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reality bites

there may be a one-off shortening of this year's ride of the falling rain, due to council roadworks that may, or may not, close off the return section from portnahaven. for those unfamiliar with islay's road network, the falling rain usually commences with a short pedal of around 4.5km from debbie's in bruichladdich to the next village south, that of port charlotte. however, midway through the village, we would normally turn right up towards the primary school, heading west for a further five kilometres, before veering left and riding about ten or eleven kilometres to portnahaven. that particular route remains unaffected.

however, the council has intimated that, from 1 august until 30 september, they expect to be carrying out resurfacing work on the return road leading from portnahaven back to port charlotte. i do have my doubts that such works will begin over the course of a weekend, but you just never know. and there's little point in cycling to portnahaven to learn that you might have to return the way you got there in the first place. i might know more nearer the time (sunday 2 august), but for anyone intending to join us for this year's event, it's as well that you know in advance.

road repairs, of course, are hardly unique to islay, but the particular stretch of road outlined above, has been steadily disintegrating for years, sporting hundreds of potholes of varying sizes that might be easier to avoid on a bicycle than in a car, but not by much. therefore, though several residents who live nearby are somewhat dismayed at the lengthy period of time during which they may or may not be inconvenienced, no-one wants to complain too loudly, since it might rival the volume of complaints that have finally brought the council to do something about it.

despite the millions of pounds in alcohol duty that flow from islay's distilleries into the national coffers each year, the island is very poorly served when it comes to maintaining the roads network; the very routes worn to a frazzle by delivery trucks serving the distilleries and visitors ariving by car or motorhome, intent on touring said distilleries. the get-out-of-jail-free card most often played by holyrood and subsequently argyll & bute council, is the truism that all that whisky duty accrues to westminster and not to the scottish parliament. since road maintenance is primarily a devolved activity, it seems that none (or very little) of that money ever makes its way back to the point of origin, by way of smooth tarmac.

in that sense, the infestation of gravel bikes has perhaps arrived at a most appropriate time, with a notable majority of velo club members having parked their road bikes and switched to gravel or cyclocross bicycles, to forestall any bicycle damage, and improve the comfort factor. add in the frequent necessity of pulling off the road onto the verge to allow motor vehicles to pass on singletrack roads, and those wider and chunkier tyres definitely have their place in hebridean velocipedinal culture.

but, perhaps my apprehension that the majority of the country is blighted with demonstrably poor road surfaces is essentially incorrect? jorvik tricycles has just announced the opening of a new, indoor test track in their southampton premises, allowing potential customers to "...replicate real road conditions." if that is indeed true, then i am particularly envious of the residents of southampton, not because they have the chance to test-ride some tricyles, but because labour-run southampton council must surely be immensely proud of its roads department. if andy burnham does indeed become the next leader of the labour party, and subsequently the country's prime minister, i would expect him to immediately make a bee-line for the town in order to personally extend his approbation to the council leader.

should you wonder of the reason for my unsubtle praise, take a look at the (artificial) road surface of jorvik's test track as illustrated at the top of this article. if that does indeed, replicate 'real road conditions', then argyll & bute council has a veritable mountain to climb when resurfacing the road from port charlotte to portnahaven.

thursday 9 july 2026

...and statistics

i recently attended a meeting of invited individuals at islay's gaelic centre, about half a kilometre outside bowmore village. adjudging it scarcely worthwhile returning home to collect my bicycle and cycle to the venue, i opted to walk. even for an aged chap such as myself, it's not a great distance (probably only a couple of kilometres from the office), but that short walk is made a tad more treacherous by the final half-kilometre being bereft of a pavement. in other words, i'd to walk on the main road leading from bowmore. thankfully, that's not quite as oneroous as it sounds; even at the edge of what passes for summer over here, motor traffic is relatively light, and very likely to behave courteously when passing.

as it transpired, i didn't stay very long. the event celebrated a visit to the centre by the director of bord na gaidhlig, scotland's premier gaelic organisation, responsible for overseeing the funding provided by holyrood, to which i had been invited as a member of the local press. disappointingly, the bulk of the conversations and discussions were held in gaelic, and, as a non-speaker, i had little to no idea of what was taking place, and saw no point in remaining past the introductions (also held in gaelic). so i left.

however, the gist of the meeting, i later learned, was the recognition of islay and jura, within the region of argyll & bute, as areas of linguistic significance, a designation that is apparently triggered when an island or region can demonstrate at least 20 percent of the population has gaelic. the trick, and i'll probably get into bother for saying so, is how that 20% is adjudged. it's a question i was keen to ask after the fact, and the answer to which is, apparently, from the census. however, if i recall correctly, the census question that has subsequently defined this figure, it rather loosely asked if the respondent had any words of gaelic. i do not believe we were asked whether we had any degree of fluency.

like many others, when living in an area where gaelic is still spoken to even a small degree, it's not hard to pick up one or two words that may subsequently be pronounced incorrectly, or even used in the wrong context. or otherwise. it strikes me, however, that defining an area as of linguistic significance based on unverified responses from a survey, could be seen as a tad optimistic. as far as i'm aware, nobody has ever checked as to just how many gaelic words are possessed by those who returned a positive reply to the census question. therefore, it seem quite possible that the interpretation of the census question responses, may be heavily weighted towards the most sought-after outcome.

there's no real doubt that fewer islanders speak gaelic in the wild, than was the case around thirty or forty years ago.

however, whether or not i find bord na gaidhlig's tenuous grasp of the popularity of scotland's alleged national language verging on the circumspect or not, is hardly of any significance; cycling might be every bit as guilty in its management of numbers.

thankfully, there seems to be a distinct variation in the methods used to define frequent cyclists on this side of the atlantic than is the case in north america, and i don't mind admitting it was learning of the latter's measurement that brought about today's monologue. britain, it appears, regards bike riders as falling into the category of frequent riders, if they admit to riding two to five times a week. granted, it does seem to be a case of 'never mind the quality, feel the width', as i came across no statistics that attempted to quantify the distance ridden by those frequent riders.

for instance, there are weeks when yours truly can manage to ride only a couple of times in a seven day period, but that often equates to a distance well in excess of 100km. these classified-as-frequent, uk riders reputedly constitute a mere 17%, compared to 54% in the netherlands. but are you and i merely frequent riders if we're out a couple of times at the weekend, yet cover over 160km? does that place us in the same category as those who frequently ride 5km to the shops each time they frequently ride? i would hope not, but it's highly likely that we are.

however, any disparity contained within those particular numbers, pales into insignificance when you learn of america's means of categorisation. according to the national sporting goods association (ngsa), frequent cycling across the pond is constrained to those who ride more than six times per year. in what universe is riding once every two months defined as frequent, and if true, why? is this to satisfy some statistical need that might convince america's authorities that the country is healthier and more active than is demonstrably the case?

i wonder if any of them speak gaelic?

wednesday 8 july 2026

never ending

i currently have a pair of challenge chicane 700x33 tyres fitted to my specialized crux. these have proved to be fairly quick on tarmac, while allowing for a modicum of offroading on the grass at uiskentuie strand, or, as has become my regular habit, along the short gravel/mud constitution of nancy's path leading to bridgend village. this particular path runs parallel to the wider and longer pathway through bridgend woods, the end point of which was, historically, islay house. that was certainly the case in the feudal days of yore. of course, nowadays, islay house is owned by a family living in california, though the section of pathway described above, still belongs to islay estates.

however, on occasions when the thought process could be easily described as remiss, i have turned onto that section of path, at the entrance adjacent to bridgend auction mart. i use the word remiss, because the final part of that path bringing me to south lodge, is permanently coated in thick mud, 'neath the grassy top coat, even if there has been no rain for days or even weeks. while the chicane tyres can cope admirably with both the grassy centre and gravel edges of the majority of said path, they are fundamentally incapable of churning through sections of gloop. it's on reaching that final section, trying manfully to wrest control of the crux as it squirms from side to side, that i suddenly remember their limitations.

however, like many tyres of their ilk, the centre portion of tread eases one's passage along both smooth and potholed tarmac, the very reason for which they were purchased. yet even that has its downsides; while the tread on the front tyre still resembles that seen when opening the pack, i am on my second rear tyre, and the rapidly wearing centre tread indicates a speedily reducing lifespan. this is, however, no reflection on the tyre's constitution; it is an expensive, yet bona-fide cyclocross tyre, designed to cope with dry or sandy conditions offroad. perpetual perambulations of roughly surface-dressed roads was definitely not what they'd signed up for.

come the winter months (an optimistic view, since july has so far resembled those very months), i may switch to more specific rubber designed to churn through muddy conditions with a devil-may-care attitude, all the while reflecting on the knowledge that while they are probably even less road-friendly, they will aid my passage along farm adjacent roads, left thick with mud by the farmers who seem unaware of the regulations requiring them to clean-up after themselves. 'tis but a case of matching my forlorn, fairytale cyclocross pretence, with the best i can achieve well away from their terrain for which they were concocted.

watch any cyclocross race on tnt sports, and you will quickly become acquainted with the cyclocross professionals' obsession with tyres, not only the treads available, but the pressures required to make fast trajectories through the grass, mud, sand or gravel. at the pointy end of the sport, it is clear to see that a wide range of treads are required, where sponsorship deals can easily take care of the expense and faff of possessing several sets of wheels, all shod with differently treaded tubular tyres. however, the above admission that i have remained faithful to a single brand and tread pattern since the commencement of the 2025 cyclocross season would tend to suggest that the vagaries of the professional milieu, are not visited upon mere amateurs such as yours truly.

that being so, how does the average tyre company justify the continual release of new tyres, aimed at the common or garden mountain, road, and gravel rider?

for instance, panaracer currently offers 21 different gravel tyres; vittoria has 16; continental, more sensibly perhaps, features only six gravel tyres, but 17 road tyres. i'm sure there are individuals who still ride tubular tyres even though competition features not on their horizon, and there may even be the amateur with the desire and finance, to possess several wheelsets, each shod with alternate tread patterns. but the vast majority of us will buy a pair of road/gravel/cyclocross/mtb tyres, for whatever reason and ride them day in, day out, until excessive wear demands they be replaced. and, i would imagine that most of us regularly check the tyre pressure, but only to ensure they equate to a perceived minimum, usually outlined on the sidewall. hands up all those who vary their tyre pressures dependent on ambient temperatures and potential terrain?

i thought not.

do all those apparently random variations in tread pattern actually make any real difference? obviously enough, a smooth, treadless 28mm tyre is unlikely to be of much assistance through gloopy mud, but for those who own a gravel bike, are you choosing specific tyres for a specific reason, or is it an arbitrary aesthetic allied to an amenable price point? do not misunderstand my cynicism; it's always good to have choice in this world, but how many gravel riders have need of panaracer's 21 options, or actually understand what they purport to accomplish?

and do not get me started on saddles.

tuesday 7 july 2026

did we get it wrong?

my heading is delicately phrased in order to share responsibility amongst the cognoscenti for what could, from certain angles, be regarded as an error of judgment. personally, if that turns out to be the case, i'm quite happy to be categorised as an outsider in any pre or post conclusion discussions, but i have used 'we' instead of 'i' in case blame needs to be shared.

saturday, 4 july, america's day of independence for the 250th time and, if news reports are to be believed, also the wedding day of a very rich pop star at new york's madison square gardens, was the advertised date for bowmore sports day. true to form, the weather was atrocious, because that's often what life in the hebrides entails. but while weather such as experienced throughout the day would have had any cricket or tennis match immediately cancelled, people turned out in droves to enjoy the atmosphere and revel in the distinct possibility of sliding to the ground during the races. unsurprisingly, the beer tent was full to overflowing, there was a queue at the ice-cream van, and i was told that the inflatables were much slidier. this, apparently, was a good thing and not a complaint.

several of the attractions were mainland-based and had been contracted several months previously to appear, when the weather could hardly have been predicted (though summer on the outer edge tends to follow a precipitative pattern). a great deal of work went into the planning, and no less physical work on the friday afternoon, erecting tents and the like in anticipation of islay's residents giving not a fig for rain and wind, determined to turn up and enjoy, whatever the weather.

in a similar spirit, though admittedly far less frenetically, i opted to paraphrase the 1976 10cc song, 'the things we do for lunch', ignore the rain, and cycle to debbie's for the traditional saturday noonday double-egg-roll, accompanied by the supping of froth. despite the rain and a dedicated westerly headwind, the ambient temperature was relatively benign, allowing for the wearing of bibshorts, augmented by bright pink, waterproof overshoes. but lest i think my singular approach to be the only option available, between pennycraig and springbank, en-route to bridgend village, i passed rainer, a german in his seventies, who had pedalled the encased recumbant illustrated above, all the way from dusseldorf. as i passed him, he was allegedly on his way to lagavulin distillery, to which he still had a further 21km to go.

the fact that i would subsequently be unable to pick the gentleman out in a crowd, can easily be confirmed by the restrictive size of the windows in the red fairing. in fact, i only learned of his name, origin and today's destination from karl and lorna at islay's youth hostel in port charlotte, who kindly phone to let me know, before sending the photo atop this article.

i will readily agree that, in today's torrential drizzle, there was really very little to see of the surrounds, even for a velocipedinist such as myself, unencumbered as i was, by any enclosed fairing. but when the sun has got his hat on, and there is wall-to-wall blue sky (a little hebridean humour there), i can think of nothing better than to be in the saddle, admiring and revelling in my surroundings. at the risk of being shunned by a percentage of the velocipedinal church, riding within a red cocoon such as illustrated above, i feel i might as well be riding in a motor car. even that would afford greater visibility.

as of yet, i have not met rainer; perhaps he has excellent reasons for wishing to travel in such a manner. i have no doubt he is immune from the frequent showers engendered by passing cars driving through surface water with no concern for the cyclist they have just drenched, but it does strike me that his particular mode of transport is precisely that; transport. when the folks back home ask him what islay was like, will he be able to accurately tell them? when the drizzle lifts, will he be able to witness more than he could when it hadn't? and, should the hebrides be subject to the sort of heatwaves experienced by central europe recently (more hebridean humour; like that's going to happen), won't it be stifling in there behind the tiny windows?

there is much to be said for the epithet which contends that 'one person's floor is another person's ceiling', but in answer to my rhetorical heading, to the question posed, i would confidently tender the answer to be "no."

sunday 5 july 2026

a losing battle

it's a subject on which i am probably less than qualified to comment (though you'll notice, that's what i'm about to do), simply because i live in an area where the effects are scarcely comparable to those affecting more populated areas. and from my point of view, it's something that has taken a few years of almost casual observation to confirm. it's hardly the big reveal, but motor traffic seems to be increasing at an exponential rate, behind which are reasons seemingly related to social conditions, rather than those surrounding discussions on transportation. and i often wonder if that's why it's a state of affairs that's simply being overlooked, because the wrong people are looking.

if i might illustrate what i see as the problem by referencing an apparently unrelated subject: in the early part of this century, argyll & bute council, keen to save money, opted to take a closer look at what it regarded as its core responsibilities, deciding that running local village halls was not one of them. strategically, they increased the charges for using said halls, thus driving away many users to find cheaper alternatives, then turned that round to reputedly conclude that many of these properties were no longer economically viable.

nobody was making use of them.

the answer, from their point of view, was simply to divest their responsibilities to the local community, allegedly sweetening the deal by helpfully pointing out that those communities would be eligible for grants for which the council was ineligible. not unnaturally, this resulted in a verbal backlash from many of the affected communities, keen to point out that many of these halls were the very lifeblood of social interaction, and their closure, or transfer to a local committee, would scarcely enhance the community spirit.

few would argue against such contentions being right on the money, but while they made a cogent point, it was an entirely different argument than the council had broached when attempting to justify their position. in order to convince the council that their argument was misguided, community pressure ought best have sought a means of arguing how the halls could possibly survive economically, without being a burden on the council's straightened finances. essentially the council had posited argument a, while its opposers were countering that with argument b. no matter how vociferous the latter became, it was not arguing the same point and was highly likely (as indeed, was the case) to fail.

though perhaps i'm guilty of looking at the problem from entirely the wrong angle, it strikes me that while government and local authorities see cycling (or lack of), as a transportational problem, its origins lie elsewhere.

when i moved to the hebrides almost forty years ago, the residents' car park adjacent to the house in which i lived, was far from fully occupied. in the intervening years, however, precisely the opposite has become the case, and it's clear to note that many households now possess anything up to four vehicles, including works vans and more than one private car. uncaring disposibility of the latter has led to at least eight of those having been effectively discarded, some of which have not moved a wheel in over two years. though islay is often described as remote, i think it unlikely that the above described state of affairs, is unique to its purported remoteness.

where once a single vehicle would have been employed in transporting several members of one family to and from work, or many who work in the village would have simply walked, contemporary socialisation has made it almost compulsory for both young and old in a single household, each to own their own motor car or van. even casual observation could learn that transportation is, in fact, of little direct concern. as the construction of more and more social housing on the island progresses, the site plans evidence that even one bedroom flats are provided with a mandatory, two parking spaces. there is no legal minimum requirement for bicycle racks. in many of the more recent planning applications, many three and four bedroom properties are being allocated more than the minimum two car spaces, indicating, perhaps, that this increase in car ownership is not only acknowledged, but more or less accepted and encouraged.

governments, meanwhile, continually attempt to prove their sincerity in shifting the nation's population away from car use and towards active travel and public transport, by allocating headline grabbing amounts of cash towards the cause. what is rarely spoken in the same breath, are the considerably larger amounts apportioned to road building, largesse towards which we all pay through our taxes, yet make considerably less demands upon, if we ride our bikes to get to work, to school or to the shops. and those parking spaces alongside social housing and on the nation's high streets, are all free at the point of use, though we're effectively all paying for it.

cycling is a sorely marginalised activity, for whatever purpose you make use of it, and is becoming more so by the week. as has been pointed out by those far more immersed in the situation than am i, and certainly by those with less of a vested interest, potentially the only successful means of shifting the nation's psyche, would be to make it a more attractive proposition to walk or cycle, than to drive. currently, the latter is still winning; and unfortunately the motoring lobby still posseses considerably more clout and money than a few well-meaning, but coin poor, cyclists.

perhaps if new housing schemes were made car-free, with parking confined to a nearby area, but simple and eased access for pedestrians and cyclists? the new town of stevenage, born in the 1940s with a built-in cycling infrastructure, failed in its aspirations, because it was still easier and more convenient to get about town by car, than by bicycle. i can understand why the notion of incentives and disincentives might appear unnecessarily contrived and co-ercing, but in the 1950s, britain opted to go the way of the car, while other european nations, notably the netherlands and denmark, chose cycling and pedestrianisation. having done so, government strategies in each country underlined those educated choices. were britain to change tack and contrive to emphasise cycling and walking to the level at which it currently supports the motorist, matters might be entirely different.

if you happen to fit into the car-owning paradigm outlined above, worry not; any traffic problems that mitigate against driving everywhere, are highly unlikely to arrive at the behest of the bicycle. and i'm pretty sure they won't arrive via whichever government resides in westminster or holyrood.

at least not in my lifetime.

saturday 4 july 2026

a gravel antidote

in the early 1990s, when my cycling psyche had yet to be infiltrated by the competitive milieu, i converted my original muddy fox courier mountain bike into the touring bike that it really was. inspired by the romance of the croce d'aune name in the campagnolo catalogue, i had a pair of wheels handbuilt onto these delectable and highly polished hubs as replacements of the galvanised spoked factory spec, fitting 28c road tyres to ease the struggles up the brae at port askaig (and, as it happened, the ascent past goat fell on arran). to provide greater comfort at the front, in the days of quill stems, i purchased a tall, short-reach, stainless steel stem which i fastened to a pair of polished alloy, cinelli touring, drop bars, padded with foam bar covers to enhance the comfort of the planned-for extensive touring.

as a paid-up member of the cyclists touring club (now cycling uk), i had regularly witnessed touring bicycles featuring front and rear panniers on blackburn racks as an adjunct to a bright red bar bag. having learned nothing from the crane brothers who toured round the world with a single rear pannier on each bike, i headed off across kintyre and arran to my parents' home on scotland's west coast, carrying, quite literally, everything but the kitchen sink. in other words, far too much, including a substantial amount that i simply didn't need. it may be that i had been more in thrall to the touring aesthetic, than any form of pragmatism.

you live and learn.

in those days before we knew what an internet was, it was customary to receive annual copies of the ron kitching catalogue, and its competitor, madison's freewheel offering. the former had suntour, the latter, shimano. ron kitching, the man and the distributor, is no more, while madison discontinued their freewheel catalogue in the late 1990s. the latter, for the aspirant touring cyclist, eager to have their bicycle photographed in cycling world magazine, was as manna from heaven, featuring as it did, not only a range of bikes from madison's house brand, ridgeback, but the much sought-after, dawes galaxy, with its honey-coloured brooks leather saddle.

as i mentioned, it wasn't too long before race-style road bikes became my front-and-centre, while family demands effectively rendered any thoughts of traversing the entire world in the saddle, null and void.

in the intervening years, notions of cycle touring rarely re-surfaced, though the arrival of several obnoxious ranges of bike-packing bags (who ever thought those were a good idea, should be made to stand in the corner, wearing a pointed hat with a big, bold 'd' on the front) engendered bouts of nostalgia for the far more aesthetically pleasing panniers and bar bags. according to ortlieb, both styles of luggage have proved popular, but the prevalence of adventure gravel bikes appear to have given bikepacking the edge; and whoever doesn't want to be thought as gravellous to the core, even if innocent bystanders snigger as they pass?

but, if you'll pardon the pun, bicycle trends arrive in cycles; what is currently less than popular, will one day soon, become too cool for skool. and that moment may have arrived.

despite the demise of the freewheel catalogue at the behest of hypertext and pixels, ridgeback bicycles still exist and are about to gain a new lease of life and hopefully a brand new fan base, even though madison has swapped the word 'touring' for 'trekking'. that word seems like a rather clever marketing ploy to sit midway between touring bicycle and gravel bicycle. however, the result is deserving of our approbation: reynolds butted cromoly steel frames, disc brakes, practical shimano gear sets (though devoid of the three chainrings even madison ought to know we really, really want). spurning the impracticality of almost everything on the market today, this new ridgeback trekking range features '(those) most commonly added after purchase, including mudguards, racks, kickstands and dynamo lighting.'

pricing is also considerably more modest than you might think, starting with the horizon at a commendable £1299 and topping out with the reynolds 725 framed panorama at £1850, replete with hydraulic disc brakes, mudguards, front and rear racks, a 46/30, 2x9 drivetrain matched to an 11/39 cassette, and 40mm wide tyres. you can scarcely purchase a carbon wheelset for that sort of money. however, if i were you, i'd throw away the generic saddle and replace it with a honey-coloured, brooks b17 with two slots onto which a cotton-duck saddlebag can be easily attached.

and just while we're reminiscing about nostalgia, the modern-day glen miller orchestra is slated to appear at glasgow's royal concert hall on tuesday 29 december. just saying. (other swing era big bands may also be available)

friday 3 july 2026

expectations

recent posts have centred on my current inability to find the very bike that i might desire to place in the confines of thewashingmachinepost bike shed (which, incidentally, may or may not have bees living in part of it). though it would beggar belief that there is simply nothing out there that would happily propel me along the highways and byways of the hebrides, inherent and long-standing prejudices have, so far, countered every foray into bicycle land. that undoubtedly says more about me than it does about the bike industry, but since i'm right and they're wrong, it will be interesting to see how long it takes them to realise.

however, should that momentous occasion actually come to pass, the demands placed upon this hypothetically perfect bicycle will be no more onerous than those applied to my current velo du jour. the possibility of a new bicycle is not because i fear the current stock is incapable of reaching the stratospheric heights of fitness that have long been my ultimate aim. despite contemporeneity arriving replete with twelve sprockets at the rear, compared to the measly eleven that inhabit the rear wheel of my specialized crux, my naiveté in such matters does not extend to believing an increased velocity to be attainable, simply because the french refer to them as vitesses.

it is true, however, that the jury is out on whether it would make for a more economical and pragmatic choice, were i simply to upgrade the componentry on a frame that belies its age, rather than acquire an entirely new bicycle? i still harbour a quandary of just what would become of the crux; it's esy to convince myself that it will assume the position of spare bike, but we all know that's simply a justification reserved for moments when mrs washingmachinepost queries the necessity of expenditure. and the apathy shown towards cycling in the immediacy of my surroundings, all but guarantees that it would achieve mere pennies were i to place it on sale.

however, my somewhat conciliatory and possibly remiss attitude towards the whole point of investment in a new bicycle, is most certainly not reflected in the part of the cycle industry that plays with money.

recent reports concerning financial investment in britain's largest bike manufacturer - referring to the company's size, not the bikes that they make - probably of necessity, take an altogether different stance. despite being the name behind the fictitious van rysel brand, decathlon pulse, investment arm of decathlon sports retail, has joined ba capital, a shanghai-based venture capital firm in placing its money where its mouth is, and investing in british folding bike manufacturer, brompton.

there are, of course, the desired platitudes from will butler-adams, chief executive of brompton, claiming that the company will retain its independence, operating procedures, business model etc., but i often wonder if the issuers of such optimistic statements are hoping more to convince themselves than us? according to reports in the guardian newspaper, the combined investment totals £18 million, and though i am hardly a paragon of modern business procedures, if i was investing that amount of capital in a business, i'd be keeping a very close fiduciary eye on its independence. should that isolation begin to take steps of which i found myself less than approving, intervention would not be far behind.

however, if we compare my own unremarkable demands upon any new bicycle i might eventually purchase, with those alluded to by a press statement from decathlon pulse. framing it in the very language that gives dyed-in-the-wool velocipedinists the shivers, it noted 'cycling's role in intermodal, efficient and sustainable urban mobility.' and then its intentions (as if we thought otherwise) became crystal clear: 'the global micro-mobility market is expected to grow from 175 billion euros today to 360 billion euros by 2030. and there you have it; decathlon pulse and ba holdings are largely uninterested in the style, practicality and build-quality of brompton's exemplary bicycles. they're interested because brompton promises to make them more money than the £18 million they've just invested. the one question we should bear in mind, is, however:

what happens if it doesn't?

thursday 2 july 2026

is it just me?

in ordinary, day to day, civilian life, i wear an accurist wrist watch which not only shows the time of day, but the actual day and date to boot. granted, the numbers on the date display are somewhat challenging to the eyesight, but that's my problem rather than that of the manufacturer. however, when it comes to velocipedinal activity, the watch remains at home, unless i have cycled on business and need to keep an eye on the time.

there are two reasons for keeping the watch high and dry during such times. when i had been in the habit of watch-wearing during cycling, eventually the cumulative effect of perspiration and precipitation on the strap would have it disintegrate at the point of greatest stress, usually just where it was affixed to the watch. secondly, and perhaps most importantly, the crown tended to dig into the back of my hand; i have rather narrow wrists, meaning rarely does the strap offer enough holes to keep the watch tightly in place, preventing it from moving downwards during what currently passes for frenetic activity, and digging a little dent in the back of my left hand.

in order to offset this timepiece agnosticism, i had been in the habit of relying on the clock clearly displayed on my garmin, but my regular reader will surely be aware that a recent retrenchment and re-framing of my attitude towards unnecessary technology, has meant a total lack of gps positioning out here in the depths of civilisation.

though my local newsagent has been apparently unable to secure a monthly issue of wired magazine since late last year, that particular publication was in the habit of co-publishing an annual supplement featuring a wide range of exquisitely engineered watches, the prices of which tended to suggest that the manufacturers had by-passed the notion of a watch being a means to an end (timekeeping), and moved onto a stratospheric luxury market, where the watch had become an end in and of itself. and strangely enough, the more expensive such timepieces became, the less logical and aesthetically pleasing the job of telling the time seemed to become.

in the early part of this century, while colnago was still owned by ernesto and still espousing the veracity of their c40, i purchased a colnago watch for the princely sum of around £75 (if memory serves correctly). the watch featured a carbon fibre face, sporting ernesto's assos di fiori logo behind gold coloured hands. that watch fared well until time came to replace the battery, when the shop entrusted with doing so, nudged something it shouldn't have nudged and the watch face became disconnected to the workings that kept it in time. so the recent release of a press release from gabriele sirtori, colnago's marketing supremo, concerning a collaboration with famed swiss watchmaker, richard mille (a sponsor of mathieu van der poel) offered the possibility of succour to the downtrodden.

unfortunately, first impressions of the snappily named rm 64-01 tourbillon colnago, were (and still are), the wrong side of hideous. limited to only fifty pieces, according to the press release, the project is aimed at "...bringing some of the most recognisable codes of the italian brand into the world of high watchmaking." nope, me neither.

however, colnago continues to state, "the skeletonised movement recalls the structure of a racing frame, with bridges and components arranged according to a visual logic that evokes tubes, geometries and drivetrain. the star-shaped sections of the bridges are inspired by the renowned gilco tubes, one of the most recognisable design signatures in colnago's history; the micro-lugs pay tribute to the c series, the iconic line of bicycles handmade in cambiago; while the white, blue and gold colour palette echoes the language of the brand's most exclusive creations from the recent past." had that not been explained, i would simply have considered this to be a hideous mess, when in truth it seems that it is, indeed, a hideous mess.

perhaps controversially, the press release cites colnago's "...constant pursuit of mechanical and aesthetic beauty." possibly true of their bicycle frames, but...

i have studied the images included with the press release, as well as those featured on both colnago's and richard mille's website, but it strikes me that the 'warts and all' display of the inner workings, all but obscures the principal purpose of the idea in the first place: to tell the time. as can be seen perhaps from the image atop this article, richard mille has eschewed a traditional round-face in favour of what can only be described as a very chunky 'rounded square'. perfectly acceptable if you like that sort of thing, but i certainly don't. however, irrespective of your appreciation of this timepiece, my highly subjective comments, and any enthusiasm you might have for colnago bicycles, there is one serious downside which is not mentioned on the website or in the press release:

£750,000

wednesday 1 july 2026

why?

islay has two ferry ports: one in the south at port ellen, and the other at port askaig in the north. due to the largesse of the scottish government, via transport scotland and cmal (caledonian maritime assets ltd), we have had two new ferries bestowed upon the route, one of which is already in service, and the second midway through its pre-delivery sea trials. not only are the two vessels identical in every way, the two still to be completed by turkiye's cemre shipyard, are also identical. four ferries all built under the heading of islay-class vessels.

though it's a situation to which we have become accustomed, as have the myriad of other islands served by calmac, the new boats do not fit the piers from which they operate. the mainland port of kennacraig on the kintyre peninsula has already been upgraded to accept these larger personalities (105 cars compared to the 85 carried by the existing vessel), as reputedly has port askaig and colonsay, leaving only port ellen as no longer fit for purpose. once again, transport scotland, at the behest of holyrood, has provided £107 million for the construction of a new, considerably larger pier. the only perceived downside has been the current closure of the ferry port until early 2029, meaning all ferry traffic will sail to and from port askaig.

in the past, had i business in port ellen of a morning, i would set off at a time (for convenience, not mischief) that would inevitably bring me into contention with traffic arriving off the morning ferry, and traffic hoping to depart on the same vessel. this was not as troublesome as it might sound; many of the large number of articulated trucks (in both directions) are in the habit of using the high road, an alternative, singletrack route which bypasses the village of bowmore. as a result, the low road, a 13km dead straight section of two-lane roadway is predominantly frequented by car traffic.

but, following a cycle trip to port ellen on monday morning, i learned that motor traffic heading to bowmore is considerably lighter with no ferry arrival, and considerably lessened in the opposite direction, also due to the lack of an outward bound ferry. and though you're probably well-acquainted with the sparsity of vehicle traffic on the island, compared with that of urban and city locations in scotland and farther afield, even taking into account that many scottish schools closed for summer over the weekend, i witnessed not a single cyclist in either direction.

the intention for my journey was to join an islay sea adventures wildlife trip along islay's south eastern coast, stopping in at the bays adjacent to laphroaig, lagavulin and ardbeg distilleries, replicating in part, the paths of the clyde puffers of yesteryear. in fact, harold, the boat's captain, pointed out the location of a puffer that sank in 1928, just outside the bay at ardbeg. it was not always possible for the puffers to come alongside at the slipways or rudimentary piers at the distilleries, and we were able to see the steel rings embedded in the rocks, allowing them to tie-up and transport goods in both directions via small wooden tenders.

the small islands network (skerries) that exists past ardbeg, is a bona-fide wildlife sanctuary protected by law, in which it is possible to see seals with (at this time of year) their pups, deer which have swum from islay's mainland out to some of the larger, grass-covered islands, occasionally dolphins and whales, along with, though not on monday, several resident sea-eagles. unfortunately, following a week and weekend of wall-to-wall sunshine and warm temperatures, monday was mostly overcast, with the cloud lowering to the point of thick drizzle before it was time to turn round and head back to port ellen. if you're ever on islay, i can highly recommend booking just such a trip; it was superb.

but if you do arrive on the island and opt to follow my recommendations, make sure that you cycle to and from the pier, whether or not you happen to be staying in port ellen for the duration of your visit. i left my bicycle to the obscurity of the archway leading to the islay bar at the rear of ardbeg house hotel, collecting it upon my return from seaborne happiness. with the necessity to return to my bowmore office in the afternoon, i took the quicker option of riding the low road once again, a solo velocipedinist from start to finish.

traffic patterns on the southern end of the island will no doubt be different for the next two-and-a-half, to three years, but despite having lived here for 39 years, i still utterly fail to understand why everyone drives and no-one cycles.

really, i don't.

islay sea adventures

tuesday 30 june 2026