Cycling Diary Archives

A couple of weeks ago we went on a 32mile (52km) round trip from Miami Beach to Key Biscayne. This whole area is ideal for cycling due to its flatness and reminds me of the North Germany or Holland: no hills, only the occasional bridge to climb.

If you go by boat it’s only 5 miles tops, but due to the man-made island setup we have here you can’t always go in one straight line.

The way to Key Biscayne has a lot of sights to offer and only mild to medium traffic along the way. Incidentally this is where “Tennis from Miami” comes from: Crandon Park is located there, and at the very south tip at Mile Marker Zero is Bill Bagg’s Cape Florida State Park. It’s so quiet there it almost hurts your ears!

Read more

We’ve been to an amazing Basic Bike Maintenance course yesterday at the new Evans Store in Crouch End. They run every other week at many of their stores now and are completely free!

It’s well worth popping down to pick up some tips on how to keep your new bike up and running with a little TLC every once in a while. The tools you need are inexpensive and of course they’re available there and then.

Speaking of which, since Evans Crouch End is a brand new store, they’re running a 10% off campaign until the end of July – that’s for accessories and even FULL BIKES as well! Get the voucher here.

Can’t get to Crouch End but still want a discount? Register for SkyRide and get 15% off accessories at Evans nationwide.

Enough plugging… here’s what we’ve learnt in the Basic Bike Maintenance course:

Read more

I’m having quite an exciting week when it comes to cycling: First I get ripped off with a rattling gearbox, then my brand new bike gets stolen, and yesterday my front tyre blew out on me unexpectedly!

I was on my way home from MTV, riding up to Finsbury Park, when I heard a loud “pop” noise followed by a fairly loud and distinct “Pffffffff….” – the tyre was empty in about 10 seconds flat (see what I did there…?). What surprises me is that this came out of nowhere: no curbs, no potholes and I’ve even checked my tyres for debris and glass before I left.

Time for some serous investigating!

Since I’ve just had a bike stolen earlier this week, I didn’t want to take a chance and leave it at Finsbury Park overnight. Good timing too, because this was the one day I did not take my rucksack with goodies such as a pump and patches with me. Excellent! As Nicola said, the bike gods are not looking favourable upon me it seems.

Read more

Yesterday on the corner of Umfreville Road and Green Lanes, some Fucker stole my bike! It was three weeks old and I loved it. I bought it from Evans for £549 – not to mention accessories worth over £100.

I had lunch at Harran, one of my favourite kebab shops on Green Lanes and had locked it securely against a lamp post on the street corner using a Kryptonite Evolution lock and an additional Kryptoflex band. When I came back after an hour, all that was left on the floor was a piece of Velcro from the Kryptoflex.

Apologies for some bad language in this post, but I feel it best describes my reaction to this incident.

Read more

It wasn’t enough that my 3yr old HP Pavillion Laptop stopped working the other day. I never liked it anyway so maybe it picked up a vibe there.

In an unrealted incident, my trusty hot-pink Saracen Pylon 4 had a gearbox problem this week – which means that the cycling trip with my wife is off this sunny weekend 🙁

Or is it?

While we’re choosing a new bike for Julia on Saturday, I may just treat myself to a spontaneous backup bike. Sam and Daniel from MTV are both in favour so that’s a good enough excuse for me 😉

Read more