Tiny Delaware, second smallest state in the U.S. Not uncommon to hear "Where's Delaware, is that part of Pennsylvania?" Next week our local club is holding its annual Delaware Double Cross ride. Ride accross Delaware and back again at one of its narrowest points, 14 miles out, 14 miles back. Longer rides are included also.

I've owned the Twenty for about a year. It is a 1972 model. I pulled the chainguard out enough to make the ride home. A better repair awaits.

Nice report, Sahadev!

Great to see SF area. I always wondered why I never made it to SF, look at the climate, already! And, in true pootle style, tea and buns are included..

Pleased to see you didn't exceed the 12mph 'Pootle Limit'. :-)

*cough* my average speed was inadvertently higher than the pootle limit. Peak speed on my pootle, 34 mph. Oops.

I made it up to 13 miles on the bike today, after my illness, and was pleased to see the bike pooter had recorded 28 mph peak. Yay! Had to retire for tea and buns mid-trip to bring my average SOG (speed over ground) down to pootle limits.

Yes, I do! This position seems more efficient to me, and of course it's much better aerodynamics. I'm 46, BTW.

Sounds wonderful! Your speed is duly noted as the Mini's top speed. I'll get back to you if I better it (but don't wait up for me, it might not be until tomorrow).

Oh. NOW you tell me. Sir, I cannot ride a bicycle at 12 mph, no matter how hard I try, unless it's on a prolonged incline, and we don't have any of those around here. For me, 15 mph is a leisurely pace. Today I was riding up 8th Ave on my Mini, I was going about 22 mph, and a guy on a yellow Brompton pulled out in front of me. Yes, really, he rode down into the street off the sidewalk into the traffic lane, and I had to slow down to 20, very annoying. And then, before I could pass, he accellerated to 25! I kept up with him for about 15 blocks, but he was still in front of me when a light went red and he got through and I didn't, and I didn't see him again. Whew! I sincerely wish I could let guys like that go by without feeling the need to keep up... but it doesn't seem to be in my character. Perhaps the thing to do is to flip my handlebar right-side-up again, trade in my helmet for a Homburg, and ride like a gentleman... any advice?

"Perhaps the thing to do is to flip my handlebar right-side-up again, trade in my helmet for a Homburg, and ride like a gentleman... any advice?"

I should think a large iron ball with spikes in it, on the end of a piece of motorcycle chain, would take care of any bounders on Bromptons, should they dare to pull out in front of a Pootler going like a giddy kipper in search of buns.

We may have to lobby the UN to elevate the International Pootle Speed Limit, due to popular demand and the need to avoid wack-a-doo Bromptonauts... Or add a class of Competitive Pootling, leaving the Touring Pootle Class limit at 12 mph.

Heaven knows what we can do if a Bromptonaut posts a Pootle.

whats the meaning of this term 'pootle'?
is it just farting around on the bike with too much time and boredom and using the bike for complete, no-holds-barred recreation?

Sometimes, you just gotta go back to the first post in a thread... I should have, before I thought I could do it:
while swinging one of those iron ball with spikes and chain doodads, doubtless sold in quantity on ebay....

Reaching speeds above 12mph is actually called 'Velocitating'

If it has a legal-sounding name, somebody will ban it.....

Oh no, not that! What a waste of a bike!

i only gots 1 gear, dude.. im tired of always being slow... pootling would be what im always doing on two wheels if that were the case!

an urban pootle in Manchester this Sunday am...

this is at Manchester University, alma mater, where even bike have their own dept.

HH7 is the Dean





these guys were a long way from home:





My love is history: this is on what was Chorlton Town Hall. People pass by without looking up. Not me.







HH7 he say "there I was restin' against the rail, and this birdy came nuzzling up..... chick magnet, thats me..."





the Midland Hotel is where on May 4 1904 the engineer Mr Royce met the financier Mr Rolls (source: wikipedia).
Local myth is they sat in the car and Mr Rolls said "you can turn the engine on now Mr Royce" and Mr Royce said "it is turned on already".

Impressed with the silence and smoothness of the running, Rolls struck the deal, and Rolls-Royce was born.

An amazing coincidence really, because Rolls-Royce is the term used to denote high quality luxury items.

Anyway, one night I had a few beers there, next day, Mr Hammer met Mr Head.



At the Free Trade Hall in Manchester 1976 there was a famous concert featuring the Six Pestols.

If everyone who now says there were there was there it would have had to have been at Old Trafford. (A soccer game establishment, m'lud).

A guy had a market stall in front of the town hall , he wouldn't let me take a pic of the t-shirt feature poster for said show, but allowed me to get a smidgen of it in this picture of his logo'd bag




Finally, our American cousins will recognize this guy, the great Abraham Lincoln, his statue is in Lincoln Square, on the plinth is his letter to the working men of Manchester thanking them for their boycott of southern cotton during the Civil War.



I love my city, will pootle and post anon.

Aaargh! It's one of those mad potty Hammerheads. Aaarrghhhh! And Abe Lincoln rides one!

Thanx G_G. My HH was out today, but nowhere interesting. I was at the gig with the Six Pistoleros. (Not)

a short beamish pootle

I live at No Place so not far from home


a cow next to the path


through a tunnel


over a bridge looking back along the path




good pub lovely food not open at 5am unfortunately!


towards the museum


museum gates


give way


back home towards No Place


just out for an hour

yay Beamish.... I once taught a course for Durham CC there, do they still have that big country house? Bet its been sold off.... happy memories. And you can't beat that 5am on a cycle vibe.

Don't know which house you mean unless Beamish Hall? I haven't lived here long and on the move again in a couple of months, nice area to cycle in but hilly

Oh-woo! I haven't been to Beamish since I was about 10... I love the place - the 'Newcastle Brown Ale Tram', happy piggies, victorian shops - retro heaven...

Just wanted to inform you, your record still stands. On a downhill yesterday I got up to 35.7 before I had to slack off a little as a car threatened to make a left turn in front of me. I need a better hill.

Poser!

OH NO! They're Breeding!

I was out on the bike today and parked up at the end of the runway at RAF Brize Norton. Ya sits there for five minutes; a set of nearby traffic lights turn red to hold back the traffic, then a Tristar full of armed troops whacks over your head ten metres off the deck and lands in front of you. All quite potty.

While I'm recovering my hearing and trying not to be sick with the huge noise, some sort of hopped up black jet fighter touches down, then takes off again without stopping. Meantime the sky is full of helicopters. The planes are all kitted out for air-to-air refuelling, with odd looking sticky-out bits you don't get on the civvy aircraft.

I'll try and grab some pix tomorrow. Last day of my cycling holiday. Should make a nice pootle.

I figured, I'll revitilize the "pootle" thread with some action from Toronto.

We have had to wait about 7 months for this awesome weather to finally hit. Sunny, Warm, and little wind! The pootle was the first on the daily agenda, followed with some errands, washing/waxing the car and hosting a bbq, so yah, pretty packed day, but totally worth every second of it!

I finally managed to source and mod my strida to accomedate 170mm cranks, something from an SRAM-Dual Drive setup from a local recumbant builder! the difference is certainly noticible.

No real direction for this extended jaunt, just a good ride to explore a bit of toronto on bike, as I found that cities are so much different experienced on 2 wheels other than 4. Combined with the fact that downtown toronto is rather nice to bike thru, you are joined by many other cyclists that are also enjoying the weather. The current gas prices has turned many recreational cyclists into daily commuters and panniers, packs, etc are quite common on anything short of a fixie or multispeed racer.

To give the internationals a better idea of my run, I have googlemapped it so you guys can explore along with me from the bird-or sattlite-view




Click on the map for full googlemap details!

OK, well, the ride was mainly inner-city and this i found was the stridas REAL HIGH POINT. I always complain that strida is too slow. actually with the pace that most cyclists use in the city, the strida is bang on with great gearing. inclines are easy-peasy, and coasting speed is on par or even a bit easier than the average bike riding along with you.

I found i could keep up easily with most riders and only this FELT carbon/spandex-clad roadie sprinted away with me without drama, leaving me, well, far behind. The 16" wheels are perfect for city roads and I would actually feel quite naked/dangerous to be riding anything smaller at any decent speed. An eccentric gentlemen in a mobiky genius was farting along at a relaxed pace and for good reason - a pothole would turn his morning ride into a visit to the hospital!


genius, but maybe only for a road where potholes are non-existant!

The strida's quick-handling has been said to be compared to with track-cycles. I am not 100% sure if that can be a fair comparison, but i did find the quick steering to be quite helpful in china town and kensington market, where people are in the streets and organization means nothing. I didn't have to SLAM the brakes a single time on the trip, but the avid bb7s provided great feel, repeatedly, confidently. Oh and the Champion Flyer? Best investment ever.. esp after upping the rear tire specs to accomdate 100psi!!!

well enough with my blabber, here are the pics of my journey.. sorry they are 1024px.. enjoy!





Ride started out around the financial district in toronto downtown...




Then hit chinatown for some quick eats... and Kensington Market. The fence leads to PARTS UNKNOWN - a bike shop that is wall to wall full of random bike parts, all hanging, burried, and, just everywhere. its creepy and run by a guy named george. It was just listed for sale in craigslist for $10,000 and that gets 10,000lbs of random bike bike stuff.




More Kengsinton market, and finally arrive at the Rogers Center and the foot of the CN tower. Fantastic to travel here by bike, its really nice, safe, slow and quiet - in the heart of the city



One of torontos beaches... there is the Martin Goodman trail here, its quite nice, and many avid cyclists are testing themselves and their equipment here.



Cherry st, and gives you a good perspective of how far I got away from the CN TOWER.



Decided to wrap up at DUNDAS SQUARE. took the subway back up to north york!

Strida performed quite admirably, and NOTHING BROKE! yippie!!

Inspired by all the great pics posted, here's moving the focus from West to East. Cambodia, Phnom Penh to be precise.


Central Market - constructed in mid 1930s


Their version of a supermarket - fresh as fresh can be. Fishes still gasping, even...



Traffic is bad so overheating is a great concern. Note ingenious water cooling system via a leaking container on this motorbike taxi. Gates of the Royal Palace.