A current meme amongst cycling bloggers is to post a “B-list” of the bicycle related blogs they regularly read. I’m subscribed to quite a few RSS feeds using Flock (you guys might see my reader on your feed log). Here’s the list, with deep-links if possible.

• Scenic Route – I particularly like the Tuesday Night Urban Assault reports
  
• 32 Spokes
• Cycling London
• Messenger Of Doom – curses like a motherfucker
  
• Adrian Fitch
• Treadly and Me
• Nicomachus.net
• Great Blog Of China – moaning about the government, typical feckin’ Irish
  
• The Cycling Dude
• Drunk Cyclist
• Fat Cyclist – not as fat as me
• Up in Alaska – they’re hardcore in Alaska
• Surly Blog – makers of my beautiful Cross Check!
• Blue Collar MTB – who love tape as much as me

You gotta respect Tom:

• The Amazing Shrinking Man

And a couple of bike related forums I read regularly:

• BikeForums.net
• Cycling on boards.ie

There’s a few I read that I haven’t subscribed to, I’ll add them up as I remember them.

Update: and there are some I’ve subscribed to and didn’t list – how careless of me!

• The Best Bicycle Blog on the Planet

On Saturday Nov 25th a cyclist had an accident on the Naas Road – and Kevin has his bike. From the Cycling Ireland post:

At about 1.00pm on Saturday 25 November 2006 on the Naas Road a few hundred yards on the town side of Newland’s Cross and maybe 50 yards from Joel’s restaurant. I came upon a cyclist who was on the ground having come off his bicycle . While waiting for an ambulance to arrive I put his bicycle in the back of my car to keep it safe for him.

Tallaght Fire Brigade arrived and I left him in their care. I subsequently sent a text and phoned the injured man only to discover that the mobile phone number he had given me is not in service.

I understand he was taken to Tallaght Hospital by ambulance but as I do not have his name Tallaght Hospital are unable to trace him for me. I am very anxious to trace this man as he is obviously a racing cycling enthusiast and I should think that his bicycle cost him a fair penny.

I have no other details on this man except to say that he is a white non-national.

My mobile number is 086 8224 383 and my e-mail is kmaguire at lawlibrary dot ie. If anybody knows this man and could give him my contact details, or me his, I should be much obliged.

Fair play Kevin – I hope someone would do the same for me.

Update: I got a mail from Kevin last week – good news:

Thanks Alastair,

I found my man and he has his bicycle back, however, I don’t think he’ll get to use it for a few
months yet.

Regards.

Kevin.

This certainly sounds interesting – a 4 day cycle tour of Ireland , 200km each day. Come May next year I might be capable of doing this, definitely something to target.

The Tour of Ireland Cycle Challenge is a four day – 800kms cyclo sportive , taking in all four provinces of Ireland, involving over 500 cyclists from all over the world and will take place on the 11th of May through the 14th of May 2007 and annually thereafter.

The tour with start on the 11th of May with Stage One from the Lagan Valley Island in Lisburn City travelling through the picturesque ‘Orchards of Ulster’ to Cavan Town, continuing on the 12th of May with Stage Two from Cavan Town through the ‘Emerald Triangle’ to Galway City, continuing on the 13th of May with Stage Three from Galway City around the magnificent scenery of ‘The Burren’, continuing over the Silvermine Mountains to Kilkenny City with Stage Four on the 14th of May taking in the challenges of Co. Wicklow, passing over ‘Aghavannagh’ and the long ascent of ‘Wicklow Cap’ and onward to a grand finally and presentation dinner in Westmanstown Dublin.

An international event to start with, the organisers have a clear objective to have Ireland united on the global stage of cycling. With a longer term objective to have Ireland included in the World Golden bike series of cyclo sportive’s were the Tour of Ireland Cycle Challenge would be included in the UCI world calendar alongside such classics sportive’s as the Tour of Flanders, Amstel Gold Classic, Paris’ Roubaix and Liege’ Bastogne’ Liege.

Link.

Raymond runs a bike shop in the Philippines called the Rocka #1 bike shop . He asked me to link back to him in the cyclists blogs section of my blogroll so I went over to see what his place was about. I was really interested in a some things on the fledgling blog, especially when he tells the story of how they got started with the shop:

When we first thought of opening a bicycle shop in October 2005 we really didnt know how to go about it . I did a short informal feasibility study and presented it to my American brother-in-law in november of 2005. as it turned out…he didnt like the small earnings so decided to beg off.

in the beginning… business was slow. Clients were coming in to see what was on display and shaking their heads in disbelief… we wanted our place to showcase middle to high end bicycles and products so our product ranges from a few thousand to hundreds of thousands for a new bicycle. Nevertheless we soon caught the attention of middle income to higher income professionals…and soon the two onlookers became groups of 5, 10 and 20 cyclists.

Looks like they have beautiful scenery too – the picture is of Raymond and his daughter up at the Taal Volcano in Tagaytay.

for me the only way to avoid conflict with cycling time and family time is to hit two birds with one stone

I agree wholeheartedly – that’s the great thing about cycling as a sport – it’s easier to convince them to come out for a nice cycle than to head to a rugby match 🙂

I just did my Christmas shopping – well, most of it anyway. So this is the blog post where I list a load of cool suggestions, and my hundr thousands of readers click on the links and I make loads of money. I would list piles of stuff off of Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk, but I gave up trying to order my presents from them earlier this evening – they’re not able to guarantee that a book ordered on December 17th will be shipped (not delivered!) before January 16th! And that’s in stock items sent by next day courier.

Instead I ordered some presents (mainly for my cycling crazy dad) from my old reliable ChainReactionCycles . I also bought myself a pair of Shimano glasses to replace the pair I lost on crash #14 when mountain biking up the Dublin Mountains a couple of months back. So does their affiliate tag bring in a load of $$$? ‘Fraid not – no cash involved at all. Instead they give me a link-back – mine is currently front page, which is nice, and will move back to their partner links page when someone gets around to adding the next sites in. I’d prefer to take a percentage of sales but I have to say that I’m so happy with their superb service that they’ve earned a gratuitous plug from me.

To get an idea of how much I like these guys, here’s what I’ve bought from them in 6 months. If you’re looking for a gift idea, maybe this stimulate some ideas!

• Shimano Eyewear – Sunglasses Karida Sunglasses Gold + 2 Free Spare Lens
• Smart Lights – Front BL-201 H Twin System 6w – 6w Lead Acid
• Cannondale Headwear Balaclava
• VDO Computers Cytec C4 22 Function Wire
• Topeak Tools Compact Tool Wedge Bag 16 Piece Tool Kit – Quickclip
• Brand-X Bags – Pannier Pannier Set Black
• Crank Brothers Pedals Clipless – MTB Egg Beater SL Steel Spindle – Steel Body – Blue
• Cannondale Gloves Full Finger Windfront Glove 6G04 Winter 2006
• Endura Shorts Cycling Hummvee Baggy Shorts inc Liner
• Brand-X Stems – MTB CNC Style 75mm 10 Deg Polished Black 1.1/8″
• Easton Handlebars Flat EA30 XC Bar Black 580mm
• Atomlab Stems – MTB G.I. Stem 55mm Ano Black 1.1/8″ 22.2mm Clamp
• Endura Jackets – Bike Gridlock Jacket
• Marzocchi Forks – Suspension EXR 2005 105mm Black – IS Mount
• Park Tool Tools Triple Spoke Wrench Each
• Park Tool Tools Chain Wear Indicator Fits All Chains
• Tioga Bar Ends PowerStud 6 Mini Barends Black
• Cannondale Bags – Saddle Fast Bag 17 5BO2 Each – Black
• Kryptonite Locks KryptoLok & Kryptoflex Twinpack U Lock – 4″x9″ & 4ft Kryptofllex
• MET Helmets A-Tomo
• Gill Gloves Fingerless Amara Track Glove
• Electron Lights – Sets F&R Front 3 LED & Rear 5 LED EHP120 2 Mode Front – 6 Mode Rear
• Tacx Water Bottles Team Body Sol 500ml
• Topeak Computers Comp 130 Computer 13 Function Wire
• Topeak Water Bottles – Cages Mono Plastic Bottle Cage Black
• Topeak Water Bottles – Cages Mono Plastic Bottle Cage Black
• Gill Gloves Fingerless Amara Track Glove M Graphite
• Muc Off Lubricants Muc Off Bike Cleaner 1Litre
• Shimano Eyewear – Sunglasses Karida Sunglasses Clear Pale Blue + 2 Free Spare Lens (the ones I lost!)
• Crank Brothers Pedals Clipless – MTB Egg Beater C Carbon Steel Body / Wing – Black
• Gill Jerseys – Short Sleeve Urban Jersey SS XL 44″-46″ Yellow – Carbon
• Tioga Brake Pads – MTB V Brake Pads Black
• Tioga Brake Pads – MTB V Brake Pads Black

These guys are selling in the European market at American prices – but that’s not all! They’re selling at US prices with free delivery to UK and Ireland. I’m telling you as a fellow cycling fanatic – if you need cycling gear , CRC is where you should head.

As mentioned previously, the Dublin Cycling Campaign Christmas party took place in Crawdaddy on Harcourt Street last night and I headed along around 7.30 for a look and a non-alcoholic beverage or two… it turned out to be a fantastic night, especially for a Monday, and great to see so many (around a hundred I’d guess) at the event. Fair play to the DCC for organising the event (I know how much work these things can be)! This short audio clip (45s) might give you an idea of the atmosphere in the place.

[audio:dccparty.mp3]

Sorry I didn’t get more but I didn’t want to record conversations (maybe I should get some interviews next time).

I was delighted to finally meet robfitz, whose great photos of Dublin ‘s wonderful cycling “facilities” I have been borrowing for recent rants blog posts. We talked about the politics of campaigning for better facilities and some other ideas like an Irish bicycle registration website (which I’ve considered doing but dismissed as far too much hard work). Rob is a really nice guy who is far too tolerant for his own good, and I’ve promised to steal all his website ideas.

I chatted with a lovely American guy (I think it was Charles Kading from New Mexico) who was passing out flyers for World Bicycle Month in June 2007 and the Heartland Bicycle Festival in Wilson State Park, Kansas (June 22-24th 2007). I spoke to another Rob – sorry I didn’t get your surname, though I will buy you that pint next time! Also met a colourful ex-De La Salle debating fellow and a guy from the Netherlands.

It had been a good party but suddenly I fell in with a bad crowd… the couriers! It happened innocently enough too!
I was talking to Alan and Gary from Cyclelogical (who sold me my beautiful Cross Check)… I think Gary is part-time in the shop and he works weekdays as a courier. He has the mis good fortune of knowing DotC, another crazy courier who used to live with some friends of mine. It was great talking to several of the couriers about all sorts, and tolerable talking to the others (just kidding guys, you’re all huggable). I’m really looking forward to the 15th Annual Cycle Messenger World Championships in Dublin next year.

All in all it was a great night out and I hope it’s repeated. I learned a bit about the DCC and it was great to see DotC, robfitz and all the rest.