30 Days of Biking Wrap Up

It's been too long and I have neglected to write up the final days of my #30daysofbiking challenge. Better late than never! The last ten days started off with our 300km audax on Day 21, which unfortunately resulted in a pretty sore knee. So on Days 22, 23, 24, and 25 I was basically cycling just a few hundred meters each day to check out my knee's progress. It was probably for the best, as I was away for work a couple days, resulting in silly things like having to head out at 6am with waterproofs over my work clothes for a lap of our street before heading to Edinburgh (that was Day 24).

My knee felt better enough that I could resume my normal commute to work for Days 26 and 27. The weather has not relented -- it has been windy and rainy for the entire month of April. That didn't stop us from heading out on Day 28 for The Big Ride that we have already posted about. We had a good time standing up for cyclist safety but it felt good to get home and out of the rain. On Day 29, with the weather at a particular low point, I just went for a local ride around the neighborhood.

On the Big Ride

I was a bit dissapointed that on Day 30 I couldn't cycle to work as I had to attend a meeting at another office in London. It turned out to be a beautiful day and Alberto and I went out to dinner after work. Since he had his bike with him, I decided to get a Boris Bike (as London's cycle hire scheme is affectionately known). I turned out to be a great way to end the month!

Because I'm the kind of person who keeps spreadsheets, I can tell you that I cycled 902km in the month of April. 784 of those were on my road bike, but this only accounts for 8 days of cycling (riding a 300 will do that!). The remaining 117km were mostly spent on my commuter, although 4 of the days were on the Sevici and Boris Bikes.

I'm really pleased with the results of my #30daysofbiking. I have definitely gotten into the habit of cycling to work more. Although I don't think I'll be cycling every day for the next 30 days, I'll definitely be cycling much more than I otherwise would have been.

Critical Mass 18th anniversary & The London Big Ride

The last weekend in April has been a busy one for bike demonstrations. On Friday 27th I attended the Critical Mass, which happened to be celebrating its 18th anniversary. And the following Saturday 28th, the London Cycling Campaign had organised what it was set out to be the biggest protest ride ever in London (thus its name, The Big Ride!).

Critical Mass was surprisingly nice this time. Very peaceful and not too busy. It was dry and relatively mild, but still, not many people attended, perhaps because of the following's day event? Londoners on Bikes made a presence handing out free high-vis vests.

The London Big Ride was also quite nice. Despite the miserable rain, cold, and wind, apparently about 10,000 of us turned up to cycle the few miles from the Marble Arch to Embankment. The main purpose of the ride was to show the mayoral candidates that cycling in London has to be an important point in their agenda. The best thing of all is that cyclists of all backgrounds gave up their Saturday morning to attend this event: full lycras/carbon framed machacas, little kids, parents, grandparents, tourers, fancy bicycles, trikes, tandems etc. For a good write up, best to read this.

Below are the pictures of both events, including one from the London Cycling Campaign in which we are both featured!

View of critical mass from Waterloo bridge

Pink was the theme

Exciting going down the tunnel

Exiting the tunnel

On the Euston Road, near University College Hospital

Oxford Circus

Old faces from the Dunwich Dynamo: guy and his dogs

Fancy new Routemasters in Picadilly Circus

Trafalgar Square and countdown for the Olympics

And now, the photos from The Big Ride:

Park Lane, waiting for the go

Cyclists of all ages

5 min prior to the start and still people joining

Still smiling despite the rain

Deep messages here! "Burn fat, not oil"

And the odd beautiful Moulton, of course. 

She's been featured everywhere!

Cycling instructor from Camden and his musical instrument

What a nice view

Recumbent tandem

Stunning tall bike

Lucy in commuting mode, along the Thames

That's me, heading for the finish line

30 Days of Biking, days 11 - 20

With days 5-10 of my 30 Days of Biking taken care of with our tour (day 10 because we got back to London at 12:30am and had to cycle home from the train station), it was time to pick up the normal routine with day 11.

On Day 11, I cycled to work. But, I had forgotten that I had plans to meet some friends for dinner and was a little apprehensive about cycling to it because I didn't know the route. No problem, I left my bike locked up at the office and cycled it home on Day 12 after work!

On Day 13, I would be leaving work early to get on a flight to Spain. So before work, I hopped on the bike for a quick spin around the neigborhood.

Sevici

On Day 14, I was in Sevilla visiting friends, and they were kind enough to let me use their card to try out Sevilla's bike sharing program, Sevici. We were in a rush to catch a train so I could only cycle about 200 meters. Hey, every pedal stroke counts, right?

On Day 15, we were in Granada, and it was rainy and cold. Just before we left to get the train back to Sevilla, I remembered my commtiment to 30 Days of Biking. Luckily, we had been staying with a friend of my friends, who had a bike. I'm ashamed to say I only rode it up and down her hallway!

On Day 16, back in Sevilla, I again rode a Sevici bike - again only for a short ride but I always knew that getting the rides in while in Spain would be a challenge!

Sevici-ing in the park

On Days 17, 18, and 19 I cycled to work and back each day. Nothing special to report about that, except that I probably wouldn't have cycled if not for my commitment because it was rainy and windy the whole time!

On Day 20, Friday, I had the day off from work. We were getting ready for our 300km audax to start at 12:01 on Saturday, and it was predicted to be a rainy night, so I cycled to the bike shop to pick up some Sealskinz waterproof socks, and then to pick up some groceries. Of course there was also the ride from home to Liverpool Street Station in order to get to Manningtree for the Audax.

There were a few days that only barely count as cycling in there, but I think they are balanced out by a few days that I properly cycle to work when I otherwise would have opted for the bus. Home stretch now, 10 days to go!

30 Days of Biking, days 1-4

The first four days of my #30daysofbiking have been a success in that I've managed to ride every day! I can already see that this challenge is encouraging me to ride on days that I otherwise would not, which is great--and exactly the point. 

On Day 1, Sunday, I got my bike ride in early. Very early. We were at a friend's house for dinner and cycled home at about 12:30 in the morning. I was glad for this because on Sunday I was pretty busy with other commitments. 

On Day 2, Monday, I had an important meeting at work and normally would have taken the bus because I don't like to cycle in my nice clothes. But this day, I packed my nice clothes into my backpack and joined the lycra warriors on my commute! With my crappy commuting bike I don't think anyone mistook me for a true machaca though.

Work clothes packed in my backpack.

On Day 3, Tuesday, I had to go to Birmingham for the day for work. The combination of having to get to the train station instead of my office, needing to wear nicer clothes again, and not knowing what I would do with my helmet in Birmingham all day led me to decide to take the bus to the train station. When I got back home in the evening, it was pouring rain -- but I went out for a ride anyway. I did some loops in my neighborhood to get me past the 7.5km mark, which is the distance of my round-trip commute to work. 

A little bit wet!

On Day 4, Wednesday, I cycled to work. This was the kind of day that I would have normally cycled to work anyway, even without the challenge. On the way home, I raced the impending raindrops and managed to only get some light drizzle, so I consider it a success.

Days 5-9 won't be a problem -- we're heading to Dover tonight and taking the ferry to Dunkirk first thing in the morning for a long weekend of cycle touring in France and Belgium! 

30 Days of Biking

A few weeks ago I learned about 30 Days of Biking, a project that started in Minneapolis, MN and is in its third year. 30 Days of Biking does pretty much what it says on the tin--it encourages you to cycle somewhere everyday for 30 days -- in this case, the month of April. Then you share your story online with all the other people around the world who are participating in the challenge.

I was intrigued by the idea but reluctant to register myself. Although I almost always go on a long ride on the weekend, I am less good about cycling during the week, to get to work or just to get around town. I can always come up with a number of excuses, including:

• "I'm not headed to work, I'm headed to the train station to go work in some other city today. So I shouldn't take my bike!"
• "I have to dress nicely today for an important meeting. My outfit just doesn't work for cycling!"
• "I'm going to the pub after work today. I wouldn't want to drink and cycle!"

...and so on and so forth. But, intelligent minds will notice that these are not insurmountable obstacles. I thought it would be fun to give myself to some motivation to find creative solutions to the things that stop me from cycling more often. 

I was also hesitant because I have some travel plans in April that will leave me without access to a bike for at least a few days. Well, I'll have to come up with a creative solution to that problem as well, because I've become the 1,940th person to register this year! Here's what I wrote in my registration form.

I love cycling and spend nearly every weekend on my bike, participating in brevets or going on mini tours, or just riding around in the countryside. But it's very much a recreational or athletic activity for me - I don't tend to use the bike as much for utility. Today I let all the lame excuses in my head win and took the bus to work. From the bus I saw loads of cyclists commuting in the early spring sunshine and I was jealous of them! I want to challenge myself to ride more frequently and for different purposes.

I'm looking forward to this challenge and will of course be blogging about my progress!

Am I an Athlete?

Pondering life's big questions...

I've never thought of myself as an athlete.

I've been a relatively active person for most of my life, alternating between dance, yoga, pilates, and the like, but I never practiced these a particular amount of intensity or dedication. During my 'pre-cycling' years, I viewed injuries as pretty much an act of God, like a hurricane, or an earthquake -- and the method of dealing with them was similar to that of a natural disaster: lay low and wait for it to pass. Suddenly, my attitude to injury has changed, and it has made me realise: I might be an athlete.

Somewhere along the way last week I picked up a minor ache in my knee. I think it started last Monday when we cycled 30km roundtrip to Hammersmith after work (on our commuters) to see a play. My commuter bike really isn't set up for those kinds of distances; the seat is too low. My right knee (the one that always makes the first pedal stroke when I set off from a traffic light) started bothering me on the way home, but I didn't think too much of it. To be honest I didn't really take much notice of it over the course of the week; I have vague memories of it bothering me slightly, but not enough to stop me from two runs and a few days of bike commuting.

But after our Friday Night Ride to Ramsgate (which I am sure Alberto will be blogging about any day now!), my knee was quite achy and remained that way for a good 24 hours. I had noticed it a bit on the bike, but it hadn't really troubled me until we finished the ride. As we recovered (read: attempted not to fall asleep) on Saturday, I decided that I should take a few days off from both cycling and running to try and let it heal.

Now, back to the original point of this post: the realization that I needed to take some time off from my normal activities was actually troubling to me! I had been contemplating spin class on Monday and certainly going on several runs in order to keep up my fitness; this weekend we have our first 200km audax of 2012. (The idea of skipping the 200 was completely out of the question!)

Not only was the anticipation of missing all these activities upsetting, but I found the week without physical activity quite challenging mentally. I have been feeling pretty sluggish all week, and this morning the minor setback of having to retrace my steps by three minutes to get my wallet which I had left at home  had me near tears! I decided to go for a run today after work as my knee felt better (and I just couldn't take  the emotional turmoil anymore!) So far so good, but we will see how it holds up on the 200.

In the meantime, I am left wondering... am I an athlete now?!

London is a Cycling Town

Most of what Alberto and I love about cycling is getting out into the countryside, riding past farms, forests, thatched-roof cottages, thank kind of thing. But we live in London, a global city of 8 million inhabitants. For Alberto, cycling is pretty much his only form of transport. I tend to take a more mixed-methods approach. But we both do spend an awful lot of time cycling in the urban conditions of London.

Autumn 2009, sightseeing by bike.

As one would imagine,  London's got a lot of traffic. It has lots of big roads and scary junctions, lots of impatient drivers doing crazy things, lots of large lorries and busses. Bike theft is a cottage industry and the thieves never seem to get caught. It doesn't sound like a city that cyclists would love.

But the truth is, London is experiencing a surge in cycling (and I've formed part of that surge). When we first moved here in 2008, cycling wasn't an outrageous way to get around town but it wasn't particularly common either. Then, for a few years there would be a visible increase in cyclists on the first few warm days of spring/summer. In the summer months it would feel like half of London was on bikes! But this winter there has been no decrease in cyclists to accompany the frigid temperatures. People just keep on riding! There have also been a number of cyclist's cafes opening up around London, such as Look Mum No Hands which we love to go to to watch coverage of cycling races or talks by interesting cyclists.

Look Mum No Hands! (source)

We are lucky to have the numbers of cyclists on our streets; it makes it safer for all of us as drivers (and pedestrians) are less often surprised by the presence of a cyclist in their path. At big junctions at rush hour, there will often be seven or eight cyclists taking up the whole width of the road in the advanced stop box, forcing drivers to take it slow and give way to cyclists until they can get up to speed. And of course if something goes terribly wrong with your bike, you're never too far away from a bike shop (and even less further away from a fellow cyclist who may stop to help you out -- yes it does happen!)

Unfortunately, London infrastructure and transport policy has not caught up with the increase in cyclists. We have an upsetting number of cycling deaths each year, mainly involving lorries or other large vehicles. And of course there are lots more people who would love to commute via bike, but are intimidated by the busy roads. There are too few cycle parking options across most of London and too many bike thieves who don't get caught.

Publicity from LCC's Love London Go Dutch campaign (source)

The past week or so has seen the launch of two new and exciting campaigns in London focussed around improving the lot of us London cyclists. The London Cycling Campaign (of which we are both members) has launched it's "Love London, Go Dutch" campaign ahead of the mayoral election in May, which calls for London to create the kind of cycling infrastructure that exists in Holland.

Then there is the Times' "Cities fit for cycling" campaign which was launched after one of their reporters was seriously injured while cycling to work. This is perhaps even more exciting than the LCC as it's a mainstream paper with lots of readers who probably aren't particularly attuned to the difficulties that cyclists face. You may notice a new addition on the right hand side of the blog indicating our support for the campaign.

The Times' campaign (source)

London needs to be safer and more accommodating for cyclists. But in the meantime it's great to live in a city with such a strong and vibrant cycling community.

My Giant Bowery singlespeed commuter

She's three years old now. I bought her after so much research into what would be best for a flat (well, mostly!) city like London. A singlespeed it was. It can be converted to a fixie by flipping its rear wheel, but I do not want to screw my knees up and to be honest (as of today!) I really do not see the point.

So, three years down the line, pretty much 7 days per week of usage, and more than 10.000 kms...I have only replaced brake pads, bar tape, cables, tyres, chain, and pedals (bmx ones, with spikes, for wet days). The rest remains original and going strong! Even the bottom bracket (something other users complain about) is the same, despite some creaky noises that could be fixed by removing and re-greasing it. No re-trueing has been necessary in three years. The rims show signs of wear now, so will be looking into new ones soon. And it has been used throughout the year, be it rain, sun or even snow!

Having a rest (see the double locks, a must have in London!)

I normally carry a backpack when I commute, and have fitted a clip-on rear mudguard for the rain. But due to some recent problems in my back, I fitted a Carradice SQR on to it and this is how it looks from up close. Again, a very high quality product that we've used in short "credit card" touring.

Carradice SQR saddlebag used to commute 

Although not as cool as the singlespeed/fixies that we see nowadays on the streets of London/NYC/Barcelona and the like, I can highly recommend this model. As an off-the-peg singlespeed for under £300 it really is good value.

This year should see her going to Brighton as a one-off experience without the help of the gears...let's see if I manage!

Getting from A to B

Winter has officially come to London this week, marked by such ceremonies as turning on the heating, getting caught in a downpour, and breaking out the long johns. It also means that it is getting harder to go on our long rides, both because of the weather and because we have so few hours of daylight (sunset is at 3:51pm today).

In these bleak times for cycling, all I have left are the rides that get me from A to B. I don't cycle to work everyday, but when I do, I try to appreciate the fact that I'm able to be out on my bike -- even if it is my crappy commuter and even if it's only for twenty minutes.

This past saturday, I cycled down to Covent Garden for a bit of Christmas shopping. I left on the early side, and the roads were generally calm, the sun was shining, and London was looking its very best. I was thankful for the opportunity to ride though the streets of London at my own pace and take in everything the city has to offer.




Christmas in Covent Garden

 After a few hours in the shops, I got back on my bike to ride home. Now I was thankful for a different reason--the Christmas crowds had come and I was glad I didn't have to fight my way on to the tube to get home!




Between our trip to Thailand in November, Alberto's PhD writing-up, and our trips home for the holidays, it will have been a very long time before we go for a long ride again. I guess we will have to be content with our 'A to B' trips for now. It's a good thing, then, that "winter miles count double!"

London bikes invasion

Via one of my friends, I have just learnt about this super cool video showing the activity of London (wrongly known here as 'Boris') bikes. What I like the most is that the bike usage peaks at 9 am and 5 pm, which proves that London people do not actually work that long hours...well, some do not!

London Hire Bikes animation from Sociable Physics on Vimeo.

Riding in London can be fun

It was just a random Friday, although packed in with a bit more riding than any other regular weekday. We are still enjoying amazing weather in late October. This made for a trully enjoyable commute in the morning as well as a relatively traffic-free pottle in the evening, when I joined the Critical Mass. A good way to finishing off a busy week...

BT tower in the background, the highest freestanding building in London

View from Waterloo bridge, St Paul's Cathedrals shines in the background

7:05 pm setting off Critical Mass

Downhill to St. Paul's Cathedral

Heading towards the city, Critical Mass

Yet more (crap) cycle lanes in London

Reading some news I've come across yet another ridiculous cycle lane. The "cyclesuperhighways" are already a joke. The latest addition to the network is this one. Good for your cycle handling skills though! Keep up the good work Stratford council!

Try and get through that sign (from the Londonist)!

We're famous!

Okay, no, we're not really famous. But a few weeks ago Alberto and I stopped by the Camden Cyclists' annual Cyclist Breakfast on the way to work. Though we are both members of the London Cycling Campaign, we don't normally go along to any of their events, but when we heard about the event the night before it was due to take place, we decided to check it out. We had some juice and croissants, checked out the maps and other literature, and picked up a free slap ankle band to use as a trouser clip (flourescent yellow of course). And a picture of us made it into the news story about the event (first row of pics, all the way on the right).

It's great to live in a place that has such an active cycling community, even if we don't take advantage of it that often.

Why are cycle lanes not always safe?

We "londoners" are very used to crap cycle lanes all over the place. Cycling instructors do not recommend cycling on them unless there are wide enough to travel comfortably. In fact, most of the time they are just an indication for cars to be aware of cycles. This great video from New York not only shows why cycles lanes are sometimes unsafe, but also that you can get fined for not using them!



A few good examples in the UK below (from Guardian crap cycle lanes):