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..........................................................................................................................................................................................................dave t's phrase of the week
"the way to the top is through experience and self denial"
..........................................................................................................................................................................................................watching the mechanic
sounds like the title of an elvis costello song, but it is, in fact, something that you can do on cycling.tv's daily news and features channel. ricky, from aw cycles has so far completed four episodes of 'mechanical mayhem' (au contraire - i find bicycle mechanicals to be quite restful, especially building wheels) and the indication is that there are more to come.
episodes include fitting and removing tyres, fitting cables, adjusting gears (particularly relevant in my experience) and maintaining the drivetrain. if you're an experienced mechanic then there's not much to be gained, but if you'd like to learn how to look after your own machine and have two handfuls of thumbs, this is very well presented and paced.
yes there are dvds available that cover some of this stuff, but this is separated into tasty little bites and it's free. log on to cycling.tv now and take a look.
and when you've finished that, check out the 'video on demand' on the free channel for a documentary on the 2006 london paris bike ride. very entertaining - i've watched it twice so far.
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kingdom of the bicycle
there can be little doubt that i spend too much time on a macbook pro, and not enough time in the saddle. but sometimes this technological diligence (as i like to refer to it) can spring some surprises, in a most convoluted manner.
in the current issue of wired magazine there are a series of clothing adverts, one of which depicts a bloke on a 'sit up and beg' bicycle similar to a pashley. the main difference is in the braking system, which is of the old pull rod system whereby the brake shoes press on the rim surface rather than the sides. this is redolent of the dutch bikes of yore, and closer perusal showed the bike to be a 'forever', one of the major chinese brands of today.
while searching for further information on these bikes, i pulled up the 'rediscovering china' website at cctv.com which lead to a series of articles under the heading 'life on two wheels' and a web tv programme of the same name introduced by nathan jones.
it's a watch that includes interviews with a chinese photographer who snaps nothing but bicycles, and a seventy year old guy who has a collection of over 150 bicycles collected over the last fifty years.
to let you enjoy this too, copy the url below into the 'open url' under the file menu in either quicktime player or windows media player. i thought it was great, and i hope you do too.
mms://winmedia.cctv.com.cn/rediscoveringchina/2006/09/rediscoveringchina_128_20060905_1.wmv
..........................................................................................................................................................................................................more room
as mentioned below, one of the folks we met when on the braveheart ride was justin from give cyclists room. shortly after i'd contacted justin earlier this year to acquire some gcr stickers, the man was due to visit islay. surprising though it may seem, we managed to miss each other, so it was good to meet him at last and on a bike.
his campaign is leaping and bounding all over government departments and local councils: he's made a considered response to the dot's highway code consultation, lobbied the government for a duty of care to be placed on all road users and lobbied the road haulage association to support the campaign.
if you'd like to help, if only in an apparently passive mode, buy some stickers and put them on the back window of every car that you and your family and friends own. the message might just begin to get through.
give cyclists room promotes safe cycling through obeying the law and following john franklyn's advice in cyclecraft available from amazon. even if you're an experienced cyclist (or think you are) do yourself a favour and buy a copy. if we want motorists to treat us with respect, exemplary roadcraft on the bike wouldn't go amiss.
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sean kelly didn't pass me once
for those of us confined to the islands (for most of the time at least) it was a heartwarming sight to turn up at st joseph's academy, kilmarnock on saturday morning (28th october) for the annual braveheart bike ride. around 500 cyclists (remember, that's about one sixth of islay's population) eventually left the car park (cycle park would be nearer the truth) at around 11am to complete either 70km or 40km around the back roads of stewarton and fenwick. farming country but a lot different from islay. they've got hedges.
having checked the forecast before leaving islay, light rain was what we were supposed to get on saturday. and i suppose, averaged out over the day, that's probably what we got. though invoking the law according to sod, the rain started just at the point when we turned into a headwind and hit the first of the energy sapping hills. so the (much admired) ardbeg jersey had to be covered by the rainjacket for the rest of the ride, because it didn't really let up until we finished.
jez managed the short, sharp climbs with relative ease, while yours truly struggled a bit, though i was much more comfortable on the longer uphill drags. i have absolutely no idea where i was for most of my day, but i had a great time, as did most of the other entrants. we did hear one or two folks complaining about the wind - pop over here one weekend in february and we'll show you wind:-) - but everybody i passed, joined, or was passed by seemed quite happy and chatty.
while the event was billed as 'ride with the stars' jez and i only saw them at the start. sean kelly resplendent in a rather fetching little green and orange number, chris hoy (nice bloke) on a red trek with '100% me' stickered on the chainstay, and old friends brian and anthony from cycling.tv. graeme obree apparently called off due to other commitments, and i'm not sure if allan peiper was there or not. we also met up with vc d'ardbeg member tom hunter and son nick, and justin from 'give cyclists room'. but i don't think anyone was really that bothered whether they cycled with a star or not. and while i might have been slow(ish), sean kelly never passed me once (though, in fairness, he did leave in one of the groups in front of me). and a special hello to the unidentified chap who also rode wearing an ardbeg jersey. welcome to the club - send us a pic for the post.
the route was a delight. jez and i couldn't help remarking that most of the cycle lanes were better surfaced than islay's roads. the marshalling was superb - major credit to organiser alan miller and all those who supported him, including the ladies who provided us with tea/coffee and munchies at the end. and thanks to the unknown cyclist from east kilbride road club who 'towed' me the last few kilometres.
i am humbled at the number of cyclists who read the post and who passed favourable comment as they left me in their wake. how did you know it was me? total amount raised in 2006 is a massive £40,000. i hope you all had as good a time as jez and i had. it's a long way to go for 70k on the bike, but believe me, it was worth it.
and the rapha sponsored t-shirt depicted above is now available through the braveheart fund website for £20. profits to the fund, i believe. if you took part and didn't manage to grab one while you were there, now's your chance.
since a number of folks were taking pics, if anyone reading this has any of the bedraggled ardbeg peloton, we'd really appreciate copies for the post. e-mail to brian@thewashingmachinepost.net thank you.
..........................................................................................................................................................................................................wall space
if you happen to buy the guardian newspaper in the uk, you may either be delighted or dismayed that they have included a seemingly endless supply of large wallcharts each day depicting such 'goodies' as the planets, cheeses, vegetables, birds - well, you get the picture (pun intended).
unfortunately none of these wallcharts have come close to giving us pictures of bicycles. and since the walls of washingmachinepost towers do not wish to have their damp patches hidden by large colour depictions of cheese, the alternative has been found. grated, this alternative is likely to cost more than thaverage monthly spend on the guardian newspaper, but you have to pay for quality.
take a wander over to velogear.com and take alook at some wonderful elderly posters from the fabulous horton collection and choose the one that would decorate your wallspace to best effect. dave trendler at velopress advises me that postage to the uk ought to be around $18, so on a $29.95 poster, total uk cost will be around £25. there is a possibility of a uk deal to distribute the posters this side of the pond. if it happens, it'll be in the post.
the cognoscenti at velo club d'ardbeg intend to place one of those in the cosy corner at debbie's cafe in bruichladdich. you can nip over to see it when it arrives
..........................................................................................................................................................................................................bums on seats
brooks saddles are still amongst the finest leather saddles in the world (though now owned by italian specialists selle-royale - also makers of fi'zi:k), and it sometimes seems a shame that that style of bicycle seating has faded from view (no entendre intended), at least in the road bike world. one of the few places that such saddles could be seen in number at the london cycle show was on the pashley stand (why is it that a fine pashley instils almost as much joy as italian carbon?). undoubtedly retro in style and intent, brooks are capitalising on this on their website where it is possible to peruse catalogues from as far back as 1899.
and just to fill up those odd unused portions of your hard disk, all the catalogues are available in pdf format for download (just select the 'heritage' link from the drop down menu). so on a winter's sunday afternoon, pop on the rapha merino top, rest the cleats on the dog and browse the yesteryear of cycling when saddles were coal bunkers and bums were sore.
..........................................................................................................................................................................................................probably not...
with the 2007 tour de france route about to be announced, what better way to dress when reading the comic or logging on to cycling news than in this quite fetching 'alpe d'huez' t-shirt? i may have mentioned this some time ago as being available from the velogear site in the usa, but for those of us this side of the pond, sometimes you could buy shares in us postal for the amount it costs to have just a t-shirt sent to the uk.
now it can be had from russtler.com for only £18. unfortunately it's unlikely that the alpe will be included in next year's tour, and i couldn't find one with mont ventoux on the front. (now it turns out that even the ventoux is missing from the 2007 tour)
more ventoux? read 'the bastard' on rapha's site
..........................................................................................................................................................................................................magnanimity
those folks at cervelo bikes are nothing if not magnanimous. click over to cervelo.tv and take a look at the 'first bike' movies on offer under the 'ventoux.tv' menu and check how many of them ride cervelos. not magnus backstedt (currently on a bianchi and about to get on a cannondale), levi leipheimer (swapping a specialized for a trek) nor frankie andreu (no longer a pro cyclist, but a pro before cervelo had scaled the heights).
the gist of the idea is that they ask top cyclists (and frankie andreu) what their first bike was, and get them to draw it with a fibre tip. and it's all on video. sheer trivia, and just the way we like it.
but whatever you do, check out dave z's video first (see pic above). just as long as he doesn't give up the day job.
..........................................................................................................................................................................................................happiness is a cosy jersey - rapha winter jersey
this jersey is so stylish that i wore it for an entire evening around washingmachinepost towers on the day that it turned up, and nobody noticed i was wearing a cycle jersey (believe me, somebody would have said). the last time that happened was with the rapha merino training top. which brings me neatly on to this review/road test of the rapha winter jersey.
as someone who now requires to travel by bicycle only (ah, the self righteousness of it all), it is sometimes necessary to not look as if your other job is a domestique for rabobank, which requires a style of clothing that doesn't say 'cyclist' in neon letters. my original thinking on the 'travelling cyclist' dress code had been to equip myself with a rapha fixed jersey, fixed shorts and stowaway jacket, but on receiving this winter jersey, i think i may be inclined to wear that instead of the fixed jersey, since it has the added benefit of three rear pockets (one of which is zipped), since i'll need somewhere to put the cool tool, tube and apricot flapjack as well as the rainjacket.
now in a similar mode to the peugeot jersey review (see below), i would love to say i ventured out in the midst of a howling gale in temperatures well below zero, but islay is going through a mild phase at the moment, so although unlikely to suffer heat exhaustion, the weather was probably the wrong side of cool to make for the best test of the garment. what it did allow, however, was the opportunity to unzip the two cooling vents on the front which, surprisingly, proved very effective. and when it cooled down later in the ride, it was easy to zip them up again. both zips are cunningly concealed so as not to disturb the smooth lines of the jersey.
colours are again, good old dependable black and white, the latter being a hoop on the left sleeve with the rapha logo embroidered discretely in the same colour. while i would appreciate perhaps, a higher degree of visibility from a jersey, this would rather undermine my earlier point about sartorial elegance when off the colnago - you can't have it all ways.
attention to detail extends to the cuffs, which are longer on the top than on the bottom (very subtle) and the now trademark rapha zip cover at the neck to stop you taking chunks off your skin if you zip up in a hurry. the jersey is also cut longer at the back to keep your back and bum warm(ish). i was a mite disappointed at the lack of pockets on the rear. my rapha club jersey has three standard pockets, a pump pocket and a zipped pocket as opposed to the pump, large and zipped pockets on the winter jersey. granted the large pocket is very large and the pump pocket larger than before, but it does mean there's a lot of stuff in the one place. still, it functioned well for the sunday ride, so i suppose i'm probably moaning about nothing.
rapah are not renowned for their low prices, and the winter jersey is no exception at £125, though this compares well with the assos element one jersey which retails at pretty much the same price. whether you consider this to be the sort of money you can afford to spend on a jersey is entirely up to you, but you certainly get what you pay for. the style factor is free.
..........................................................................................................................................................................................................does this jersey make me look like robert millar?
coincidentally with commencing this review, i received an e-mail from someone who is becoming a regular correspondent to the post, and in his communique he mentioned an interview with robert millar after winning the 1989 kellog's tour (them were t'days) that presaged greg lemond's joining the 'z' peugeot team in 1990. not only do i remember the interview, but i still have a ''z' peugeot jersey from that very era.
however, the millar jersey that carries even more kudos than the 'z' is the original peugeot jersey from the early 80s (see pic right from 1983) worn by millar, alan peiper, sean yates and, i believe, bernard hinault. it has the strange ability to be the one jersey i can think of that can be worn with pride and impunity even if you're not riding a peugeot (and i'm not)
those very nice guys at prendas sent me the long sleeve version (andy said it's because the islay winter is looming) and, a bit like a well known energy drink, it gives you wings. shame on anyone who doesn't climb like a mountain goat when wearing this jersey.
made by italian specialists santini the peugeot and chequerboard design appears on front and rear, with the latter adhering to the norm and providing three pockets. the jersey is lined with a sort of fleecy stuff (the tag on the jersey says it's tactel, but i didn't know tactel was 'furry') with decently long sleeves finished in black cuffs along with the neck band. a full length zip features on the front and the rubberised zip tag is a nice feature. just watch what you lean against, however, since it is gleaming white. after a muddy sunday ride it probably wont be:-)
i wore the jersey on a pedal out to my local motor dealer and back, to rescind my car ownership (more on that later) on an uncharacteristically mild october day. so i haven't had the chance to attest to its cosiness as of yet, though i'm sure the opportunity will present itself before too long. if you want to feel and look good this winter, you could do worse than spend your £39.95 on one of these jerseys. but remember - there is a pedigree: only serious nostalgics need apply. prendas.co.uk
..........................................................................................................................................................................................................cycling's golden age: heroes of the postwar era 1946-1967 owen mullholland. velopress $49.95
this book is currently available in the usa from velopress - in fact eddy merckx was signing copies at interbike - but it's not yet available in the uk and i don't know when it will be. however, by the magic of portable document format and the internet, i am able to present a review of this unmissable book. and what a book it is
compiled by cycling historian owen mullholland it presents over 400 cycling artifacts and photos from the horton collection along with stories about each of the cycling heroes. in fact this is one of those books that happens along every once in a millennium that almost defies a standard review. it incoroporates anecdotes and brief histories of a panoply of great cyclists - jean robic, raphael geminiani, fiorenzo magni, hugo koblet... the list just goes on.
but the book's greatest feature is its illustrations: there are photographs of the greats at the office during the classics and the great tours as well as a liberal sprinkling of memorabilia - jerseys, posters, trophies, pennants, bottles of beer. it makes you yearn for the days when this was a normal part of cycling's atmosphere. maybe it's just because the years are advancing, but much of today's memorabilia seems almost tacky by comparison (ask me again in twenty five years).
it may be that this era of cycling seems more intriguing from across the pond, but i doubt it. this book would keep me warm on many a winter's night in front of the central heating. if you are a resident of the great north americas, i would have to ask why, if a copy of this is not already in your saddle bag. if you're resident in any part of europe, the good news is that the book is now available over here now (see below)
price is listed on velopress.com at $49.95. Cycling's Golden Age retails in the uk. for £28.00. available at good bookshops or direct from www.prendas.co.uk.
for trade enquiries, please contact: richard robinson, cordee, 3a de montfort st, leicester le1 7hd tel:0116 254 3579 info@cordee.co.uk
..........................................................................................................................................................................................................how cool is this?
at the cycle show last week mick from prendas was lounging around (as only mick can do) in a molteni wool top. perhaps, for the purposes of this review, unnecessarily so, because it's unlikely that any of us would have been at the cycle show if we hadn't had an interest in bikes. therefore demonstrating this to the converted might be seen as ostentatious. however, if you're as cool as mick, who the heck cares?
but i can't be the only one who continually seeks so called 'leisure clothing' that allows me to feel comfortable while demonstrating that i am one of the select few. can i? i very much doubt it, so apart from my extensive cycling wardrobe - mrs washingmachinepost says it's extensive anyway - it's always a joy when something turns up that i can wear during the day job
and the cache of italian lingo plastered across the front adds at least 200% to the effect. captured in one quarter zipped sweatshirt is this giro d'italia item currently on offer from prendas ciclismo for a mere £39.99 with decent length long sleeves (if you have long arms like me, this can often be a problem) a tiny buttoned pocket on the left sleeve and a couple of handwarmer pockets on the front. the crowning glory, however, is not the italian flag embroidered on the left front, but the word 'corsa' split across the zip.
i'm not sure how you would describe the colour, so look at the pic and make up your own mind, but the trim is definitely white and the collar is comfortably high. damiano cunego never looked this good (or kept this cosy). and if you order one now, prendas will send you a free giro baseball cap (or podium cap as those of us in the peloton like to refer to them)
the disappointing bit is that the only way folks on islay know it has any relation to cycling, is that i'm wearing one. still, from small acorns...
..........................................................................................................................................................................................................a head set
if you take a quick look at the header for this website, you'll notice that the subtext says 'cycling on the outer edge'. the cruel amongst us have suggested that this refers to having to cycle with dave t, but it's actually to do with geographical location. in fact, today's bike ride took jez, dave t and myself to that very edge at saligo bay - next stop, canada's eastern seaboard. and since it was windy today (actually it was very windy) surf was indeed, as they say, up.
when it's really windy like this (probably from now to march) it's really nice to feel warm and cosy on the bike, particularly round the head and ear department. rapha have rescued my own head and ears by releasing their winter cap on the market just in time for the windy bits and just ahead of when it starts to get cold.
i'm assuming that it does become colder in the rapha homeland, because it is several degrees cooler up here than it was down there last week, and we regard this as quite mild. however, these were almost ideal conditions under which to road test the winter cap, and i do intend to post one or two updates by way of a long term test when the weather gets colder and windier.
unlike previous rapha caps, this one isn't made from cotton. i've still to contact rapha for the exact composition but it appears to be of polyester origins with a loose thermal lining, an elastic 'flap' that covers the ears and back of the head and that all important peak that can be worn up or down. as far as i know it comes only in black and has the rapha logo embroidered in black on the top of the peak. it's flexible enough to be worn under a helmet and the bottom line is it's ruddy brilliant. cost is £35 direct from rapha and i'm looking forward to a wet and windy winter already (maybe a slight exaggeration, but you catch my drift).
technical details from rapha as follows: 'the hat is made in italy from brush-backed, stretch sportwool (70% polyester, 26% wool, 4% elastane) giving great insulation. a soft mesh lining wicks away perspiration to improve comfort. the seven panel design gives an excellent fit and one size fits all. the ribbed ear guard gives added protection and can also be folded up for an authentic freddy maertens look.'
i'm hoping luke and simon appreciate the photo being in grayscale in keeping with the corporate image:-)
..........................................................................................................................................................................................................as always, if you have any comments on this nonsense, please feel free to e-mail and thanks for reading.
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