Category Archives: The library – video link

We need a cycling hero – Bicycle Repair Man – Classic Monty Python

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A small favour prompted me to revisit this classic Monty Python sketch.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rxfzm9dfqBw

I usually enjoy playing at Bicycle Repair Man, the opportunity to give someone back their cycling through a small tweak or adjustment or fitting a spare that I just happen to have in the shed. Last week it was a tweak to brakes and gears and my colleague was off.

However while I am happily tweaking other people’s bikes I am deeply in need of a bit of BRM magic myself. How would our hero have coped with the complexity and diversity of modern bikes? I have spent absolutely hours going nowhere in the last few weeks on just one bike while it holds up painful decisions on other machines.

Mountain bike converted to roadThe main problem is my clunker, the work bike that I actually do most of my miles on. It is a carefully crafted beast because it combines lots of thrown together parts that create a bike that looks really ugly but actually has exactly what I need. With a good layer of dirt and grease on top it is the machine nobody wants to steal, although I do get looks on the train that are almost as dirty as the bike. But it can do almost anything from the daily commute to low level mountain biking in all weathers.

Each incarnation has had a rigid MTB frame (currently a Giant Granite) and fat sturdy puncture-proof tyres from Schwalbe (Marathon Plus) which I ride until something falls apart. The main investment is the rear wheel where I use good quality, otherwise everything else is where I do my experiments, bodging together all sorts of combinations. I have learnt so much passing these bits from frame to frame over the years I reckon I can make most things work.

However this winter played hell with the machinery and in the last few weeks everything decided to pack up at once. The chain and sprockets finally got to the point where I was selecting about 3 gears from 24 and the bottom bracket was making ominous noises.

I spent hours in the shed trying to combine every set of chainrings and cranks I had into something that would work but there’s not a lot of point when the teeth barely exist.

Got that sorted eventually (spent money – hate that) but a week later the bottom bracket just seized with some suitably horrible crunching, fortunately just a short distance from home. I was about to start replacing that when I noticed a crack in the frame, so it has finally bit the dust, not bad for a machine of unknown history found abandoned in a Reading park several years ago.

New frame then.

Cyclo BrusselsOff to Cyclo, the well thought of bike recycler in Brussels that takes all the old bikes off the street and operates a social enterprise and community workshop in search of a frame.

What a treasure trove, buzzing with customers and atmosphere. Hundreds of bikes of all styles and vintages waiting to for buyers, most €100-€200. I would love to have had a few hours in there, I am sure there were some classics waiting to emerge.

Galaxy Sport TrekkingHowever it was a practical visit and I was treated to a trip down the basement where the recently arrived and unused bikes were stashed. It was actually pretty easy, within minutes we had found a scratched and battered MTB frame with a bottom bracket and headset that looked just the job.

Back to the office on the metro and then I entertained the office when I set off for the station with my burden. ECF facebook image

Nothing unusual about that in my mind, they obviously haven’t met enough bike bodgers here. Next stage of the chaos then ensued because SNCB had managed to cancel one train and tried to force two trainloads of passengers onto one half sized train. The bloke with two dirty bikes got lots of cautious looks from anyone wearing pale summer clothes although there was general good humour about my antics, climbing in and out at every stop with both machines to let people on and off.

But no matter how painful the process had been so far I now needed the satisfaction of getting the project moving properly to put the wasted hours behind me. So off to the shed.

I was actually making reasonable progress until I got to my final job of the night. Putting the wheels into the frame to set up the brakes..

I then stood back in amazement. I was going mad. The wheels had shrunk. Nothing would line up.

And slowly it dawned on me that the frame may have looked in every aspect like an MTB, but it was actually a typical continental trekking-bike set up, 700C touring wheels in a MTB set-up.

Arrggghhh – fallen into the incompatibility trap. And in this case one with a special Belgian twist. A check on the internet showed that indeed the Diamond Galaxy is a Belgian made trekker, not an MTB.

I spent last night and all my bike ride to work this morning stewing, cogitating and creating. Don’t have a plan yet – I need a sprinkle of some BRM magic.

Three types of brake possible but maybe not a full set of each, loads of wheels with umpteen gears, few of which are compatible with each other or maybe I can use it as the tourer for which it was designed and I’ll start again on a new work bike.

There is the common sense “take it back and try again” option, but that breaks just too many rules.

Thank goodness it doesn’t involve my other current maintenance hates – mainly hydraulic disk brakes. If you really want to annoy me just now put a post in a forum describing in detail a simple process that requires me to buy a kit, read about, understand and buy loads of different incompatible oils and widgets for two separate bikes and then enjoy fiddling with it for hours. Oh really? Please – wires and levers of single design – please!

Bicycle Repair Man you had it easy when bikes were black and the only thing involving pressures was a quick squeeze on the tyres. But you are still our hero and I’ll be reminded of you the next time I can tweak something that puts someone back on the road.

Meanwhile back to work…………………

New Tour de France and Italian classics promo videos side by side

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Bless the twittersphere and blogosphere.

How else would I be pointed to the new promo videos from the great tours and the Italian classics if links were not popping up all over the place today.

Tour de France, Giro d’Italia, Strada Bianchi, Milan San Remo, Tour of Lombardy in four minutes.

As one blogger put it “goosebumps”

Bring on the season.

Two more brilliant cycling videos to inspire your year

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I don’t have the time or the patience to spend much time following cycling links in other media. So I like to give credit when other bloggers or Tweeters turn up something good, I rely on them for all my film links.

Over at Cyclestuff Simon Nurse seems to have a never-ending source of cycling art and other material, his blog is well worth following. Thanks to one of his recent posts I discovered another of those jaw dropping mountain biking films where someone with a touch of vertigo like me just winces, but is drawn back to the screen like a moth to a flame.

 

And then at Charlie Bucket Cycles in Montreal Andybuk has posted a longer video of the Haute Route 2012, a multi-stage amateur race through the Alps, even including a time trial up Alpe D’Huez. Oh yes I’d love to do that but I guess that sort of fitness is a bit of a long way off. It is 45 minutes long so its one for a large mug of tea and maybe a second slice of cake after you have completed appropriate training!

Time to support the musicians of Mali

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I would like to offer a recommendation as I look out of the window onto melting snow.

While you are reading blogs and doing your emails or whatever it is you claim to be doing when you are in front of your computer click on the Youtube link below and leave this music running in the background. Feel the warm heat of the desert blues blow over you, soak up the magical music of Mali.

And as you do so now consider that music is now banned in two thirds of the country that can make a reasonable case to be the birthplace of the blues.

Reflection on the music was particularly provoked recently because the Glastonbury Festival which has featured a lot of African music in recent years announced a couple of weeks that Rokia Traoré will be its first act this year and now a group of Malian artists have got together to release a peace record.

I know very little of the regional politics of the area but for years I have really enjoyed the sounds of Malian artists such as Miriam and Amadou so I find it a real shock to imagine music being supressed in the country and it makes me even more angry to feel that this should be done in the name of any religion.

The world cannot afford to lose this music. If you happen to click on a link and enjoy the sounds I hope you might be inspired to buy some music or forward a link to some music lovers and help keep it alive.

All credit to the journalists of the Guardian who have really made an effort to keep the story of the music alive. To get a feel for the whole range of Malian music and the political context read some of these articles.

Music is vital to political struggle across Africa – not just in Mali

Banning music in Mali is outrageous, not least because it’s crucial to the country’s wellbeing “The banning of music is hideous anywhere, but in Mali of all places it seems somehow sacrilegious”

Ian Birrell today – 27th January

 

 Mali’s magical music

Music is central to Mali’s identity – and yet the conflict there has led to it being widely banned. Here, African and western artists pick their favourite tracks from this most musical of nations

18th January.

 

Fatoumata Diawara gathers Malian supergroup to record peace song

Group calling themselves Voices United for Mali, featuring Amadou and Mariam, Oumou Sangaré, Bassekou Kouyaté, Vieux Farka Touré, Toumani Diabaté and many others, release song called Peace in response to country’s troubles

18th January

 

Mali: no rhythm or reason as militants declare war on music

Islamist militants are banning music in northern Mali, a chilling proposition for a country where music is akin to mineral wealth

23rd October

The Kingdom of Bicycles in video – flashback to an earlier China

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Kingdom of Bicycles StillThis post originates from one of those unexplainable coincidences that life throws up. And once they have occurred I know I just have to talk about it.

I was thinking about a “bucket list” post for New Year, reflecting the many cycling experiences I would like to have or to share. I know it has been done many times, but it is a great concept.

On my “done it” list was one item that I feel is probably now impossible to replicate and I was going to challenge readers to suggest an alternative. In 1985 I had the privilege of hiring an upright black bike and riding the streets of Peking with my father. (Now more correctly called Beijing of course).

The only way I can capture the feeling today is to imagine a flock of black birds. The flock wheels and turns, seemingly at random, but somehow the birds do not collide and as a collective the flock becomes a thing of beauty. We two clumsy westerners were almost certainly a break in the harmony, but it didn’t stop it being a magical experience.

I have cycled the rush hours in Amsterdam and Copenhagen but it doesn’t feel the same even today. Maybe it was the touch of the exotic, the scale of the streets, huge highways full of bikes, or perhaps that there were so few cars in 1985 Beijing that the cyclists felt like kings. We certainly weren’t pinned to the side of the road in token lanes, we were the traffic.

I had gathered these few thoughts together in my head as part of this possible “bucket list” post when out of the blue Patrick Keating from Velocapital Partners circulated a report on cycling traffic in China, together with a link to this lovely film from China Central Television English Language service. It is 25 minutes long, so take a glass of something or more appropriately a cup of tea and enjoy the film and photography.

http://english.cntv.cn/program/storyboard/20120124/112052.shtml

Of course much of that cycle traffic has gone now and the rush for cars has driven cyclists off those boulevards in Beijing. Even in 1985 we found the centre of Shanghai to be so congested it was almost gridlocked by buses and taxis and by all accounts the transition in Beijing was rapid. Sadly I haven’t been back since 1985 but I doubt any experience can replace that day. However the film was a great reminder.

By the way Julian – riding your Flying Pigeon in Brussels doesn’t even get close. Sorry mate.

Bike fan? Rubbish week? Need reminding that this isn’t all drugs & road danger? 3 reasons to be cheerful

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You need to have your head in the sand to have missed the pretty awful week many bike fans have had. Even travelling in Ukraine the twitter feed and blog posts have been pretty down in the dumps.

But the whole purpose of my blog is to remind me on on the down days that this is the transport of delight, and to try and share.

So it is just as well that this week I have seen three videos that brought me out in the widest smile. Winter may be coming in the north, so if you need just a small pick up to get you out on your bike next week here are three positive films about the sporty side of cycling, each with a little reminder why“I do not despair”

The first time, (see also previous post) the company and the sheer exuberance of cycling.

For more fun videos please go to my video library page where these will end up long term.

 

If you ever forget why you ride a bike – watch this!

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This video on Youtube may be mountain biking. But don’t turn it off if that isn’t your thing. Don’t look, just listen. Take in the voice of four year old Malcolm in the clip and remember that this is what we bring to lives.

When I do presentations on cycling one of the things I often tell my audience is to remember that they do something really special.

You never, ever forget your first bike ride. And for so many people that is the closest they will ever get to flying, a brief moment when they take wings. And once you discover the “transport of delight”, the “wings of desire” then a bicycle is a passport.

It’s why I have had a tear in my eye so many times when I have attended cycling programmes for people with disabilities and seen them light up when they discover freedom and movement. It’s why I never tire of saying that the magic is not 100miles, its 100 metres.

Today, somewhere someone is taking their first bike ride, riding up a hill they never thought possible, discovering a new and wonderful place.

Thank you Malcolm and Malcom’s dad for reminding us what that feels like.

(I’ll avoid airing the sneaking suspicion that his bike-handling might be about as good as mine already, as the guys at Whistler found out in July!)

Mario Cipollini – new “Bond” movie from cycling’s best showman

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I was going to publish a few pictures from the Eurobike trade show over the weekend.

But probably the best show of the week was on a giant screen set in a large stylish black booth in the Italian hall. It takes a lot to overshadow Colnago and Pinarello, but if anyone was going to it would be Super Mario.

Us cycle racing fans of just a few years back just loved the Saeco red train which was virtually the first time we saw the mass leadout on our TV screens. And the emotion of the Italian team when they finally united behind him to win the world champs at Zolder was great.

Some may think he was just a showman – but I think he was great for the sport, so this one goes in the video library.

Going down……..

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I was browsing yesterday when I found this video on the Charlie Bucket Cycles blog. It caught my eye because it features the Stelvio – the key climb in the Giro d’Italia which has just finished. It just made me smile.

And then with the magic of Youtube you are prompted by another link about going downhill. It is the most amazing sequence. Not just the extraordinary skill of perhaps the finest descender we have ever seen. But give credit to the motorcycle team who had to do this with a pillion rider on the bike and to the producer who at some moment decided just to let the sequence run – for almost the whole seven minutes.

If you regard yourself as disinterested in cycle racing – perhaps a pure cycle commuter – I suggest you watch this and imagine. At some time this chap is going to retire from racing. Can you see him riding to work in a traffic jam near you?

Falling off

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I take a certain pride in posting this clip from the British Universities Mountain Bike champs last year which has just been sent to me. To get the full effect tilt your head to the right, then you will realise the real angle of the hill by the way the spectators are standing.

http://vimeo.com/21034147 

About 2min 30sec into the clip the man rolling down the hill is my son, on his way to collecting a broken wrist for his pains. I must say I’m quite impressed by the roll, he must have been going for it at the time. What makes it worse is that he was also the one falling off at 1.14. Doh!

Apparently the organisers were using a regular course for downhillers and set out a cross country course around it, including some sections from the downhill. As the student champs is as much a beer weekend as it is a race a lot of roadies and casual riders entered to support their mates in the main race, but they were totally out of their depth on this section and the chaos ensued. I gather the roadies were really angry.

This set me thinking about the relationship between cyclists and falling off. Look at the crowd in the clip – mostly laughing, and certainly gathered at that spot for the falls. Read the comments below the clip on Vimeo.  Mountain biking web sites and magazines love a good crash. However mag pages featuring horrible injuries have largely been succeeded by on line video, mixed in with the spectacular leaps and descents are always a good selection of big “offs”. Every one watching this hill will know the feeling, falling off is as natural to mountain bikers as getting on the bike, certainly if you are going to stretch your abilities at any point. Of course the top riders have a level of skill which means that they can ride things I can’t even walk down, but they mostly had their share of falls on the way to that level. On the road and track it is almost impossible to have an extensive racing career without hitting the deck a few times, if not you take up pursuit and time trialling to stay away from other riders.

Compared to most downhillers I am a wuss. Like most lads I got my first wrist break in a bike crash when I was 11 years old. Martin Fuller (I can remember you wherever you are) switched me as we were thrashing our bikes down the road outside his house. Broken scaphoid bone (wrist again) on the concrete velodrome in Cardiff 20 years later.

Pretty near miss too at Aston Hill MTB centre when I almost broke my shoulder and got 10 stitches in a knee. Actually the sign at the top should have been a give away “Full body armour and full face helmet recommended”.

Most of the rest of my prangs were losses of skin and dignity, and today I seem to suffer a bit longer from the bruises, so I am a bit more careful. But there is something really special about knowing you were just a bit on the edge of your ability, something that I would only ever try on a bike, not in a car or plane.

People whose route into cycling was largely commuting or touring would regard us as totally mad. How can we get people cycling if they think it is dangerous? Didn’t the films of Jonny Hoogerland being clipped by a TV car in last year’s Tour de France and knocked into a barbed wire fence set cycling back years?

I don’t think so. If we are going to get a whole generation of teenage lads off their backsides and away from the video games for at least a few hours we are not going to do it promising a nice ride to school and eternal salvation. Try asking your teenage lad to go and dig out your potatoes because the organic food and the exercise will do him good. You’ll probably eat the shovel.

Now let him and his mates loose in a bit of old waste land with the same shovels and a few BMX bikes and tell them they can build what they like.

Good parenting says someone’s going to get hurt, bring on the health and safety police. Really good parenting says “don’t come home until dark, and call me from the hospital if you need a lift back”. Bring it on.

P.S. This post is not approved by my wife, who really could not see the funny side of Ben flying. It’s a Mum thing.

New page – the library

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Just started fleshing out the blog with some new material.

If the theme of this blog is uplifting cycling then I need all my uplifting moments here. In the library I’ll be adding my favourite cycling clips, books, links and articles.

Just added – Latin Lovers, Inspired Cycling (of course) and some raindrops. tell me you didn’t sing along.

Go to the library for the latest update