Tag: cycling
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Ice-cream or kale, anyone?
On three separate occasions in the past month, pedestrians have called out to me asking for an ice-cream as I cycle by. Does Harald look like an ice-cream bike? Harald: Pashley Classic No. 33: Oh dear! So much for looking cool and trendy. Pak Choi. What a wonderful vegetable. I’ve been craving leafy greens recently and so…
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Super review for airbag helmets
The Hövding invisible bicycle helmet has received a favourable review from a Stanford University team. We found that the airbag has the potential to reduce the acceleration of impact by a factor of five [over traditional helmets]. I’ve been using the Hövding for over a year now and am very happy with it. I’ve never had to test…
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Bakfiets vs Butchers and Bicycles cargo bikes
I rode the kids to school in Busby today for the first time since March this year. Since then I’ve been cycling Harald each day. Here’s a photo of Busby followed by a photo of Harald so everyone knows what I’m talking about when I say Busby and Harald. Busby: Harald: Busby got sick in…
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The best birthday ever
A conversation at school this morning. Elizabeth (to her friend): It’s my mum’s birthday today and she’s 41. Elizabeth’s friend: Wow, my mum’s heaps younger than your mum but your mum looks heaps younger than my mum. The best birthday present ever 🙂 I had a nice day today. I did one of my favourite things which…
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Jumping and shaking
We cycled to Newton Dee again yesterday and I got this jumping shot for my friend, Stew. Stew is going to give me a cameo in one of his films one day 🙂 This week is my company’s annual grand meetup but I’m not going because it’s in Whistler. I know what you’re thinking: Whistler!!…
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How to have your photo taken
My sister, Susie, is here for the weekend and I took her out for lunch to the Foodstory café on Thursday (best café in Aberdeen) but she refused to let me take a photo of her. Why don’t people like having their photos taken? I love having my photo taken and I’m so good at it,…
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The anti-helmet goddess
Yesterday when I was cycling home I was a fitness goddess. Today I had steam coming out of my ears because as I was cycling uphill and at little more than walking pace, a woman called out to tell me I should be wearing a helmet. Aside from the fact that I was wearing a helmet, it’s really…
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Fitness goddess
I was cycling the kids home from school this afternoon and just made it to the top of a hill when a young man shouted out in a very exuberant and “look, there’s a flying pig!” kind of way, OH MY GOD! YOU MUST BE SO FIT! JESUS! I’m really not that fit but this put a smile…
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My daughter is a Hitchcock fan
I introduced the kids to one of my favourite Hitchcock films this week, The Lady Vanishes. It was made in England in 1938, before Alfred Hitchcock left for Hollywood. It’s pitched as a thriller but a 1938 thriller is quite different to a modern one; there’s not the same level of violence and thus it’s suitable…
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Blue poppies
Another Saturday and another children’s birthday party at Codona‘s by the beach in Aberdeen. Last Saturday we also went to a children’s birthday party at Codona’s and I found the bike ride there incredibly stressful. This Saturday I took a different route and it was just as hard. I even cycled the wrong way down a…
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Should cyclists be allowed to run red lights?
People like to complain about cyclists: “They don’t obey the law,” “They run red lights,” etc. I’ve seen cyclists go through red lights before but I don’t object when they do it. Why not? I’ll try to explain using a situation I found myself in today. I was on my bike with kids inside at an…
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Nuu Muu and World Bicycle Relief
I found these fantastic dresses for cycling last week. They’re actually exercise dresses for any type of exercise: running, cycling, yoga and probably even swimming. They’re made by an American company called Nuu Muu. NB: Nuu Muu are not paying me to write this post. I just think they’re fantastic because they’re so comfortable to wear…
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Cycling with babies and toddlers
I watched this video recently of cycling with babies and toddlers on the Dutch Bicycle blog. I won’t say anything about it other than to point out to those who might be horrified when they see it that the Dutch have the lowest incidence of head injuries in the world.
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I’m sorry, Harald!
I had a bit of a rant this morning about Harald. I’m very sorry, Harald. I’ve just come back from a fantastic cycle out to Newton Dee. It’s only about 8 miles there and back and goes up an elevation of almost 50m on the way out which means it’s mostly downhill on the way back.…
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Bicycles and number twos
I’m not happy with my new bicycle. This is hard for me to admit because we spent so much money on it and humans have a tendency to justify expensive decisions like this. The problem I have with Harald is two-fold: I can’t walk beside and push him when the kids are inside. Why do I…
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Bicycles
A Swedish engineer has invented the PodRide, a fully enclosed electric bike, and has raised his goal of $30,000 through Indegogo to bring it into production. It looks great but it would be more appealing to me if there was a family version with room for kids. For this reason I prefer the Elf. I…
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Home again
I’m back at home in Aberdeen after a superb week in Dublin. I flew into Aberdeen yesterday and the views from the plane made me feel so lucky to live here. I could see mountains with snow in the distance, next to rolling hills and then patchwork fields of crops, forest, the silver rows of…
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Dublin meetup
I’m in Dublin on a work trip and having a really great time. I’ve never been to Dublin before so it’s nice to have a look around. My coworkers are a fantastic bunch of people and incredibly hard workers so it’s looking like this will be a very productive trip. However it’s not all work. We had lunch at…
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Trikes and bikes and in between
I have had Harald for almost a week and we’ve been riding every day since then. I look forward to the school run now just so I can take Harald out for a ride. The tilting mechanism makes it fun and the hills are a breeze now that I can stand up and pedal. Butchers and Bicycles…
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