Film Review: Janapar

Last week, we heard that a bike touring film we had been hearing about, Janapar, would be screening in London. It's not every day we get to see our favourite pasttime represented at the cinema, so we decided to head along and see what has to be one of the most slickly-marketed films about a bike tour that we have seen recently.

The film is a story of one man's round the world cycle tour, which is interrupted when he meets the love of his life midway through the tour. It addresses very well the mental elements of cycle touring, but it's really just about growing up.

The fact that it's not your typical bike tour film had its plusses and minuses. On the one hand, it was nice to see a well-constructed storyline and the fact that it was a love story of course gives it sentimental value. You definitely find yourself emotionally invested in the people you're watching.

However, we've grown accustomed to the typical format of a cycling film and it was a bit jarring to see all the trappings of one, yet with such a different storyline. Although I enjoyed the creative way the film was edited, Alberto missed the linear nature of a typical film in this subject area. I think we both would have liked to see a bit more of daily life on the road, which sometimes fell by the wayside as Tom (the cyclist) does pensive pieces to camera about his thoughts and feelings.

Despite these little niggles, I would thoroughly recommend seeing this film if you get the chance (there are screenings in the UK over the next few months -- although I don't know that I'd pay £16 for the DVD!). There is also a book available, which I am quite curious about, but again it is slightly more than I'm ready to pay at this stage.

Ultimately, the story is aimed at a wider audience than just cyclists, which means it's a bit different from the cycling films you're likely to have seen before, but on the other hand it means you can watch it with your non-cycling partners and  friends, and they'll probably enjoy it just as much as you will!

Downhill madness in México

This is what I call good handling skills!

It's not all about the bike

If you are into cycling, you will know that there are bikes suited for all kinds of different riding: recumbents, audax, cross, 29ers, full-suspension, bike packing, touring, bmx, freeride, downhill, trial, dutch, singlespeed, fixied wheel, bike polo...you name the discipline, there will be a bike well-suited for it.

But as this dude shows, you can do pretty cool stuff on any kind of bike. I am not sure how much of it is actually real, but it does look impressive to say the least!



First seen on in the saddle facebook page

It's Tour Time!

The Tour de France starts today with the prologue in Liege. I'm really looking forward to following the tour this year, although I don't seem to have been clever enough to have a week of holiday coincide with it as I did last year - so it will be harder to keep up with all the comings and goings.

Road Cycling UK are running a fantasy Tour de France where you can pick a team of riders, and Alberto and I are both participating in that. I appear to have bought into Britain's hype about Bradley Wiggins as my team is centred around him and Samuel Sanchez, as well as featuring most of my favourite pros like Jens Voigt and Tommy Voeckler.

My fantasy Tour de France team

Alberto has selected an all-Spain team headed up by Samuel Sanchez and with sprinting prowess provided by JJ Rojas. It wasn't easy to create a team of all Spaniards within the game's rules; you aren't allowed to have more than two players from each real team on your team, and Spain's representatives in the tour are concentrated in Euskatel-Euskadi and Movistar. But we've managed to make it work!

Alberto's fantasy Tour de France team - Viva Espanya!

Fortunately we're able to make changes to the team as the Tour goes on, as we all know how unpredictable and unforgiving the Tour can be!

Herne Hill revival day

Hello! We're still cycling the Camino de Santiago but thought we'd schedule some posts while we're away. Enjoy!

The 2012 Olympics are fast approaching. But did you know that also in 1948 they were held in London? The only surviving site from those games is the Herne Hill velodrome, a venue that has been used by enthusiasts since then, but that was in need of refurbishing. Only until the opening of the new velodrome in Stratford this year, it was the only one in London.

Last year, people raised enough funds to have it resurfaced, and so it was about time that we paid it a visit. Last weekend I had to take it easy due to some pain on my knee. Weather was looking up, and on Sunday they had a revival happening at the velodrome, so it seemed like the perfect time to go down there.

Plenty of racing to see, lots of interesting bikes, and my first ever cycle jumble. Interesting day we had, and below are some pictures that we hope you enjoy. Of course, we are already thinking of having a training session down there and try go at full blast on fixies trying to emulate Chris Hoy.

Classic pennyfarthing (or ordinaries as they're called here) about to kick off

Machacando on ordinaries!

Miguel Indurain on an ordinary?

It was a very close finish, but Banesto guy won

It's not easy to get going on one of these

Racing tandems, some of them fixed

Hopefully the pilot did not eat baked beans for breakfast

Family on a touring tandem

Bob Jackson tandem

Classic fixies. I will be there soon.

Fixies speeding up

Sprint finish

Every one raced!

Seriously cute bike

He really was a pro, and his bike is amazing

Tandems banking at full speed

Cycle jumbles...or how to spend even more money on stuff you do not need

Fanciest bike on display (see following picture for an explanation)

Hard gear if you pedal forward, easier gear if you pedal backwards. Smart isn't it? painful on your muscles though!

Joff on his penny. He circled round the world on it!

Two guys competed on Moultons

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!

A foodies ride in London (Billinsgate + Borough Market)

I love fish. Unfortunately, it is not easy to get good quality fish in the UK. Supermarkets tend to stock thawed fish that they sell for ridiculous prices, and there's only a handful of fish mongers with an OK reputation near us. But again, quite pricey.

Fortunately though, a few years ago I came to know that London is home to the 3rd biggest fish market in the world!!! The place is called Billinsgate Market. Tokyo and Madrid are first and second on the list, obviously! Sometimes I want (good) fish so badly that I am happy to get up at 5 am on a Saturday morning and ride the 8 miles from home to Billinsgate, in East London. I've done this ride many times already, and it is a very enjoyable experience if you can get past the painful start at stupid o'clock. The roads are super quiet, usually dark, and the sleep deprivation is normally gone by the time you warm up a bit.

Kentish Town High St, 5:45 am

Somewhere in the city, 6 am

The route I took looked like this there and back:
:


After 20-ish min you get to Tower Bridge and on to the Cycle Superhighway 3, all the way into Billinsgate. The contrast of the market with the skyscrapers of Canary Wharf is quite remarkable.

Fish and suits merge here

Billinsgate operates from the early hours and closes by 8 am. If you get there by 6 am, you are already late, and that's what happened to me this time. Most of the good stuff is gone by then, and you have to be very selective with what you get. However, if you know how to pick fresh stuff, you can get away with good deals. There's plenty to choose from, lots of tropical fish from Asia (not even sure about their names!) and even more shellfish. All the pics were taken with permission of the sellers, as it is in theory not allowed otherwise...

Rush hour at multicultural Billinsgate

Pass on their names...

Good for summer bbqs, a bit too much for just me (you buy the whole box!)

Huge salmon (check my foot at the bottom left, for comparison!)

After spending far too much money, I headed to one of the cafes in the market for a well deserved bacon and egg roll with a milky coffee. As I was heading out, I noticed that I was not the only mental cyclist in the market, which is good for reassurance, isn't it?

Salty breakfast!

The inside of the cafe

On my way back, still way too early, I decided to turn left to the South of the Thames, and headed for Borough Market. After a diversion due to the unusual opening of the Tower Bridge, I reached the market.

It does not happen that often, but I got stuck for 15 min there

Yet another foodie destination, although they're not whole-sellers anymore, but only retail. That means prices are much more steep, although the food is still quite nice. The first thing I came across was some British/Scottish/Welsh chorizos. The market was quiet at this time in the morning, so had an interesting talk with the stall guy, who also visits Billingsgate on a regular basis. I sampled all the chorizos, and truth be told, some of them were actually quite nice. Ended up getting one, made of red Scottish deer, something different from the ones we have in Spain, but still very tasty. After some interesting talks with other foodies, and the mandatory free samples, I headed back home.

Chorizos made in the UK

Nice, yet expensive (>£3.5!!!) bread

All in all, I clocked up about 30 km, ate too much good food, cycled with a backpack full of fish, and had an amazing time. Now time to concentrate on the thesis...

A Very Machaca Valentine's Day

Just read about this lovely cycling-based Valentine's Day present -- a boy rode a heart-shaped route on the streets of San Francisco and then loaded his GPS data to create a very special Valentine:

(source)

 Another cyclist has expressed his love for his partner (two wheeled partner!) in a beautiful photo poem; here's an excerpt with an English translation:

Y a ti, mi amor y mi fiel compañera, que aunque mas de una vez me has dejado tirado, hoy en San Valentín te digo que contigo al fin del mundo...

To you, my love and my faithful companion, even if you let me down few times, now on St. Valentine's day I tell you. With you to the end of the world! 

-- Bicicleting

Happy Valentine's Day to you all!

A bizarre bike race

Not that I am too interested in bike racing, but I've just stumbled upon this video from Damon Peacock while faffing on the internet. A once every 10 years occasion to race amongst other penny farthers!

Knutsford Great Race from Damon Peacock on Vimeo.

Sh*t (we) cyclists say

I've just come across this video while reading Serendipities of Life. I can stop laughing!

How to eat at Audax controls

I've seen this really funny video on the yacf forum. Some people reckon that it is somewhat similar to eating in an Audax control...not that we have much experience in them, but I can see why.

Mrs Miles

While faffing a bit on the internet (guess on what...!) I found this very, very funny thread about audax-ing. I am honest to say that only us cyclists may get most of the jokes, but still...Someone called Mrs Miles replies to Audax-related questions such as:

- Dear Mrs. Miles

Should I confess to my wife that I once slept with another man ?......in a bus shelter.

- Someone asked about having his legs shaved...

If you are going to shave your legs, then traditionally you should go up only as far as the bottom of your cycling shorts. Ideally, your shorts will then ride up slightly as you pedal, revealing a reassuring half-inch of manly pelt.

More on here

http://yacf.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=15843.0

Watch out for deers!

My friend Amar from Choronou (Toronto, but with an added canadian accent!) recently warned me of the dangers we face while on our bikes. It seems that not only cars can hit you, but running deers also!

This applies to us, especially when cycling in Richmond Park!

Watch out!