Monkey Photo Manchester

Review: Black N Red Day Per Page Diary (2012)

2011-12-22T22:27:00.001Z

One of the habits I've tried to sustain this year is writing *something* about my day, each day. A diary (as in a proper diary sometimes called a daily planner, with printed dates on each page) makes this a bit easier for me - an unprinted book would doubtless lead me into the most terrible backsliding.

So far, I've used Moleskine Daily Planners (2009, 2010, pocket size - they've been surprisingly ok, given how poor the paper is in their notebooks, but are expensive) and a Ciak Daily Planner (2011). The Ciak was a bit disappointing, with thin paper that had a lot of show & bleedthrough through for some inks.

For 2012, I bought a Black N Red Day to Page diary in the A5 size. UK readers with decent stationery cupboards will be familiar with Black N Red, who make a series of spiral bound and casebound notebooks that are generally well regarded. The diaries use a 90gsm "Optik" paper, and come in a range of sizes up to A4 (which seems to me to be massive - even I would struggle to fill an A4 page with my pointless wibbling each day).

The front cover - I think the "Oxford" logo is new, I can't remember seeing it on Black N Red products before.

The rear cover is rather busier, with product information, barcode, and so on.

The diary is casebound, with stitched signatures, and the cover is a nicely textured cloth over board. The contrasting spine appears taped, although it isn't. A red woven ribbon is glued into the binding for use as a place marker. All of the pages (save the end papers) have perforated corners, which you can remove to allow quick location of the current day (assuming you remove the corners after each day, of course).

A Sample Page

The diary begins with a page for contact details, followed by a two page year planner for 2012. After the planner, it's straight into the daily pages, an example of which is above. Note that Black N Red don't put Saturday and Sunday on one page, which some daily planners do to save space. At the end of the diary (the last dated page is 3rd January 2013) is another two page year planner (for 2013), a page of country information, a page of weights and measures and mileages, a page of international telephone codes and time zones and then 6 pages for notes. It's fairly restrained in this respect, (no tube map, for example) and I quite like that, having never really appreciated the pages and pages of junk I never use that crops up at the beginning and end of some dairies.

The main diary pages have three months of calendar on the top left hand side, showing the previous month, current month and coming month. The main part of the page has appointment times from 07:00 to 20:00, split into half hours. Below this are "Quick Note" spaces. (I should say that I don't use these planning features, I just write on the pages, so can't really comment on how useful it is). Lines are dark ruled, at a fairly narrow 5mm spacing - the paper is a bright white that ink shows up very nicely on.

The amount of writing space is slightly larger than my medium Ciak planner (much larger if one writes beyond the lines and into the notes spaces on the Black N Red pages), despite the Black N Red being a larger book. This is because of the rather busier page layout in the Black N Red diary - I don't think it's fair to criticise that, because the product is, I think, intended to be a planner rather than a journal or personal diary.

I bought my diary from Ryman, for £9.99, although they're fairly widely available, and the price doesn't seem to vary much between stockists.

Note that I've done my ink tests on the "Notes" pages at the back of the diary - I'm assuming the paper quality is consistent throughout.

INK TESTS

Showthrough (how visible your writing is with a blank page over it).

On showthrough, I think the diary is slightly less impressive than this scan shows - not terrible, but there is some ghosting through the facing page.

Bleedthrough (how much of the writing is visible on the reverse of the written page).

It's a similar story on bleedthrough, although the scan gives a fairer (possibly *slightly* unfair) picture here. There's a small amount of ghosting, with the beginnings of bleedthrough at a couple of points from Amazing Amethyst and Pousserie De Lune ink.

The written page.

Close ups - the lower set of inks.

And the top set.

I think the ink tests tell the best story of this paper though - compare inks like Amazing Amethyst, Pousserie De Lune and Havana Brown with their performance in previous reviews, and the superiority of Black N Red's paper is evident. I can't make out any feathering, even from problem inks in close ups, and for that, I'll put up with the small amount of ghosting on facing and reverse pages.

IN SUMMARY

For the page count, and the cost, I think the Black N Red diary is a great buy - the paper is better than any day per page diary I've used, and it costs less than a lot of premium daily planners/diaries. If you can live with the slightly utilitarian styling (these books always remind me of being at work, but that could just be an association I have), busy page layout, and lack of premium notebook fripperies (soft cover, rounded corners, elastic closure &c) you'll not regret getting one.

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Notebook Review - Staples Eco Notebook, A5

2011-12-08T20:08:00.003Z

The Staples "Eco Easy" notebook is a spiral bound notebook, with 160 ruled pages (80 sheets), and board covers. Its pages are Bagasse paper, made from 80% recycled sugar cane processing waste, hence the "Eco" title. I bought mine in their Manchester store, for the rrp of £2.49. The cover you see in the picture above is a brown paper foldover cover, that can be removed to reveal a plainer board cover.

For those of you worried about the variability of the paper in these (mentioned in some other reviews) the product code on this notebook is #37537-EU

The front of the book, with a Moleskine pocket notebook on it for scale.

Inside the front cover is a "pocket page" formed from a heavier brown paper page, folded back on itself with a third or so of the lower portion folded up to make a crude pocket. It's not something I'd use, personally, but I rarely use the pockets in other notebooks, so may not be the best judge of the utility of this feature!

The sheets are perforated, and double punched to allow them to be removed and stored in ring binders.

The binding, again with a Moleskine pocket notebook for scale.

The spiral binding is done with what seems to me to be a pretty big coil - my personal feeling is that this makes the book a bit of a pain to carry around, although the pages do turn easily compared to books with more compact spirals (Pukka Pads, for example). The spiral doesn't seem to interfere with writing on the page, so long as you write to the long side of the perforation and margin; you may find it more problematic if you like to use the entire page. The beefiness of the coil does give me some confidence that it wouldn't be damaged by relatively rough treatment - you could throw this pad in the bottom of a bag, and be reasonably confident you could still turn the pages after the rest of your posessions had tried to squash the spiral!

The paper is an orangey sort of cream colour to my eye, and the ruling is a complimentary orangey brown, spaced at 8mm. A margin is ruled on the left of the page, at 14.5 mm from the perforation, and 29mm from the bound side's edge of the page. My feeling is that paper has more "tooth" (the "scratchy" feeling as a nib moves over the page) than the paper in my Rhodia bloc pads, but not to an unpleasant degree.

INK TESTS:

The paper handles most inks pretty well - there's some feathering from Waterman's Havana Brown, and Diamine Amazing Amethyst, which I'd expect, after tests of these inks on other papers. I detect a small amount of feathering from Quink Black, but only if I look at closeups.

I think the only inks with "unzoomed" noticeable feathering are Diamine Dark Brown, and J. Herbin's Pousserie de Lune - even that doesn't seem too bad compared to their behaviour on the Moleskine & Ryman books I tested previously.

Some closeups;

and the top set;

Note that the lowest green ink is "Diamine Emerald", not "Emerale". That's what you get for writing ink test pages too late in the day, I guess.

The paper feels pretty thin, and that's borne out by the showthrough scan above (how visible the ink is when covered by a single sheet of blank paper).

The reverse of the pages show up the thin paper too, with the inks clearly legible from the reverse side of the page. This is a more controlled, less blotchy reverse page than I saw on either the Ryman or Moleskine though, and I think overall, that's better.

IN SUMMARY

If you like spiral bound pads, this is a good bet at a relatively cheap price, if you can live with a somewhat over engineered coil in the binding, and the relatively thin paper. Do bear in mind that the paper in these pads has been known to vary in quality - the usual advice is to check the product code, and country of origin, and buy pads from the same batch, if you like your sample!

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IRD Cafam Cantilevers

2011-11-25T09:18:00.001Z

Latest addition to the LHT is these IRD "Cafam" cantilevers.

I'm hoping for more power than the CR720 brakes, with less grabbiness than the Tektro Oryx. (It's surprisingly hard to find a cantilever that will play nicely with STi road levers). One happy coincidence of the geometry of these brakes is more room at the fork crown (the CR720 need the straddle to be down on the mudguard) - hopefully that'll be where my dynamo light goes once my dynohub wheel is built.

First indications are pretty positive - I've run the brakes for a week now, although I've not done a wet ride with them, which is probably the real test they need.

Huge thanks to James at Fine-ADC for getting me these - they're surprisingly hard to lay hands on locally, so I was glad I was able to buy direct from Fine.

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Red Harvest

2011-11-24T08:22:00.001Z

First published in 1929, "Red Harvest" is my favourite Dashiell Hammett novel. Cleverer people than I talk about it, and its influence in its wikipedia page.

I remember this cover as slightly more striking than it is here (and it's not a patch on the beautiful Knopf first edition) but I like its simplicity.

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Colour Comparison - Diamine Teal vs Diamine Blue Black

2011-11-12T23:54:00.001Z

It's hard to see the green in the Teal colour when it's not set against another ink - here's a close up;

Paper is Bloc Rhodia (from a No.11 pad), pens are both Schneider Base.

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Ryman Softcover Notebook (Pocket) vs Pocket Moleskine

2011-11-07T09:23:00.002Z

Ryman are a UK stationers, with both High Street stores, and an internet shopping presence. The notebook featured here is also available in an A5 size, which costs £5.99 (and is included in the current 2 for 1 offer, making the A5 book effectively £3).

Ryman's pocket notebook (as tested here) currently costs £4.99 (although with their buy one get one free they are effectively £2.50 each). A pocket Moleskine costs between £6 (Amazon) and £10.

Both pocket and A5 books come in Purple, Red, Brown and Black covers, each having 192 sheets of cream paper.

Side by side - hopefully you can see that the Ryman notebook (right) is just slightly larger. The Moleskine here is a hardcover, although comparison with my softcover Moleskine planners suggest that the Ryman cover is somewhat stiffer.

Both books have 192 pages (96 sheets). As you can see, the Ryman book is slightly thicker, indicating a heavier weight of paper. This is borne out by the feel of the pages - the pages in the Ryman are smoother, and do seem thicker. The ruling is darker than in the Moleskine, and spaced at 6mm.

The rear is stamped with Ryman's logotype. Neither this, nor the smooth cover look quite as nice as the Moleskine logotype & cover. The Ryman book has an elastic closure, a woven ribbon as a placemarker, and a pocket at the rear cover, just like any notebook of this type. (The brown is actually darker than it appears here).

Ink Tests

In all images, the top page is from the Ryman book, the lower from the Moleskine.

Bleed through test - the reverse of the pages after being written on.

Show through test - how visible the writing is when underneath a blank page.

The Ryman beats the Mole on showthrough (can you see writing through the facing page) and is slightly better (I think) on bleedthrough (can you see what you've written when you look at the back of the written page) although neither is great in that respect.

The Ryman loses on feathering for some inks (Waterman Havana Brown, Diamine Amazing Amethyst, and J. Herbin's Pousserie De Lune), although the Mole feathers more consistently (weird, tendril like growths from the letters, as though the ink is following the paper fibres). The Moleskine is definitely better at handling J. Herbin's Pousserie de Lune than the Ryman book.

Some closeups - Ink in the Ryman;

And the same inks in the Moleskine;

The top set from the Ryman;

and the Moleskine;

Neither book is a patch on Ciak, Rhodia or Quo Vadis products, which have far better paper - and to be fair, neither Ryman nor Moleskine position themselves as "fountain pen friendly" notebooks. However, the Ryman notebook, despite being cheaper, performs better than the pocket Moleskine for all but a couple of the inks I tested. The Moleskine is worse for show and bleedthrough than the Ryman product.

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A Carradice Bodge

2011-10-13T14:29:00.001+01:00

The seat tube angle on the LHT is fairly slack, and I've never really liked the way the Carradice hung from the bag loops on my saddle because of it. Last week, I finally got around to doing something about it.

I cut a short length of pvc pipe, wide enough to feed the seatpost strap through.

Then, I cut a longer piece from a 26 x 2.00 innertube - this went through the pipe, with the ends folded back over the outside, and taped down with electrical tape. The tube should, I hope, stop the pipe abrading the bag.

The whole lot goes over the seatpost strap, and stands the bag a little way away from the post.

With something reasonably firm packed against the seatpost end of the bag (a book, for example), the bag now hangs at a far better angle. As a bonus, I finally feel like a proper Carradice owner, having used a few pennies worth of leftover DIY stuff to fettle the bag.

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Speaking of Hub Gears...

2011-09-23T14:30:00.001+01:00

Vernon Forbes' "Elegy For Sturmey Archer".

http://www.hadland.me.uk/elegy.htm

(Doesn't include the period after their closure, btw).

And Mr C.'s AW hub service, at his Manchester Cycling site;

http://manchestercycling.blogspot.com/2011/04/repairing-aw-hub.html

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SBS Cycling Central Feed - A Quick Review

2011-07-20T09:36:00.001+01:00

I posted this in my updated podcast listing, and thought I should talk a little more about it. I'd intended to do a proper review, but realised that the Tour would end before I wrote that, so I'm dashing this off instead.

Essentially this is a feed with three podcasts on it - there are regular stage updates, about three minutes long that just recap the result and GC. There's also the Sag Wagon, a daily 30 minute show, and interviews (usually conducted by Anthony Tan).

The Sag Wagon is the one I wasn't sure about in my podcast listing. It is an odd format, most of the talking is done by host Sam Pang, a journalist whose background is football, olympian Dave Culbert (who I'd assumed was a cycling olympian, but was actually a long jumper), and a cycling journalist, Sophie Smith, who is deferred to when results, stats &c are needed.

I have to say, I'm warming to the Sag Wagon - it is flippant, but it's more good natured than my first impressions of it suggested, and I like the interplay between the hosts. Is it the place to go for incisive post race analysis? Probably not, but it's good fun, and I'm now looking forward to their intermittent features (Chateau of the Day, the Battle for the Lanton Rouge, Where Did Tony Martin finish today, and so on...).

If you're of a serious frame of mind, the interviews will make this feed well worth adding to your podcasts. You might remember Anthony Tan as a somewhat, er, disruptive presence on last year's Cycling News tour podcasts. He's far better in charge of the microphone, I think, and worthy of particular note are his interviews with Colombian journalist Luis Barbosa, author and journalist Richard Moore, and Cycling News' Dan Benson.

In short, I think my first impressions of SBS' Cycling Central podcast offerings were wrong - add the feed and see what you think.

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The Monkey RSS Folder - An Update

2011-07-14T09:12:00.001+01:00

This is an update of a post I made a little while ago - if you read that, my new podcasts are marked *NEW* (well, duh). I'd particularly commend the Flammecast (cycling) and Pappy's Flatshare Slamdown (comedy) to you. The Pod Delusion's "Extra" feed is full of gems (Natalie Haynes' talk at the BHA conference, Mark Stevenson's "Optimists Tour of the Future") if you like science, skepticism &c.

Been meaning to do this for a while, but this is a list of the stuff I *try* to catch each episode, or stuff I've enjoyed that's on hiatus but worth subscribing to either for the back catalogue, or a possible new series.

The categories are a bit arbitrary (The Amateur Scientist would fit in Science and Skepticsm too, and Collings and Herrin might possibly fit in news) but do represent what I listen to them for.

Mostly.

Most of the links below go to title pages rather than the RSS itself - I thought this better, as a description for each 'cast would make this a very long post. I subscribe via RSS - I think most of the 'casts have an iTunes feed too, but I can't say for sure as I don't use iTunes.

All the feeds are free, and some have a "tip jar" system for you to donate to the creators if you like the content - others have subscriptions, and some will encourage you to pick up the authors' work or merchandise in other, paid media if you like what they're doing.

Comedy

The Adam and Joe Show

Adam's Big Mixtape

Comedy of the Week (Radio 4) *NEW*

Collins and Herring (6 Music Show)

Friday Night Comedy (Radio 4)

Jon Holmes

Mike Detective (spoof of Pulp Private Eye Stories) *NEW*

Newsjack

No Pressure to Be Funny (NSFW - some bad language) *NEW*

One Life Left

Onion Radio News

Pappy's Flatshare Slamdown (NSFW - bad language, and depending on who's on it, adult themes) *NEW*

Richard Herring's As It Occurs To Me (NSFW - lots of bad language & adult themes)

The Amateur Scientist (NSFW - occasional bad language & adult themes)

The Collings and Herrin Podcast (NSFW - lots of bad language & adult themes)

What Are You Laughing At? (the British Comedy Guide's new podcast about comedy) *NEW*

What's So Funny? (Another one about comedy, this time from Radio 4 Extra - presented by Rufus Hound) *NEW*

You Look Nice Today (NSFW - occasional bad language & adult themes)

Cycling

Bike to Work Book Podcast

Carrément Vélo (in French)

Cycling Central (Not sure if this one will survive to the next update - like the ITV one, it's a national broadcaster's cast, but unlike the ITV one, seems to assume that people who don't follow cycling will find it all a bit silly - I may just not be getting the humour) *NEW*

Flammecast (occasional bad language) *NEW*

ITV Tour De France Podcast

NY Velocity

Real Peloton

The Bikescape Podcast

The Bike Show

The Cyclingnews.com Podcast

Cricket

Environmental

NPR: Environment Podcast

TreeHugger Radio

Other Factual (Documentaries, History &c)

A Point of View

Documentary of the Week *NEW*

Languages

Music & Film

JJ's Smoking Sessions

Little White Earbuds

Kermode & Mayo's Film Review

News & Current Affairs

Global News (Round up of the news of the day from the BBC World Service)

Analysis

File on Four

Broadcasting House

From Our Own Correspondent

iPM

More or Less: Behind the Statistics

Science and Skepticsm

Little Atoms

Material World

Monster Talk *NEW*

Nature Podcast

Righteous Indignation

Science in Action

Skepticality

Skeptoid *NEW*

Strange Quarks

The Infinite Monkey Cage

The Pod Delusion

The Pod Delusion Extra *NEW*

The Skeptics' Guide To the Universe 5x5

The Skeptics' Guide To the Universe

Short Stories and Fiction

Cast Macabre (Short form horror)

Clarkesworld (Short form science fiction)

CrimeWAV (Short form crime and noir on the hardboiled edge of the genre)

Cthulu Podcast *NEW*

Escape Pod (Short science fiction)

Machine of Death (Short Stories about a world in which death (manner, not time) can be predicted. Some really interesting ideas from the different authors) *NEW*

Patrick E. Mclean (Short articles, longer form fiction) *NEW*

Podcastle (Short form fantasy)

Pseudopod (Short form horror)

Scott Sigler Audiobooks (Novel length serialised horror and science fiction, and Scott's reader feedback and interviews elsewhere. Definitely not for kids. The current serial is "Ancestor", but Scott's back catalogue is available too, including fan favourites like "Contagious" and "Earthcore")

Shadow Publications (Author Paul Elard Cooley's Feed - short and long form horror fiction) *NEW*

Toothless (Novel length serialised horror - an interesting twist on the zombie genre so far - not for kids).

Underwood and Flinch (Mike Bennett's novel length serial tale of a vampire and his reluctant servant in modern day Spain - again, not for kids)

(Also worthy of mention is the MIGHTY podiobooks.com, which has more serialised audio fiction than you can shake several sticks at, and an excellent personalised subscription system).

It's worth noting that the biases of the Internet mean that much of this is horror, fantasy and science fiction - and lots of it is written specifically to be somewhat disturbing (it's horror, after all!). As I recall, Clarkesworld, Escape Pod & Podcastle will give a guidance rating with stories, so should be safe for those of a nervous disposition (as long as you pay attention to it).

Technology

All About Symbian

Gamecast *NEW*

NPR: Technology Podcast

Outriders

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Velo Orange: Grand Cru Touring Hub are Here

2011-06-13T08:43:00.001+01:00

via velo-orange.blogspot.com

Aside from being quite lovely things, these aesthetically pleasing hubs are beautifully designed.

Watch the video at Velo Orange's post on field servicing these - clever stuff indeed.

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Just Me Then...?

2011-05-26T08:08:00.001+01:00

A thing what i have proved with SCIENCE. And a graph.

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Sketch: Counter Knowledge

2011-05-26T08:04:00.001+01:00

An attempt at copying the cover of Damian Thompson's "Counter Knowledge", in the hope of learning to draw what I see, rather than what I *think* I see. Also without pencils, to commit to the line completely. Not very good, but not completely terrible.

Media: Moleskine Pocket Reporter, Rotring Esprit with Diamine Monaco Red, Schneider Base with Diamine Imperial Purple.

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From Podium Café: The Big White Elephant in the Room - the Portrayal of Sportswomen in the Media

2011-05-12T08:50:00.000+01:00

via podiumcafe.com

An interesting piece by "miffyg" on Podium Café.

I have to admit to feeling uneasy about the "Cycle Passion" style of promotion - something that seems to have filtered into cycling from the world of FHM et al, one where the "raunchy" photoshoot is almost a prerequisite for celebrity. I have cycling calendars, and generally they depict races, victories and iconic moments from the sport's history. They don't show riders larking about in their pants.

So why is women's cycling different?

To take a couple of examples, this shot of Lizzie Armistead winning at the Tour of Chongming Island;
http://www.cyclingnews.com/races/tour-of-chongming-island-2-1-we/chongming-ne...

Or this pic of Hannah Barnes;

Would be the equivalent of what we see when male racers are depicted - and for me, they're a better portrayal of the riders and the sport.

(Yes, I know about Pippo's Sidi ad - I'd argue that's the exception, not the rule).

Miffyg's shoot is still somewhat artificial (wrenching in your race kit?) but kudos to her for steering away from the "cheesecake" style she was uncomfortable with.

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Giro D'Italia, 2011, Stage Four

2011-05-10T21:33:00.002+01:00

Pro cycling produces images, and memories that we remember years after the events themselves.

I don't think anyone who watched today's stage, ridden as a tribute to rider Wouter Weylandt who died after crashing on yesterday's stage of the race, will forget it. The teams provided a fitting tribute to the fallen rider, and Eurosport's David Harmon and Sean Kelly provided an honest, moving, and respectful commentary on events.

(photo from Team Slipstream's Flickr)

On the run in to the line, as Tyler Farrar, a close friend of Weylandt, moved backwards to allow Weylandt's Leopard-Trek team mates to cross the line together, a Leopard rider (Stamsnijder, I think), beckoned Farrar forward to join them, and they crossed the line as one. It was an astonishingly moving moment, and one that honoured the sport, and the memory of Weylandt.

The fans played their part too, lining the route, and displaying Weylandt's race number, "108", as well as banners paying tribute to him.

The prize money from today's stage is to be donated to Weylandt's family.

There are better reports of today's stage elsewhere - but I wanted to personally mark the day as one where the teams, riders, race organisers and fans did the right thing - and thank them all for doing our sport, and Weylandt's memory, the honour they did it today.

Chapeau, and RIP Wouter Weylandt.

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#30DaysofBiking The Last Words (This Year)

2011-05-03T13:29:00.002+01:00

From the Bridge on the Wheelock Rail Trail

Like a silly monkey, I did my last update on 30 Days of Biking with a scant two days of riding to go, so this may be a short update.

The 29th was a public holiday here in the UK, because of the wedding of Prince William, and Kate Middleton. I understand that it was a small affair, but you may have heard about it.

Whilst I don't wish the happy couple ill, I was uninterested in the event, and had resolved to ride in the morning, as the other members of the Monkey household had determined to make the Royal Wedding their focus. (It was still on when I got back - and 20 minutes of Philip Schofield desperately filling while very little happened convinced me I'd made the right decision).

I decided to take the Surly Long Haul Trucker as far as I could go on NCN5, the Cheshire part of which runs from Kidsgrove to Chester (51 miles or so). The Surly was the choice because I didn't know what the terrain would be like, and short of quicksand / lakes of fire, it can handle anything.

Another Bridge, this time in Middlewich

From Crewe, the easiest way to join up with NCN5 is to head for the Wheelock Rail trail (or if you're going by road, Sandbach station - turn right from the station entrance, and then right again at the industrial estate). Signage for this route is lacking at points, and sadly that turn is one of them - I'd strongly suggest printing, and taking along the map.

With that bit of route finding sorted out, it's a very pleasant ride up to Middlewich, on rural roads that are mostly rolling or flat, and there's enough signage for this portion to keep you on the route (I did have the map on my bar bag to be sure though).

At Middlewich, a missing sign meant a mile or so of detour. Once I'd found my way again, there was an odd portion that appeared to direct me down a road, but actually points on to a restricted byway. From the byway, one should join the canal towpath. Unfortunately, that part of the route was blocked, due to some maintenance work being carried out.

I had a quick bimble 'round at the other end of the byway to see whether I could pick up the route again, but had no such luck. Rather than chance the A roads that seemed to link to the next part of the route, I decided to retrace my steps and pick up the eastern end of NCN5 instead.

Foden Business Park

Heading back, I noticed this place (Foden Business Park) which, having fallen on hard times, seems to have become a dumping ground. It was a rare intrusion into the predominantly rural atmosphere of this ride.

I only had 10 miles or so to go at this point though

Once through Sandbach and Hassall Green, it's canal towpath that forms the bulk of the Church Lawton - Kidsgrove section of NCN5. It's a nice enough ride, but has to be taken easily because of folk out and about taking the air. The morning was heating up nicely by now too, so it wasn't too much of a hardship to ride at an easy pace.

Another Cobbled Climb at the Locks

There's still the cobbles, of course - and some "interesting" interactions with bridges (very low headroom, narrow paths &c).

In all, I racked up 40 miles at a pottering sort of pace - lovely ride, and I'm already looking for a viable route past that blocked towpath.

Saturday was the last day of the challenge, and I rode errands that day, taking the Brompton to buy paint for our back gate. An ordinary 5 miles or so in lovely weather. The Brompton has been receiving a bit of TLC over the weekend, as this tough little bike has been shamefully neglected in the last couple of years. The winter rides have done it no favours at all, and a new chain and cassette will be needed before next winter. For the time being, touching up the scratches, and replacing the frame protectors (Bromptons have a surprising number of cable rub points) will have to do.

So that's it for another year - we were blessed with some lovely weather this time around, and I was able to tick off some of the routes and "wonder where that goes" roads I'd had in mind for a while. Over the course of the challenge, I missed 3 days of riding - two due to family commitments, and one due to laziness, naughty dogs and the Tour of Flanders. I was determined not to do the "pedal the Brompton around the block" cop out that I occasionally resorted to last year.

As ever, the bulk of my rides were commutes or quotidian trips to the shops, with only a few at the weekend being notable for distance or speed. Whilst it can occasionally require inspiration to ride every single day, commuting and running errands takes none at all - why not give it a try?

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Yehuda's Natural Home

2011-05-03T08:31:00.001+01:00

I wrote a little while ago about my Yehuda Moon and the Kickstand Cyclery patch.

Finally got around to sewing it on to my Carradice last night - it's not central, and that will bug me, I think, but surely Yehuda's natural home is on a Carradice bag.

Did I sew it on myself?

No, I sewed it on to the bag, like I said.

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More Words on #30Daysofbiking, The Best of Times, the Worst of Times.

2011-04-28T13:35:00.002+01:00

A sunny commute, last week.

I'd intended to write this at the end of last week, the third full week of #30daysofbiking,

It turned out that we were rather busier than I'd anticipated over the weekend (in a good way), so it's being written now, part way through the fourth full week of the challenge.

Last week was a particularly pleasant time to be out and about by bicycle. The weather was glorious, and the 15°C threshold for knee friendly shorts wearing was reached on several days (although still not at the time I set off from home). Commutes were mostly uneventful, with light half term traffic contributing to a general feeling that things weren't so bad after all out here.

Bluebells

On Friday, I took a quick ride out on the rougher part of the Cheshire Cycleway near to home.

The Bridlepath forming part of NCN 70

The ride up is on road, and then there's a stretch of gravelly, holed bridleway. It's interesting to ride for someone used to tarmac, and I discovered fairly quickly that I don't ride it particularly well.

Just over the bridge you can see in the distance on the pic above. The LHT is a heavy bike, but it should be ok...

My speed topped out at around 13mph on the gravel, and I wandered a bit on it, torn between trying to make the bike hold a line, and trying to stay on the bike full stop! Riding the crown of the road doesn't work here because of the strips of grass down the centre.

Cherry Tree & NCN70 Signs

Once off the bridlepath, it's back onto tarmac again, and as the sun warmed my limbs, the blossom trees along the route created an odd, snowstorm like flurry to ride through. Rather than retrace my steps, I rode on through the blossom to the main road, and then home. It was a short ride, but really enjoyable.

On Sunday, after returning from my sister's 18th birthday party (Happy Birthday Sis!) I took the opportunity for another quick ride, this time on the SCR2.

Another Lovely Day to be Out

This time, I rode one of the back road routes up to Sandbach - another old route of mine that's a quick 16 mile or so loop.

Granted, it's no Kapelmuur, but this Church is on a Hill.

There's a couple of nice hills on this route, and a decent loop bit at the end that allows you to retrace your steps.

No ride on Monday, (Happy Birthday Son!) but Tuesday meant that commuting resumed.

Another Bridleway, this time part of the commute home.

The half term traffic is still (not) there, and the roads are still pretty quiet, but I've had a couple of nasty run ins with drivers over as many days.

The first was a Cravendale logo'ed truck, that stopped at the same lights on the roundabout I was waiting at, about 6 inches from the bike and I. Now if you know anything about trucks and bikes, you'd be pretty worried by that. The driver gesticulated, well, something, in his mirror, I guess at me, and then roared off at speed up the exit to Crewe station...where he had to stop at the pedestrian crossing anyway. A pointless move from a "professional" driver. (The lane next to the one he and I were "sharing" at the lights was empty, or, god forbid, he could have waited behind me and overtaken safely).

Anyway, can you guess whether I'll be buying any Cravendale product in future?

Oh Shit.

As if to prove that that was not my day, I managed to hit a load of debris in the bike lane just after the Handforth Roundabout, and ended up with this (see pic) in my tyre, and a rather less obvious thorn. Then my spare tube was punctured, so a roadside puncture repair was my only option (thankyou, Rema, for your nifty TT02 kit). That done, I rode on, only to find that the less obvious thorn had caused a slow puncture (impossible to find by eye). It soon became clear that I needed to stop every mile or so to top up the tyre, making the ride home somewhat tiresome.

My last morning commute of the week was enlivened by another truck driver (no company logo) who took exception to my moving out to stop him trying to squeeze past me (he'd have overtaken into the path of a coach that I'd seen, and he, evidently had not, no less). An angry hoot, and a stupidly close overtake followed (again, with a now completely empty lane alongside that he could have used to overtake safely). I'd estimate he waited an extra half second, if that, to pass, and for this, he was entirely willing to risk killing me. It's dispiriting when car drivers indulge in this sort of petulant attempted murder, but when people who drive for a living do it, it's hard not to lose hope entirely.

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Is there a word for seeing a name you know from cycling in another context? #mapei #bandq

2011-04-22T13:27:00.001+01:00

via Gravity

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A Weekly Report, #30Daysofbiking

2011-04-18T10:47:00.001+01:00

We're at the end of the second full week of thirty days of biking now.

Again, a full week of commutes lies behind me. It's been a tolerably easy week for those, with some ok weather, and the worst of it being an annoying drizzle on a couple of mornings, rather than anything worse.

Towards the weekend, I've picked up a niggle in my left knee, that left me limping around on Friday evening, and hobbling at the weekend.

I'd already decided to do a short ride on Saturday, after feeling quite fatigued last week. In the end, this was a slightly forced affair - we headed out en famille to Crewe, in the car, and I loaded the Brompton in the boot, and rode back. An easy two and a half miles or so, spinning as much as I could to avoid stressing my knee.

On Sunday, my knee was no better, but I was still determined to ride. I ummed and ahhed about the route, deciding on NCN70 (the Cheshire Cycleway) in the direction of Audlem and Wrenbury, as I remembered it as being reasonably flat. The plan was not to go too hard, spin the pedals in a lowish gear, and I set myself a goal of 30 miles.

It was a grim ride, in some ways. Firstly, my recollection of the route was pretty far out, rolling, with occasional steep parts, that made it hard to settle to any sort of rhythm in my pedalling. My knee grumbled at every attempt to put serious power through it, and I ended up pulling that leg through with my right leg on the steeper parts. My continuous feeling on the ride was that I lacked gears to suit my new pedalling - either too low, with me "catching" the pedals on every rotation, or too high, with my knee shrieking at the effort. The bike I've ridden since 2007 was suddenly unfamiliar, alien, and at times only sheer bloody mindedness kept me rolling towards my mileage target.

With all that, even this ride had its wonderful moments - pedalling up through Englesea Brook, I saw young squirrels playing on a tree stump, and the spring flowers were in bloom all along the route. The weather was wonderful, the roads quiet, and the views breathtaking.

With a functioning knee, this sort of thing is my idea of fun.

Riding back, I discovered a new part of the Cheshire Cycleway that allows me to cut out a dull, high speed single carriageway that I've never particularly liked riding. Funny how a route you know can still throw up surprises.

Although it didn't feel like it at the time, I think "spinning" my knee has been good for it - it feels better today than it did on Friday, and I was able to put more power through my left leg on today's commute than I was on Sundays ride - hopefully it will continue to improve.

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Some Words on #30DaysOfBiking

2011-04-14T08:21:00.001+01:00

Depending on when I get around to publishing this, we'll be nearly halfway through the challenge by this point.

Artist's (well my) impression of riding home last week.

Here, between Manchester and Crewe, it's been mercifully dry for most of the days to now, albeit with a strength and motivation sapping wind on my homeward commutes.

I'm sad to say that I've already missed one day - a Sunday (should have been a banker, I always ride Sundays) that I spent mostly trying to catch naughty dogs who didn't want to be walked, and doing other non cycling tasks that needed to be done - in the afternoon, the Tour of Flanders was on Eurosport, and I wasn't about to miss that. I toyed with the idea of turning a pedal around the block, but it seemed like cheating. So as of now, my challenge is #29Daysofbiking.

All my commutes so far have been done in full, even on the day that the guard slept in, and my train left 30 minutes late (I was sorely tempted to ride in comfort all the way to Manchester, but did disembark to complete a 13 mile cycle commute rather than a 3 mile one).

Non commuting rides (all three of them) have been a mixture of the quotidian and exceptional.

We learn about right turns.

I took a ride into Crewe with my son to collect his pre-ordered 3DS, and sort out a Mothers' Day gift, he on his Decathlon Rockrider, and me on the Brompton. It was a lovely day, and we rode partly on the road, and partly on shared paths - at some points we walked the bikes, largely because I thought tackling roundabouts in traffic was a bit advanced for the lad just now. The sad truth is that British roads aren't very forgiving places for people just learning, because the space given to any cyclist, even young ones, by drivers is usually too small to allow for honestly made mistakes. As we got closer to town, it was simply quicker to walk than to sit with the traffic, which was fairly crawling into Crewe (again, I thought filtering a bit advanced at this point in his cycling career).

The distance we rode to town is something like two and a half miles, and I reckon we rode past about a mile of queueing traffic on the way. We also got to leave the bikes in the town centre sheffield stands, rather than at a car park we'd have to walk from. The whole business was eminently utilitarian and practical, and I can only assume that the folk who chose to drive instead were either physically infirm in some way, or were carrying lots of heavy things :)

The following Saturday, I rode a part of NCN5 that I'd always turned back from previously.

Looking Back Down the Towpath. This was the day before Paris Roubaix, and some cobbles seemed appropriate

Although it's possible to do towpaths on the SCR2.0, I'd sooner have more rubber between me and that sort of surface, and the LHT's 42c tyres are much more appropriate to this route.

From the bridge near Lock 49 (I think).

The cobbled ramps up to the locks on this route proved to be pretty interesting to ride - even on 42c tyres they felt a little skittery. It was a leisurely sort of a ride, with lots of care needed because of folk out walking (our canals lack the wide paths that grace those I saw in Belgium) but none the worse for that.

On the way back, I spotted this sign on Newton's Lane - either someone knows something I don't, or preparations for next winter are VERY advanced in South Cheshire.

This was a ride I did now solely because of the #30daysofbiking challenge - I can't say for sure how long it would have languished on my "Wonder where that goes" list otherwise. It's a joy to release the LHT from commuting duties and take it on some different routes - although still a road bike (low bottom bracket, &c) it's versatile enough with those big tyres to take on routes I'd not attempt on the SCR2, and surprisingly lively without commuting luggage.

The following Sunday I rode a quick 25 miles or so on the SCR2, the first time that bike had been out since last year, I think. 5 miles of somewhat achey adjustment to the different riding position ensued, as did a slightly longer period of wishing I'd done more to maintain my fitness over the winter.

An accurate sign, and an appropriately equipped bike.

A fairly unremarkable ride really, in the sense that I've done the route before plenty of times, and there were no surprises, nasty or otherwise. Remarkable in the sense that being out in beautiful countryside, and covering that distance under your own steam is always remarkable. It makes me feel lucky to be in Cheshire, with so much lovely countryside at hand, and to have cycling as an interest.

However your #30daysofbiking is going, I hope you're taking the time to tick off some "one day" routes too.

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@yehuadamoon

2011-04-13T15:36:00.001+01:00

have my patch - not sewn it on yet, but quality is excellent & it arrived in a Kickstand Cyclery envelope :)

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Via Bike Hacks; Bike Seat Bag Made from Tires and Tubes

2011-04-05T08:42:00.001+01:00

Bike Seat Bag Made from Tires and Tubes

Reader Lucas contacted us with yet another use for old tubes and tires. Take it away Lucas!

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

I recently finished a seat bag made from innertubes and a tire. The bag is made from a 26 year old Schwinn road tube, and a much newer (but still old) mountain tire. It is 100% recycled besides the rivets, webbing, and buckle. Even the zipper is recycled from a backpack. All in all it took about 3 hours from designing to the last rivet. I thought you would get a kick out of it and I thought your readers would like it too. Keep on riding.

- - - -

From Bikehugger: Bicycling Magazine: Lance Profiteers Either Way

2011-04-04T08:33:00.001+01:00

For more than a decade now Bicycling magazine has been positioning itself as the “rah rah” supporter of the Lance Universe. Cover stories have drooled over Lance’s various comebacks. They have produced multi-page guides to watching Lance in the tour (sometimes made ironically irrelevant by broken collar bones). They’ve sold books about Lance written by their own Bill Strickland who, in turn has been one of the biggest Lance supporters in print.

One issue I checked and found the word Lance present on every other page of the front of the book (the part of a magazine before the feature articles start). Chris Carmichael for more than a year included the word Lance in the first paragraph of every column. The magazine has taught us how to ride like Lance, climb like Lance, train like Lance, descend like Lance and make a comeback—you guessed it—like Lance.

Finally, if Lance did dope, magazines like Bicycling are partially culpable. His revenue, his fame, his notoriety was borne on the back of their rising circulation numbers and any illicit drug use would have been to keep that very same fame and fortune alive.

Things You Don't Want to Be Thinking Whilst on a Bike

2011-04-01T21:09:00.001+01:00

Well "That bloke hasn't seen me, has he?" is fairly high in the chart of things I don't want to think while riding, but bubbling under must be "Huh, so that is my blood" surely?

Don't worry - it's an injury I sustained from a pie tin last night. (No, really). Annoyingly, it opened up again as I rode home.

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From Surly: It’s just me today

2011-03-31T11:33:00.001+01:00

via surlybikes.com

This piece of artwork from Hiawatha Cycles is beautiful, and expresses a nice sentiment.

I couldn't locate it on their site, so here's the post from Surly where I found it originally.

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British Summertime / Subvertisement

2011-03-31T09:14:00.001+01:00

British Summertime has arrived, although the very first day of it saw me cycling to the train station in pitch darkness and dense fog, at a temperature of 3°C.

Things have gradually become more cloudy (and slightly less cold) through the week, and today is the sort of grey drizzly day that has you closing the blinds in the office, and opening them a few minutes later, in the hope that the rain has buggered off, to be replaced by the sort of cheery yellow sun that adorns children's pictures of landscapes.

Which is all by the by, as the real purpose of this post is to share a bit of subvertisement from Crewe.

This is an ad for some sort of car, enhanced by a local wag/activist/irresponsible vandal with a cut out of a superhero like character exhorting the viewer to buy a bike. Good advice, if you've ever seen, or been a part of the jams on the road adjacent to the poster, and a lot cheaper than even this (allegedly modestly priced) motor vehicle.

Here's a detail;

I guess the hero wins Copenhagenize points for being on a piece of segregated infrastructure[1] (the shared path up to the station) and not wearing an h*lm*t, but loses them for his lycra garb. Whether this makes him a traitor to the cause or not, wiser heads than mine will need to say. And then argue incessantly with each other over.

[1] Albeit a typically British piece of infrastructure - just next to the poster, you rejoin traffic with the typical 300° angle of view required to observe traffic entering the road you turn into and the path ahead. Maybe it's designed for cycling owls?

For all the moaning about the weather and the design of local bike paths, I'm still riding, and beginning to feel the effects of my short commute winter less and less. The truth for a lot of us is that despite the shortcomings of infrastructure, fellow road users, and the local weather, cycling is still more fun than getting to work/the shops/Auntie Mavis' house any other way. It has to rain VERY hard for me to wish I was elsewhere.

Anyhoo, don't forget that 30 Days of Biking starts tomorrow. If you're undecided as to whether or not to participate, maybe I can persuade you?

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From Strange Maps: 507 - Darkness and Cherry Pie: David Lynch’s Map of Twin Peaks

2011-03-30T11:04:00.001+01:00

...Lynch’s map was more than a mere mood-setter for studio execs. It was an essential tool for writing the series.

Read More (and see the map at large size) at Strange Maps

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30 Days of Biking

2011-03-29T13:43:00.002+01:00

One of my finds from last year's 30 Days of Biking challenge. I'd have ridden this trail at some point, I suppose, but thanks to the challenge, I got around to it more quickly.

Last year, I participated in a fun little event called "30 Days of Biking". The essentials of this are that you pledge to ride every day of the month (in a month with 30 days in, naturally), record your rides (at the time, this happened on Daily Mile, and was one of the reasons I have an account there), and tweet/blog/flickr/whatever about them as the mood took you.

I confess, it's a fairly easy challenge to do if you ride in to work every day - as I already had a habit of riding on Sundays, I just had to figure out how to justify/fit in a ride on Saturday.

From the year I did the "Photo a Day" Challenge on film - it's like riding fixed, for photographers.

This year, 30 Days of Biking takes place in April - it's bigger, with a fair amount of social media buzz going on around it. Predictably, the naysayers have popped up too, to ask what the point is, to deride the idea that anyone *wouldn't* ride every day anyway, why it's not held in a "harder" month, and so on.

So what is the point of 30 Days of Biking?

Yellow - a shot I'd taken lots of times, in lots of formats - all you need is the weather.

Let me offer an analogy. Back when I had more time for it, I was a keen photographer, and one of the things I used to participate in was a "Photo a Day" challenge in July. Now I was purely a hobbyist, and no one was stood over me demanding my day's output - any pressure was solely self imposed. I have to confess that some days were easy - I was already at an interesting location, or I had my shot for the day planned - this building (above) for example, was a picture I'd rehearsed, and simply went back to take.

"World of My Garden" became a recurring theme on days when inspiration failed.

But the interesting days were the ones where my plans fell apart, or were non-existent to start with. And it was here that I felt the pressure of the challenge, and from that produced some of my better pictures (in my opinion, that is).

My daughter in "Why Princesses Wear Crowns" still one of my favourite pictures, and one I'd never have taken if not for the photo a day challenge.

I think that's what 30 days of biking has to offer to you - it'll be easy to ride on the days that you planned to, or do ride on already. Some of those rides may turn out better than you thought, like the planned pictures I had did (sometimes) in my photo challenge. But what will you do on the days you'd not normally ride? That recovery ride you know is a good idea, but somehow never get around to? Trying to do more errands with the bike, instead of using the car? Trying a commute, if you don't already? One day, you could point your bike in a direction, and simply see where it takes you.

In my case, I rode errands on the Brompton and released the Surly Long Haul Trucker from commuting duty to explore the local trails too rough for the SCR2.0 to handle. Generally, my experience of 30 Days of Biking was that it quickly turned a sense of having to ride (to satisfy the challenge's requirements) into having fun, exploring new places, and generally getting more out of my cycling.

If you already ride every day, your rides could inspire others, or give them some idea of what kind of things to do if they're running out of ideas. If you don't, you could find that the challenge is the inspiration you needed to try different sorts of riding, head for that trail, or that route you always wanted to, but somehow never get around to.

If you want to know more, Road.cc has an article here, and the UK 30 Days of biking facebook page is here.

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From Utility Cycling: Carrying Your Stuff: Cargo Bicycles

2011-03-29T08:50:00.001+01:00

Sun-a-rise.

2011-03-18T12:47:00.001Z

A Sunrise, this morning.

It was a cold day this morning (hence the shiver induced blur on the photo above) but a beautiful day.

That's the sunrise as I left Crewe at 6am ish.

We're close enough to Summer now that I don't see the sunrise on the Manchester leg of my journey, which is a good thing, it means Summer, and rides where I can still feel my toes after 40 minutes are on the way.

If I were a cycling Mr T, I'd pity the car driver that missed being on a bike on days like this.

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From Pen Addict: Review: Noodler's Antietam ink

2011-03-17T10:40:00.001Z

This review is by Kalina Wilson, who can also be found at geminica.com.

Antietam (pronounced something like an-TEE-dum) is not one of the more frequently appreciated colors of Noodler's ink, but I'm a big fan. This ink is generally described as looking "antique" or like dried blood. It caught my eye while searching for a rich, red-tinted brown, and it fits the bill very, very well.

This particular color of Noodler's isn't widely available but right now it does appear to be stocked by both Writer's Bloc and Goulet Pens.

Because the color has such strong shading, it changes a lot depending on what you're using it with - your paper and especially your pen make a huge difference. In general, the thicker it is laid on and the less absorbent your paper, the more the ink moves towards an extremely rich deep red. A lighter layer can look like rich orange or thin tomato, depending on the paper and pen. Some paper pushes it towards brown.

via Pen Addict

There's some lovely art in this review too, well worth reading further.

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Buy a Suzuki Swift, pay a Non-Existent Tax

2011-03-11T09:58:00.001Z

"£30 Road Tax Per Year" proclaims this ad for the new Suzuki Swift.

As m'learned friend Carlton Reid points out, "Road Tax" hasn't existed since the 1930's.

So who at Suzuki is pocketing the money? Enquiring minds, &c.

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From Bearskinrug.co.uk: The Trouble With Chickens

2011-03-11T09:19:00.001Z

A Cluck Who's Gone To The Dogs

With the advent of March, the first of the 3 books that have consumed my every waking moment for the past several years has finally appeared on store shelves. The title in question is my inaugural foray into illustrating children's books, a handsome little read called The Trouble With Chickens. I wasn't sure whether to discuss it here, since it is a children's book and I definitely don't want children following a google search back to this completely inappropriate site. But then again, a google search will probably turn up several steamy images of my bronzed doppleganger, so perhaps this is the lesser of two evils.

Nomadic PE-10

2011-03-10T10:31:00.001Z

FAIR WARNING:

This is a post about a pencil case. No really. If you follow this posterous/tumblr/blog for my tedious ramblings on cycling, photography and art, this may not be for you.

Nomadic are a Japanese company that makes a bewildering array of pencil cases, electronics cases and bags, with interiors that allow you to organise the stuff you're carrying to varying degrees, and according to your preference.

WHY?

I've been carrying my writing stuff to work in a "pouch" style case, and latterly in the pen slots of my rather nicely designed Brompton "C" bag. On the "normal" commute, I use a Carradice saddlebag, which is brilliant, but lacks any internal organisation at all. With this bag, I use the aforementioned pouch style case, and having everything lumped in together led to some distressing scratches on my Rotring Esprit pen.

On switching back to the "normal" commute, this year, and thus the Carradice saddlebag, I figured I needed a better solution for organising things in the bag.

WHAT?

The Nomadic PE-10, Closed

Nomadic's PE-10 "Tri Fold" case (sometimes called the "envelope" case) seemed like the best bet for me. Try as I might, I couldn't find a UK supplier for these (note to UK suppliers - you could CLEAN UP selling these things here, they are BRILLS) so mine is from online stationery emporium "Jet Pens".

HOW?

The Nomadic PE-10, Open. Note the velcro strip down the side - the case closes VERY securely.

What appeals is the way everything can be given its own slot - no nasty scratches or fumbling about in the bag for me anymore! The case also unfolds to lie flat, so everything is ready for use and nicely organised.

In the pen slots are:

Back Row, (L-R);

Staedtler Mars Micro 0.9mm mechanical pencil (but Staedtler lead is horrid and squeaky - use Pentel).

Lamy Safari EF fountain pen filled with Lamy Blue

Schneider Base LH fountain pen filled with Diamine Imperial Purple

Parker Jotter Ballpoint (with a Parker Gel refill in black)

Parker Jotter Fountain pen (although mine is the Stainless Steel "flighter" version) filled with J. Herbin Perle Noire

Parker Jotter Mechanical Pencil (0.5mm)

Front Row (L-R);

Rotring Esprit (nifty telescopic fountain pen, now sold as the "Parker Esprit") filled with Diamine Monaco Red

Worther Shorty Clutch Pencil (3.15mm lead) black

Worther Shorty Clutch Pencil (3.15mm lead) blue

Why so much? Well, at least partly for redundancy, should one pack up, I can switch to another. The fountain pens are there principally for the different colour inks, which help me make sense of my to do lists (I'm naturally horrendously disorganised, and my life would fall to bits if it weren't for writing things down, and Mrs Monkey, of course).

Pressure of space means that my planner of choice (a Filofax) is in the "Pocket" size, making an "F" or "EF" nib (like that on the Lamy) essential for effective use of the page. "F" and "EF"s are a bit small and scratchy for meeting notes though, so for those I tend to use the Jotter fountain pen.

The mechanical pencils are for planner entries not quite definite enough for ink (the Jotter, mainly for this) and the others for sketching, should I get chance.

The ballpoint is for addressing envelopes, writing on "proper" ink unfriendly surfaces, and occasional "do you have a pen?" loaning - people really don't like borrowing fountain pens, I find.

Whilst there's nothing in there to set the pen afficionado's heart a flutter, they're all super reliable "workhorse" type writers, that'll start without needing a minute of scribbling on scrap paper, and not dry up in between making notes.

The pen slots aren't the whole story of the PE-10 though.

Pocket 1 - Behind the Left hand Pen Slots

Behind the left hand side pen slots is an top opening pocket that extends about 3/4 of the height of the case. I use this for spare cartridges, and "Post It" note tabs (these are fantastic little things, I use them for marking items of significance in books, diaries & planners, and as dividers in the "notes" part of my Filofax). This pocket doesn't have a closure, but I've yet to find that anything has "escaped" from here.

Pocket 2 - at the top of the middle section of the case

At the top of the middle section is a small pocket, closed by a velcro strip. This is just about large enough for a small Staedtler Rasoplast eraser, and my SanDisk USB MicroSD card reader.

Pocket 3 - behind the middle section's pen slots

Behind the middle section's pen slots is a full length "slot" type pocket - I don't keep much in here beyond a usb key and my headphones. I'd really like this pocket if it had a zip closure, and/or was wide enough for a Rhodia 11 pad (it isn't *quite* there, sadly).

IN SUMMARY

The PE-10 is great - a very practical way to organise my stuff & keep it safe, and I've not had the problems others have described with losing items from the case (although all my pens have pocket clips, and I do use those to clip to the case's slots). It has the advantages of a pen or tool wrap (separating your pens so they don't scratch each other and can be organised), with an unfussy closure and some useful extras (like the pockets, and pen slots that are different sizes - Parker Jotters being slimmer than Lamy Safaris, or Worther Shortys). The material is a tough "ripstop" nylon, the stitching is nicely finished, and the overall impression is of solid build quality. Although the case isn't padded, using the "slot" pockets (and putting the right things in them) should provide a degree of protection to the pens & pencils inside when the case is closed.

For perfection? Make that middle slot pocket a smidge wider, and zipped, and get a UK/European distributor!

A NOTE ABOUT LINKS

Provided on the off chance that you're interested in the things I talk about here - I have no affiliation with the companies linked to, and will get no kickback from them if you purchase. However, I have used these companies, recieved good service, and wouldn't hesitate to recommend them to you.

The items I describe may not have been bought from the supplier in the link (some were bought in actual shops, many years ago, some came from eBay), but were all paid for by me long before this review was even a glimmer of thought in the back of my brainium.

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(Don't) Manchesterize #2

2011-03-09T13:17:00.001Z

At first sight, this looks like a high quality cycle facility scandalously left to decay.

However, this is actually an example of transport planning at its most acute.

Greater Manchester's planners have foreseen the day that cycling's modal share increases to the point that such separate facilities are unnecessary (everyone will be on bicycles, after all). By the time this facility's surface has crumbled to dust, the cycling utopia guaranteed us by such foresight and wondrous facilities will have surely have arrived, meaning any money spent on maintaining it would have been senselessly wasted.

For god's sake, Don't Manchesterize the planet. And have a lovely day.

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From "Does This Pen Write": Schtick Pen: Pilot B2P Bottle to Pen Gel

2011-03-03T10:17:00.001Z

via doesthispenwrite.wordpress.com

"Now I enjoy drinking bottled watered as much as anyone who finds the idea of paying for tap water fatuous, but that didn’t stop me from finding the water bottle shaped pen utterly adorable."

I'm very taken by the echoes of the water bottle in the design too, nicely done.

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From Bike Commuters: Product Review/Sneak Peek: Planet Bike Super Flash….TURBO!

2011-03-02T13:08:00.001Z

From Rhodia Drive: Wave of the Future

2011-03-01T09:19:00.001Z

via Rhodia Drive/a>

Lovely post at the Rhodia Drive blog on a guide to the New York World's Fair. An interesting read, and how about this "visual phone", imagined for a Sheaffer ad?

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Cum Hoc, Ergo Propter Hoc

2011-02-25T09:01:00.001Z

Near-perfect correlations exist between the death rate in Hyderabad, India, from 1911 to 1919, and variations in the membership of the International Association of Machinists during the same period. Nobody seriously believes that there is anything more than a coincidence in that odd and insignificant fact.

-David Hackett Fisher

That cycle training may be offered more in environments that are hostile to cyclists does not mean that cycle training is the cause of that hostility, or reinforces it in some ill defined way.

Here endeth, &c.

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Rivendell Day - Sort of.

2011-02-23T13:09:00.001Z

I seem to have been posting and tweeting about Rivendell Bicycle Works a lot today.

Still, some more won't hurt.

Interview with Grant about the company;

http://37signals.com/svn/posts/2772-bootstrapped-profitable-proud-rivendell

“When I’m interested in something and want to know about it, or at least want to, or need to, get a good one — whatever it is — I want to talk to somebody who knows everything about it. Specs don’t tell me that, but the guy who sells them, or has sold them for 20 years, or the guy who repairs them — he knows. And I want to know what he does. Who doesn’t?”

It's from a "Peeking through the Knothole" post that seems to have been deleted, sadly, as it was interesting (about the idea of Artificial Scarcity) and bigged up Surly bikes, which is no bad thing.

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From Sports Scientists Blog: Floyd Landis, spoof emails and the cycling comedy carousel

2011-02-23T08:35:00.001Z

The problem for Landis, of course, was always going to be credibility. Having spent millions of dollars and much time crafting his passionate defence, his admission of doping undermined his own argument, and the easiest response for everyone concerned - Armstrong, Bruyneel, the UCI included - was to dismiss him as bitter, vengeful and lacking morality. Pat McQuaid's own words show this: "Unfortunately my initial reaction to someone like that is to discredit them..." (note that there was no desire to discredit the allegations or the content of Landis' emails, rather the person)
It also doesn't make it easy that Landis brings news that people don't really want to hear - finding out that their heroes have feet of clay, or the inevitable negativity that resonates through Landis' allegations would make any messenger unpopular. The fact that it was Landis, a self-confessed doper who found himself in the impossible Catch 22 of revealing himself as a liar by claiming to tell the truth, made it even easier to resort to the all too common defence of "leave cycling alone".

The Smiths in Unexpected Places - Part One of a Very Occasional Series

2011-02-23T08:19:00.001Z

I don't follow Coronation Street - BUT I did recognise the tune that was playing when the "Tyrone" character;

(yes, this chap) was doing his washing (it is a Soap Opera, after all).

It was "The Smiths - How Soon is Now".

Now The Smiths are a Manchester band, but I've always thought of Tyrone as more an Ocean Colour Scene sort of a chap, myself.

Is this writerly shorthand for things being pretty bad for the lad, I wonder?

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Jack Russell: Dog Detective

2011-02-22T12:52:00.002Z

How I found this is quite a long story.

I'm the owner of a Jack Russell (or part Jack Russell, to be accurate). My dog was ahead in the queue when they handed out handsomeness and loyalty, but towards the back of the "Brains" queue.

Things my dog has detected:

1) Empty Tuna Cans with just enough tuna in to make it worth flinging them around the garden.

2) Left over rice. (He loves rice).

3) Something interesting behind the stacked paving slabs in the yard.

4) Toys he buried in the garden (as long as they were buried more than a year ago).

The Jack Russell in this series is certainly a far better detective (I reckon my dog would be in with a chance on the case of the Buried Biscuits, mind).

More information here I particularly like the French version, "Jack Russell: Détective Canin".

Written by Darrel and Sally Odgers, the series is published by Scholastic.

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office-space and beyound

2011-02-22T08:52:00.001Z

office-space and beyound

hello out there... this is Don Kenn speaking.
I have an exhibit of all my post-it notes comming up this thursday. If you happen to be in Copenhagen, come take a look.
http://www.facebook.com/#!/event.php?eid=135089869890724

posted by john kenn at 11:19 AM

via johnkenn.blogspot.com

Not sure whether I have any followers in Copenhagen, but Don Kenn's amazing Post-It monsters are being exhibited there.

If you can't make that, follow his blog for regular small scale monsters.

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From the Cycling Silk: Update on assault and threat to kill

2011-02-22T08:34:00.001Z

I only wish that half the effort into investigating and pursuing police staff who have made a mistake, went into the investigation and pursuit of the assailant. It is of course only right that complaints against the police are taken seriously, but I am left with an uncomfortable feeling that the police involved have come off worse than the man who actually attacked me. This feeling is reinforced by the fact that, rightly, I was given the identity of the police officers involved as soon as I asked; whereas the identity of my assailant has just this moment, many weeks after my request, been revealed to me.

via thecyclingsilk.blogspot.com

Do read the whole thing - it's interesting that this happens to someone used to dealing with the "system" and with a degree of clout within it - it rather makes me wonder what would happen to any of us in a similar situation. Mr. Porter also offers some commentary on the "One Show" piece in which he featured.

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From the Epicurean Cyclist: 10,000 Mile Review: Acorn Boxy Rando Bag

2011-02-17T12:43:00.001Z

From Urban Velo: Sign-O-Bike

2011-02-17T12:06:00.001Z

(Don't) Manchesterize

2011-02-17T08:31:00.002Z

Here in Greater Manchester, we see an innovative approach to tackling the winter cold that puts so many commuters off taking to their bicycles.

Local petty criminals have enhanced this shared use facility with a small fire, the ashes of which can be seen (just) to the right of the thoughtfully provided shopping trolley (should anyone on their way to or from the nearby Sainsburys need somewhere to put their "Bags for Life", perhaps). The fire provides not only much needed warmth and light in the dingy tunnel, but also an opportunity for the daredevil cyclist to practice riding through flame, perhaps with a view to setting up a travelling bicycle stunt show.

Don't Manchesterize the planet, for pity's sake, and have a lovely day.

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Treachery! Infamy! They've all got it in for me...!

2011-02-15T13:17:00.001Z

I mentioned something a while back on another blog (might have been "At War with the Motorist") about feeling, just occasionally, that as an existing utility cyclist, I was viewed as "the enemy" by some advocates. And by utility cyclist, I mean someone who uses a bike to travel to places where I have things to do, as opposed to (purely) for the fun of it, and who wears cycling gear for longer rides.

I don't mean to single him out, but this post (at the excellent 42 Bikes) is a case in point;

I have just witnessed a classic way of making cycling appear unattractive to – well to anyone really.

The trick is to arrive at a busy Costa in a nice town on a cool but otherwise pleasant Saturday afternoon wearing lycra padded shorts, a muddy waterproof jacket and of course your cycling helmet on. To complete the image make sure that you are alone and that your legs are as unattractive as possible.

All those people wearing comfortable clothes and enjoying each others company will look at you and wish they had come shopping by bike – not!

We've no way of knowing what the object of the blogger's ire had been up to - he/she might have been in the saddle for hours, treating him/herself after a hard training ride, or fortifying ahead of one. Hell, he/she might just find bike kit more comfortable for riding around in. Does he/she somehow have a responsibility to sacrifice his/her comfort and enjoyment for some nebulous greater good, I wonder?

As a frequently linked post by Dave Moulton points out, there are good reasons to wear modern bike gear - and for some things, it's difficult to argue that anything else is better. The argument that people "wore regular clothes for long journeys in the past" is a flawed one - "racing" gear then was expensive, and difficult to care for, making less practical (in this sense) alternatives essential.

I can recall other campaigners on the "hard" end of the utility advocacy side chuckling at cafés that refused to serve people in bike gear, and it's from this sort of post that my unease stems, because I can't help thinking that being on a bike *at all* is worth something over here.

I'm uncomfortably reminded of the "That Was the Week that Was" sketch;

Roadie: "I look down on him", (looks snootily at utility cyclist), "because his bike weighs more than mine."

Utility Cyclist: "I look down on him" , (looks snootily at roadie), because he wears cycling gear."

And some drivers don't look *at all*, as my scars testify - if you want to be angry at anything, I'd suggest that's a better target than other cyclists.

All of which is just a re-write of this, really. But there you go.

(By way of recompense to 42 Bikes, whose blog I like, I should point out that I'd not have read this Sheffield University presentation without him, it's very interesting. I also very much enjoy his cargo bike tales, which feature a Larry vs Harry Bullitt).

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From Kitsune Noir: Cliché!

2011-02-11T08:01:00.001Z

via thefoxisblack.com

A charming little video (click the link) by French animator Cédric Villan - France, Seen from Abroad.

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From Kitsune Noir: Old Posters from France

2011-02-09T08:08:00.001Z

One Person's Practicality...

2011-02-01T12:09:00.001Z

Just as those at the extreme of the "Roadie" spectrum fetishise the reduction of weight, and addition of crabon to the bicycle and its components, to the point that it makes less and less sense[1], so the extreme utility cyclist values "practicality" above all other considerations.

This is, however, a very specific brand of practicality.

I was musing on this following a recent discussion on internally geared hubs (hereafter, IGH) which are valued variously for their minimal maintenance requirements, ease of shifting (the chain does not have to be in motion to change gear[2]), the fact that "roadies" don't use them (a somewhat spurious contention, given the reception given to the Shimano Alfine equipped Cotic Roadrat and On-One Pompetamine among certain sections of the lycra wearing fraternity) and their presence on the archetypal "Roadster" type bike (although some argue that this is a single speed, with a coaster brake).

As Bike Snob NYC once pointed out, there can be a tendency to define a quality in terms of its opposite. Don't like the stripped down, narrow tyred, mudguardless road bike? Then ignore the in-between options and ride a heavy, Dutch style city bike! (BSNYC actually uses the word "Tank", as I recall - unfairly, as there's a real pleasure in this type of bike, in the right situation).

To me, "practicality" is more than the opposite of what the "sport cyclist" is up to. Grant from Rivendell wrote an interesting piece on hub gears last year, when answering some reader questions - you can read the whole thing here.

As he points out, if you genuinely have no time for, or no interest in, maintaining a bicycle, or ride in really appalling conditions, a hub gear can make sense. The latter is, I think, why an IGH is great for a Brompton - the drivetrain is so low, thanks to those 16" wheels, that is gets really filthy, really quick - on a 700c, or 26" bike in normal conditions, I don't think that applies. With IGH, you can also do nifty things like adding a chain case, which means you no longer have to tuck your trousers into your socks, a huge sartorial gain, so long as you wipe any muck off your chaincase, I guess.

Of course, there is a trade off - you add a piece of complex machinery to the bike that, should it go wrong, needs specialist, probably expensive, attention from someone who knows what they're doing. You also complicate one of the most simple repairs anyone can do on a bike, namely that of fixing a puncture.

The trade off for the derailleur geared bike is an increased level of care (wiping the chain with a rag & re-oiling after riding in the wet - although I have to do this on my IGH equipped Brompton too, as the chain is exposed) and some attrition of components. I think the latter is overstated - the older systems (6 - 8 gear) last a good many miles and are cheap (Mrs Monkey's 7 speed transmission seems to have lasted forever, so my experience of buying 7 speed components is limited) 9 speed is durable enough, with chains costing, say £5 more, depending on what you buy - I'd balk at 10 speed, personally, for reasons of durability and cost (reduced, and increased respectively, not the right way round, surely!) Maintaining the derailleurs themselves amounts to giving them a squirt of GT85 now and then around the pivot points, and maybe a yearly change of cables.

As I've said before, bikes are mechanically simple, and this is part of the joy of them. That one can generally see anything that goes wrong, and fix it is surely a contributing factor to the independence that a bicycle gives the commuter (or shopper, or well, insert other use here). We don't have to worry about the black box somewhere inside our vehicle freezing up and stranding us on the way to work or to see Auntie Doris, waiting impotently by the road for the AA (or your favoured motoring organisation) to turn up. Or leaving us stuck in the top gear of the hub, honking away like we're on a mountain time trial when just trying to move away from the lights. (Long story). At least with a broken bike, you can push it to the destination, or use it like a Dandy Horse I guess, rather than waiting for a lone cyclist to offer to help push your stranded SUV out of the junction (another long story).

Which brings us back to practicality - it's a word that can, perhaps should, have a different meaning for all of us. For me, it means things I can understand, maintain easily in minimal time, and repair or bodge easily in order to continue riding - in these straitened times, it also means things I don't need to employ a specialist to work on. I trade off some other attributes to get that, in the same way that the rucksack using commuter favours a sweaty back over having to attach and detach luggage from his or her bike (not a trade off that makes sense to me, but there you go). Similarly, I have a colleague who trades off a reduced likelihood of getting punctures, for the inability to remove his tyres without 30 minutes of swearing and 2 or 3 broken tyre levers. On the Brompton, I trade some of the attributes of my full size commuter for the ability to get any train (even the ones where the bike spaces are full of luggage, of which there are a great many lately), take a bike where I can't be sure there'll be decent bike parking, and so on.

Practicality and utility aren't, I'd argue, one size fits all definitions - think about what makes your cycling life easier, and define them yourself.

[1] Some savings being equivalent to emptying your bladder before a ride- a measure that should also be far cheaper, and make the ride more comfortable into the bargain.

[2] A mixed blessing - grand if you're in the right gear before starting a hill, but if you choose wrongly, leaving you with a significant loss of momentum half way up, as you struggle to unweight the pedals enough to allow the change of gear, without losing too much forward/upward motion, on a Brompton at least.

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From Urban Velo: The Long and Triumphant History of Women in Cycling

2011-02-01T07:54:00.001Z

via urbanvelo.org

Links to a piece on Streetsblog on the effect of the bicycle on women's lives at the turn of the last century.

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Does There Have to be a Point?

2011-01-28T12:08:00.001Z

A little while after I'd switched to my multi-modal commute, I got talking to some businessmen on the train.

In one of those odd coincidences that happens occasionally, they turned out to be salesmen for a software product I'd once implemented. After catching up a little on developments in their company, and at my former site, talk turned to my cycling.

"So, how many miles do you do?"

"Today, it'll be about 30 - I don't get the train all the way."

"30? Wow, what are you training for?"

"Er - well, nothing."

"No? So you're doing all that cycling every day?"

"Yeah, I like it."

"But not for anything?"

"Well, just enjoyment, I suppose."

"Oh, er, right."

You see, I ride a road bike, (although in the last couple of years, I overwinter on the Brompton) and I do wear bike specific clothing (but not on the Brompton, it's only 7 miles round trip, after all). People tend to think that that means "training". However I do those things because they make an hour or so on the bike each day comfortable, and mostly fun.

I do longer rides on Sundays as well, although again, these have little point beyond seeing how far I can get before the Mrs. Monkey crossness threshold is breached - there's a premium on covering a decent distance in under 3 hours, or simply seeing a new place in that time. If there has to be a point to being out in the beautiful countryside around Cheshire, I think I'd rather not know about it.

I can't rule out the possibility of working towards something, an event, or perhaps another tour, but for now, I don't really mind whether my cycling has a point or not. The only cycling goal I've set this year, and one that I've not missed each year, on balance, since I started riding, is to have fun.

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Well, There are Lots of Trees, but Where on Earth is the Wood?

2011-01-28T08:25:00.002Z

If ever there was proof that Britons are irrevocably wedded to the car, it's this article, on the BBC Website.

The article muses on how at risk cyclists are from the pollution produced by motor traffic. The solution? Simply measure and publish the pollution measurements so that cyclists can choose "when and where to cycle".

The assumptions made show just how staggeringly car centric our country is; that the pollution from motor traffic is, effectively, beyond mitigation, that cyclists (and presumably pedestrians) would not be commuting (like the drivers) and so can pick and choose the time of their journeys (having nowhere important to be on time), and that the "solution" is simply to get everyone out of the way of the cars, trucks and buses.

Still, it's one problem that Philip Hammond's electri-magical cars can actually solve, I suppose.

Unless you cycle near a power station.

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From Kitsune Noir: Kafka, Redesigned and Reconsidered by Peter Mendelsund

2011-01-27T08:52:00.001Z

via thefoxisblack.com

More "re-covering" - these alternative Kafka covers are wonderful - I liked Metamorphosis in particular.

Follow the link to read the full article.

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From Surly Blog: Preschool Commute - Thy Name is Troll

2011-01-27T08:24:00.001Z

via surlybikes.com

Whilst we're talking of Winter, here's a nice pic from the Surly blog, featuring their new do-it-all bike, the Troll.

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From Good: How to Winterize Yourself for a Bike Commute

2011-01-27T08:22:00.001Z

The bike commuters here at GOOD are a spoiled bunch weather-wise. While much of the country shivers, we're basking in seventy degree winter weather. We applaud you two wheeled commuters braving the single digits.
We found this Streetsfilms cold weather pedal pushing primer quite helpful. From proper clothing layering and headgear—balaclava anyone?—to full fenders and frequent chain oiling—these Chicago toughs have you covered.
Got more winterizing tips? Share them in the comments below.

From Whatever: TWSBI Diamond 530 Fountain Pen

2011-01-27T08:08:00.002Z

via okami-whatever.blogspot.com

The TWSBI story is a reasonably well known one among fountain pen afficionados (I don't account myself one of those, although I have a users interest in them) and is an interesting study in the use of modern communication to develop and market a product. The pen pictured above was developed with a huge amount of input by members of the Fountain Pen Forum, as TWSBI's next product, the V700 pen will be.

The Diamond 530 also fits into the idea of the "Self Repair" manifesto I posted in December - it's designed from the ground up to be user serviceable and adjustable, even shipping with the tools you need to dismantle and re-assemble it!

The TWSBI Diamond 530 is generally well regarded, and TWSBI themselves are also, largely because of their responsiveness to consumers. The linked article focusses on the company's origins, and the development of the Diamond 530, with a link to a more comprehensive review of the pen.

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From The Cycling Silk: Transport Policy again

2011-01-26T08:48:00.001Z

The Department for Transport has just laid before Parliament a report entitled Creating Growth, Cutting Carbon; Making Sustainable Local Transport Happen. It includes the following information:

"According to the Retail Price Index, the cost of buying a car fell by 29% in cash terms between 1999 and 2009, while general RPI inflation over the same period was 29%. However, the cost of car maintenance, petrol and oil, and tax and insurance all increased markedly faster than general inflation. The "combined" cost of motoring (covering purchase price and running costs) fell by 11% relevant to the general rate of inflation. Over the same period rail fares rose by 43% and bus and coach fares rose by 58% "

From Naturally Cycling Manchester: Conversation with local postie & his bike…

2011-01-26T08:15:00.001Z

Today I was in Didsbury … despite the rain, cycling was still the most straightforward way for me to get there, and how glad I was I did cycle!

As usual, I went to park Vita outside the library. As I dismounted I looked up and who do I see? My old work’s postie on his bike! After few “Hello! How are you?” he noticed that my bike is a Pashley and smiled saying “The RM bikes are Pashley!”… I smiled back and said I know!!

As he seemed able to spare a minute or two I asked him what was happening to the RM bikes in Manchester (as I have been interested in the whole shenanigans), as I heard in Milton Keynes RM has phased out its bikes fleet already. He said that they were going to do the same in Manchester, but when it came to it they THEN realise that not only did they not have the money for it (doh!) to replace one bike with one van but that they just didn’t have the space for it!

Remember this?

42 Brompton bikes in a car space - (c)Brompton

Read More at naturallycyclingmanchester.wordpress.com

Interesting piece on Naturally Cycling Manchester about the Royal Mail delivery service and bikes.

Ditching bikes has always seemed to be a backward step, to me, particularly given the inexorable rise in the cost of fuel (in general, oil is not getting easier to find, or cheaper to extract), and the potential for yet more speeding vehicles in residential areas. Despite that, the space implications at RM depots themselves hadn't occurred to me, but is blindingly obvious now I think of it.

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From Good: To Cut Emissions, Cut Parking Spots

2011-01-25T14:04:00.001Z

When it comes to reducing auto emissions, new research says, "If you don't build it, they won't come."
According to findings in a new paper (PDF) from the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy, Europe's Parking U-Turn, several major European cities have had tremendous success regulating car emissions simply by eliminating the places in which cars can be parked. Hamburg, Zurich, Paris, and London have all cut spots, lessening auto emissions as well as spurring residents to seek out alternative transportation methods, like walking or biking.
photo (cc) via Flickr user bee-side(s)

From Bike Commuters: DZR GMT-8 Urban Cycling Shoe review

2011-01-25T08:10:00.001Z

Alarm Tones

2011-01-25T08:07:00.001Z

When you have an earlier start than your partner, the choice of morning alarm can be a source of some discontent.

I used to wake up to Jean Narcy's "Bravo Eddy";

Unfortunately, the rousing chorus of "La la la"s at the begining caused Mrs Monkey to awaken too, something she was a bit unhappy about at 5am.

So my alarm more recently has been the Tour De France theme, from Channel 4's coverage back in the '80s and '90s;

This works pretty nicely - not too strident at the beginning, and does get you in the mood for the morning commute. Is it really appropriate for the Winter months though, where my riding is curtailed to a 3 mile bimble to and from train stations on the Brompton?

Mrs Monkey's choice, given her dubbing of the Brompton as "that clown bike" would undoubtedly be this;

What I'm actually using is the main theme from Suspiria, by Goblin;

It has pretty much everything you want from an alarm tone - gentle chimes to start, becoming gradually louder, with sinister whispering and a feeling of creeping dread should you not stop the alarm and get up in time. Or maybe that's just me.

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Lost Myths: A Rumbling Deep in the Bowels of the World

2011-01-25T07:47:00.001Z

Read the rest at lostmyths.net

The best Lost Myths in a while, I reckon - the tale of Leviathan, the Whale God.

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From Good: New Jalapeño Bred Specifically to Hold More Cheese

2011-01-21T08:40:00.001Z

Scientists at New Mexico State University's nonprofit Chile Pepper Institute recently announced that they had successfully bred a brand new, medium spicy, extra large jalapeño, specially optimized for "increased cheese payload."

From Kitsune Noir: Shepard Fairey Interview with Gestalten

2011-01-21T08:37:00.001Z

via thefoxisblack.com

You might not know his name, but you've almost certainly seen his work, or work inspired by his style.

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From Surly Blog: Ted and the Troll

2011-01-18T22:42:00.001Z

via surlybikes.com

A close up of a trailer corner, on Surly's "Ted" trailer. You can see the rest of the trailer, and the Troll by following the link above, of course.

"The corners feature threaded M6 bosses for bolting on corner stakes or sideboards. We’ll likely offer these accessories in the future, but don’t wait for us. Go to the hardware store or dig around your garage or basement, and make some stuff. Don't be scared. You can do it."

It's a typical Surly design - solid and simple, with standard parts & sizes that you can build up with readily available bits.

Also in the article is their "Troll" frame, built up into a bike - a disc braked, steel dogsbody of a bike, it looks great in what looks to be a similar army green to my LHT.

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Yehuda Moon: Custom caps from Walz Caps - cotton, wool, and cold weather

2011-01-16T19:52:00.001Z

Who would have thought that you could meet so many interesting people just by starting your own cycling cap business? We may be small and we may be young, but we have met a lifetime's worth of fantastic people and we are pleased as punch to start collaborating with a few of them.

For collaboration number one, we would like to introduce Rick Smith and Yehuda Moon. We first stumbled upon the comic strip when we noticed that Yehuda Moon- the idealist, dreaming, shop owning, bicycle advocate- was wearing a very familiar cycling cap. After reading a few of Rick Smith's comic strips, we knew this was something we wanted to support.

From Quo Vadis Blog: Habana: the new artist series

2011-01-14T08:35:00.001Z

Uncle Pat Approved

2011-01-13T10:13:00.002Z

I think the UCI have missed a trick with their new wheeze for pre-approving bike components (at the bargain price of £10,000, or thereabouts for a sticker that says that the commissaire can't rule your geometry too outlandish).

Taking a tip from Bike Snob NYC, I've created this, featuring the noble visage of Uncle Pat McQuaid (FOR IT IS HE) to adorn the components that pass the rigorous check clearance testing and measurment processes.

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Pavement Parking in Merton

2011-01-11T11:51:00.001Z

via cycalogical.blogspot.com

A nice piece on the anti-social habit of pavement parking, over at Cycalogical.

Pavement parking is rife in some parts of the village I live in, although there it's pretty frequently done in a way that leaves you sidling past the offending vehicle, and would have wheelchair users and those with prams or baby buggies diverting to the road. Why these drivers think this is ok is beyond me.

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Velo Orange: Posters

2011-01-11T09:43:00.001Z

via velo-orange.blogspot.com

These are really lovely - I particularly like the one with the mustachioed dude.

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Utility Cycling: Cargo Bike Designed for a Dog

2011-01-11T09:15:00.001Z

Bicycle Design: Simeli dress guards and other links

2011-01-07T12:32:00.001Z

Sports Scientists: 2010 Year in Review

2011-01-07T12:02:00.001Z

Looking back on 2010: The Year-in-Review series

Well, 2010 is finally winding down, and while we've had a quiet few months here on the site, it's been anything but quiet in the sports world. We've missed much of it, while Jonathan welcomed a new addition to his family and the floor fell out from under my feet, but better late than never, we'll use our review to cover the stories we've missed.

From 2D Goggles: A Matter of Proportion

2010-12-20T08:49:00.001Z

Untitled

2010-12-20T08:35:00.001Z

via TweetDeck

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From Kitsune Noir: Space Suit of the Week

2010-12-13T08:19:00.001Z

From Sports Scientists Blog: The limit of human performance: How much faster?

2010-12-03T09:01:00.001Z

Swifter, higher, stronger...up to a point? Or beyond? The limit of human performance

Today we revisit a topic that seems to run like carousel, popping up once every few months on the site - how much faster can human beings run? How close to a "ceiling" in performance are we?

From Salsa: Building From A Mukluk Frameset

2010-12-03T08:37:00.001Z

PK

Building From A Mukluk Frameset

November 29th 2010 | 6 Comments

This post is geared towards those individuals who are planning to build up a complete snowbike from a Mukluk frameset. The intent is to let you know what parts the Mukluk frame requires to get it rolling, and also to let you know what component options are available to you.

Sketchbook: The DIY Badger

2010-11-25T20:52:00.003Z

Poor old Badger. Mrs Badger is at her mother's, and she wants that carpet down, and those skirting boards up by the time she gets back. Is it any wonder the DIY Badger is stressed?

Inspired by my daughter's Maths homework, on area and perimeter. (All the problems were based on Badger laying flooring in his rooms, centred around how much material he'd need to shell out for).

Took about 30 minutes (I think), drawn in a cheap A5 sketchpad from "The Works", with a 0.7mm Staedtler Mars Micro pencil.

(Sorry to anyone who saw this on Tumblr as well - this is a (better) scan rather than a cameraphone shot).

Bikehacks: 5 Killer Looking DIY Bike Headlights

2010-11-23T12:45:00.001Z

This entry is a Bike Hacks Classic, originally posted by Apple computer honk, Brendon.

There are a TON of decent tutorials for building bike lights. But...how can I put this gently...they are not all equally attractive. If you showed me two lights side by side and they had equal performance, I'd choose the pretty one every time. That's probably why I'm writing this on a Mac. Ahem.

Anyway, here's a quick look at five of the finest looking homemade bike lights on the web today. This is an admittedly subjective list, so feel free to smack me around in the comments if you think I've overlooked the BEST. LIGHT. EVAR.

I Don't Care, Because You Do[1]

2010-11-23T12:05:00.001Z

"Anyone who rides a bike is a friend of mine."

-Gary Fisher

If you hang around the cycling fora, or twitter for long enough, someone will pop up with set of kit dos and don'ts, offered with varying degrees of seriousness.

The Ur-Text of these is, of course, the bafflingly restrictive "Rules of the Eurocyclist" - (I actually rather like that one, it seems to be a tax on credulity and elitism - I hope the originators of the rules get a kickback from the kit manufacturers). This happens at the other extreme of the sport/utility divide, with the "normalisers" insisting that those not riding steel roadsters, whilst wearing "normal"[2] clothes are making cycling less attractive, and less safe for everyone else.

There are things that matter to me in cycling. Are you a skilful rider? Can you look ahead and anticipate and read the road? Do you ride like an idiot around other road users? These are important things, because they affect your safety, and mine. To a lesser degree, I'm impressed by people that can repair their own/other people's bikes[3], build wheels, beat me up hills, outpace me on the flat - but not to the degree that I'm dismissive of those who can't. We all start somewhere, after all - and starting at all in our car centric, exercise is for gyms, society matters.

"Does your kit match" and "Does your bike cost more than mine" (it probably does), have never been things I've looked upon as denoting the worth of a fellow rider, or of particular import. It's an irrelevance, and thus something I find it hard to care about. "Sure, he can build a nice wheel, but good lord, he can't accessorise."

Round the world cyclist Al Humphreys once made the point that while kit was important, it shouldn't be important enough to stop you getting out there and having an adventure. And he did his tour on steel Rockhoppers, not expensive boutique tourers with spendy internally geared hubs. I'm not about to ride around the world, but you can bet I'm not missing a ride because the jersey I have to hand doesn't match my helmet either.

The quote at the head of this piece comes from an interview with Gary Fisher that I heard a while back, and there's a lot of truth in it. I dislike inconsiderate and unsafe cyclists, but beyond that I don't care if you look like you dressed in the dark from the bargain bin, or ride a £99 Apollo, at least you're riding.

[1] Actually, "I Don't Care, and I Don't Care if You Do", but that's not as close to an Aphex Twin album title.

[2] For values of "normal" that sometimes include stuff costing more than my dhb bike specific kit.

[3] If you can fettle internally geared hubs, I'm officially impressed.

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From Dave's Mechanical Pencils Blog: Half Way (Biodegradable Mechanical Pencil Test)

2010-11-22T10:07:00.001Z

I have to admit, it wouldn't occur to me to bury a pencil to see how biodegradable it was (not least because the dog would dig it up again). Still, you have to admire Dave's commitment to the scientific method here - this is the halfway point of his experiment.

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From Bike Hacks: Desktop Bike Wheel-Truing Stand

2010-11-16T08:55:00.001Z

Reader Rob from Melbourne, Australia contacted us recently with a great hack he came up with to move the true task from his steed to a table. He was kind enough to send along plenty of text with pictures to match. If anyone else has come up with their own stands, feel free to give us a shout out.

Read More at BikeHacks.com

It could just be me, but the idea of serious metal work (angle grinders, chopping up old frames) makes this a not so useful hack.
Having said that, my own truing stand is homebuilt (out of leftover bits from our kitchen cupboards) so maybe it's just a case of being happier with joinery than metalwork. Still, follow the link to see Rob's scrap bike truing stand. I particularly like his lateral truing indicators.

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From Copenhagenize: Bresson's Velodrome Photos

2010-11-15T11:01:00.001Z

Hurrah! LBS had an OPL cap (last one) #allezphillippe #impulsebuy #actualywentfornewbrakecable

2010-11-13T11:54:00.001Z

via Gravity

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From Soma: Hit By Car and His Bike Stolen...All On His Birthday

2010-11-11T09:23:00.001Z

This happened to barista and cyclist Mike Hardy on his 27th birthday back in September. He was struck by a car riding his Soma Rush to his girlfriend's house. While paramedics were treating his injuries, the bystanders, who initially checked on Hardy after the accident, made off with his bicycle. This was all caught on a Kansas City Police Department dash camera. The video footage shows the thieves checking the bike out for damage, then rolling off with it.

From Lines and Colors: How Long Does it Take To Look at a Painting?

2010-11-11T09:17:00.001Z

The second column in the series is How Long Does it Take To Look at a Painting?, in which he considers the time individuals devote to looking at a painting, from the cursory (the Louvre reports that people look at the Mona Lisa for an average of 15 seconds) to the kind of extended interaction with a painting that takes place over the course of a lifetime.

From Urban Velo: Why Cable Locks Suck

2010-11-11T09:09:00.001Z

Cable locks are great as a secondary deterrent to theft, but in all but the most idyllic neighborhoods should never be used as a primary lock. There is a reason beyond style most cyclists in the know carry around u-locks—they want to keep their bikes.

From Good: The Self-Repair Manifesto

2010-11-10T10:21:00.002Z

The folks behind iFixit have drafted a Self-Repair Manifesto that instills in consumers a sense of DIY zeal—not only to empower us but also to create less collective waste. To spread the word, they're giving away 1,500 free manifesto posters. Here's a look at the manifesto:

Read More at Good

I'm not sure whether all cyclists are inveterate bodgers and fettlers, but I certainly am.

I'm still slightly cross with myself for buying wheels that have proprietary spokes (although they are VERY nice wheels) as they can't be fixed up with bits I can pick up easily and cheaply.

There's a satisfaction in fixing things, and in extending their useful life. As bikes are, mechanically, generally fairly simple[1], they're ideal for this approach.

[1] Internally geared hubs exempted.

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From Bike Trailer Blog: Kenneth’s BOB Trailer/LHT Combo

2010-11-10T09:11:00.001Z

via Bike Trailer Blog

I love pictures like this - although I can never imagine loading my LHT up to this degree, there's something satisfying about seeing a tourer loaded up for some real adventure.

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From Phil Plait: When a University helps promote nonsense

2010-11-10T08:54:00.002Z

Have you heard about these Power Bands, or Power Balance bracelets? The claims by the manufacturer and at countless demos are that these bands improve balance, flexibility, endurance, and strength by employing holograms which send frequencies that somehow interact with your body’s frequencies or electric field or glaven or some other undefinable manifestation.

Yeah. You can imagine what I think about that. And if you can’t, I’ll be clear: that claim is complete nonsense. Literally, it makes no sense. Holograms don’t emit anything, frequency or otherwise; there’s no such thing as your body’s frequency; and there’s no way inside the laws of physics that a rubber band with a cheap plastic hologram in it can affect your body, unless a) you’re allergic to rubber, or 2) it hits you at meteoric velocities.

We clear? OK.

Read More at discover.com

They're not quite being sold with the University endorsement (as the article explains, it's the Athletic department of the institution that's being used to flog the woo) but I would be surprised if the packaging or advertising material makes that distinction clear. The article has a good debunking of the "science" behind the product, and is worth reading.

Also, I love skeptical hippo.

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From Strange Maps: Bodyworld: the Artography of Fernando Vicente

2010-11-10T08:44:00.001Z

Spanish artist Fernando Vicente's artography (2) revisits this fusion of the descriptive and the symbolic, but expands the concept to its literal conclusion. Superimposing human and animal forms onto the countries and continents of a map, Vicente transforms familiar geographic contours into surprising new constructs. Maps become living creatures - although some ostensibly formerly living ones - and many of which have an ominous, unnerving quality. Maybe that's because of Vicente's predilection for slicing open his subjects, their exposed anatomy/geography investing them with the same morbid quality evident in Bodyworlds, the famous travelling exhibition of plastinated and dissected human bodies.

Read More at Strange Maps

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New Product - Salsa Anything Cages

2010-11-10T08:37:00.001Z

Gnat

New Product - Salsa Anything Cages

November 6th 2010 | 6 Comments

Our new Salsa Anything mini racks are now in stock. Look inside for more details on this unique product and for fitment details.

Read More at salsacycles.com

As the article goes on to say;

"As you can see from the pic above, this new cage is ideal for almost anything roundish and fairly light weight. I think the idea actually came from Kid Riemer zip tying his insulated Nalgene bottle carriers to his snow bike fork legs. Other bike nuts and adventurers were also doing this. After experiementing a bit we found out you could carry a lot of different things with this thing. "

Salsa are really innovative in their approach to this kind of thing - I've commented before on the nice, practical touches like the gentle curve in the beds of their racks (so a sleeping bag, tent or mat fits in nicely) and these seem to be an extension of the same philosophy. Great stuff for adventure cyclists.

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Urban Velo: Mission Workshop Monty

2010-11-09T13:26:00.001Z

The Monty roll-top messenger bag is designed for commuters. Dubbed a “small utility bag,” it features a rolltop cargo compartment, quick-access outboard pockets and two internal zippered pockets.

Podcasts: The Monkey RSS Folder

2010-11-06T16:12:00.001Z

The categories are a bit arbitrary (The Amateur Scientist would fit in Science and Skepticsm too, and Collings and Herrin might possibly fit in news) but do represent what I listen to them for.

Mostly.

Comedy

The Adam and Joe Show

Adam's Big Mixtape

Collins and Herring (6 Music Show)

Friday Night Comedy (Radio 4)

Richard Herring's As It Occurs To Me (NSFW - lots of bad language & adult themes)

The Amateur Scientist (NSFW - occasional bad language & adult themes)

The Collings and Herrin Podcast (NSFW - lots of bad language & adult themes)

You Look Nice Today (NSFW - occasional bad language & adult themes)

Cycling

Bike to Work Book Podcast

Carrément Vélo (in French)

ITV Tour De France Podcast

NY Velocity

Real Peloton

The Bikescape Podcast

The Bike Show

The Cyclingnews.com Podcast

Cricket

Environmental

NPR: Environment Podcast

TreeHugger Radio

Other Factual (Documentaries, History &c)

Languages

Music & Film

JJ's Smoking Sessions

Little White Earbuds

Kermode & Mayo's Film Review

News & Current Affairs

Newspod (Round up of the news of the day from the BBC)

Global News (Round up of the news of the day from the BBC World Service)

Analysis

File on Four

Broadcasting House

From Our Own Correspondent

iPM

More or Less: Behind the Statistics

Science and Skepticsm

Dr. Karl and the Naked Scientists

Little Atoms

Material World

Nature Podcast

Righteous Indignation

Science in Action

Skepticality

Strange Quarks

The Infinite Monkey Cage

The Pod Delusion

The Skeptics' Guide To the Universe 5x5

The Skeptics' Guide To the Universe

Short Stories and Fiction

Cast Macabre (Short form horror)

Clarkesworld (Short form science fiction)

CrimeWAV (Short form crime and noir on the hardboiled edge of the genre)

Escape Pod (Short science fiction)

Podcastle (Short form fantasy)

Pseudopod (Short form horror)

Toothless (Novel length serialised horror - an interesting twist on the zombie genre so far - not for kids).

Underwood and Flinch (Mike Bennett's novel length serial tale of a vampire and his reluctant servant in modern day Spain - again, not for kids)

(Also worthy of mention is the MIGHTY podiobooks.com, which has more serialised audio fiction than you can shake several sticks at, and an excellent personalised subscription system).

Technology

All About Symbian

NPR: Technology Podcast

Outriders

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Nov's calendar pages - left is the excellent Memoires du Peloton one from @prendas, right is from @cyclingplus

2010-11-06T06:12:00.001Z

via Gravity

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