I Love My Local Bike Shop

I do I do I do.....

Like Tom Cruise on Oprah, I am feeling all loved up at the moment.

Without sounding too schmoozy, they are the nicest bunch of blokes I have ever met.

Ladies and Gentlemen the wonderful Bike Shak Altrincham also to be found on twitter if thats your thing....

@Bikeshak

I called knowing they were probably too busy to help me.  Their workshop is so popular (cos its good) its normally booked up for a fortnight.  But no, bring it down, lets have a nosey.

I have been having indexing problems for sometime and during the Manchester 100 it meant for a few miles towards the end, I couldn't get on my big ring.

H brought his Toddlebike and sat and watched Joe while he worked away.

Bless him, he was still shouting "BYE JOE" by the time we had got three miles down the road.

Whilst there, we talked about their lack of female customers.  It has got me thinking why it might be.  The easiest answer, is just the lack of women cycling.  But hang on......I know hundreds of women cyclists around the Manchester area.  Hundreds. 

OK, so they're all not local to Altrincham, but where are they going?

One problem a lot of Indie Bike Shops have, is they're tucked away.  Often you find the only people who know they're there are other cyclists (if that makes sense). Is it a lack of high street presence then that manifests itself in a lack of female customers.  Do they prefer to go to a big chain (like Evans)? Does it feel more like the Tesco shop?  I realise I am in danger of being sexist, but I think its an important issue.

I am going to ask the other Breeze Ride Leaders and the ladies from Glow what they think and report back.  

Manchester 100

A few months ago, it was suggested a few people from Seamons might like to ride the Manchester 100. Its no biggy for most of them, but for me it was going to be my first bike event.

I have done Sprint Triathlons before, but never anything so long.

I stupidly agreed and set about doing a bit of training. My plans of lots of summer cycling were consumed by the uncoordinated turmoil of the summer holidays and compelled by a general malaise. 

By the time I had got the the start line, I had just a 45mile ride under my number belt.

I took the sensible decision early on to ride the 100k rather than the 100m.  

The ride started at an already busy Wythenshawe Park.  I had set off at 6.30 to be there for a Seamons photo call at 7. My partner in crime (Frodo) had spent too long having all round faffage so it meant we got there just after and missed them

They had invoked rule #87 http://www.velominati.com/the-rules/

After speaking to some of the lovely Glow Ladies and posing for a photo we collected our route map and headed off.  I was amazed at how many of the riders completely ignored the first few red lights!  Its not a race.  Is your bike computer that shit it cant tell the difference between stopped and moving time? Good grief!

I think the route took in nearly every single hill I hate in a 50 mile radius from where I live.  I have never been more glad I took a shorter route in all my days.  I take my hat off to the 100 milers.

Anyway, here is my first ever photo in race kit.  Thank you to http://www.cyclesportphotos.com/ for sitting at the top of a huge hill and laughing at our anguished expressions.

The Monsal Trail

Today as a 'something cheap to do in the last few days of the summer hols' day out, we visited the Monsal Trail in Derbyshire.  From our house in Trafford it was only an hours drive, about half an hour/twenty minutes further up t'road than one of our other fav haunts, Lyme Park.

We (me, being the resident geek) had looked at the maps and decided that we would head for Millers Dale. It was the closest car park that has decent access.  For us with H in the trailer we often come across trails that start with a small A frame or a gate, or worse a set of stairs.  It takes me about 15-20 minutes to get bikes out and trailers etc put together, so to do all that and then to have to head somewhere else, is not an ideal situation.

We headed out of the carpark to the butty van to stock up on food and get change for the pay and display.

After a short conversation with a lovely pair of ladies enquiring about trailers and whether it had caused shaken baby syndrome in my rather dopy-after-being-in-the-car toddler, with the promise of train tunnels on a bike ride, we were off to Wyedale.

The tunnels are great.  They are cold feeling and slightly spooky.  We mused it would be a great baddies lair or the entrance to the Batcave.  H's trailer is equipped with a DVD player so we get a bit of peace, and the sound of Mr Tumble rang out against the chilled dripping wet bricked walls.

At Wyedale, we about turned and headed towards Hassop.

Me and Mr Mancbikemummy have spent the most wonderful Christmas weekends in Hassop Hall, and it has a very special place in my heart.  It was a slow slog, but O did brilliantly.  He now has an Islabike with gears, so it was much easier for him to cover the distance.

We reached the cafe and book store at Hassop just as the small inhabitant of the trailer woke up.  Two mugs of hot choc and a shared sausage butty and we about turned and headed back.

I will probably take some photos when we return.  Because I have to say, it was the best family friendly, accessible cycle route I have enjoyed to date, so we will definitely be coming back.

No A frames, go gates and guess what......as far as I can tell from a quick bit of research, no abuse.  So why can a successful trail like this be accessible to all, yet some councils feel the need to gate off and make access difficult for huge sections of the public?

Anyway, to end on a positive......if you cycle with children, or want a nice walk with a buggy, or ride an adapted bike or trike, or wheelchair, if you have a pulse, go and visit the wonderful Peak District and specifically the Monsal Trail.

It is a thing of beauty!

Even cyclists don’t like cyclists

There was an occasion I thought back to on my commute to work this morning.  On an internet forum I frequent, a regular poster was using the fact they were a ‘regular’ and ‘Ive been here for ages and done x, y and z’ to bully other people.  I don’t use the word lightly, but it was bullying.  When confronted about this behaviour they felt backed into a corner I presume and went on the attack.  They claimed that it was them who was the victim of bullying.  That people pointing out the behaviour was unacceptable was tantamount to victimisation.

It reminded me of a surly teenager.  So wrapped up in their own thoughts, selfishness and egocentric world, that they had lost sight of other peoples feeling.  Lost their ability to empathise with others.

It occurred to me this morning on my commute that maybe we as cyclists have been drawn into this victim mentality way of thinking.

I passed a lady on a horse.  I slowed and gave her a gentle shout to warn her of my approach from behind, so she could manoeuvre the horse so that it would not be startled.  She thanked me profusely and said that nobody ever really thinks like that and we spoke briefly of the dangers of silent fast moving cyclists coming up behind horses.

I also came across another gentleman, completely removed from his surroundings, bombing along listening to his ipod.  He seemed to be in a terrible hurry and oblivious to other users of the path.  Sadly it reminded me of the quote from The Thick of It “Not even cyclists like cyclists”.  Which in turn led to a chuckle.

So the chain of thought continued.  It prompted me to think back to a tweet recently from @Cyclemanchester who had said, “Safer roads for cyclists? We can help by not running red lights and obeying the rules of the road #cycling”

I couldn’t agree more.  I have been nearly run over on a few occasions on a local crossing while out pushing the buggy, by cyclists who feel they are above stopping for red lights like the rest of us.

I agree sometimes it might be safer to run a red light, in your head.  But all lit will do is annoy the cars behind you and put other cyclists in danger.  It is a selfish act (and obviously an illegal one).

A small, but I think maybe growing number of cyclists are turning into surly teenagers.  “people treat me like shit so two fingers up at the rest of the world” Really, what is needed is to grow up. Behave like you wish others to treat you. Give way once in a while, stop at red lights, slow down (like the prick on Strava thinks its funny to charge along a canal towpath which is a Sustrans safe routes to school at 22mph) and then maybe, just maybe, we will all be treated better by everyone else.

PHEW

Another thing occurred to me.  You can tell the sun was shining and I wasn’t in a hurry.  The Trans Pennine Trail was full of people cycling this morning.  The sun was out and the school holidays have started for a lot of schools.  I thought about each of these people and the fact they were ‘one less car’ as the saying goes.  When I dropped O off at breakfast club there was a huge lack of traffic.  Hardly any at all in fact.  So the school run children not being in cars, coupled with people maybe walking or cycling due to the weather, had resulted in a wonderfully flowing, uncongested main arterial road.  Why is it then, that motorists aren’t banging the drum at the very forefront of cycle campaigning?  I don’t think it has really occurred to most of them, that this utopia could be their usual morning commute to work, if only the five other cars around them could be encouraged to get on a bike.  Just think how much faster ad stress free you could get to your office.  If I were a motorist (hag on a minute, I am) I would be out there asking my MP to get some of these motorists of the bloody road and out of my way, so I could get to work!  Come on motorists, switch on……it will be beneficial for us all in the long run!

Disincentivising Car Use

Part of our problems with parents driving to school got me thinking about society as a whole.  The reason we use the car so much is it is quick convenient and safe? Yes? Well no, not really.  On the school run I always get there and back quicker on my bike and on foot there’s not that much in it really.  The road is so narrow, that often the car drivers are stuck for real long periods of time.  As for it being safer, here are the accident statistics for the area. http://map.itoworld.com/road-casualties-uk


You can look for yourself.  Over 10 years there have been over 20 car incidents but only one pedestrian.  You tell me which is safest.

Talking to @OurAltrincham this isn’t a problem just at our school.  There are persistent offenders across the area.  How do we get these people to realise that they have to park away from the school and walk a short distance.  That parking on the zigzags is totally unacceptable.

Where I work one day a week, I would be lucky if I get a parking space within a ten minute walk of the front door.  But that is how it is.  I don’t just drive right up to reception and dump my car there.  I wouldn’t dream of it.  So why is it acceptable for me to have to walk ten minutes across our carpark (or worse park completely off site and get the minibus) but it isn’t ok for parents to have to walk a few 100m to the school gate.  Surely if they are going to work, they don’t have a parking space right outside the main door?  Are they all really that important?

What I think would be useful is to stop trying to pander to the car driver altogether.  Lots of people can’t afford a car.  In countries where car ownership is very expensive, it is a real leveller as bike ownership is very high.  They become the main force for change, the little people, not the rich few who can afford a car.

Why can’t we scrap ‘Road Tax’ (actually VED but still confuses lots of dimwits) and put duty on fuel?  It would have the same effect? Effectively taxing the big emission creators & the Gas Guzzlers.  It would do away with the shouts form the thickos in white vans of “Pay some Road Tax!”. 

While we are at it, we have a huge problem with people driving without ‘tax’ or insurance.  They simply can’t afford it, so don’t bother.  What’s the worse that will happen?  They get their car taken away and points on a license they probably don’t have.  Let’s put even more on the cost of fuel to subsidise insurance.  Everyone who drives HAS to pay for fuel.  It’s not quite so easy to dodge as your insurance premiums. 

Once you have driven off without paying from your local petrol station, you won’t be able to go there again for a while….you are going to have to start paying eventually…..

What about the hauliers???  Basically, sod them.  Gone are the days of Hillary Duvet-Day where people can make tons and tons of money out of shifting stuff on the road.  Keep up, change with the times or be changed.  Think of other ways to do your business more sustainably.  You never know, you could be at the forefront of a revolution.

Manchester to Blackpool Bike Ride

Toying with the idea of doing this ride, this weekend.  But I am altogether bamboozled by the logistics.  I am not about to part with £24 to get a coach back.  Although it maybe seems like value for money, the ride is £17.50.  It is a ride, not a race and not closed roads.  It seems an awful lot of money to have a few drinks stations and bike mechanics.

The trains will not take bikes either.

So, if anyone has done it in the past and has any quirky (or not so quirky, just down right sensible) suggestions, then fire away.

I am all ears!

Trafford the TPT and Twitter - We may have won!

It seems we may have a result......


A nice man from Trafford MBC has contacted me via email to say 


"Having visited the site in question last week I can appreciate the problem – as you may be aware Trafford Council already use the RADAR system http://myway.trafford.gov.uk/i-need-help-with/out-and-about/access-for-people-with-disabilities/radar-key.aspx so extending it to countryside sites is logical and overdue."


and 


"I will keep you informed of developments as I now need to source a supplier and arrange alterations to the gates themselves so that the new padlocks can be accommodated."

What fantastic news!


I have also at this point got to thank the people at Slater Heelis in Sale, who very kindly helped me to look into the legalities of the access problems.  It would seem just the mere mention of their name sends local authorities into a tail spin.  I really am grateful.


And also thank you so very much to Trafford for listening at last.


:-D