over the past six or seven months, due to various lockdowns and furlough, i have found myself responsible for the content of our local newspaper, not a position i've ever had desires upon. but then, many of us have had to do stuff we hadn't planned on over the last few months, so i can do little else than suck it up and get on with it. it has to be said, however, that residing on a small island off the west coast of scotland, in the midst of a world pandemic, is probably one of the most fortuitous locations in which to live. throughout every restriction imposed from westminster or holyrood, we have still been able to undertake the same set of parcours as has always been the case.
granted, for reasons of public relations, to begin with, we would cycle alone, perhaps ten to fifteen minutes apart, meeting up at an agreeable social-distance for a coffee at debbie's when pedalling was almost done for the day. however, as the situation became more relaxed, we started going out in twos or threes. yet, even in the early days, the most common remark heard was "if we didn't see you out on your bike every weekend, we'd know things were bad." quite the opposite of received admonishments heard by even individual cyclists in mainland locations, for which we are most grateful.
then, towards the end of last week, it seemed that things might be about to improve. holyrood lifted some of the retstrictions applied to the argyll and bute islands (of which islay and jura are but two), allowing meetings of up to six people from two households indoors from friday (18 december) onwards, with a view to placing the entire region at level one at the weekly review this tuesday. for many weeks now, the western isles, orkney, shetland, and moray have been at level one; though there have been vague promises of moving argyll's islands on previous occasions, it now appeared that such was about to occur.
then saturday happened, with the announcements from north and south of the border that the 'new' strain of the coronavirus was 70% more capable of transmission through the air, so more stringent restrictions were required. therefore, instead of the promised five-day break over christmas, we now have christmas day only. come boxing day, mainland scotland moves to level four, while the isles shift to level three. disappointing for everyone to say the least, just when we'd all hoped progress was being made.
however, at the risk of viewing this seriousness in an entirely self-serving and superficial manner, my immediate reaction was to check how this might affect the available cycling opportunities. happily, it appears that it will make no difference to us whatsoever, the subject of much discussion over coffee and mince pies following sunday's annual mince pie ride, when time came to arrange for next week's sunday morning ride. and just to prove that our enthusiasm for cycling's great heritage knows no bounds, we clad our noggins in authentic, robert millar peugeot/shell caps from the wonderful people at prendas.
until now, peugeot jerseys have often been confined to displaying bp logos, as have the matching caps, unlike the signed wool peugeot jersey taking pride of place on the upstairs landing, only a few metres from a commemorative robert millar poster, celebrating his victory in the 1984 tour de france king of the mountains competition. however, andy storey has been relentless in pursuit of licensing the shell variant, in which success has now been achieved, shortly to be followed, i'm led to believe, with an accompanying jersey.
cycling may have substantially changed for many during the last seven or eight months, but we never forget from whence we came.
peugeot michelin shell retro cycling cap
monday 21 december 2020
..........................................................................................................................................................................................................in my occasional velocipedinal perusals of the interweb, i have frequently come across commonly asked questions concerning the racing milieu, questions to which you and i would augment with a smug exhalation when answering. however, it would do us all well to remember that we too were once newbies to the sport, and quite frankly, there are one or two questions i'd still like to ask, if i ever get the chance. however, those internet discourses bring to light queries such as, how come the guy who just won the stage, isn't wearing the yellow jersey?, or did i just see a rider carrying almost ten bottles about his person? why? and are they allowed to give him a new bike?.
the uci, cycling's governing body, is somewhat prone not only to change the regulations with alarming frequency, but quite often not to enforce rules that they've already made. however, in the knowledge that there is an underlying desire to align world tour aspirations with those of formula one motor racing, a frequently asked question has often concerned that of tyres. for instance, do riders have to change their tyres if the weather turns foul, just as lewis hamilton would be likely to do when the rain comes on at silverstone.
such a question, however, shows not so much a misunderstanding of cycle racing, but more a misunderstanding of tyre technology. let's face it, even wout van aert would have difficulty achieving the speeds of a formula 1 mercedes race car, and thus far less likely to aquaplane on any surface water. the biggest hurdle for racing cyclists would appear to be the painted lines on the roads, or drain covers. thus there's less of a need to fit tyres with tread patterns designed to disperse surface water. that's more of a concern if you happen to hit a puddle at 180mph. but that's not to say that the average cyclist can live without a tread pattern, and by average, i'm referring to the commuting cyclist.
by common consent, britain's roads are hardly in pristine condition, offering all manner of uneven surfaces, potholes, gravel and other irritating bits and bobs, not to mention the rain. in addition to all this, the commuting cyclist is rarely master of his or her destiny, having to cope with motor traffic and pedestrians that don't always follow the rules. and after coping with all the foregoing, you can but imagine the despair incurred should a puncture be suffered on the way to or from work. thus, the average commuting cyclist needs rubber that can fend for itself.
milan based, italian tyre manufacturer pirelli, who have been making tyres since 1872, have recently introduced a wide range of city-trekking bicycle tyres under the cycl-e brand, tethering their marketing, at least partially, to the growing e-bike market. given the season, it seemed prudent to request a pair of their 700 x 37c cycl-e winter tyres, which, according to pirelli are 'specifically designed to perform like no other in winter conditions that are commonly found around the city: cold tarmac, thin snow layers, iced water splashes and frost. As well as pirelli winter car tyres, this cycling tyre is just made for that.' i can soon see another question arising on the interwebs, asking why, when i live nowhere near any urban or city roads, i'm reviewing tyres designed for such conditions?
i believe we have already tacitly agreed that the country's roads are not at their very best at present, and i can but admit that those on islay are frequently decidedly worse. many of the island's singletrack roads are used predominantly by the farming community and their tenement sized tractors. having ridden one of those just yesterday morning, i can well attest to its continued disintegration. in the winter rain, there are a number of locations subject to localised flooding, beneath which, the surface offers constant and unexpected surprises. i would contend, therefore, that if these tyres can survive islay, they can probably acquit themselves well in glasgow, edinburgh, manchester or london.
at least that's my theory.
of course, it takes more than a couple of weeks to offer a decisive review of any set of tyres, so here i offer only a first look; there will be more to read in the coming months. it is, i think, worth my pointing out that sturdiness comes with a weight penalty. these particular pirellis arrive at only a shade under 800g each, about three or four times the weight of the average road tyre. they do roll remarkably smoothly through all sorts of crap, but i'm beginning to learn that my tardiness is less the result of the ageing process and more the fact that i've been pushing almost 1.6kg of rotating weight through recent galeforce winds.
to be fair, the average commuting cyclist more often has other things on their minds than top line speed. i'm sure most would trade puncture resistance, sturdiness and a decent tread pattern in favour of winning a sprint against peter sagan. though i'm less than familiar with anything to do with motor vehicles, observed closely, the tread on the cycl-e winter tyres bears a remarkable resemblance to that of a car tyre, augmented on the sturdy sidewall, with a reflective stripe around the circumference on both sides. my only disappointment so far, is that that iconic pirelli logo is conspicuous by its absence. that would have been worth a few brownie points alone.
i have no real idea of what the average commute consists, but so far i've ridden on both grass and on gravel without any untoward disagreements between rubber and road surface, and lived to tell the tale. aside from the inherent weight problem, which will likely only bother those of us who think we are peter sagan, these tyres look particularly promising, but i'll let you know in the fullness of time.
pirelli city trekking cycl-e tyres | pirelli's cycl-e wt tyres retail at £40 each.
sunday 20 december 2020
..........................................................................................................................................................................................................attics are either marvellous or embarrassing, depending on what can be found within their pyramidal enclave. for instance, in the 1990s, i owned a copy of page layout software quarkxpress 3.0, which was installed upon my computer via a number of floppy discs. no doubt there will be a number of readers who have not the dickens of an idea as to just what a floppy disc looks like, but in pre cd, dvd and internet, that's pretty much upon what computer data was stored (even though they weren't actually 'floppy'). additionally, instructions on how to use the software were printed in a manual that was big enough to hold the garden gate open in an atlantic gale.
on the notional basis that i might need those discs and that manual at some time in the future, i stored the box in the attic, where it remains to this day. such was my lack of foresight, that the likelihood that computers would eventually exist devoid of floppy disc drives, or have endured so many operating system upgrades, that the software would never be of any future use. this can be easily gauged by the fact that the current version of quarkxpress is numbered as 2020; a long way from 3.0. and only a few metres from this box of quarkxpress 3.0, lies a hi-fi amplifier, a cd drive and cassette tape player, items you'd think might be every bit as redundant as that elderly version of quark.
recorded music has had almost as convoluted and diverse a path as has present day computing. in my youth, i bought albums and singles on vinyl, played on a turntable featuring little dots around its edge to create a strobe effect indicating the correct speed. vinyl was never the ideal medium to feature meaningful bass reproduction; to do so, the grooves would need to be wider and deeper, meaning less music per side. it's why disc jockeys were often provided with 12" singles, allowing the wider and deeper groove and thus better bass reproduction in discos.
vinyl was eventually eased out by the humble tape cassette, a medium that needed the application of dolby noise reduction to reduce the hiss experienced, as the very narrow and fragile tape passed the playing head. and then tape was nudged aside by the ubiquitous compact disc, offering the best of all worlds and easing the merging of digital recording with digital reproduction. sales of the latter have suffered the greatest since the advent of digital downloads, but oddly enough, vinyl has begun once again, to outsell the compact disc. and it now appears that i might have use for that tape cassette player once again, with new musical express stating that cassette sales have doubled in the past year, on course to reach sales of 100,000 for the first time since 2003.
this brings to mind an advertising slogan from over 35 years ago "is it real, or is it memorex?", the latter being a brand of cassette tape that prided itself on allegedly being all but indistinguishable from the real thing. contentious, i know, but such are the machinations of the advertising industry, one that might be about to resurface in an entirely different guise.
pandemic enforced lockdown conditions led many to move their velocipedinal activities indoors, either simply by riding a turbo, or more commonly, a smart trainer allied to one or other online cycling platforms. i recall simmons drum exponent, bill bruford, saying that the more the manufacturers tried to make the electronics sound like 'real' drums, the less interested he was. he liked the drums because they weren't like real drums. however, providers such as zwift have made strenuous efforts to have their pixelations appear as realistic as possible.
rgt cycling has recently unveiled racing parameters, an added function to their online offering that purports to allow riders to create their own race formats, 'hosting and competing in time-trial and elimination events.' i confess that i'm slightly surprised that none of the online purveyors have used the versatility and flexibility of computer modelling and animation, to develop a cycling experience that simply cannot be accommodated in the real world. perhaps they have already, but i'm not aware of any who do. however, in a statement that surely echoes that of memorex, rgt cycling are recorded as stating "Creating the world's most realistic virtual reality cycling experience is what [we] are all about... We've only just started with race parameters and have big plans for the future."
thankfully, for now at least, reality is still an option.
friday 18 december 2020
..........................................................................................................................................................................................................it's many a long year since i subscribed to america's bicycling magazine, currently under the ever watchful and experienced eye of bill strickland, and every now and again i feel i ought to re-subscribe. however, even from casual observation, though cycling is essentially the same all across the world, sometimes the practices seen across the pond are difficult to relate to by a hebridean velocipedinist. anyway, as per usual, i digress.
though the majority of the cycling press have little choice other than to follow the seasonal themes that suggest themselves, in early may, or thereabouts, i recall america's esteemed publication filling at least a few of their pages, recounting the means by which readers might prepare themselves for their first century ride; 100 miles in civilian parlance. in fact, i should probably admit that, without such prompting from across the atlantic, there would probably be no 'ride of the falling rain'.
and though i eagerly read such persuasive words, i quite obviously failed to appreciate just what such an undertaking this entailed in terms of consistent effort and distance. just like the contemplation of a somewhat expensive purchase, the pre-fixing of a long-distance with the word 'only' seemingly lessens its imposition. for instance, a bicycle costing 'only' £11,000 is obviously far cheaper than one costing a straightforward £11,000, hence the obvious simplicity of riding 'only' 100 miles. except, that first 100 miles was a great deal more than 'only'.
perhaps if i'd commenced with riding 'only' a metric century: 100 kilometres, or 62 miles. with an honours degree in hindsight, i'm sure that's exactly what i'd have done. and, if you've been following this article closely, you'd perhaps have begun to notice that the number 100 is something of a milestone in all sorts of categories, not least of which is a real century of which we are now in humankind's 21st.
however, as i have perhaps mentioned on previous occasions, numbers and i are not the best of bedfellows. though my webhost provides me with site statistics in more ways than you'd think possible, i shy away from looking too closely. not through arrogance, you understand, but more through incomprehension. after a quick scan of the webserver, i note that the weekly archive will have reached 896 by this weekend. that's an awful lot of words (actually, it equates to more than 6,200 individual articles; anyone who has manage to read all of those deserves a medal and a long holiday)
but there's no denying that writing a few thousand words each week and posting them online bears any real comparison to the art of publishing a printed publication. in these straightened times, allegedly, folks are more likely to read free online content such as thewashingmachinepost, than fork out for a print subscription, simply because, as i am constantly reminded, people do not consume the written word through ink and paper anymore. however, given that vinyl records are beginning to outsell compact discs and that cassettes are making a comeback too, there may be a great deal of life left in the old dog (eared page) yet.
it is therefore worthy of great celebration that rouleur, a publication that is very much at the quality end of the cycling press, and not the cheapest on the internet magazine rack, has, with the latest issue reached its own milestone of 100 editions. with a cover featuring il campionissimo, there's really no excuse not to acquire a copy of this paragon of cycle publishing, extending that necessity by signing up for an annual subscription. it's up to you and i to look after the present day cycling heritage, to ensure that it's still there for those who may be taking their first turns of the crank in 2021.
we'd be the first to burst into tears were there to be no rouleur when the 200th issue ought to be landing on the door mat. time to sit down and be counted.
friday 18 december 2020
..........................................................................................................................................................................................................i recently received a letter from a resident on the island concerning the effects of climate change as pertaining to islay and jura. you may well enquire why he, apart from the locality, singled out these islands for his brief dissertation on the problem as he saw it, but if you'd ever visited the still room in a whisky distllery, i can assure you, it's a question you wouldn't be asking. in my first few years on islay, i opted to make drawings of the distillery but a few hundred metres from the croft. as one who took a great deal of time to get used to the smell of whisky, much of my time was spent in the courtyard, sketching the juxtaposition of the various parts of the building complex.
during those periods in the open air, i would frequently witness a large, bearded gentleman, standing atop the stairs, clad in a short-sleeved polo shirt, this in mid-january, when i wore three layers of clothing, a woolly hat and a pair of gloves. when finally used to the pervasive aroma of a malt whisky distillery and ensconced in the broiling heat of the still room, i well knew than, why this gent (the stillman), wore considerably less than had i.
there used to be a print on the wall in the downstairs area of bowmore distillery, showing the original stills from the 18th century, heated as they were, at that time, by peat fires burning below the copper bowl of the stills. nowadays, the substantial heat demands are supplied electrically; multiply that by nine on islay and one on jura (we're all served from the same undersea cable), and that's a lot of electricity. assuming port ellen distillery is rebuilt in the next couple of years and elixir spirits commence construction at farkin as planned next summer, that demand for energy can only increase. there's also a small gin distillery at nerabus on islay, one at bruichladdich distillery and another at lussa on jura.
islay energy trust are currently looking at ways and means to reduce the power demands of the island, the specific problem identified in the aforementioned letter. his concern, and that of many others, is that such an enormous draw on resources to produce what is essentially a luxury, and thus none-essential product, is a willful squandering of resources. i doubt, however, that sven thiele and his friday evening whisky tasting cronies would necessarily agree. but then, with specific reference to the letter writer, there's always the well kent proverb, 'people in glass houses shouldn't throw stones'.
this, to an extent, applies to my correspondent, for he happily drives around in a morris minor traveller, a car originating from the mid 1960s. as many will be aware, motor vehicles in those days could be quite profligate in their fuel consumption, had no emission controls whatsoever, and rarely, if ever, displayed the mechanical efficiency of modern vehicles. thus, you have to wonder why he chose to recently purchase such an admittedly fabulous-looking vehicle, rather than a fully-electric, emission-free vehicle in order to equate his island lifestyle with that of the carbon neutral aspirations of the scottish government. or even a bicycle. that having been the case, i believe his missive may have carried a deal more clout.
while taxes, road-building, social services and a myriad other aspects of daily life can be ordered and organised by government alone, many of the responsibilities for curbing pollution, energy use and our personal carbon footprints, lies plainly and squarely at our own front doors. i confess i would be guilty of fibbing if i gave the impression that my velocipedinal lifestyle was based purely on the above considerations. yes, i like the fact that, when i pop out for a weekend ride, my movement through the countryside is almost entirely benign, but i have a notion that i'd still do so were it to be viewed from a contrary position.
but from observed evidence through the news broadcasts, my reading of a daily newspaper and received press releases from concerned agencies, i am of the opinion that the majority are awaiting a sign from above, one that will solve the climate change problem, while absolving them personally from all blame. though i prefer not to be the bearer of bad tidings so close to the festive season, but life's not like that; at least, not on this planet.
christmas was once the season during which large, potentially expensive presents such as a bicycle, would be given. it is indeed something of an oddity, particularly if given to a child, for rarely is the weather amenable enough to make substantial use of it until easter beckons. by which time, the bicycle is usually deemed to be too small. adults are little better, for while you and i laugh in the face of adversity and inclement weather, those new to the way of the saddle are rarely thus inclined. however, if leaning upon the historic commonality of presenting a bicycle for christmas is what it takes, i believe the opportunity should be exploited every which way.
that way, the arrival of santa on christmas eve, bearing analogue or e-bikes on his sleigh, might hopefully be taken as the very sign we all think we're looking for. and if that wrapping paper happened to encase a state-of-the-art, carbon aero road bike or a hand-crafted lugged steel delight, well, so much the better. both are equally kind to an ailing planet.
thursday 17 december 2020
..........................................................................................................................................................................................................in the late 1990s, the co-operative store in bowmore's main street, along with similarly branded stores throughout scotland, began selling daily newspapers, previously the preserve of the village's independent newspaper. though this may seem of little note to those of you domiciled in more urban thoroughfares, it was a big deal in a small island village. as somewhat of a knee-jerk reaction, the local traders immediately took steps to join the federation of small businesses, a rearguard action to protect themselves from the allegedly predatory 'big boys'. even at the time, this bore an uncanny resemblance to keeping coals in the hearth by way of a chocolate fireguard.
those were the days when amazon's jeff bezos was no richer than the rest of us, and the behemoth's website advised browsers to keep their arms within the window and that no pixels had been harmed in the construction of the site. though i had no business to defend, i thought it a somewhat futile offensive against a large corporation that had no idea it had done anything wrong. individually, i placed an order for my daily newspaper with the sole remaining newsagent, not for any anti-co-op reasons, but purely becasue the latter would not accept regular orders. by the time i made it to the co-op at lunchtime, my choice of reading matter had ususally sold out.
however, in a moment of prescient foreboding that has scarcely been replicated since, i pointed out to those behind the constitution of the local federation of small businesses that, in real terms, the co-op beginning to stock newspapers was the least of their worries. i based my unasked for advice on the fact that online retailing was in its mere infancy, but such was the speed of development and convenience, it could only be a matter of time before it began to make inroads into the customer base of a small hebridean village.
bowmore sports the aforesaid co-op, a bookshop with cafe and high quality island gifts, a hardware shop that sells almost everything that you need when you discover you need it, alongside a card and gift shop. aside from a butchers and a post office, that's about it. you can see why the post vans of late have been jammed to the doors with amazon logo'd brown boxes.
at the tail end of last century, when telling someone that their world was about to be overrun by pixel-based retail, my ostensible foresight would often be poo-poo'd, probably hoping, for their own peace of mind, i should imagine, that the internet was a fad. though it may be the only time in living memory that i have been right, it turns out that i was right. i'm only sorry that even i hadn't realised it would expand to the billion dollar industry it has now become. sadly, at the time, i failed miserably to invest in any of this nascent retail expansion.
c'est la vie.
however, in a complete turnabout of my prescience, proving, if proof were needed, that mostly i haven't a clue about emerging trends, the e-bike, which i too was sure was a fad, surely threatens to overshadow the analogue bike market, if it hasn't already done so. in evidence for my total lack of velocipedinal awareness, i might cite the contnued expansion of pure electric, a chain of e-bike stores that has just announced the opening of its 17th uk store, having begun the year with only one outlet in victoria, selling electric scooters. it now plans to open in paris and madrid with the aim of opening a total of ten stores across both countries by the end of 2021.
though the electric road-bike market still has me completely confounded, i had always thought that the e-bike would be more likely to appeal to those who more usually would have purchased a moped, or the elderly or infirm. never in a million years did i think that ordinary, able-bodied and often youthful individuals, would opt to condescend to battery power. like i said, i'm more often wrong than right, a trend that seems likely to continue well into the new year.
if i were you, i'd make sure at least one new year's resolution revolves around never asking me anything important.
wednesday 16 december 2020
..........................................................................................................................................................................................................sitting resplendently in the bike shed, usually just behind the gunmetal ritchey logic, but in front of the mint green kid's mountain bike (only the kid's not so much of a kid any more), is a fluorescent orange and green specialized crux elite. this is the very machine on which i learned how to mount and dismount cyclocross style, after several words of advice from former american national cyclocross champion, jeremy powers. sadly, it's also the same bike on which i forgot how to mount or dismount professional style. those moments in the undergrowth are no longer a vision of smoothness and style, if, indeed, they ever were.
though i still count myself as an aficionado of cyclocross, and in my mind's eye, tom pidcock is every bit my equal (a guy can dream can't he?), i can but admit, the bike is used more for reasons of meteorological safety nowadays, rather than as a means of emulating wout van aert or mathieu van der poel. a cyclocross frame is a tad more compact than the average road frame, which, when combined with chunkier tyres, makes it not only more stable in serious cross winds, but more than amenable to riding over soft grass when there's an outside chance of being blown over. horses for courses.
however, even though the crux is currently shod with 38mm commuter/e-bike tyres for an impending review, and even though it has become apparent that wide rubber rolls a tad less frictionally than the narrow stuff in which we were once totally in thrall, i do frequently appear to be riding more slowly than i think socially acceptable in polite company. of course, advancing years are likely to have played some part in the slowing procedure, even though i have shrugged this off, admitting only to 'taking my time', rather than getting dropped. but in the meantime, (and don't think this won't happen to you some day), i am clutching at straws to find more palatable excuses.
and, of course, wider rubber on the road would appear to, scientifically at least, cause more friction. multiply this by the drag induced by a galeforce headwind, and my disappearing off the back with disarming regularity, and these circumstances would surely equate to the perfect get-out clause. well, you would think so, but on sunday morning's ride in winds reaching in excess of 70kph, bringing substantial quantities of precipitation, despite my fellow idiot being on a similar width of rubber and a specialized diverge, his flashing tail light simply got farther and farther away.
when you're grovelling into freezing rain and wind, at a rate of knots that would not identify you as amongst the most alacritous of riders, you have plenty of time to think. and given the nature of that grovelling, thinking pretty much entirely revolves around why your cycling companion has just disappeared into the distance, and there seems little or nothing that can be done about it. except to note that, on the single chainring sram setup on his diverge, the biggest rear sprocket bears at least forty teeth, while that on my own sram single-ring setup, features at least eight less.
the answer, therefore, is manifest; i need more teeth.
the specialized crux is now more than four years old, during which time there have been a few advances made in the realm of single-ring groupsets. otherwise, why would the diverge have a lot more teeth than my crux? i believe both bicycles are home to rival rear mechs, and though the diverge version seems capable of engaging with more teeth than the crux, their difference in age leads to concerns that the new version might be more welcoming than it's older brother.
i realise that i'm probably clutching at straws. it's painfully obvious that a fit chap almost twenty years my junior probably has an unfettered ability to ride off the front whenever the notion takes him, but i'd still like to know how large a rear sprocket the rival derailleur is capable of handling, just in case it does actually come down to a matter of teeth. anyone who has scientific evidence that my conjecture might be right, i'd be happy to hear from you. it would also offer a smidgeon of comfort if you'd like to confirm that i'm right, even if based on no evidence whatsoever.
if i ever get round to ordering a wider-range cassette with a dinner-plate of a large sprocket, i'll let you know how it pans out.
tuesday 15 december 2020
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