CYCLE CLIPS March 2004

Every month I receive a couple of Newsletters from other cycling clubs around the country. Those other Newsletters are far better than ours: they give helpful information about sprockets and numbers of teeth thereon, they tell you how much water to drink and not too much beer, they tell you what sort of bike you should ride and how fast to go on them.

Nothing like this in our CLIPS, possibly because we don’t have cyclists who know a lot.

CTC Grampian

Notice of Annual General Meeting

Saturday 12 November 2005

Aberdeen Youth Hostel, 8 Queens Road, Aberdeen

17.45 for 18.00 hrs

AGENDA

1. Secretary to read notice of the meeting

2. Apologies for absence

3. Minutes of the 2004 AGM

4. Secretary's Report

5. Treasurer's Report

6. Membership Report

7. Right to Ride Reports

8. Runs Leaders' Reports

9. Social Secretary's Report

10. Election of Officers

11. Ex Officio Posts

12. Consideration of Motions

13. Presentation of Trophy

14. AOCB

NOTES

A. The one-year term of office of the current committee will end at the AGM. Officers will be elected at the AGM and posts are open for nominations.

B. Please submit any motions for consideration at the AGM to the Secretary, Sheila Rusbridge, by Wednesday 2 November

(sheila.rusbridge@btinternet.com).

C. AGM to be followed by a social evening, cheese and wine and quiz, at 91 Whitehall Place, starting at 20.00hrs.

D. Please note that the minutes and reports from the 2004 AGM are available on the Grampian DA web site (www.ctcgrampian.org.uk/2004agm.html). A few copies will be available for those members who do not have access to the internet.

The following Press Release made me sit up:

Most cyclists do not have adequate insurance

Only 2 per cent of the 5 million adults who cycle regularly are covered by a specialist insurance policy. A cyclist who is involved in an accident that causes damage to a person or property could face a claim for compensation.

CTC Director, Kevin Mayne, said: “Most cyclists simply ignore the issue of third party insurance. Although cycling is safe and healthy, it is dangerous to ignore the threat of legal action in the event of an accident. Household insurance policies may offer a degree of third party cover, but many exclude road traffic accidents.”

All CTC members residing in the UK are automatically covered by £5 million third party public liability insurance and receive free cycling-related legal advice.

The story of that fly

Last year I published Alan Cowking’s problem in these CLIPS:

Two cyclists were cycling towards each other, starting twenty miles apart, and both cycling at a steady 10 m.p.h. At the same time, a fly started from the nose of one cyclist, flew at a steady 15 mph to the nose of the other cyclist, and then back to the first, and so on, until the cyclists met. How far did the fly travel?

I never look for answers to such difficult problems from our members. However, among the RIPON LOITERERS there must be a clever chap. He found this fly problem on the Web, and in their issue of 21 August 2005, he gave the answer:

As the cyclists are riding at 10 mph, they will meet in one hour, hence the fly, flying at 15 mph, will have travelled 15 miles in the one hour.

Another problem solved. We couldn’t have done that.

Ride report

We don’t normally write about our rides. During the last quarter from July to end September, we organised 51 rides. It would take about twenty pages to give a resume of all those rides. One exception though is the following:

The 2nd Braemar Bash

Undeterred by 2 disastrously wet 2004 camping trips 9 Bashers met outside Airyhall Library on a variety of heavily laden machines including 2 of the near horizontal design with PH all the way from Newcastle and AH aboard, on Saturday 6 August, with 4 day trippers. We made a bee-line via Countesswells Road, Garlogie, Floras (no stopping allowed) into Banchory where 4 more Bashers joined up, already well into the carbohydrate overload at the Penny Farthing after a demanding trip from home (in some cases as much as a mile.…). Anticipating a less than favourable response, the Shooting Greens and Corsedarder were avoided in favour of a few miles of madness along the North Deeside Road. Once at Potarch the scenery got better and better and we headed for Glen Tanar for a picnic lunch to be joined by the local insect fraternity. Despite a detectable headwind, DM's cowboy hat remained firmly stuck to his head, causing one curious Basher to wonder if the metal staples on each side were in direct communication with his cranium. By the time we reached Ballater, the morning’s carbohydrate intake was long forgotten and the competition for the largest slice of cake attracted an increasing number of entrants. Onward and alongward to Crathes via the South Deeside Road where we had missed HRH and the local trinket sale, but the Kirk was very interesting and a good excuse to park up. IK was hellbent on the destination and the first pint of beer and completely missed the cultural experience. By now elapsed times were seriously increasing and average speeds had plummeted, so with the prospect of some serious evening entertainment, it was an easy spin down the road and into Braemar where the camp site was buzzing with grockles and GM was already well entrenched with brew on the go. Despite 3 weeks of practice in France HB's tent ended up upside down and inside out. It was generally agreed that there was a draw for the saggiest accommodation with AC's and JP's tents both sharing the award. However presumably this did not affect internal comfort: AC slept through a heavy rain storm thinking the next morning that his tent had only attracted some condensation. It was not long before the assembled masses were heading for the local hostelry, the Fife Arms, for an evening of wine, women and song (the latter provided by the local large ladies club and a moderately (un)accomplished solo musician and vocalist, with the opportunity to sing along). The food fell a long way short of the Egon Ronay award but even AC was defeated by the volume of chips, which arrived after a kitchen glitch. Single skinned tents have much to be recommended when strapped to the back of one's bike, but WH (generally the most hardy of Aberdonians) spent a very cold night in his, refusing to accept that summer in Braemar has a whole different meaning to the rest of the country. We arose to the aroma of frying bacon, which wafted over carnivore and vegetarian tents alike, while MF vainly tried to tempt SF away from Steve Wrights Sunday love songs. For those whose breakfast was on the sparse side, it was a dampish sprint back to Ballater for the first café of the day. It had been quite apparent the previous evening that frocks had been left at home, but MY made up for the omission with the 'best dressed' bananas ever seen on a club run. Faced with the prospect of 'the hill' and a bit of a breeze and domestic demands, numbers were dwindling. JC disappeared into the horizon last seen as a dot on the landscape heading for Tarland. He reportedly retraced his wheels and presumably negotiated 'the hill' several times looking for us, I suspect long before we lesser mortals hit the climb. The picnic at Kildrummy was a chilly affair - just as well there was only one picnic table as we all got very friendly for extra warmth. There were a number of changes of plan which finally saw us in yet another welcome café in Alford. Now with a strong tail wind even the heaviest tent couldn’t fail to find its way home, after the compulsory stop to pay homage to Jeremy Eric, still resplendent in black. And so it was that yet another Braemar Bash came to an end. We are left with good memories, the statistics (in some cases more revealing than others) and hopefully some photographs for the club's year record.

Sheila Rusbridge

(Editor’s queries: What is a grockle? Who is Jeremy Eric?)

Car fumes and cyclists

A discussion has been going on in medical circles about cyclists’ lungs and car fumes. One doctor maintained that a heavily panting cyclist in an urban environment breathes in lots of pollutants. From my employment in a road design company many years ago, I remember that drivers are exposed to more pollution circulating in the car than cyclists in the open air. Not only does the poor driver suffer recirculated polluted air, they also have to suffer the boredom of holding a steering wheel. Personally, I suggest cycling slowly where car fumes are thickest.

Uses of an old inner tube (continued)

Gordon MacKay cannot leave this subject alone. As you know, Gordon hopes to achieve 101 uses of an old inner tube. He recently celebrated the achievement of 51 uses of said tubes. Alan Cowking won the prize (a new inner tube!) with his application: Replace broken heel strap in sandal with bits of inner tube.

(Explanation: after you acquire an old inner tube, you buy a couple of haggis (haggi?). From the haggis, you retrieve the clamps. Those clamps can then hold the heel strap in place against the remainder of the sandal. Very ingenious, deserves a round of applause. Can we now go on to “101 uses of an old haggis clamp?”?)

Did you know?

In the Healthy Eating section of my paper, I found the intriguing fact that our bodies contain 96,000km of blood vessels. A big person would of course have 100,000 km of blood vessels, a much rounder number.

That is about 60,000 miles of plumbing. Just think of the potential leakages.

Lane discipline

Now that we are lucky enough to see cycle lanes on our roads, we should use them properly. We do not like cars swerving into other cars’ lanes, let alone our own cycle lane. When there is no other traffic about, a road user is allowed to cross advisory lanes, not if there are other road users on the road.

Friends of the Earth

The FoE are taking the Scottish Minister of Transport to court for continuing with the planned building of the M74 extension. I wonder how that will pan out and how long it will take. The Western Peripheral Route is likely to be another candidate for such action.

Flashing allowed

As of 1 October, you are allowed to flash, whether with your rear red light or your white/green/orange front light. This makes life a little simpler and safer for us all.

Reverse steering bike again

Andrea Venturelli lives in Italy and read about our reverse steering bike as manufactured by Sandy. He asked if he could have one. He is not the first person who has asked for one, all due to the Web. I asked Sandy to make another engineering drawing and he is doing it. The poor man, Andrea, is still waiting but Sandy has promised it will soon be done.

Is this a cycle motor or a motorcycle?

The Bernardi engine pushes a normal bike from the rear. The engine powered its single wheel by a chain. The only modification to the bicycle was a pair of footboards to keep your feet out of the way of the revolving pedals. (The freewheel had not been invented!).

Recumbent?

And while we’re on the subject of unusual bikes... Dave Lindsey found this unusual example of a recumbent...

Car virus multiplies out of control

In the July issue of Cycle Clips, I asked for advice what to do about the car virus. Here is a reply from Mark Hagger.

My advice:

Implement the present policy of Aberdeen City & Aberdeenshire Councils, to establish priority of pedestrians, cycles, over cars, in a systematic manner at all times.

Some implications:

· Obstruct all direct routes to town/city centres for cars, and make it very much quicker by bike or on foot.

· Provide quality cycle parking conveniently near all relevant locations.

· Make it very much more expensive to park in the centre of town/city (say x3 of present), make similar charges at all out of town shopping centres.

· Use the income to subsidise environmentally friendly modes of transport.

· Similarly, provide short direct cycle routes linking all popular locations (e.g. Stonehaven, Portlethen, Aberdeen) and ensure that car routes are at least twice as long.

· Cyclists have priority over cars at all intersections of their routes, which also implies the much-vaunted EU policy on insurance that presumes cyclists are in the right.

It is only by a severe and rigorous approach to change the agenda both by making journeys less easy by car, and by introducing charges that reflect the social and environmental cost of the car, that there will be a rebalance. There is nothing new here: all of these ideas are already being implemented elsewhere.

Mark Hagger

Car parking fines

When people get hot under the collar, I like it; their opinions suddenly become very clear. Mark Hagger would appreciate the following from an Edinburgh cyclist:

Car-parking fines in Edinburgh are a tax on thick, selfish whiners, who could do with fewer meals, more walks and better arguments.

Car owners never see it this way. They have many points to show why they, and they in particular, cannot live without their car. Their so-called points are little more than a fig leaf of contrived argument behind which the inadequate reason for their automotive dependency dangles: they are lazy.

Kris Carruthers and Austen Billings

were very sorry to leave us last July. They were too busy selling/buying houses and moving and graduating and travelling to Hull to say bye-bye to everyone. They ask: “Can you please put a "little ditti" in the Cycle Clips. Saying “thank you to everyone for their friendship, hospitality and giving nature. Allowing us to appreciate what wonderful cycling that Aberdeenshire had to offer through organised fun days out on the bikes. We have great memories and will miss you all loads”.

Kris and Austen would of course be very welcome to attend:

The Third Grampian Rally

to be held from 26 to 31 May 2006 at Templars Park.

The Birthday Rides

to be held from 5 to 11 August 2006 in Dumfries.

www.CTCScotland.org.uk/br2006

Try Cycling finished for the year

We estimate that during the past six months, some 40 people turned up for the Try Cycling trips on Sundays. It encourages us to have another go next year with even more Council publicity and posters. We will discuss whether the time of day can be altered and possibly move from Sunday to Saturday. Any opinions?

Want to be a Cycling Trainer?

The Aberdeen Cycling Forum (which is still doing great work) has funds available to train cyclists to become Cycling Trainers. You will get an official certificate issued by Cycling Scotland. The latter body is being paid for by the Scottish Executive.

Five people have come forward who are willing to spend four days being trained by experts, possibly over two weekends. The ACF would like some more people to take this opportunity: it will give you the confidence to get other people to try cycling. Please give your name to lnapier@aberdeencity.gov.uk or phone Louise Napier on 522000 in the Planning Department Aberdeen City Council.

CYCLE CLIPS

October 2005

Foreword