A ride amongst friends.

Quickerbybiker Strat has hit upon a clever attitude to commute with.  Ride as though you know all the other road users.

No matter how smugly self-righteous you are, it's hard to always ride absolutely without aggression, without cockiness, arrogance, impatience and intolerance.

But Strat has adopted this new approach of pretending all the other road users are people he knows.  That way his behaviour has consequences in that it influences opinions of himself that he's actually bothered about.  He says it works and he behaves himself better now.


The other thing Strat said and we talked rubbish was that motorists are not people.  I think that's right too.  I try to be srupulously not anti-motorists on this site but I still think it's fair comment to say that a motorist is not a person.  They don't typically behave as people would, certainly not as friends would.

Alas, the kit has not arrived.

Hey ho.  It's hardly shorts weather anyway.

But I'm very sorry you lot.  You've all waited very patiently having paid your money weeks and weeks ago.  It's not great.  Sorry.  Let's hope it turns up promptly after Christmas so I can get it out to you.

In the meantime, here's the best e-card I got.  I don't think Howies are saints but I think they're at least in the right direction and I know for sure I'd look a lot worse if they didn't make clothes.

Merry Christmas all.

Top tip.

I've read a few of these books now and every one has been bright and engaging and funny and has taught me loads. I can't recommend them highly enough. They're only small. Very manageable.

Have a look at the list of titles. Ten-to-one you find a load of subjects you think you'd be interested in. Twenty-to-one the book turns out to be more interesting than you expected. http://www.oup.co.uk/vsi

You are not stuck in traffic, you are traffic. Break free.

This should have been the quickerbybike slogan.

Kit order update

Hello

All those who ordered baggy shorts have now got them (except you Will) and from what I've heard you all love them.

The lycra is the bigger order by far and I had been told to expect that on the 10th December.  No sign of it yet and on chasing Endura was advised today that it will be leaving them at the end of this week.

I think I'm seeing quite a few of you next Thursday so might bring it for you all to stuff down your jerseys on the way home.  Otherwise it will be variously posted or hand delivered before Christmas.

To that end, would any of you who have not done so please email me your preferred delivery address.

Thanks for waiting.

Martin

This one runs on fat.

Kit update

Hello patient kit people.

Here's the latest.

The baggy shorts arrived from Endura this afternoon and they are already with Bigstitch to have the logos embriodered. I'm not very good at the jumping-up-and-down "I have important customers waiting" thing, so they'll do them a.s.a.p but they won't stress. Seven to ten days. I hope that I'll be picking them up and sending them off to you on Friday next week.

If you haven't given me your address yet, please stick it in an email.

The lycra kit is in production. Due here on 10th December. I'm still hoping it will arrive sooner but with no basis in logic since I have been given a delivery date.

Endura very helpfully prepared an alternative colour sample for the shorts that was a bit darker and less shiny than the last batch. They're going ahead with this option. Looks much better.

Thanks for your patience. As soon as I've got it, I'll get it out to you all.

Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.

The simplest possible answer to the seemingly terribly tricky question of what we ought to eat.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/28/magazine/28nutritionism.t.html

I imagined I had the perfect diet but it was way too meaty really. Much better now and I think I feel a lot better.

Thinner and faster too. That's a winner surely.

Big Society: litter collection service.

In my capacity as a bloody-do-gooder I pick up other people's litter. Do you?

On a fell in the Lake District you can't help it. It's obviously too miserable, ugly and depressing to see a Coke can perched on a tuft of heather. So you stuff it in your bag. Of course you do. It drives you mental to think that anyone could be so pigging stupid as to leave it there that you take it away, trying to make it all better.

But I've got the habit and can't now walk past the same Coke can in suburbia.

I've scooped up armfulls of Happy Meal packaging from the floor of the 65 bus. I've picked up an abandoned punnet of chips from outside the kebab shop and walked it the 6 metres that was needed to get it to a bin. I've collected up TK Max bags, together with the dumped clothes hangers and packaging from the floor of a train. I've picked-up, emptied and binned / recycled dozens of Stella, Red Bull, Iron-Bru and coke cans.

Of course people do stare. So much the better.

I've even picked up the litter as soon as I've seen it dropped and offered to put it in the bin for the litterer. (how annoying am i?) Would you believe he said "No, give us it back mate, I'll do it myself".

I did a quick google search for an image to go with this post but spotted this:

http://www.litteraction.org.uk/

The campaign I was going to suggest sort of already exists.

Though I don't think it has to be organised. Anyone else up for picking up other people's litter? If everybody who thinks litter's minging simply picked it up and binned it now and then, it'd go away wouldn't it? Maybe even if litter-droppers saw normal people picking up crap from the street, they'd think it could be worth making the streets an attractive place to be.

Anyone?

Already joined the MOOvement!

Well whadya know, my MP was already part of the MOOvement (see post below).

http://www.zacgoldsmith.com/article.asp?contentID=3&newsID=418

That's Richmond and Kingston sorted, what about where you live?

Join the MOOvement.

Funny video. Serious point.

They've made it very easy. Twenty seconds to change thinking it's worth doing something about to doing something about it.

http://www.foe.co.uk/campaigns/biodiversity/press_for_change/moodunnit_25606.html

The Endura elves are busy making our new kit.

Many thanks to all those who ordered kit. £1,704 worth of it is being put together at Endura as I type.

It turns out my charitable contribution will go a little further than the postage on the lycra (and the postage on Chris's shorts - he lives in New Zealand!) as I failed to anticipate the VAT on the Lycra kit.

What a plonker.

Nobody would pay £47 for a pair of bib shorts would they! They're great shorts but still...

So we're all waiting. Seven weeks is the current lead for the lycra kit. Less for the baggies.

Thanks again.

Quickerbybike

Dynamo Club Champs

Quickerbybike were at the Dynamo Club Champs at the weekend, wearing a lot of clothes, drinking tea, eating cake and taking photos. Well done to Mike and Cammers for getting away from a strong bunch.

More pictures here:

http://tinyurl.com/342oayd

My weekend and the Little Green Bike

Saturday:

Home-Green Bike-Kew Gardens-65 Bus - Green bike -Home - Green Bike - Train - Earlsfield - Green Bike - Tooting - Green Bike - Earlsfield - Green bike - Tooting (party!)

Sunday:

Green bike - Earlsfield - Train - Green bike - Home - Green bike - Surbiton - Train - Woldingham - Green Bike - Bec Hill Climb (see photo of face to remember above) - Green Bike - Woldingham - Train - Earlsfield - Green Bike - tea with friends - Green bike - Train - Waterloo - Green Bike - Dinner with friends - Green bike - Waterloo - Train - Green bike - home.

Without the Green bike, that's an impossible weekend. With the green bike it's a doddle.

At the Bec Hill Climb I saw a 15 year old school boy beat all the professionals. Germain Burton - remember that name.

New quickerbybike.com kit order.

I'm ordering more quickerbybike.com kit.

But I'm doing it to order because otherwise it just won't happen.

So if you're keen , please email me with what you want and pay me. Stuff will follow a few weeks later.

Kit is all from Endura. Lycra is their team kit, baggies are Singletrack, embroidered with the quickerbybike.com logo.

Lycra Road Jersey (short sleeve, short zip) (xs, s, m, l) £35
Lycra bib shorts (s, m, l, xl) £40
Lycra bib shorts (girl specific) (xs, s, m, l) £40
Shorts (girls only - no bib) (xs, s, m, l) £36
Men's Singletrack short. (s, m, l, xl) £30
Women's Singletrack short. (xs, s, m, l) £30

Lycra prices above are just the Endura Team Kit prices - I'll pay the postage. Prices for baggies are: trade price + embroidery, plus postage.

Scroll down the blog for pictures of the kit. Visit http://www.endura.co.uk/ for any technical or sizing information on the kit.

So if you're after some kit, please email me and let me know what you want. I'll give you the bank details and you can pay me when you order, then you'll just have to bloody wait!

Martin