Excitingly (and somewhat mysteriously) the recumbent front disc brake managed to eat its own pads on the way home last night. I know, I didn’t know that could happen either. As a result, you may have heard me limp past last night making a noise like a tin can in a washing machine. It appears that part of the spring which keeps the two pads apart somehow got sucked between the caliper and the rotor, and punched a hole straight through the pad. I was quite impressed at the damage…
Staggeringly the rotor has survived unscathed. However, whilst I wait for Wiggle to shunt me a new set of pads, the upright was pressed into service as a commuter.
Meet Oscar.
Oscar was my daily commuter until I went all recumbent-y. It’s a Kona Sutra, in what I’m sure Kona would rather call metallic chocolate but is in fact brown and glittery. It’s a spectacular bike, has no problem with the weekly shop/recycling load, was the only thing moving (ok, moving under vague control) in the Glasgow Day Of Snow And Ice last year and weighs the same as a small moon. Sadly in full winter get-up, with spikey tyres, DIY fenders, kickstands, a stupid amount of racks and me wheezing on top of it, it did get slightly left behind in the train of bikes powering into the base today.
Still, it was fun being able to see over cars for a change!
Having missed the first Cold & Dark Ride organised throught the Glasgow Fixed Gear forum due to a front brake cable deciding that existance as two separate halves was just more fun, I finally got out last night with NiallC from the forum for the rerun. Ended up being a very pleasant evening ride along mainly quiet, unlit country lanes. Even the rain held off.
Also discovered that a heavy, aerodynamic recumbent and an upright, lightweight fixed gear go (to steal Neill’s words) ’ at totally different speeds if any form of climb / descent is involved’. The lower bike weight and more efficient upright climbing position is definitely the sole reason for the fixie’s increased climbing prowess. Absolutely. Definitely nothing to do with rider fitness…!
Anyway, I’m quite happy with an overall average of 23kph over 2 hours, especially as I still had the normal work luggage on the back. GPS below (slightly bigger map through clicking on the title)
Delicately lifted from Ecovelo and originally from (R)evolutions per Minute, watch this for some genuinely spectacular bikes. If you haven’t got time to watch the whole thing, then skip to about 5:00 for a flying Xtracycle and 7:00 for some stonkingly large batteries. Then watch the whole thing.
Wheel back, dynamo fitted, light cabling done, heavy rain falling. Ideal Scottish testing conditions. Watch this space…
The Great North Run 2011 took place last Sunday. As well as being the occasion where a large number of unsuspecting men lose all the skin from their nipples, it is one of the world’s largest half marathons with over 38,000 runners and therefore a somewhat challenging duty to cover from an Ambulance point of view. It’s one of the few events where British Red Cross, St John Ambulance and the NHS Ambulance Services cooperate in a big way. A big part of the cover provided (and for a significant chunk of the race, the fastest responding assets available) is the ambulance cycles.
Effectively, if you call 999 anywhere near the finish line, it’s one of the above that will be sprinting to your aid.
I won’t sing the praises of cycles in this particular post, but instead I’ll give you an idea of what we got up to over the course of the day. Myself and a colleague from Northumbrian SJA provided the final pair of bikes, covering the patch after the finish line up to the metro station and ferry, where runners are cooling down, standing in long queues for public transport, and generally getting fairly wobbly.
The GPS trace is at the bottom, but most of the day was spent slowly cruising through dense crowds and dodging the queues of buses parked up. The only real emergency run you can spot was after the 30km mark, with about a km run at around 26km/h. Considering the weight of the kit (gas cylinder, defibrillator, full treatment kit), the knobbly tyres and the people and traffic (being able to stop cars and legally go the other side of road islands helps…) this isn’t too shabby in my mind.
Anyway, happily the ‘collapsed 50 year old male’ had recovered and wandered off by the time we arrived, and the nearby Diabetes UK charity tent graciously donated free cake to speed our recovery…
For the terminally intrigued, I’ve thrown up pages with a bit more detail on the machine in question, as well as the loon riding it. You’ll find the links at the top.
It’s also unnecessary if you are blessed with the conventional style of indicators in your car.
The easiest way to indicate from the Fuego appears to be a nonchalant bent-elbow pointed finger in the direction intended. Whilst in the front of a queue waiting to turn right at a crossroads, I noticed that the driver of the car opposite was also pointing out of his window, signalling clearly that he also intended to turn right. Whilst I appreciate the extra effort to communicate with cyclists, I think in this case the bright flashing orange light is sufficient…
Thought I’d treat you to an exceptionally dull summary of a post I made on YACF, pondering whether helmets offer any real benefit on a low recumbent.
As an initial disclaimer, this is not intended to sway you opinion one way of the other. Helmet wearing on bicycles is one of (if not the) most contentious issues that comes up on every forum vaguely related to cycling. Personally I’m not fussed. The lack of any proper evidence as to whether there’s any benefit either way bothers me and as such for convenience if nothing else, I tend not to wear one. As a brief summary of the prevailing opinions, wearing a helmet appears to make it:
Please insert your own [citation needed] throughout.
Anyway, for low recumbents only, I believe the following arguments also apply.
In favour of the helmet there’s all the usual stuff about some protection in low speed falls, arguably less abuse from drivers, avoiding the chance of contributory negligence or similar, somewhere to mount lights/mirrors/cameras, etc
Against gets more interesting. The main way me and my beloved will part company is me binning it with no outside assistance, in which case I’ll be neatly placed on my side. Huge gravel rash yes, but a helmet would only serve to increase the chances of my head actually being hit (greater volume) and as I skid along the risk of bits of the helmet catching and placing a twisting load on my neck. In addition the speed this is likely to happen at is well above that which cycle helmets have any proven benefit (generally held to be walking speed)
The other ways are going to involve some other object, probably a car. Assuming head on, my weight is below the impact point (chainset), so the chances of me flying over the top are negligible. No helmet benefit. From the sides or behind is a complete lottery, but again I can’t see any huge advantage I’d receive.
Effectively the low ride position seems to add a huge lump of safety in an accident, and the helmet nothing further.
As a result, I’m currently wearing the fetching cap, and have left the helmet behind. So far, all brain cells are accounted for…
Nifty video from Human Power Team Delft, in case you’re too lazy to click on the previous link