..........................................................................................................................................................................................................
paradise
there's an oft-quoted lyric in joni mitchell's song, big yellow taxi which states, "you don't know what you've got till it's gone", after which she describes the paving of paradise in favour of a parking lot. for islay, it's not parking, but large distillery warehouses. however, the bit about only missing something when it's no longer there, is true in so many different situations, and very much so in my own case, right at the moment. had i been a car driver, the sheet of dos and don'ts handed to me on discharge from hospital pointed out that i should refrain from getting behind the wheel for a period of four weeks. it seems that cyclists are sufficiently few and far between for abstention from cycling not to have been committed to print, but in my specific circumstances, the doctor was quick to point out that those four weeks applied every bit as much to the bicycle.
attempting to return to work as seamlessly as possible, along with efforts to ensure a speedy return to health and fitness, have occupied my daily thoughts pretty much to the exclusion of all else, including that of getting back on the bicycle. however, following the washing of the breakfast dishes yesterday morning, i popped out to the bike shed for the first time since my return, to retrieve the lights and garmin in order to have them charged and ready for action. rather tellingly, so doing entailed serious consideration of what lies ahead, just under two weeks from now.
there are a number of happenstances in the past week that have brought my restriction from cycling to the fore: attending the ardbeg house presentation on wednesday afternoon would more usually have been undertaken by bicycle, as indeed would have delivery of this week's edition of the local newspaper to bridgend stores and debbie's on friday afternoon. do not misunderstand me; i am well aware that i am currently not fit or confident enough to ride my bike any appreciable distance, but that doesn't mean that the thoughts haven't occurred. and it is a sad fact that, in order to gain immediate access for use of a defibrillator, the ambulance crew unceremoniously cut my rapha goretex jacket from my torso (along with a perfectly good pair of pro-team winter bibtights, and a rather ageing long-sleeve classic jersey). since the goretex jacket was a quality and much-favoured item of apparel, i have since replaced it like for like from rapha's website.
"you don't know what you've got till it's gone.
the lights and the garmin are now charged and ready for velocipedinal opportunity, while i consider the possibility of replacing the crank brothers candy pedals with a pair of standard chater-lea platform pedals, just in case i get into difficulty on my maiden journey and can't unclip in time. however, the longer remains my cycling restriction, the less i continue to see the possible downsides of clipless pedals.
rehabilitation will be progressive; on saturday 5 april, i plan solely to ride a return trip of 1.6km to see how i feel, a distance that would previously have been viewed as way too short to even bother removing the bike from the bike shed. but, needs must. on sunday 6 april, assuming saturday to have been successful, i plan to double that distance. i'll wait until the weekend is over before deciding how the following weekend's riding will proceed. it's very unlikely i'll have the oportunity to ride during the subsequent weekdays (but you just never know).
much as i'd prefer to keep distant from any moralising, my present health-related circumstances are rather forcing the issue. never once did i ever think i would find myself in this situation, and i'd imagine those reading will be of a similar mind. riding a bicycle is one of the healthiest activities that it's possible to undertake, and doing so on a regular basis provides documented benefits for the cardiovascular system. that, in essence, is what i believed cycling was doing for me, and a large degree, i was right. but circumstances outwith my control decided otherwise. granted, i am led to believe that the level of fitness acquired from all those years of cycling has not only helped keep me alive, but promoted the rate of recovery, to the extent that i can already harbour optimism over getting back on my bicycle.
aside from recommending that you submit to regular health checks, i'd advise never to stop cycling, no matter how minimal that might be. because "you don't know what you've got till it's gone."
monday 24 march 2025
..........................................................................................................................................................................................................twenty's plenty
my very first motor car was a rather tired looking mark 1 ford escort, the footwell of which filled with water when it rained (though it could be drained by removing a rubber grommet in the floor pan). irrespective of the largest number displayed on the speedo, i tended to drive at a steady 50mph where the road limit would allow, and never really had a great deal of interest in exceeding that velocity.
unlike many of islay's 17 year-olds, who seem more than intent on acquiring vehicles that make vain attempts to sound like formula one cars, owning a car as soon as the legal limit allowed was not an intended career move. in fact, i believe i was in my early twenties when an enforced purchase was made. until that point, i had been content to borrow my mother's mini clubman, mostly to allow for my nascent career as a session drummer. that particular era came to an abrupt end when, travelling back from a gig early one sunday morning, a drunk driver unsuccessfully attempting to overtake, clouted the rear quarter of that dark blue mini and wrote it off. my parents, not unnaturally, decided that it would be best if i owned my own car.
had any damage occurred to that ford escort, it might have resulted in hundreds of pounds worth of improvement.
as a teenager, i did have some interest in motor cars, though predominantly from a technical perspective, but i can honestly say that at no point did i see myself as an aspirant racing or rally driver, if only because, in the daily humdrum that is perambulation of dual-carriageways and trunk roads, why on earth would you? yet there is obviously a small clique of local youths, of both sexes, who see the act of driving illegally and unsociably fast in cars that announce their presence well in advance of being seen, as a viable past-time.
every evening, without fail, mrs washingmachinepost and i can hear the squeal of tyres accompanied by screaming engines, as these idiots (i can think of many other words, but this is a family website) race up main street, sideways round the corner at the round church, and out as far as the bonded warehouses visible from my kitchen window. after slamming on the brakes, and turning at the junction, they repeat the process back into the village. it is a process that can last for many a long hour, to the extent that we have largely tuned it out. every morning when i walk to work, i am surprised not to see a destroyed motor car wrapped around the swings in the children's playpark on this side of the road, separated though it is, by a brick wall.
it is in the nature of many hebridean villages that the roads are particularly wide, constructed in such a fashion to allow for the herding of cattle either to market or to nearby fields in days gone by. it may provide a better mental picture of this if i advise that these boy racers, at one time used to race each other side by side from the harbour to the round church, where the road narrowed before a blind corner and dictating that the loser relinquish their side of the road. so prevalent was the problem that, several decades ago, the council narrowed the road at three distinct points to curtail such blatant disregard for residents' safety.
yet, from my office window each weekday lunchtime, it is regularly possible to witness one or more of these loud vehicles, driving at excessive speed up the gradient formed by bowmore main street. i am reliably informed that similar acts of stupidity can be witnessed in one or two of the island's other (often smaller) villages. aside from expressing my disapproval, i seriously wonder just what is the point? have i missed something by not realising that the act of driving in a loud and dangerous manner is impressive? and that being true, impressive to whom? could one actually improve one's personal standing in the community by being seen to endanger the lives of others while claiming by proxy, to be an undiscovered formula one talent?
i'm sure that, if they put their minds to it, the local police could do something about it. parking a clearly marked police car at the round church for an hour or two each evening would surely curtail the majority of attempts at reaching escape velocity? the police claim to be aware of the problem (it would be hard not to), but seem either reluctant or incapable of doing anything about it. at one time, a simple request for an unmarked police bmw from the nearest traffic division would have been the first port of call, but islay's local telegraph system would spread the word far and wide the minute such a vehicle boarded the ferry, the result: impeccably behaved drivers throughout the period of the police visit.
though i am not in the habit of riding in the evening, particularly after the hours of darkness, it's a habit that has been promulgated by such anti-social and potentially dangerous driving. many of the roads leading to and from the village contain blind corners, and though i would be lit up like a christmas tree, at the speeds being driven, i fear greatly that my presence would not be noticed until too late. similarly, it is of great wonder that nobody has been killed or seriously injured in main street or its surrounds by simply stepping off the pavement at the wrong point in time. the twenty's plenty signs near the two local schools are certainly given short shrift after the hours of darkness.
speed is a bit like a drug; assuming you survive it intact, you're inclined to want some more. i enjoy riding my bicycle as fast as i can at certain times, yet that is based more upon having the physical wherewithal to increase the readout on my garmin. and at my time of life, the very best i can manage, even with a galeforce tailwind, would be very unlikely to give cause for concern. with the gradient in bowmore main street rising to 7%, any attempt to emulate tadej pogacar would be likely to end in physical injury and uncontrollable laughter from innocent bystanders.
cars, however, are an altogether different proposal. no matter how fast i can ride my bicycle, breaking the speed limit is unlikely to be one of my achievements; i'm sure there are very few, if any, modern day cars incapable of achieving greater than 20,30 or even 60mph. fettle the engine a tad and add an exhaust system resembling a drain pipe and you have the very problem described above. of course, this is a problem that troubles rural areas all across the country, not one exclusive to the hebrides. yet for all that i have researched the problem and suffered its highly audible consequences, i have still failed to comprehend why driving excessively fast is considered by some to be impressive; and other than those responsible, i have been unable to learn of those who might possibly find it so. for if the latter are an almost non-existent minority, why does the problem persist?
on many occasions each weekend, as i permabulate my way to or from the village, i have my little bubble of comfort and joy pressured by those selfsame drivers in daylight, apparently attempting to gauge the limits of tyre adhesion on tight corners, with scant regard for a lone cyclist, should their experiments actually find the searched for loss of traction. similarly the veracity of their vehicles' acceleration when attempting to overtake in the face of oncoming traffic.
well do i know that the rural idyll is far safer than urban or inner-city traffic flows; but the latter is likely to have greater physical inhibitions on demonstrating a verisimilitude of a formula one ferrari, than the more open spaces of the islands or countryside. there have been many documented battles over the desire for and effectiveness of so-called low traffic neighbourhoods in towns and cities across the nation, absence of which has surely given rise to the numbers who claim a justifiable reluctance to cycle on the grounds of safety. but the problem is far more widespread and currently, based purely on local evidence, seems particularly biased towards the motorist, particularly those who fear no official restriction on pushing the envelope until it breaks.
and local history tells us that sometime soon, break it most definitely will.
sunday 23 march 2025
..........................................................................................................................................................................................................what a wonderful world
on wednesday of this week, i paid an afternoon visit to port ellen's ramsay hall to attend a presentation on behalf of ardbeg distillery regarding their plans for the former islay hotel, now renamed as ardbeg house. these plans, based currently upon various computer-generated images of the interior decor relating to the bar, restaurant, rooms and courtyard, locally at least, have proved less than popular, prompting my opening question as to whether the presentation in question was as a result of the many comments (one of which soundly framed it as "is this a joke?"). the representatives present, all of whom were from the mainland (ardbeg owners glenmorangie and their pr agency), assured me this was not the case, but as i made plain, they would say that wouldn't they?
the situation has become a particularly common one now that almost all of the island's distilleries are owned by multi-national companies, the management of which all reside elsewhere, quite frequently in different countries. therefore, changes they may dictate, either to naming and decor procedures, as highlighted above, or expansion of buildings that are often over a century in age, take very little, if any account of islanders' wishes or desires. they have invested their money in purchasing those distilleries and it is therefore their inalienable right to make changes as they see fit to benefit both the figure at the bottom of the balance sheet and the amount paid to their shareholders. we, to place not too fine a point upon it, are simply collateral damage.
it was not always like this. seemingly gone are the days when decisions were the preserve of local managers, and a responsibility to the communities in which the distilleries lived, was not taken lightly. were you to witness the size and number of warehouses under construction by laphroaig distillery, in close proximity to houses originally built in a relatively quiet corner of the island, you would immediately comprehend the scale of the problem as we see it.
however, islay is a whisky region unto itself, and its success has made it a prime target for those in the industry wishing to increase their profits and dividends over an admittedly lengthy period of time. chivas brothers have opted to construct a new distillery around five kilometres from the croft, plans for which will necessitate widening and strengthening portions of a single track road leading two thirds of the way there. the farm track that currently exists as the last means of reaching the site, will also have to be widened and surfaced even to allow access for construction vehicles. add to that the planning requirement to install a footpath alongside most of those kilometres, including necessary purchase of farmland belonging to a local estate, and the local councillor and i made back-of-the-envelope calculations and arrived at a figure of £50 million before construction of the distillery is taken into consideration. when put to the company's production director, he did not disagree.
it is a well-known adage that it's often necessary to speculate to accumulate, but when querying further whether such a vast outlay was scarcely justified against any potential profits, the error of my ways was confidently pointed out. but once again, those making such decisions are not resident on the island, underlining the knowledge that like so many things in contemporary life, it's all about the money. the distilleries are a high-profile local example, but they are not alone in being seen as a malleable cash cow.
the bicycle industry, as i have pointed out on several previous occasions, is not that much different.
this can perhaps be illustrated by an announcement from taiwan-based merida industries, 35% owner of mike sinyard's specialized bicycles, had opted to record a non-operating loss of $105 million, specifically related to the american bicycle company. such monies are acutely connected to the covid pandemic, when pretty much every bicycle manufacturer found itself bereft of immediate stock and the knee-jerk aftermath of attempting to remedy that situation. only then to be faced with a sudden slowdown in sales. the loss appears to be predominantly allied to specialized's acquisition of retail stores, purchased in order to shore up its share of the market.
with sales having slumped somewhat following the lifting of lockdown restrictions which, rather concerningly, no-one seems to have seen coming, it transpires that the value of those acquired retail outlets has partially evaporated, necessitating valuation write-downs. however, just to prove that our perception of money is very much at odds with that of the corporate world, merida's accountants pointed out that this defered tax loss can be used to offset taxes on future profits. a win-in situation you might say. yet despite what looks to be bad news whichever way you look at it, merida reported that year-to-date revenues after the first two months of 2025 were up by 48%, prompting the board to approve dividend payments to their shareholders.
a quick scan at specialized's website will clearly show that the price of an s-works tarmac sl8 is an impressive £12,000, perhaps proving that any notional profits are certainly not benefitting the buying public.
saturday 22 march 2025
..........................................................................................................................................................................................................say that again
at one time, i had what i believed to be a healthy relationship with colnago bicycles, one which frequently resultted in my receiving new models for review ahead of many larger media outlets. this i believed was as a result of my ability for a quick turnround and no restriction on the length or detail of those reviews. however, and i'm sure this is the same for many different industries, matters rarely continue purely on the basis of goodwill and a handshake; after a good run, matters changed, quite possibly due to changes both at colnago in italy and at the uk distributors. i should point out, however, that i still enjoy the most cordial of relations with the latter, and now that i have largely removed myself from the world of product reviews, matters are considerably different.
there is no denying that the strategy in place at thewashingmachinepost, if that isn't too strong a description, hardly fits with those within whose realm i (sort of) continue to operate. cyclingnews.com, owned by future publishing, was once completely free to air; i recall the early days of its existence when it would be almost the first port of call each day. now, however, there's a limit on how many free articles can be read each month, the remainder requiring a subscription. we've already discussed the latest economic model implemented by warner brothers/discovery, via their tnt sports streaming operation, and meanwhile, many of the independent and thus valuable cycling websites that existed shortly after the post came into being, are now no more. even several apparently succcessful commercial operations have alse ceased to exist.
as thewashingmachinepost celebrates 29 years of existence, far more than any others to be found on the interwebs, i despair at my naivety, that everything would continue in the same vein more or less in perpetuity. because life's not like that, and in truth, it never was. though time restricts me to a single article per day, i do attempt to ensure that particular aspect fulfils a seven-day operation, if only because i've been doing this for so long, that it would upset the feng shui of my sitting room if i stopped. i do not make a single penny from thewashingmachinepost; in fact it costs money through the annual fees for webhosting; but that has pretty much always been the case, and despite persuasions from my betters, i have never intended, nor expected to earn even a microcosm of a living from these monologues. sad though it may be, this is what i do for fun, and because i labour in the belief that it keeps the grey matter from atrophying.
but, as usual, i digress. a steel colnago superissimo was my first quality italian bicycle, followed soon after by a couple of colnago c40s, one of which i still possess, and a steel master frameset with carbon fibre rear stays (a present from ernesto in recognition of my efforts on his behalf). to be honest, it could just as easily have been a pinarello, bianchi or gios, but on the basis that i couldn't possibly have afforded one of each, a decision had to be made, and a colnago seemed the most iconic brand of the day.
and while pointing out that the industry has changed over the last twenty-nine years, it would be insolent not to also point out that so has thewashingmachinepost, and by implication, me. other bicycles have happened along in the interim that demonstrated an ability to be every bit as good as a colnago; that it's the joy you get from riding, and not necessarily the name emblazoned on the downtube. today's riding, were i not currently sitting out a four week ban, consists of a steel ritchey logic anad a carbon specialized crux, from when the latter was still regarded as a cyclocross bicycle. as mentioned, i do still possess two colnago bicycles, but they are rarely ridden these days. however, i have not severed all ties with cambiago, and still regularly receive press releases and advance notice of new models and colnago happenings, the most recent of which was the invitation to join a colnago tuscany bike tour, described as 'a cycling journey like no other'. present medical restrictions nothwithstanding (the trip takes place in october this year), the notion of riding any bicycle , let alone a c68 in tuscany, is one of those items long existing on my theoretical bucket-list.
and this one's a doozy.
not only is there the opportunity to ride with andrea tafi, former paris-roubaix winner, but the six-day, five-night expedition 'takes you through the stunning landscapes of chianti, val d'orcia and the crete senesi in a compact and bijou group of cyclists. there's also an evening with a colnago engineer, ready and willing to reveal the 'secrets' behind a tour-winning bicycle, and the opportunity to purchase the very bike on which the trip will be undertaken at a reputedly advantageous price. if ever there were signs that cycling has come very far from being a sport of the people this is probably it. of course, as with the majority of desirable things in life, it comes at a price, and sadly, a price well outside my comnfort zone. while i don't doubt it would indeed be the trip of a lifetime, excluding the cost of getting myself to and from tuscany in the first place, £7,000 is certainly not what i'd call 'loose change', especially if i loved the expertly fitted c68 enough to want to buy it.
ah well; c'est la vie, as the italians would say.
friday 21 march 2025
..........................................................................................................................................................................................................the (not quite) final countdown
for as long as i can remember, thewashingmachinepost has been more or less tour de france agnostic. despite the background colour having been inspired by the maillot jaune, the event's ever-increasing popularity has seen it spread far and wide and all around. during those three weeks in july, assuming you are of a velocipedinal disposition, it's well-nigh impossible to miss it, even if you wanted to. we are now considerably less well served when it comes to cycling print media, but nonetheless, those publication which still exist are highly likely to give over the june (or even may) editions to a detailed breakdown, not only of each stage, but an unhealthy level of punditry nominating a prospective winner for each of those stages.
and this despite being as well aware as are the rest of us, that several of those nominations may not even start in lille metropole on saturday 5 july.
i confess that le tour had yet to enter my psyche this year, given its calendar distance from today, yet appearing in my inbox early wednesday afternoon, was a mailshot from rouleur magazine entitled 'the countdown to the tour has begun'. yet any reasonably informed cycling aficionado well knows that we've not even reached the grand départ of this year's giro d'italia, never mind the dauphiné, the tour of switzerland and the tour of romandie, to name but a few. even during itv4's excellent highlight coverage of paris-nice, it was frequently mentioned how tudor pro cycling, astana and uno x were cognisant of the fact they were not only attempting to fare well in the so-called race to the sun, but setting out their stalls for a wildcard entry to a race still four months distant.
to my mind, and to that of many others, this is not only a great shame, particularly for the other events in the uci calendar, but for cycle sport in general. what does it say to the apprentice cycling fan, if one of the sport's premier journals is already analysing a race for which team rosters have probably yet to be decided? why is there not a level playing field on which each and every event is considered on its own merits? it may well be that any specific edition of the tour you care to mention, captures the hearts and minds not only of an appreciative audience, but those of the competitors, purely because of a particularly magnificent parcours. but the law of averages would dictate that there is every likelihood that the giro or vuelta might easily fulfil the same promise at least once or twice in each decade. in fact, that has undeniably been the case on several occasions, but it's still all about the tour, because it just is. and the more popular the tour becomes, the more popular it becomes. just like the kardashians; famous for being famous whatever it turns out to be.
there's a case for thinking that, were this year's parcours to be absolutely diabolical, it would still be the most popular race of the year.
unfortunately, though i have the temerity to make such bare-faced public accusations, i am entirely bereft of solutions. though i will follow like a sheep and watch each and every stage, i will endeavour to repeat my stance from previous years and avoid any analysis, comment or report during those three weeks, intent on providing a safe refuge for those of a similar mind to my own. the fact that this is a difficult thing to achieve, pretty much underlines my original point. even bicycles and products that have scarce relevance to the race, are inclined to assoxiate themselves in any way possible.
rouleur appears keen to pre-empt the entire affair, contending that the one rider who presumably "...will have very few worries when it comes to [...] defending his tour de france title, is pogacar himself," it goes onto say that there's no doubt he is the man to beat. let's face it; you'd hardly need an honours degree in cycling punditry to have come up with that particular insight. and i daresay the intrigue will arise from the possibility that vingegaard or someone else might challenge the slovenian for yellow in paris. i get the distinct impression, however, that no-one actually believes that might happen. assuming it doesn't, there then exists the prospect that the 2025 event might be the most tedious on record.
in which case, my readership in july might just witness a notable increase.
just as i had finished moaning, came the news that edinburgh will host the start of the 2027 tour de france. don't they realise there are still two editions to go before then?
thursday 20 march 2025
..........................................................................................................................................................................................................what are we waiting for?
i believe it well behoves me as a stalwart of the cycling media, to keep myself as up-to-date on velocipedinal matters as one can manage from this relatively isolated location in the hebrides. rather obviously, the rather singular means of so doing, is perusing ink and paper publications (the few that are left standing), but more commonly, the pixelated versions that are mostly updated daily. though i feel my strategy most often to be somewhat haphazard in its approach, it has become possible to detect certain trends; rarely in advance of their imposition upon the cycling psyche, but often retrospectively, depending on their perceived importance.
i have tried, though not always succeeded, to remain a step or too distant from the many factors that comprise today's cycle industry, which, for such purposes, i define as being everything from the design and manufacture of bicycles, to their various uses, including the sporting milieu. only by doing so, do i believe i can identify who is influencing whom, and possibly why.
like many an industry, great emphasis is placed on trade shows, ranging from individual distributors taking over the ballroom of a nearby hotel, to the likes of eurobike which often resembles the size of a small country. it is many a long year since i attended such an event, the last of recollection, being the uk cycle show when still held at the long gone earls court in london. even when there in person, i found them to be endlessly confusing in intent, particularly if combined as a trade and public event, where many of the stall holders seemed less than focussed on one or the other, effectvely, i would imagine, undermining any hoped for return on investment.
as one distributor informed me at the time "we can't reeally afford to be here, but nor can we afford not to be."
i would imagine that to be an even greater dilemma in these financially straightened times, where confidence in the product can be easily undermined apropos of nothing whatsoever, purely on the basis of the product, brand or distribution being seen to be missing in action. and while it might be an economic no-brainer to fill that hotel ballroom with bicycles and componentry, when it comes to national or international events, the price of admission rather obviously escalates quite dramatically. other than the "...can't afford not to" mindset, i do often wonder if such expos are ultimately worth the price paid? would our bicycles and components be significantly cheaper if the manufacturers and distributors opted to stay at home? of course, the same question could be levelled at the sponsorship game; campagnolo may have returned to the professional peloton in 2025, but did its absence in 2024 actually prove substantially detrimental? or were sales every bit as good as before?
however, if i might briefly return to the cycling media i mentioned in my opening gambit, a year without cycle exhibitions would surely result in greater difficulties filling column and pixel centimetres. nothing could be surer that, aside from encouraging attendances at such events, exhibitors are keenly aware that a few positive words in the media might have a disproportionately beneficial effect on subsequent sales. i can think of no other reason for the meteoric rise of public relations firms now concentrating predominantly on the bicycle world, though i often find it hard to divine why many of the companies could not handle such matters in-house.
however, as the core subject matter of today's monologue is principally that of cycle exhibitions, and not necessarily whether their existence is on-point or pointless, i might mention that the approach of the taipei cycle show in just over a week, was the catalyst for placing fingers on keyboard. however, you will perhaps forgive the trivialisation of this news, when i relate that it is not the impending commencement (26-29 march) of such an important gathering which prompted the above, but more the fact that the headline in one of the industry's highly respected journals stated "Taipei Cycle Show 2025 opens in 12 days'. that is surely the equivalent of the met office advising there appears to be weather on the horizon.
sensationalism is alive and well in the land of the bicycle.
almost coincidentally, several of the themes expected to be found at this year's visit to taiwan, include smart cycling (whatever that might mean) innovation drive (ditto), green forward and cycling ecosystem. though i will rather obviously be missing in action for a wide variety of reasons, not least of which is a temporary health restriction on long-haul flights, i do wonder whether any of the foregoing would be immediately apparent, if not signalled in advance. either way, i have now been provided with four more potential trends on which to keep an eye.
wednesday 19 march 2025
..........................................................................................................................................................................................................my mate dave
as we have seen and read on many recent occasions, there have been several initiatives engineered to encourage polite society in its adoption of the bicycle as a principal means of transport. though 'climate change' is often the identifier used to justify such methodology, taken purely on its own merit, cycling has a great deal in its favour, and not just because it's the daily topic of these particular pixels. as often mentioned, i do not own a motor car, nor have i done so for almost two decades, the most tangible result being a notable increase in the figure displayed at the foot of my bank statement. not for me the need for parking charges, petrol, insurance, servicing, repair and, not least of all, the price of acquiring such a vehicle in the first place.
i would be the first to agree, however, that my personal and locational circumstances are not easily replicated. mrs washingmachinepost does not drive, and works at the local primary school which is visible from our sitting room window. my own place of employ is but a five minute walk from the croft; should i have need of travelling farther afield, i have a phalanx of bicycles that are easily up to the task. given our respective ages, we both possess travel cards for bus and ferry, meaning we can comfortably reach glasgow town (a two-hour ferry journey and 3.5 hours bus trip away) for less than £5 return. however, even should your own circumstances be entirely different from those described above, cycling is a very good idea.
firstly, there is the health factor; britain, we are continually being told, is in the grip of an obesity crisis, caused predominantly by poor diet and lack of exercise. cycling's relation to the latter is easily grasped, but has the power to heavily influence the former. and while society rightly condemns the pollution caused by the infernal combustion engine, replacing motorised traffic with pedal bicycles, even including their electric usurper, would not only make it easier for folks to get about in cleaner air, but reduce the number of fatalities and serious injuries that result from a large number of car/human interfaces each year. and if you've never seen one of those propaganda images demonstrating just how many bicycles can fit into a parking space occupied by a single car, then a quick search of google ought to easily remedy that situation.
of course, you might legitimately point out that i would say that, vested as i am in the future of the bicycle. but i am genuinely of the opinion that even cursory examination of my contentions will tend to confirm the veracity of my opinion. however, societal forces have effectively drowned out that opinion, along with others who proclaim the same set of sensible suggestions. but then many of us will be found to be members of either british cycling or cycling uk, apparently categorising us as prejudicial. oddly, the same tack is not applied to motoring industry executives and politicians who espouse the merits of motor transport by continually lobbying for more and wider roads, just as low emission neighbourhoods are summarily dismantled by local councils following cautionary edicts from number 10 downing street.
even i, however, can witness the less than subtle activism and disparagement contained within the above paragraphs. and no matter how well-meaning might be my motives, they will appear as a reactionary wall to those who believe otherwise, raising hackles and almost ensuring that there will be no conciliation from either party. the government, through various poorly funded active transport intitiatives, will serve to convince all and sundry, that their motives are unimpeachable and demonstrate a sincerity of purpose designed to move british citizens out of their cars and onto two wheels. unfortunately, their track record is almost non-existent; there are still considerably more new car registrations recorded each year than bicycle sales, while the number of cyclists tends to be on the decline. i can think of not one single school-age child on islay who eagerly awaits their 17th birthday in order to get hold of a new gravel bike.
however, if we accept that while the goalposts may be subject to continuous change while never actually getting any closer, perhaps there is a means of education that might engender some positive results with regard to pragmatic transport choices.
renowned cartoonist, dave walker, author of books such as 'what could possibly go wrong', 'from a to b (a guide to getting around by bicycle)', and 'the cycling cartoonist' has been producing his idiosyncratic, but nonetheless essential cycling cartoons for as long as i can recall. but, as you may have already considered, in a demonstrably car-dominated society, carving a professional career as a drawer of intriguing line images about cycling is not one guaranteed to acquire a holiday home in the bahamas. as a result, a couple of year's ago, dave brought the diagram club into fruition, inviting the great and the good to subscribe a modest annual sum for which he would provide regular e-mail newsletters featuring all manner of eccentricities illustrated with his unique style of imagery.
i have been fortunate in the past to have reviewed dave's books on the post, incurring concerted fandom of his work, so when he first broached the subject of the diagram club, i had no hesitation in signing up, in the hope that my modest contribution would help allow him to continue his brilliant work. but in the process of reading these regular newsletters and wishing i possessed a similar ability to observe the often unobserved, it dawned on me that here was the ideal means of proselytising the immense benefits of cycling without the preachy' overtones that i fear often intrude in my own ministrations.
so how would that work exactly? well, for paid-up members to the diagram club dave is often amenable to our making use of his artwork to aim at those less fortunate than ourselves, alongside unique and occasionally exclusive merchandise that underlines our collective point without doing so in a brazen manner. if you doubt my word, simply witness the two drawings atop this article which feature ten differences between them. paid up club members can download these in pdf format, print them out, and surreptitiously leave them in the barbers/hairdressers, dentists' or doctors' waiting rooms for others to while away the waiting moments. i scarcely need point out that the thrust of dave's illustrations concerns the humble bicycle.
see what i mean?
for the answers to the spot the difference images, go to spot the difference answers | davewalker.com
tuesday 18 march 2025
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