Sun-a-rise.

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 Bike Commuters: Rainy Day Biking reflective fender mudflaps

Read More at Bike Commuters.com

They're not sexy, but it's the time of year that the commuter's thoughts turn to mudguards, waterproofs, and other ways of keeping the rain & roadspray off you and the bike.

Full 'guards are good for this, but I've been thinking of some proper mudflaps to keep my feet, drivetrain, and the folk behind me drier for a little while. These, from Rainy Day Biking have the added advantage of giving your bike some extra visibility in the dark. Read the full test at Bike Commuters (link below the picture).

Posted via email from monkeyphoto's posterous

STUFFE

A Velocast Jersey, in a Mirror, Yesterday.

VELOCAST AGAIN
A reminder that the Velocast's daily tour podcasts can be found at their site.

Also, those of you who are already fans, and ordered your Velocast jersey (made by Shutt Velo Rapide) should be receiving yours soon. Mine is pictured above - I'm hoping to do a proper review soon (as the jersey will be similar to Shutt's others, I imagine). The potted version is that the quality is hugely impressive, and worryingly making me wonder why all my jerseys aren't this nice. Who'd have thought that two gentlemen in Peebles, and a company based in Ilkley would be responsible for giving me a taste for the finer things in life?

A slightly better pic (arms length self portraits being challenging at the best of times).

OTHER TOUR FIXES
ITV Have started their daily podcast again for the tour, which is here.

ITV's show is presented by Matt Rendell, and is really good so far - Chris Boardman provides the insider knowledge, there are good interviews, and Jill Douglas, as something of a newcomer to the tour, gives some useful insight (and her enthusiasm for the race is quite contagious).

Cyclingnews' podcasts are here.

I've found Cyclingnews' tour show to be pretty good as well - the team they have commenting on the race is excellent, and the interviews have been good so far too.

Bizarrely both ITV and Cyclingnews seem to have gone out of their way to make the shows difficult to find from their tour homepages, it seems to me.

'ZUP DAWG
Cosmo at Cyclocosm has channelled a meme I was hitherto completely unaware of in a cycling direction.

Cosmo also has some good commentary on the events of Stage 2, here. Although Cervelo were unhappy about the neutralisation (and rightly so, as their GC contender had managed to get to the bottom of the Stockeau safely, with 3 minutes or so in hand) he wonders whether their deference to the decision has paid dividends in the following stage. As ever, thought provoking and worth reading.

TOP 50 CYCLISTS OF THE MODERN ERA
The Team Chef's ongoing project has been updated with pre-tour scores, including an adjustment for Alejandro Valverde following his suspension. The update is here, and explanations of the top 50 scoring method can be found here (link is to part 1 of the scroing system, click through for the second part).

IF IT WASN'T FOR BAD LUCK
Garmin Transitions are having a bad tour so far, sadly - Christian Vande Velde has retired, and Tyler Farrar is carrying a couple of injuries (including a fractured wrist, imagine riding pavé with that). There's a good interview with Tyler on their site here about carrying his injuries, and what happenned on the Stockeau in stage 2. Technical types can also look at the data the team's collected for their riders (including Julian Dean's second place) on the site.

COZY BEEHIVE
This site's "Cycling Shorts" is a bit like Stuffe, only good. Lots of interesting links and commentary on there, from Sky refusing to "embed" Paul Kimmage, to the revelation that Lance is now interviewed by laptop, something so laughable and demeaning to journalists that I genuinely wonder if it's an attempt to see how far they'll go to get a quote from him.

BIKEHUGGER MAKES ME JEALOUS
Of this (not the Clif bars, I just like Team Garmin, and Musettes) and these.

BIZZARRO CORNER
Urban Velo reports that in Bartonville (where?) any group of 10 or more cyclists must travelling together in the city must apply for a permit to do so 45 days in advance. At a cost of $50. No word on whether the popular "traffic jam" and "rush hour" events favoured by motorists in a lot of cities are exempt or not.

One thought occurring to me is that these tiny places I've never heard of may be trying to put themselves on the map by passing weird bylaws, on the basis that the only thing worse than being talked about...

COMICS
Drawn.ca has this look at page flow in comics from Scott Pilgrim creator Bryan Lee O'Malley.

ART
I can't say it better than this;

"Let us celebrate the wonderful cheesiness and eye-popping kid-allowance-bait futurism of these 1960’s and 70’s magazine and plastic model kit box illustrations by Japanese illustrator Shigeru Komatsuzaki."

I completely agree - the article (at Lines and Colors) is here.

GRUMPY WEEK
I'm not sure what it is about this week, but so far I've had two punishment passes on the bike, by people who felt the need to mouth stuff at me through their closed passenger windows. For the uninitiated, or those living in civilised countries, a punishment pass is a deliberately close overtake by a motorist.

Genius number one did so as I passed cars parked in the bike lane (his car being a silver, 02 reg BMW him being fat, 50 ish and bald) so he could make a left turn about 1 second ahead.

Genius number two was a youngish fellow (mid 20s, dark haired) in an old red hatchback (possibly a Polo), who passed so he could reach a set of stop lights 2 seconds before me (to add to the irony, I take a filter lane on green at these lights, which may make his manoeuvre even more pointless).

Both incidents trouble me, because, whilst I'm fairly used to indifference, inattention and impatience from some drivers, active malice is fairly rare. The thought that someone is willing to put me in hospital (or worse) because they don't know their Highway Code (I do, and I ride according to it), and are stupid enough to want to risk a crash to prove a point is a worry too.

I'm hoping these two drivers represent a statistical "blip" of some sort, especially as coping with the rain, and headwinds of recent days is quite challenge enough.

Mine's a Priscilla

My Carradice Lowsaddle Longflap, on the bike with a happy dog in attendance.

My Carradice Bag, that is. Inside, on the label, is written the name of the person who made the bag, in my case, Priscilla. The desire for an old fashioned saddlebag for my commuting bike grew out of the realisation that my panniers were a less than ideal solution. Using two results in a bike that's hard to manoeuvre on and off the train (and with panniers barely half full). Using one results in a bike that handles oddly - not unrideable, but I didn't like it.

The solution seemed to me to carry the load centrally on the back of the bike. Given that my panniers are 20l capacity each, I figured a 10-15l saddlebag would provide enough space for most of my commutes.

I'd discounted rack bags because they tend to top out around the 10l mark in capacity, and I have to admit that I liked the idea of a traditional, British made product like the Carradice saddlebags for a bike like my Long Haul Trucker - the ethos seemed to fit, to me.

I considered the Carradice Barley for a little while (often recommended as a commuting/day ride solution) but worried about the days I'd need to carry a bit extra. (Good job, as it turned out, the Barley would have been way too small for me).

My eventual choice was the Nelson Longflap, and I asked my local bike shop (Manchester's Bicycle Boutique) to order one for me.

An ordering mix up meant that I actually ended up with the Lowsaddle Longflap (similar dimensions to the Nelson, but slightly less high to account for bikes with less clearance between saddle and tyre/mudguard/rack). This turned out to be something of a happy accident, as the bag rests nicely on my rear rack.


On the bike, using the "Longflap" closure - this allows the carriage of slightly more stuff.

So how did it manage with a typical commute's luggage?


Packed for a normal commute - will be closed without the longflap

The picture above shows the interior of the bag. This is what I'd carry most days - a book to read on the train, moleskine pocket notebook and diary, and work clothes. The space left is where I'd put my lunch most days, and the bag liner is the bag that the Lowsaddle saddlebag came in (handy that). With all this in the bag, it can be closed using the "normal" closure without problems.


Packed for a normal commute and mounted on the bike - closed without the longflap here

There isn't room for my waterproof in the bag (actually, there probably would be if I laid it on top of the contents and did up the flap over it. Hmm). In the pictures it's secured to D rings on the top of the bag using toe clip straps - I think it provides a helpful bit of extra "hi vis" for following traffic, by coincidence. The light loop on the flap is occupied by a Torch9x light which has an integral reflector. (It supplements a rack mounted Smart Superflash light for rear visibility). With the bag hanging at its natural angle, the light faces rearward in just the right position. (I believe some people press the nice metal Carradice plaque into service for light mounting where the angle of the bag is not right for the light loop to be effective).


Right Hand Pocket

Outside the main body of the bag are two side pockets. Carradice lore suggests that these will spill small items (because of the flap closure, and angle of the bag). In the right hand pocket, I have a spare inner tube (Continental Touring 28-35, from memory, fact fans) and a Rema Tip Top touring puncture repair kit. Both fit nicely, and are large enough not to unexpectedly depart the bag.


Left Hand Pocket

In the left hand pocket is a Bagaboo tool pouch - this holds another puncture repair kit, tyre levers, my multi-tool, cable ties, chain quick link &c &c. The bagaboo pouch is a tight-ish fit, but not so much as to be awkward. My pouch is the truck tarp version, so should be waterproof enough to survive this location in a downpour. (The cotton duck material of the saddle bag is waterproof due to its close weave and proofing wax, but can transfer moisture from its internal surface, apparently).

What about when I needed to carry more? It's here that the "Longflap" closure comes into play. Essentially this is a piece of extra material that tucks under the flap used for the "normal" closure of the bag (when not in use, it's held in place by press-studs). It sports an extra set of straps for closing the bag over a larger load.


Bag Interior - Packed for use with the "Longflap"

As shown above, the bag has an 800g sliced Rye loaf, work shirt & underwear, paperback (H.P. Lovecraft's "Haunter in the Dark" omnibus), lunch box, moleskine pocket notebook and diary inside.


on the bike, closed using the "Longflap"

The photo above shows how the longflap closure looks on the bike - notice how it makes the bag slightly taller. The photo at the start of this post shows a rear view, and a clearer view of the extra straps on the longflap in use. The drawstring closure inside the bag is large enough to cope with the bigger load too, meaning that it isn't exposed at the sides.

The only thing I'm less than happy about at present is my mounting solution for the bag. I've gone with the infinitely useful cable tie, for the time being.


Cable Ties for Saddle Loops

The cable ties go around the saddle rails, and the bag straps go through these (buckles inside the bag, as any fule kno). Despite this giving the saddle a whimsical, whiskery look (a bit like a cartoon mouse), I suspect the edges of the ties will not be good for the leather bag straps, so will be looking to change this mounting method fairly soon. (There's tons of ways to do this, from the fettling heaven of Carradice hackery, to the clamps and racks and bits supplied by Carradice themselves).

I love the bag so far - build quality is great, and it seems, up to now, to be ideal for my purposes. It isn't terrific on the Arione saddle, because the back of the saddle extends a fair way over the bag, but I've not had problems accessing or repacking my stuff that outweigh the positives of it. (The inconvenience amounts to reaching slightly further into the bag under the top flap - not too onerous). The feel of the bike is far, far better than with my old, single pannier solution too.

Useful Links:
Carradice Website
Wallbike's Carradice Hacks
Peter White Cycles' Carradice Page (far better pictures than on Carradice's Website, and lots of useful information).