LCC Interview & Photoshoot with the legend....

I had an interview this evening with photo journalist Steve Rutherford from the London Cycling Campaign Magazine. Talked about why and how I got back into cycling, why I'm a big fan of Bromptons & where the whole The Legend known as Brompton Bumble B came from.
Also why the facebook group London Brompton Club was created and how its exploded in under a year & our plans for the future.

The interview and photos will be appearing in the bi monthly LCC member's magazine at some point in 2013, as soon as I know I will give everyone a heads up.

The legend of the Brompton Bumble B gets interviewed.

Loosing his bearings...

On the commute home I felt alot of crunching from the non folding pedal. I had a look when I got home and it looks like the bearings in the pedal have started to fall out. I thought the 2012 versions would be better but seems not. Put on my old pedal and see what I can do regarding the losing bearings :(

The Legend losing his balls

Night Riding....

For the last few days I have been finishing work late and having to cycle home in darkness which gives me a good chance to try out my DIY Headlight 5.0 that I built using an Everyready head strap light. I have to say I'm pretty impressed with it and lights up the road ahead pretty well

The Legend at Night

I'm STILL waiting for my delivery of my Marathon Plus London edition tyres that I ordered a week and a half ago. I've already emailed the company asking where my stuff is at and they emailed me yesterday saying they would be chasing up Royal Mail about it.

The Legend's own twitter ?

The last few days I have been toying with the idea of re starting The Legend's twitter account and renaming it to @BromptonBumbleB

What do you folks think?
YES?
NO?

Mainly going to be everything and anything I do regarding Bumble B and cycling only

Richmond Training ride

On train heading for a training session with my cycling buddy Mr. O this lady comes up to me wanting/needing a closer look at "The Legend" I really have to be faster in getting my club/blog cards out to give to the Brompton riders I meet when travelling. Even giving me a slight idea for a photography project too ;)

Only lasted a few seconds as we was coming to her station but she said looking at her own blk B that it seems kinda naked after seeing Bumble B :D

On Overground train to Richmond

Well went and did abit of training with my cycle buddy in Richmond Park. Felt a little better with myself physically but still a long way off fitness wise compared to Mr.O. If I can get to his fitness level before my major rides next year I'd be extremely happy. We where discussing the up coming rides and how we are thinking we will be doing. I know I have a long way to go in my training to be better and have to really focus on not just the riding itself but also the preparation work too. The foods & drink I consume is a big issue for me as doing shift work I sometimes don't have alot of time to look for the healthy options.

My Training Stats:


Anyways some photographs I managed to take while riding today.

On a footbridge over the river

I promised myself next time I got to Richmond Park I would take my Infra-Red converted camera with me to take some shots of the park. The weather wasn't perfect for Infra-Red as I would like but this is to compare what a normal camera/human eye sees to what my converted InfraRed camera sees

Normal part of the spectrum that everyone/normal camera's sees

Now the same scene but in the Infra Red part of the spectrum.

As you can see in the InfraRed the green leafs and grass reflect the infra red part of the specturm and therefore looks white.

Well we finished abit of training just over 13 miles. Here is a shot of our steeds resting on top of a hill heading back to the station.

Brompton Bumble B & Orange Brompton

As always I had my Garmin on to record the ride so I can compare at a later date to see how my training is going. I think next time I will try to remember to wear the heart monitor to see how my heart is on a ride.

DIY Headlight v5.0

In my on going battle to build a better headlight I saw in a fb group about making one from a energizer head light. It's basically a light that you strap to your head for working in dark situations and emergencies. I just undid the head strap, made a couple of holes to put bolts though to attach it to the headlight mount on Bumble B. But I found to use bolts I would have to file down the ends as it is a tight fit with the batteries installed. So instead I used a zip-tie and tied it on tightly to the headlight mount.
Also needed to glue the led part to base as this can rotate forwards but on riding a bike the bumps would probably shake it and the beam would look straight down at the wheel. Not good if I want to see where I'm going.

Energiser Headlight attached to Bumble B's headlight mount

Zip tied on instead of bolts

Only thing I'm worried about is that this is not waterproof. I'll see how this one goes as I've looked and there is a waterproof version of this headlight which I may get at later date. Maybe better than getting the £130 headlight I was thinking of getting last week that's for sure. I still have the other headlight to work with in any case.

Special gift & 10,000 page hits....

Well folks I've just noticed I've gone past a milestone of 10,000 page hits.
Probably about 40% of those are mine but hey ho :P

I got a little present from Alfredo Guillen new member of my London Brompton Club Group on facebook the other day. From what I can remember he had them selling on ebay and decided to send them to me as a present. I guess by the colour of them there was only one place they could go >:D

2 Black & Yellow Water Value Handles

2 Black & Yellow Water Value Handles

On The Legend.....

Totally bad ass

What can I say about these handles eh? come onnnnnnnn :P May take me a little while longer to fold til I get used to them but they sure look awesome.

Oh I put in an order for new tires (Limited edition London Marathon Plus) awhile back and should have got delivered earlier in the week. I had a couple of packages waiting for me at the local sorting office which I thought it may have been so wasn't worried about it too much but it wasn't them (one was the water value handles, the other was Garmin Edge 800 rubber protection).
Emailed company I sourced them from and they are contacting the Royal Mail to see where they are. First time in many yrs that I've had any problems with Royal Mail I have to say.

Quick snap of the Garmin Edge 800 cover

Garmin Edge 800 & Rubber Cover

Future Events for 2013...

Well I've been abit behind with the posts on my blog but that doesnt mean I've not been doing anything.
As I have probably mentioned in previous posts I will be trying to do as many cycling events as possible from now on. As my fitness improves over time I feel that I can do bigger and better things.

I've currently got myself entered into 2 major events already for next year, maybe a 3rd. NightRider 2013 , IG Nocturne Folding Bike Race & The Dunwich Dynamo 2013

IG Markets Nocturne Folding Bike Race 2013 

(19th January 2013)

In 2013 they will be doing the first indoor IG Markets Nocturne event. I managed to watch it last year at Smithfield's Market where my good cycling buddy (Mr.O) raced & got into the final. I said to myself that I should have entered but I never did. This year I'm entered but the only thing is that its a lottery type thing so I won't know if I got in till nearer the time.

London Nightrider 2013: 

(8th -9th June 2013)

This event is a charity bike ride around London taking in all the sights but with a difference. It's going to be though the night. Be passing through Tower Bridge, a deserted City of London, Canary Wharf, London Zoo, Piccadilly Circus, British Museum, London Eye, Houses of Parliament, Trafalgar Square and more.. It promises to be a damn good night right and as always my partner in crime Mr.O will be right there with me :) We both managed to get the same start time and location at Alexander Palace. Maybe a few more from the London Brompton Club will be coming along too.

The Dunwich Dynamo 2013 

(20th-21st July 2013)

The Dunwich Dynamo is a 200 km night ride from London to the lost city of Dunwich on the Suffolk Coast. From 1992 to 1998 it ran as commercial pay-to-enter event. In 1999 it became free -just-turn-up-and-ride. This Successful format has continued since 2000.
Setting a date for an informal 'turn-up-and-ride' event - on the Saturday night nearest a full moon in July.

This last event I will definitely have to have a really big think about but as someone said that I could gauge my fitness for this from how I do on the other events I'm entering as well as the London Brompton Club Rides that I will be going on too.

2013 looks like its turning out to be a pretty busy cycling for me and I only got 2 words to say to it all

"BRING IT!"

The Bumble B Helmet

While I was on holidays in the USA I got my friend to spray paint my helmet. I asked if he could do some "in progress" shots as I always love seeing how things are made and the final product.

Well here is the work in progress shots of my helmet :)

Naked Helmet

Naked Helmet

Lining the bits not wanting to be sprayed

Undercoat

Yellow coat for the stripes

Tape where you don't need the black to get the yellow stripe effect

First coatings