I remember in 6th form seeing a brochure for the Civil Service and I thought hmm. But I never imagined I'd end up in the very heart of Government. I visited Admiralty House today and had to take a photo. Nothing too sensitive I hope!
That's energy saving bulbs on that chandelier, by the way.
I went to a housewarming last night in Plaistow. I had not been there for about 5 years so I used Journey Planner on the Mac to plan the journey there. It wasn't complex. 202 bus to Blackheath, 105 bus to Bromley-by-Bow and 2 stops in the District Line.
Coming back I used LJP on the iPhone and this routed me back via Woolwich. It was near midnight so I didn't question the change of route.
I was to take the 473 to Roebourne Way, walk to King George V DLR take the 54 from Woolwich and the 202 again from Blackheath. Fine, but I got a bit confused...
The first bus went through London City Airport. I thought, hang on isn't this the same DLR line as St. George but without the walk?
I checked on my Tube map, but FileMagnet on my iPhone was too slow with the PDF in time for the bus stop, so I had to get off at the next stop and walk back (not too far). Walking up to the platform I noticed passengers coming down; I had just missed a 10 min interval train. Hmm.
At Woolwich it was all building sites; missing bus stops; darkness and no signs! It was a complete wild goose chase trying to find where the 54 was meant to leave from. I eventually found a board hanging upside down telling me to go to stop U. When I got there I found that the last bus had left at 00:06.
Hang on! What??!
It clearly says take the 54, but there was no 54 service at 00:21!
It should have told me to take the 53, which I missed trying to find stop U(seless) or what I eventually got, a 422. When I got to Blackheath, I saw if I could have got there a bit earlier I would have caught the last 202 to me in Catford. I instead just missed a 108 to Lewisham. Another 7 min wait and the 108 got into Lewisham just in time to miss the last 284 to mine.
Aargh!
Then the heavens opened, a cold torrent. 20 mins later 2 buses turned up. I took the less packed 225 to Hither Green and walked back ending up drenched.
So I was over at my friend, Seb's house and he was cooking something on the stove with a Le Creuset dish. I'd not seen one on the hob before, and he asked me if I cooked like this, cooking a big load of food to eat over several days, and I said no. And he looked at me like I was crazy.
So, I thought I would try it. Now, right now, I think of it, I should have simply made a ton of cous cous and meat, but instead what's on my hob is 4 handfuls of rice, a tub of chopped turkey thigh, a tin of corn, a chopped leek and some butter and water. Oh and a few drops of St. Lucia hot sauce (from my 2006 trip!) and a packet of spicy Szechuan tomato sauce. I'll let it bubble away for 20 mins and eat...some. I'll leave the lid on the pot, let it cool and put the rest in the fridge for tomorrow.
Hope it works!
Oh and if you've not heard of it, try listening to this, it's very good.
Uh, I'm a dolt. I got these pedals ages ago and couldn't fit them because I didn't have a pedal spanner. I was just about to go to the LBS and pay to have them fitted when I noticed my Icetool which I use to remove the rear wheel. A lightbulb went on in my head, wasn't that really a pedal tool? I tried it, and:
So the Cycle Show this year in Earls Court. Apparently the bike market seems to have benefited rather than suffered from the recession, so trebles-all round! Even so, when I visited, it was constantly busy, rather than packed out. I went on Sunday to see my favourite author Josie Dew speak about her cycling, and left shortly after to wander the stands and look for small wheel and unusual things. I only took a few photos. This was the Qoroz Freedom Won prototype titanium travel bike. I didn't hear the price but I reckon well over £1k. Anyway that's a monster stem! This is the Bixi-based cycle hire bike for London. It's a comfy ride with rather high gearing (hill-free Zone 1 only, I think). If you look at the bottom of the rear triangle, you can see red LEDs built into the frame. 2 red LEDs flash constantly. There is a white LED on the front (a regular screwed on light). Both are powered by a Shimano hub dynamo in the front wheel while at the back is a Shimano 3-speed, which is very smooth and shifts easily under load. No Oyster compatabilty though, no cycle stations at rail stations, no new cycle routes and nothing next to where I work in High Holborn. Best wishes all the same. This however angered me, it's just a cycle lane, some of it inside a bus lane. Where is the improvement?
This on the new designers stand is a cow shaped bike rack. No mention of Milton Keynes. Lots of E-bikes at this show (sigh). Maybe I'd consider one if I moved somewhere hilly like Bristol. This thing is a monster. Surely no longer a bicycle. This was the SevenStar Birdstar. I only just noticed the massive battery (sigh). I think this was on the Cooper stand. This is the chunky paddle shifter for the new wide 5-speed hub from Sturmey Archer, built in to a tourer here and on the Pashley stand. I didn't know if this was about the Bike or the unusual bike stand. The National Cycle Collection had a stand which lots of artefacts like this. No Moulton though. Another Titianium bike. This new one is called Sabbath Emperor and I heard the man say £6,000. This is the S3X, 3 speed fixie. I saw it fitted to a few bikes around the show, it being the new hotness. I don't like the exposed gear mechanism though. Feels old-fahioned and vulnerable to me. Some hubs that I don't have. I wish I did though, as on the way back home my old-style 8-speed fell out of alignment, bloody stupid barrel adjusters. I need to look up the manual to figure out what screws where. Gah! This crazy is the Jango Flik, full suspension folder. I rode a rear-only suspended model with wonderful Alfine hub gear around the test track. It's smooth and controllable, but the pedals scraped when going around bends at speed, while the deraillier model above has the cage ridiculously close to the ground (just a few cms away). This year I tried out the Tirol mountain bike experience and the Wattbike 500m challenge. I think I'm proficient, but that little wooden test track was the hardest thing I have done with a bike. I fell off onto my arse once, and had to tiptoe in fear around. I had picked a radical looking full suspension carbon wow bike and it was almost impossible to maneurve. Someone told me later that it was a down-hill bike, which maybe explained it. I felt like a total idiot.
I only just recovered in time for the Wattbike challenge. It all seemed simple, it's just a cycle trainer, you set the resistance to medium, and watch on the screen as it measures the pressure on each foot to draw a circle. If the circle is round then that most efficient, most even between feet. But when we raced, all this disappeared in a blur as I put more effort than I feel I've ever produced into cycling as hard as I could. I must have gone off too hard because by 300m I was struggling to keep going and just got slower and slower (at which point they tell me 'you're in the lead, come on, sprint finish'). Sprint finish? I limped over the line, but it make me wonder what if I hadn't conked out? The card I got said 31.70 sconds. So that's nearly 60km/h on average. Gosh. I didn't spend long on the Moulton stand (a bit too busy), except to have a good look a the new TSR 2. Hmm, shouldn't those anti-turn nuts be facing backwards? Maybe there is less risk of freak damage from this S2C hub compared to the 8-speed? And this is the key to the belt drive, a neat looking separation on the rear triangle. Very seductive.
And that was it, apart from buying stuff. I bought Green Clean bike wash, 4 sets of thin line KoolStops straight off their stand (they were disposing of display items), I got Black, Silver, Salmon and Black/Salmon. I have yet to find cycle gloves big enough for me, but I got some Seal Skins waterpoof socks, which I can try out this winter.
Finally, I got this today from Germany. This wasn't at the cycle show, but it was my choice for a Dynamo charger, and here's the obvious reason why:
The bus left from Stratford Station. I was meant to go with my cousin, but some sort of snafu meant that she forgot her photo ID. How frustrating, as this meant she, who had invited me, couldn't get in! I asked at the end of the tour, and it's not clear at all if there will be future tours in the coming months as the construction intensifies. Her best option might be to enjoy a cup of tea and the view from the ViewTube that is meant to open next month on the Greenway elevation between Fish Island and Stratford High Street. I mean, there is so little built on site, and what's there is so massive, that you'll probably see mostly everything I saw from up there.
Anyway, on e va! The bus went up an A road and through what looked like a customs point, swung right and went to the Velodrome. Seen below.
Yup, some concrete supports there. Then over to the Olympic Village.
This will be configured as small dormitories for the games with a massive canteen. After the games, the dorms will gain kitchens and become thousands of flats, while the canteen will become a secondary school. To the right of the village next to Stratford station is a Westfield shopping centre, called Stratford City. It's gonna be massive innit? Bigger than Westfield Shepherd's Bush, bigger than Bluewater!
Who will shop there, who will shop there
Voulez-vous, voulez-vous
Locals got no money
I ain't got no money
Nor do you, nor do you.
I'm sure the economy will have bounced back by 2012, though. And now the news:
The world media centre is as big as an airport terminal, truly big, and square, and permanent. They are looking for mee-dya tenants like the BBC, pretty please. We drove down past a mountain of mud to learn that the mountain was not slag but evidence of a massive decontamination activity removing oil, arsenic and other nasties through washing, and other natural cleaning methods, I think she said bugs. Clean mud, eh?
Then the stadium:
What a relief, apparently this isn't how it will look. The horrid darkness at the base will be covered in a designer fabric, hopefully brightening it up a treat. They going to recycle the fabric into fashion umbrellas or something. Just next door is the aquatic centre. Next door because swimming is the focus of week 1 and athletics, week 2. So everything is concentrated together. I've seen this swooping rook a few times now:
But not the view from underneath. I got a good sense, despite the failing light of the delicate thinness of the roof. It's hideously complex, but despite looking a bit small, it's deceptive, holding at least 2, 50m pools underneath. I look forward to trying it out after the games.
Just picked up some tickets for a trip to Runcorn on Thursday and I walked over to get the train home from St. Pancras. I popped up to look at the new trains.
Nice, and there was a steady and continuous stream if passengers getting on. Must be popular. I also noticed that the tunnel over to Kings Cross is progressing well.
None of the suppliers of the 3T Ergosum Pro have any in stock. I got 2 cancellations back from orders I made. So I went and had a look and according to Evans, it's really a racing bar, and touring bars are deeper. But I liked the smooth shape of it.
Anyway, these Noodles were in stock, also have very good reviews, look similar and are touring specific. So I've gone nutty for Nitto I guess.
I may also get an A-head adaptor like this to widen my choice of stems.
1. Got an email from BETD today about the front hub. The 28 hole is out of stock anyway so they'll send the 32-hole version no problem.
2. Apparently getting a Capreo derailler is a bad idea. It may be limited to a single chainring, limiting upgrade possibilities so when it arrives I will exchange it for a Tiagra.
3. Really good news, although my rims are out of stock till next week, they have confirmed that they accept payment by Paypal, so I have just paid over 3G from my iPhone and will avoid Barclay's £25 IBAN fee.
Oh and I love how on the iPhone, when you tell it to pay, it splashes the correct amount in cash over the page (see above, that is the right amount) and in the right currency.
I already have the tyres. I chose Continental Sport Contact over Stelvios (now superceeded by Durano) based on...well, I'm not sure. It came with free inner tubes though.
I am not sure what happened with the rims. I bought 36 hole rims last year for my TSR when that was going to have drum brakes all around, and I bought an extra 2 rims (apparently 28 holes) in the same style for the APB. The TSR rims were "non-machined walled" (all painted with no smooth metal area for the brake blocks) which was fine because drums don't have brake blocks, while the ones for the APB were machined for v-brakes. I ordered them when the Pound was high, but the website didn't say that they had none in stock. Waiting and waiting and the banks collapsed dragging the Pound down with it. This effectively doubled the price, so no more (US sourced) Velocity rims (or underwear) for me!
I don't know why I thought the APB needed 28 hole rims. I mean on actually looking at it, it has a 36 hole hubs front and rear! Anyway, the TSR was deemed not compatible with my front drum brake/dynamo, so since the rim was worn, I used one of the 28 hole rims and matched it with a pure hub dynamo. Being a twit though I bought that in 36 hole and then had to buy another in one 28 hole. Bugger; another addition to my white elephant collection.
Anyway, before I recalled this rim confusion, I knew I wanted to get a 9-speed gear train. I had felt this meant Capreo as the safest bet for my 'small-wheel' APB and this was essentially confirmed on the Moulton mailing list. Of course it's not so simple as getting a 9-speed set of cogs, it turns out virtually everything else has to change as well. Dear God. So, here's my first order: Note the brake levers for later...
Looking at the picture, I see I forgot something. Gear levers! Here we are then: None of this is cheap. But at least I had the rims, except the Capreo is a 32-hole hub. To get matching rims, I would need to get a 36-hole version. Here's the frustration. Shimano's website says that it comes in 24, 32 and 36 hole, but the 36 hole version is not sold in Europe. I considered ordering from the US but then noticed that the 36 hole rim I had was 'non-machine walled' so not suitable for the v-brakes on the APB. Then I looked at the 28 hole rim for the front wheel and noticed that my APB had a 36 hole hub at the front so that wasn't compatible either. So I needed new rims anyway.
Well, what actually happened was I thought I would use the 28 hole Velocity rim at the front with a new front hub. So I just needed a 28 hole front hub. Can't be too hard to find one right...right? Cripes these are pretty rare it seems and quite pricey. I ended up ordering this Welsh exotica in 28 hole: I ordered on Friday morning and have emailed them asking to change or exchange it to 32 holes. Why? Because I wanted matching rims. Looking again at the Velocity site, they made a 32 hole rear rim that would match my 28 hole front rim. But did anyone sell it with a machined wall for v-brake? I couldn't find it anywhere except on the Peter White site, but he doesn't do online orders so I looked at alternatives: Alex DA16 - can't find it on sale anywhere, Sun CR-18 - a bit plain jane and not in 32 hole. I saw a rim from Shürmann (who?), but there was just 1 retailer that I found. I have settled on getting some Rigida X-Plorer rims from Komponentix Germany. I will save the 28 hole Velocity for my TSR front wheel. Assisted by Google, I have learnt that zoll mean inch and lock means hole. So I will order 2 "Rigida X-Plorer, 406 mm (20 Zoll), 32 Loch, schwarz". I've just ordered some, all in German and this is scary. I have to learn how to do an IBAN money transfer. I hope I can figure this out, why can't we all just get-a-long use PayPal. [Update - oh no, IBEX is expensive - £25 from Barclays - ack...FAIL!].
The last thing today will be handlebars. I haven't decided yet, but my intial choice is this or someting ergonomic like it:
So, neither of my bikes are working. I'm taking the APB to the local bike shop on Saturday for them to order me a new rear triangle. This happened October 5th 2007. Riding around Wandsworth Station towards Kew my rear triangle snapped. Luckily the triangle forced the wheel onto the broken chain stay, acting as a gentle but forceful brake. When I get the new triangle, hopefully they'll spray it in the same electric blue colour, and while they are at it, I'll ask them to re-spay my front forks. I got new forks back in, I think 2005, following a bike crash where the forks had absorbed the impact when a car drive into me head on. I was thrown and suffer no injury. Annoyingly, the forks came back in black. In January 2006 the rear suspension collapsed into the seat tube. Here's a view of where the rear suspension touches the rear tube. It is possible that this was weakened in the crash of 2005 and the rear suspension had just been tap tap tapping at it since. The seat tube collapsed going over a speed bump near Waterloo Station in London. Again the failure was graceful because the x-frame cross struts essentially held the seat upright enough for me not to fall off. I initially thought I had a flat tyre before I noticed that the frame had failed.
4-months later I got a new frame, seen here after riding back from the shop without mudguards. Now in servicing, all the other parts of the bike have been replaced, except for the brake levers and pedals. So, there will be no major parts of the bike older than 4 years once this is done.
I've decided to upgrade the gearing while I'm at it. The original gearing never worked properly for me, and I guess I didn't know how to maintain it right (adjusting the cables etc). Anyhow. I will order a Capreo hub, cassette and derailleur for the back. I may have to buy a 36-hole hub from the US if I can't find one over here.
My TSR on the other hand needs new dropouts. In this picture, there is not meant to be any space around the wheel nuts, and Sturmey Archer should be horizontal. The cause was simple, progressive weakening of the drop out from excessive torque and repeated repair (banging back into position). After the third repair, the bike shop told me that it was unsafe.
Looking back through my iPhoto collection and can see that this has happened before: This photo was taken on September 23, 2007 and shows my hub following an incident in Peckham where I had entered the high street directly in front of a bus, but in 7th gear. I selected 2nd gear and pushed without lifting off and the hub pushed through making an almighty crunch. The hub went out of alignment and I had to miss the first London Freewheel that weekend. However when I rotated the anti-turn washers to face backwards, the hub worked again.
I did not realise that the dropouts were damaged, and rode for several thousand additional miles till the hub ran out and wheel started to disintegrate. I had the new hub fitted and the shop banged the drop outs back into place. They were banged back a second time when I had the wheel rebuilt to solve spoke issue, but it was rebuilt with washers that were too weak and which cracked on the first test ride. Then another bike shop fix (chain replacement) left the drum brake loose and the brake turned, putting more stress on the dropouts. And finally just riding in 8th gear, pushing down Peckham Rye hill caused the dropouts to spread a few days later. When they were bashed back again, apparently they were soft. So I'm waiting to see what the bike shop/Pashley can come up with.
Look at this concrete in my garden! I am smashing it up. Miserable but not too bad, just taking a long time, can't wait for this to finish! It's the base remnants of one of these.
As Dave Hill said, the best view of the Olympic site is on the NEx route through Stratford Station. Coming back from Brentwood today, I got a great close up of the intriguing Aquatic's centre for the 2012 Olympics in London.
As you can see, it's all about that roof. Fascinating.
Yup, some concrete supports there. Then over to the Olympic Village.
This will be configured as small dormitories for the games with a massive canteen. After the games, the dorms will gain kitchens and become thousands of flats, while the canteen will become a secondary school. To the right of the village next to Stratford station is a Westfield shopping centre, called Stratford City. It's gonna be massive innit? Bigger than Westfield Shepherd's Bush, bigger than Bluewater! 
The world media centre is as big as an airport terminal, truly big, and square, and permanent. They are looking for mee-dya tenants like the BBC, pretty please. We drove down past a mountain of mud to learn that the mountain was not slag but evidence of a massive decontamination activity removing oil, arsenic and other nasties through washing, and other natural cleaning methods, I think she said bugs. Clean mud, eh? 
What a relief, apparently this isn't how it will look. The horrid darkness at the base will be covered in a designer fabric, hopefully brightening it up a treat. They going to recycle the fabric into fashion umbrellas or something. Just next door is the aquatic centre. Next door because swimming is the focus of week 1 and athletics, week 2. So everything is concentrated together. I've seen this swooping rook a few times now:
