Scoville Units Unite » Cycling http://agraham.org/blog reviews, rants and random chilli ratings Wed, 16 May 2012 13:32:36 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v= Cycle Ride http://agraham.org/blog/2009/02/16/cycle-ride/ http://agraham.org/blog/2009/02/16/cycle-ride/#comments Mon, 16 Feb 2009 19:36:24 +0000 Alan G http://agraham.org/blog/?p=221 With the weather finally clearing we managed to get out on the bikes at the weekend.

The route map is:

Route for February 15th

Route for February 15th

It was a pretty hard slog for two main reasons, lack of fitness and the gears not working correctly on bike. I was able to switch from 2 to 1 but not up again, when I fiddled around a bit the chain came off. This meant I was stuck on the second set of gears which was fine for a gradual climb, flat and downhill but meant I was stuffed when trying to climb a steeper gradient on way back. So we had to call it off a bit earlier than intended.

Still 2 miles with over 200feet of climbing is alright for a first proper ride. The first ride we went on was round Clatto so was pretty flat only rising 60ft over a longer distance than the 200ft climb on Sunday.

Route for January 25th

Route for January 25th

I am due the first service anyway but was waiting until I had been out more than once, that’s definitely something to be seen to.

]]> http://agraham.org/blog/2009/02/16/cycle-ride/feed/ 0 Get on yer Bike http://agraham.org/blog/2009/01/18/get-on-yer-bike/ http://agraham.org/blog/2009/01/18/get-on-yer-bike/#comments Sun, 18 Jan 2009 13:10:10 +0000 Alan G http://agraham.org/blog/?p=149 I have been trying to get my work to enter the Cycle2Work scheme. Looks quite positive although it is on hold until the new office is complete around September. Unfortunately that’s the time of year I’d be least likely to start cycling seeing as it will be starting to have heavy showers. I figure if I get even an entry level mountain bike for kicking around on just now I will get in the habit of cycling and get fitness up so I would then be having to make excuses to not cycle.

So off I trotted around town after the Palestine demo in city square. After my 7 mile adventure what I found was:

Nicholson Cycles: Bike Worx: Orbea Tuareg reduced from £230 to £172.
Spokes: Giant Rock for £200.

Now price wasn’t really an issue between them, whichever was the best bike I would go for. I had heard of Ridgeback and Giant before but hadn’t heard of Orbea. When home I did a search and found out that:

  • They are based in the Basque country and switched to make bikes after the Spanish Civil War
  • They are a co-operative
  • They operate a 1:3 wage ratio – no one can earn more than three times anyone else in the factory.

I think that’s me sold then, dunno which bike Genna will go for. Next Saturday we should be popping round the shops so she can see them too and I will have a test-drive to see if it’s what I need. For the Cycle2Work scheme I would be looking for a Hybrid, I really like the Ridgeback Hybrid but if the Orbea are any good I would have to go for that again.

]]> http://agraham.org/blog/2009/01/18/get-on-yer-bike/feed/ 0