Get On, Clip In, Fall Off

Pssshhh

Cycling. Punctures. Two things which often go hand in hand, especially if you insist on riding around places like London where it seems that the streets aren't paved with gold (very slippery, bad for traction anyway) but fragments of broken glass and grit. My bike came supplied with 28mm Bontrager Race Lite Hardcase tyres, designed to withstand the rigours of life, with Kevlar anti-puncture belts. Well, after a few days of commuting I got a rip in one of them which meant that I had a nice surprise when I got back to my bike after a day in the office. So much for them - their puncture protection was about as useful as homeopathic insect repellant during the Scottish midge season. The tyre wouldn't have lasted long even if repaired, so I called in the heavy mob in the shape of a pair of two Specialized All Condition Armadillo monsters.

Armadillo tyres are basically considered to have the best puncture protection in the business, and they're what people always recommend when you're not desperately worried about weight but find fixing punctures a bit of a bore. They have nice red sidewalls, and were fine until I noticed the regular scraping from the back indicative of the wheel rubbing on something. I took a look and found a big bulge over the tyre, and seeing as I'd forgotten the lessons I learned as a kid assumed that this must be to do with overinflation and let a bit of air out. The bulge went away. I let some air out of the front tyre too, just in case.

A couple of days later, I'm turning off Camberwell New Road and "pssshhh" - down goes the front tyre, in a matter of seconds. "Huh?", I think. "These Armadillos suck!". I found a little hole in the tyre wall right down almost at the bead, fixed the inner and rode home carefully before the hole grew too much. Another tyre written off, because, well, I just don't trust damaged tyres. The back tyre turned out to be at about 40-50psi (recommended - 70-100), so I think I may have been a little overzealous with letting air out when I thought they were overinflated.

Of course, they weren't overinflated. I'd just forgotten a basic lesson of my youth - when you fit a new tyre, push the valve into the tyre and pull it back out again so the rubber seal around the valve is inside the tyre, not between the bead and the rim. That's what had caused the bulge in the rear tyre. I'm undecided as to whether the front puncture was due to underinflation or due to what looked like the brakes rubbing very slightly on the tyre sidewall and weakening it (the 100km Audax ride I did a weekend or two ago had some very brake-heavy descents on it, so they'd have certainly heated up a lot).

This time the shop only had 25mm Armadillos, so we've got a spare slightly used 28mm and I have two new tyres yet again. Let's see how long it takes before the next "pssshhh" - in the meantime, I'm re-learning important things I need to know about how to maintain bikes competently.

Fresh air commutes

I got a bike for the first time in some years a few months ago, after Tara decided she was bored of riding her bike around by herself and bought me one as a Christmas/birthday present (oh, twist my arm, do). It's a road bike - a Trek Pilot 1.2. It's red, and I like it a lot. After several months in which the poor thing looked neglected and ignored while I started a new job and dealt with all the accompanying excitement I finally started riding it more a few weeks ago, and it seems to be catching.

Apart from all the usual joys of cycle ownership (buying Lycra bib shorts and falling off in amusing ways while getting used to clipless pedals) I've now started commuting to work by bike most days. It's more pleasant than the Tube (not least because the tube station's a 10-minute walk away, by which time I'd be a third of the way to work by bike) but, more interestingly, it's a lot less difficult than I thought it would be.

London does not really have a reputation as a cycling city, but with a few street smarts it's really not all that difficult. The main thing to remember is that traffic in London, by and large, moves slowly, so especially during peak commuting hours you'll probably be faster than most of the cars anyway. Keep your wits about you and pay attention to what's going on and you'll be fine.

The other thing to remember is that Transport for London and Sustrans' idea of what constitutes cycle routes should be taken with a major pinch of salt. For instance, there's a lovely-looking nice straight bike route right through the middle of Wimbledon Common marked on TfL's cycling maps, which in reality is... gravel. Fine if you're on a mountain bike with knobbly tyres, but not so fine if you're on a road bike with 28mm slicks - and 28mm is actually pretty wide for a road bike. I had to get off and walk after a while, which now I come to think of it seems to be the sole purpose of many councils' cycling initiatives.

While I'm definitely happy with my road bike, the standard riding position (forward on the hoods) isn't all that optimal for commuting, especially for things like cornering on city streets and looking behind me. I'm thinking that I might get a straight-bar urban hybrid with a more upright position for commuting and bumbling around town. The justification for the expenditure here is, of course, "Well, it's money I won't be spending on Travelcards."

Anyway, if you see me around town give me a wave. Should be fairly easy to spot - I'm the one with the helmet and without the iPod who stops at red traffic lights.

More on this subject later. There are rantings and ravings galore to be had on this subject.