'tis the season...

..for the press to publish articles about cycling in winter weather.

This morning I turned to one in today's Guardian, but it's almost all about fashionable winter cycling clothes. I've already got my gloves to keep my hands warm, and an old anorak to keep the rain off. I think I would look silly in a furry cycling helmet (some would say I look silly enough without one). I might convince myself that I need something more conspicuous for safety on dark evenings, and I've been thinking about investing in a proper winter top, but I've already been mulling that one over since last autumn.

What I really need as the weather changes is plenty of good reasons to brave the elements and get out on the bike.

Of course I've already got my annual mileage goal to work on, and various other targets. I've a list of things that I want to add to Open Street Map. On top of that, Rob Ainsley at Real Cycling is a great source of interesting ideas for slightly off-beat day trips. And if all else fails, I can start working on next year's batch of Jenkins churches. So I'm well prepared to address the "nowhere to go" excuse. But I'm open to other suggestions.

As an encouragement to get out on the bike, it seems to me that the idea for the ride comes first, and the clothing and the equipment are a long way down the list. If you agree, then it would be a public service to suggest compelling ideas for winter rides.

Milton route revisited

After yesterday's fiasco, today I decided to have a another go at tracing the southern part of the Milton route. This is a 25 mile local cycle route in Buckinghamshire that loops southwards from Amersham, through Chalfont Saint Peter, Chalfont Saint Giles, Seer Green, and Penn. It is named after John Milton, who retired to Chalfont Saint Giles to avoid the plague in London.

Yesterday I traced a little bit of the route around Seer Green, but I got horribly lost. Yesterday evening I took another look at the maps, worked out where I had gone wrong, and today I managed to trace the section from Seer Green almost to Penn. In the grand scheme of things none of that is very impressive, but I enjoyed myself, so that's OK.

It was a lovely day for a ride. A little bit nippy, but it was nice sunny autumn weather, and this part of south Buckinghamshire is pleasant. Not all of the route is great, but the woodland where I lost my way yesterday was particularly nice, and I rode through some pleasant villages.

Paradise would be putting it a bit strong, but I didn't get lost. So "Pleasant countryside navigated successfully" would be a bit more accurate than "Paradise Lost". If only John Milton had worked harder on his cadence and navigation skills, and wasted less time on blank verse he might have made a name for himself.

Milton Route

What with a weeks holiday, backlog at work, and various other distractions my cycling log is all going a bit pear shaped. I've fallen behind plan again, and this weekend I'm making a concerted effort to get things back on track. I need to cover a lot of miles, and I am out of practice.

Today my plan was to trace the Milton Route in Buckinghamshire. It should have been a ride of about 50 miles - but it didn't quite work out like that.

I started late, my progress was slower than it should have been, and I clearly wasn't going to make it all the way round. So my revised plan was to leave the northern part of the route for another day, and trace the southern part.

I got myself to Seer Green easily enough, and headed off westwards for Penn. When I eventually arrived in Chalfont St Giles (to the north) I realised something was wrong. A quick check on the map, change of direction, and I headed off for Jordans to the south). When I arrived in Chalfont St Giles for a second time I realised something was still wrong.

When I'm driving it is just annoying to get lost. When I'm cycling it's a more of a mixture. Partly I'm baffled about where I went wrong. Partly I'm amused that I was riding round in circles. Partly I just enjoyed pootling around.

I've traced a bit of the route, and if nothing else I suppose I've established that it might be useful to get the rest onto OSM. If I ever get myself organised enough to do it.

Simpson lever chain

The National Cycle museum stand at the Cycle Show was not typical, but it was one of the most interesting and busiest.

The Simpson Lever Chain was invented by William Spears Simpson in 1895.

"The tops of the triangles had cross bars that engaged the perimeter of the rear chain wheel's flange at a much greater distance from the wheel's axis than would an ordinary chain and chain wheel. Thus Simpson could claim that his chain provided more power through greater leverage.

In the fall of 1895, Simpson offered ten-to-one odds that riders with his chain would beat bicyclists with regular chains. Later known as the Chain Matches, these races at the Catford track in London attracted huge crowds estimated between twelve and twenty thousand in June of 1896. Simpson's team not only included the top racers - Tom Linton, Jimmy Michael, and Constant Huret - but also the Gladiator pacing team brought over from Paris. Pacers enabled a racer to ride faster by shielding him from air resistance. Although Simpson won the Chain Matches, they only proved that the Gladiator pacers were superior to their English rivals."

There is more about the Simpson chain here and here. There is a very clear explanation in French here (roughly - "it is composed of a series of triangles. The inner hinges of the chain engage with the gear at the pedals, and the outer ones with the rear wheel").

"If it has merits, now is an appropriate season to consider its possible future influence. If it has none, it will disappear into the limbo of forgotten novelties."

And it did.

Cycle show

I spent a few hours mooching around the Cycle show today, and there was a lot to see.

The biggest stands from major manufacturers didn't seem quite as big as last year, but there were a lot of specialised products of different kinds; lots of folding bikes, and fixies; several different electric bikes; and what felt like a lot of retro design.

There was quite a bit of cycle mapping. I bought some Sustrans route maps to help work out which trip to do next spring, and I picked up a few TfL cycle maps for weekend outings. There were digital maps from Memory Map; and GPS devices from Garmin and others. I had a bit of a play with a Garmin Oregon loaded with OS maps. It seemed nicely designed, and easy to use, but suspect it is of more practical use to walkers. Before buying one I would need to be convinced that I could read it while riding a bike. OSM cycle maps on a Garmin don't include all the detail that you get on an Ordnance Survey map, but that seems to be a good thing when you are on the move.

I can't help feeling that the most interesting parts of the show were the slightly odd-ball stands, like the exhibits from the National Cycling Museum - which was one of the busiest stands I visited.

These bikes for the London Cycle Hire scheme were shown on the TfL stand. They look very smart, but a bit heavy. I was told that they ride better than you would expect from looking at them. It will be interesting to find out for myself next year.

And how right they are

Women find fans of cycling the most attractive.

Cycling came out as the top choice of hobby for prospective partners with 36% voting in its favour; beating football (17%) and rugby (14%).
 Cyclists were also frequently described as ‘kind', ‘considerate' and ‘intelligent'.

From Cycling weekly, a survey by the Cycle Show, and an increasing number of links from insecure male cyclists.

Off-grid

We've just returned from a week in the Coquet Valley. We stayed a few miles from the place in the picture. It's a glorious part of the world. The scenery is beautiful, and it's a handy centre for exploring some of our favourite bits of Northumberland. We had more than our fair share of weather during the week, and I didn't get much cycling done, but we did a lot of walking.

Where we stayed there was no mobile phone signal, and no broadband connection, which has been a bit weird. I hadn't realised how much I've begun to rely on the internet to check bits and pieces, like how long it will take to get somewhere, and whether it will be open when we arrive.

There is quite a bit of Northumberland that still needs to be added to OSM. Others are making more useful contributions, but I thought I might be able to do a little bit, and I did manage to collect a few GPS traces. I wasn't very systematic about it though, so I haven't added a huge amount. Just the odd street, and a few other details.