for those few of you who actually enjoy these inveterate musings, i can but apologise for being missing in action for longer than originally intended. though i had advised that i would be taking a bit of a break from my daily scribblings, i hadn't meant to be away for quite so long, particularly as i undertook my now less intrusive festive 250. however, as will have been a similar state of affairs for many across the festive period, mrs washingmachinepost and i were visited by family from shortly after christmas until 2 january, an influx which included grandchildren, and resulted in day upon day of bedlam, bedlam and a house which appeared to have been the subject of a robbery, such was the trail of cushions, toys, clothes and piles of washing dotted irrationally about its person.
that perhaps explains the radio silence until just after new year, but its extension into the early days of january can be rationalised by a member of said family having arrived suffering from the 'flu and subsequently passing it onto several of the rest of us. hoist by my own pètard, i am regularly in the habit of promoting the values of cycling by pointing out its efficacy in maintaining an excellent standard of health. personally, i very rarely catch colds, 'flu, or many other ailments; i have no real idea if this is due to my predilection for cycling or not, but i cannot deny that it very much suits my purposes to cite cycling as the reason for my predominantly good state of health.
however, there does have to be a point of no return, and that point appeared at hogmanay, when i began to feel slightly out of sorts. by new year's day, i had cause to withdraw from the traditional 1st of january bike ride, and spent all of 2 january in bed. that is something i haven't suffered since early childhood. cram nine people, including three kids into a warm sitting room for a couple of days, and even if only one of them admits to having the 'flu, it would not take a genius to predict that more will be suffering such an iniquity by day three.
perhaps i ought to have been out on the bicycle more often?
that latter prospective solution may not, however, have been the salve we'd all hope it to have been. it was frequently mentioned throughout 2024, that the year to which i refer, appeared considerably longer than many of its predecessors due to the complete lack of any appreciable summer. it is eminently possible that, perpetually looking towards the arrival of warmer, drier and more clement days has a tendency to make the weeks drag by. so many of the so-called summer events, if not actually rained off, were certainly heavily affected by wind, rain or both at the same time. even as august neared its end, we all were looking to september or october to save the year by providing a few hours of warm(ish) sunshine, a state of affairs that effectively failed to materialise.
december proved no better, with a series of named storms, pretty much all of which congregated around the weekends, thus interrupting any thoughts of grabbing the last vestiges of available vitamin d. oddly enough, i still find myself confused as to the criteria employed to decide that which acquires a meteorological apellation, and that which doesn't. one of the named storms was followed a weekend later by winds in excess of those named, yet from a met office point of view, it was classed only as 'weather'.
having placed so much potential upon my two-week festive break, it was disappointing, if not unexpected, to find myself riding yet again in unrelenting wind and rain. let's face it, if you've spent all year getting windswept and interesting, it's a bit of a let down to find it continuing through the year's only opportunity to ride on a daily basis. altogether, not the period of inspiration for which i'd been hoping, but hopefully not a state of affairs that imposed itself upon too many others.
a belated happy new year.
6 january 2025
while everyone else is arising to find out if santa has visited overnight, i'm generally clambering into a pair of winter bibtights and a christmas jumper jersey, prior to scoffing a plate of porridge oats and heading out for a brief but entirely welcome christmas day bike ride. the latter is always achieved in solo format, since none of my sunday morning colleagues are intrepid enough or sufficiently awake to join me, and to be honest, it's not really worthwhile applying pressure for such a relatively short distance.
well aware that i was expected at my grand-daughter's abode, sooner, rather than later, i opted for the shorter of the two routes i had in mind. it's a variation on sod's law, however, to have returned home for a shower, only to learn that arrival at my son's house was not expected until early afternoon, so i could, in fact, have pedalled further. very much a case of 'wise after the event'.
generous as i am in my reticence to apportion condemnation, i will allow that my christmas morning parcours was one of relative isolation; in other words, i perambulated mostly single-track backroads, all but devoid of proximity to local dwelling places. that may, or may not, explain why, during those 30km, i came across not one other cyclist, neither adult or child. seemingly gone are the days when christmas was adjudged the ideal point of the year to present one's offspring with a bicycle.
granted, we have discussed at length whether december is the ideal time to acquire a new bicycle, given that the tenacity of the majority nowadays does not stretch to riding in inclement weather. therefore, there is every likelihood that the hypothetical bicycle mentioned above, would remain in the garage or bikeshed until nearer easter, by which time the hypothetical children have outgrown what at one time seemed like the correct size. nonetheless, christmas day at least, would once have witnessed children young and older, pedalling around the locale, eager to try out their present from santa.
it seems, however, that my optimism may be misplaced.
a young lad who was once a part of mrs washingmachinepost's childminding activities was apprently presented with a pre-loved moped by his mother, despite being some two years short of the legal age to ride it. he does, however, benefit from living on a farm, legally regarded as private ground, and thus, providing he strays not from that land, perfectly equitable for him to ride the moped along its few tracks. allegedly, the vehicle has been provided to allow him the luxury of riding the one and a half kilometres from the cottage to the road end, from whence he can board the school bus each morning.
i have ridden the very route of which i speak aboard my cyclocross bicycle; it's more or less flat, a touch gravellous in places, but certainly not a track that demands a petrol-driven bike. the distance is easily covered on foot (i walk a greater distance before heading to the office each weekday - and i am a lot older than is he), or, alternatively, by bicycle, a means that i believe has been de rigeur up until now. i do seriously wonder why said parent has found it necessary to provide a fourteen year-old schoolboy with motorised transport for the purpose outlined above.
whatever happened to encouraging children to gain a modicum of extra-curricular fitness? how does one get in touch with santa claus to point out that he's doing it all wrong? i'm well aware that playstations and x-boxes have supplanted train sets and board games, but at the risk of offering clichéd paraphrasing, 'a bicycle is not just for christmas'. based purely on the above, my christmas day bike ride in 2025 is likely also to be devoid of bicycle sightings, other than my own.
that's not just a shame; it's a travesty and probably an indictment of contemporary british society.
26 december 2024
the problem with having holidays (or more to the point, the only holiday i've had this year) is debating just how long to lie in bed in the morning. i'm sure there's been research undertaken, on receipt of a sizeable grant, proving a law of diminishing returns related to the amount of sleep that might provide a positive effect. for instance, if i get the regulatory eight hours sleep, perhaps an extra hour would be an added bonus, while an extra two hours is just one additional hour wasted. i had thought to use my festive holiday period to prove that correct or wrong, but unfortunately circumstances have now made that untenable.
however, on christmas eve, eve (monday) i had been invited to join breakfast with santa by one of the local hoteliers. since santa obviously survives on very little sleep around this time of year, it was still dark when i arose to head into the wide grey (and drizzly) yonder to ride the 5km to santa's breakfast table. the bike ride was most welcome, given that the galeforce winds at the weekend had prevented any cycling whatsoever. in fact, though sunday was to have seen the traditional mince pie ride 95kph winds rather put paid to that. however, since the mince pies had already been made, it seemed rude not to scoff them in any case, so one member of the peloton offered to get us to debbie's by car. i'd appreciate it if you'd keep that to yourselves.
the logic of so doing, however, was made perfectly clear as we drove down uiskentuie strand, watching the crosswind prevent the waves from reaching the shore. if only i'd had the presence of mind to take photos.
rapha's festive 500 is an event in which i participated for the first ten years, only failing to complete the distance once, due to a wedding and bad weather. however, having turned mrs washingmachinepost into a cycling widow for that decade, i have since opted to undertake a far less onerous festive 250, easily achieved by simply riding to debbie's every day from christmas eve to new year's eve. this year, even that's probably an unattainable target for a variety of reasons into which i will not go at present. but that doesn't mean an absence of cycling over the holiday.
the gravel bike fad has meant that many of those purchasing new bicycles these past few years have eschewed the road bike corner of the bike shop and opted for the gravel section instead. if nothing else, that proves that marketing still has a firm grasp on the human psyche. but irrespective whether you've fallen into that particular sales trap, or may already have been in possession of a cyclocross bike, there's no doubt that britain's crumbling road infrastructure has made wider and sturdier tyres a distinctly pragmatic option. i cannot deny that my cyclocross bike has overtaken the ritchey road bike in terms of usage over recent months, particularly in the light of the grass option down the strand en-route to debbie's
if i get blown over, it's a fairly soft landing, but the increased stability and challenge chicane tyres make it sneaker pimps to ride the grass in the face of a strong sideways breeze.
the latter option is one that i take regularly, wind or no wind, simply to convince myself that my bike handling skills are almost the equivalent of wout and mathieu, both of whom were expected to find themselves in the heat of competition at mol, during monday's telenet superprestige event. sadly, wout was unwell and we'll now have to wait until friday for the much anticipated head-to-head. though i'd like you to think i have no favourites, i'm more inclined to support van aert over van der poel, for no quantifiable reason other than i find the belgian to be more personable. however, having watched mvdp tear lumps out of the field at zonhoven and mol, it's very hard not to be impressed by the way in which he unleashes his power.
at mol, he broke free along with laurens sweeck, who made an excellent job of hanging onto his rear wheel, closing considerably when he was able to ride a sand section on which van der poel had to dismount. but after two more laps, when riding the shore section past the lake, mvdp simply rode away, and there was really nothing sweeck could do about it, eventually finishing over a minute down in second place. i'm more than twice the age of van der poel, and was never even close to such prowess when i was of similar age. but during yesterday's brief outing for a double-egg roll and a soya latte, attempting to input as much power as possible along the strand was undoubtedly inspired by watching mathieu over the previous couple of days. hopefully, when wout takes the start line on friday, there will be double the inspiration.
there won't be any post on christmas day, for what i hope are obvious reasons.
24 december 2024
during my occasional perusal of velocipedinally inclined media, on and offline, i came across an article on the comic's website entitled, 'there's no such thing as bad weather, only unsuitable fenders'. for readers on this side of the pond, that last word translates as mudguards. however, sitting forlornly in thewashingmachinepost bike shed, is a chris king cielo, sadly no longer manufactured by the portland-based component firm, a bicycle which features what were marketed as full wood fenders, acquired from a bike shop on martin luther king boulevard in portland town well over a decade past.
the article in the comic states that for those domiciled in an area rife with precipitation, mudguards are considered a necessity, a contention with which i only half agree. there is no doubt that an un-fendered rear wheel is, without doubt, going to provide you with a narrowing brown stripe across the back of your jacket or jersey. given the agricultural nature of my environment, i will imply, but not clearly state, just what the contents of that brown stripe might contain. however, those of us who ride bereft of mudguards most likely do so for one, or both of two reasons. firstly, ever since style entered the cyclist's lexicon in the early part of this century, the name of the game has been the emulation of the professional classes, despite the manifest differences between them and us. the second reason might well be seen as related to the first; the majority of road bikes do not feature any means of affixing mudguards/fenders to the frame.
you would be correct in pointing out that there have been many attempts to circumvent the latter problem, allowing world tour replica owners to protect the middle of their expensive rapha, castelli or assos jackets. perhaps the current trend for accommodating wider rubber has made the latter less of a problem; the clearance under the front brake caliper on my ritchey would scarcely allow for the thickness of a cigarette paper, and the mounting system for the caliper is distinctly not fender-friendly. i have tried and reviewed several alternative mudguard offerings, all of which are effective to some degree, but were ultimately found wanting.
but then you have the opposite state of affairs; the full-wood-fenders affixed to the cielo are likely to prove very difficult to remove, as the stays are bolted to fittings brazed to the frame. on the favourable side, they still offer every ounce of protection that was inferred at the point of purchase. but the second part of the whole question, is whether we actually need mudguards in the first place, a question that is conditional on the purpose to which the bike is put. if i were riding to school, college, the shops or work in the wet, i'm pretty sure i'd have a different point of view. in that case, i'd be keen to arrive as dry and clean as is possible.
and were that to be the case, i'm sure i'd have acquired a bicycle capable of sporting a set of fenders.
but those of us in the style council are apt to be riding bicycles designed for cyclists far faster than you and i, and assuming you are inclined to ride it in all weathers, is the absence of a wet stripe down your back really going to make any perceivable difference? i have ridden the highways and byways of this hebridean island on the aforementioned cielo in galeforce driven rain, and i can assure you that the fenders made no difference whatsoever. it may be that the front mudguard is designed to keep spray off one's footwear, but if a galeforce five is striking from the side...
at the end of each and every ride, irrespective of the weather in which i have been riding, my cycling apparel goes straight into the washer, while its wearer clambers into the shower. in which case, any hypothetical mudguards will ultimately have been of no practical use.
so, i'd imagine that the answer to the comic's heading, were it to be re-phrased as a question, would be "it depends."
saturday 21 december 2024
i'm sure the majority of us start out riding our bicycles clad in everyday wear, despite the obvious discomfort engendered by the thick seam on a pair of denims, between the saddle and your undercarriage. in many cases, it's the existence of that very seam that not only brings tears to your thighs, but encourages investment in a pair of suitably padded shorts. of course, on-bike apparel covers more than just the nether regions, tailored in such a way as to make the act of cycling a tad more comfortable than those initial sorties into the wide grey yonder. the sadly departed lord carlos of mercian persisted in remaining simply a 'bloke with a bike', rather than admit to having become a cyclist, until he undertook to ride the etape caledonia, acquiring in the process, a sponsor's team-kit.
suddenly his disdain for lycra and polyester melted overnight, turning up for each sunday morning bike ride all but indistinguishable from the remainder of the peloton. the point was well-made by one member of the peloton who pointed out that it was less than customary to go swimming in a pair of levis 501 jeans. the reasoning was succinctly implied.
however, those early rides often featured remarkably low-cost, and thus low-quality cycling apparel, pragmatically on the basis that this new-found admiration for the peloton might just be a passing phase. few will be inclined to head directly to the websites of rapha or assos to begin the acquisition of an apparopriate cycling wardrobe. the pleasure of so doing is traditionally retained as a follow-up to the purchase of a bike that proved a smidgeon more expensive than him or her indoors had approved. by that time, there's no point in denying that the cycling bug has been well and truly caught, and style is close to becoming every bit as important as one's physical prowess on the bike.
i'm making a rather generalised assumption here; that's how the majority of those who constitute the velo club peloton began. but as a velocipedinal identity begins to form, externally, internally, or both trajectories at once, there often appears a desire for outward recognition of that identity. i am of course, referring to the team jersey. it's a garment for which everyone holds enthusiasm when first discussed, an enthusiasm that might well disperse slightly on discovering just how much it's going to cost, and oft-times an enthusiasm that goes on holiday only a matter of weeks following the arrival of said custom garment, often on discovery that this new identity is just not as comfortable/warm/stylish/practical (delete as applicable) as the rapha or assos apparel purchased at even greater cost.
and then there's the commercial approach, one which i can easily evidence by the number of single-malt jerseys available within a few kilometres of cycling around these here parts. in fact, coincidentally, i was advised only yesterday that one of diageo's three islay distilleries (caol ila) now offers a very stylish cycle jersey for sale from its premises overlooking the sound of islay and the paps of jura. i have yet to behold the garment in person, but i am informed that it is impressive in its black and gold livery. several years ago, i was commissioned to design cycling kit for both bruichladdich distillery and ardnahoe. both distilleries were keen to uphold their scottish tradition anad opted for the custom kit department at livingston's endura cycle clothing to produce jerseys and bibshorts for display in their respective distillery shops. cycle jerseys are also available from bowmore, jura, ardbeg and kilchoman, several of which also originate from endura's custom department.
however, the brown stuff will perhaps soon reach the spinning fan, when time comes to re-stock, for endura's custom department currently displays the following message on its website.
"After careful consideration and thorough evaluation of our overall proposition, we intend to cease offering custom teamwear at Endura from January 2025. We will continue to take and fulfil orders until 31st December 2024. After that date, we will continue to fulfil and ship custom orders which had previously been placed but our ordering portal will no longer take new custom orders."
with rapha (who closed their own custom department less than two years after announcing it to great fanfare), endura and le col cycle clothing all posting heavy financial losses recently, and david millar's chptr3 clothing having entered voluntary liquidation, the velocipedinal world has yet to become the land of oat milk and honey we were all promised just a matter of years ago.
when endura's decision reaches the distillery marketing departments, i'm expecting more than one phone call.
friday 20 december 2024
at some point in the recallable past, i asked a somewhat rhetorical question that queried what might come after carbon fibre? the bicycle began life as an agglomeration of steel tubes, which, over the years, became gradually more sophisticated, featuring variable wall thickness, tube diameters and butting offering strength where strength was required. when lugs fell out of favour, they were replaced by tig welding or, for the more sophisticated, fillet brazing. aluminium and titanium both had their brief time in the spotlight before the carbon steamroller took over and replaced everything. steel was certainly in vogue far longer than we have experienced carbon fibre, but that has more to do with the current pace of technological development, than with any specific aptitude for the job.
however, colnago introduced the c40 in 1994, effectively the first high-profile carbon frame to appear in the professional peloton, meaning we have been at the mercy of what mike burrows described as 'burnt plastic' for almost exactly 30 years. given the speed with which boffins in white coats are inclined to produce the next big thing, that's rather a long time to be subservient to a single construction material. after all, shimano's di2 electronic gear shifting was introduced in 2009 and a mere six years later, sram introduced wireless e-tap.
with the latter realisation, by now we surely ought to be riding something considerably more exotic than burnt plastic.
yet, perhaps plastic is the target at which the industry is currently aiming. plastics specialist igus has recently provided the first fully injection molded plastic frame for e-bike manufacturer advanced bikes. and before you join the protesting throng that i was about to foster, alarmed that plastic should be used despite the world's stuttering attempts to rid itself of the fossil-fuel based material, worry not; igus have employed receyled plastic in granular form. it claims also to be able to return frames at end-of-life to the granular form for use in other products.
as i have protested far too often in polite company, i am not an engineer of any description, so my knowledge and information does not extend far enough to know whether the tensile and compliance properties of an e-bike frame differ greatly from that of the exotica ridden by you and i. it is entirely possible that injection molding currently disallows any strategic variations in the positioning of materials within the frame. for instance, is it possible to increase the wall thickness and strength of the bottom-bracket area in comparison to the top tube? and if the frame can be constructed as a one-piece unit, do we have any right to refer to its once component parts as tubes? technically and literally, i think not; in which case, where do we go from here?
the granules from which the igus frames are formed are of composite format, consisting of high-performance plastics(?) and carbon fibre. however, as many will be aware, when laying up resin-impregnated carbon fibre matting, it is possible to align the fibres in a pragmatic manner, implementing strength where it is required, and lightening areas where less weight is desirable. i'm none-too sure whether the same facility is provided by injection molding. of course, we've all been using plastic components for years (igus are also experts in injection molded plastic componentry); the rear gear mech on my campagnolo record groupset may be described as 'carbon', but in essence it's just glorified plastic. functional? yes. aesthetically pleasing? well, the jury is still deliberating.
however, though this may be purely a personal point of view, plastic does not have the same ethereal personality possessed by steel, aluminium, titanium or carbon. how many of us would be content to spend in excess of £12,000 on a colnago (for instance), if we had to admit to our fellow pelotoneers that it was made of (recycled) plastic? though i have no doubt that a plastic frame will prove more than adequate for the majority, it strikes me that the material may have to engage the services of a high-profile public relations company to help keep our credit cards interested.
thursday 19 december 2024
it occurs that, nowadays, if not in the past, the choice to become a cyclist was the result of an informed, or perhaps economic decision. either way, the number of folks pressured into riding a bicycle for work, for school or simply straightforward transport, as opposed to travelling by car, bus or train, must number only a handful. for those of us who have valiantly opted to ride a bike, because we really, really wanted to, carefully choosing bicycles that would be practicable but with a hint of flair, the onus is on us to learn how to conduct ourselves in traffic, for both social and safety reasons. as the mighty dave-t has frequently pointed out it's all very well buying a bike, but at some point, you're going to have to pedal it."
it's tautologically true; we're all well aware of the fact that there's a not inconsiderable amount of effort that has to be put into cycling, and if you've to pedal the same route, day in and day out, it well behoves the cyclist to pay attention to the traffic midst which cycling has to take place. after all, if you quickly become a cycling enthusiast, it makes sense to prolong the experience in the face of adversity. however the fly-in-the-ointment is the now ubiquitous e-bike, a bicycle that apparently requires little in the way of consideration, if only because little in the way of physical input is required from the rider. choose the less than legal s-pedelec, and user input most certainly is suprplus to requirements.
however, it's all well and good separating the legal from the non-legal where e-bikes are concerned, but how is that separation to be policed? i rarely visit scotland these days, but the last time i traversed glasgow's sauchiehall street, it was blatantly obvious to the admittedly educated eye, that the vast majority of delivery riders were aboard e-bikes controlled by throttle, requiring no pedal-assist whatsoever. but just as many a motorist or truck driver will hide use of a mobile phone when a police car approaches from behind, or passes in the opposite direction, it would be a simple matter of pedalling earnestly at modest speed to disguise the fact that your e-bike possesses formula one abilities.
at a time when police resources are reputedly stretched to the limit, are they really likely to pursue what they might regard as illegal e-bike use to deliver sushi or pizza?
nonetheless, whether legitimate or otherwise, e-bikes are often surprisingly quicker than acoustic bikes, and many an e-bike rider has found themselves at the limit of their control, particularly aboard machinery that is capped at 48kph. there have already been moves afoot in denmark and the netherlands, to restrict use of cycle paths to acoustic bicycle users, following a spate of accidents engendered by principally elderly riders unable to exert full control of their e-bikes. denmark has already imposed licensing that has allegedly resulted in 29% fewer deaths, 39% fewer serious injuries and a 64% reduction in crashes.
obviously enough, simply slapping a licence number on an e-bike does not render it soft and cuddly, but there is likely to be greater consideration exerted by purchasers, or even hirers of e-bikes if there is a likelihood of punitive reparations for inept use of the bicycle. on islay, there are so few of us riding bicycles, all of whom are aboard noticeably different marques, that the local police would have little difficulty in identifying and apprehending any miscreants. inner city and urban use is a different box of battery connections altogether. with so many vehicles sporting dashcams and a cogent netowrk of cctv anad anpr cameras, any e-velocipedinal misdemeanours would surely be a tad easier to capture and subsequently prosecute if identification were simpler.
there have already been calls on the uk government to implement such factors upon the cycling population, though the majority have not specifically called out those aboard e-bikes. but in new york, the knotty subject of e-bike and e-scooter licensing is already under discussion. known as priscilla's law following the death of 69 year-old pedestrian, priscilla locke at the wheels of an e-bike in chinatown, a bill placed in front of the new york city council, sponsored by council member, robert holden, calls for e-bikes and e-scooters to be required to display identifying numbers. aside from ms. locke's death, many have noted an alleged increase in e-bikes on pavements, riding the wrong way on roads, and the old chestnut, running red lights.
though the new york vote is still considered to be several months distant, its wholesale adoption might well be considered a first step in the right direction by some and ripe for adoption by similarly minded cities, towns, states or even countries. many of those witnessed riding hired e-bikes on islay seem largely unaware of the surrounding traffic, a sizeable portion of which comprises 40ft articulated tankers. there has been considerable consternation that these temporary e-bike riders may not have ridden a bicycle of any kind since childhood. that said, pinning a licence number to the mudguards might be insufficient to cure that particular problem. it is still very much the case that we all have to share the roads with each other, and the onus is on the individual to look out for others as well as themselves.
that's applicable to both acoustic and electric cyclists.
wednesday 18 december 2024
i believe i have previously related the excuse provided by residents of the hallowed isle when asked why nobody appeared to ride bicycles in a location, at the time, largely bereft of motor traffic. the most commonly cited excuse for not travelling by bicycle was that of the wind. as i write, it is perhaps easy to see the potential veracity of that claim, given that the upcoming weekend is forecast to be at the mercy of cold atlantic draughts reaching above 100kph. despite my reputation for riding my bicycle in pretty much anything, winds of those speeds are decidely above the pale. the worst part of the latter knowledge is that sunday was projected to be the date of the annual velo club 'mince pie ride'.
there is, to be fair, at least some evidence in favour of those who were (and still are) happy to trot out the disadvantage of atlantic breezes to the likelihood of riding bicycles. yes, those of us inclined to ride in all weathers do garner a certain amount of unasked for approbation, but what is conspicuous by its absence, is any possibility of being emulated in our apparent idiocy. thus, despite the building of, so far, two mixed use paths on opposite sides of the island, and strenuous attempts by argyll and bute council to encourage transportation other than by motor car, there has been know recognisable increase in the numbers to be seen riding bicycles.
of course, that is regarded as one of the more trivial interruptions to modern society on the outer edge, parcel deliveries are anything but as straightforward as they are on the mainland, and a long-running debacle has been that of daily newspaper deliveries, the lack of consistency with which, is driving both customers and newsagents to distraction.
at present, our lifeline ferry service consists of a single vessel, while we await the delayed delivery of the first of two new vessels currently under construction in turkiye, and while the annual refit season takes place. the latter is the seagoing simalucrum of the mot test applied to motor vehicles, where each calmac ferry is required by law to undergo an annual inspection and mechanical checkup. thus when one ferry enters drydock, another has to take its place in order to continue the west coast service to 23 islands. this frequently results in many normally two-vessel services being reduced to one.
for islay, that means we have a ferry arriving from the mainland around 9:30am each morning, and the same ferry returning in the afternoon at around 3pm. the daily newspapers, which originate in glasgow, are transported over 160km to the mainland ferry terminal for placement on the 7am departure. yet, strangely, it can almost be guaranteed that those newspapers will not arrive in the morning on tuesdays and thursdays (and occasionally, saturdays). by the time the afternoon ferry arrives, assuming the newspaper have been placed aboard that particular vessel (not always the case), the island's newsagents will not receive them until after 4pm, leaving little opportunity for sales, given that the majority close by 5pm.
in order to learn of what the problem might be, i wrote to the manager of the haulage company responsible for daily delivery of the newspapers. aside from several pertinent and believable reasons as to why such delays were more frequent than you'd like to think, the gentleman of my acquaint, well aware of my predilection for bicycles, inferred that, as a back-up plan, he was looking at electric cargo bikes to transport the newspapers aboard the ferry, partly from an economic point of view (there is no charge for bicycles on the calmac network) and partly from environmental concerns, using the bicycles for so-called 'last mile delivery'.
those familiar with the hebrides will no doubt enjoy the humour as much as did i, for while islay is one of the six islands chosen by the scottish government to reach carbon neutral by 2040, bicycle delivery is unlikely to have been a solution considered as a viable solution. joking aside, that is certainly an aspect of environmental transport concerns that has all but excused itself from pragmatic implementation on any of the islands. while last mile delivery by cargo bike might make perfect sense in urban and inner-city locations, the wide open spaces that feature across the islands are less than ideally constituted to support such innovation.
i would tend to exclude myself from any likelihood of taking on the job of cargo bike delivery, if only on the basis of my advanced years. and a quick look at the average age of those constituting the sunday peloton, would immediately have you also query its viability. we have frequently attempted to press-gang younger members of the community into joining us once a week, where there is no need to consider delivery of heavy goods. therefore, one has to seriously question from where the transport company would be likely to recruit operators of its humorously proposed means of distribution.
the distance from bowmore in the centre of the island to the southern ferry port at port ellen is 16km across a dead straight road featuring no shelter whatsoever from either rain or wind. the distance from the northern ferry port at port askaig to bowmore is near 18km, marginally more sheltered but not by much. from bowmore to bruichladdich and subsequently, port charlotte is at least 15km, with the need of traversing uiskentuie strand, the majority of which is wide open to atlantic gales with, again, no shelter. so despite the electric cargo bike being positioned as a one-size-fits-all suitable delivery solution for parcels and mail, there are areas outwith its practicality. and once you're north of scotland's central belt, pragmatism might as well take a hike.
hopefully someone will arrive with a cunning plan.
tuesday 17 december 2024
whatever might be thought by its participants, professional sport is a part of the entertainment industry. admittedly those who earn their living from running, swimming, cycling or even knocking a little ball into a corner pocket with a big, long piece of wood, are required to undertake often strenuous practice in an attempt to reach the forefront of their chosen career. that compares disfavourably with those who inhabit what we might commonly consider as the entertainment industry; with no disrespect to the singers and actors involved, spending hour upon hour in often inclement weather simply to win back a few seconds, is not something you'd expect to see jennifer aniston or daniel craig undertake.
however, any event, whether a concert, movie, tv programme or cycle race that garners a paying audience, rather obviously exists to entertain. sometimes, and i'm sure you're well aware of which i speak, the behaviour of portions of the audiences at certain forms of entertainment, would lead you to believe that they view whatever takes place within their gaze, is of an importance well above that usually reserved for entertainment. i'm insufficiently well acquainted with the nooks and crannies of english soccer to name the manager responsible, but i believe one of them stated that football is not a matter of life and death; it's much more important that that."
essentially, that's wholly untrue. or, at least, it should be.
in the world of cycling, partisan support is less well defined. there must me hundreds, if not thousands, who watch le tour de france or the giro d'italia who are less than invested in the ultimate victor. i think we can all be shown to have favourites, those who we would look upon favourably should they cross the finish line ahead of the peloton, but by and large, we can witness the spectacle, gaining enjoyment whoever turns out as victor.
i, along with many, have frequently been asked why the grand tours last for three weeks, and perhaps more pertinently, why each stage lasts quite so long? would it not be every bit as pragmatic, they contend, if the riders simply raced each other over 15 or 20 kilometres, rather than having so many riders achieve very little during the preceding 180 kilometres? you and i can probably see why such questions arise, but it's hard to explain the strategies at work to position the more favoured individuals towards the front, allowing them to take advantage when push comes to shove.
the time and distance factor comes into closer examination when you raise the subject of cyclocross. each officially sanctioned race has a pre-determined length; around 50 minutes for women and as close to one hour as practical for the men. the decision as to how many laps will be raced is made following the end of the second lap, when the commissaires take the lap times and calculate how many will take them closest to the magical endpoint. but either way, if you sit down of a saturday or sunday afternoon to watch cyclocross, you know in advance how long that's going to take. unlike, for example, a transition stage in le tour, where, depending on the strategies at play, it might take anything between three and four hours or, occasionally longer.
a former editor at our local newspaper was once of the opinion that the number of pages featured in each issue could easily be considered a moving target, depending on how many photos he wished to use or how many articles of indeterminate length he wished to include. with various practical repercussions that might result from excessive pagination, i suggested that a fixed maximum number of pages would surely lead to a better edited edition?
to return to the cyclocross meme, a race that lasts only 50 minutes or an hour usually entails an eyeballs out approach from all concerned. there are, in my experience as a committed cyclocross obsessive, no flat spots throughout the event, a contention easily proved by that which took place at namur on sunday afternoon, in both the men's and women's events, described by the commentators, marty mcdonald and jeremy powers, as being arguably the hardest race of the season and the excitement of which provided some of the finest cycling entertainment i have been privileged to witness, from both elite events. this single event was, alone, worth the cost of admission for a year's subscription to discovery+.
with 'cross events on saturday, sunday and monday next weekend, and throughout the festive holiday period, i'd heartily suggest you consider joining me in my viewing habit. think of it as a christmas present to yourself.
monday 16 december 2024