I recently treated myself to (a demo version of) Photoshop Elements. When I popped out for a short ride around the trails near home last Saturday, I took my compact camera and my gorillapod to snatch a few shots.
To give myself the bast chance of catching a good photo while the sun was low in the winter sky, I set the timer and programmed the camera to take ten shots in quick succession.
Uploading the photos from the camera and scrolling through, a thought struck me… Can I make an animation from these?
Well, one quick search on Youtube later and the answer was “Yes!” – Result.
Down Carr Lane
Back Up For The Camera!
So, what do you think?
… and more to the point, where could I use some now that I know how to do it?
For too long, the UK rain has been keeping me off the bike. It’s a well-used quote that “there’s no such thing as bad weather, just inappropriate clothing”, and this is true, but rain is rubbish.
Rain has a way of removing heat from your body like no other weather. Rain finds a way of trickling down the back of your neck. Rain results in damp doormats and sodden shed floors.
I don’t like rain. As a bespectacled man, rain is also a complete pain in the backside when it comes to seeing ANYTHING.
So I’ve kinda got used to not doing many miles. Recently, though, there’s been no rain…
There’s Been Snow
Snow’s different. Snow’s pretty. Snow’s compliant. Snow’s even grippy when it’s not been squashed or refrozen into ice.
I like snow.
On Sunday I layered up: Aldi base layers (£9 each, top & bottoms); Endura top; Ron Hill running bottoms; Aldi mid layer; Altura jacket; two buffs; a beanie hat; big Sealskinz gloves.
I made up a flask and was ready to go. Incidentally, this should have been Bovril but I was devastated to discover that my beloved had spotted the Bovril was out of date and disposed of it. I wrote “BOVRIL” on the shopping list and made myself some coffee.
My ride wasn’t particularly adventurous. I tested the ground conditions with an outward leg along the canalside to discover that the snow was wet enough and (mostly) deep enough to offer lots of grip, so with a smile I headed up past Hollingworth Lake onto the Pennine Bridle Way.
I wasn’t going fast. It was a good workout, with the snow slowing me down, rendering everything a virtual uphill. I just selected the granny ring, modulated my breathing so I wouldn’t die and plodded along. Bliss!
As I passed through a gate at the bottom of the hill past the M62 viaduct, a pleasant bloke on a shiny Specialized Camber 29er came alongside and we chatted for a few minutes about our bikes and estimated his timing for his return loop back to his car in Littleborough. If that was you, I hope you got back in time and I should’ve asked your name!
Turning uphill on the PBW towards Piethorne Reservoir I spotted a dark shape smack bang in the middle of the trail. A toad, maybe two-thirds the size of my fist, was crouched there slowly getting covered in the still-falling snow. I’m still not sure whether he was motionless because he perceived me coming along the trail (as he’d usually be camouflaged on that ground, but the obvious whiteness rendered that option a bit foolish) or whether he was, in fact, frozen to death and had already met his amphibious maker.
Cow Shed
Toadsickle
Pennine Bridle Way towards Piethorne
Snowy Strava – See Link Below
The trail down from the top of the hill towards Piethorne was exposed to the wind and had turned, over a few days of thawing and refreezing, into a cascading sheet of ice. Thankfully I was looking well ahead so steered onto the grass and opted to walk that section. My non-bruised hips will thank me for that decision!
More snow covered the trail a little lower down, so I climbed back aboard down to the reservoir and took the path alongside the water, until it joined the service road. From there I (carefully, with one foot dangling for support just in case the patches of ice along the road caught me by surprise) rolled down through Ogden into Newhey and back home.
Staying at home in the warm would have been the easier option by far, but I’m so glad I ventured out. It was only a shade over 11 miles but by staying off the well-trodden path and keeping my eyes on the scenery, I was able to truly enjoy my snowy, slip-sliding shenanigens.
Don’t let the snow keep you indoors. As I read somewhere else recently “enjoy the weather – you can’t change it“.
January is passing me by. Before 2013 began, I resolved to write an inspirational “Start Of The Year” article, highlighting the wonderful things that cyclists had done in 2012. It was to be a work of gravitas, impact, empathy and skill. It was to draw on the wonderful successes of the London 2012 Olympics and it was going to apply some of those successes to the very real achievements of you, the readers and the 12×100 cyclists.
The landscape’s better with your tyres in it.
Take the road less travelled.
But I didn’t do it. It’s too late now. It’s mid-January and all the “New Year” blog posts have been done. Extremely well, in most cases.
So instead, you’re getting this. I’m hoping you’ll like it.
2012 In The 12×100
I’m based in the UK. The bulk of the 12×100 riders are, too. As a consequence we didn’t ride as many miles in 2012 as we did in 2011. The weather in the UK has been rubbish. Not biblical (unless you’re living in parts of Yorkshire or Dorset) but consistently rubbish: rainy, dark and cold. Not conducive to riding bikes.
With that said, the results have been amazing. A grand total of 63,640 miles cycled by the 34 people who logged miles in 2012. This is an average of 199 miles per month each for those cyclists who logged each month – most of those miles were for leisure. People having fun on bikes. This makes me smile. I hope it makes you smile, too.
A little surprisingly, the month with the highest miles logged was May, just before the rain began. The rain didn’t stop until late December.
If you’ve not taken part in the 12×100 Monthly Cycling Challenge yet, hit the link on the menu above. There’s a little form for you to fill in. Do it now. All you have to do is decide to ride your bike regularly. Try to ride 100 miles or more every month, but if you don’t do it, don’t worry too much.
I’ll share something with you which isn’t a secret – I don’t do the 100 most months. In 2012 I only actually cycled 624 miles. Not exactly a sparkling achievement. But it’s 624 miles more than the other 43 year-old bloke who spent all his evenings and free days watching TV and eating crisps.
My life will be longer as a result of those 624 miles. If I can do 100 miles a month in 2013, my life will even longer still.Will yours? I hope so. Ride your bikes. Tell ‘em Phill sent you 🙂
Why Should Anyone Invest In Somebody Else’s Bike Business?
That’s a good question.
To put money into anyone else’s idea, you first have to know what good is going to come of it – for you, not just for the business.
Sure, the business gets access to funds to help it grow, but what’s in it for the investor?
To put it bluntly, a successful small business is more likely to be bought up by a major player in the market. Successful niche companies have a habit of being bought by bigger companies, looking to increase their loyal customer base and share in the some of the good feeling that a great smaller business generates. The bigger business can usually offer customers a wider range of great products too, so everyone wins.
The best bit is that the bigger business, the one doing the buying, usually pays good money for the great smaller business which has grown through your investment…. So you make a profit, in return for helping the small business to become so attractive.
Crowd Funding? What’s That?
Crowd Funding is an awesome idea which probably wouldn’t have worked before the internet. It’s a way of making it possible for small investors to contribute to big plans. By reducing the costs of organising funding and increasing the ability of normal people to see where their investment will go, crowd funding allows people like you and me to share in the growth of great businesses.
The Bike Leasing Company
I got my bike from The Bike Leasing Company about 12 months ago. I should really publish a “year long review” piece here, but for now I’ll just say that the experience was painless and I got a lot of bike for not a lot of money. The Bike Leasing Company is now set for growth but needs investment, so they’ve turned to CrowdCube to see if the internet can make it happen.
On the right hand side of this page is a widget showing how the appeal is going, and by clicking the “Help Fund This Pitch” button you can see what freebies you get for your investment straight away – and don’t we all like something for nothing? But don’t forget, your investment isn’t only for a free t-shirt, or a free lease of a totally cool new bike…
It might help to get a lot more people riding cool bikes. It might also make you a handsome profit.
Yes, I’ve been quiet. Sorry about that: I’ve got some stuff going on right now.
I read an excellent little article today over on the Bike Tinker Blog. It’s an excellent blog all about doing weird stuff with – and for – bikes. A lovely pastime. Check it out.
Anyway, this article listed some Rules Of The Road, which I’m going to reproduce here. I hope the author doesn’t mind.
Rules Of The Road.
Expect to share the road with bicycles.
Expect to share the road with cars.
Move predictably.
Never attempt to kill or injure another person intentionally.
Pay attention, so you don’t kill or injure anyone unintentionally.
Stay aware of other peoples’ presence, speed and direction.
Alert people to your presence, but do not startle them.
To these, I’m going to add two more cyclist-specific rules which Baron Sugar of Clapham suggested in an interview on the soon-to-be-defunct Chris Moyles Radio 1 breaksfast radio show:
Always wear a helmet, even if you’re just going around the corner.
Assume that everyone else on the road is trying to kill you.
Do you have any more to add? I’d be interested to see them. Or, distil your best 3 and put them here, because everyone knows that you can’t remember more than 3 things at the same time.
