8th August 2022 - Name day!

What’s the picture? And what is a name day? I hear you ask. 

Well, according to https://www.namedaycalendar.com/nameday-meaning- 

A name day (also known as feast day) is a tradition in many countries in Europe of celebrating a day based on an individual's given name. The custom originated with the Catholic and Orthodox calendar of saints, where believers, named after a particular saint, would celebrate that saint's name day. In many countries, however, there is no longer any explicit connection to Christianity

So why am I writing about it here? Today is the 8th of August. And if we were in Finland or Estonia we would be celebrating all Sylvi’s and Sylvia’s. If this is your name - Happy Name day. 

Well obviously it is not my name day, but there is a reason for writing about it here. All will become clearer shortly. 

Today I've headed back round to the Beamz workshop to see some willow slowly being crafted into a bike. 

My bike! 

My bike, that somehow already has a name (not sure how that happened as I’ve never named any of my bikes). So, as you may have guessed by now, 

a. I have ordered a wooden bike from BEAMZ and 

b. Her name is Sylvi. 

And what better way to celebrate her name day than to investigate where she came from? 

Nick very kindly showed me the place where he harvested the willow that will make up a substantial part of Sylvi’s frame. The bush is coppiced - chopped to near the ground which encourages new straight growth. If you look carefully at the second picture, you can just spot where a stem was removed.  You can also see lots of very straight stems coming away from that cut area. It is hard to sense the scale on a photograph, but those branches were already my height and the willow had been cut less than a year ago. This is what makes these bikes so sustainable. The wood regrows within 8 years, locking in lots of carbon in the process. 

I had been round a few days earlier to see the finished jig that Nick had been making in the last post. It was strange to think that the ball of hemp would, at some point, become an integral part of the bike too. 

Nick handed me a beautiful piece of willow, explaining that I was now holding Silvi's top tube (crossbar - in old money) It had already been steamed and stripped of its outer layer, leaving a beautiful pink tint, and there was a hole that had been drilled through before it had been dried. Of course, being a natural product, the tube wasn't quite straight, but this bend was one of the reasons Nick had chosen it for this purpose. 

Our next job was to hollow out the tube - reducing the weight, but keeping the strength of the beam. Nick showed me a cutaway so that I could see how the tube would look on the inside.  

As with everything in this bike-building process, Nick had designed and built the tool needed for this job and it was a work of art in its own right. I watched as the router took away the core, while the guide wheels ensured that the tube retained the same thickness throughout. I was mesmerised. Zoom back to the very first photo to see the end result. 

On my next visit, Nick had a different bike set up on the jig. This one has been ordered before mine, So was slightly further ahead, but many of the processes are being done at the same time. 

Carefully scaled printouts of the CAD design are used to give the correct angles and measurements every step of the way. With the tubes held tightly in the jig, the ends are cut to exactly fit the diameter of the bottom bracket shell and the head tube. 

The next job is to make the chain stays, these are again willow, that is specially chosen for their shape. These are held in another purpose-built jig, ready to have the tops made into dowels that fit into the bottom bracket shell. Of course, there is no standard drill bit for the job, so Nick just designed and made one!

The next stage was to cut the other ends with a slot that would take the aluminium dropouts for the rear wheel. This again was all guided by the printout below showing exactly which measurement was needed. 

With those completed, all that was left to do was drill the holes in the bottom bracket shell ready to accept the dowels. 

My next visit proved to be quite spectacular. It was time to make the dropouts. It felt like some sort of righting of the universe that these would be made from recycled, broken, Audi alloy wheels. I've been smiling about that ever since. 

First, we needed a ‘pattern’. This was carefully cut out of a piece of foam and was not as easy as Nick made it look. I had to have a second attempt at mine when angling the knife made one of the lugs too narrow. 

Some sections needed to be extra thick, but not the 6mm that the main part was made from. No worries though. Nick had a machine that precision cut the foam to 3mm. It’s amazing what you can do with a heated wire and some milk bottles. 

The patterns were complete, they just needed a cardboard funnel on the top and we were ready to go. 

I’m not sure that we should have chosen the hottest day of the year so far to be smelting aluminium, but so be it! 

The pattern was ‘planted’ into a plant pot of sand, the pot was then filled and shaken to ensure that the sand had filled all the crevasses. The lid was just there to stop sand from falling down the funnel as this would need to be removed before pouring the molten metal. 

Aluminium has a melting point of 660 degrees centigrade, which is a lot hotter than your average camp stove. I was keen to see how Nick was going to melt these cut-up pieces of Audi. The process proved quite simple. A large crucible was placed into a plaster-lined bucket. This was packed out using lump wood charcoal. This was lit and superheated by an electric heat gun. Within 10 minutes the coals were red hot and the molten metal glowing orange. It was time for the pour. 

Then another agonising 10-minute wait for the metal and sand to cool before revealing the final piece. This piece was for the other bike as it needs an extra lug to attach a trailer. 

This is one of Sylvi’s dropouts after a bit of a clean-up but before the final machining. 

The next cast was an experiment. Could two pieces be cast at the same time? Again the patterns were made but this time joined together at the top with more foam. And it was back to melting metal and burying foam in the sand. 

It worked!!! 

Front dropouts are all cast, ready for separating, a quick clean up and then a final machine to make the important surfaces level.  I can’t wait for my next visit to see the next stage in BEAMZ cycle production. 

Thank you Nick and Sarah for your constant patience with me wanting to photograph or video everything, and then answering all my silly questions. It is always a joy to pop by. 

For more information about these wooden bikes, take a look at the BEAMZ website 

All photos and videos are my own. The wood is kindly provided by Mother Nature and the aluminium by drivers who think their cars are invincible. 

Keep an eye out for the next instalment. If you want to be notified about future posts - click here. (I apologise now for the adverts that come within the notification email, I have no control over them) - ignore them and just click the link in the mail to get to the latest post. 

Thanks for reading, now go get out on your bike.

 

August 2022 - Milepost bagging in Brighton

It's 1040 and we are sitting on our own in a train carriage designed to take bikes - to be fair - it is also designed for wheelchair users who have priority over us, but for the moment, it is just us, our bikes and an incredibly cheerful guard. 

Our diaries were just too full to fit in a camp this holiday, so we have opted to do a day trip or two instead. This one was taking us along the National Cycle Route  2 to find some more mileposts   

The train had terminated in Southampton. The crew swap ends and the train then retraces its 'steps' back along the coast. At every stop, more people board and few alight. It is getting progressively hotter and busier as we head towards our goal. We decide to get out at the earliest opportunity and count down the stations till Portslade. We had already used the big map guide from Sustrans and had calculated that this would be the best station to start our quest. 

We left the train, walked less than 20 steps to the main road, crossed the level crossing and headed towards the sea. Finding the sea was the easy part - finding how to get onto the NCN2 was proving a little more difficult. We could see where it was and where it was going, but we couldn't see how to get there at all. Jo found a track on a grass slope. We scooted down it and were finally on route to find our first Millennium milepost. 

If you are not sure what these things are or what milepost bagging is - take a look at my explanation here. 

Our first post was highly camouflaged by the hedge growing around Western lawns. But it was not hidden enough to escape our eagle eyes as we headed towards the traffic lights. 

It was in dire need of some TLC as it was clear that the sea air had not been kind to it at all. We wished it well and rejoined route 2 as it took us away from the busy main road and onto the promenade. It was nice to see the efforts Brighton City Council have made to make cycling safer in the area, giving up road space for a cycle lane and had obviously invested heavily in a fleet of quite popular hire bikes. (Well we saw lots of them in use!) 

The second milepost was hidden from the main road by King Alfred Sports centre but clearly seen from the shore and most importantly from route 2. This one again was showing its age and crying out for some rust treatment. 

Onward to find number 3. This one was in the most prominent position. Right in front of the pier. I couldn’t believe that this too was stripped down to bare rust. Knowing how flamboyant Brighton can be, I was expecting a set of very colourful posts and was taken aback by the lack of paint on them. Maybe there is an art college or school somewhere that could get involved with a new colour scheme? Even if it were painted the same colour as the railings behind, it would last a good few more years. I’m pretty sure the people visiting the pier didn’t give it a first glance let alone a second! 

I, on the other hand, was busy changing colour as my cheeks started to match my jersey. 

On to number 4. This one was next to the terminus of Volk’s electric railway, which was first opened in 1883. And still going strong. Though 118 years its junior, this poor milepost was definitely looking its age if not the age of the railway. Some of the inscriptions were barely readable, though we could see which direction Peacehaven was and that Rottingdean was on our route ahead. This was such a shame as it was the only post with its back to the sea thus making arguably the nicest backdrop of them all. 

We decided that this was a good place to stop for the lunch we’d carried with us. We moved down onto the pebbles, to be further away from a set of speakers being erected by a local resident playing music (of his choice) for those making the most of the sunshine. I was very impressed with his highly portable equipment. (The stands folded down to fit into a relatively small rucksack) I was less impressed with the music. 

Lunch eaten, water drunk and more sun lotion applied, we headed on towards Brighton marina where we got a little confused by the various blue signs. Jo had ridden this stretch once before, on her way to Dover, but there had been building work done since then. 

We found the NCN2 signs on a path next to the top road and even though Jo didn’t remember the scenery, from the last time she’d been this way, we continued following the signs hoping that it would all become clear. 

‘I’m sure I would have remembered that’ Jo said as we stopped to take photos of the Beacon windmill ahead and having just said the similar about the massive 'Blind Veterans Association buildings - with the most amazing view over the channel. We checked our route again and looked out for the next blue sign. Yes, we were definitely on route 2. Did I mention it was hot?

Route 2 disappeared and was replaced by a ‘Cyclists rejoin carriageway’ as we got to a pretty nasty junction in Rottingdean and a steep uphill climb,  just when we could really have done with a little segregation! 

But we continued following the coast road. We were once again directed onto a segregated cycle path where we slowly worked our way towards our goal of Newhaven. 

At Telscombe, a crossing offered a choice of NCN route. We decided to cross to the inner route and a small family just behind us, did the same. Both parents carried bulging panniers, while their young son zipped ahead - loving his baggage-free life. 

Apparently one of the panniers was full of his Lego - which he was busy promising to carry himself next year. They were also Newhaven bound, but that was their stop for the night, from which they would catch a ferry to Dieppe in the morning. They had been travelling a couple of days now, slowly (20 miles a day) making their way from Woking to Paris. What an adventure for the young chap! One, I hope, he will appreciate for many years to come. They had completed the Hadrians cycleway when their son was only four! And had also ridden the Coast and Castles route. But this was a longer, more involved challenge. 

We had all opted for the promise of one less mile and quieter roads slightly inland. After some miles of chat, they took a shady snack break while we continued on. 

5 miles later, we were on the outskirts of Newhaven. The cycleway was in a terrible state - though segregated, it was full of potholes and glass. We had lost the blue signs and asked a passing pedestrian the way, he pointed down the main road and said there is only one way - we found out as we returned to this spot later, that he was no cyclist and had no idea that a right turn here would provide a much nicer and safer route (once you had climbed the hill that is!) 

We continued down the coast road, which was getting busier and busier ending up on a dual carriageway and extended roundabout. It was a relief to jump off at a small side road running along the river Ouse. 

A quick check on the Sustrans website confirmed that we were on the correct side of the water. A cormorant statue stared at us from a post in the river, and a second one stretched its wings above a seating area near some small shops. We headed on, lured by the Google maps promise of a cafe. 

Milepost number 5 of the day (and #15 of our quest so far) was also guarded by a cormorant statue. This time on her nest. 

We were so pleased to see that this post had been painted and stood proudly pointing its way across from the ferry port. It was sad to see that the quiz disk was missing - I hope due to the repaint rather than anything else. 

Once we’d taken the photos we headed round to the cafe only to find that it shuts at 3 on weekdays. They were still busy clearing up from their busy day but were more than happy to refill our water bottles. 

We grabbed an ice cream from the Onestop next door and planned our return cycle. We were both exhausted and very hot! The family from earlier rode straight past our shady stop. They had found the right route!

One advantage of searching for mileposts is that you can guarantee you are on an NCN. We followed the route back realising our mistakes in Newhaven and a missed choice of the undercliff path right back at the marina. 

The undercliff route made for a much nicer ride back, with a much-needed stop for another drink at the Whitecliff cafe. It was really hot by now! And I was beginning to shake with the heat. It wasn't surprising, Garmin was reading at least 34 right now. We soon made it back to the marina and retraced our steps back to the pier. We grabbed some chips on the seafront as we’d not eaten anything since our early lunch. 

We were now on the lookout for cycle signs to the station, but these didn’t appear till much further down the promenade. We followed them, heading up a very steep hill, got stopped at every single light, making it to the station 5 mins after the train left. 

We had two travel options - one involved a change at Barnham the other was later but straight through. Thankfully we chose the former, our good choice was not verified till sat waiting for our second train at Barnham. We listened as an announcement was given that the other train we could have been on was now cancelled. 

Relieved, we pushed our bikes onto the Southampton-bound train and relaxed in the air-conditioned bike/disabled carriage for the final hour of the journey. 

Once in Southampton, Jo jumped onto a Winchester-bound train and I headed home for a well-needed shower and well-earned coffee. 

Once home, I checked the temperature graph of the route and was astounded that the top temperature of the ride was 38 degrees. No wonder I was shattered!

Thank you Jo for your great company on a crazy day such as this. 

Post script - I’ve just spoken to one of the Sustrans volunteers in the area and asked about the Brighton posts. She clarified that this was the original wishes of the designer of these posts. Mills, the artist, felt that the posts should weather naturally especially the ones by the sea, so he stipulated that they were not painted. 

He has since passed away and the volunteers are keen to treat these posts at the very least, but unfortunately cannot gain permission from the local council who owns the land they are on. It would be such a shame to see these erode away due to a lot of red tape. The volunteers have been fighting their corner for the last 15 years. I wish them every success! 

All photos are mine unless otherwise stated. 

June 2022 An inspiring weekend away.

It’s 6am and once again, I’m Kingsworthy bound to pick up Jo for another cycle adventure. But there are no bikes in the van this time.

We are on our way to Birmingham for the National Cycling Show. I’m not sure that we would have gone if it wasn’t for the free tickets, this is a new show and it was hard to tell what we were letting ourselves in for. I had been to something similar in London but run by a much bigger company whereas this was a completely new experience for Jo. 

Our main aim was to see as many of the talks as possible. There were two main stages - Cycling 101, sponsored by Cycling UK and as the name suggests, had mostly ‘How to’ type talks. The other was the inspiration stage. Both had a long list of talks just begging for us to go and listen to. 

We arrived after the welcome but before the initial talk on the 101 stage. The first talk was a little disappointing, it was titled ‘Women - know your limits’ the write-up suggested a rallying call to women cyclists everywhere and sounded right up my street. Instead, it was really just an excuse for a set of female cyclists to chat to each other about their best’s, longest’s and most’s!

We nipped across to the other stand just in time to see someone put on a large jacket that looked like an orange segment. She proceeded to explain that with the surname 'Orange' what else should you wear when completing your first marathon? She then showed a photo of numerous other pieces of Fruit that she has made for each marathon she ran. (There were quite a few!) 

A gap between talks allowed us to wander around the stands. The connection between some and the subject of the show was tenuous, to say the least. 

Jo arrived back to the seats at one point having been offered to have a wave put into her hair by the salon taking up one of the biggest stand spaces. Given that the majority of the attendees were middle-aged balding men, I’m not sure how much trade they got. Another stand nearby sold premium dog food! We didn't revisit that aisle. 

We were offered numerous freebies from the Cycle UK stand but surprisingly little from elsewhere. Instead, there was the usual ‘subscribe to our email list here and we will give you free entry to our competition to win some socks!’ The British Cycling stand had especially little to offer and was quite uninspiring.

Our packed lunch was literally inhaled waiting for the next talk at the 101 stand. It’s hungry business listening to talks you know! 

Next up was Duncan Dollimore explaining how they managed to finally get the Highway Code changed. He also showed the video campaign they decided to fund to try to get the message across to the general public but wasn’t then used by national media. Even now, it’s shocking how little people understand about them as was clear from some of the questions being asked. 

I chatted to Duncan Dollimore for a while afterwards asking if more could be done to twist the arms of the train companies to provide easier and cheaper travel for the cyclists, citing our recent trip to Carlisle and our wish to have gone by train rather than a van trundle. I also suggested they ran an affiliation scheme with campsites who were willing to allow cycle campers to stay one night for cheaper rates as the now standard £20 a night (with electric hook up!) or the policy needing a two-night booking is crippling those trying to cycle tour. He said he would look into the issue. 

Another break in the talks and more wandering around the stalls. Apart from finding the hair salon a bit odd, I was surprised that none of the big bike companies were there. In fact, the only type of bike you could buy (if you had the money) was electric and these were plentiful. 

Back to the inspiration stage to listen to Mimi Anderson talk about her transition from runner to endurance cyclist. But as with many of this type of talk, the adventure seemed way out of reach for mere mortals like myself. I had opted for this one rather than the Cantti way talk as that was repeated on Sunday. But I kicked myself as I listened to the same speaker - Mildred Lock speak of her method of bikepacking during a later talk. Seeing how her bike was packed was fascinating. 

Heads spinning from tons of information we headed back to the car park I did consider buying a show bag but decided that £5 was just too much for something I really didn’t need so walked away. I guess most other people did too as we were then given one for free on Sunday. (Ironically, I have since found it an exceptionally useful bag!) 

We had opted to stay in a bed and breakfast literally 5 mins from the venue. So were checked in and settled in no time. We ventured down the road to a Brewers Fair for a vegetarian carvery then retired for coffee and an early night at our lodgings. The other room was now occupied by a couple visiting the flower show on at the NEC at the same time. We only found this out when we had to disturb our host as our key was stuck in the front door. The landlord, and a can of WD40, soon had things sorted though.  

Once in our room and a coffee in hand, We checked out our wish list of Sunday's talks only to find that just as with day 1, our choices were remarkably similar. 

The day started very quietly as we ambled around the stands, giving away our emails for little in return. A loop round didn’t take very long and the crowds were building. We chose our seats and waited for the first talk by the Canal and riverboat trust about 'Sharing the space'. The technology they are using to track users is quite amazing as is the simplicity of their measures to slow people down. We both agreed that it was very interesting. 

The possibly mistitled ‘The logistics of organising a multi-day bike packing trip’ began and we heard how each of the speakers organised their bikepacking journeys . I guess this would be useful if you found yourself in their specific situation e,g, up a mountain that your father-in-law organised you to be airlifted from by someone such as Richard Branson!  I found it slightly lacking in general hints and tips. Maybe I needed more coffee and to tune in a little better. A little demoralised and again feeling quite fraud-like to even think I was a tourer, we went for another loop of the stalls. 

We went back to the Litelok stand. We had looked at the locks the night before and spend a considerable amount of time researching them. We asked all the questions we had thought of and both walked away with slightly heavier bags. 

I didn’t buy the Ikea-inspired bike rack in the end, it was a close one as I really did like the look of it, but did by some mix it yourself touch up paint for my bike. 

And of course, we had to sneak in a quick sock photo while waiting for the next talk. This one was about the Cantii Way. And finally, we were listening to like-minded people doing like-minded things. The fraud like feeling, slowly ebbing away as they talked. 

We were quite excited by this new route and have vowed to give it a go. We even went running off to the Cycling UK stand to buy a guidebook, only to find that they cannot produce one due to some clause in the funding used to produce the route in the first place. There are lots of details online though and it was genuinely great to see that our membership money gets very well used. Well done Cycling UK  

By this time we were shattered. We wandered across for coffee and slumped into the cafe chairs. We decided that the walk back across to the 101 stage was a trip too many and decided to give the ‘Making cycling more inclusive’ talk a miss. Instead, we watched the people trying out the different types of electric bikes while we waited for the next inspiration talk. This one was by Kate Rawles about a ride she made through America. I initially wasn't too keen as I had really enjoyed listening to a set of people talk about something real and obtainable. I feared this would be just another privileged person explaining how amazing they were at cycling. 

But as soon as she started talking, I realised I had heard Kate's story before, most probably on a podcast. This was confirmed when she mentioned her bamboo bike named Woody. She was the first person all weekend that made me pick up my pen and write down a load of quotes. 

I loved her referring to us cyclists as 'accidental eco-warriors', a label that I am more than happy to wear. 

But her explaining the loss of over 60% of all species during her lifetime (which happens to be my lifetime too) really hit home hard. Of course, I was already aware that we now have more endangered species than ever before and that the way we use land plus the way the climate is changing holds much of the blame. My mind quickly went to those evenings spent watching the wonders uncovered by Jonny Morris and later Sir David Attenburgh and reading stories of so many new species being found every week. My head was now reeling at the shear scale of this impending disaster. 

Kate's slide show continued, showing amazing photos of the diverse animals she saw on her trip and the changing landscapes that she rode through, but all the time reminding us of the threat they are now under. I knew humans were cutting down rain forests for example, but I had no idea that humans are currently clearing those forests at the rate of seven football pitches a minute. In fact, looking it up today, it appears that we have become even more efficient and are now clearing 10 pitches worth a minute. How we are sitting back and letting this happen is almost unfathomable.  

Kate had very cleverly weaved her message regarding the increasing loss of biodiversity and the increasing dangers this causes to the balance of the Earth within the talk of the adventure and the ride itself. I wondered how the others in the audience felt. Though clearly moved by her environmental message, I was also quite motivated by this normal woman, of a similar age, travelling in a way I loved, on a type of bike that I hankered after. The photo of her and a laden Woody came as a reassurance that 

1. A wooden bike can take the loads needed for camping and 2. I don’t pack ‘too much!’

Just as I felt myself sinking into global warming induced  despondency, Kate introduced the idea of Adventure plus - using an adventure story to help raise awareness and inspire action. From that moment, this concept just kept playing round and round in my head. Could I do something like this? Another seed was sown. 

We stopped and chatted to Kate at the end of her talk, I asked after Woody and explained that I was looking into getting a wooden bike too. She reasured me that Woody was extremely comfortable and easily carried far more weight than I could imagine trying to cycle with. I would have loved to have spent the rest of the day chatting to her, but the next speaker was just beginning and the whole venue had moved to this corner to hear from the Paralympic champion Dame Sarah Storey. 

Jo and I did one final loop of the hall, chatting for a while with the Femwicks family and buying some extra eco friendly bike care before  heading back to the van to to start our journey home. Our heads and conversations were full of what we had heard, ideas to put these things into practice and schemes to return next year with more folk. 

Thank you as always to Jo for your wonderful company.

Thank you  Kate for your inspirational talk, permission to use your photograph and numerous conversations since Birmingham.  

Thank you Cycle UK for your tireless (no pun intended) campaigning to improve our cycle journeys. 

And thank you to The National Cycle Show for the option to get free tickets from Cycle UK that enticed us up there in the first place. 

For more information - 

Kate Rawles - https://www.outdoorphilosophy.co.uk/

Cantii way - https://www.cyclinguk.org/cantii-way

The National Cycling Show https://nationalcyclingshow.com/