A quick off-road spin in Richmond Park

We've been hibernating for a few days in London. The snow has finally made its arrival, and temperatures have dropped below freezing, causing patches of ice on some roads.

On top of that, time is very limited for me due to work commitments. So a quick unplanned mtb ride it was. With Epping being supper muddy, and the North Downs being an unexplored territory for us, Richmond seemed like a sensible idea.

We head to Richmond when all the other plans don't work out. It is easy to get there, nice-ish, and full of other machacas to cheer you up. But this time we took the mtbs rather then the skinny tyres. And what a great decision! Just minutes after we entered the park, we saw a fellow rider badly falling over in a roundabout. His front wheel hit some ice and within milliseconds he was on the floor. Luckily the cars had seen him, so he was fine.

The park was packed with other roadies though. Mtb's were all over the place also, and so we decided to join the trail going anticlockwise. It is about 12 km long, flatter than the road, and with plenty of pedestrians. There is no complicated parts, except that this time there was slush in some sections. When I tried to go find the singletracks (yes, there are some!) I was soon told off by a local...Apparently, bikes destroy the paths, so cyclists are not allowed to go off the trail.

Paths that you're not supposed to cycle on...

Only minutes before we were told off, Lucy had her first and only fall in the park. It was a downhill-ish section, with wet and slippery surfaces. A great combination for some good fun I thought. But I forgot that she's still learning what not to do in those circumstances: pulling the front brake when turning while going downhill. I did not realise, but she fell. Fortunately, a fellow mtber was there and gave her some intructions: put your weight behind the saddle and do not pull the front brake! She made it down the rest of the hill safely. Oh well, we will try again next time?! She seems to have assimilated the rule number 5 because, to my surprise, she did not complain nor shout at me that much...!

Post-fall muddy effects

Apart from those exciting minutes of singletrack, the ride finished smoothly two laps later. At least we managed to put in some kms and spin the legs. We got sooo muddy, which in a way feels good. But not so much when we got home and found out that the hose was completely frozen, so no running water to get rid of the mud!

Lucy's got new freckles!

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.

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.

We didn't cycle this weekend

No cycling for us this weekend, meaning our first proper cycle ride of February will have to wait. On Saturday we were busy running errands, and Saturday night it started to snow! Our first snowfall of the season, and snow is a Pretty Big Deal in London.

We went to check it out on Sunday morning...

The roads were passable but we thought it would be prudent not to ride in such uncertain conditions. We walked up to Hampstead Heath instead.

Sledding (or sledging as the brits call it) was in full swing on Parliament Hill. There were even a few snowboarders and skiers out! We did see one intrepid machaca on a mountain bike, which made us wish we hadn't left ours at home!

The snow is already starting to melt so we're hopeful we can get in a long ride next weekend. In the meantime we're working on an exciting project at home that you'll be hearing about in the next week or so!

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!