I have been thinking for some time now of using clipless pedals.  Proper cyclists seem to use them and since someone recently asked if I was doing any “sportives” this summer I feel I better up my game.

However, a 1/2 hour pedal change turned into long and pricey lesson in physics and wheelie bin surfaces.

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Some of the guys I work with just don’t understand why I don’t have a flat screen HDTV (actuallyI did for a while but that’s another story), Blue Ray, sky HD and all these other must have consumer items.

when you explain to someone who has no kids and maybe still lives with their parents that you don’t have time for these things they just don’t get it – but I’m old, and some say, tight.

I’m not the only one though -  a colleague of mine recently announced he was going to pick up a new washing machine.  I say new – he’d found it on gumtree.

So I asked

“Why would you sell your washing machine?”

…

“Maybe it was the wrong colour?”

“Maybe it was not fast enough?”

Came some of the replies.

And it worries me.

Because, I am a capitalist, I am part of “system” (who isn’t?) but my worry seems to be with consumerism.  It just seems strange to me to get rid of something that does your washing fine because its not aesthetically pleasing when there’s so  much else to put to rights – like maybe a relationship with another person.

But I don’t want to be outside my circle of influence spending too much time in my circle of concern here.

So let me try and influence you with a bit of advice from fight club – “things that you own end up owning you.”

When you spend a couple of hours a day on a bike then you get a lot of time to think – which is great.  I think too much and then rant to my friends, family and colleagues.

Yet I don’t tweet much and keep my blogs very factual and non-opinionated.

@exiledderryman says it’s because I’m English.  Maybe he’s right, but maybe it’s because I find twitter is outside my “circle of influence”.

What am I on about?

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I recently had a rant against anti-globalisation.  I’m not anti, anti-globalisation per-se but I object strongly when the “it’s exploiting people poorer” argument is used.

I’ve got an ‘O’- level in Economics – and here’s my story as to why trading, and globalisation can make us all better off.

There are two countries in the world.  Let’s call them Ireland and France.

Now everyone in France and Ireland needs wine and Guinness.

Each country has a population of 50 who need a pint of wine and a bottle of beer each.

Each country has 100 acres of land.

Now in France it takes 1 acre of land to grow a bottle of wine but, because their weather is so miserably warm and dry, they need two acres to grow a pint.

In Ireland they have such great amounts of rain that they can can grow pint of Guinness on an acre but need two acres for a bottle of wine.

In France they use 50 acres for wine and and 50 acres for Guinness giving them 50 bottles of wine and 25 pints of Guinness.

In Ireland they use 50 acres for wine and and 50 acres for Guinness giving them 25 bottles of wine and 50  pints of Guinness.

That’s just not to go round so they are generally not happy enough.

Then they start to trade.

France grows just wine (100 bottles) and swaps half its wine for Guinness.

Ireland grows just Guinness (100 pints) and swaps half of it for wine.

So guess what – everyone ends up with more wine and Guinness – a global success!

After a winter break the lure of the open road, the smell of sweat and cooking engines, diet of beer, ham baguettes  and barbequed meat just cannot be resisted anymore.  So this year it looks like Cork is the destination.  This time we’re doing the Scally Rally Ireland.

Journey wise this should be a bit easier than last years epic journey to Barcelona, as there’s a log less miles, seas and mountains between Belfast and Cork.  I have heard of the Cork and Kerry mountains – but I’m not sure how they compare to the Alps.

On the downside though – this rally’s price limit for car is £100.  That’s right ONE HUNDRED POUNDS and I’m not downgrading from the Mercedes, so if anyone knows of a luxury car for sale for less than £100 with good MOT – give us a shout.

For some reason Runkeeper's embed is not working at the moment so if your really interested in the route you can check it on Runkeeper itself.  The first couple of miles are missing as iPhone was messing me about.

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As previously blogged I recently purchased and new Boardman hybrid – mainly for commuting use but also for longer weekend rides that I’ve recently started doing.

Still a great bike, but a few build issues are creeping in.  Many people complain about Halfords ability to assemble bikes, but as I’ve said before, I’ve had issues with several bike shops and no longer trust any of them!  A bike is pretty easy and rewarding to maintain so I prefer to look after them myself.

I guess the only bike shop I have found to be truly excellent is the Bicycle Doctor Ltd. in Manchester.  The whole buying process (they let me take the bike out) and assembly of the Trek they sold me back in about 1999 was just great.  Unfortunately it’s a bit far to travel to now.

I would expect to have to adjust some things after a month or so as I appreciate that things wear in and new metal will stretch (causing screws to loosen etc.) but some of these niggles are just down to bad assembly.

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In case anyone’s wondering how the recumbent build is going, at the moment it’s not.  I actually got it pretty much assembled over Christmas but never got past half way down the drive without something falling off – not exactly reassuring.  Then, I broke my welding mask and a week later, fell off my bike in the ice and chipped a bone in my elbow.

Ironically enough, if I’d been on a recumbent the fall would not have been as far so I may have escaped injury.

Then, after a couple of weeks out of the saddle, the front gear cable and rear gear cable snapped in successive weeks.  I totted up all the things that needed fixing on my Trek – both mudguards, front derailleur, front chain set, pedals,  rear wheel straightening, cables  (brake and gear) and decided that more was not working than working.

So, after 12 or so good years, I decided to retire the Trek and, since the recumbent was not going to be ready and I have concerns over its practicality and reliability, invest in a new bike.

I’ve been looking at new bikes for a while and decided on a Boardman Hybrid Team from Halfords.  Some people have concerns or maybe some snobbery issues with Halfords and prefer their “local bike shop”.  Personally I’ve had good and bad experiences with both.  Anyway, I chose this bike as it was large, light (at least compared to my old Trek 7200), excellent value for money – with £100 off - and had some great reviews.

My bike – with mudguards, rack and other accessories fitted.

I have not been disappointed.  Ride is incredibly smooth – both in terms of vibration which seems to be absorbed better by carbon forks, and drive and gears.  I am getting to work about 5 - 10% quicker on average.  Brakes are great – hydraulic disks – I’m used to old school.  Although they don’t really stop me any quicker – they don’t seem to need constant adjustment.  However, when they do need servicing it looks a bit more complicated but I used to bleed the brakes on my 1975 mini about once a month without too much problem – although they were still useless (drums).

Had 2 punctures in a couple of hundred miles but this is probably more bad luck than bad tyres as the glass shard that caused the first and thorn that caused the second were both pretty vicious.

So – the recumbent will be done later in the year – in the mean time I’m off for a ride.

Cut and weld, grind and weld, regrind and weld, weld, grind, curse, cut and weld.

Before you start you need a good pot of coffee.

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I recently needed to renew my car tax.  A few years ago I did it over the ‘phone but could find no details of how to do this online or on the ‘phone anywhere on the dvni website or on the renewal form.  So I rang them up.  After a series of options I got through to an operator and asked if I could renew on the phone.

Yes you can!

The magic number for renewing your car tax in Northern Ireland is:

028 7034 1514

You just need your registration number and I direct debit card.

Of course in GB on the DVLA site -

“ You can apply for a new tax disc or, if you intend to take the vehicle off the road,
declare Statutory Off Road Notification, known as SORN, directly over the internet.

You can also use the Vehicle Enquiry service to check what information DVLA holds on its
database about a vehicle.“

I wondered why the number wasn’t on the website so I asked using the online form why the number wasn’t on the site.  Here is the answer I got -

“Thank you for your email.

The number to phone is:-    028 703 41514“

Not exactly an answer to the original question.

I wonder if the DVLNI don’t want people to ring or process online in as it would be more efficient?