A cardboard bicycle

"If you make a bicycle from cardboard, no-one will want to steal it!"

As reported by the BBC and discovered via Bicycle Design

And it was designed in Sheffield of all places.

The end of bike week 2008

I had intended to explore a bit more of the Round Berkshire route this afternoon. Nothing too ambitious, just a gentle meander around.

So I set off for Reading, intending to follow route 23 south until it joins the Round Berkshire route, then follow that back to Bracknell, and meander back home.

Three slight problems.

Firstly, I had seriously underestimated the total distance; secondly I had to battle a strong headwind on the way out to Reading, and thirdly I got lost, yet again, in Bracknell.

The result was that I got home late for dinner, exhausted, after covering nearly 60 miles. Despite what the sign says, I didn't get anywhere near either Bristol, or Newbury.

However, with the exception of the wind, it was a glorious day for a ride. It turned out to be an interesting route, with a lot of variety. I managed to tag a bit more of the Round Berkshire Route. I covered my imperial age for the third time. And I learned a bit more about my limitations.

I guess that adds up to a fitting end to Bike Week 2008.

The longest day

Because it is.

Here are some pictures of the summar solstice at Stonehenge, from the BBC (30,000 people celebrated the summer solstice as dawn broke at Stonehenge).

And here is the Moving Target Article on their ride to Stonehenge.

And here are a group of bikers riding from Lands End to John O'Groats on the longest day.

And while all these heroic endeavours were under way, I trundled around unheroically, but happily for a couple of hours.

Brillant

With thanks to my brother, who sent me the link, that led to the link, that pointed to this wonderful poster from art.co.uk.

A snip at £38.99, and Christmas is only six months away.

Rome

I've now covered more than 1,250 miles on the bike since January, which means that I've reached Rome on my virtual European tour, and I now face the difficult decision of where I should head next.

However, the more satisfying news this evening (in the real world) is that I've just completed my 10 mile Winter Hill circuit in just over 43 minutes, at an average speed of 14mph.

It's not a huge improvement over the 13mph that I've been doing on the same route for the last three circuits. But I reckon it is decent progress over the 10mph that I was doing on the same loop a few weeks ago.

Remember - I'm virtually in Rome at the moment. So I can't afford to rest on my laurels. It's going to be onward and upward to 15mph - at some point in the future. And onward, and upward to Berlin, I suspect, on my European tour.

Round Berkshire

I've spent a few hours this afternoon trying to follow and plot the Round Berkshire cycle route from near Ascot to Bracknell. On the whole it's a good route, with some pleasant sections. Other sections, though, involve fast roads, and heavy traffic, so they are not for the faint-hearted.

However, the reference map is a bit vague, and some of the signs are a bit dated (as the picture is intended to show).

The result was that I kept drifting off route, and got hopelessly lost part way round Bracknell. This is not the first time I've got lost in Bracknell, so no doubt some of the blame lies with me. Just the same I'm convinced that somebody has been re-orienting some of the signs.

Bracknell is well provided with cycle paths, though, and I'll have to go back and try to pick up the right route another time.

Weekly round-up

On Saturday I visited this year's steam rally near Stoke Row. It would have just about been possible to get there by bike, but it would have made a long day of it, and there were a few other things that needed doing.

So no cycling on saturday, but I managed to get out five times in the rest of the week, and covered 77 miles in total.

That includes almost 35 miles on sunday, a fast ten miles on monday, and a leisurely 17 mile trundle on tuesday.

In the process I have tried to patch up a few gaps in Open Street Map and so I have learned a bit more about local byways.

In summary, as far as the cycling goes, there hasn't been anything particularly notable about the week, and no records broken.

There were no wrecks and nobody drownded,
'Fact, nothin' to laugh at at all!

Fairly satisfying on the whole though, and I did buy my first pannier bag.