Beer delivery
February 25, 2012 at 13:35 | Posted in bicycles | Leave a commentTags: beer, bicycle, bike, birthday, cargo, cycling, radish, toddler, xtracycle
Last week, Toddler Chillikebab turned two years old, so we had a birthday party. it was huge amounts of fun; large numbers of sugared-up toddlers charging about, pushing each other over and then wailing, a ridiculously large cake with butter icing slowly going rancid in the twenty-eight degree heat, and a whole load of thoughtful presents that were mostly broken within the hour.
I had an inkling in advance what it would be like, as all of Toddler’s little friends are turning to two too and we’ve been to a few such parties recently. The key to survival, it seems, is plenty of adult party drinks to dull the sound of the screaming little voices, and if necessary to be used as sedatives after the event (both for the adults and the children…).
Yes, beer was going to be needed, along with bubbles to celebrate the auspicious occasion, and some wine for the shielas. So earlier that day I set off to the local bottlo to pick up what we needed – two cases of beer, three bottles of bubbles, some wine, and two bags of ice.
I loaded up my purchases on the counter, and the buy offered to give me a hand carrying them out.
‘Thanks,’ I said, ‘I’m just outside’.
The look on his face when I dumped the beer cartons on the back of the Radish was priceless; a mixture of astonishment and disbelief. He put the other things down next to me, and wished me luck, shaking his head as he went back inside.
But the Radish swallowed it all no problems. I have to say, the heavy-duty double-arm kickstand I bought for it a few months ago makes this kind of operation much easier, as the bike is rock solid stable as you load up. It was a lot of weight, which is a little tricky when first pulling away, but once moving it cruises along just fine. Much easier than with a passenger. I even got some admiring looks as I set off, with a couple eating in the pavement cafe next to the bottlo seeming very impressed, although what what they meant when they sad ‘we’ll probably read about you in the paper’ I’m not quite sure…
The crackdown
February 22, 2012 at 20:14 | Posted in bicycles | 1 CommentTags: bicycle, cops, crackdown, cycling, fine, helmet, law, stupid, ticket, tiresome, vulnerable, waste
It seems there is a crackdown going on. Right across Australia, police are focusing on vulnerable road users. ‘Hurrah!’, I hear you shout. About time some focus was put on behaviors that put vulnerable road users at risk. Surely this means an increased focus on cars that go through red lights, pass cyclists aggressively, mobile phone use whilst driving and so on.
Unfortunately no. What the ‘focus on vulnerable road users’ entails is dishing out tickets to vulnerable road users for minor infringements that put no-one at risk, whilst ignoring the ‘bull’ – car drivers swishing past, ears glued to their phones whilst they exceed the speed limit.
I saw the bicycle cops were on Pyrmont Bridge this morning, so I turned off to go another way. I could do without any more helmet fines right now, given that I just received a $198 bill for the last one (I appealed for leniency, but to no avail). However, on a very quiet back street I encountered another officer. I’m not sure if he was just sitting there to nab people going around, or if he saw me turn off prior to the bridge and rode after me.
It’s one of the guys I know well, and he was very apologetic; he asked to to understand that it wasn’t personal, but they had been told not to issue any more warnings. He’s a really nice guy, and seemed to tacitly agree that the law was stupid – I also made the point that I appreciated his polite and professional manner, and that my argument wasn’t with him or his colleagues, but with the stupid law.
So I continued to work (he was quite happy for me to continue my ride). Turning into the Kent St cycleway, a motorcycle cop shouted to me.
‘Where’s your helmet, dumbo?’
Given that this wasn’t an instruction, I ignored him and carried on. Next thing he’s powering up alongside me on his motorcycle, shouting at me to get on the pavement and get off my bike.
He was very rude, at least to start with, asking me why I didn’t get off and push, that he wasn’t wasting his breath shouting for no reason and so on. He was really quite aggressive. I thought the police were supposed to keep situations calm, not insult people and shout at them. Anyway, I was able to calm him down a bit by telling him I hadn’t understood he was giving me an instruction. Whilst he wrote me a ticket, I explained my reasons for not wearing a helmet. We had the ususal too and for about ‘the guys in the tour de France wear them’, to which I replied that drivers at Bathurst wear four point harnesses and flame retardant suits, but that didn’t mean they were needed for driving in the city.
‘But they are doing 200kmh!’ he said.
So I pointed out the TdF riders were doing 80kmh down a mountain, whilst I was doing 15km/h in a bike lane – thus rather proving the point.
His attitude did soften a a bit after that exchange, and at the end he simply advised me to wear a helmet, ‘to make your life easier’.
He also commented that he had already pinged three cyclists and two pedestrians that morning. After he left, I watched him for a few minutes, and in that time he gave a pedestrian a ticket for jaywalking, and another ticket to a helmetless cyclist. Such a great use of our tax dollars.
All very tiresome. Still, two tickets in one day must be a kind of record. I guess tomorrow I’m going to have to go the very long way round, to avoid the central Sydney police local area command. Still, it’s a nice ride, and the weather is lovely at the moment…
Flat tyres
February 6, 2012 at 22:59 | Posted in bicycles | Leave a commentTags: bicycle, bike, commuting, cycling, fixie, flat, tyre
I hardly ever get punctures. Almost never. Just don’t believe in ‘em. The last time I had a puncture was in March, and the last time before that was – well, actually I don’t remember. In fact, I stopped getting punctures when I started using Conti Sports Contact tyres. Now, I’m not big on product endorsement, but I do love those tyres. I run the 32mm version, and they sit on the Salsa Cross rims beautifully. They roll well, are grippy like anything, and, well, never get punctures. (It’s probably worth mentioning, in the interests of balance, that upon mentioning my preference for these tyres to someone in the Sydney cycling community, they launched into a diatribe about how awful they were, now they got continual punctures, and how they fell apart really quickly. And the LBS near work won’t stock any Conti tyres, as they think they are unreliable. Caveat Emptor, as they say.)
The last time I changed the tyres on the fixie was, erm, well actually I’ve never changed the front tyre. It’s the one that came with the bike four years ago. The rim is nearly worn through, the hub bearings need replacing, but the tyre is still going strong after what must be at least 25,000 km.
Well, that’s an exaggeration. Not the longevity of the tyre, but the notion that it is ‘going strong’. Actually it’s pretty knackered, with the kevlar belt showing through in some places and big cuts and holes in in. There’s also enough glass embedded in it to open a bottling plant.
And there’s a lot of broken glass around Sydney at the moment. Lots of public holidays means lots of drunken louts throwing beer bottles into the street. From the amount on the bike paths, you could almost believe people break glass there deliberately. Surely no Sydneysider would be so inconsiderate? That’s the kind of behaviour you might expect from Melbournian cricket celebrities, but not the people of this fine city.
Anyway, perhaps inevitably, my tyres have succumbed to the glass. Both of them, in fact, in close succession. A flat on the front on Friday, and a flat on the back tonight. The one tonight was particularly painful, as I was on a three-line whip to get home early so Mrs Chillikebab could go out to her dance class. I wheeled the bike out of the rack at work, and realised I had a flat. I had ten minutes to spare, so set to to quickly change the tube for the spare, only to discover the spare (which I have never used, having bought it years ago and tucked it into my saddlebag) was useless – the valve just came off the tube when I attached the pump to it.
This meant I was going to have to actually find and fix the hole in order to ride home. And the clock was ticking. I examine the tube looking for the hole. No, can’t see it – damn, precious minutes wasted there on a fruitless search, I’m going to need a bowl of water. Rush into the bathrooms, fill a basin and work my way around looking for the tell-tale stream of bubbles. I start at the valve and work around to the right, going over the whole tube only to find the hole just to the left of the valve.
Quick, rough it up and get the rubber cement on it. Now wait for the cement to go tacky.Wait some more. WAIT! You know you have to wait. I tap my heels impatiently, and, able to stand it no longer, peel off the patch and stick it on. It slides around and the cement is runny under my finger. Too soon! Oh no, am I going to have to do the whole thing again? I will it to stick, holding it on as I rush back to the bike. Put a little air into it, back under the tyre, pop the tyre back on, and now just to pump it up.
I had had a nagging doubt about this part of the operation from the beginning. The last time I used my mini-pump was the last time I got a flat, and it didn’t really work then. It worked even less well this time. As I pump, the air leaks away, so I pump harder – pumping like a dervish I manage to get just enough air in to get me off the rims. Jeez, I need a new mini-pump.
I get going – a few hundred metres down the road is a bike shop, so I pop in to borrow a pump to put some air in the tyre. More time wasted, but I know that I’ll make up the time compared to riding with a nearly flat tyre. And finally then away, scooting off through the traffic. (I’m in a rush, but I’m still the slowest cyclist on Pyrmont Bridge. People really do need to ride slower on that bridge. Really, they do. Cyclists do themselves no favours zipping across there weaving around the pedestrians – and I catch them all up at the lights anyway.)
I get home with seconds to spare. Mrs Chillikebab does a quick handover as she heads out the door (Baby fed at 5, had bath, looks tired. Toddler ate well, lively, seems to be getting the hang of the potty) and vanishes.
I stand surveying the scene; the usual carnage of toys everywhere. Toddler wants a cuddle but I am hot, sweaty, and my hands are filthy with oil and brake dust. ‘Cuddle now!’, she wails, and then wees on the floor. Baby Chillikebab just smiles up at me from her mat, and then contentedly fills her nappy. enough to start it oozing out around the legs.
Tomorrow, I get new tyres…
Cities are for people
February 2, 2012 at 14:29 | Posted in bicycles | 1 CommentTags: congestion, sydney, traffic
I started back at work on the third of January – earlier than many people, who took off that week as well. What really struck me was how quiet the city streets were. There was virtually no traffic; when I went out an lunchtime the streets were deserted.
There were still quite a few pedestrians, however. And of course, the traffic lights were still giving the majority of the green time to the non-existent motor traffic, with pedestrians (or at least those not prepared to jay walk) forced to wait for several minutes just so they could cross an empty street when the green man told them to.
It really highlighted the problem we have in Sydney. The amount of traffic on those days is the amount of traffic we should have on any day. Congestion charging, punative taxes, road closures – do whatever it takes to get the city streets less busy. And then let people, rather than cars, have the streets. Let people be able to walk from one end of the CBD to the other without endless waits at traffic lights on every corner.
Of course, many readers will cry out that this is impossible; that traffic has to be in the city for it to function, for economic activity to occur and for people to be able to work. Well, I don’t agree. On those days in early January, there were the usual number of buses, taxis, delivery trucks and couriers. Yet the streets felt empty. It was the private, single-occupant cars that were missing. Only about ten percent of people get to the CBD by private car – and yet the rest of us (the 90% who make better choices) allow that small, selfish minority to clog up our streets, make it hard for us to get around by bus and bicycle, and force us to wait ages just to cross the street. Get rid of ‘em, I say. If they really don’t like it they can go somewhere else – and I reckon than the 90% of the population that remained would be so much more happy and productive to be in a people-friendly city they could make up for the economic activity undertaken by that selfish 10%. Heck, I’d work 10% more hours if the streets could be like this all the time…
New Years Resolutions
January 30, 2012 at 09:27 | Posted in bicycles | 2 CommentsTags: bicycle, bike, bike rack, commuting, full, new year, resolutions
I make the same New Years Resolution each year. I vow that I will somehow find more time to practise my trombone, ride my bike more, and eat fewer biscuits. I never succeed, but at least it means I still have something to aim for the following year; after all if I were to actually manage it in 2012, what would I do in 2013?
One resolution I don’t have to make, of course, is to ride to work more often, because I already ride to work all the time. However, it seems some people are considering it for 2012. I have heard a few people in the office talking about it; including a hilarious conversation between someone who gets the train from Paddington, vs someone who drives from Newtown. Both of them were bemoaning the time it took them to get to work (up to an astonishing 45 minutes!). The office, by the way, is in the CBD – probably ten minutes by bike to both locations. Heck, I could probably give one of them a lift home on the Radish faster than they manage it today.
But is all this talk turning into action? Well, it seems like it might be. The combination of the new CBD bike lanes (thanks Clover!) and the need to reverse the effects of seasonal over-indulgences seems to be working, and the bike rack in the basement car park has been full every day since early January. It’s great to see, and I hope they all keep it up.
Of course, it’s still really rather pitiful; there are about thirty spots to park bikes, and the building houses perhaps three thousand people. So that’s only about one percent of them arriving by bike. However it’s a start, and hopefully momentum will continue to grow.
Christmas biscuits
January 26, 2012 at 22:12 | Posted in biscuits | Leave a commentTags: Arnott's, biscuit, brumm brumm, car, novelty
I am sorry, dear readers, for the hiatus in regular posting on my blog. I took a break from it over the summer, as we moved house, had family descend and generally just seemed to be crazy busy. However, hopefully normal service can now be resumed – thank you for your patience.
And what better place to start than with the biscuits I was given over the festive season. Two novelty Arnott’s packs, indeed.
The first was a kind of cardboard stocking thing, containing two Tim Tams, a Mint Slice, a Scotch Finger / Nice combo, a Wagon Wheel and some Choc Tiny Teddies. The best bit of this was the individually wrapped Tim Tams. They feel much more grown-up when individually dressed up, and I really think that there could be a market for packets of six of these, for popping in lunch boxes and so on. Or perhaps it’s just nostalgia for the Penguins of my (British) youth.
The other, much more exciting one, was a tin in the shape of a car. This I was very pleased with, and made ‘brumm brumm’ noises as I drove it around the floor, much to the delight of Toddler Chillikebab, who than proceeded to do the same. What I didn’t reveal to Toddler Chillikebab was that the top came off, revealing a number of packs of the ‘Scotch Finger / Nice’ combo.
Here’s to a 2012 full of happy biscuit eating!
In need of attention
December 12, 2011 at 22:06 | Posted in bicycles | Leave a commentTags: bicycle, bike, cycling, expensive, fixie, forks, maintenance, rim, worn
It seems my idea of getting a new bike for Christmas isn’t going to happen. I took the fixie in for a service, and it seems all is not well. I knew it would need some work; after all I ride it a lot in all weathers. However, the laundry list of things that need doing is quite long.
It needs a new drivetrain. This I was expecting; the chainwheel is four years old and the back sprocket and chain are probably three. The tyres are also bald, but then the front one is the one I got with the bike four years ago, so it must have done well over 20,000 puncture-free kilometres.
The front rim also needs replacing. This I also suspected, as all the wet weather riding takes a toll, and I’m a shocker for cleaning my bikes, and digging all the bits out of the brake pads (which I read somewhere you are supposed to do. I never have.) The hub bearings are also shot, so new ones are required.
However, the bolt from the blue was the report that the forks are showing signs of cracking. The eagle-eyed repair tech spotted it under the paint. Oh dear. He’s going to try to get Salsa to replace it under warranty, but the forks only have a three year warranty (frame is five years), and the bike is four years old.
So this all could get rather expensive. I have to do it though. I love my fixie. But perhaps the new bike will have to wait a little longer…
Fingertips
December 7, 2011 at 20:38 | Posted in bicycles | 1 CommentTags: bicycle, bike, bike rack, cycling, door zone, fingertips, NRMA, odds and ends, radish, sydney, traffic, traffic light, xtracycle
I often take pictures or think of possible blog posts as I ride along, but often they turn out not to really be worth a whole article. So here are a few tidbits and odds and ends from the past few months that I thought about.
One of the problems with the City of Sydney’s excellent new bike lanes is the traffic lights at each junction. They just never seem to go green, as the sensors (designed for cars) just don’t work for bikes. The RTA (who owns them) blames the City of Sydney, which I think it a bit odd. They put them in, so surely they should take responsibility for making them work properly? Anyway, some very professional laminated A4 signs have gone up on some lamp posts to tell cyclists what to do – position your bike right on the centre of the sensor, where the dots are. Unfortunately, the centre of the sensor is in the middle of the lane, and most cyclists like to wait on the left, so they can rest their foot on the curb, as you can see from the picture. The upshot of all of this is the lights often fail to go green, meaning cyclists go through on red, to undoubted cries of ‘scofflaw!’.
The picture on the left is what people who drive to work have to endure. Trapped in their cars on a beautiful spring day. The picture on the right is what I enjoyed on my bike – the shadow of the iconic Sydney Harbour Bridge projected onto the water by the morning sun. Lovely.
This r
ather intriguing object was chained up outside a cafe in Sydney recently. It is a bike shape cut out from perspex. Upon closer inspection it turned out to be advertising NRMA home insurance. Personally I wouldn’t recommend the NRMA; they are very anti-bike, and famous for stunts like this one.
Burns Bay Road in Lane Cove used to have a horrible door-zone bike lane in it, but recently I rode along it and found it had been removed. Wonderful! It was truly much more pleasant to ride along; I could ride at a safe distance form the parked cars and uneven surface, and passing vehicles gave me space. Unfortunately it was only temporary, and it has now been reinstated, albeit about six inches wider. Sorry Lane Cove Council, it’s no better; that horrible lip in the road surface just where you might ride is a hazard; and indeed this type of bike facility has been implicated in at least one recent tragic fatality. To stay safe and clear of opening car doors you have to ride to the right of the line, but this frustrates passing motorists who pass too close to try and force you into the ‘bike lane’. Just take away these horrible things; honestly it’s more pleasant and safer without them.
I was
hed the Radish the other day, and took off the panniers and racks. I’n not sure how she feels about being pictured in the nude, but for your delight and delactation here she is.
These rat
her odd bike racks have sprung up in Balmain. I think the idea is that they turn a regular lamp post into a cool bike parking station. However, I can’t help feeling that there’s no real advantage compared to just locking your bike to the post.
PS There is a special prize for anyone who gets the reference in the title to this post…
Tim Tam Double Choc Caramel
November 25, 2011 at 15:12 | Posted in biscuits | Leave a commentTags: Arnott's, biscuit, caramel, choc, chocolate, double, peppery, tim tam
Today we push on with looking at the new ‘Sweet Wishes’ range of Tim Tams, and turn our attention to the Double Choc Caramel.
They have the smooth, thick chocolate coating of the ‘double coat‘ Tim Tam, which is immediately promising. I guess this is where the ‘double’ in the name comes from, as there’s nothing else particularly chocolatey about them. Between the two layers is a caramel-flavoured cream filling, and inlaid in the centre of this filling is a slab of caramel. Caramel that is, in fact, quite chewy. This is really quite good stuff; Arnott’s should really consider using this type of caramel in the oh-so-disappointing ‘Chewy Caramel‘ version.
I have to say, they are realy rather good. A huge improvement over the Turkish Delight range we looked at last week. They are very sweet, yes, but the additional chocolate and the chewy caramel really give it a lift, making them quite moreish.
They also have a strangely familiar taste to them; something from long ago. Mrs Chillikebab commented on it too, and after much head scratching, we identified what the flavour was. Yes, they are peppery! ‘Peppery?’, I hear you cry? Yes indeed, for they are deeply reminiscent of the flavour of Cadbury’s ‘Finger of Fudge‘. I have no idea if these were ever marketed in Australia, but they were a feature of my childhood in the UK. One of the most notable things about the Finger of Fudge was the TV advert that clearly stated they were ‘full of peppery goodness‘. Everyone I knew thought this was how it went, and indeed it seems the internet is full of people who believe the same thing. Indeed, listening to the advert again, I still remain convinced they are ‘peppery’, as do many others – those suggesting the words are actually ‘full of Cadbury goodness’ are clearly mistaken.
That little aside is probably of no interest to my Australian readers, but to me the Double Choc Caramel Tim Tam will be forever ‘peppery’, and jolly nice to boot. I’m going to give them an eight out of ten.
Tim Tam Turkish Delight
November 19, 2011 at 14:31 | Posted in biscuits | 1 CommentTags: Arnott's, biscuit, eastern promise, review, rosewater, sweet, tim tam, turkish, turkish delight
Stop the presses! Hold the front page! There is a new range of Tim Tams in town. The ‘Sweet Wishes’ range has arrived, featuring Honeycomb, Caramel and the subject for this post – Turkish Delight.
If, like me, you grew up in the UK in the eighties, your memories of Turkish delight will be coloured by this ad; full of mystic eastern eroticism and rubbish visual effects. For years I thought that this rosewater flavoured confection was terribly sophisticated, but now I read on Wikipedia that the rosewater stuff is cheap and tacky and the good stuff has nuts and things in it. How my illusions are shattered.
Looking at this pack, though, I can’t help feel that it is the cheap and tacky end of the business Arnott’s are aiming at. Maybe it’s just me, but it all seems rather blowsy with its lurid pink colour scheme and large sparkly writing. It looks like it was designed by a twelve year old girl using the glitter kit she got with Dolly magazine. Quite a contrast to the sophisticated look of the Dark Chocolate Mint pack. Interestingly, the Dark Chocolate Mint pack is still emblazoned with a ‘New!’ corner flash, whilst this new range has nothing on it to suggest it has just been launched. Are Arnott’s super confident about the longevity of this new line?
But enough of all of that – what do they taste like? Well, they taste like Turkish delight. Actually they taste really strongly of Turkish delight; the rosewater flavour is quite overwhelming, if rather artificial tasting. I daresay even Edmund Pevensie would have been satisfied with them. They have a thin strip of Turkish delight in the centre of the cream filling (although it is much more chewy than you’d expect Turkish delight to be), and the cream stuff also seems to be flavoured and has a slightly odd pink tinge. The chocolate coating is milk, rather than the dark that Fry’s went for in the eighties.
The live up to their billing. They are sweet indeed; quite mind-blowingly so. Your correspondent only managed to eat three in one sitting, so that will tell you something. In fact, they deliver exactly what the pack promises; a very over the top, over-sweet, Turkish-delight-and-no-mistake Tim Tam.
Some people love them. Girls who love shopping, apparently. Evidently crusty old men who ride bicycles are not in the target market, because I don’t like them much at all. To be honest, I’d say they are on a par with (or perhaps even worse than) the Tim Tam White. So I’m afraid it’s a three out of ten for these. We’ll return to the rest of the Sweet Wishes range in the near future, so let’s hope things will pick up with the other varieties.
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