Monday 9 December 2013

The Bike Show - Radio Show and Podcast

I decided to write this little blog post after reading some, in my view misguided, criticism of the only radio programme I actually listen to every week on one of the very many cycling forums. First though I think I should set the scene...

My entire life has been an obsession with music, in particular with a style of jazz which still occupies a huge amount of my time outside of the grind of the day job. At the same time I have owned some sort of bicycle since the mid 1980s, but cycling was always just a leisure activity, something I did at the weekend with the kids. This all changed round about August 2010 when I was in London and decided to visit some of my old haunts in Camden from way back. I had my photograph taken outside Dingwalls at Camden Lock which had been a favourite watering hole of the band I was in back in the 1980s;  a nostalgia trip for me but soon to be a rude awakening when I saw the picture which frankly looked like my grandfather standing under the Dingwalls sign rather than myself. The shock was compounded a few weeks later when attending a wedding which required a lengthy drive followed by a change into my suit, the shock came when I couldn't get the 34" waist trousers over my hips at all. This was the tipping point, I decided without hesitation that a change in lifestyle was what was needed to reverse this situation. A friend had just completed LEJOG, about which I had thought "that's nice" if I had even thought about it at all, but I figured that maybe the bike would be the enabler to make me exercise, lose some weight and get back into those trousers comfortably. After some investigation a suitable machine was purchased along with now long discarded accessories for my "Cycle to Work" purchase.

So where does The Bike Show come in? Well, if I set my mind on doing something I don't want to do it in a half-baked way and so I went on line and read and re-read articles about various aspects of cycling and very quickly found that commuting aside, what interested me wasn't necessarily the fitness aspects or the road racing side of cycling much as I do enjoy watching cycle racing, but the idea of using my bicycle as a means of transport outwith the daily trips in and out of Glasgow. It was when I started investigating the possibility of taking the bike on weekend adventures that my internet searches brought up a webpage called The Bike Show. Here was an online resource that wasn't obsessed with the stuff of the print magazines, which seemed to me to be dedicated to the sportive rider, you know go faster and faster, train harder and harder.

Discovering the show well after it was established on the London independent arts radio station Resonance FM, meant there was a considerable back catalogue of shows available to download as a podcast which has been my primary means of accessing the show since my discovering it. The appeal of the The Bike Show undoubtedly lies in the personality of its presenter Jack Thurston and his natural, relaxed presentation as well as the wide range of bicycle related subject matter. I have particularly enjoyed the many rolling interviews conducted over the years where the interview is conducted during the course of a bike ride. Some of these have been particularly well done, indeed I even went so far as to emulate one of the cycle touring episodes down in Northumberland. Equally, who could fail to listen to his accounts of the anarchic Dunwich Dynamo night ride and not be smitten by the bug to somehow get to London one midsummer and ride the thing?

The Bike Show has long championed cycle touring, something I have always had a soft spot for having been a keen camper for years. The accounts of trips to Bristol, the aforementioned Northumberland trip and some forays into Europe are all put together in a way that has interested even people who have no interest in cycling. I once recommended a certain episode to a friend to listen to, who then called back wanting to arrange a nostalgic trip to London to explore the Lea Valley yet again. Grant Peterson of Rivendell Bicycles caused some controversy with his book Just Ride, but was an interviewee a number of years ago when he did a fantastic job of selling the idea of the over S24O bicycle camping trip. An idea which here in the West of Scotland is easily embraced, with some fantastic overnights to be had in the surrounding hills and country parks if you are prepared to do a bit of research and don't mind the idea of roughing it, in a bivvy bag, just for one night.

I would also like to mention the music. I kind of pride myself in being a bit of a nerd when it comes to popular music up until the 1990s and yet I have heard tracks on The Bike Show that have genuinely piqued my curiosity, I've even gone so far as to track songs down by lyric searches on Google (other web browsers are also available) to find I've been listening to some obscure Incredible String Band track or Brian Eno or Philip Glass or even The Black Keys, who have actually become a bit of a favourite with me, so thank you to The Bike Show for that. And then there is the reggae. Some absolute classic 70s dub cuts that just transport me right back to my days dossing in my aunt and uncle's place in Shepherds Bush when I invariably missed my bus back to Glasgow after attending some gig or other, usually The Clash, a band who did so much to champion the cause of roots reggae, in fact former Clash road manager Johnny Green was a memorable interviewee in the early days of The Bike Show. The thing is, I believe this choice of music absolutely stamps London all over The Bike Show, it gives it an identity that some of its detractors fail to see, well maybe not so much fail to see as simply miss the point.

The thing is you see, what I really like about the show is that to his great credit Jack Thurston has over the years produced shows of consistently high quality that frankly should cause Radio 4 and the like to hold their heads in shame; when did you last hear anyone on Radio 4 discussing the history of Moulton Bicycles or Sturmey Archer hubs? OK  maybe that last statement was a bit of hyperbole but it isn't that far off the mark. It is quite a simple idea, but a great idea; interviews on bicycle related subject matter with cleverly themed music producing something that is actually quite unique and highly entertaining. If you haven't done so already check out The Bike Show. Oh and yes, I did lose weight and yes I did fit into that suit again, in fact I still do three years down the line.

Wednesday 4 December 2013

That Difficult Second Post

I tried to keep a blog going once before but had difficulty in keeping motivated so consequently it just fizzled out. So with that in mind I wondered what would I write about in that difficult second post? I guess I could write badly about my now appalling punctuation, the blame being laid fair and square at the door of the personal computer which has made me lazy, accepting suggested changes without really thinking it through. After all my English teacher isn't standing over my shoulder ready to tear my grammar up for...well you get the idea.

So the title of this blog is The Assisted Pedestrian. Why? I'm supposed to be advocating the use of the humble bicycle as a means of transport, which I do. I travel to work most days on a relatively inexpensive hybrid bike that carries me and a rack pack or pannier to work and back home as often as I can manage, Some days however it's just not possible, today being a case in point as I am heading through to Edinburgh with a rucksack and a guitar to meet some friends and play some tunes. I duly made my way to my nearest railway station to be met with the sight of a huge line of traffic queued all the way back from Allison Street to Shawlands and perhaps further in either direction, who knows? Amid this madness a couple of people on bikes quietly nipped passed the massed vehicles along the shared lane for Buses, Taxis and Bicycles. I smiled and tried to figure how many of those drivers even noticed those people zipping past them...fiets!

I have a totally different perspective to travelling by bike when I am on foot, today I looked on jealously wishing I didn't have to sit on a train with a load of unhappy looking people who probably also wish they didn't have to be there. The thing is, in spite of the cold, wet, the occasional unpleasantness of other road users, the bicycle is really a great way to get around, you arrive at work energised ready for whatever the day may bring. Unfortunate then that our politicians don't see it that way, as they continue to pretend they cannot see the answer to the UK obesity epidemic or the congested roads, yet the answer is simple...fiets!

Cut to the chase, if any one of our politicians wants to write their name in history and make a real difference to peoples lives then they should stop prevaricating and grasp the cycling nettle.

Saturday 23 November 2013

Connect2?


 
Glasgow’s recently completed and much talked about “bridge to nowhere” is a new addition to the city’s walking and cycling infrastructure.  I had yet to even see this piece of engineering simply because it is nowhere near either of my main commuting routes to work in the Cowcaddens area of Glasgow. So it was that I set out on a Sunday morning to seek out this track with a destination in the west end in mind; here is how I got on.

I knew that the new section of cycleway started at the Central Station end of Waterloo Street at the junction with Hope Street, presumably with the train/ bike commuter in mind. I did not join it exactly at this point, having come in along the Victoria Road shared lane with buses and taxis which is practically deserted on a Sunday morning.

At the Clutha pub I turned left and joined the recently refurbished section of the Clyde walkway opposite Calton Place heading west and passing maybe half a dozen people cycling the opposite way towards Glasgow Green and to...well who knows, the velodrome or just along the walkway for a social ride perhaps.
While nothing to do with the Connect2 project, the walkway is now looking rather good, and certainly at this early hour was quiet and free of winos and rowdy kids. The one thing I have heard consistently over the years about travel by bicycle is that it has the ability to put you in the moment; you definitely do appreciate much more of your surroundings on a bicycle than when stuck in a car.
 
Negotiating the deceptively low bridge passing under the road I emerged unexpectedly onto some cobbles that led me to a choice of continuing over and back onto the walkway, or to rejoin the road parallel. I chose the road and a few moments later made a right and left turn which led me to the cycleway in Waterloo Street.
 
On a deserted Sunday morning devoid of delivery lorries and white van man it was possible to get a proper look at this piece of engineering. The temptation with anything like this is to simply say thank you kind sirs and meekly go on with daily life, but having ridden a bicycle for the sole purpose of getting around in Amstelveen and Haarlem in Holland, I could not help but wonder if the person who came up with the design had ever seen let alone studied the segregated bike paths in Holland?  I did not have a tape measure, but it did not feel wide enough to accommodate a great volume of two way traffic. Maybe I’m just being picky, I moved off and noticed immediately the drain covers and curiously positioned bollards in the lanes.
 
Two things spring to mind here, firstly the bollards are black, maybe I’m being picky again but perhaps white with some reflective stripes would have been better, but wait, why are they even there? Surely they would be better spaced along the separating strip next to the double yellow lines to reinforce the idea of the lane being segregated. Anyway I’m nitpicking again, within a few minutes I had reached the end of the segregated cycleway and landed on a short section of shared use path. The main carriageway carries straight on to the M8 at this point while pedestrians and cyclists cross together at traffic lights and head up the ramp onto the bridge over the M8 motorway. There is no photograph of the crossing as it was completely blocked by a road maintenance lorry.
 
The bridge is a superb construction, sweeping over the multiple lanes of traffic beneath and providing fast, safe access to the Anderston/ Woodside borderlands. Underfoot or underwheel the surface feels quite secure even on a damp morning like this was, it was absolutely fine, hopefully this will still the case in icy conditions.

Intriguingly there exists another partially completed bridge at the other end of which I know absolutely nothing except it appears to be actively under construction and would provide a link from the new bridge over to the south side of the clydeside expressway, a nasty 50 mph A-road, effectively an urban motorway, that no right minded cyclist would venture on to.
 
The drop down from the bridge is not too steep but care had to be taken at the very bottom due to the slippery carpet of leaves, a seasonal hazard. A little to the left of the bridge exit was a path that seemed to be used by pedestrians and cyclists alike, this led to a wide pavement that eventually stopped at the Skypark technology building and then...well that is really it.  
 
The so-called bridge to nowhere, a nickname I have never heard used by anyone bar the media, is in itself a fine construction but ultimately, and hopefully only temporarily, is now a bridge to nowhere of much consequence. What would be nice would be for the west exit to connect up to some high quality, traffic calmed paths that would lead into the west end proper. I am hoping that this is part of a greater plan to connect the city centre to the west end for pedestrians and cyclists. We can but hope...or campaign in earnest.

 

 

Saturday 16 November 2013

Introductions

I saw the invitation on Twitter to a gathering of Glasgow cyclists in Siempre Cafe Bar in Partick, no agenda, just an open invitation to get together and chat about what it's like to be a cyclist in the city. Thing is I don’t consider myself “a cyclist” per se, if anything I think the description assisted pedestrian may be more apt. Notwithstanding I went along to the meeting with an open mind and not a little trepidation considering I knew only one or two people there and even then only through their Twitter feeds. I needn’t have worried, the get together was very friendly (as I expected) but also, given that many of the others are involved in promoting and campaigning on behalf of cyclists, it was very inclusive. After much conversation, coffee and cake the inevitable question was raised; what contribution can I make to the cycling debate that might,  even in some small way, help make a difference? The answer was quite simple and surprisingly obvious...write a blog about your experiences; document the bad and the good and tell the world about it.

I toyed with the idea of a blog before, the idea being to write about music and bikes under the heading Picks and Wheels but that fizzled out due mainly to lack of direction. So now that I have a direction here we go...