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Always Riding
Always Riding

Established in April 2008 by two apparel obsessed friends, Always Riding exists to help you choose and wear the most comfortable, stylish, and technically advanced clothes available, whether you hit the trails or the tarmac. We'll give you a selection of the best brands, make it simple to take a look, and even easier to get them to your door.

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Bike Tart alwaysriding
 

The World Cycle Race continues!

The World Cycle Race has now been going 75 days and while riders fall, suffer losses or injury Mike Hall presses on and has now passed 20,000km and has about 9,000km to complete his circumnavigation of the world.  He is currently on target to beat the old world record of 106 days by about 10-12 days.  Mike spent about 4 days riding South to North through New Zealand and flew onto Vancouver.  From Vancouver Mike cycled South into the USA to California and is now near Salt Lake City, Utah and riding East.
 
Martin Walker and Richard Dunnett are riding in second and third place having covered a little over 14,000 km and are currently both in Australia.  Martin is NW of Sydney and Richard is heading towards Adelaide.  Despite the occasional bad day they both remain strong.  The riders pick their own route around the globe and surprisingly Mike bumped into Richard and Martin in New Zealand to catch up and swap stories.
 
Simon Hutchinson from Cavan, Ireland, had a bad start to his Australia leg.  Leaving Perth airport he managed to cycle into the back of a stationary truck and trailer and ended up in hospital.  One of his panniers was stolen containing his iPhone, passport, digital media and his GPS SPOT tracker.  Despite this Simon has continued and a couple of days ago his bag was found, less his phone, shoes and jacket.  His support team are now trying to get his tracker back to him.  Most recently he was known to be in Adelaide.

Sean Conway who had a terrible crash in Arkansas has been putting in some big miles since getting back on his bike.  He is currently in Brisbane, Australia and has moved up to 5th place.

The race has had one retirement since the last update.  Niel Coventry-Brown from New Zealand and an epic ride across South America from Lima to Rio.  However his bike was lost on the transit from Rio to Casablanca, Morocco.  The bike eventually showed up but with some issues at home he decided to retire from the race.  His blog of the race was very entertaining and can be read here:

http://niel-the-wheel.blogspot.co.uk/ 

Mileages to day 75:

1 Mike Hall 12,445 miles
2 Martin Walker  8,753
3 Richard Dunnett  8,669
4 Simon Hutchinson  7,946
5 Sean Conway  6,784
6 Paul Ashley-Unett  6,384
7 Steven Phillips  3,687
8 Jason Woodhouse  3,434
9 Stuart Lansdale  1,584
10 Kristina & Nic         1,193


If you have about 20 minutes to spare there is an interesting video to be seen.  It is of Mike Hall crossing the Nullabor Plain in Australia.  You can see the effort required for an undertaking like this.

I have attached a couple of pictures of the cockpits of Mike and Martin's bikes showing an array of technology.

(download)

Posted
 

World Cycle Race update - Mike Hall continues to dominate

World Cycle Race

In the 12 days after the original article and while we have been worrying about the effect of VAT on a pasty the 10 riders racing round the world have just got on with doing what they do best, cycling.  

Mike Hall continues to lead the race and is now in Brisbane and has done half the required distance in 47 riding days and is on course to break the record of 106 days held by Alan Bate by 10 day’s or so.  From Brisbane Mike flies to New Zealand before flying on to Vancouver.

Mike’s lead over Martin Walker from London in second place is now 2,000 miles. Martin is going well and is currently in California and heading up to Seattle.

Sean Conway is back on the bike after his horrendous crash in Arkansas.  He is riding with a neck support and made it to Texas.  Yesterday he managed 150 miles. See a link here:

Sean Conway

A second rider, Simon Hutchinson from Cavan in Ireland, has also been patched up in hospital last week.  A different scenario for him in that after leaving Perth, Australia, airport he rode into a stationary truck and trailer. He had stitches and bent his forks but on the way to hospital someone stole his bag containing his tracker, iPhone camera and passport.  Simon is back riding but at the moment has not sourced replacement for his lost belongings.  Simon also had a short spell in hospital in India suffering from dehydration and is currently lying 4th.

Richard Dunnett from Suffolk is riding in third place with 6,180 miles.  He is travelling Eastwards and has finished his USA leg in San Francisco and is now making his way through New Zealand.

Two more rider’s Kristina and Nic from Australia started an attempt on 1st April and are currently in Brazil.  Kristina is hoping to break the female world record for cycling the globe.

Photo's are of Sean Conway, Mike Hall and Simon Hutchinson.

Day 53 rider positions:

1 Mike Hall 8,876 miles
2 Martin Walker 6,831
3 Richard Dunnett 6,180
4 Simon Hutchinson 5,517
5 Paul Ashley-Unett 4,884
6 Sean Conway 4,460
7 Niel Coventry-Brown 2,983
8 Steven Phillips 2,252
9 Jason Woodhouse 2,017
10 Stuart Lansdale 1,584
11 Kristina/Nic  400

(download)

Posted
 

Introducing the World Cycle Race 2012

Saturday morning and many of us look forward to going for a ride for a few hours finishing back at home, perhaps with a cafe stop thrown in.  At 9.00am on 18th February 10 riders set off from Greenwich Meridian to ride a loop like many of us, the only difference is that these guys are intending to ride round the world. And in record time if they can. The field of 10 is mostly British with Sean Conway based in London but originally from Zimbabwe, an Irishman called Simon Hutchinson and Paul Ashley-Unett from the Isle of Man.
 
Over the last 4 years the record has tumbled from 276 days to 194 days (Mark Beaumont), James Bowthorpe 175 days, Julian Sayarer 169 days down to 163 days by Vin Cox. All these attempts were self supported but earlier this year Alan Bate’s attempt from last year was ratified at 106 days, although Alan’s ride was partly supported.  The 10 in the race have the 106 day target in their sight but are riding unsupported and hope to be home for the Olympics.

The rules briefly are: 1) Start and finish is same location, 2) rider must keep travelling in the same direction, East or West, 3) minimum riding distance is 18,000 miles and the total travel distance including flights or ferries must be greater than the equator 24,900 miles. 4)Two antipodal points must be visited.

Problems started early for some riders with Jason having an issue with his Rohloff tensioner before reaching Portsmouth and eventually returning from France before going again. Other riders have had injuries or illness the worst happening to Sean Conway in Arkansas who was hit by a truck which has wrecked his frame and rear wheel.  Very lucky to be alive but he is currently being sorted out by Spokes Little Rock with a new bike.  Sean was in third place at the time but has now dropped to 5th behind Richard Dunnett and Simon Hutchinson.  Leading the pack is Mike Hall who is almost 1,000 miles clear of Martin Walker.  Mike won two 24 hour mtb races last year and was also 10th in the 2,740 mile Tour Divide.

Since the official start on the 18th February a further racer, Niel Coventry-Brown, from New Zealand has started on 28th February and on 1st April Australian’s Kristina Stoney and Nic are due to start their race from Nevis, USA.

Positions after 41 days:

1) Mike Hall   6,374 miles
2) Martin Walker   5,413 miles
3) Richard Dunnett   4,915 miles
4) Simon Hutchinson   4,561 miles
5) Sean Conway   3,770 miles
6) Paul Ashley-Unett   3,090 miles
7) Niel Coventry-Brown 2,054 miles
8) Jason Woodhouse   1,552 miles
9) Stuart Lansdale   1,421 miles

Racers can be followed on the race World Cycle Racing website, Trackleaders or Twitter and all racers have a chosen charity should anybody wish to contribute.

Links are:

worldcycleracing
Trackleaders
@WorldCyclerace for Twitter

(download)

Posted
 

From Eritrea to the Tour de France, one African cyclist begins a journey

Feature1

We read with interest this morning an article posted by Cycling Tips about budding Pro Tour rider Daniel Teklehaimanot.

Of course there is nothing unusual about a budding professional cyclist working his way through the ranks, all the while dreaming of one day competing in the Tour de France, but Daniel is from Eritrea, a country in east Africa little known for launching cycling greats upon the world stage. Yet, if his new team GreenEDGE has its way, Daniel could well be riding in the world's greatest sporting event as early as 2015, a place his physiology and determination indicates he surely belongs.

http://www.cyclingtips.com.au/2012/03/daniel-teklehaimanot-pride-of-africa/

Posted by alwaysriding
 

A magnetic bicycle dynamo light that will blow your mind

Batteries are undoubtedly one of the most wasteful inventions. Expensive in cost and resources, they are not only quick to drain, but destroying them environmentally is nigh on impossible. However, a new development by German innovator Dirk Strothmann called the Magnic Light could be the great leap forward the cycling industry had been waiting for,  and one which could consign the ungainly battery to the bin of history and unleash the dream of frictionless self powered cycling lights!

Backlight

A true contactless dynamo bicycle light, Magnic Light affixes to the brake caliper, and uses the wheel rim (it appears to work with aluminum, steel or magnesium rims) and internal magnet within the dynamo to generate eddy currents which generate their own magnetic fields. The eddy currents are then picked up by the Magnic Light itself to product electrical energy to power the on board highly efficient LEDs. 


Frontlight

Whilst there is small braking effect from the magnet, as you can see in the video above, the wheel is not unduly restricted and appears to roll freely for quite some time. 

We wish Dirk all the best with his invention, and hope to see it on a bike near us soon!

Posted by alwaysriding
 

Peregrine's return

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A pleasant side effect of cycling's transition from niche to mainstream popularity over the past few years has been the resurgence of the independent bicycle manufacturer, yet it's a rare event indeed when a bike brand whose heyday was in the 19th century returns to production. Welcome to the 21st century The Leicester Cycle Company!

Resurrected (nay, dug up!) by community bike brand Cyclemagic, who's facilities and team will drive production forward in their existing base at the Leicester Cycle Co's factory, the centrally based company aims to source specialist parts from local suppliers, develop office space, provide a retail area, a workshop and storage facilities.

Whether its popularity will exceed production of the 500 bikes per week that were cranked out in the 1890's remains to be seen, but with models like the Peregrine in its back catalogue, and with today's renewed interest in independent fabrication and craftsmanship, the future is looking very good indeed for the Leicester Cycle Company.
Posted by alwaysriding
 

Bicycles that double as art

Guitarists have been hanging their axes on the wall for years. Part instrument, part art, they look as good in the hands as they do mounted on a wall. Due in part to cycling's increase in popularity over the past decade, cyclist's have begun appropriating this trend, and now it's quite common to find a favourite steed artfully leant on a sofa, fixed on the wall, or casually slung from the ceiling in many a cyclist's house. 

In the spirit of bicycles as art, here's a few of our favourite selections that would not look out of place at home.

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The sleek Crush from Sexy Bicycles

Blackjack_0

The refined FIXIE Inc Black Jack 

12gtath

The seductive Wilier Gran Turismo

Full40043

The 'replace girlfriend with' Bianchi Pista

Imagehandler

The adventurous Van Nicholas Pioneer (would look especially nice de-accessorised and sat between piles of National Geographic magazine)

That's 5 of our current favourites, so please add a comment with a link if you have some suggestions of your own. 

Tally ho. 
Posted by alwaysriding
 

Am I riding an electric bike, or mounted on a very fast suitcase?

Boxx-2012_fleet

Industry watchers have seen for some years now the electric bicycle gain traction amongst various manufacturers. Touted for innumerate reasons as the 'best new two wheeled thing ever' (just like the Segway was), the cycle industry seems to be increasingly lurching towards battery power as the 21st century alternative to our legs (remember those?) in a sort of gradual spiral of laziness that threatens to seal a Wall-E like future for us all. Whether we all end up in matching blue baby suits is for now at least, still an open question, but if companies like Boxx have their way, that reality will almost certainly be assured. 

As perhaps one of the most daring designs we have ever seen, the Boxx electric 'bicycle' certainly deserves some accolades for being different. There must of course be a market for this bike (whether that be one customer or 1000 remains to be seen), but for us, aside from the fact that we find the whole electric bike concept an affront to the simple motion and pleasure of cycling, does anyone really want to ride around on what basically amounts to a suitcase with wheels? Hey, maybe the makers are simply frustrated airline passengers, who in one fell swoop have both revolutionised the time consuming traverse of the airport, and invented a whole new sport of luggage riding.

We'd love to know your thoughts, but for now, we're just off to take the hoover for a spin.

Sources:

Posted by alwaysriding
 

Red Bull Hill Chasers returns Feb 18th

Let's not beat around the bush - there was no way a fixed bike, bmx or a mountain bike was ever going to win the 2011 Reb Bull Hill Chaser event held in Bristol, England last January. Yes cyclists, a road bke won - a svelte, smooth rolling multi geared bike designed to go faster than any other type of bike, hence its use in races like the Tour de France. Whilst we might dream of seeing Alberto Contador gamely trying to 'weeny pedal' his BMX past a looming Levi Leipheimer, it's just not going to happen.

All that being said, the annual Red Bull Hill Chasers event is still a fantastic evening of bike racing, and this year's event has seen the course shortened in order to try to equalise the disciplines, which is certainly a welcome step.

Bringing together a qualifying 16 amatuer and 16 elite riders in a frantic head to head knockout format that will halve the field until only two riders remain, Hill Chasers is set on a short, uphill section of Bristol's city centre (Park St), and is an apply online only event for amateur cyclists looking to participate. 

read more over at the Red Bull website >

Posted by alwaysriding
 

For Japanese city cyclists, gaman spirit rules the road

(download)

"...it’s not that they don’t like their cars in Japan. It’s just that cycling makes sense." 

After Mikael Coville-Anderson of Copenhagenize (a very nice Bicycle Culture blog), ranked Japan as the world's third greatest cycling nation behind European heavyweights Netherlands and Denmark in a recent blog post, Tokyo by Bike took it upon themselves to provide some interesting information about why, despite the lack of dedicated lanes or pavements in some cases, cycling in Japan is booming and the gaman spirit rules the road. 

For city cyclists on this side of the world, it makes for an enlightening read, particularly for bike commuters in cities like London, where a workable city cycling infrastructure is still seemingly decades away. You can check it out here.
Posted by alwaysriding
Posterous theme by Cory Watilo.