Tara's recovery

There's a site up to help Tara Llanes with her hilarious US medical bills...

I think she's an inspiration, as in fact i do anyone dealing with such a traumatic injury with such bravery and humour. No, i really don't mean that to sound patronising...

anyway, the site is here
i've given a little, would be lovely if someone else could too...

I've gone and done it...

...ordered a airnimal that is.

after much deliberation, a lot of help from the nice fella at velorution and a great deal of patience from my hun keito who sat quietly as i test rode and whittered about wheel sizes... i went for the explore, figuring it gave me plenty versatility with the fatter tyres and hub.

Now I just have to wait 2 weeks (I hope)... It feels like xmas...

Boris...

now... i'm not saying it would make me vote for him... i do like boris on a person level, he's highly entertaining and refreshingly blunt, but he is a bit blue for me...

but, i'd be surprised if his opinions on cycling don't win him a lot of friends.

apologies it's from 'the sun'
boris hates bendy buses

God.. what a depressing day...

'Tara Llanes paralysed after crash'

go here now:
tara's myspace

Much respect(s)

Slightly out of place on my blog, which is generally used for cussing and posting pictures of bikes i like...

But, i was saddened to see that Jane Tomlinson died today...
You can read more here

If you don't wish to follow that, Jane was diagnosed with terminal cancer in 2000 and told she had 6 months to live, she then dedicated her remaining time to fundraising events, including the ride across america, impressive enough in itself.

sad... very sad...

On the subject of bike hugger

check out this bad boy:
Ti commuter

not sure i could justify (or afford) it, but it's lovely...

loads more eurobike pics here.

those cannondale's are crazy...

Another in the 'fold' hur... hur...

found this on bike radar from bike hugger...
'Dahon launch "lightest ever" folder'

I'm really coming around to folders, i used to really hate them, thought there were the domain of city pricks in 'driza-bone' or whatevers... stupid little wheel nonsense...

then my mate james' got one, which was a shock, and i looked at airnimals... and pacific reach... and... etc.

anyway, i'm loving the attention to detail that's been put into some of these bikes, whilst i realise a lot of them are limited edition, i think they're pushing the boundaries much more than conventional bikes. I mean, check out that crankset...

Anyway, I'm adding the 'Smooth Hound 6.0' to my list of possibles. it looks crazy... i like...

Thank you RMT

It was weird riding in today... I'd completely forgotten about the tube strike. I guess it's one of the joys of relying on pedal power to get you to work...

I had noticed the hilarious amount of traffic in camberwell and the back ups at elephant and castle, but i didn't think much of it, just wallowing in the joy and self righteousness of riding and not burning up fuel/patience.

By the time i got to hyde park corner, i realised something was up... a huge wall of cyclists were coming my way. i mean, it's usually busy around here, but not this mental, then riding through hyde park it started to feel like the velorution had come, bike, upon bike, upon bike...

then it hit me, dur! tube strike! everyone has dusted off those bikes that only come out when there's no other possible option.

apparently the tube 'drivers' i put that in inverted commas as i'm not sure pushing a stick forwards and backwards is 'driving' are very unhappy with changes down to metronet that could jeopordize their 4 day weeks, 30K pay packet and very generous holidays. i feel, really i do...

Anyway, I have to confess to still enjoying it, somekind of 'dunkirk spirit' 'we'll get there no matter what' and i have to confess to feeling a slight sense of pride in london, a bit like after the bombings, everyone gets on with it, business as usual. I pictured the queen mum (god bless her) if she was still with us of course, out on her british racing green brompton popping down to paddy power for a dead cert...

ah!

then i realised there were a lot more cunts out here than usual.. i had people ride at me, cut me into traffic, wobble dangerously in front of me, have no idea what fucking side of the road they should be on... etc. etc. and most of them oblivious with ipod connected ears...

so, i'd just like to thanks bob, for putting all of those cunts i normally avoid by cycling rather than tubing right out in front of me.

ta, really! thanks ever so...

only two more days to go *sigh*

No, no, I'm sorry you are...

When you drive straight at me, when i have right of way, cutting it rather fine, I'm entitled to call you a 'cunt' you can't come back at me, as by your actions my description is accurate.

It's akin to pushing some down some stairs or tripping someone up, it's cuntish behaviour.

so... don't try and defend yourself or get angry, you have done wrong.

I have illustrated the incident for clarity. If there is any confusion said 'cunt' or 'taxi driver' is clearly identifiable by the large cock drawn in the vehicle.

uh? what the...

i'm sorry... but this is retarded...

folders

i've been looking for a folding bike... for those days where i have nowhere to leave my precious bikes... yes, even the one i bought to be left anywhere... they're all too precious.

at the mo, and after some test rides, these are topping the list:
swift (although i can only get the alloy version, boo...)
airnimal joey (yes, named after mr. deacon)

they both look great although i have to confess to falling slightly for the retarded look of the swifts... i have the same problem with shoes, always attracted to the birkenstocks.

anyway, i'll bore you with details once i try/buy. but in the meantime i want the one pictured. some one make it... please!

TFL hitlist

well, TFL finally got back to with the exact list of useful stuff when it comes down to ID-ing a driver.

they were actually pretty helpful and it appears i don't need to track the driver down or indeed follow him home... i do however need to do the following...

here's the mail:

Dear Andy

Thank you for your email about reporting bus driver behaviour to my colleague Jack. I am responding on Jack's behalf.

I was sorry to learn that the last two times you've reported dangerous behaviour; we've been unable to identify the driver in question. I can fully appreciate your frustration with this matter and as such I would like to offer you my sincere apologies.

I would certainly hope that you do not need to complain to us again about poor standards of driving, however, I appreciate that in reality there are no certainties - and that it's better to be equipped with the right knowledge at the time.

For us here at London Buses, the route number is probably the most important piece of information that allows us to immediately identify the correct operating company. As I'm sure you're already aware, we contract private operators to run bus services on our behalf. Once we know which operator runs the reported route, we can forward the complaint for their investigation.

I've listed below some other details which normally help the operators to identify the actual driver.

· Route number
· Time and Date
· Registration/Running or Driver numbers
· Exact location, including road names/landmarks
· Direction of travel
· Description of incident
· Brief description of driver where possible

I hope this helps to clarify the sort of thing we need in the event of a complaint.

Thank you once again for taking the time to write. Please feel free to contact me again if I can be of any further help.

Kind regards

well, there you go... just in case...

fired up on corned beef and anger

I had a bit of a frustrating day yesterday, subsequently i went home, bought beer and made corned beef hotpot.

for those of you that are interested, corned beef hotpot is simply layers of tinned corned beef (fray bentos obviously), sliced onion and potato, then you fill it up with hot water and whack it in the oven for an hour. the result (for me) is a big old bowl of comfort and reassurance... with the unfortunate side effect of a massive belly that makes it difficult to sleep.

anyways, this carbo overload made me rocket-propelled on the way in. or atleast i would have, if it wasn't for the 101 numpties that got in my way. now i'm not being selfish here, everyone has there place on the road, but why do people who are plainly taking it easy have to push past you in stationery traffic, then set off at round 2mph? or push their way in front when you're squeezing through traffic, before realising their shitback commuter handlebars won't allow them to squeeze through anything smaller than 6ft wide.

why?

then there are the new fixed riders everywhere, one nearly edged me off the road, another nearly got whacked by a lorry...

anyway i'm going to blame some of this on brick lane bikes... only in that they sell some beautiful fixed bikes, amongst a plethora of other beautiful things.


so... i'm not really blaming them, atleast for that, but i will perhaps blame them for the uneccessary cool shit i'll be buying over the coming weeks...

!?!??!!*!?!?*!?!?!

Once again, I'm speechless...

Jacobs engineering group, who advise TFL (for one) on the subject of sustainable transport have advised... no, 'ordered' their staff not to cycle to work as it's too dangerous.

you can read the full article here

surprisingly they weren't available for comment.

aside from the obvious, i.e. these people shouldn't be allowed to preach without practising, it does make me think that perhaps they're right... yes, I've read the facts that get trotted out by TFL at every chance, but i'm not convinced.

however, simply avoiding it is not the answer, I won't pretend i have a solution, but i do think the more of us doing it, the more we'll be taken seriously.

SAVE Southsea...

Now i have to confess to not having skated since i was 20, i gave it up to follow my career... or i was shit or something...

anyway, i stil have a old man's longboard and as it involves something with wheels yet no engine, i can comment on these things.

my good friend at saftandboneless tells me portsmouth council are preparing to close down southsea skatepark, why? i know not, but it still stinks... especially (for me) considering tony hawk and lance mountain graced it's concrete curves at some point.

anyway, there's a petition here
so please sign it and let's try and stop this nonsense.

cheers

FIXED

Fixed is an 'exhibition' at the design museum covering the whole fixed thing. well, when i say exhibition, it's a few bikes in a big glass tank... definitely worth seeing (especially as one of them is the beautiful AF1 bike), but i don't wish to mislead no-one...

you can read more here

or you can have a look at some of the beautiful work wilson has created here

Please stop

now i can't exaxctly complain about the sudden rise in fixies around these parts, after all, i'm not a courier, a pro or remotely hardcore, but i saw something i liked in it.

i can however complain about people adopting this because it's 'trendy'. Riding fixed isn't for the faint hearted (or the under-skilled for that matter) as i found out very quickly a couple of years back. Taking straight to the streets of London straight off could be the perfect way to conquer it, or the perfect way to end up under a bus. So, people, take your time, i'm seeing too many wobblers, it's scary.

And.. the quantity of people riding around on 'fixies' with the requisite goldfinger front (and no rear) and a big fat freewheel are scaring the shit out of me. when it's fixed fair enough, but please... freewheel with front and rear brakes. otherwise when 'that' cabby pulls out and you shit your pants, you also be doing a face plant

fair enough with fixed. but, please do it for me, stick a back brake on if you're freewheeling.

On a final note, i can't wait until all these trend-spotters move on to something else, i'm gonna mop up on ebay...

TFL (again...)

once again i felt inclined to talk to TFL regarding one of their drivers. i've resisted doing this as the last time i did, the complaints procedure made me more annoyed than the incident... but...

last week, i had the usual bus overtaking so that it can brake violently and stop at the bus stop 20 metres in front of me. but on this occasion the driver also decided to cut in and almost run me into the railings (no bail out pavement option here).

so, i went alongside, called him a wanker and took a note of his registration. when he noticed i was doing this, he proudly pointed out his driver ID number, smiled and gave me the thumbs up.

by this point i'm feeling very 'happy' that this fucking clown has almost wrecked me and my bike, yet he finds it funny... god, i still want to shout cunt now...

anyways, i complain again and get the same response as i did last time. something along the lines of 'sorry, but they information you supplied isn't enough to ID the driver'. In fact, i'll paste the mail below and let you know how the respond to my reply, as i'm keen to hear aside from actually following the driver home, noting his ad

ress, taking pictures, perhaps getting his national insurance number, how much fucking information i need to ID a driver. he was in a big fucking bus, on this street, at this time, here's his ID, how hard can it be?????

i'm going to start carrying a camera.

anyway, here's the mail and my response (mails have neen removed to protect the ignorant).



dear Jack


thanks for taking the time to respond to my mail.

this is the 2nd time i've reported what i consider to be extremely dangerous driving from TFL staff, and it's also the 2nd time I've been told that I haven't supplied the correct information. Last time i supplied a bus registration number and this time a driver number (which said driver pointed out to me proudly, after nearly running me off the road).

so... could you please tell me exactly what i need to make a note of next time this happens please? i'd like to see if you can restore my faith in TFL and prove that the complaints procedure isn't just a matter of 'going through the motions'.



regards
andy horn


> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Van Der Waals Matthew \(ST\)"
> To:
> Subject: Case 485137
> Date: Mon, 2 Jul 2007 11:03:19 +0100
>
>
> Our Ref: 485137/2/JW
> Date: 02 July 2007
>
> Dear Mr Horn
>
> Incident on 18 June 2007 - Old Street
>
> Thank you for your recent email about the above. I am grateful for
> the time you have taken to get in touch.
>
> I am sorry you experienced a problem with the behaviour of a bus
> driver on this occasion. To ensure that our drivers are meeting
> our high standards we also regularly carry out a number of
> different monitoring exercises, including driver quality monitoring
> surveys conducted by the Driving Standards Agency.
>
> As a result, the majority of our drivers carry out their role in
> the way we would expect. I am sorry that this wasn't reflected in
> the behaviour of this driver.
>
> Unfortunately, from the information you have provided I am unable
> to identify the bus driver. If you are able to provide me with any
> additional details about the bus, such as the registration number
> or route number, I will ensure this is looked into further.
> However, I appreciate that during such an incident this isn't the
> first thing you would necessarily have thought to obtain.
>
> Once again, thank you for writing. If I can be of any help in the
> future, please feel free to contact me.
>
> Yours sincerely
>
>
> Jack Walters
> Customer Services
>
>
> **********************************************************************
> This email and any files transmitted with it are confidential and
> intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they
> are addressed. If you have received this email in error please notify
> TfL IM Service Desk on 08452 340 017.
>
> This footnote also confirms that this email message has been swept by
> MIMEsweeper for the presence of computer viruses.
>
> Surface Transport
> Transport for London
> **********************************************************************

>

'Green'

i don't talk much about green issues, mainly because being more environmentally friendly is a by product of my cycling rather than the initial goal.

and i'm a bit crap at saving all those little bottles.

anyway, i read an article about sustainable commuting in ottawa. with it's 170km of bike paths, you can cycle pretty much the whole river without crossing a road. they even close the one that runs alongside in the summer! it sounds like somekind of bike mecca... although the article didn't mention how far you had to ride without hitting someone meandering in the lane, some broken glass or dog shit...

if you don't wish to bike, you can canoe, rollerblade or ice skate (in the winter of course...)
ice skating vid

now i'm not suggesting you canoe to work in london (the canal rats would have you) but it does make you think that there is a hell of a lot more ken could be doing to make our commute a lot easier and a shitload more environmentally friendly.

currently i see little evidence of any kind of commitment to make life better for the very cyclists he encourages with his shitty poster campaigns. 'You're better off by bike' more to be written off by one of TFLs buses, but better off...

obviously i still enjoy riding anywhere i can, but it fucks me off when someone gets self righteous, then demonstrates very little commitment to practicing what they preach. it brings to mind an 'heated debate' i had with a girl regarding tattoos, she stated that if you get one it should be somewhere prominent, i pointed out that sadly society still makes the connection between criminality and ink (or atleast chav and ink) so i can understand why some people choose to have them somewhere personal (mine's a half sleeve BTW, so i'm sat on the fence so to speak). this went on for sometime, until i asked her if she actually had a tattoo, she didn't...

now i'm not saying you're not entitled to an opinion, i'm just asking you formulate said opinion based on perhaps some experience and/or facts... i.e. ride a bike in london before you tell me and thousands of others how to do it. perhaps even ask some of us cyclists what we need? maybe?

and no, it's not a free reflective yellow vest.

It's been a long time...

...Follow procedures the crowd couldn't wait to see this
Nobody been this long awaited since Jesus... [rakim]

well, not quite true... or at all true, except the long time bit...

I've been a having a bit of crisis of late, i got a bit bored with my own rants, then started to wonder if writing about the hate i sometimes feel on my rides was making things worse... and i should try and rise above it, hit somekind of enlightened peak.

then i got pushed by one bus too many, besides i like swearing and i've got lots of crap i'd like to share with the four or so people who check my blog sporadically.

so... ummmm... i'm back from my 'soul searching'