STUFFE

LE VELO
My French isn't really up to making much of the lyrics, but I love this video and the tune. It's by Eddy la Gooyatsh, and the video even features a cameo by Richard Virenque. Eddy's album "Chaud", from which this track comes is available on eMusic.

GET IN SHAPE
This post from tredz make me chuckle. Lots of sites are full of earnest advice about how to prepare for your first big cycling event. At tredz, they do things a bit differently...

THE GOOD NEWS...
Citycycling #58 is out today- read it here. It also doesn't feature anything by me.

...AND THE BAD NEWS
Issue 59 will be the last City Cycling. Anth explains why here.

Anth is one of the few people to read this blog, and has been kind enough to publish some of my writing in City Cycling, along with more talented and more reliable contributors.

City Cycling formed part of my education as a nascent bicycle commuter, filling the gaps experience had yet to fill, as well as giving me numerous laughs and pauses for thought. The magazine also was an early example of a publication catering to those not interested in yearly "Which £1000 bike" pieces - a bikeshow in pdf form, if you like. Anth can be rightly proud of what he's acheived in 5 years of publishing, I think.

THE RIDE JOURNAL #4
Issue 4 launches on 27th May 2010, and features a piece by Anth on grasstrack bicycle speedway. If you've not read "The Ride"before and wonder what it's about, issue 2 is available as a free download from their site here.

SHUTT VR
The nice chaps at Shutt have doubled the discount available to clubroom members to 10% - all you have to do is sign up at the clubroom page on their site. If you're thinking that you'd look and feel great in sportwool (and you're probably right) head for the clubroom here.

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FIRST THINGS FIRST
A somewhat redundant bit here, as if you know about The Velocast, you already know about their new team kit. But on the offchance that you don't, John and Scott have teamed up with Shutt Velo Rapide and Rocket Fuel Style to offer a sportwool jersey and hand made cycling cap respectively.

Quite a lot of shows and forums do kit, and it tends to be nice, but usually fairly run of the mill synthetic jerseys. I'm quite excited to see Velocast going for something as nice as the Shutt jerseys - sportwool is a really practical fabric for cycling. Merino (its main constituent) doesn't stink the way synthetics do, and manages your temperature much better. (Sometimes riding in synthetic jerseys you'll be forever donning & removing gilets &c to try & stay comfortable - that just doesn't seem necessary with merino). It's pricey (although Shutt's prices tend not to be that much more than a decent quality polyester team jersey) but nothing else is quite like it. If you've never owned a merino / sportwool jersey, this offer is a good opportunity to pick one up & give it a whirl. If you have owned one, you'll know already of course.

The other thing you should be excited about is the people they're using - I've spoken about Shutt before, they're good at what they do, and take a pride in it (they also source and manufacture here in Britain). Rocket Fuel have a similar attitude to their work, and have done really nice bespoke caps for cycling teams, as well as offering a range "pret a porter".

There's a page showing the proposed designs, and information on how to express your interest here.

(Oh, and if you don't know about the Velocast, and have the slightest interest in cycling, you can find the podcast, which will make you happier than a cyclist with a garage full of bicycles, here).

THE BIKESHOW PODCAST
Another Monkey favourite returns this week, Resonance FM's "The Bike Show", presented by Jack Thurston. OwenP (whose blog you should be following, it's better than this one) reviewed The Bike Show as part of his round up of cycling podcasts. For me, the joy of the Bike Show is its coverage of different topics within cycling, from bike jumbles, to camping out to follow the Tour of Flanders, to pressing issues like LGV safety in the capital. Jack's a great presenter and interviewer, and his show is well worth listening to.

GIRO D'ITALIA
Cosmo has an interesting take on the action so far, in this piece "Maybe all Grand Tours Should Start in the Netherlands";

"in real-world wind tunnels, cycling’s as much about Spider Sense as anything else. Finding your way onto the right wheel; anticipating nervous moments and getting a good position before the battle starts; knowing which splits will take care of themselves and which you should bury yourself closing—these are the elements that get Grand Tour champions through the first week."

Time will tell, I guess, but my personal take is that the Giro's organisers have made these first stages a little too chaotic. Whilst I'm no fan of the sort of "freeway" racing we sometimes see, there has to be some kind of middle ground that leaves the riders less susceptible to caprice than stage 2 and 3 seemed to.

Cyclingnews has this round up of the favourites' performances, from the Gazzetta Dello Sport. I can't help thinking that they're fundamentally underestimating Sastre. One of his qualities is the way he creeps up the GC seemingly without anyone noticing - added to which, he seems a thoroughly nice bloke. Whilst that latter quality isn't something that matters too much in racing, it's a quality that's endeared him to this monkey - I hope to see him do well once the race hits the mountains.

I was also gutted for Christian VandeVelde, who's out of this year's Giro following a crash (fortunately not as nasty as last year's). There's more detail over at Team Garmin-Transitions' site. I can't help thinking that I should stop picking VdV for my fantasy Giro team, as I seem to be jinxing him.

Whilst there's been a degree of outrage about a certain Mr. Vinokourov getting into the Maglia Rosa, he has, at least, served the full ban he was given, and no one's made any exceptions to get him a pro-tour ride ahead of time. I'm not sure it's reasonable of us as fans to expect the returning rider to be repentant and penitent as a condition of allowing them to race.

Which isn't to say that I wouldn't rather have seen someone else in pink, but the way people have been talking, you'd think Vino had an EPO drip attached to his bike, or something.

Sort of on the topic of the Giro, I'm finding it very difficult to become enthused abotut he Tour of California, in this first year that it runs at the same time as the Giro. Maybe it's different for folk in the 'States, but it looks a bit second string compared to a race with as long a history as the Corsa Rosa - hopefully I can get into the swing of things once racing starts.

REMEMBER THE CLASSICS
Pavé blog has a nice round up of stuff that they didn't have chance to post in the spring.

Not sure I agree with him about the new "trend" in cycling photography - personally, I'd call that underexposed, although it's of a piece with the "hipstamatic" iPhone app in that it fetishises the limitations of poor lenses and expired film stock. The irony of the B&W shot is that black and white film is so forgiving of hamfistedness that you'd have to try hard to underexpose as far as the example pic seems to. Ilford's HP5+, a monkey favourite, has to be seriously mishandled, or poorly scanned to lose so much shadow detail - knowing that makes the new style seem terribly affected, somehow.

FLORIDIANS!
Bike Commuter blog has a worrying piece about some local legislation being proposed, HB971 into which a provision has been inserted;

"Unbeknownst to Florida Bicycle Association, a mandatory bike lane use provision was included in the Highway Safety & Motor Vehicles bill. The bill also allows local governments to permit mopeds, golf-carts and other motorized vehicles on sidewalks and trails."

the thought of being forced by law to use some of the poorly thought out, even more poorly maintained and downright dangerous strips of green paint that pass for cycle infrastructure in the UK fills me with dread - unless that in Florida bucks this trend, this is a worrying development. The article provides a link for concerned Florida cyclists to contact their governor on the issue.

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GAZELLE
From the Bike Commuters Blog comes this nice video of Gazelle bicycles being made in 1925. I want one of their truing jigs, they look great...

SIN TITULO
Artist Cameron Stewart has been publishing "Sin Titulo", since June 2007. There are now 97 episodes of this complex plotted webcomic on line now. The art is a lovely duotone style, do have a look.

BREAKING THE FOURTH WALL
Who else could it be but Nedroid.com?

LATE BECAUSE YOU TOOK THE BIKE?
Maybe, but not for the reason you think;

"In truth the real reason I was late was that I couldn’t decide which bike to ride. But another small part was that I saw a friend out on the street and stopped to say hello. A real hello, replete with handshakes and well wishes. Which is something you really can’t do in an automobile."

It's from a nice editorial on Urban Velo. I really think this is one of the unstated benefits of travelling by bike, the fact that you're connected with your surroundings far more than you can be in a car.

BIKE TRAILER ROUNDUP
A new feature on the Bike Trailer Blog, this monthly article is a round up of bike trailer news from the preceding month. Well worth a read if you're interested in going beyond the capabilities of a standard bike with a rack, or just share my opinion that cargo bikes and trailers are cool.

INFOGRAPHIC
Flowing Data brings this visualisation of Facebook privacy settings. The graphic charts how much of your personal data is available (and to whom) if you use the default privacy settings.

Bikes Are Like Cameras

In that so long as you have one, it seems that the total rises no higher.

However, get another bike (maybe you keep a commuter, and a "good" bike, or a road bike and a mountain bike or hybrid for canal towpaths and trails) and the sort of acquisition that affects camera purchasing comes in to play. I was reminded of this looking at these quite wonderful machines from British manufacturer Pashley. Given that i have a road bike (for full lycra speed merchant biking), a hybrid bike (for casual, shorts wearing mud plugging) surely it is only natural to have a bike on which I can bowl along wearing a tweed three piece suit (perhaps with a terrier riding in a basket on the front).

Of course, I'd have to buy the tweeds first, but it would be worth it, I reckon...

For doubters, I present for your consideration;

The Phantom

The Guv'nor

Incidentally, may I also refer you to Katie Doncaster's flickr page?

She toured Europe on a Pashley Princess, and the (rather good) photographs she took are posted on her flickr page.