Having seen the end of Stage 4 in Bristol, we headed down to Hannah’s hometown of Crediton where an intermediate sprint on Stage 5 was being held on the high street. Photography was seriously difficult here, because the crowds were thick and due to the downhill sprint, the cyclists were probably doing about 50mph. I just […]
Read more "Tour of Britain – Stage 5 in Crediton"Stage 4 of the 2014 Tour of Britain finished on the Downs in Bristol today. Hannah and I went along to support, and got a spot about 300m from the end, by Sea Walls. We were on the outside of the bend on Circular Road so we’d get a good view. I won’t bore you […]
Read more "Tour of Britain – Stage 4 in Bristol"I’m a fan of cycling grand tours such as le Tour de France. This year I was lucky enough to be able to watch three stages of it in France. Needless to say, I took my camera but unfortunately I’m quite disappointed with the results. The reasons are (in descending order of importance) poor technique, poor […]
Read more "Photographing le Tour de France"The result of an idle thought. Dear Top Gear, I’m trying to imagine how a car would handle if mounted on bicycle wheels. I wager that some sturdy mountain bike wheels would take the weight of a light car, and that it could probably be driven forward. I bet the spokes would disintegrate as soon […]
Read more "A letter to Top Gear"The other day I was knocked off my bike deliberately by an impatient driver. I was cycling along a stretch of road where there were no parked cars. I was probably doing around 20mph, which is a fairly typical speed for a city cyclist on a flat road. Ahead, there was a line of parked […]
Read more "Impatient drivers"As much as I like fair weather, I’m not nearly so keen on fair weather cyclists. Fair weather cyclists are those who suddenly take to two wheels only when the sun is out. Typically I find them to be poor cyclists, both in their control of the bicycle (e.g. going in a straight line) and […]
Read more "Fair weather cyclists"As I cycled to work this morning, I had a crazy idea. It’s just daydreaming and will probably never happen, but it’s fun to think about. I’ve already posted this idea to the linux-audio-user mailing list in case anyone there has any insights on synthesising/sampling engine sounds. I want to measure how fast I’m turning […]
Read more "A crazy idea"Since getting my iPhone 3GS, I’ve been playing with a few apps. Today I tried one called Cyclemeter, which is a GPS tracker and can provide some interesting stats about your cycle rides. I set it to track my journey to work (Speedwell – Clifton) and was quite interested by the elevation graph in particular. […]
Read more "GPS tracker"You might wonder what there is to discuss about bike lights. But in my several years as an urban commuter cyclist, and with my fascination for toys such as bike lights, I’ve made some observations which might prove useful to other cyclists. What you need Before you go out and buy a light, decide what […]
Read more "Guidance for cyclists on bike lights"Anyone who has cycled around a city before will not be surprised by the findings of this research. Pedestrians are probably the most dangerous element of my daily commute through central Bristol. They may be lighter than cars, but they stop more suddenly and change direction more unpredictably. On a regular basis, pedestrians who have […]
Read more "Mobile phone users cannot walk in straight lines"