Recently in urban Category
Jumping on the Cycle Chic bandwagon
There are still a couple of weeks before the mountain biking season would start and it means that I need some content for this period. I always quite liked the cycle chic sites, most notably the original Copenhagen Cycle Chic site, so it seems to be a good idea to spend some time and effort on. From now on, I'll upload a couple of shots every day and we'll see where this goes.
London Critical Mass, July issue
As usual, the ride started from Waterloo Bridge. My office is situated near Wandsworth town so I approched it from the direction of Vauxhall. Not long after passing by Vauxhall, someone patted me on the back. Since I was wearing a Critical Mass t-shirt, he reckoned (rightly) that I was heading towards the starting point and asked me if he could tag along. I happily led him there as he turned out to be a really nice guy. His name was Sam and he worked as a paramedic. We exchanged some stories, he told me about one call that had happened a couple days before. A cyclist was knocked over by a LGV and even though his helmet was smashed into smaller pieces, it definitely saved his life.
As usual, the ride started around 7pm and we immediately caused a massive congestion around the IMAX theatre.
Superman was here, but this time he chose to use his humble and mind-mannered alter-ego.
A Googler, without street view cameras attached to his bike.
As usual, there were some angry motorists, who couldn't cope with the thought that they might be stranded for a short amount of time.
Sam and his friends.
This guy's bike sported a couple christmas tree lights, it was quite impressive.
European Hardcourt Bike Polo Championships - Day 2
Today, I could only pay a short visit to the tournament, but here are few pictures from a couple games.
European Hardcourt Bike Polo Championships - Day 1
This week was probably the worst week of my life, at least photography equipment-wise. I brought a lot of business to Fixation. First, the shutter of my EOS 1D MkII is probably dead (it began when I took the World Naked Bike Ride pictures) so they need to replace it. My EX 580 flash stopped to work properly in manual mode (the level of the output remained the same, no matter what value I gave it) and a gust of wind smashed my EX 580II flash, so the impact damage has to be repaired. Fortunately, my lens are working properly, however, this unusual streak of bad luck left me with only one body, my beloved EOS 5D and no flash, so there were limitations to what I could do today, on the first day of the European Hardcourt Bike Polo Championships.
I arrived around 3pm and you couldn't miss the place on Union street: all the cheering and clapping made it easy to find the venue. The matches were already on, though it wasn't really clear, who's playing with whom, only the score was cleary displayed courtside.
Though it's called European Championships, the majority of the teams were from the UK and Germany or at least that was my impression when I took a look at the scoreboard.
This German team from Munich just started their game.
There was about 200 people around the main court and they celebrated big shots and big crashes equally enthusiastically.
The players always fought hard for each and every ball, the pace of the game didn't allow them any idleness.
The sky was overcast throughout the day, but it didn't rain until 4pm-ish. It tried to make up all the lost time, hence in no time it was raining cats and dogs which sent the majority of the crowd under the tents of the exhibitors. It didn't last long, fortunately, but the players kept it cool and didn't stop the ongoing match.
Bike polo is probably one those few sports where men and women can play against each other, though I'm not sure if that's a good idea. In this case, we saw a really enthusiastic and very nicely playing German team, that comprised of three girls. They seemed to play better than the guys but failed to score a single goal whilst the other side scored four. Still, big up for the ladies!
This was the first day, more to come tomorrow.
Cycling through London
The length of the route is approximately 12 miles and it takes me roughly an hour to get there on my Trek Soho bike. Interestingly, getting there by tube isn't slower, it takes 55-65 mins to get there, even though I have to change 2 times.
For the sake of speed, I tend to use main roads as traffic doesn't really bother me.
I was bit late from work the other day, so I decided to make a little experiment. I decided that on the way to work, I would pedal full on, and might jump the odd red light if it seemed safe. On the other hand, though, I promised to myself that I won't hurry on the way back home, I would pedal casually, would act responsibly and would stop at each and every red light. I was curious how much difference is there between the two approaches.
Data from my Polar heart rate monitor. The speed measuring unit is still somewhere in my luggage so I cannot provide that data.
First leg: riding to work
I started rather strong and stormed to the top of Finsbury Park quite quickly. The experiment didn't allow me, however, to roll down the hill idly, I was pushing the pedals all the way to Finsbury Park Station. After a brief flat section, I eagerly climbed up on Camden Road until York Road, which is the last big climb, from there on, only downhill and flat sections were ahead of me. I couldn't really enjoy the downhill, as I was pushing hard to get back some time I lost at a crossing. The rest of the ride was quite uneventful, Regent Street was quite crammed, as usual but King's Road, after Sloane Square, was really empty, which was a nice surprise as it's usually really busy and the narrow road doesn't give cyclists much space to manouvre through the traffic.
It took me 55 minutes to get to my workplace, my average pulse was 146 bpm, my speed average was 12.9 and I burnt 769 kcal. It's nice but there were two problems with it: I had spent almost 60 per cent of the time in high or maximum intensity thresholds, so I was really sweaty and I had to take a shower. I also jumped few red lights which is a bad thing for obvious reasons. Let's see, what happened on the way home.
Riding slowly and casually.
Second leg: cycling back home
I was really looking forward to the ride back home in the afternoon. I started really slowly, I wasn't in a hurry and I stopped at each and every red light, just as I was supposed to. I didn't put much effort into climbing the ascents fast, I chose a convenient pace, the average heart rate was 117 bpm. It took me 1 hour and 4 minutes which is 9 minutes slower compared to my morning ride. I thought about it for a while but it's not that much, only 16 per cent.
The verdict
I was thinking about this for a while, but I concluded that it doesn't really make sense to ride through London like crazy when you can't gain much time and if you're stopped by the wrong red lights, you might lose a lot if time, so decreasing the amount of time it takes to get to you destination depends on the luck as well. I, for one, won't push myself that hard anymore during commuting, it just doesn't make sense.
World Naked Bike Ride, London, 2009
I arrived about an hour prior to the start of the event. A recent anke injury prevented me from participating but I was still curious what it was like. The organizers were gathering already and were busy handing out flags and other paraphernalia.
The police were there already to make sure that everything goes smoothly. Obviously, mostly cycle-mounted officers were there. Their bikes weren`t really fitted with any super-special equipment, however one of the bikes was fitted with this cool light and a siren. It soon turned out, however, that the unit is out of order and even if it worked, a whistle is a much more effective tool to draw attention.
There was an assembly zone north of the Apollo Statue, where riders could change clothes and prepare for the ride. These young lads, Hartwat and Adam were waiting patiently for their first naked ride.
Though the start was still almost 30 minutes away, some folks were already happily naked. Impressive hairdo, by the way.
Police cyclists led and closed the big mass of mostly nude and unanimously cheerful riders.
Not long after the advertised 3:30pm start date the ride set off. There were all kinds of people. Some were masked, some wore silly costumes. Bicycle-wise, there were also all kinds of rides: mountain bikes, serious road bikes, hybrids, pimped monsters, unicycles and even some trikes. They were to tackle 6.2 miles around Central London so I had more than an hour to kill before they were to arrive back to Hyde Park to cross the Wellington Arch.
It took them 80 minutes to complete the loop and they arrived back via Park Lane in one happy, joyful (and naked) crowd.
He obviously missed the point.
Once everyone rode through the Wellington Arch, the crowd started to dissolve. Lot of people remained naked or semi-naked and had a great time chatting about the ride they just completed. Some folks used all the attention to show their talents, like this pedalling musician guy. He should have tried Britain's Got Talent.
The whole event seemed to me a weird mixture of a Critical Mass ride and an erotic show. It managed to retain the philosophy of the Critical Mass rides where they promote urban cycling, calling the general public's attention to the vulnerability of cyclists, using nudity as a means to an end. But the most of the crowd, in my opinion, were more interested in seeing tits and dongs than to switch from driving to cycling. Still, it is the least the rider's fault, so kudos to everybody, who had the courage and rode along.
Trek Soho S 2009 review
I moved to London in January and I knew immediately, that I need a bike to commute. I looked around on the market to find the most suitable bike for my needs. What I was looking for was the following:
- Simplicity - I used to ride a fixed gear bike back home in Budapest and I loved the fact that I didn't need to bother with derailleurs, cogs cables and the likes. I didn't want a fixed gear bike this time though as I needed time to get used to ride on the other side of the road and I didn't want too much distraction.
- Black - I wanted a black bike, as simple as that
- Affordable - I didn't want to buy an expensive bike because if you fork out £900 for a commuter bike, you get reluctant to chain it anywhere so it kind of defies the purpose of an urban bike.
All these and my bias towards Trek (I have a Trek 8500 mountain bike and a Trek 1.2 road bike) pointed towards the Trek Soho S. It was single speed, it was black, sleek, beautiful and under £400. So be it, I thought
Due to my height (6'4") I opted for the 22" frame and it was a good decision, the size is perfect and allows me to transform my pedalling efforts optimally into speed. The handlebar was a bit too wide but I had had cut some 2" from each end, it makes navigating through traffic much easier.
I really like the drivetrain's specifics: 44T in front with a 17T freewheel in the back. For me, it is the perfect solution, I can pedal up almost everywhere (to be fair, it can be tricky when it gets really steep) and I don't necessarily need to start freewheel when a smaller descent starts. The brakes are performing really well, especially after the first two weeks. One feature I love is the chainguard which allows me to don't care about my pants and I don't need to tuck it under my socks anymore which makes everyday cycling much easier, at least to me.
The bike was performing flawlessly for about two months when suddenly the left pedal broke into two pieces. Closer inspection revealed that it had a plastic body, so it shouldn't have been a surprise. Still, I was expecting a bit more than that.
I had another problem with the bike: the crankset started to clack and it started to feel funny during pedalling. My unfortunate ankle injury prevented me from taking the bike back to the shop to see what the problem could be but again, it's a bit annoying that something so essential as a crankset or a bottom bracket starts to have problems after 5 months of use
My overall opinion of the bike is that the design and the riding capabilities are excellent, however using better components in certain places might have saved me a lot of trouble.
Night rider
Fixed Mag Issue 3 launch pics
My first Critical Mass London
I had a meeting prior to the ride, so I left home in a rush and I didn`t have time to pick up a proper camera, thus the lousy pictures, taken with my Blackberry.
I arrived to the South bank of Waterloo Bridge at 6pm sharp and there were quite a few cyclists.
However, it took as almost another hour to get started. I don`t know, what was the reason for that, my only problem was that had I known earlier that it wouldn`t start at 6pm, I would have been able to bring a camera with me. The wait though gave us time to meet fellow cyclists in the crowd.
By 7pm, a couple hundred cyclists gathered, the ever-growing crowd was getting more and more cheerful. Finally, we left Southbank and headed for Waterloo Bridge to get to the other side of the Thames. Most of the motorists didn`t bother that we blocked the traffic, however there were some, who was really angry at us, making their commute 20 minutes longer.
Leaving Parliament street, we saw the Sri-Lankan protesters, protesting in front of the Parliament.
The square was already clogged due to very heavy traffic, so it was tricky even for us to get through.
We headed back towards Trafalgar Sq, but as we reached Theobald Rd, it turned out that the end of the ride would be at Elephant&Castle. Since I`m living near Angel, it didn`t make much sense to go all the way down there, so I said hello to my new friends and rode back home.
It was a really great ride however, count me in next month!
