by Richard
November 18, 2010 in Uncategorized by Richard
So impressed with this video I’ve had to include it here. The Sanstone cliffs are probably in Ireland but they look like the north of scotland. A-M-A-Z-I-N-G video.
DARK SIDE OF THE LENS from Astray Films on Vimeo.
by Richard
July 23, 2010 in Uncategorized by Richard
Why ‘Rocket pesto’.
Why do Bic Biros have lids?
Why do supermarket foods need so much packaging but the Green Grocer doesn’t?
Why do people buy four wheel drives if they live in the city?
Why do people leave the labels on the soles of their new shoes?
Why does it rain on bank holidays?
Why do we have daylight saving hours?
Why does the UK drive on the left?
Why do we still have oil spills?
Why are we here?
Why do we hiccup?
Why are things different?
Why is pink ‘girly’?
Why do we sleep?
Why do I need a faster computer?
Why is coffee more expensive than beer?
Why are we not going to pubs?
Why are there so many people on this island?
Why ‘bling’?
Why can’t I divide by zero?
Why are you reading this?
by Richard
July 11, 2010 in MTB, Riding by Richard
I’ve finally finished building out my new commuting bike. Obviously this bike was never going to be a sensible err.. commuting bike, rather it was always going to be a secondary mountain bike with an option to stick on panniers and go the distance on the road. Like my former p7 its steel with a rigid fork, I am now a multi bike bod.
When my faithful old p7 died I had a problem, I was due to go to the alps and wanted to take a bike, but of course the only bike I owned was one with a large and ugly crack in the chainstay. I had discovered this metallic chainstay chasm when I was doing some bike fettling prior to the trip. This left me with only days to sort myself out. I had a stark and tricky choice, go without bike or replace it quickly. After much humming and haaing my p7 was replaced with a Whyte 19 c. This is not exactly a like for like change, one is a very nice bike, the other is a speed freak, carbon fetishists wet dream. This carbon dream did a fine job in the alps and is perfect for XC riding however it is a ridiculous machine to consider travelling across London day in day out – a total waste. I needed something a little more versatile.
The beauty of the p7 was that it was just that, I think Orange’s old website described the p7 as a do it all machine, single speed it, XC it, rack it up with panniers and tour one it. I did all these things and all on a tough as nails rigid fork. After much suffering the internet (see what I did there?) I decided upon a replacement frame from on-one, (similar to the p7), a 456 steel beastie with all the right sorta braze ons (well almost). There were a range of sensible colours – these were easy to spot – they were in demand and subsequently had low stock numbers on the site. Of course sensible isn’t DEEP PINK so that is what I went for.
Candy and I picked up the frame from a depot just outside Kings Cross on Friday night. It was a thing of beauty. I started the build almost immediately after working out that if I took the legs of an old Ironing board, tied them together and covered them in the frame packing foam then I actually had a reasonable bike stand from which I could build the beastie out. Build was easy – I reused components from our other bikes. The only part that was slightly disturbing was winding on the hollowtech II bottom bracket. The soft aluminium of the casing didn’t like the steel of the new frame and I found myself checking the threading over and over, it was OK but it just didn’t feel like it.
Everything else went pretty well, and this evening I was able to ride up and down the road. Everything feels slick, though running high pressure touring tires is probably going to destroy the bearings on the rear hub again (went through 2 rear deore hubs in less than a year before my frame failed). Anyway this is my new build on it stand and just after it’s first test ride.
The proud father
by Richard
May 6, 2010 in London by Richard
Starbucks has a place in the world. It used to be a place I’d drop into at the weekend to recuperate on exhausting ’shopping’ trips, occasionally I’d wander down on the odd lunch hour. Increasingly though I find myself avoiding this particular brand of coffee house. Though not a conscious decision every time I find myself sitting on the hard chairs I wonder why I’m here, not in an interesting metaphysical way but more of a ‘why isn’t there anything better’ way.
Today I have a meeting in 20 minutes in Vauxhall, I’m in Vauxhall bus station and I’ve just queued for 5 minutes in a queue that extended outside the shop itself. The implication to the passer on the street must be that I REALLY want a cup of coffee. This isn’t entirely true. I’m early, I want somewhere to sit, a cup of coffee is a bonus and I’m prepared to pay a couple of quid to take the weight of my feet. It gives me the opportunity to work out what has become wrong with Starbucks, why has it fallen in my estimation.
I have already come to a conclusion, its nothing to do with the quality of service, the decor or friendliness of the staff – all of these are perfectly acceptable. No. It is the clientèle, I feel slightly saddened, but the fact is that I know what is wrong with Starbucks, it is me and my ilk. We are the problem, idle businessmen needing place for a ‘pre-meet’ or somewhere to ‘catch up’ outside the office. My Starbucks is filled with small business meetings. Earnest bright eyed be-suited individuals leaning back and convincing their boss or client that the on-screen presentation they’re both pouring over is right. That the last minute details before they head into that big pitch are just so. It is a dismal lack of variety, where is the man walking his dog, the old ladies wanting to natter. I miss these things. I miss the old Starbucks. I would like to take a high and mighty attitude but I am just as bad, I’m in my suit furiously typing away on my notebook, phone hanging out the side to use my own private networks, my silent company a black briefcase. No its’ not Starbucks that has become pathetic, it is I.
by Richard
May 3, 2010 in MTB, Riding by Richard
These videos are out near Petworth. They are two descents on the same ride. Originally this post had both raw and anti-shake footage of both descents but after much comparison the consensus was that the anti-shake filter videos were far superior so I’ve removed the others. Enjoy.
First descent.
Second descent (yes, we’ve just gone off route).
by Richard
May 3, 2010 in ice climbing by Richard
Ok so its nearly 18 months out of date but I as I was trawling through my old AVI files I came across this one I’d not really watched. A bit of gem. Candy, me and Aide sitting in Torp Airport discussing the trip we’ve just finished. Good fun.
by Richard
May 2, 2010 in MTB, Riding by Richard
A couple of videos of a recent trip biking down in Midhurst.
by Richard
April 21, 2010 in London by Richard
@candy and I moved to our new flat in December. We’re very pleased with it even to go as far as to say I think its the nicest London flat I’ve lived in. However in the south facing garden with the tidy lawn (Oh yes the Barby is going to be busy this summer) there is an unexpected delight.
We have a fish pond.
The agent told us we would need to look after the fish – feed them and make sure the filter is switched on / cleaned regularly. Slightly bemused we were more than happy with this. The promised instructions on how to look after the fish never arrived but that’s Ok we live in an age where the Internet makes me fish expert in a few short clicks.
The winter was long – and the fish can’t digest food below 8 degrees, plus the filter mustn’t run if there is any ice. About April time however things change in the fish pond – they come out of hibernation and need more oxygen as they become active and start to feed. This means aerating the water somehow (with a fountain effect pump or similar). The water was exceedingly murky by beginning of April so we queried the landlord and got some instruction about the switching on the filter and feeding. It turned out that the contacts for the electrics has corroded so the pump wouldn’t turn on. I managed to fix this and got the thing going. However it was not as the instructions described. The pump in use had no filter and on account of the state of the water jammed up after only a couple of hours of operation. No amount of cleaning the pump kept it running for more than 3 hrs.
After much tinkering an alternative solution was found – A new pump.
The pump was installed on a Friday evening. The pump promised to clean the water but no indication of timescales was given. On Friday night I found myself really looking forward to clean water for the poor fish. By now their plight was now my responsibility. Saturday morning I was a little disappointed – the pump was still running but the water was still murky and I still couldn’t see what was in the pond. By Sunday morning the pump was clearly in a sorry state. There was barely a trickle so I switched it off before heading off for a Bike ride in Chilterns. On Sunday evening I cleaned the filter – it was utterly filthy and covered with a thick layer of sludge. This however was a good thing – it was doing what it was supposed to. As I replaced the pump back into the pond I noted that I could see movement in the murk. A clear indication that the pump was doing its thing and the water was slowly getting clearer.
On Monday the water was clearer again and when the fish food hit the water there were fish. Not one or two but LOTS. It turns out the fish pond is FULL of fish. Not only that but there are lots of different types and sizes: The fish have clearly been breeding. Very exciting.
On Tuesday evening I needed to clean the filter again. But by now I could see gold and silver shapes swimming around without them needing to come to the surface.
The water continues to clear. The fish are much happier and active – I can barely wait to see how the pond looks tomorrow.
by Richard
April 15, 2010 in London, Riding by Richard
I was nearly taken out twice on the roads today. Firstly by a bus opening doors nowhere near a bus stop secondly by a mini who didn’t use the handbrake; prefering instead to roll up and down a hill on the clutch whilst waiting for lights.
Also good to see ‘high visibility bicycle policing’ on Essex road. Hint: If you stand by the traffic lights in Hi Viz the cyclists who normally go through the red lights will spot you and stop. I agree it deters cyclists going through THAT set of lights, but as I noted the majority who stopped at the policed lights didn’t at the next set which were only a couple of hundred meters down the road. My route to work has about 60-70 sets of lights on it. To create an effective deterent for just my journey to work (pointless as I’m a stopper anyway) would require 7 officers x 70 lights making nearly 500 officers…