Gate Street Barn wedding photographer – Annie + Liam
3 months ago
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Sketch: Counter Knowledge
Media: Moleskine Pocket Reporter, Rotring Esprit with Diamine Monaco Red, Schneider Base with Diamine Imperial Purple.
Thursday, May 12, 2011
From Podium Café: The Big White Elephant in the Room - the Portrayal of Sportswomen in the Media
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.
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Giro D'Italia, 2011, Stage Four
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.
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
#30DaysofBiking The Last Words (This Year)
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.
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?
Yehuda's Natural Home
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.
Thursday, April 28, 2011
More Words on #30Daysofbiking, The Best of Times, the Worst of Times.
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.
On Friday, I took a quick ride out on the rougher part of the Cheshire Cycleway near to home.
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.
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.
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?
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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