“The rain be biblical” was the first thing I saw on Facebook when I logged on this morning. Enough said! And so I bring some flowers and sunshine to warm the day. The best part is this bicycle-adorned flower pot in St Davids, Pembrokeshire, doubles as a place to lock up your wheels. Beats Cardiff’s silver bars anyday!
Bloody hell, it’s been awhile! I’ve been busy relocating to Pembrokeshire, settling into a new job and, once again, adjusting to winter. Brrrrr! Anyhow, exciting news today – the new bike park at Afan is opening this Friday. Check out the video!
A few snaps from bike-related adventures over the summer. I’m sure I can’t remember seeing this much sunshine!
Chasing hedgerows in the Vale of Glamorgan
Rape seed fields in the summer, Vale of Glamorgan
Hitting trails in the sunshine 🙂
View of Three Cliffs Bay, Gower, from a ridge trail
View of Oxwich Bay, Gower, from ridge trail
The perfect road: car-less, basking in sunshine and surrounded by greenery
Lucy Baker and the Sugar Loaf, near Abergavenny
Love your mountain
Powys fields. A few years ago, I remember reading about a survey which found Powys was the happiest county in Britain. I guess this is why.
Beautiful views on the way up the mountain
Athletes in the final stages of the 112 mile cycle at Ironman Wales, Tenby, September 16th 2012.
2.4 mile swim, 112 mile cycle, 26.2 mile run. Just a casual day out in Tenby for some nutters.
France’s Sylvain Rota crosses the line to claim his first ever Ironman title, with a time of eight hours, 52 minutes and 43 seconds
London 2012’s track cycling events are just getting underway at the velodrome and with all the hype surrounding the mighty, mighty Bradely Wiggins, it’s hard not to get excited about the potential for inspiring more people to get on their bikes. According to a BBC report, there has been a 25 per cent increase in Welsh members joining British Cycling over the last year.
The guy who owns my local coffee shop has already dusted off his family’s bikes and will be heading to the Mumbles in Swansea for a cycle on Saturday. Looks like everyone’s coming to their senses and realising a life without a bike is like a cake without icing. Happy cycling!
According to a BBC news report yesterday, South Wales Police are adopting a zero tolerance approach to tackle the problem of pavement cyclists in Cardiff by issuing on-the-spot fines of £30. It’s not that I condone cycling on pavements – I really don’t – but it would appear cyclists are neither welcome on the road nor the pavement. Where exactly can we cycle in peace without fear of being injured or killed by people who can’t quite seem to grasp the idea we have rights too?
During my time as a road cyclist, I have had people drive at me (often with a mobile phone in one hand), I have been sworn at and experienced a number of near misses with vehicles skimming passed my wheels and drivers blaming me for their incompetent driving. I have heard more honking horns than I care to remember – trust me, I really don’t need to be made aware of every passing car on a 60 mile ride – and I have even had a fork thrown at me through an open car window. It’s rare I go out for a ride and don’t have at least one thing happen which riles me. For all this, I count myself lucky because I’ve never been in an accident.
This isn’t about road casualties or how dangerous cycling is or isn’t. This is about something more fundamental: a basic level of respect for other road users. I drive a car too, so I know how frustrating driving is, how long it takes to get to where you want to be, how you have to battle your way through traffic and yes, cyclists do get in the way sometimes. But everybody needs to use the roads. It definitely won’t kill anyone to wait for a few minutes behind a cyclist until it is safe to overtake, but it could kill someone if you choose to take a chance and squeeze past.
When I’m out on the road, I often wonder whether the chump who nearly just mowed me down realises that if I’m hit by a car, I’m going to get hurt, I might even die. Other European countries seem to manage the whole car/bike thing, so why can’t we?
Cycling in Cardiff can be a tricky affair, as shown in the video on the BBC website, with parked cars obstructing cycle lanes across the city. That’s not the only problem though. For all the work Cardiff Council and the Welsh Government are supposedly doing, there’s so much more to be done. Cycling lanes across the city come to an abrupt end with no indication of where they start again. Some pavements accommodate cyclists, others don’t, and the same goes for crossings. Are the people who even design cycle networks going out onto the roads and trying the routes? It doesn’t work and until it does, who can blame someone, who doesn’t have the confidence to ride on the road, for riding on the pavement?
What better way to embrace Cardiff Cycle Festival than a bicycle tour with poet and author, Peter Finch – a native of the city and all round good egg. I saw Peter perform his poetry at the Hay Festival in 2010 and enjoyed it so much I scuttled off to the bookshop to nab a signed copy of his latest offering, Zen Cymru. For a geek like me, nights don’t come better than bikes and poetry.
There’s perhaps nobody in a better position to lead a Real Cardiff Cycle Tour than Peter, given he has written three alternative guides, Real Cardiff, Real Cardiff Two and Real Cardiff Three. The tour was organised by Pol, owner of Cardiff Cycle Tours, who takes groups on tours of the city on his fleet of British-made Pashley bikes at a fantastically leisurely pace.
Aside from being able to give a Pashley a bash, I was also able to try out a Brooks saddle for the evening. The combination is a winner for tours like this due to the comfort and great vantage point afforded by riding an upright bike – an absolute luxury for anyone who, like me, rides hunched over on a road bike over long distances.
Here I am on the Pashley outside the Coal Exchange
Trying the Brooks saddle for comfort
The tour began outside the Coal Exchange in Mount Stuart Square – no longer a sqaure, but named as such because it was a square with a park in the middle once upon a time. And did you know the first £1,000 cheque in the world was written at the Coal Exchange? These were just the first of many fascinating facts about our little city.
Peter read his first poem of the evening outside the Coal Exchange, based on what was “in” and what was “out”, according to various newspaper columns. The bard didn’t just read his poetry, he performed it and there was a real element of entertainment, often missing from poetry readings. Peter’s poetry was fun and funny, and even more so when on a bike.
From tales of Cardiff’s dockland history to the old canal network to the origins of Tiger Bay, the tour meandered its way around the Bay and to places bypassed by many of the city’s inhabitants. When we travel around a place we know, it’s often very easy to look but not actually see, to not take any real notice of our surroundings, ceasing to explore or discover, sleepwalking. The tour presented Cardiff in a fresh and interesting light.
Outside the police station in the Bay there is a sculpture of a tall metallic lighthouse, supported by rocks with words engraved on them. Peter was commissioned to write these words, which are arranged in a spiral and meant to be read from top to bottom. He was told to remove “Vulcan” from the list because the police thought it carried political connotations with controversial plans to knock down the Vulcan pub in Adamsdown.
Peter guides us through the spiralled verse
Passing through Mermaid Quay, we stopped by a large mosaic at the end nearest the roundabout, which denoted the history of Bute Town. I’ve driven passed it more times than I care to remember and I couldn’t have told anyone what it was. Next stop: St David’s Hotel – Cardiff’s first 5* hotel. Apparently the bit on the top is meant to look like a seagull and the back like a ship, but identifying either as such depends very much on the angle.
The next section of the tour was dedicated to sculptures: the few remaining kurlews (which hadn’t been stolen by thieves) in memory of the once flourishing bird population before the development of Cardiff Bay (estimates suggest 70 per cent of the birds died), an ugly concrete sculpture of Cadair Idris and a more aesthetically appealing, but vandalised, sculpture of a man with a telescope looking and a huge silver mirrored ball.
Pashley on the wetlands in the Bay
If you looked through the back of the man’s head there was a telescope with a view across the Bay, until it was vandalised.
The rain kicked in just as we got to Cardiff Bay Yacht Club. Among the confusion of trying to get the gate open, I wondered what could be inside worth including on a tour. Well, it turns out there used to be a tunnel underneath the river bed, which was used by dock workers. It was closed under health and safety, but Peter remembered the eeriness of the tunnel from his childhood and read a poem about riding through the tunnel on his bike.
Discovering old tunnels at Cardiff Bay Yacht Club
On our way to the Ely Trail and our final stop, Lamby Way, we stopped briefly at the tightly secured BT Internet Data Centre in the Bay. If you’ve ever wondered where cyber data lives, it’s in places like this, hence the tight security. Peter was commissioned to write some poetry for the building, which appears on the glass frontage and consists of data and information about the twentieth century Welsh poet, R S Thomas.
Our final stop, Lamby Way, was previously a landfill site. Now, sealed and covered in grass and greenery, the site is a fake hill with great views of Cardiff if you can forget about what lies beneath! Every major landmark can be pointed out across the city’s skyline, including Ikea which was the subject of Peter’s final and best poem of the evening.
Peter Finch reading a poem about Ikea
Poetry and bikes, that’s what I likes! (See what I did there).
Thanks to Lucy Baker of Art Spoke Soul for the photos.
Rocking my first bike circa 1990
While avoiding revising for next week’s journo exams, I came across this photo of me on my first bike, rocking a rad. all-in-one koala outfit and red daps to match my wheels.
I’ve definitely not toned down my love for the bike or ridiculous choice in clothes since then, though I’m definitely not responsible for this funky number.
I was thinking about the pure excitement of taking off on two wheels without stabalisers for the first time and all the adventures I used to have on my bike as a kid. I guess that’s why I still ride now – for the adventures and to feel like a kid again.
The bike was a hand-me-down from my brother and it wasn’t in the best condition when I had it, but Dad did a decent spray job and I was all set to go.
I remember the first day I rode without stabalisers. It was a Sunday, I think, and the sun was shining. A combination of sheer bloody-mindedness and my brother shooting arrows at me as I tried to cycle round the garden meant I reached my goal before the day was out. Those were the days!
And then I came across this:
Pretenting to read the South Wales Echo with my Pop
I wonder if I could use this photo to get me a job when I finish the course? Dedication from a young age and all that.
Another guest post from fellow trainee journalist and cyclist, Liz Day. Liz blogs about all things veggie.
Two bike-mad brothers from Cardiff are currently training for a gruelling 24-hour charity bike ride.
Kyle and Myron Darlington from Grangetown will complete the 280-mile endurance ride on July 14 to raise money for disabled charity Scope.
Kyle, 29, said: “I’m most worried about the sleep deprivation. We’ll arrive in France at 2am, after cycling 80 miles from London to Dover and then we’ll still have 200 miles to go.”
He added: “We’ll be cycling on rural roads in the French countryside, so we’re expecting it to be very dark and cold. It might also be quite foggy in the early morning.”
Kyle and his younger brother Myron, 21, are hoping to raise a combined total of £2,400, which will contribute to the charity’s overall goal of £300,000 for the whole event.
“We had to pay £400 each to enter, but we didn’t think it was right for people to sponsor us for the cost of taking part, so we decided to donate that ourselves. We want every penny of the sponsorship money to go to Scope,” said Kyle.
Last year, 200 people took part and only 11 completed the route in the 24-hour timeframe. This year, 300 people have entered and the brothers are hoping to cross the finish line together.
“The challenge requires an average speed of 15mph for a constant 18 hours in the saddle. Myron and I are really close and we ride together a lot. We make a great team because we encourage each other when we’re starting to get tired,” said Kyle.
The brothers have bought exercise bikes and train every day before breakfast, as well as organising social rides on their local cycling blog City Fix. “We publicise the rides on the blog and through Twitter,” said Kyle.
“I still find it hard to believe there are some people out there who don’t know how to ride a bike,” he added. “We have both been passionate about cycling for a long time and we wanted to share our love of bikes with other people.”
Kyle said the brothers had chosen the charity carefully. “We have wanted to get involved in fundraising for a while, but we disapproved of the idea of doing something fun, like a parachute jump, off the back of a charity.”
“This won’t be fun, there will be a lot of pain, grit and determination involved and that is something families living with disabilities go through daily. We chose Scope because it enables families living with a disability to live life to the fullest, which is something we really support,” he added.
It’s been a quiet time on the blogging front of late, but the good news is Dragon Ride training is officially underway. Long rides are proving a killer at the moment, but as long as the miles keep going through these pins, I’m confident I’ll be laughing on June 10.
Training kicked off a couple of weeks ago with a 70 miler, which covered much of the route the Dragon Ride follows, including the mighty Bwlch and Rhigos. Depleted energy stores were replaced with a cocktail of chocolate-topped flapjacks, Aberdare’s finest mocha and a post-ride beer and curry – all part of a carefully considered athlete’s diet. The climbs were fun and some of the scenery spectacular – it’s just a shame to have to ride so many shoddy, traffic-laden roads to get to the mountains.
This weekend, however, was a different story. Sunday morning and the bikes were in the boot. Destination: Chepstow. From there I was treated to a tour of the Forest of Dean. The ride was on the harsher side of undulating, with the climbs not so much long but steep, and by the end I was a semi-broken woman, thanks to a whole load of head wind. On the plus side, the Forest of Dean offers superlative road surfaces and sensational scenery, with plenty of variation and a tonne of flora and fauna – a welcome distraction from all the aches and pains.
A muddy River Wye on the ascent out of Chepstow
Forest road - unfortunately a bit early for bluebells
River Wye, view from Simmonds Yat Rock
Tintern Abbey
The question is can I take on the Forest of Dean Spring Classic in less than three weeks time? 90 miles and a collective ascent of 8000m … ah, what the hell, why not! Sport is in the mind, sport is in the mind, sport is in the mind.
If there’s an upside to doing unpaid work on the Sunday after Wales win the grandslam, it has to be a guilt-free Monday morning nipping round the coast on the bike in the sun. Summer’s on it’s way and I can’t wait to lose some layers. Woompaaa!
crankitupcymru 