London Skyride(s)
Last month I went on the 2009 London Skyride.
As I’ve attended the two previous (and more sensibly named) Freewheels it’s fairly easy to draw comparisons between them each year.
This year’s event was busier than before - much busier.
So much so that after doing two loops and being stuck in several “bicycle-jams” we all said we might not bother going again the next year.
Personally I am torn - I love the Freewheel/Skyride but at times on the day it was so busy I’d just wished I was somewhere else.
We talked between us afterwards about ways to limit the numbers but all of our ideas went against the spirit of the day - and It’s likely that next year’s event will be even busier if this year is anything to go by.
A few weeks before I’d been on the Skyride Hounslow - it hadn’t been very busy at all - just a fun day out much like the first and second Freewheels that I went to.
Maybe that’s the answer - lots of smaller local rides rather than one big event.
I’ll think twice about doing next year’s central London Skyride - but will definitely be doing any local ones (well, as long as they’re local to me!).
Plus, the Hounslow Skyride was nice and rural…
London Freewheel (2008)
So, it was the 2008 London Freewheel last Sunday.
There were engineering works from my local station so we started the day with a 3 mile ride to the nearest station.
It was a bit misty and chilly when we left the house which made for quite a pleasant start to the day. It reminded me of commuting to work (and made me wish I didn’t work so far away at the moment).
At last year’s Freewheel I’d not taken enough photos so this time I came equipped.
I brought two cameras, one around my neck on a lanyard and one attached to my bike.
The details of how I attached the camera to the bike are worthy of a separate post (and some photos) so for now I’ll just summarise it as a “Bike Tripod”.
We managed two laps (around 8 miles per lap) before giving up in exhaustion (I managed only one lap last year so there’s clearly a pattern here).
Anyway, as with the year before, we had loads of fun - missed the free sandwiches though!
And here are some of the photos I took.
Shortcuts
Just worked out a great shortcut to Richmond Park that doesn’t involve any major roads or (more importantly) going up Richmond Hill.
It means I end up in the lower part of the park - if I want to go to the high part I still have to go uphill at some point - but it’s a short steep (pushable) slope instead of a long slow slog.
I don’t mind hills usually, but I’ve not ridden for a while and just don’t have the energy - I’d be knackered and ready to go home before I even reached the park gates.
That’s one of the nice things about bikes, without the constraints of staying on roads; there’s always another way to where you want to go.
Quiet around here
I have not been posting lately as I have not been cycling lately.
I have a wrist injury so I have been unable to ride, and still can’t use the bike for a while yet.
I’m not being a wimp because of the weather, honest!
Also, I am leaving my job soon and don’t know yet where I will be working, so commuting to work by bike may be off the menu for a while too.
In the meantime, here is a photo I took while riding my bike in Richmond Park a few months back.
Can’t wait to get back on the bike!
Do I look like a cyclist in this?
As I only started riding to work at the tail end of summer I’ve had to start thinking about cold weather clothing almost immediately.
As noted previously I own some tops and have bought some shorts.
I’ve also since bought 3/4 length shorts which cover the knees (strangely enough I don’t seem to mind my calves getting cold) - these have been very good since the mornings started to get really chilly.
Since getting and wearing all this gear, I’d had this growing feeling that I’d been unable to put into words - then I was chatting about keeping warm when cycling in winter to a friend recently who said something like “You can keep warm but you have to dress a lot dorkier”.
That was it, I was dressing like a dork!
Now I’m certainly not part of the day-glow lycra crowd, but I still look unmistakably like a cyclist (and not just because I’m on a bike!).
Even if I remove my helmet and sunglasses and stand away from my bike I still look like a cyclist.
And so, I also look just that little bit silly.
Now it’s OK to look like a bit silly when I am on or near my bike. But as soon as I am away from my bike I really start to stand out like a sore thumb.
I tend to want to change clothes at that point, so I usually do.
The thing is, realising this has been a revelation.
I used to worry about combining certain items of clothing (all in the name of keeping warm of course) and ask my girlfriend “Do I look OK in this?”.
Now, I no longer worry, I just ask “Do I look like a cyclist in this?” and as long as the answer is “Yes”, I’m set.
Telling people that you cycle to work
When I tell people (specifically, non-cyclists) that I ride to work I’ve noticed that I get a fairly common reaction from them.
They usually look at me as if I was mad.
Then I go on to explain my route and point out how most of it involves riding along quiet back streets and by the Thames and the initial “you’re mad” look fades away and they wistfully say something like “That sounds really nice”.
Of course, some still think I am mad.
Before I considered cycling to work I wondered how to do it whilst avoiding the two fast dual carriageways linking my home and my office.
Luckily the <a href=”http://www.tfl.gov.uk/cycling”>free maps I got from TFL</a> are excellent and showed me some great routes.
Without them I may never have considered riding to work as I was (and still am) put off by the speed and amount of traffic on the main roads mentioned above.
I wonder how many more people would ride to work if only they knew how feasible it was.
I shall ride to work!
Confession time, I’ve not ridden to work in almost two weeks (gulp). A combination of wet weather (I lack wet weather gear and mudguards), going out after work, days off and a bad back have scuppered any bike commuting plans.
But tomorrow will be different.
The weather is going to be dry (it’s also going to be chilly, but that doesn’t massively bother me) and I’m fighting fit and ready to ride!
I’d noted before how energised I felt at work after riding in, and I’ve missed that buzz when I’ve travelled in on the tube.
That buzz will return though, for tomorrow I won’t be hanging around the station having just missed my tube home. These things don’t bother the bike commuter. Oh no.
Tomorrow it will be different.
I shall ride to work!
Assuming I can get out of bed on time, you know, with these cold mornings and my back and all.
Sweet ride
This morning’s ride in to work was one of those where everything went just right.
The weather was perfect for cycling, cool but not too chilly.
There were some lovely views of the sun rising over the Thames through the mist.
Traffic was nice and light so I got to ride all the bits where I normally get off and push as it’s too busy.
I even managed to tailgate my way into the carpark at work thereby saving a faff with the security gate.
And I somehow shaved 10 minutes off my time too, I must be getting faster!
I feel energised!
One of the reasons I wanted to cycle to work was to do some sort of regular exercise. I anticipated that if I did it regularly I’d feel a bit healthier and possibly even lose a bit of weight.
Those are all medium-term goals things though, in the short-term I didn’t expect to feel anything other than knackered.
And it’s true, on the first ride in to work I did feel quite knackered.
So, I naturally assumed that as long as I kept it up I’d slowly (and painfully no doubt) move from knackeredness to healthiness.
But what I actually found was that I also felt really energised at work whenever I rode in.
I don’t know if this feeling will go away as I get fitter (I win either way though) but right now it’s proving to be a nice bonus to all the other advantages.
Switching to slicks
Ever since I started riding to work I have been planning to replace my chunky mountain bike tyres with slick tyres.
The main advantage of switching to slicks is that they are more efficient so you go faster. The downside is that they aren’t so good on rough terrain - although I’ve not tried yet so don’t know how bad they actually are.
They look like they will give less grip as they are a lot smoother but according to Sheldon Brown, that’s a myth.
So, I bought the Schwalbe City Jet Tyres from Wiggle.
As I was doing the London Freewheel on the Sunday I planned to spend the Saturday before fitting them.
Note; I didn’t plan to spend the entire day fitting them…
It should have been simple enough but it turned into a bit of a nightmare.
The first problem was that almost immediately my tyre lever snapped.
So I had to go to the LBS to buy some new tyre levers - with these I eventually got the tyre back on, then started on the rear tyre.
I managed to get this done - it was quite a struggle at times as the tyres were brand new so required a lot of brute force to get them on and off.
Once this was done I picked up both tyres to reattach them to the frame - only to discover the front tyre had gone flat - I had somehow managed to pinch the tyre with the tyre lever, damn!
So, I sat down, had a cry, then started on the front tyre again.
Once I had removed it I checked the tyre for a hole and eventually found two very small holes within an indentation mark that looks suspiciously like it had been left by my tyre lever. D’oh!
So I patched the hole, pumped it back up and refitted the tyre.
By now my hands were aching and I really hoped that was the end of it all.
Just in case I decided not to re-fit the tyre yet but to wait and see if my patch held. So, I left it for an hour or so.
After an hour or so I checked it and it was flat again!
Noooo!
Clearly my ham-fisted patching attempts were rubbish.
So, I decided to try a new inner tube or else I might be there all night (it was evening by then).
Well, third time’s a charm they say - and in this case it was true.
The new tyre stayed pumped up.
Woohoo!
I re-fitted the tyres and left the bike for a quick test ride in the morning.
The next morning the tyres were still pumped up and we set off for the London Freewheel.
