..........................................................................................................................................................................................................
reality bites
only a matter of weekends past did i mention having to stand aside during the sunday morning ride to allow a herd of cattle to be moved along one of islay's single track back roads. it appears this particular process might be habit forming, for as we headed towards saligo bay yesterday morning, via ballinaby, we met the farmer from the latter driving his cattle in the opposite direction. dsiappointingly, from our point of view, there really was nowhere to go. the only possible side point was, in fact, the very route that those cattle were headed for, so alternatives were called for.
islay's northwest coast borders the north atlantic ocean, from whence today's galeforce winds emanated. the most northerly accessible point on this transition from wild water to windswept landscape is at sanaigmore, site of a memorial to the 241 unfortunate irish souls, who, in 1847, en-route to a new life in quebec, foundered in stormy conditions off islay's coast, many perishing before they could be reached. their ship was the 'exmouth of newcastle'.
sanaigmore is also the location of outback art, a gallery and coffee shop, pretty much on the outer edge of the outer edge.
since one of our trio had never visited the outreaches of the outback, we opted to ride back to the carnduncan phone box and take a left towards sanaigmore. the single track road of about 5km in length is probably one of the most remote on the island, and in the conditions in force on sunday morning, it appeared all the more so. heading on our way to the end of the road, we passed a number of derelict cottages and an unoccupied, substantial farmhouse that i'm sure had been occupied the last time i headed out that way. there's also a building at the roadside, now employed as a barn, that was once the local hall in which dances and events were held for the nearby residents.
on-one lives up there anymore.
though the road surface almost made up for the lack of racing at paris-roubaix, the galeforce tailwind more than made up for being bounced right, left and centre, though the reality of slogging into that same headwind on the way back wasn't quite the same, pleasant experience.
thankfully, the cattle that had earlier blocked our way, were now happily munching in their field, but rather than attempt to complete the original parcours, we opted to head south to the oddly named rock mountain and onto the coffee at debbie's which i swear we could smell from the shores of loch gorm.
the only 'mountain' part of the equation, is a short, sharp 14% gradient leading to the main road, but as we began our ascent, an orange renault car signalled ahead and made to turn in our direction. considering the steepness of the climb, had it continued to drive in our direction, we'd have had to dismount, unlikely to be able to re-start on that steep an incline. happily, the driver and passenger turned out to be closet cycling fans, stopping the car on the turn and vociferously applauding as we grovelled to the top.
you don't get any of that on 'zwift'.
monday 26 october 2020
..........................................................................................................................................................................................................chess or draughts?
i doubt there's anyone in the world who hasn't found the last few months to be particularly strange. and having said that, in the uk at least, it often seems as if things are getting even stranger. the contradiction between many of the current restrictions, particularly between scotland and england and the various tiers for fears, often means that confusion between whether we're coming or going becomes less obvious by the day. and yet, in the hebrides at least, those months have featured a scenery of sun, sea and sand, often minus the usually perpetual wind.
i, and several others, have often maintained that a hebridean winter ends at the beginning of june, and recommences by mid-august, which may sound just a smidgeon tongue in cheek, but there have been more than just a few years when it has proved to be truer than you'd like to think. this year, however, i have made extensive use of my limited number of lightweight, short-sleeve jerseys, married to endless weeks of bibshorts, sans knee-warmers. along with everything else that's been unusual, cycling apparel has been no different.
for many, the unfortunate aspect has been that similar stylish cladding has had to be worn indoors, in front of 'scenes from watopia'. in that light, the rural idyll has been generous; my bicycle riding has not suffered one iota; i'm riding as many kilometres now as i was back in march, entirely due to my interpretation of the guidelines to stay close to home, as meaning 'not off the island'. had i access to a drone, the resultant movie would have shown at least two cyclists perambulating precisely the same parcours, but approximately fifteen minutes apart.
social-distancing at its best.
but the odd part of riding in particularly amenable weather, has been that i have struggled more than expected. not mentally, you understand, but physically. how can it be that riding in pretty decent weather, on all but traffic-free roads (to begin with), results in less than impressive performance? surely those were the favourable conditions after which, any sane peloton seeks?
but though it has been some twenty-five years since last i rode a turbo trainer, most definitely not of the smart variety, i've a sneaking suspicion that riding single-track, traffic-free roads with the sun in the sky, no wind to speak of, and the lightest of velocipedinal garmentage, is little different to the indoor regime which inflicted itself upon the city and urban dwelling masses. the only notable difference would be fresh air and the occasional wave from a farmer on a tractor (does anyone wave in watopia?). for total realism, i suggest that wahoo develop the kickr cattle grid.
but the reality that things would eventually change for the 'better', only increased the sense of anticipation, scanning the weekend forecast to see when there might be wind-driven rain to end the summer's ubiquity. i truly didn't think that it would take until near the end of october before such a welcome change transpired, but i daresay that's yet another climate change imposition on the pelotonese.
progressive infliction of that after which i sought has now taken place. friday offered remarkably sudden and heavy showers, which, without strategic effort, i managed to avoid. but overnight saturday brought winds gusting to near 52mph, backing off enough to provide a daylight bike ride in 35mph head and crosswinds. do not misunderstand me; this is not some ill-conceived bravado, yet another attempt to ally the flandrians with the hebrideans. on leaving debbie's at lunchtime, i was heard to mention to arriving friends that, finally, here was some weather that i could "get my teeth into".
there's really nothing more life-affirming than slogging into a headwind for a kilometre or two (despite advice to the contrary, you should always push hard into a headwind), then developing hitherto unknown handling skills, riding in galeforce crosswinds. when climbing the stairs to bed at night, a twinge or two from those honed thigh muscles is just the reminder you need.
i've said it before and i'll say it again: 'a headwind is your best friend'.
sunday 25 october 2020
..........................................................................................................................................................................................................is there anyone out there?
several years past, a former cycling colleague of mine, wrapped himself in the make believe world of the 'professional' cyclist, eager to exploit a sponsorship deal to enhance his status at home and abroad. he was, to be honest, well past his prime in athletic terms and still gainfully employed in a non-cycling career, but an open door into the world of attempting certain long-held national cycling records, had him step out of reality and into an alternate universe.
it would, of course, be less than prudent for any of us to awake one morning with a goal of cycing certain distances more quickly than before, without undertaking a certain amount of structured training. in this sense, the gent concerned was not entirely naive, the sponsor having arranged this in advance. however, there were signs that he may well have been taking matters just a tad too seriously. for on one of our sunday rides, the parcours of which took us on the road around loch gorm, on arrival at the loch's perimeter road, he stopped to inform us that his coach had advised to limit his mileage, so he'd be heading back to debbie's and would meet us there.
i confess that we thought he was joking, for the distance omitted was, at most, about 10km, and about to be undertaken at considerably less than race-pace. but, as we turned right, he went left, and we did indeed, meet him at debbie's around 45 minutes later. the sponsor had also supplied a time-trial bike on which to train and on which we discovered he was going out at around 4am undertaking 160km rides, while neglecting the business he had spent several years building in the first place. however, it is hardly my concern to criticise the actions of others, particularly since his so doing didn't have any personal effect, but his changed attitude did raise a few eyebrows.
however, it is not this individual or his actions that form the quizzical part of this diatribe, but the training part of the equation. i cannot deny that the distance attempts that were now part of his long-term goals demanded more than just a minimal amount of training, but it was more the seriousness of his approach that gave cause for both concern and humour. but in comparison to the laxity displayed by the rest of us, his application was quite stark.
i ride my bicycle as often as i can, because i enjoy riding my bicycle. i like the fact that it tends to maintain a reasonable level of fitness as i enter my dotage, and i'm occasionally fond of giving it a bit of welly now and again, just to prove to myslef that i can. but since each weekend's velocipedinal activity tends to feature the same old, same old, and i have no intention of competing at any level, i find the act of cycling to be a self-fulfilling prophecy. the very thought of submitting to even a loosely structured training plan is total anathema to me.
yet, still the cycling press, both online and in print, oft-times fill their columns with training tips and hints, often alluded to by front cover headlines such as 'fitter and faster in ten easy steps'. or words of that ilk. of course, i seriously doubt that any training is going to be easy, otherwise we'd all be doing it. but it's probably a truism that even sloth-like pedallists such as yours truly, are a few levels above the civilian population.
while i find that riding 30km prior to my double-egg roll to be a minimal distance, my lunchtime inquisitors are often overly impressed that i plan at least another 30km after lunch. and the fact that i can do so on the calories gained from those two eggs and a soya cappuccino elevates me close to hero status. in fact, the very notion that i, and my sunday ride colleagues, would even consider riding such distances on bicycles in the first place is not only viewed as definitive eccentricity, but surely a needless expenditure of energy in the first place.
yet, still the training model persists.
wahoo's suf training app has recently been augmented with two new transition training plans. "whether you're coming off a gruelling outdoor season or ready to get back on the bike after a long hiatus, the transition plans will help ensure that you're prepared - both physically and mentally - for a successful season." so my question is, 'who actually trains?' obviously more than just a few of you do so, and i totally understand the need for it in the competitive realm, but given the number of books on the subject, along with the aforesaid magazine articles, compared to the number of british cycling members who actively compete, there has to be a sizeable number of cyclists who train, presumably for the sake of training.
and i wondered why?
considering much of what i've read involves heart-rates, perceived rates of exertion and power outputs, all allied to the tapering of training strictures to meet with competitive needs, if you're not competing, how does that all apply? and, since the only reliable means of measuring power output, apparently a major factor in contemporary training methods, is to acquire a power meter, isn't that an inordinate expense simply to get faster for no apparent reason? and that's without the added faff of maintaining a regimented diet, a training diary, and trying to find spare hours in an already busy life.
or am i missing something somewhere? there will always be the obsessives for whom nothing less will do, but i doubt they exist in sufficient numbers to keep all the personal trainers and coaches in full employment. is it, perhaps, a corollary to having need of owning and riding the very latest in bicycle technology? is there a whole subculture addicted to aspects of cycling that, ultimately, are of little practical use to man nor beast?
or am i just an old has-been who should probably keep his opinions and questions to himself? which, now that you come to mention it...
saturday 24 october 2020
..........................................................................................................................................................................................................train of thought
on my first visit to portland, oregon in 2009, i stayed with a good friend of mine who, at the time, lived in beaverton, a suburb around ten miles (16km) from portland city centre. with an excellent network of cycle lanes on which to travel, we were able to cycle from chris king's headquarters all the way to the front door of the house. the following morning, the return trip made use of portland's rather excellent transport infrastructure, cycling to a nearby station on the city's light railway (what we'd likely refer to as a tramway), we boarded a carriage, hanging the front wheels of our bicycles on the hooks inside the door for that very purpose, and sitting on nearby seats.
on reaching downtown portland, we alighted at the nearest stop to nw nela street, and cycled the last few miles/kilometres to the chris king cycle parking. it was a most impressive feature of their transportation system that caters for pedestrians and cyclists, every bit as much, if not more, than their motorists. perhaps things have changed in the last eleven years, but at the time, it seemed light years ahead of the facilities available in the likes of glasgow or edinburgh.
now, there are those who bear a more militant streak, those who would query why, in my case, i took a train back into the city, when i'd been happy to ride a relatively short distance on the previous evening? i may even display a rather worrying level of militancy myself, particularly when i see close neighbours driving a few hundred metres to bowmore main street, when they could just as easily have walked. but in mitigation, our train/tram journey had been entirely for my benefit, to let me experience the various ways in which the intrepid cyclist could travel within this city in america's pacific northwest.
sadly, on this side of the atlantic, it's still an uphill battle for cyclists to gain a foothold in the nation's transport infrastructure. yes indeed, there have been great inroads made over the past few months, with pop-up cycle lanes and other features appearing in our major cities. but it seems somewhat depressing that it's taken a worldwide health pandemic and thousands of lives to reach that point. until such time as scotland's, or britain's transport strategy achieves a suitable level of joined up thinking, the chances of our so-called carbon footprint being realistically reduced are still looking remarkably thin.
and disappointingly, only yesterday, earth scientists pointed out that the usual freezing of the siberian sea in late october had yet to take place, easily the latest this has occurred in recorded history. the cause: undoubtedly human engineered climate change.
as a cyclist, if wish to get myself from here to glasgow, for instance, my principal option is by ferry to kintyre, a cycle to its east coast, ferry to arran, ride around the island to brodick, another ferry to ardrossan on the scottish mainland, and ride a cycle path into the city centre. it is, in truth, rather a pleasant trip, but one that takes pretty much all day. should i have need of reaching the city centre as a matter of even latent urgency, that would not be my chosen means of travel. however, were it possible to incorporate the bicycle with either bus or rail travel, it could conceivably become at least marginally pragmatic.
as a first step towards a consolidated active travel plan, the revealing yesterday by scotrail of their new west coast mainline trains with space for up to 20 bicycles of all shapes and sizes, can only be cause for velocipedinal celebration. these colourfully decorated carriages, featuring artwork by skye-based artist, peter mcdermott and depict landmarks from the journey, including kilchurn castle, ben lomond, glenfinnan viaduct, and the cullins. according to scotrail, "They'll enter service on the West Highland Line once we're able to safely complete staff training."
all we need now is for scotland's dutch-operated scotrail to add similarly equipped carriages to the rest of the network, and the transport revolution can be considered safely underway.
friday 23 october 2020
..........................................................................................................................................................................................................preaching to the converted
at the time i moved myself to the hebrides, i still had a subscription to america's bicycling magazine probably the first cycling publication in which i noticed a predilection to repeat annual features. if memory serves correctly, articles advising on how to ride your first century, would usually appear in close proximity to easter, all the better to prepare yourself for a summer of riding 100 miles. and as the nights became darker, there would be the inevitable reviews of bicycle lights, a component that has arisen in ever more variants, since the light emitting diode became more available.
i subsequently witnessed the same seasonal variations occurring in british cycling publications of a certain ilk, though whether they had practised the same prior to my noticing it across the pond, i'm really none too sure. such features are obviously designed to inform the hapless cyclist as to the availability of componentry pertinent to certain seasons, or to prevent newbies (such as yours truly at the time) heading off into the wide blue yonder, with nary a clue as to how far 100 miles actually is. but i believe a secondary purpose may also be influenced by a need to fill pages, and an almost incidental desire to satisfy some of the publication's advertisers.
for any feature involving lights and the like, will probably provide brands and prices to help the readership make its own decisions as to what might festoon their own bicycles on darker nights. and as to the century, i seem to recall advice on which particular style of bicycle would be most up to the task. recollections of these specific editorials was brought to mind by the increasing number of e-mails arriving in my inbox pertaining to a certain theme: 'there's no such thing as bad weather, only the wrong clothing'. there will be little doubt among you as to what is being promoted by way of these particular mailshots.
with so many metrics available to marketing departments these days, i daresay that the location of those receiving the e-mails in question is contianed within the extensive databases. after all, it seems unlikely that, within an industry as globally based as is that of cycling apparel, there are too many customers in the far east and australasia receiving these mailshots. in which case, i'm assuming that the respective marketing departments have me down as the west coast of scotland. in fact, more than just a few kilometres adrift of that coast.
and only a few weeks past, i was moved to send a map of scotland to the press officer at one of the country's more prominent cycle clothing purveyors. this map, however, showed in relief, the substantial difference in rainfall between scotland's west and east coasts. spoiler alert: the west coast gets waaaay more rain than its counterpart. i did so in a humorous attempt to justify why it made sense for them to send waterproof clothing in my direction. it was reputedly humorous, because said purveyor has never, in fact, shied away from sending such garmentage for review.
but, armed with such information, perhaps they, and several of their peers, should be sufficiently well-informed to leave me out of their directed marketing for two reasons: firstly, they already send me stuff, and secondly, it's the west coast of scotland for goodness sake. although north america's seattle holds a reputation for high rainfall, in fact, it's mobile alabama that features the highest precipitation in the usa, reaching not a lot less than 1800mm per year. by contrast, annual rainfall on the west coast of scotland is closer to 3000mm. sending me an e-mail to tell me how to dress for riding in bad weather, would surely be the equivalent of my advising the nomads of the sahara on an appropriate sun cream factor.
it often seems a tad disingenuous to have a marketing consultant living in london compose the copy advising those north of the border just how to fend off the inclement weather sure to arrive with the coming months. would not it be more prudent to ask someone who lives up here? and i don't really mean me. i have even watched a promotional movie in which interviewees are quizzed about their worst weather-related moments on the bike, most of which sound like the conditions experienced by any club rider or commuting cyclist living on scotland's west coast or on the isles.
i do not mean this as testament to our professed bravado and toughness, for in truth, we really have little option. and for many of us, riding in pretty much any conditions is a great deal more satisfying than resorting to maczwift.
thursday 22 october 2020
..........................................................................................................................................................................................................flying
ten years ago, ardbeg distillery asked me to organise a bike ride to celebrate ten years of 'the ardbeg committee', a marketing feature that parallels laphroaig's 'friends of laphroaig'. in ardbeg's case, by joining, you become a member of a hypothetical 'committee', which, in truth, has no real remit, other than to buy more whisky, and proselytise the brand to anyone within earshot. my late father was a member of the committee and genuinely believed that the distillery's fomer manager, mickey heads, was personally responsible for composing and sending out the regular committee minutes.
mickey retired on 1 october this year, handing over the reigns to colin gordon, previously diageo's manager at lagavulin distillery. however, mickey has opted to remain as chairman of 'the ardbeg committee'.
in 2010, however, it seemed particularly uninspiring simply to invite people to ride their bicycles around islay, and then go home. so, in order to make velocipedinal life just a tad more interesting, i stole a leaf out of 'chris king''s book and organised a 'gourmet' bike ride that offered breakfast in the old kiln café, lunch delivered ballygrant hall, an afternoon coffee at debbie's in bruichladdich and finishing off with dinner in the distillery in the evening.
it also dawned on me that, if we were to be having a formal dinner, it might add the frosting on the dessert, to invite an after-dinner speaker from the world of cycling. friends of mine at the time were already in the business of providing suitable after-dinner speakers, so i asked for a list of who might be available. top of that list was graeme obree. to be honest, i didn't look any further down the list.
i cannot deny, i'm hardly well-experienced in the craft of engaging the services of after-dinner speakers, but i would imagine that generally one arranges their travel, accommodation and transport from the latter to the venue. what i hadn't expected, though in retrospect, it could never have been otherwise, graeme cycled from his home in saltcoats to ardrossan, took the ferry to brodick on arran, rode the fifteen miles to lochranza, caught the ferry to kintyre and cycled the five miles to kennacraig, before boarding the islay ferry to port askaig.
there was a couple of other cyclists signed up for the next day's ride who met with us at the ferry port, and all four of us headed south, towards each rider's respective overnight accommodation. graeme was aboard a pink (a colour he maintained was magenta) hand-built bicycle, pulling a bob-trailer with his luggage. i'm sure my two compatriots would readily admit that we all struggled to keep up with the flying scotsman, a situation placed in true perspective on discovering just how heavy that luggage actually was.
the following day, graeme joined us on the bike ride, happy to pose for photos at the distillery, and eager to chat to everyone riding. and when he punctured between carnduncan and ballinaby, he cheerfully carried out the repair unaided.
as we rode back to his accommodation at the end of the ride, graeme asked me what i thought he should talk about after dinner, at which point, i pointed out that we were so much on his side, that if he read out his shopping list, we'd applaud. i probably need not recount that he held us all spellbound for over an hour, without any recourse to a written speech. it was definitely one of those days you never forget.
ten year's later, we're all a bit older now, though i've a notion that graeme's the only one of us that's any wiser. he's still very much the flying scotsman, and if proof were needed regarding the wisdom part, you need look no further than kenny pryde's interview on the endura cycle clothing website, or take a look at endura's accompanying mind, body and soul' video. if there were any justice north of the border, the man would have been declared a national treasure long ago.
graeme obree: mind, body and soul | graeme obree interview with kenny pryde
wednesday 21 october 2020
..........................................................................................................................................................................................................trying it on
one or two of you may be familiar with music recording and editing software pro-tools, a digital platform that has, in effect, become the industry standard, with pretty much every recording studio in the world featuring its mixing desk reproduction on the monitors. many years ago, prior to being purchased by avid, it was possible to download a free edition, files that arrived with sample recordings with which to meddle. the main limitations were a maximum of eight individual tracks and a complete inability to save your work.
should your requirements have extended to greater demands, there was a need to spend some of your hard-earned, and ensure you were equipped with a capable computer and an interface that would allow your music making to talk to the software.
in those far off days, i had grand ideas above my station, that saw me as a future record producer and recording engineer, badgering anyone with a musical instrument to allow me to enshrine their noise-making in digital format. but as with every endeavour nowadays, things are rarely as simple as they initially appear. it transpires that there may have been a need, or desire, to filter the final results, exposing them to a whole bank of digital effects, about which the more i learned, the more i realised i knew so little.
and, it would appear, a whole slew of additional software and hardware was needed to produce state of the art recordings: hardware interfaces, speakers, extra monitors, outboard gear, soundproofing, microphones... the list seemed to be endless, expensive and accompanied by more manuals than for which i had shelf room. so, i simply resigned myself to the fact that a career in music recording was simply not on the cards.
however, had the free version been unavailable in the first place, i'd doubtless have been well down the rabbit hole before sanity dawned, and bankruptcy loomed.
though i'd be inclined to think that cycling, at a basic level, would prove a great deal less expensive and onerous than even a compact and bijou recording studio, at its very least, cycling requires only a bicycle, and one of those can be acquired second-hand, or reconditioned for not a great deal of money. however, as we are all well aware, there will eventually be a need for suitable clothing, helmet, servicing and those gizmos that none of us really need, but we're determined to own anyway. and eventually, a gcn race pass.
but, from personal experience, there have been many, many bicycles purchased by those intent on turning over a new transportational leaf, or becoming healthier individuals. sadly, all too many spent most of their lives sat in a dusty corner of the shed or garage, before appearing in the classified ads for a fraction of what they cost in the first place. but what if you could rent a bike for a monthly fee that included all maintenance costs?
it's not an astoundingly new idea, having been implemented elsewhere with varying degrees of success, but a bike for good pilot scheme has now been launched in glasgow, with funding from glasgow city council and zero waste scotland. having started in 'the barras' a decade ago, bike for good now operates two community hub shops in the city and is offering residents the option "to own a bike with no hassle, no booking appointments with mechanics and no worrying about the cost of parts if things go wrong."
the bikes will arrive fully equipped with lights, locks, mudguards and a rack, offering owners access to their very own mechanic and a targeted one day window for repairs or replacement. the three-month pilot scheme will cost participants £10 per month, approximately half of the cost when the final scheme commences in 2021.
now is that a good idea, or is that a good idea?
tuesday 20 october 2020
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