Oil world

I know its 9/11, and my heart goes out to all those who died and who have since died, but I couldn't help thinking about oil and our dependance on it today. Its a sensitive subject... but I feel linked to many many problems.

I spent an hour this morning lost, cycling round a huge industrial estate on the outskirts of town, I was surprised by its size compared with our backwater town, but I guess it has more to do with the motorway and the frontier 20 kms away than our town. I needed a taylor made bolt for our aging Fiat and had found a small engineering firm to make it. I looked on the map and saw a cycle path run right past it. Great I thought, and 15 minutes later I was heading into heavy industry country.

I was greeted with a truck sitting square on facing the end of the cycle path. The irony of this image hit me hard, two worlds face to face. I then ventured into the industrial estate and was overtaken by tens of very large trucks, overwhelmed by disgusting smells, noise, factories with open doors where you could see more trucks, and heavy plant. I have an industrial background and it was intresting to see all this only a few miles from home. I cycled and cycled in very unpleasant, agressive traffic situations, couldn't find my way through because of a rail line that was fenced off, and the access to the other side was a motorway ramp... No thought obviously for cycles... I had to leave, cycle all round through the outskirts and enter from the other side. I eventually found the engineering firm and it was like an engineer's dream from the 50's. Old men in blue overalls at machines that looked as old as them turning parts for god knows what, everything was coated with a film of black grease. They had made my special bolt and off I went.


It was then that I started to think about all the jobs in the area, jobs that depended on trucks, cars and international transport. And the consequences of the investment of millions and millions of Euros people have put into this industrial estate. My old boys in blue overalls, the countless other obscure engineering, and parts supply businesses, import export businesses, cantines, even the guy selling burgers out of the back of a van to factory workers. They all depend on one thing for their jobs and the means to get from their suburbs to their jobs, and that's cheap oil. When you sweat and pedal around aimlessly, frustrated, surrounded by hundreds of trucks, people loading / unloading, fixing them, cleaning them etc etc... the power of oil and our weakness physically without it is underlined.
If oil goes up again like last year and keeps going up as some experts are saying, they will all be out of a job, and fast. Thats alot of people. What will happen to the miles of metal buildings, who will carry on paying for the loans taken out for their construction, same for the machinery and all the huge trucks. Will it all just sit and rust on the outskirts of town ? Will it happen, or is it a case of when ? In 3, 5, 8 years ? What will all these people do for work, how will they pay for their houses and food... I pedaled home away from all the noise and activity, thinking about all this with my shiney new bolt in my pocket.

Yuba Mundo !

Before

and after !

That was a big box. I had ordered a recycled/reconditioned (ie second hand) vacuum cleaner off ebay and the guy sent it in a rather large cardboard box. Of course I was out when the Postwoman came, so I went off on the Yuba Mundo to the post office this morning to collect it. I had a couple of people turn round in the street and stare at me on the way home. Quite funny..

As the days are drawing shorter I bought a dynamo lights kit for the Yuba Mundo, and because of the large size of the tyres I needed the extension bracket so that the dynamo wheel meets up with the tyre correctly. Without it it touched at an angle, the top ridge of the dynamo cap wheel only, which would have carved a groove in the tyre eventually. Like this it makes contact with 100% of the driving surface of the dynamo wheel.
Up graded to this rear light which has a battery/capacitor inside that keeps the light onfor 3 minutes, which is good when you come to a junction at night for example. Still have to do the wires, as the wire that came with the kit is 6 foot long and isn't long enough !

Different planet

This ruined my day... no not the view...

Recently I was walking along the boardwalk by the beautiful river near my house (it runs through town about 100 yards from our road), teaching my kids how to ride their bikes. Up came 2 youths on a scooter ( about 8 and 14 years old. ) One got off the back carrying a disassembled and new looking scooter frame without motor, forks, tank, etc and then chucked it into the river next to a sunbathing woman who stared on in disbelief. When I opened my mouth to say something I was met with abuse, threats and we were followed around and given evil looks for 20 minutes. Perhaps they were waiting to see if I would call the cops or fish out the stolen scooter frame with it's chassis serial numbers.
I don't know what depresses me more; the fact that dumping stuff into a beautiful river like it is their private garbage dump, in broad daylight before witnesses, is normal activity for these children - and what hope can we have for keeping nature in some sort of decent state - or that at a such a young age they are (and need to be) stealing and dismantling scooters. I shudder to think what their life must have been like so far and what the future holds for them... I live on a different planet to alot of people I often feel.

Low speed stability

I ended up on my wife's bike again after she toppled over on it coming to a stop at a badly placed motorbike obstacle on the cycle path, with N°3 child in the childseat on the way to the beach. After this unfortunate but not too serious accident she asked for a swop to the Yuba and that was it. She finished the 20 Km of the ride with child and beach gear easily.
She rides a hybrid with 700 c wheels which places the centre of gravity high up. That with thin tyres, a child perched up in a child seat over those tall thin wheels makes for a top heavy bike that whips along, but understeers, and is not as stable as a 26 inch bike. It really wants to fall over when loaded anytime you take your rear off the saddle. The frame might be a tad too big for her too, with these big wheels. The Yuba even with a larger child, beach bags, with its smaller wheels and lower centre of gravity makes for a safer ride and a bike that goes round corners... even if slightly slower !
We saw a lot of rabbits and partridges on the way back, but they were too quick to catch on the camera.


We will start looking for a replacement for the hybrid as she uses this bike every day and there are probably better solutions out there.

Bad Pizza and sharks

The kids nagged me all morning so that I would take them to a pizza restaurant a mile down the road for lunch, one of 70 in a national chain. Being weak and after three hours of mental assaults I gave in. We turned up on the Yuba and I parked up on the side of the restaurant near the terrace leaving the Yuba on its kickstand. A very rude server came up as I was doing this and told me not to throw my bike in the bushes. Good start, I nearly left there and then... cyclists are obviously freaks to this person, and one with three kids in tow obviously put her stress levels up.
Access to this fake Tuscan style villa is on a busy main road, stuck between car sales emporiums, a parking lot and a supermarket. It was not nice to access it on a bike. We were the first to arrive, we ordered our pasta and pizzas with the scowling server and I tried to relax. Gradually people started to park up and get out of their cars, some had driven only a few hundred yards from their workplace down the road. Then every single person who came to the terrace started to smoke, repeatedly. The fact that it is now illegal here to smoke in a public place, and that there were 3 children present didn't seem to bother anybody. The food was bad, there was about double the food needed, especially for the kids, and I spent my time calculating how fast we could get out of there. Then came the moment when I understood why the kids wanted to come to this nasty place and why they had been unusually well behaved. ( Appart from an incident when N°2 child came back from the toilets mid meal and said, no shouted - Boy, I am really constipated ! - I tried not to laugh. At this point I would have been pleased if they had started throwing food.) At the end of the meal they get a toy wrapped in 3 layors of plastic. They came for the toy, not the food.... the joys of marketing. The toys were cheap swimming goggles, so I suggested that we go test them at the beach, and we were out of there...

We were soon out of town and alone on the cyclepath that takes us the 15 clicks to the beach, we managed a park stop on route and were soon in the water. I found out that you can fit a 1.5 litre water bottle in the frame in front of the rear wheel and it won't fall out. A great find for hot days.


Also I like taking my bikes onto the beach where I can see them, the Yuba even loaded up with beach towels, toys etc rolls along nicely on its fat tires on fine sand. And when you put it down on the sand the side bars hold the chain and hub high off the sand so it all stays clean.


We had a cool wind with lots of waves this afternoon. Had great fun rolling in the waves all afternoon and left the beach at about six in the evening. I found the ride back with the three kids (65 Kg) on the back harder than usual, but there had been a head wind on the way out and I am not in my usual physical condition after a lazy holiday period.
Alot of people were in their cars going home too (looking hot and cramped), and this cycle path is not too far from the road so we had tens of people slow down on the road to look and point at us. It is not often you see 4 people on a bike after all. Its not often that you see a bike with 1 person on it either unfortunately... We must have been overtaken by about 3 bikes on the 15 km trip back, mostly kids who would probably been on motorbikes if they were old enough. Happily we got alot of smiles and thumbs up and looks of surprise from people who might think of doing the same thing as us. When I get stopped in town and chat to people I am often taken back by their surprise at the distances we travel on the Yuba. In most people's minds a bike is not a method of transport anymore.
When we got back there was a piece on national TV about 2 six foot Blue sharks that had been sighted a mile from where we had been paddling all afternoon ! Unheard of here... Anyway I doubt they would have come into 8 inches of water where we were.

Back in the saddle.

Our holidays were pretty much bike free unfortunatley. We thought touring Italy in a Fiat would be different. It was great, and the sights and food amazing, but the closest we got to a bike was taking photos of vintage Italian racers. I finally got to jump back on the yuba yesterday and resume bike based life with a trip to the beach with the three kids. Mrs Yuba joined us in the fun after work.


It was great to pootle along with the kids in a car free environment under the blazing sun. The Yuba was on top form, I had spent some time that morning fettling the gears, brakes and pumping up the tires. I fitted some panniers to carry the beach toys, and I think I will use them to go shopping. We were pretty loaded up and I can feel the 30 km in my legs this morning. Not suprising after nearly 3 weeks lazyness.

Long tail

Last night I got back from the capital and we decided to go out to eat. It rained quite a bit, which is unheard of here in July, but atleast that brought the temperature down. The streets were dry when we came out at the end of the meal. My friend from London who came down with me walked back rather than climbing on the back. Very first refusal.... never mind.


This morning I popped down to the post office to pick up a parcel that had come while I was gone. Got some funny looks going through town. Its a roofrack for the car that came from ebay, and didn't move at all on the 1 mile trip.



This is the storage arrangement, the Yuba hardly takes up any space here in the corner.

This stops the beast falling over and crushing wife and kids etc when they open the outhouse door. Still very pleased with the Yuba, had a technical though today, the crank bolts work free now after about 10 miles, so I will have to put some "locktight" on the bolt threads to stop them unscrewing when I cycle.