, has everything to do with moving the cash around amongst monoliths, and very little to do with keeping the customer satisfied. nonetheless, it's all becoming a bit tiresome.
so can we at least hope that tnt sports being subsumed by hbo max will be the last alteration for more than a year? i wouldn't bet on it.
friday 20 march 2026
..........................................................................................................................................................................................................rigorous
as with most newspapers and magazines, islay's community newspaper adheres to an underlying grid, structured to encourage a degree of conformity, regularity and consistency. while this applies every bit as much to the editorial section of the paper, it's principal purpose is ease of use when it comes to advertising. while editorial is notionally based on a four column page, advertising is coerced into two wider columns. since two is obviously half of four, it's easy to transition between the two if one section impinges upon the other at any point.
so, while the text-based pages can take the form of a single, page-wide column of two or four column articles, it's easy enough to throw in the odd (literally) three-column article if space or design makes that the most appropriate option. photographs are often stretched across two or three of the four-column articles, but a three-column option can prove quite helpful at times, allowing for a slightly smaller image. images can thus be arranged left, centre or right, depending on the layout of the entire page and that which will be viewed opposite.
advertising prices are based on an a4 page, providing options for an eighth-page, quarter-page, half-page or full-page. granted, there are malleable opportunities within the standard two columns, but the finessing comes when arranging an amalgamation of quarter and eighth page adverts, attempting to ensure that the bounding boxes line up in an aesthetically pleasing manner. i am of the opinion that layout of a newspaper ought to be transparent; in other words, layout choices should neither jar or stand out, unless that is the desired effect. so if arranging three quarter-page adverts and two eighth-page ads, the edges should line up as near perfectly as possible. a certain amount of fudging often has to take place where the advertiser has only approximated the dimensions. ultimately, the macro adjustments should be experienced, but never noticed.
some would say that, in a small community newspaper, such close attention to detail must surely prove unnecessary, except in the case of widespread unruliness, and to a certain extent, that's true. it's a newspaper, not a work of art, and surely very few, if any, of the paper's readers would be likely to notice such minor visual aberrations. however, i console myself with knowing that i will see those mismatched edges and spaces, so it's surely enough that i attempt to take care of them where possible? after all, art lies in the details. yet despite being aware of such self-imposed attention to detail, i still find myself a tad overwhelmed with the rationale behind muc-off's latest dark energy chain lubricant.
i have made mention previously that i am often inclined, very much against professional advice, to rely on the ubquitous and oft-criticised, wd40 to see my chain through a bike ride. since i do like my chains to be clean and shiny, the most practical means of so doing, is spraying the chain with wd40 and cleaning it within a centimetre of its existence by means of a former bath towel. this i frequently do between bike rides.
i have, however, fielded several reviews of a wide variety of chain lubricants, all of which, insofar as my decidedly non-scientific testing could ascertain, acquitted themselves most adequately. again, non-scientifically, to my perception, all behaved just as you'd expect, with rarely any perceived difference between those which cost a small fortune, and others with more modest price tags. common lore would tend to assume that the professional classes provide their drivetrains with greater anguish than can be accomplished by you or i, but since the professionals have an army of mechanics at their disposal and the opportunity to change their chains every day if they wish, at no cost to themselves, our more modest requirements and undoubtedly less fastidious maintenance would ultimately seem to test chains, jockey wheels, cassettes and chainrings to a far higher degree than our professional peers.
yet it seems that chain lubes are often geared (pardon the pun) more towards the latter than the former, often by way of ludicrously exacting ministrations, that, at the risk of being unnecessarily impudent in the face of professional expertise, often seem just a tad over the top.
if you doubt the veracity of my unsavoury accusations, have a read of the passage below, culled from a bikebiz article on the release of muc-off's dark energy chain wax.
Inside the Muc-Off lab, formulations were subjected to tribological screening set to the independent ASTM standards, which benchmark the coefficient of friction (CoF) and wear properties consistently across formulations. High performers were then progressed to dynamometer efficiency testing in both clean and contaminated states over extended periods. Wear was then quantified using their own white-light interferometry equipment, enabling high-resolution 3D surface profiling, which allows microscopic wear scars to be measured with precision. This white-light interferometry equipment, which can measure down to 0.1 of a micron (700 times smaller than the thickness of a human hair), is mounted on an active air isolation table to reduce micro-vibrations (which even the human voice can create) in order to deliver the highest level of accurate and, vitally, repeatable results under controlled conditions.
for a product priced at £15 for a 50ml tube, that seems like a heck of a lot of work to put into something that professionals (riders and mechanics alike) will almost certainly take for granted, and which you and i will fawn over on receipt of our first bottle, before forgetting all about it, noticing no specific benefit over the previous product. i realise i am perhaps being overly cynical about a product of which i have no practical experience, but one of muc-off's previous lubricants of which i did have firsthand experience, arrived with a small blacklight which could subsequently be shone on the chain to ensure the lube had been evenly applied. it was a nifty gimmick, but made no difference whatsoever, and i'm sure the lubricant proved no more effective than its predecessor.
as mere amateurs, we either change the chain on a specific time basis (every three or six months, depending on weather and mileage), or simply run the chain as long as possible and hope for the best that it has neither hooked the chainrings, or worn the cassette past the point of no return. professionals almost never run a chain to exhaustion, where it has to be replaced, and therefore, any longevity provided by regular lubing is surplus to requirements. a good lube may extend the life of a chain, possibly even within the definition of appreciable economics, but there are probably just as many out there on road, gravel, mountain and cyclocross bikes faring every bit as well from the can of three-in-one sitting on the bike shed shelf.
as i posited in my opening gambit, art does indeed lie in the details, but i think there has to be a point beyond which it just gets silly.
thursday 19 march 2026
..........................................................................................................................................................................................................still got it
we've held this discussion several times in the last six years, one that was brought to the surface during the covid years and their aftermath. when the first lockdowns were put in place, dispersing the majority of forms of transport, the bicycle moved into its ascendancy, providing a practical, economic and most importantly, isolated means of transport for the many on whom was conferred the right or necessity to continue working. the so-called essential professions. my own daily grind was one of these, involved as i was (and still am) in the production of a newspaper.
in truth, i do not live far enough from my place of work to have need of a bicycle; the walk takes only a few minutes, but i did enjoy the long summer weeks of brilliant, warm sunshine and, with only a lifeline ferry service in operation, almost deserted roads. government advice restricted daily exercise to one's immediate locale which we, generously, defined as the entire island, a definition that raised no objection from either local officials or the police. over here, there was no discernible increase in the number of residents transferring their affections to the bicycle, but worldwide, things were dramatically different.
the mayor of madrid, basking in a dramatically transformed city, pledged to maintain this new normal, by keeping the motor car at bay, should things ever return to the old normal. pop-up cycle lanes appeared even in glasgow, while cycle stores struggled to replace the rapid disappearance of bicycles from the shop floor. many cycle media outlets proudly proclaimed that "the day of the bicycle has finally arrived." boy were they wrong, though many now prefer to pretend such utterances had never been uttered.
it was always going to happen. it's one thing for non-velocipedinists to avail themselves of the joys of the bicycle on lightly trafficked roads in glorious sunshine, and another state of affairs altogether to continue such perambulations when autumnal weather first makes itself known. true to form, that's precisely what happened, allied to the completely predictable return to the motor car when national and international lockdown restrictions were lifted. the car restored its position as an alternative to the womb, while the bicycle proved itself to have been no more than the perfect tool for a job that was now complete. covid has been gone for at least four years, and the transport paradigm has returned to its original state, still creating a trail of pollution as it tentatively and allegedly transitions to electricity.
the much-vaunted day of the bicycle transpired as a mirage apprehended in the desert; never really there in the first place. glasgow's pop-up cycle lanes have similarly vanished, along with many others across the nation, while more than just a few of those who welcomed the bicycle with open arms during covid, now accuse the government and specifically the mayor of london, of waging a war against the motorist. surely no-one would be so vindictive or two-faced? meanwhile, those who should have known better, ordered double output from taiwan's cycle factories, safe in the knowledge that cycle sales were bound to follow the same trajectory displayed during lockdown.
what could possibly go wrong?
there are still mixed messages emanating from the industry; some claim to behold diminished sales and, therefore, similarly flailing profits, while others contend that the corner has been well and truly turned and things are on the up once again. it's hard to know who to believe. as mentioned above, despite no notable covid increase in cycling on the hallowed isle, numbers that had risen elsewhere had now experienced a forecast, yet oft unexpected, decline. were supporting evidence required, the knowledge that the supply chain seems still to overflow with unsold bicycles and many a cycling apparel purveyor has yet to report other than substantial losses in the past few years, should be suitable confirmation.
but following the above doom, gloom and depression, maybe things ain't so bad after all. though not necessarily the indicator of an increasing number of posteriors on saddles, it seems the great unwashed have lost little of their enthusiasm for riding midst glorious scenery on closed roads. according to caledonian concepts, organisers of etape loch ness, this year's event has "sold out months ahead of the start line." the twelfth edition of one of scotland's favourite closed-road sportives, taking place on sunday 26 April, will see thousands of cyclists ascend to the scottish highlands to take on the stunning 66-mile route around loch ness.
it is nine years since i participated in the event, forming a delightful ride around the monster's living quarters, notwithstanding the fact that they'd deliberately and unnecessarily (in my opinion) sited a piper atop the ride's highest point. having had to listen to an agglomeration of drones and chanters on a weekly basis for a number of years, i had hoped that a bike ride around loch ness would prove to be an equitable escape. assuming you do not have an entry in this year's event, i'd recommend keeping a keen eye on the event website in late april, early may for an indication of how soon you can apply for a place in the 2027 event.
remember; you'd be doing it to save the industry (but don't forget the ear-plugs).
tuesday 17 march 2026
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