Lighten up

Its that time of year when the hunt for the bike lights begins. I found the rear light no problem, but couldn’t find the front one anywhere. So as I knew I’d be riding home in the dark tonight I decided to go out and buy myself another one. I bought the dinky Cateye EL400 which is very bright for its size, and if my other light turns up I can attach this one to my helmet. Which will certainly get peoples attention when I look their way at junctions.
I also asked the bloke at the bike shop about replacing worn cones, and he said its not worth it because once the cones are worn the cup on the hub will also be worn so you may as well get a new wheel !!
Can this be right, I know my bike takes a lot of abuse as I ride it 22 miles a day in all weather conditions. But I only got new wheels last year. He also said that it doesn’t matter how much the wheels cost because he’s seen the same thing happen to a set of £300 wheels. Anyway, they are running a maintenance course after Christmas so hopefully next year I’ll be a more competent mechanic.

Clifden Trip

Had a great time in Clifden, Clifden is about 5 hours from Belfast on the West coast of Ireland and has some of the most beautiful coastline in the country. We travelled down on the Friday night and spent the evening outside the pub in the town centre watching the acrobats rehearse on a crane for the parade on the Saturday night. Clifden is famous for a couple of reasons.
Firstly its where Alcock and Brown landed after being the first people to make a non stop crossing of the Atlantic, its also where the film the quiet man was filmed. With these two facts running round my head I headed out of the town up Sky road. With a tail wind behind me the climbing was easy and the views were spectacular. The weather wasn’t great, but it didn’t matter at all. I was just enjoying being somewhere besides Belfast on my bike. I made a steep descent towards the end of the peninsula and then headed back towards the town with the hills offering me some protection from the wind that had aided my journey earlier on.
I didn’t have long to ride so this 14 mile circular route was ideal and I got back to the bed and breakfast in time to see my juggling partner Chris getting up (He’s not a morning person). The weather got worse as the day went on – probably the after effects of the hurricanes in America. So we had to do the shows in a big school hall, but the crowds are always great fun whenever we do a show down here, its definitely one of my favourite festivals in Ireland.
We finished the day off in the Alcock and Brown Hotel drinking Guiness, listening to a folk band and watching a hen party get more rowdy. A great weekend all round then, plus I got my picture in the Guardian!

Hedge cuttings

Hedge cuttings
Originally uploaded by Bobbins.

I sent this picture to the Guardian last week. They phoned me on Monday to tell me I'd been short listed for going in this weekends magazine. So I was thrilled on Saturday morning to find that it was in!
I've just had a great weekend in Clifden, I'll post some pictures later.

Trike

Yet another great bike spotted this morning. I was walking the kids to school and we saw this trike just sitting on a patch of grass near the school. It wasnt locked up and every kid that came past had a sit on it. I dont know who owned it - maybe it belonged the lollypop man across the road.
I'm working at Clifden arts festival this weekend, and i'm bringing the bike, so hopefully i'll get a couple of rides along the west coast.

Get the message

Another interesting bike spotted on my commute in this morning.
The rain was lashing down but seeing this recumbent outside the city hall advertising the garden gourmet event this weekend cheered me up.

Gridlock

With Trouble flaring up in Belfast again last night, and roads closed all over the place it was one of those days that you were glad you were on a bike.
As soon as I left work it was gridlock. Most employers told their staff to go home early so by 4 o’clock the streets were full of stationary traffic. I just sailed through it all, making a point of whistling a merry tune and swerving from side to side as I went. A couple of people said “you’ve got the right idea mate.” Apparently some people were stuck in Belfast for 2 ½ hours! I wonder how many of them came by bike today?
Looks like we might be in for more fun on Wednesday as fuel protests are due to start again.
Panic buying and hour-long queues at the pump always bring a smile to my face.

Ditch Monkey

I came across this blog the other day. Its about a bloke who is spending a year living in a ditch! He still go's to work each day in a suit and tie but each night go's and sleeps in a wood.
The idea was to raise sponsorship for the Woodland Trust. But he is also making a point about how little we actually need to live on, and how we can all try and reduce the amount of waste we leave behind. I seem to spend half my time telling shop workers not to give me plastic bags. Surely, it wouldnt be that difficult to charge for plastic bags - Lidls already do. And you'd think the government would give businesses some sort of tax incentive for not using non-recyclable packaging. But anything the government does always seems like token gestures to pacify the greens. My local council have recently introduced a re-cycling scheme but its only so they can avoid the financial penalties that they'll face if they keep sending as much stuff to land fill.
I think a lot of people think they are doing their bit by recycling some of their rubbish, but I think that the key issue that is often overlooked is that we shouldn't be creating as much rubbish in the first place.







Ditch Monkey

Back to the routine

Well its back to the daily routine after my short holiday. Its good to be back on the bike though - especially when I'm armed with my new camera! I saw this bloke struggling up the road as I waited at a set of lights so I went after him and asked if I could take his photo, he didn't seem to mind. He was carrying an old sink and a few other bits of scrap metal all in a homemade cart. It looked like hard work in this mini heat wave we've been having.
Just a few more thoughts on the Greenbelt festival: As usual it's more often the smaller things you see at a festival that stick with you. My favourite stall on the site was the bubble stall, who'd of thought you could have an entire stall just dedicated to making bubbles! I hope they made some money because they kept kids entertained for hours trying out all the stuff. Next door to the bubble stall was the fairy stall - basically all they sold was fairy wings and tutu's but they seemed to be doing good business. The juggling stall always had a big crowd outside trying all the stuff. I treated my self to a set of Poi, I think it's the only juggling art that I haven't tried. When you see someone who's really good at it, it always looks really relaxing - a bit like tai chi.
Besides The Proclaimers and Emiliana Torrini, who I knew would be good anyway, Juliet Turner and Duke Special were both worth seeing. And funnily enough they're both from Northern Ireland so getting to see them again shouldn't't be a problem.
I managed to hear 2 talks in full - Leo Hickman drew a big crowd for his question and answer session on his book "A Life Stripped Bare". I was about to ask him a question when someone else asked exactly the same thing - how do you deal with the ethical dilemma of choosing between fair trade and locally sourced products. His preference was for local but he said it was down to personal choice. I reckon if you cant buy it locally then you should go fair trade - but we should be helping these countrys to live sustainably aswell, and not necessarily see global trade as the best solution. When we got back there was a leaflet for a green living fair through our door and he's speaking there aswell, so I'll have to think of a better question - something along the lines of " with the current political structure of most of the modern world being predicated on the desire to consume, do you not think our attempts at recycling and saving energy are always just going to be a drop in the ocean in terms of the damage we are doing to the planet?"
I also contributed a few comments to a discussion on blogging but I''l have to listen to the download to remember what I said. Greenbelt is a christian festival, and not being a christian myself I did have some reservations about going. But I found it a very friendly and relaxing place, and the people were very motivated in terms of pushing the ethical living thing. One of the themes of this years festival besides making poverty history was living generously. This was something I could realy identify with, and since getting back I've already decided to give blood, change my bank account to the co-op and ask people if they are buying me to presents to consider "good gifts" . There were also a few nice folding bikes at the festival, and my wife started to get a bit fed up of me taking pictures of them all but i've posted a picture of one of them - it is a bike blog after all.




greenbelt2005

Greenbelt Folk Club

Well I finally got on to the net here at the festival. Two days in and I've just about seen round the whole site. I havent seen half the things I intended to, but thats always the way at festivals. I did manage to see Emilliana Torrini last night who was brilliant and we went along to the folk club this afternoon and I plucked up the courage to play a tune on the tin whistle. My daughter and I have been having lessons together since January, and every time I hear proper folk musicians it inspires me to learn more. I dont know why I left it till I was approaching middle age till I learnt an instrument but I reckon your never too old to do these things. The learning process seems to be quite similar to when I learnt to juggle and unicycle - you struggle along for months not getting very far, then suddenly something clicks and your brain understands what you are trying to do. Learning new skills is a real buzz, especially when it involves a bit of interaction with fellow human beings rather than machines ( he says typing in to a computer )i'm doing a bit of fire juggling tommorow morning, then in the afternoon going to listen to Leo Hickmans talk - all the talks from the festival are going to be available as downloads, i'll put a link when I get back.

greenbelt2005

Getting ready for Greenbelt

Just spent the last couple of days here in Pontypridd and we are now getting ready for the trip to Greenbelt tommorow. I've finally bought a new digital camera . Its a Sony DSC S80 for those of you interested in these sought of things. Its only 4.1 megapixels but I reckon thats more than enough for what I want it for, so hopefully they'll be a few more of my own pictures on the blog from now on. Anyone interested in getting a new camera should check out www.cameras.co.uk. I found it really usefull and they give you good comparisons between the different brands, show you sample shots and let you know the cheapest place where you can buy it.
I had planned to build my brother a pair of stilts while I was here but we couldnt find the right type of wood - We usually use ash at the community circus. The festival were looking for jugglers for one of the events so i've offered my services - its always good to meet up with other jugglers, even if they just want to show off a new trick. Q. How many jugglers does it take to change a light bulb? A. 10, 1 to change the bulb and the other 9 to say I could do that!
Anyway, got to finish the packing. Next time I post will be from the festival site - hopefully with pictures taken on my new camera!

greenbelt2005

Leash the Celtic Tiger

Irelands econonmic growth over the last decade has been well reported. But is it time to put a leash on the celtic tiger?
The Irish government is pushing ahead with ill advised projects at the expense of the countrys heritage and health. But a growing resistance movement is making its presence felt.

The proposals to extend the M3 motorway through Tara hill / Skryne valley have brought wide spread criticism from both academics and the general public. The save Tara campaign is getting support from all over the world from people outraged at the potential destruction of this historically significant site. Road building seems to go ahead based on projections of future car use which arent taking account of peak oil. As this article in indymedia points out the road could become a white elephant within 10 years and all the destruction would of been for nothing.

Another campaign gaining support at the moment is the Shell to sea campaign which is seeking the release of 5 men: Micheál Ó Seighin, Willie Corduff, Brendan Philbin, Vincent McGrath and Philip McGrath who are in Cloverhill Prison, Dublin for not allowing Shell to build a pipeline through their land.

"We are currently in prison for refusing to allow Shell and their Irish
Government partners build a pipeline close to our family homes.

Our crime was to refuse access to our lands. We have refused access because of the certainty that if this pipeline as currently proposed ruptures we, our families and neighbours, will die."

Its frightening to see the Irish government taking so little concern for the rights of their own people, but its good to know that the Irish people arent going to take it sitting down.

So boycott Shell - as if I needed to tell you that anyway.

The Bicycling Comedian

Listening to Mark Radcliffe on Radio 2 last night from the Edinburgh festival, I heard him talking to the bicycling comedian Tom synders. This guy has travelled to all his comedy gigs over the last 18 years by bike, and his visited every state in America as well as touring quite a bit in Europe. Tom started touring by bike when he didn’t have enough money to get to a gig, so he bought a bike and cycled 1400 miles in 14 days from Las Vegas to Des Moines in Iowa only to find the club had burnt down!I must admit this is a very attractive idea – I’ve always fancied doing my juggling show by bike but carrying the 8ft unicycle could be a bit tricky. But for some of the local kids shows I do around Christmas I might give it a go.

Greenbelt

This time next week we will be on our holiday. We are staying with my brothers family in Pontypridd for a couple of days before going to the Greenbelt festival. This will be my first Greenbelt. It's been ages since I went to a music festival. I went to Glastonbury a couple of times in my early twentys, but havent had much time for festivals since the family came along. So i'm looking forward to getting in to the festival mood, chilling out and seeing a few good bands. Its a very family based festival, so hopefully the kids will get as much out of it as we do.
I'm particularly looking forward to hearing Leo Hickman speak. He has written a book about trying to live ethically - "A Life Stripped Bare (Tiptoeing through the ethical minefield)" where he asks Is it possible to live a life that is western but also aware, or is the ‘Good Life’ the preserve of the eco-warriors, new-age spiritualists and the organic-product endorsing Hollywood set? Apparently some of the advice he received included: ‘The most sustainable food source is skips!’ and ‘Having children is the most unethical thing you can do, so try ceasing that for starters.’
I often think that people get the impression that those of us who try to live ethically are self righteous do gooders. But with all the evidence stacking up about the damage that our lifestyles are doing to the planet I cant understand people who do nothing about it. Thats part of what attracts me to cycling - it makes you feel good and you feel that you are doing something.
Musically - I'm looking forward to The Proclaimers, Karine Polwart and Emiliana Torrini and I'm sure there will be a few circus heads there for me to juggle with aswell.
They are also trying to do a virtual collage of the festival, so i'm going to try and post a few times while i'm there.

greenbelt2005

Piano Bike

Back to a bicycling theme ( just about) .

Found this on a google search. How does he cycle and use the pedals on the piano?

I'd like to see him try Alp D'Huez

Betsy

Betsy
Originally uploaded by gentlytiptoe.

Hannahs latest creation

whoops - I meant to post this to my Family Blog but it ended up here by misstake. Oh well this is my sister in laws latest creation, lovely isnt it - very long arms and legs.

A sign of things to come?

The Guardian reported on Saturday how 36 people had died in riots due to fuel price hikes in Yemen.

"Looting broke out in the Yemeni city of Aden last night after two days of rioting over fuel price rises that left 36 people dead....Several police officers were among the dead. Locals are angry at a decision to remove subsidies on fuel, a move that has roughly doubled the price of diesel, petrol and kerosene and caused knock-on rises in fares for public transport."

Picture from Newswire

Are SUVs a crime against civilisation

I know we've all heard the arguments before, but there is no harm in hearing them again.
From the ecologist

What does ‘choice’ actually mean? Could I nip down the shops in a tank?
What if I drove a Harley without a silencer up and down your road all night?

Or do you actually believe, as most of us do, that sensible limits should be placed on the freedom of drivers? If so, then it comes down to where we draw the line:
and I draw it at SUVs.

Useless with tools

I'm nearly at the end of my week off looking after the kids, and as usual didnt do half the things i'd intended. I've nearly finished stripping the bannisters - on and off its taken me nearly 2 years, but it should look nice when they are waxed.
I bought a tool kit for the bike aswell, hoping to finally able to service the bearings in my rear wheel myself, but when it arrived it didnt have the right lock ring tool so I had to go out and buy one. With much enthsiasm about my new tools I had a go but just couldnt shift the lock ring, maybe i'd left it too long. So I ended up getting the bike shop to do it again, I asked them if they thought it had been stiff and they said not particularly but you really need to have it in a vice. So it looks like thats another thing i'll have to buy. I dont want to be crap at servicing the bike but for some reason I just am. I'm good at keeping the tyres pumped up and clean the chain regularly, but I just dont seem to have a good eye for the intricate tweeks a bike needs.
My mum and dad went home last weekend after looking after the kids for a week. We had great fun with the Geocaching while they were here. We found a good one on the sustrans cycle route between Lisburn and Belfast which contained a travel bug - which is a small tag or token which you move from site to site, the goal for this bug was to visit as many sites in Ireland as possible so we helped it on its way. The bug was called my dads ankh, it was a cross symbol that used to be worn by this blokes dad who died before he ever got to see Ireland, so he's doing it posthumously.
I like the cycle route between Lisburn and Belfast but its not ideal for road bikes. I'd love to get one of these for the route though, it would be a real buzz arriving at work on one of these every day. I wouldnt feel particularly safe using it on the main road but I can get virtually all the way to work by the sustrans route. But I cant decide whether I should get one of these for £600 or save up and buy a good road bike. Anyway, these are just pipe dreams at the minute because i'm skint. Oh well, maybe next year. Check them out at KMX karts.

Treasure Hunt

While I’m stuck in the office on one of the hottest days so far this year my mum and dad have taken the kids to Hillsborough Park to do a GPS treasure hunt. They told me about this the last time I saw them. Basically you register on this web-site which allows you to get details of treasure hunts that people have set up all over the world and then you follow the route with your GPS and find the hidden treasure at the end of the route (usually a rubber or something small for the kids). You then leave something in its place for the next person to find. I’m not sure whether they do one for cyclists – but it would be pretty cool to do some longer routes, you could have a puncture repair kit as the prize (always comes in handy – especially with the amount of punctures I’ve been getting)
It was lovely cycling in this morning, I came in about 7.00 so the temperature wasn’t too hot and there were hardly any cars on the road. It’s the 12th July fortnight here at the moment (when a large section of the community either parades around in orange sashes and bowler hats, or watches people parading around in orange sashes and bowler hats) Its also a time when most people go on holiday so the roads are fairly quiet. I might do a detour on the way home and see a couple of friends who have just bought a big top style tent and are experimenting putting it up in a field for the first time, sounds like hard work on a day like today.

Larne

I had a juggling job in Larne last Saturday . I always make a habit of asking any photographers taking pictures to send us a copy, they never did until today. Its not a particularly good shot (I think you need to be a juggler as well as a photographer to get good juggling shots) but it was nice to receive it anyway.
Larne is a funny place for a festival. For those of you not familiar with Northern Ireland, Larne is where most of the boats from Scotland sail to. But Larne doesn’t feel like a coastal town. The port is a big ugly blot on the landscape that just spews out all the freight traffic on to the dual carriage way to Belfast about 20 miles down the road. So you can’t blame them for trying to breathe a bit of life in to the town with a festival, but for some reason it just doesn’t feel right. The people just don’t seem to get it. The parade went well enough but the street we’d been given for our show was so depressing, it was at the back of the town and was populated by 2 charity shops, a butchers and a shoe shop.
The shoe shop was a story in itself; we didn’t pay much attention to it at first but then noticed an old man coming out of it. He tottered about like he was drunk, but I think it was more the effects of age than drink.
His shop had closing down notices in the front window, which, like the deck shoes and espadrilles, were bleached by the sun. A local told us that the notices had been in the window for about 20 years, and that the owner was 95. Later he came out with an old shoebox full of sweets for us and started telling us about his shop – how he was retiring soon and how some bloke had said he would buy his old stock. Its enough to bring a tear to your eye isn’t it .

Yet another victim of car culture - with the pile em high sell em cheap superstores offering free parking, and everything under one roof he could never compete. What was once probably a thriving street was now full of boarded up shops with just a couple left fighting to survive.
So as Larne strives for an identity by throwing a carnival once a year, they destroy any sense of community by allowing the big boys to move in and put the small shop owners out of business. A story being repeated all over the country, if not the world.