Monthly round up

I'm a bit more satisfied with my progress in May than I was in April.

My total mileage for the month has been the highest so far, at 306 miles. The extra distance was not down to the number of trips (which was higher than in April, but lower than in February and March). It was more the result of longer outings, averaging almost ten miles each.

During the month I've pushed my longest trip up to more than 60 miles, and in the process I visited the twelfth of the list of outstanding English Churches that I was aiming to reach by bike during the year.

I'm still not making as much progress as I would like on my average speed over a distance, but I am on track to reach my target for total mileage over the year. I have plugged a few gaps in local coerage of Open Street Map; and I even improved the number of blog posts over the month (though the number of daily visitors remains pretty flat).

Generally I feel that I'm heading in the right direction, with plenty more room for improvement.

C2C

A few days away from home this weekend, around the general area of the Coast to Coast route (but not on the bike).

There were a few cyclists on the road, braving some impressive climbs, around Hartshead, and Alston.

However, the most interesting exchange I overheard was not between riders of push-bikes, but between a couple of middle aged men on large motor-bikes.

Biker-1: I heard that you hadn't been well recently. So it's good to see you back on the bike again.

Biker-2: Well the doctor told me that it isn't safe for me to drive the car any more, but he didn't say anything about the bike.

I imagine he was joking.

Man with a bicycle...

...and a hat.

(from English Heritage)

Cracker of a joke

Q: Why can't a bicycle stand up on its own?
A: Because it is two tyred.

Neat stuff

Thibaut Barrère manages to combine cycling, Paris, maps, programming,....

Voila: sheer genius.

Democracy in action

Boris answering questions from the London Assembly in City Hall ("the home of London's democracy"). The whole thing, lasting more than three hours can be found here, but I recommend skipping about 40 minutes in, to the question on cycle helmets.

With thanks to the Times for the pointer.

Bicycular

Adjective: of the nature of a bicycle, or pertaining to bicycling (from an old copy of the OED).

Adjective: relating to bicycling (1913 Webster)

It is not a word I come across every day, but now I intend to use it whenever the conversation turns bicycular.