Mouvember Madness

Yesterday marked the start of Road Safety Week co-ordinated by Brake, the independent road safety charity.

The theme of this year’s campaign is ‘tuning in to road safety’. The purpose of the campaign is to encourage drivers to avoid distractions whilst driving and stay focused in order to protect themselves and those around them. Sadly it comes too late for some as a staggering 11 cyclists have been killed on our roads so far this month.

As usual the tabloids try and perpetuate an 'apparent' rift between cyclists and motorists by selecting extreme views from the perspectives of both user groups.

As a cyclist and motorist I see mostly good, but occasionally bad in both. A reflection of society as a whole. Despite that I still firmly believe that if you ride or drive defensively, you will minimise any chance of unwanted contact. 

Every time I commute to work either by cycle or car I see the following:-

Ninja Cyclists in dark clothing and no lights, their nocturnal camouflage ruined by the glow of a cigarette in the darkness  or the illumination of their mobile phone seemingly glued to their ear.

Van drivers mimicking the above only with the additional props of a Costa Coffee and a Red top.Sadly that is often the starting point before poor riding/driving is added to the equation.

Recently I was contacted by a reader of my blogposts and a fellow blogger Mike Evans.

Mike Evans is a cycling enthusiast and freelance writer from Leeds who has been blogging about various subjects for the past five years. He has written a number of articles for Road Safety Week and here is one of his posts:-

Changing our attitude towards cyclists in the UK

 

Last year a survey conducted by the Department of Transport found that 65% of non-cyclists agreed that it is too dangerous to cycle on the road in the UK. For anybody that does cycle, this should not come as a surprise. Roads in the UK are notoriously bad for cyclists, whether it is the lack of cycle lanes or the poor road maintenance meaning you have to constantly keep your eye out for potholes. Whilst London comes closest to offering a decent infrastructure for cyclists, it still remoff the mark in comparison to other European cities and it is not surprising that many people view cycling as a dangerous mode of transportation.

 

In 2011, a report from the European Commission found that only 2.2% of the UK used a bike as their main mode of transport. This was in comparison to 31.2% in the Netherlands and 19% in Denmark. This should not come as a surprise. Two of the most cycle friendly cities in the world, Amsterdam and Copenhagen, are that way for a reason and it is the public attitude towards cyclists that makes it easy for people to pick up their bikes. If we look at the Dutch example, we see how their attitude towards cycling helps more people to cycle. Infrastructure aside, the fact that everybody cycles means that drivers are much more patient with cyclists. At the same time, cyclists are expected to respect the law and police on bikes will enforce the law for any cyclists jumping red lights or riding recklessly.

 

On the other hand, if we look at Copenhagen we see the kind of infrastructure needed to encourage people to cycle. Cycle lanes are everywhere and are a full lane separated from traffic as opposed to a single file strip painted on the side of the road. Public transport has more than enough room for you to store your bike and there are many places to lock up your bike at stations and around town.

 

Whilst infrastructure is undoubtedly a major factor in facilitating cyclists another important factor is the attitude that is taken towards cyclists. In the UK cycling is often seen as a mode of transport for those that cannot afford to use a car, whereas in other European cities cycling is as integrated into daily life as other forms of transport. In both Denmark and the Netherlands there is a strict liability law, which means in crashes involving vulnerable road users, unless clearly proven otherwise, the powerful road user is at fault. In fact the UK is1 of only 5 European countries to not have a strict liability law. Now the introduction of this law in the UK would not generate a great upsurge in the number of cyclists on UK roads but it certainly says a lot about our view towards cyclists and changing our view from seeing cyclists as secondary road users to road users with as much right to the road as cars.  

 

Understandably, investment in infrastructure similar to these two prime examples is costly and not easily done. The government has announced a £77 million investment in cycling across the UK and to be honest, this probably won’t even begin to address the problem. However, we need to look at ways in which to change people’s attitude towards cyclists and cycling in general. Compulsory cycle training in schools and incentives for people who use their bike would go a long way towards getting people to cycle more. Those looking to take their driving test should have first-hand experience of what it is like to be a cyclist on the road. In addition to this, enforcing stricter penalties for rogue cyclists as well as educating cyclists about the need to be properly visible and obey the Highway Code would help to curb the aggression of some drivers towards cyclists.

Thank you Mike 

Club news.

Despite being off season it's been a busy time for the Anglo Mules over the past two weeks.

Firstly we had our annual awards and end of season get together. For 2013 the awards were presented as follows:-

Best overall rider - Duncan Collins

Best climber - Neal Madden

Most improved rider - Sofia Khan

Best Sprinter - Philip Shrimpton

Best New Rider - Matt Baldwin

 

Mule of the Year - Manuel Duenas

Mule of the year award

This weekend there was an inaugural Mouvember Sportive of 57 miles starting at the village of Brantingham (East Yorkshire). With unseasonal weather 8 degrees the UK mules were able to show off their livery as well as their grand moustaches. With a testing start climbing Brantingham Dale and then a lumpy route to Pocklington the second part of the course was flat and fast.

With very little wind the Mule Train really got going and we managed a great overall average time of 18mph.

Rogues Gallery

 'Your stable needs you' Mark (Kitchener) Bishop

Andy (Chaplin) Stewart

'And the killer is.........' Neal (Poirot) Madden

 

'I say Shrimpers...is that a bit of an incline ahead' Ian (Tommy) Turnbull

Simon (Barron Cohen) Gooding

Bobby (Salvador) Sexton

Philip (the ace of spades) Shrimpton

For our endeavours we even got a commemorative Mug.

As far as the moustaches are concerned like last year I may keep mine to warm my upper lip during the harsher winter rides to come

Safe cycling - be careful out there.

Elevation - I can climb

Five years ago I ventured out one early spring morning.
It was a Sunday, and so early that nocturnal revelers looked at me quizzically as I strapped my cycle to the rack on the the rear of my car.

There had been a hard frost and even with a double layer of socks, I still worried about how cold my feet would be.

After thirty miles into my first ever sportive the temperature of my feet was the least of my worries as I was confronted by Mow Cop.

The mile leading up to this ridiculously steep gradient had already taken its toll and I had enough lactic acid in my legs to bottle it.

I was finished and stopped.........the excuse to Simon, my fellow rider was that others were falling like flies directly in front of me.

I argued that their inconsiderate tumbles onto the sloping tarmac presented me with too demanding a technical challenge.

Especially when cycling at 4mph.

Although this was true, the reason I got off and pushed was simply because I was not good enough.

Mow Cop

As I pushed my cycle up that hill, along with 50% of the other participants, I looked enviously at the ones who made it.

I later saw them queueing up for their medals at conquering such a beast.
I wanted one.

That day was the start of my love-hate relationship with climbing.

There is no greater sense of achievement in life when you reach your summit.

In cycling you get to do that every time you go out.

And on reaching the top you get a double treat - The Descent

The thrill of the fair, with no queues, or cost or a nagging child demanding some candyfloss.

Although I love climbing, the hills don't like me, and they try to knock me out of my stride.

Being a classic Endomorph my body type is not equipped to go up slopes.
Gravity and my genes gang up and conspire against me.

It is said that climbing never gets easier...you just get faster.
I never wanted it to be easy, but I there is tough and there is............. tough.
I stoped wearing a heart rate monitor as I did not want to be frightened at what it displayed.

Up to a 5% gradient I would still be able to ride in a way that resembles a cyclist, over that it all got messy.

I would turn into a tormented beast, haunched over my bike as it it were the axe mans block. 

Of course I know that being lighter makes it easier, and as each season progresses I do get lighter.

I could even say that towards the end of each season I temporarily become a 'Puncheur' .

Just able to power up the short, steep climbs and enable my fellow riders to not have to wait so long at the top of the longer and steeper climbs.

Having got 100 greatest cycling Climbs as a present I often looked at the iconic list and dreamed of being a climber. To tap out a rhythm up each ascent like Mario Cippolini



The attraction of climbing is a very British thing, we may not have the alps but we do have some very extreme gradients. Whilst alpine roads meander up the sides of valleys using switchbacks - Ours just go straight up.

Traditionally at the end of each cycling season clubs around the country hold Hill climbing events, the oldest being the famous Catford hill climb originating in 1887.

Another famous ascent for hill climbing is the spectacular Winnats Pass in Derbyshire.

Climbing Race on Winnats Pass

This old Black and White Photo could easily be mistaken from some alpine pass on the Tour de France.

This March when winter still held us in its icy grip I went to a cycle coaching session being held by a local cycling coach Adam HARDY

The evening changed my cycling life!!!!!!

There was one key message that I got from his presentation.

 When you ride,don't just ride. - Every year I have been riding between 6,000 and 8,000 miles and each year I have got marginally better.

I did not like 'Marginally'

Adams message was to look at what you do, to have an aim for each ride ie:- High intensity, climbing, cadence, technique (Never just ride)

He even advocated learning to do bunny hops to jump pot holes when your in a confined space. 

So this year as well as the customary diet I decided to never Just Ride.

High Intensity - Every ride I work to my limit for at least ten minutes. If I don't feel sick I dont consider I have worked hard enough.

Climbing - Pick a steep hill, climb and repeat, and repeat and repeat

High Cadence - Get out of the comfort gear and Spin, teach your legs that whatever their cadence currently is they need to learn to to do better

Technique - My posture is so much better and I can now bunny hop over pot holes.

The results have been amazing.

Over the past month I took on The Richmond Sportive in the Yorkshire Dales and The Tour De Peak in the Peak District - Both Climbing Sportives.

I enjoyed them!!!!!!

My book 100 greatest cycling Climbs now has some new climbs accomlished

The Stang

Tan Hill

Winnatts Pass

Cat and the Fiddle

Winnats Pass

I may never be a climber.........but now I can Climb and can do so with a smile on my face

Climbing Winnats Pass

At top of Cat and the Fiddle

With the cycle season now in full swing, we have still had time for more domestic challenges and trying to promote The Mules Cycling Club.

Wedneday Evenings are attracting double figures with many new faces and a few new bikes promoting some bike envy.

On weekends which are not occupied by Sportives we have been out exploring our own dramatic inclines.

Last weekend we revisited our old friend in Troustsdale (See below)
The 20% accent was conquered by our newest  Mule Manuel (Contador) Duenas.

Troutsdale

Manuel is from Spain and discovered the Mules onthe interenet.
He smiled on seeing our club name as apparently in Spain, cyclist call their cycles Mules or Donkeys.

We like this a lot and look forward to having Manuels company on future rides

Manuel and Yours truly



Richmond Dales Sportive

When people talk about the beauty of the Yorkshire Countryside, its a bit like saying they like birds when they have only ever heard the sound of a nightingale.
Appreciating Yorkshire in its fullest glory is best achieved by imagining you are having a 'Right royal feast'

with contrasting dishes served separately to enhance their own individual charateristics.

There are the alluvial flat lands of the Holderness plain and Vale of York, rich in Agriculture and the bread basket of the county.
The Yorkshire Wolds which if painted blue would resemble a sea swell after a violent storm, rolling through the countryside with even unbroken waves of colour.

The eastern coastline is both sharp and blunt, with high cliffs to the north, and Marshlands around the Humber Estuary.

To the South and West the great Yorkshire cities spread out along the backbone of Albion.
Perched high on the leeward side of the Pennines, the dark Satanic Mills replaced by studio flats and cooperative workshops.
Towns and villages named in such a way that they could only ever be pronounced in a Yorkshire accent.

Then finally there are the Yorkshire Moors and Dales.
If you like your scenery through the TV remote control we are talking 'Heartbeat' and 'All creatures great and small' - I prefer mine via a more primitavite form of combustion - The bicycle.

The beauty of the moors has always been known to me having lived in Goathland, but the Dales are an area that I have only previously passed through - driving a 'car', such a waste.

On Saturday I took part in the 5 Dale Richmond Sportive with high expectations.
I was not disappointed.
Sometimes words are not enough.............so ill just take my hands off the keyboard

Duncan Collins and Yours Truly on top of tut Moor

Swaledale



Dry stone walls - made by man from what nature provided



Descent from Tan Hill



Duncan



'Stay on the road lad....dont wander onto the Moor'



Thank god there is no westerly gale!!!!!!!



Raw Beauty

Ba ram ewe

Highest pub in England

One of hundreds of 'field barns'

The Golden Globe

If you ever got stuck in a lift in Leeds, London or Liverpool with three strangers what would you expect the 'Ice breaker' to be?
The answer is something that bookmakers would not even take bets on - The Weather.

We seem totally obsessed with talking about it.

Comments about the weather seem to have the same importance and promote the same passions as ones favorite football team.

When people snarl on monday morning, muttering that it was a 'bloody diascrace', its difficult to work out whether or not they are talking about Hull Citys woeful performance or that of the local weather man.

Daily courtesies have been hijacked - with the traditional 'Good Morning' being replaced by 'Hasnt it been cold lately' 

I have to confess with five apps on my phone relating to the weather I too have been influenced
Almost hourly looking to see how wet, windy and warm it may or may not be.

Whilst others might be gauging this phenomenon for the possibility of golf, gardening or alfresco gastronomy. For me its about Cycling.
The early season sportives have supplied weather conditions so adverse that I would not normally consider recreational riding.
High Winds, driving rain and plummeting temperatures were delivered in good measure, its been so grim.
However having forced myself to take part, I have now become conditioned.
Poor weather seems to have become part of my cycling arena.

If I was being reviewed by a Psychiatrist and they showed me association cards it would be easy peasy

Down hill Skiing = Snow
Beach Volleyball = Sunshine
Cross country Skiing = Snow
Sand castle competition = Sunshine
Snow ball Fights = Snow
Sailing = Wind
Kite Surfing = Wind
Wet T shit competition = Rain
Mud Wrestling = Rain
Cycling = Wind, rain , Freezing Cold
100%

Its not such a bad thing though - It takes away any deliberation.
Before I used to talk myself out of rides.
'Its far too windy'
'Its far too cold'
'Its too wet'
I now just go out and pedal........... and let the weather take care of itself.
If its poor,
I expect it.....If its better than poor
I smile because its always a bonus.

On one such recent day we took off to Dalby Forrest in North Yorkshire.
It was a chilly start, but soon we saw this Golden Globe in the sky which seemed to emanate a greater degree of light and some unaccustomed warmth.
Coats, and arm warmers were discarded, dark lenses were clicked into eye frames and perspiration was encountered.
After much debate we decided that the celestial object might be the sun, but none of us could quite remember what it looked like.

As Bobby was wearing his Arizona Cycle jersey with the sun brazened across the chest we thought that it may have been seen as some sort of Celtic offering of appeasement to nature.
That the Gods had seen his Cycle Jersey and blessed us.
What we all agreed on was that it was welcome.

A great day was had by all and other days soon followed.
Summer may have arrived as far as the Calendar is concerned but the Winter Gloves, booties and Coat are still in the hallway.



One of our American Mules Dani Hochleutner recently summoned up the weather far better than I ever could :-

The COLD just makes me angry, so I have learned to be well equipped.

The RAIN makes little difference to me, surprisingly. I simply adjust my speed and feel a bit like a little kid again.

The WIND. I looked up the definition of wind and it said "air in its natural movement" which sounds harmless enough. But HEAD WINDS and CROSS WINDS batter at my confidence and have me question my resolve. Thoughts like "go home", "just quit", "turn around" hit me with each peddle stroke. And then that infamous TAIL WIND whispers false confidence that I am better than I actually am.

So I learn something about myself every time I get on my bike. I learn how to be with the reality of who I am, in a world I can't control, and to adjust. Easily, calmly and thoughtfully I move into alignment with the elements of my resistance to becoming something better, faster, and stronger. And eventually I make it back home.
Happy Cycling

MS150 Houston to Austin 2012

Last weekend saw the annual MS 150 Houston to Austin ride.
A two day charity sportive with about 17,000 entrants.
Having completed the course myself on 5 occasions I was envious of the American Mules especially as my own weekend was washed out with yet more wind and heavy rain showers.
Ever since the environment agency declared a hosepipe ban we have had continuous rain.
I am hoping that they tell us all to buy wellingtons and antifreeze soon so that I may enjoy some more pleasurable riding.
Anyway here is a report by Paddy our US Mule Patron.

The Good,the bad and the Ugly
This year’s MS150 was my best to date. It had nothing to do with the weather, and nothing to do with the extra training we had all put in, but the enjoyment was attributed to the wonderful sense of “Family” and Camaraderie we felt in riding together as a team.

That is part of the “Good”, the other part must go to Direct Energy and our fantastic Volunteers who really showed some of the big corporate oil companies some lessons in how to support both the event and its riders. They really knew how to make their riders feel comfortable and special throughout the ride and after 12 such MS150 events I have to say it will be difficult to raise the bar on Direct Energy.

Most of the Mules rode for the Direct Energy team but there were others scattered around other teams through obligations with their work. We all however wore our Mule jerseys at some stages of the ride to show our unity.

Our Ride started at a middle school on the outskirts of Houston and after a few miles or so we soon got ourselves into a decent well controlled “pace line” with a few of the “Clydesdale Type” Mules battering the 25 mph + winds for the rest of the Train.

Perhaps its time to mention the “Bad”…..? The bad was the fact that after a week of benevolent South Easterly breezes the wind conspired to turn around on the morning of the ride. This created a sobering headwind for the whole of the 98 miles on day 1. This certainly sorted out the wheat from the chaff with the field stretched out across South east Texas. I swear there were grown men with beards and all  “Crying for their respective Mama’s” as they were being blown to almost walking pace. For us teamwork prevailed. We shared the load against the wind and encouraging each other to stay together.

Togetherness is KEY !!!!!!!!

Our base camp in La Grange could not have been better. By MS 150 standards it was luxury. We had four RV buses strategically positioned in the Texan way to repeal any other teams who might be coveting our hospitality and especially our beer. This incidentally was chilled as cold as an Eskimo's nose.

Although there was no Col Custard we did have a DJ who kept our hearts uplifted with some R&R Music. There were also some unbelievable support staff who ensured our hydration process was full and effective.

As an addition perk, we had direct access to a swimming pool and hot tub. What more could you want.

Lounging in a pool after a long ride with a cold beer is certainly a civilized way to relax after a ride.

Right......... Now for the “Downright Ugly”…..Shawn, one of our stallion riders had been abstaining beer for lent which was continued to the start of this ride. Having made it to the camp in record time quickly he decided that his abstinence period was over. After consuming a vast quantity of Belgium Ale (In support of the Belgium Classics) he decided to show off his dancing moves which were a techno mash up of Austin Powers and Fred A”stairs”. It was wondrous

Day 2 – Was a quiet affair with very little wind. This had us all drooling at the opportunity to ride tempo into Austin. This did not disappoint as the first leg to Bastrop saw us arrive at a time when most civilized folks have their breakfast.

For the rest of the morning saw us enjoy the sights and sounds as we took on a more relaxed pace to the Finish line before noon. We capped the occasion off with a visit to Johnny Mellow cycle shop for Coffee, a picture shoot in front of the capital building…..followed by more beers at the Direct Energy tent.

Saving the best to last.

A great event with $50,000 being raised by the Mule contingent.

 

Well done US Mules you have done us proud.