30th April 2016 The unexpected effects of cycling.

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Saturday 30th 43F, 6C, windy with a heavy overcast and rain. It is supposed to clear up a little this afternoon. 

There are many complaints in Denmark about the poor condition of the roads. Councils [kommune] say they have no funds to repair, let alone improve, the situation. Some kommune [plural] are building or arranging new cycle superhighways and changing two way city traffic to one-way. Or even closing some roads to motor traffic altogether. Odense is an interesting example where a huge, wide, multi-lane road with multiple busy junctions and feeder roads was closed where it passed right through the center of the city. 

No doubt a great many driven journeys, along the now closed route, were simply passing straight through the city to destinations beyond. The motorway, which swings around the southern borders of Odense, has existed for years as the obvious, alternative route. A north-south motorway was also built to carry traffic down the island between eastern Odense and Svendborg. This has greatly relieved the weight of the formerly constant traffic on the older, main road routes. As I can attest from my own, newly-relaxed cycle journeys in that area. The difference has to be experienced to be believed! If a road is no longer a battered and roaring trunk road it can become a very attractive cycle route in its own right. It can be quite amusing to imagine oneself the last person on earth as one rides the silent, wide and  empty asphalt between once, horribly-blighted, rural homes.

There are a whole series of new cycle paths being built or are nearly finished on Fyn. These provide much safer routes for the vulnerable cyclist where they once shared the edge of the same asphalt as the [illegally] speeding traffic. The sense of hugely increased safety on these paths has to be felt to be believed. Given the [illegally] increased speed of the traffic on the same route, now no longer being baulked by cyclists, one hopes the drivers appreciate this aspect of the new projects. Nor should one forget the improvement in the surface on which the cyclist may now travel. 

A smooth path recognizes the right of the cyclist to travel in relative comfort rather than in the stone and gravel littered, and often potholed, gutter. Doesn't it strike you as odd that the cycle usually has no suspension at all yet must use the roughest and dirtiest section of many, busy roads? But you say the cyclist does not pay road tax! If the commuting cyclist is on their way to work do you suppose they pay no taxes at all? Do you suppose [for even one moment] that every penny of road tax actually goes to road maintenance and building new and nothing else? How many billions does it cost to build new motorways compared with the very modest sums for adding a new cycle path?

How much damage does the cyclist do to the roads compared with your car? How much space, noise and pollution does the cyclist cause compared to your car amongst countless many others? How many deaths and serious injuries do cyclists cause compared with the car? Do you suppose the local A&E is dealing with the dreadful carnage caused by cycling? How many hospitals would one really need if it was compulsory to cycle to work and back? What about the pandemic of obesity, heart disease, cancer, diabetes and depression? What about the absolutely colossal annual expenditure on prescription drugs? All wasted taxpayer's money in a desperate attempt to repair the "exercise-free" society's right to total physical indolence! 

It should be remembered that a great many Danes routinely cycle to work in all weathers. If more drivers should notice the speed and ease with which cycling commuters travel they may give up their damaging and unhealthy behaviour. Who knows, youngsters may even be allowed to cycle to school by parents who know that they, themselves, usually drive badly and often illegally fast. Which has often prevented them allowing their own children to enjoy the exercise and fresh air in their lungs by cycling to start their school day. Many councils have banned cars from stopping near the schools in a vain attempt to stop the unnecessary but habitual school commuter runs. Though there are always parents who "know better." As they dump their overweight child with "severe attention, behavioral or learning difficulties" in the nearest available drop-off spot just around the corner.

Let us imagine a fairy tale land where cyclists have absolute right of way. Imagine, if you can, a land where traffic lights are controlled by and for cyclists. The motor traffic must always give way to cyclists. The cyclist enjoys an uninterrupted journey from A to B without hindrance or being aggressively cut up by cars or lorries. Cyclists always enjoy far better surfaces and the cycle paths are wide and smooth and well maintained.

Now imagine if car journeys were restricted to [say] mid-mornings or mid-afternoons in cities. This would obviously preclude commuting by car. The alternatives would be cycling or public transport. In this fabled land public transport is speedy, comfortable and free. It also has excellent facilities for carrying shopping home for every single seat. Public transport is not used as a cash cow to take from the impoverished who cannot, or will not afford, a private car.

Without the usual traffic, public transport can function unhindered too. So journeys are quick and effortless. Of course all the buses and minibuses are electrically and robotically driven so there is no noise and stink of diesel. With no gears to change, each journey is a smooth progression without jerks and heavy braking. Traffic jams are a thing of the past unless a rare accident occurs.

All shops and supermarkets deliver completely free of charge by small, electric, robotic vans best suited to the task. Most people no longer wander the aisles of the supermarkets and then queue endlessly for some surly teenager to deign to serve them. Shopping is routinely done online so packed car parks simply do not exist. Rapid delivery, on demand, by robotic, electric vehicle ensures forgotten items do not miss reaching the dinner table.

How far away are we away from this motor-free Elysium? Statistics prove that most car journeys are short. The car is only taken because it is convenient and has considerable carrying capacity. Though you still have to get in and out and lift heavy boot lids and empty the shopping trolley and it's all such a bore! Because car designers are far more interested in choosing alloy rims and low profile tyres and family radiator grill designs. Than [say] blocking the blinding and uncomfortable afternoon sun or having a shopping compartment for the free, take-home supermarket shopping trolley niche in the rear sides of the robotic car. Always assuming you were still clinging onto a private car when public transport everywhere is free and fast and even offers privacy.

Why do most cycles lack carrying capacity? This is slowly changing but baskets and even goods carrying cycles are available. An electric motor would ease the burden of climbing that hill back home with the potatoes and milk. But, the milk and potatoes are delivered free because all the shops know your shopping habits. They are delivered routinely to a daily/weekly or monthly schedule so there is really no point in thinking about it. Nor going without. And when you are bored with your routine meals? You use your effortless, mobile, virtual reality system to browse alternatives with all the stuff it knows you hate already rejected. So you don't have to plough through long lists or countless images of all the "nasty stuff" before you get to the really appetizing alternatives on offer. The Internet of Things knows exactly what you like and faithfully presents and delivers it on demand.

Oh, and by the way. Denmark already gives cyclists right of way at [non-light controlled] roundabouts, junctions and crossings. Drivers [except for individual predatory psychopaths] always wait for a cyclist [or pedestrian] to safely cross their exit before proceeding. Just imagine that in all those countries where car drivers think themselves infinitely superior to those who actually use their own energy to move forwards. While they sit there, blaring their horns in grid-locked, smog-laden hell on earth just trying [desperately] to reach the corner shop for a 480 kCal cup of cold coffee. Busily popping pills while they wait for their next, and final, heart attack. To be taken where the vast A&E is a vital part of repairing society's countless, human wrecks.

A late morning ride to the shops as usual.  The new cycle paths were flooded right across their width in quite a few places. I wonder why they didn't leave gaps between the granite sets to allow the paths to drain naturally into the road gutters alongside? Tradition? The way they have always done it?

The roadworks further on had caused a flood over half the width of the road. Drivers were belting along completely oblivious to the danger of hitting deep water at speed. I was overtaken precisely as I maneuvered around the water by riding in the opposite lane! I had given the following driver plenty of warning with lengthy hand signals. However, for them to have lifted off the idiot pedal would have required more than two brain cells to rub together. The absence of a third brain cell, to call their own, meant they passed me at well above the legal speed limit precisely where the water lapped over the white line in the middle of the road. 15 miles not wearing a life jacket. Perhaps I need a bigger saddlebag for such eventualities?

Had it been any other country I could have set up a camera to record drivers ploughing into the water at high speed for a YouTube video. But not in Denmark. Showing guilt by camera is illegal for the camera owner in Denmark. You'd think such videos would come under the freedom of speech laws the Danes will defend to the last breath. Hate speech against the Danes in the local mosque is perfectly acceptable. Showing morons risking other's lives by driving like raving lunatics is not?

Well, that's April over for this year. It felt mostly cold and miserable and was certainly much wetter than usual, but was till warmer than average according to the DMI. Greenland has been setting new records in heat waves. They'll be planting crops and spraying Roundup next. Global warming marches on.

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28th April 2016 Battling excavators.

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Thursday 28th 42-46F, 6-8C, cloudy but briefly bright and breezy. Rain forecast for the rest of the day. I'd better get an early walk in. It grew steadily more cloudy as I walked to the far woods. A cool wind was making my eyes water where there was no shelter. I passed four huge stacks of felled hedges within a few hundred yards of each other. A farmer was continuing the millennia-long battle to drain the undulating fields of winter ponds. These not only [literally] bog down the tractors and other machines but kill or stunt the crops which might have grown there. Often leaving large patches of bare earth later in the year. Or even worse, a crop of undesirable weeds which might contaminate the desired crop.

With so many natural corrugations in the landscape there is often no easy outlet for many of these field ponds. Which is why they have employed a larger excavator to dig a channel for the drainage pipes along to a marsh reserved for hunting and wildlife.

The woods are greening above a carpet of pinkish-white Wood anemones.

The huge, Case, double-tracked tractor is an ideal tug to pull trailers of sand for back-filling the drainage trenches. Many normal tractors are prone to sinking in the soft, silty soil. Which can leave ugly scars on the fields. Doubling up the wheels of agricultural tractors is increasingly commonplace to spread the load and improve grip on such soft soils. The local soil is rather strange with a high sand content over clay subsoil. It has a strange habit of being self-healing to footprints and being worked. Rain can easily flatten previously sharp furrows in some fields.

Somehow it remained [almost] dry for my ride. I took a chance and visited another, more distant village. The roads were wet at one point but I returned mostly unscathed. 19 miles. Nearly four months gone and I have only just passed 2000 km! [Insert red-faced smiley here of your own choosing.]

Friday 29th 42-46F, 6-8C, windy but bright start. Rain this afternoon and gusting to 40mph as a low passes just north of Denmark. I was just reading the Danish DR news about blog images being borrowed illegally by commercial businesses. The particular [lady] blogger they interviewed had a huge number of visitors per month and actually makes a living at it. Presumably from my pet hate: Advertising!

 A typical field pond or puddle caught in a corrugation in the landscape. The damage to the crops is obvious but the linear humps below are each tall enough to make drainage a real, or very deep, struggle. Made worse by the need to keep all the big machinery on the spray tracks. Any detour around a puddle throws the whole GPS/track system into chaos! Often there is no low point in the area which makes economic sense as a drainage reservoir.

The lady blogger's layout, presentation, content and imagery were all first class. Though admittedly not in subjects which would interest me enough to visit. Mostly food preparation, recipes and DIY home decorations. Though that is rather underplaying her total coverage the whole thing is very professionally done. I wonder how she manages to have more than one image side by side. Even with my stretched page width the pictures would have to be tiny to allow two images alongside each other. I tend to limit image size to avoid long download times for those still on the end of a wet piece of string. Being able to enlarge my images by clicking provides a better view. Though never as sharply as the ~ 3Meg originals, of course. So many of my pictures benefit from full HD [24"] screen that they often seem quite tame when seen on the blog page. There is no sense of immersion in the landscape nor much of a sense of perspective.

I am aware that my own blog must often read as one long series of complaints, usually decorated, at intervals, with pretty pictures. My text might occasionally[?] come across as rather negative. Though it doesn't usually feel that way at the time I am scribbling my thoughts. What I usually mean is that improvement is easily possible if people would just behave themselves behind the wheel. Or produce quality goods actually worth selling. Which precludes expensive gloves which sweat badly within a 1/4 of an hour's ride. Or [expensive] lopsided saddlebags with appalling standards of workmanship! I can obtain a very decent sports bag with absolute perfection in stitching, pocket complexity and build for a fraction of the price of the saddlebags I so regularly complain about. 

In reality, I consider myself incredibly lucky to be able to walk and ride in such beautiful countryside so near to home. I also have my health and fitness well beyond anything others, often much younger than I, must suffer. The trick has been my wife's steady insistence on healthy food and consuming a good range of organic fruit and vegetables. Not smoking, consuming almost zero alcohol, avoiding takeaways and known unhealthy foods and sugar-laden drinks keeps my weight at an optimum level. Importantly, my energy intake matches my [not inconsiderable] levels of exercise. I have so many interests that I must try and spread my time evenly depending on each inspiration bubble of the moment. This all keeps my mind active as I flit from project to project like a butterfly. [According to the Head Gardener.]

Today, I walked a loop up to the woods and back via the marsh. The wind is already roaring in the trees and hedges. The few birds I saw or heard were travelling so fast downwind that there was a Doppler effect. Not a great day for a ride! A much better forecast for tomorrow. Rest day.

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27th April 2016 The vital, man-machine interface.

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Wednesday 27th 35F, 2C,  heavy overcast, windy and raining. The forecast is much wetter than yesterday's and supposed to keep it up until 9pm. 8.20am and wet snowflakes are now falling though without pitching.

I should have mentioned that I re-tensioned my Brooks B17 saddle last week. I find the effect of a drooping saddle constantly pushes me forwards. Which, in turn, places my support system on a narrower part of the saddle. The ideal positions for the sit bones are resting on the largest triangular areas at the widest point of the saddle and they should preferably be nearly flat and slightly flexible. A hammock offers no such support and the rider slides forwards to the lowest point.  Precisely where bits of their private anatomy, were never really designed for supporting their entire weight. Which leads to acute discomfort and even severe numbness and impotency in some riders.

I may have overdone it with the [factory pre-knackered] Brooks spanner and could have done less tightening to achieve the same desired effect. The added, cross-lace tie has saved the saddle from going south ever more rapidly. Which has saved my having to buy yet another new Brooks. Though at the expense of less immediate comfort rather than having to break in another B17 saddle from new.

Brand new, Brooks B17 showing how flat the saddle appears out of the box.Once it is broken in it will effectively become even flatter. This is the real secret of a comfortable saddle. Not some identi-wedge which tries to force your delicate sit bones apart!

The untied leather saddle's skirts flap outwards to the rider's weight and any shocks transmitted upwards by the machine. Think of the  rider as a heavy blob with very high inertia and little or no compliance [or suspension] at the vital interface between the pelvic sit bones and the saddle surface. So the MkI bod is, quite literally, an immovable object and the machine and/or saddle must provide any/all shock absorption. The saddle actually hammers upwards against the small points of the rider's sit bones. Though it feels as if the rider is hammering downwards on the lumps and bumps of typically badly maintained, modern roads.

The larger the saddle the lower the applied pressure [mass per square unit] as the rider's crutch spreads the load over a larger surface area. Unfortunately a large and soft saddle is relatively inefficient. Energy is lost to friction and squashing muscles which would much prefer some freedom to help the pedalling effort.

The saddle to sit bone interface is actually extremely subtle and varies widely from rider to rider. One man's [or women's] comfy armchair is another's instrument of torture. While all serious cyclists wear slippery shorts, these days, the degree of slipperiness of the saddle surface and any sweat build-up in the materials will radically alter the friction levels.

Leather does seem to have some very attractive properties regarding friction, breathability and flexibility. It is not for nothing that the Brooks B17, tensioned, leather saddle enjoys widespread approval from very high mileage, recreational cyclists.

The B17 often looks nose-up but it isn't snobbery. If you draw a line from nose to tail it will be almost level.

Meanwhile the pro racing cyclist often does huge mileages [including long training rides] but has other needs or limitations: Usually comfort is heavily sacrificed for lightness. The pro rider may even have his saddle compulsorily provided under sponsorship. Ironically this lack of choice could affect the rider's entire career unless he has the abilities of a fakir in riding on a "bed of nails." No doubt saddle soreness is rife in the peloton. Particularly given the present crop of over-hyped, but very similar, hard, plastic based, racing saddles on offer. Though it must be said that a racing cyclist leans further forwards and puts more effort into pedalling. These actions tend to lift some of the weight of the cyclist from the saddle. The downside is that they ride on rock hard, narrow tyres with very little natural suspension.

The rider who can pound out the thousands of miles in relative comfort may be far more likely to perform well. Rather than the opposite, with a "saddle-sensitive" rider constantly struggling with saddle soreness. Bibs [shorts with braces] and specialist [interface] creams, backed up with rigid hygiene standards, must help. The bib shorts are tensioned up against the rider's crutch without the inevitable creasing of simpler, but constantly sagging, cycling shorts. The creams should prevent friction between the [usually] foam pad and the rider's crutch. Well, that's the theory. Fashionable racing saddles still have a lot to answer for! I find that standing up and stretching the bib's crutch material sideways will often relieve the painful interstitial creasing.

The weekend warrior may slavishly copy his idol's equipment choice but may not enjoy the experience. Particularly if they "cheat" and wear underwear. Or simply have to add extra layers of clothing for warmth in cold weather mileage training. Few "skiing" tights or winter long-johns have perfectly flat seams and the seams will often lie at the vital rider/saddle interface. [Sit bones and crutch.]

Underpants may add warmth and greater social acceptability but usually ruck up and get sweaty when not allowed ample ventilation. Plus, the necessary seams, for fit, add their own discomfort burden to the vital interface. What works well up to [say] 40 miles can quickly turn very nasty indeed beyond that distance. Depending greatly on the rider and saddle, of course.

Despite my [steadily falling] annual mileages I still cannot confirm whether one really "toughens up" at the vital rider/saddle interface. Saddle soreness was certainly my limiting [debilitating] distance factor when I was riding nearer to 10,000 miles per year. The later purchase of decent quality bib shorts, for planned longer rides, increased comfort dramatically but only on longer, summer rides. I still have to ride year round and often in very cold weather indeed. Wandering the supermarkets and shopping streets "au-naturel" [in bibs] also has its [social] discomforts. A US café, once popular with cyclists, has actually banned the wearing of [anatomically correct] "Lycra" cycling shorts! Presumably this was in sunny California or balmy Florida. Chance would be a fine thing to be such "an exhibitionist" for most of the Danish year! 

The B17 saddles have certainly helped the comfort cause. As has careful selection of flat seamed, short legged, boxer shorts for when it is not particularly balmy in Denmark. Which is actually most of the time. Perhaps I should go "superhero" and wear my underpants on the outside? This actually makes a lot of sense if you really think about it. The pad in the bibs/shorts will protect me from the inevitably screwed up cloth of the under/over garment. Though I would rather not think about it too much and it seems like sharing [far] too much information already!

It automatically follows that any keen cyclist should have strict laundry and hygiene routines. As well as plentiful changes of carefully chosen, clean clothing to maintain comfort where it really matters. How anyone rides more than a few yards in denim jeans will remain one of life's mysteries. The hard knot of seams is always in exactly the wrong place to do anything but disrupt and injure the vital saddle/rider interface!

The design of a saddle is a highly complex matter of shape, length, width, curvature and padding. I find most saddles far too uncomfortable to sit on for even a few moments let alone go for a ride on the damned things. Promising saddles, like the Nidd and Cambium [B17 copies] proved to be hideously uncomfortable despite their similarities to the Brooks B17 in size and plan. Particularly the Nidd.

The Nidd [imaged alongside] had great potential but was fiberglass [GRP] reinforced underneath. To the point where it might just as well have been cast in concrete, carved from granite or pressed out of thick steel. It will never break in. Not ever! I tried soaking mine in a bucket of water but it never gave a millimeter nor became any more comfortable.

This  clearly belies the claim that the tension [hammock] saddle on steel rails automatically provides comfort. My belief is that the flexibility of the leather top is the most vital factor in comfort levels. Which is why a brand new and inflexible B17 feels like riding on a polished beach rock at first. Only when it is properly broken in does the saddle start offering any comfort at all. The triangles on the widest part of the 'bench' will sink and become flexible while the rest of the saddle should remain firm. Sometimes this desirable state of affairs can be a bit of a lottery.

Not all B17s are created equal and a pre-softened saddle may actually be too flexible all over. Man may have gone to the Moon but he has yet to come up with a perfectly broken in B17 lying in a presentation box. I tried that with their absolutely gorgeous B17 'Select' model but it was too soft all over and soon lost its shape. Badly enough to feel its twisted form while riding along. IT bwas returned for a refund and chose a B17 'Special' to replace it.. I now consider the Brooks B17 'Special' as coming close to perfection in a leather saddle. Whether you like the appearance of aging leather is purely a matter of taste.Though there is no denying it really is made of real leather and leather absorbs sweat. It shows as variable darkening of the leather over time. Black ids always a popular option.

The Cambium was a major disappointment despite it being promised [by the Italian makers] to be an ideal B17 replacement. One which they claimed was as comfortable as a B17 from day one, would last for years and not need any breaking in. Again it was completely spoilt by blind adherence to the hype artists at Selle rather than fulfilling its absolutely huge potential. Fear of replacement demands, under guarantee, meant that it was reinforced to hell! Just like the Nidd and that made both saddles completely unrideable! Unforgivably so!

A colossal mistake, which any owner of a broken-in B17 will confirm. Instead of using the natural flexibility of the rubber base they deliberately and literally killed it stone dead with fiberglass laminate!

Instead of aiming straight for the comfort of a broken-in B17 the drooling idiots in the Italian design department came up with a straight-out-of-the-box and heavily curved, absolutely rock hard sort of  B17 almost lookalike. With absolutely no chance in hell of it ever breaking in because "they" said it wouldn't. You could not make it up if you tried! Talk about an own goal! They believed their own bullshit/hype/propaganda/advertising and all they did was admire the racy lines without ever taking it for a bløødy ride! They can't have, or they'd know it was just another misshapen Italian boulder!

They even curved the thing sharply across the back like any narrow racing saddle. Because that is all they know at Selle and thereby they reduced the Cambium C17's active width by a good couple of inches! Had it been made flat it might have had a remote chance despite the ridiculous level of GRP reinforcement.

Perhaps they thought they'd be selling mostly to to the "big boned" American market. So were terrified of countless 30 stone Lycra "weekend weaklings" trashing their Cambiums on their very first ride? So it had to be heavily reinforced whether you needed it or not. One size fits all and that was mostly aimed at the 30+ stone American market. No choice is offered for those of normal girth.   

It was never meant to be a true B17 replacement IMO. Instead of which it was a blatant display of ingrained arrogance and ignorance, in equal measure, by somebody who had never ridden a touring bicycle in their entire lives. But whose absolute, iron willed, sociopathic authority could never be questioned by their mere underlings and sub-lackeys. The ruthless dictator does not surround himself with yes-men just to be questioned at every turn! The C17 is all too obviously a victim of rigid, internal, business hierarchy. What other possible explanation can there be for so dramatic, a complete and utter, total cock up? Where's my refund for fraudulent advertising of goods under the UK Sale of Goods Act? B17 replacement? Give me a break! Give me back my money!!!

The Cambium could easily have been cast in very thick and unyielding metal, covered [equally as badly] in raggedy canvas and there would still be no perceived difference in comfort. Because of its high retail price I persevered with the Cambium well beyond what common sense demanded. So much so that I injured my saddle "interface" enough to need a recovery period of greatly reduced mileage with the fully broken broken-in B17 'Special' safely back on the trike. Imagine if you had believed the factory's steaming bullshit and ridden off on a 'round the world' trip? I'd give you [maybe] 15 miles before you started looking for a bike shop to buy a new saddle and bin the Cambium!

The over-hyped Cambium "game changer" was just another mass produced, Italian saddle. All design and no comfort. In fact the Cambium has probably done so much real damage to the Brooks label's reputation that they [Selle] may well have intended this all along. Just so they could close down the Brooks "industrial heritage museum" and export the manufacturing jobs straight to Chinese assembly robots. With a nice fat bonus and the latest and biggest Audi for the manager who came up with this desperately clever idea. That of ridding themselves of the inherited Brooks workforce and Edwardian machinery without actually looking like the business Mafia they most probably are. All strictly IMO, of course. Can you be sued for telling the obvious truth? ;-)
   

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