What would you prefer?

The darkness. The Mist. The rats. The dry cold air.

It's 05:30. It's 4 degrees. I'm heading off for work. 17miles.

I'm lucky, as for 16 miles it's canal, all off road. Muddy and pitch black.

Today the canal water is warmer than the air, barely, but it creates a fog.

There's no wind so it hangs in the air, creating clouds of slightly smelly mist.

Either the countless horror movies I've seen, or my imagination, but isn't it spooky?

The rats are abundant at the moment.. perhaps they need more predators...

The police are out too. I stop to ask what they've lost? "some bloke's jumped in..." they reply.

I carry on, now scanning the water for bodies.. it wouldn't be the first time I passed one.

The council have been cutting the edges, and they leave it all over the path.

I hear a pop as I run over glass, or a stone, or god know what.. I hope I don't have to stop..

I arrive in Manchester, Piccadilly. Lights are bright, and it's noisy.

There are loads of people now. Some walking about, some stood waiting, some asleep in doorways.

It's a nice commute. By far better than sitting on the motorway staring at the cars in front...  

Why did mummy leave?

Why did mummy leave?

 

Mummy didn't leave, only part of her did,

but sadly she felt that it had to be hid.

She struggled and struggled with no end in sight,

with the clarity of mud she slowly sank from the light.

No-one understood & no-one heard her screams..

 ...

Mummy didn’t leave, she was taken away,

the previous struggles all festering away.

The reasons for being here now so unclear,

a temptation arises, so clear, so near.

An option, a choice, a feeling, oh finally, a feeling..

 ...

Mummy didn't leave, but a choice was made,

the feelings she'd found just wouldn't fade.

"But what of my world?", she'd come to ask,

but painful consequence wore its own mask.

Now the time has come, the world torn in 2..

 ...

Mummy didn’t leave, she set herself free,

now all those around have come to see,

that a new world can always be shared,

by all those around, who always cared.

...

C&F20112022ImFine.

Perspective

"Space," the Hitchhiker's Guide says, "is big. Really big. You just won't believe how vastly hugely mind-bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it's a long way down the road to the chemist, but that's just peanuts to space.

One of my favourite quotes but a truly remarkable man, Douglas Adams. When I first read this small section of writing I was mind blown. It's not that the sentence is that profound, because really it's a just a bit tongue in cheek, but it's what perspective it gives you that makes this so powerful. It creates a thought, a simple line of questioning in your head that snow balls into something greater, something more.. 

Now I'm no great astrophysicist, nor philosopher, however I do appreciate the simple vastness, the infinite expanse of the universe, but what really bakes my noodle is what are we actually in? The universe I mean? 

When the music is paused, does the music know it's stopped? 

Tubless convert

My fleet of bikes is expanding, and my miles are increasing. I currently cycle about 3000miles per year, but pretty soon, I'll be cycling multiple times that.


I love this cycling malarkey. The freedom, the fitness, the adventure. The only thing I really hate is the punctures. I know there are loads of ways around them, and I've always used marathon plus tyres as my preferred method for that, however, they don't grip well, the range of tyre sizes is pretty limited, and frankly the grip is crap! Of course that's quite subjective, but my opinion is based on my usage. Wet cobbles, I won't say more than that.


So my new commuter bike is a mountain bike. Its massive. It's got 3 inch wide tyres and 30mm rims! (Using both metric and imperial measurements still bugs me- why do we use both??? FFS) This new bike rides amazingly well on the 40mile canal commute into Manchester every day, but of course without marathon plus tyres, how am I to avoid punctures? Well I'm going to join the millions of sensible people converting to tubeless commuting. It's a no brainer these days. Most tyres are compatible. The fluid is cheap, the fitting is actually a lot easier then I expected, and it's kinda fit and forget, until of course you wear the tyre out, which I'm expecting to be about 3-6 months...


The method I tested out on my winter bike (Orange clockwork with Schwalbe Ice Spiker Pros) was to clean the rims using isopropanol rubbing alcohol, then tape them up using Gorilla tape - 2.5wide 'handy roll' is only a couple of quid in ASDA right now - making sure to pull it as tight as possible when applying. cut a little cross where the valve hole is. Fitting the tyre, making sure the bead is clean and undamaged. The odd nicks wont matter, I'm referring to gaping holes being a no no.. Make sure the rotation of the tyre is the right way round! If its a tight fit, try adding a bit of the sealant fluid to the rim and the tyre might slip into place a bit easier. For the valves I actually cut those off the old inner tubes. Just make sure to leave a base on the valve so it can grip to the inside of your rim. It is often cheaper to get new valves however, but if you've got any old inner tubes you don't want, then go for it. With the tyre in place, I tested the seal without any fluid in first. Using a rideair tyre inflator, which was going cheap on some online retail site, if it can actually get any pressure into the tyre then usually you're good to go. To add the fluid, I either added it via a little bottle through the valve if the core was removable, or prizing the tyre off the rim just a little using a couple of levers then pouring in the right amount of fluid - usually 60ml. Seal it up, then blast the air in. Spin the wheel vigorously to get that fluid all round the inside of the tyre.


My first wheel took me 1.5 hours to convert. I had to learn everything on the way. YouTube, blogs, forums and screaming at the wall. The second wheel took me 30 minutes...

Have you ever raced with wildlife?

Have you ever raced with wildlife?

It's hard not race the wildlife when your cycling along and some critter tries to scamper off or fly away, because they always go in the same direction as you. I mean, if I was running away from something huge, ugly and noisy, I'd go off on a tangent or head to some safe trees etc, but no, the wildlife has to go in the same direction as me, therefore in my mind it's a direct "Come at me bro!"

Fishermen hate Herons, but I quite like them. For those who don't know a Heron is a great big grey bird with long legs for wading in water, and a long beak for stabbing at fish. Graceful they're not, but elegant yes, well i think so. They take off with such strength and speed it's hard not to be impressed, and fully grown they can fly along at 25mph easily. So back to my point.. they never fly away from you, they only fly along side you, then just as you think you might get ahead of it, boom, they're gone, one feather up in the air.. Did that bird just give me the .. bird??

Badgers are awesome animals. They're massive, black and white, and fat. When they run it's mostly hilarious as their fatness wobbles from side to side as they leggit along the tow path in front of you. Their tactic is to block you, mocking you with their massive ass.. "Kiss it cyclist!" They cant actually run that fast though so they usually win because I'd have to actually run over it to get past, and frankly I'd come off worse if I did.

I raced a rat today. It wasn't as massively fat like a badger. For a rat it was pretty big. It wasn't elegant like a Heron. It was all wet and looked a bit scraggy.. They get a bad rep rats. I don't know why.. but perhaps It's the fact that in the 14th century they killed an estimated 50 million people. This was about 25% to 60% of the European population, though strictly speaking it wasn't the rats, but rather their fleas delivering fresh Bubonic plague to everyone. I personally don't hold that against them though. I think they're cute and they seem clever little blighters! He was also faster than me..

Another cyclist stopped to check I was alright the other day. I'd just finished fixing a puncture, the first in over 7.5 thousand miles actually, and he set off just as I was tidying up and putting the wheel back on. He was riding a smart looking CX bike, with all the proper gear for riding the distance down the canal every day, so I figured I had no chance to catch up with him.. 5 miles later there he was.. and I was slowly catching him up. So we get to a section of bridge which goes underneath a road, and then up through a little tunnel whereby I lose sight of him.. Seconds later I emerge from the darkness and there he is stopped at the top of the slope. Did I get my victory? No of course not. There's a chap collapsed at the side of the tow path. So I stop and do a bit of first aid and take charge of getting the poor soul an ambulance.. the other cyclist hangs around for a bit but in the end he has to go. No wins for me today!

Well you know what they say? It's not about the destination, it's about the journey.  I'd miss that if I use the motorbike... though I win the races a lot more often!

The weather

The Weather

I like it when it's sunny.
The air is warm on my face, and the ground is firm under my wheels
The air smells fresh and sweeter, and all the colours of nature shine brighter
I can ride faster and see further. Chasing the horizon and going as fast as i can go.

I like it when it's windy.
The chorus of nature sings its song and the trees dance into my view.
With the wind in my face i feel the increased burn in my legs begging me to stop,
But with the wind behind me I'm pushed forward and Like a comfy chair i can lean back and relax.

I like it when it rains.
The drops glisten like diamonds, splashing into starbursts when they land
goopy mud laps at my bike and legs, spraying up and out as it escapes my wheels
But My wheels can spin faster, giving more speed to jump the puddles
And When i finally get off my bike, my skins steams as if i'm on fire!

I like it when it snows.
Afterwards the air is still and silent, muffled by the cold blanket covering the land.
The silence only broken by The crunching of my wheels in the fresh white snow.
Everything looks amazing and so different, All is white and clean.
Whispers of creatures revealed by tracks heading off in different directions.
My breath smokes like a dragon breathing fire, playfully swirling in front of my face.

Autumn

Autumn.

The dark pulls you forward,
the wet slippery ribbon of single track stretching away in the dark in front of you.
Exhilaration as you whip round a tight corner, leaning out over the water, not sure if the back wheel will grip on the wet stone below.
The roots, the leaves, the steps, the cobbles, the mud; all retreat behind you into the dark once again. 15 miles of heart pounding fun.