A minor landmark for Karmacycle

Just a note of thanks to users of this blog - my page impression counter tells me I've reached the giddy heights of 2000 since I put it in.  A drop in the ocean for a lot of websites, but I feel quite chuffed.

The downside is that most people who come to the site leave pretty much straight away (!) so perhaps I'm not doing everything right. Anyhow, I'll keep trying to spread good cycling karma around the streets of London (and anywhere else in the world you may be reading this) and perhaps in a few weeks I'll be celebrating ... well, 3000 ... thank you.

The vulnerable alien - an update

I know you've all been hopping with curiosity to see what my broken light referred to in previous entries actually looks like. Do you think it has a bit of vulnerable alien to it?

Maybe it's just when it blinks a bit pathetically that it's more like a living being ...

My bike started going down the drain ... literally

I don't like to alarm folk unduly but I have another hazard to add to the list of adversities us cyclists face. Drains.

I was leaving work in all innocence last night, just coming out of the exit and on to the main road. I pushed to go off and suddenly, clunk! I was stuck and had suffered a really painful blow to the parts of me which don't want a painful blow. I looked down, suspecting I must have fallen into an enormous pot-hole. But no - I was stuck in the drain!

Light of day

I went back to the scene of the crime this morning to provide documentary evidence for you, dear readers. Although in the cold light of day the drain looks quite innocent, you can quite clearly see that there's a gap in it almost specifically designed to take a bike wheel:

And of course I had to prove a wheel fits in, so here's the evidence:

So on the scale of human suffering, it's not a big deal - but do watch out, fellow cyclists, the drains want to eat you!

Houston, it looks like you're breaking up ...

On my ride home yesterday I discovered I've got a rather reckless side to me. I was cycling fast down the Bayswater Road. I've been getting fairly angry with my main front light for about 2 months. Every time I go over a bump, it kind of shakes and rattles and almost always the light goes out. It's got a dodgy connection. As I'm cycling, I have to kind of hold it a bit and push it back into place and about 50% of the time the light goes on again.

Space shuttle

But yesterday, the light refused to go back on. I pushed it around a bit, but nothing. Then suddenly, a bit like the space shuttle coming back into the atmosphere, the outer casing holding the batteries in place flew off behind me into the night. "Ha ha, I don't care, I hate you!". I was laughing like a maniac. I carried on at speed. Suddenly, the casing which holds the front bulbs in place also flew off behind me. "I hate you too!".

A vulnerable alien

This kind of sated my hatred for the light and my sensible side kicked back in. I don't want to lose the batteries, after all, no matter how much I hate the light. So in a quiet street I was able to take the wretched thing off, still blinking occasionally, and put it in my pocket. It looked a bit like one of those aliens which, when stripped of its horrible outer metallic shell, actually looks quite cute and vulnerable inside.

Anyway, I thought I'd share the story of my light. Am I actually certifiable or do others have love/hate relationships with their gear?

By the way, in case anyone is worried - I do have two other lights on the front ...

A machine to dispense inner tubes ... cool or what?

This is just outside a bike shop near the Truman Brewery area off Brick Lane in London

New bags please!

Right. That's it. I know my panier bags are not waterproof. That's why I carefully wrapped up my clothes in a Sainsbury's bag. Clever, I know.

Had my shower. Lovely. Reach for bag. Open bag. Somehow, enormous amounts of rain have gone through my paniers, penetrated the plastic bag, and ... my shirt is soaked across my chest. My trousers are soaked across my ... well, the bits that trousers cover. I'll have to dry off au naturel. Kind of.

Anyone know any good waterproof rear paniers? (!).

My increasingly sad bags - one of them

Note - hole at bottom of bag so you can quickly lose stuff. And what was once a fiercely waterproof  bag has become more like a sponge.

PS sorry about the extended absence. It's been tough at work and busy at home. I'll try to sneak in a few more updates.

What to do in a puddle?

And while I'm on - as it were - I'm never quite sure what to do when you have no option but to go through an enormous puddle. This one is not from these parts (New Zealand in fact) but gives the idea:

I supect the only thing to do is:

- slow down

- try to keep your feet as far away from the water as possible (so your peddles are parallel with the ground)

- go back to being a kid and stick your feet out in front of you

- or just get wet

Of course the big extra danger here is that if you haven't got a rear mudguard, the water will go all over your back and your bags, if you have them. The answer? Sadly inevitable - get a rear mudguard. Although I've singularly failed to take my own advice so far.