Sound advice for a cycling holiday

From "Cycling" by The Right Hon The Earl of Albemarle, and G. Lacy Hillier, 1896.

A parcel should be made up for each week of the tour: thus, if the rider is going away for five weeks, he will need to send on four parcels, including, in each, Combination garment, flannel shirt, handkerchiefs and stockings. These, having been well aired, should be tightly rolled up in the waterproof or otherwise securely packed and the fastening sealed, and a label then attached bearing clearly the name of the sender, thus:

On the back in smaller characters should be carefully inscribed Mr. Smith's name and home address, whilst it is always a good plan to have the same name and address clearly written on the inside of the bag or piece of waterproof used. 


The hotel people should be advised by letter and asked to keep the parcel in a dry place, and a couple of days before the rider gets to the hotel he can (in the case of a parcel) send on a note asking the people to open the package and have the things in it well aired. 


The parcels can be sent on to the C.T.C. or other houses, either before the rider starts on his tour which is the best plan for a single man in lodgings or otherwise situated in such a way that he cannot be sure of his orders being attended to at once or else from home on receipt of instructions as to when and where they are to be sent.


At the end of each week the rider will get his change of clothes, and will send the used ones home in the same package by parcel post (which is in many cases quicker and more certain than the railway carriers' delivery), and they can, if necessary, be washed and aired and sent on again to another point on the route followed.

Sound advice for when the hot weather returns

From "Cycling" by The Right Hon The Earl of Albemarle, and G. Lacy Hillier, 1896.

A man need not become a teetotaler, or, on the other hand, take to alcoholic drinks, because he cycles. If he be a water drinker, well and good, let him remain so; he will ride a bicycle none the worse. If he takes a moderate quantity of beer or wine at his meals, it will do him no harm.


Excess in either direction is dangerous, and alcohol between meals is always bad. With regard to tea, coffee, cocoa, and such like beverages, experience must teach each individual what is best for himself. The great bulk of present-day riders are devoted to tea ; some of the best racing men even drink it at dinner, and it does not appear to do them any harm. 


No absolute rule can be laid down as to what should be taken to drink between meals while actually riding on the road. Some simple non-alcoholic beverage is generally chosen, such as milk and soda water in equal proportions, the juice of a lemon squeezed into some fizzy water, soda or lemonade, or mixed with cold tea without milk or sugar. 


Stimulants, such as brandy or whisky and soda and the like, are always bad, and should never be indulged in even if the rider be exhausted. He will be whipped up for the time, but after covering a few miles the inevitable reaction must set in, and leave him far worse than he was before. This rule also applies to long-distance races. Many a rider's chance in such a contest has been ruined by injudicious friends plying him with alcoholic stimulants. Great quantities of fluid should never be swallowed at one time. Such a practice spoils digestion, and does not effectually quench thirst. 


Drinks, again,should never be taken too hot or too cold, and it should always be kept in mind that "Quibus intumuit suffusa venter ab unda, Quo plus sunt potae, plus sitiuntur aquae" (The more you drink, the more you want).

A sobering picture

This is a page from the cycling log-book of Lionel de Barri Crawshay, who lived at Sevenoaks in Kent. He was a keen amateur botanist, whose papers are held by the Wellcome Library.

From them we find that Lionel learned to ride a bike in 1900, and carefully recorded his progress: his first ride alone, his first accident ("collision with Miss Allingham"), his second accident ("lost control down a hill, run into hedge, cuts and scratches").

This part of the log contains totals from his "register" and starts a century ago in 1910, when he covered 5,674 miles. In 1911 he covered 7,123 miles. In July 1911 he covered 600 miles. Apparently the log also describes various trips through Kent and work on his bike, such as new tyres and brakes.

It all sounds familiar stuff.

Lionel made columns for the years up to 1919, but sadly the log ends in 1915, after which Lionel joined the army. In May 1917 he was killed when his troopship was torpedoed in the Mediterranean.

The Wellcome Library article is here. Thanks to Holly Tucker for the link.

Your freedom

Apparently the government is committed to restoring our freedom, and is looking for suggestions at http://yourfreedom.hmg.gov.uk/. At present the suggestions relating to "cyclist" or "cycling" are a mix of old chestnuts:

• Allow cyclists to ride on pavements and footpaths (in various different forms)
• Make it illegal to ride on pavements (in various forms)
• Stop motorbikes using cycle lanes
• Build more cycle paths
• Make it compulsory for cyclists to use cycle paths
• The driver of the bigger vehicle should be liable in any accident (in various forms)
• Allow cyclists to jump red lights (in various circumstances)
• Punish cyclists who jump red lights (in various forms)
• Make it compulsory for cyclists to wear a reflective jacket
• Make cyclists pay road tax
• Make cyclists hold insurance
• Bicycles should carry a registration plate
• Exempt bicycles from VAT
• Raise the speed limit on electric bicycles

I would have thought that best practice in consultation exercises would have been more specific about the scope of what is being covered, and made it clear what the range of possibilities are.  However, I suppose it's possible that somebody somewhere in government is taking this seriously. If they are, then the suggestions and discussion on cycling matters could look pretty balanced compared to some other subjects. For more loopy stuff, look no further than "Brussels", "immigrants", or "political correctness".

It looks as though the moderators are starting to close down discussion on any suggestions that completely miss the point by suggesting things that restrict freedom. Even so, I don't envy the poor civil servants (I think that would be "bloated bureaucrats" in newspeak) who have to assess all the contributions and make recommendations.

Chatley Heath Semaphore Tower

The weather forecast for this weekend suggested that Saturday would be a better day for a ride than Sunday, but I've had the semaphore tower at Chatley Heath on my list of places to visit for a while, and it only opens one day a month, so I decided to face hotter and windier weather for the sake of the destination.

Chatley Heath Semaphore Tower is one of a line of semaphore towers that were used to send messages from the Admiralty in London to the navy in Portsmouth (a distance of about 70 miles). It was used from 1822-1848, and restored by Surrey County Council in 1989. They have displays and models to show how it all worked. As you would expect there are good views from the top of the tower.

I rode out through Datchett, Staines, Shepperton and Weybridge, taking the passenger ferry from Shepperton to Weybridge. I came back through Ripley, Woking and Ascot, with a bit of a diversion in Woking on a whim to follow the Basingstoke Canal for a few miles.

The whole area around Chatley Heath is very thoroughly mapped on OSM, and there is nothing I can add from today's outing. Indeed without thorough coverage on OSM and the Cycle Map I wouldn't have discovered that the best way to approach the tower on a bike is from Pointers Road on the other side of the M25. The map showed me a local cycle route (E2) which runs from Weybridge, and makes a very neat negotiation around the junction between the A3 and M25. I could never have worked that out for myself, and would otherwise have avoided that route.

As predicted the day was quite hot, and the wind was a bit blustery. Apart from a few minor glitches, all went according to plan for total of 64 miles, and an unusual, but worthwhile destination.

Fill in the blanks

Search the internet for phrases like "the trouble with cyclists" and words like "smug", "sanctimonious", "holier than thou" tend to come up a lot. Search for phrases like "the best things about cycling are..." and this is what you find (in a rough order of popularity)

• the post-ride snack and nap
• that everyone can find some form of it that they really enjoy
• the friends you make
• that it feels like too much fun to be good for you
• seeing things I wouldn't see from a car
• that you don't have to be fit
• that it helps offset all the flying I have to do
• that cycling is appropriate for all ages
• that you can burn a lot of calories
• that you can eat almost anything you want
• that I usually arrive in a better mood than when I left
• that once you have a bike cycling is free
• seeing the world at a slower pace
• that so many other people share your passion
• coming down hills
• that it doesn't matter how old you are
• the feel of breezing around
• that you can make your own way across the countryside
• the variety it brings to your life
• that it rewards someone who puts in the effort
• the sense of freedom
• that you can do it for hours and chat with people while you ride
• that you get to pass through areas around your town that you might not normally visit
• that it rewards hard work and persistence
• the independence
• that almost anyone can do it anywhere at any time
• meeting others who love it as much as I do
• that it's simple - it doesn't need hefty infrastructure
• the freedom - never having to queue
• that with varied vistas it never gets tiresome or boring
• that every time I get on my bike it takes me back to my youth - the feeling of all the freedom experienced comes rushing back
• the freedom and adrenaline rush of being on the open road
• that even the most routine of journeys can be a cause of pleasure

Having established that there is some basis to the "smug" accusation, and caught up with my weekly quota of  displacement activities, I think its probably best if I go for a ride now.

June round-up

It's the first of July, so time to review progress in June - which has been a bit disappointing. I had planned to build up some surplus miles to get further ahead of my plan for the year. The 200 mile lead that I had built up in early May had already slipped back to 50 miles by the start of June, and now it has disappeared altogether.

Things have only moved forward a bit on my other goals. The Eddington number is up from 45 to 46, and I've visited one more church on my list. It's progress, captain, but not as we know it.

There are some good reasons why I haven't been out on the bike often enough recently, but it's starting to leave me with a bit of a gap that I will have to close over the next six months. What I need now is a few quiet weeks with cooler weather.

To make a start on July I headed out to Sonning this evening, and crossed the picturesque bridge. I knew this was a bit of a bottleneck, but I hadn't realised quite how bad it got. Around 6pm the lines of cars waiting to cross must have been at least a mile long in each direction.

On the whole it was a pleasant enough ride, but if I was compiling a list of 100 things to do before you die, I don't think I would include crossing Sonning bridge at rush hour. I'm not even sure that I would add it to a list of 1,000 things to do before you die. Seeing it once falls somewhere on the scale between an unusual experience and a local phenomenon. Next time I go to Sonning I'll try to avoid 6pm on a weekday.