Lunch Time

... I like going to university here.

What i'm listening to...

The Libertines - Don't Look Back into the Sun
Quantic - Time is the Enemy
Stereophonics - Local Boy in the Photograph
The View - Wasted Little DJ's

Ode to my commuter bike.

Just a brief note to express feelings over my commuter bike. This is the bike you are least likely to see me ride, yet strangely, the bike I ride the most miles on. It is my work-horse bike, my faithful friend.

Now anyone who knows me will tell you that I like to keep things simple. Computers, cooking, cars, and - of course - bikes. The subway is certainly simple. No suspension, cable-vee brakes, and base-end SRAM SX4 7-speed transmission. I think of this bike as what late 20th century soviet bicycles should have been. I can imaging going into a bicycle shop in Moscow during the 60's.

Communist: "Hello, I would like a bicycle please."
State appointed transport official: "Certainly sir. In what size would you like your Subway?"

Everything about this bike is practical. It has v brakes to stay out of the way of your paniers. The suspension is in the seatpost for comfort rather than performance. The stem is hideously ugly, but high to keep you looking ahead. The paint is the most boring shade of grey imagineable to keep the pikeys at bay. And I love all this stuff! It weaves in and out of traffic like a cat and cruises along at about 18mph like a ... well, whatever cruises along at 18mph? The frame is a massive 22" which is perfect of a lankey-sod like me. And when you feel like being a hooligan, it is (believe it or not) massively good fun on a sunny day around the bridleways of rural Northamptonshire*.

This is what 95% of people want from a bike and just don't know it yet. Insted they insist on spending half the money on a bike ten times as often. I see it all the time at work. The environmentalist, accountant, and cyclist within me hates this. Why are people so mind-numbingly shallow about shiney paint and useless, cheap suspension?

As an aside, I now have just seven more shifts to work at Halfords before I can be free of it forever. In some ways, I will miss it. In most ways, I won't.

So here's to you, my commutable colleague, my city cruiser, my 22" sub! Long may you're tyres grace the earth, and may all your transmission faults be small ones!

* - If you havn't tried slick tyres for XC yet, give it a go. Its surprisngly good fun!

Calendar

Just a reminder - you can see what i'm up to at the moment using my google calander...

Disc

I have finally caved in and put a disc brake back on the little bike. I have to say that the benefit is enormous! I didn't realise how hard I had to pull on the lever to get any power from the vee brake before hand.

In addition, I have been hiding my bikes from the wardens doing room inspections.

In conclusion, no real riding going on at the moment unfortunately. Don't worry though - South Wales this weekend!

What i'm listening to:

Ben Folds (feat. Regina Spektor) - You Don't Know Me