Cycling, travel, scams and other stuff
Turning 40 this year and discovering that I have a son on the way has made me think a little more about how long I plan to move about on this planet.
In June a good friend sorted me out with a medical screening with a London based private doctor at Blossom Medical Healthcare.
The good news is that I tested 100% healthy and I am good to go for another few years at least.
Today on the way home from work my Cannondale Road Warrior 700 clocked up its 10,000th kilometre. In truth it has probably done a lot more than that with all the times the speedometer wasn’t working or was still in my backpack. On this momentous occasion I thought I would list out some data about the bike and list all of the parts I have upgraded or had to replace.
Name: Cannondale Road Warrior 600 2006 Hybrid Bike
Cost: about £750
Purchase date: Saturday 13th May 2006.
Evans data page: http://www.evanscycles.com/products/cannondale/road-warrior-600-2006-hybrid-bike-ec013130?style=60315#features
First appearance in blog: http://www.hubbers.com/index.php/the-road-warrior/
Total distance: 10,000 in 71 months. Averaging 141kms a month. This figure doesn’t include time when the speedo wasn’t working or kms on my other two bikes.
Frame: Optimo Road Warrior (light and quick)
Forks: Slice Ultra Si All-Conditions
Gears: Shimano 105 rear derailleur and Shimano FD-R443 front
Shifters: Shimano SL-R440
Chainset: Truvativ Elita GXP Triple
Brakes: Cannondale Thete all-condition brakes (still going strong)
Wheels: Mavic Aksium wheel set
Tyres: Maxxis Detonator (not worth the rubber they are made from)
Handlebars: Cannondale fire with bar ends
Stem: Cannondale 3-D forged
Saddle: Selle Royal Viper (super comfy)
Seatpost: Suspension Seat Post
Parts bought
Numerous brake pads
Numerous inner tubes (I don’t repair tubes I put a new on in and throw the old one out)
Pedals were shit so replaced with Shimano PD-M324 SPD MTB Pedals. Clipping in is about the best upgrade you can make to any bike
2 original tires (shitty Maxxis Detonator that caused about 5 punctures in the first three months cycling. Usually when raining)
2 Specialised Armadillo tires (also shit and cost me a days ride on the way to Paris with a ruptured tire wall)
2 Continental Contact tires (best tires I have ever owned, lost in a flat move and they don’t make them any more)
2 Continental Gatorskins (still on the bike and going strong)
Front and back gear shifters. One broke and it turns out you can only buy them as a pair
3 chains and cog thing at back
3 sets of cables
1 handle bar grips (wore the rubber out on the old ones)
1 front rim (the first one got a tiny bend in this accident http://www.hubbers.com/index.php/big-crash/ after about 3 months I had to replace it)
3 rear rims. 1 worn through on London streets with hard breaking. 1 died on the way to Paris. The replacement I got from decathlon was so shit it lasted 3 months.
1 front chainset for about 120 after I stripped the thread on a crank arm trying to save £10 in labour changing my pedals myself
Two cateye speedometers (one just died for no reason)
Several speedometer batteries
Complaints (not many)
The bottle holder was a waste of time
Screws on some of the components have rusted as the bike is now stored outside. Disappointing as the cost of non-rusting screws couldn’t have been that much more.
Overall
Overall the Road Warrior is a superb light-weight, durable, quick commuter bike.
Tonight I rode across London to the Tooting Bec Lido because the Lido near my house at Parliament Hill closes at 6pm for some bizarre reason. The weather was warm and the ride was awesome.
Tooting Bec Lido is the biggest outdoor pool in England and it’s lucky that it is because they have to cram a lot of filth into it. The list of things I managed to identify on the bottom of the pool included: dirt (lots of), sand (lots of), leaves, twigs, band aids, toilet paper (I think) and a panty liner. Disgusting.
As one of the other swimmers said it was, “it’s good for your immune system”. My personal opinion is that if you swim regularly in the Tooting Bec Lido and you don’t die then you probably have nothing to fear from swine flu.
This photo is stitched together from two photos taken using my not-very-wide-angle Canon Ixus 970 using the magic of photoshop.
I completely don’t get this war memorial and the tens of thousands of pounds that must have been spent on it. I mean it’s not like a signal animal will ever come to visit it and appreciate its significance. Not even a really smart monkey with a massive head would have any clue what this massive waste of tax payers money means.
Today after meeting some friends in Holborn for lunch I rode to the Thames Barrier. I’ve been meaning to get down there for ages to take some photos.
The Tames Path ride isn’t really what I expected. At several places along the Thames, apartments have been built right up to the edge of the river so you have to cycle back to a road to keep heading in the same direction. Sometimes when travelling on one of these back roads the Thames Path is signposted back towards the river and when you get there the path only goes for fifty meters or so before another apartment block forces you back on to the road you just came from. The net effect is that you end up with the feeling that you are zigzagging down the river and sometimes you end up a bit lost or on a main road.
A bit frustrating and not really what I expected from a quite cycle down the Thames.
Today was my last day at LexisNexis and as I was wrapping up project work and writing final emails we were evacuated from the building because the building next door was on fire.
This is a photo I took from my office window before we left.
Earlier this month my girlfriend of nearly four years got back from three months in Africa and told me that our long term plans to move to Australia, get married and have babies had changed. More specifically she was still planning to do it but I am no longer invited. Dumped. Bugger.
Today my boss took me out and bought me a coffee. She told be that my contract would be ending in March. Fired. Bugger.
The point is that now I have lost my girl and my job my life is starting to resemble a country and western song. If I had a dog or a bible I would be watching them very closely. Instead I will be keeping a close eye on my laptop (trusty companion) and my copy of Bill Bryson’s, A Short History of Nearly Everything (probably the best book on science ever written).
London has been covered in more snow recently than any time in the last 18 years. A lot of people have been complaining but personally I loved the opportunity to get the camera out and take some once-in-a-London-time photographs. I also wanted to try out this excellent flickr slide show tool that I saw on my mate Erik’s blog.
Having made quite a few trips to the post office recently I have had many an hour in long queues to ponder ways that they post office could reduce the size of it’s queues.
Ignoring the obvious idea of employing more people at busy times … I though the best idea would be to have a machine that could handle regular postal duties.
The Hubbers Postmachine 3000tm is an all in one weighing, payment processing, stamping and package collecting machine that could be installed in post offices and other postal outlets all over the country.
The first part of the HP3000tm (might need to have a word with Hewlett-Packard about the name) is a weighing shelf to weigh the package. A touch screen would allow the customer to select destination, postage type etc. The machine would then take payment from a credit or debit card. Finally any stamps or stickers (airmail, customs declarations) that are needed could be printed. The customer would then place these stickers on their package and drop the package into a slot on the machine or a larger collection area elsewhere in the post office.
The machine could even be programmed to deal with other day-to-day post office tasks like collecting bill payments, selling foreign currency, selling insurance or issuing forms etc.
Every post office would have several of the HP3000tm that would operate alongside some regular chair moisteners post office workers who could specialise in larger packages or more complicated enquires.
I saw this in the Post Office on Saturday 4th of October . It’s bigger than I would have built it and it looks like it was designed by students in a woodwork class at high school but it’s basically the same idea. Also I bet it doesn’t let you do all the other things I thought of like bills and currency :)
My other good idea I have had recently is “mustard cheese”. I think this would be a really cracking flavour if done well. I have found one place that sells Mustard Cheddar on-line and when the Mutarde (Rachel) gets back from Africa I will ask her if she thinks it is any good.
Today when I rode to work it was SNOWING!
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