It’s reasonably common knowledge that, for an intrepid traveller exploring the universe on a budget, nothing is considered more useful than a humble towel. In his seminal work, The Hitch-hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, the late Douglas Adams went to great lengths to describe just how useful one could be, suggesting that it could be used as a sail, a weapon, protection against the heat or cold, a gas mask, emergency signalling or, if impregnated with the appropriate substances, a source of vitamins or anti-depressants. At the end of this exhaustive list he also noted that (should it still be deemed clean enough) it could be used to dry oneself.
Category Archives: Product Reviews
‘We Were Fought By Men Very Fast’ & Massif Central Exhibitions
Two small (but perfectly formed) exhibitions are on in East London until the end of the month. Both are worth a visit. If I may be so bold as to suggest an itinerary you might chose to visit the first one, Emily Maye‘s photographic exhibition ‘We were Fought by Men Very Fast’, earlier in the day than the display of Massif Central’s incredibly beautiful cycling data posters. A lunchtime visit to Beach London on Cheshire Street would allow a quick stop-off for a salt beef Brick Lane beigel whilst an after-work detour to The Things We Love on Hoxton Street will allow a drink at the small bar at the back of the space.
The Bike Show – Summer Cycling Festivals
I’m on The Bike Show this week, talking to host Jack Thurston about the recent summer cycling festivals including L’Eroica Britannia and The Rapha Tempest. You can listen to the episode here: http://thebikeshow.net/rapha-at-10-and-leroica-comes-to-britain/
My thoughts on L’Eroica Britannia are here and I’ll be writing about The Rapha Tempest soon.
Weapon of Choice – Pinarello Dogma F8 – Test-riding Team Sky’s superbike
So, just how good is a £12,000 bicycle? How much of a difference does all that money make? Last weekend I was given the opportunity to take the brand new Pinarello Dogma F8 – the very same as Team Sky are currently racing (and unfortunately crashing) across Northern France – out for a test ride in the Yorkshire Dales. Despite having a pretty full schedule planned for the day (there was the small matter of Stage 2 of the Tour going on) it was a no-brainer that I was going to find some time to fit this in. And so at 5.30am last Sunday, having risen scarcely later than locally resident rooks, I could be found – pedals in hand – at the Rapha Tempest Festival HQ on the front lawn of Broughton Hall to meet mechanic Ham and my superbike for the morning.
Competition Time – Gironimo! – Tim Moore
I got to meet author Tim Moore up in Yorkshire over the weekend after listening to him talk about his latest book ‘Gironimo!’, in which he shares the highs and lows of his recreation of the “toughest Grand Tour in history” – the 1914 Giro d’Italia. Only 8 of the 81 starters completed this most gruelling of tests.
Not one to do things by half, Moore elects to do the 3,162km route on a 100 year old bike dressed in authentic woollen garb and blue-glass goggles which almost totally blinker his peripheral vision. Riding on wooden rims with wine corks for brake blocks he rides the entire length of Italy twice with the inevitably hilarious disaster-courting consequences.
I have one copy to give away to someone (UK postal addresses only) who answers the following question correctly. In his talk Moore revealed which wine corks he found to make the most effective (or, more accurately, least ineffective) brake blocks? Chianti or Prosecco?
Name and address to thejerseypocket@gmail.com and a name will be picked out some form of randomising receptacle on Friday 11th.
‘Gironimo- Riding The Very Terrible 1914 Tour of Italy’ is published by Yellow Jersey Press for £14.99 RRP.
Peak Performance – L’Eroica Britannia – Festival & Ride Report
“Every time I see an adult on a bicycle, I no longer fear for the human race” – H.G. Wells
For quite some time I have thought that bicycles have semi-magical qualities. Riding one can make you happy when you are otherwise sad and they can make you believe that you are someone else – usually someone far better at riding a bike. They can make you fitter and more sociable and, as Mr H.G. Wells says in his wonderful quote above, they can change the destiny of the world. It’s a given then that they are wonderful things. But, until this weekend at the sublime L’Eroica Britannia event, I had not realised that they are also capable of enabling time travel. Perhaps that’s why old H.G. (who knew a thing or two about Time Machines) loved them so much.
Stoller’s Départ – Douglas Cowie & Matthew Shaw
I am lucky to be old enough, and to have arrived in London just in time, to have enjoyed the considerable pleasures of the old Reading Room at the British Museum. The circular space at the centre of the Great Court, which attained almost sacred status to the Capital’s writers of yesteryear, was just about the most evocative place one could imagine to read or write. The Victorian desks, low glowing lights, the curved bookshelves lining the perimeter walls and the elegant clerestory windows were all suitably impressive but so was the archaic ticketed entry system which made you feel as much a part of the ancient furniture as the often impenetrable tomes in the room. Pushing open the low gate and entering the hushed arena of that literary sanctum was about as good as it got for me back then and I mourned the closing of the old Reading Room in 1997 like the loss of an old friend. It remains my favourite London space, despite not being open for 17 years.
Portrait of ‘The Cycling Podcast’ – with Richard Moore, Lionel Birnie & Daniel Friebe
It’s just after 3pm on a Tuesday afternoon in Hackney and Richard Moore, Lionel Birnie and Daniel Friebe are looking for a bit of peace and quiet. The trouble is that around the busy East London streets of Broadway Market and London Fields school kids are heaving out onto the hot pavements and the nearby building sites that are sprouting up yet more flats in this trendy part of the capital are still in full swing. Add in the chatter of the many achingly cool characters lounging outside myriad cafés and coffee shops and, despite the lovely summer afternoon weather, things are looking, and most definitely sounding, pretty bleak.
Climbs and Punishment – Book Review – Felix Lowe
For some reason books about epic cycle rides often struggle to maintain sight of the reason behind the particular journey. Caught up with geography, mileage and the inevitable misfortunes that happen along the way, we are quickly left to forget what the point of the epic ride was in the first place. Context is quickly abandoned in place of stories about encounters with mountains, deserts and (usually) wild coyotes or bears.
Competition Time – The Cycling Anthology Volume 4
It’s another Jersey Pocket Giveaway! This time I have a copy of the latest Cycling Anthology up for grabs. UK postal addresses only this time I’m afraid though…
The Cycling Anthology series is intended to give cycling journalists a greater amount of freedom and expression than they might not otherwise enjoy. Editors Ellis Bacon and Lionel Birnie actively encourage some of the best writers to pen a chapter about something that the contributors themselves want to write. This means that, as well as there being a lot of love and knowledge in every story, it’s often something out of the expected and sometimes downright obscure. Which is all to the good as far as I am concerned.
Volume 4, the first to be published in a new jacket design by Yellow Jersey Press, features 10 chapters from Ellis Bacon, Keith Bingham, Lionel Birnie, Orla Chennaoui,Peter Cossins, Alasdair Fotheringham, William Fotheringham, Daniel Friebe, Richard Moore, Tom Southam, James Startt and Matt Stephens.
Seven of the authors introduced their chapters at the book launch in East London last night, demonstrating the varied nature of the writing. From memories of the 1974 Tour de France visit to the UK, through investigations into whether former pro-rider Iban Mayo really did become a long-distance truck driver, to the musical manifestations of cycling culture, it’s the usual rich mix of easily digestible, high quality writing.
To win a copy just answer the following question: Before the book launch I spent the afternoon with three of the contributors as they recorded ‘The Cycling Podcast’. Which three of the authors were they?
Name and address to thejerseypocket@gmail.com and a name will be picked out some form of randomising receptacle on Monday 16th.
The Cycling Podcast Volume 4 is published by Yellow Press for £8.99 RRP. Volumes 1-3 are also being re-issued with new jacket designs.
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