Part:1 Buying the bike "Make a male road bike fit a female body"

If you're looking for your first road bike, the amount of choice available to you can be extremely daunting. What I'm trying to do in this post is demystify the process of choosing a bike, so you can get out there and enjoy riding it instead!

Let's have a quick look at the anatomy of a road bike before we start.

The first decision to make is your budget, take into consideration the fact that you will probably need to buy yourself some new gear too, things like cycling shorts, jerseys, base layers, jacket, helmet etc. 

If you have a modest budget you can buy yourself a brand new bike for around £275. 

Some points to consider if buying a new bike:

- It will be heavy

- Have the lowest spec gears, brakes etc (this can be tricky if you need to replace a single faulty part in the future, you may have to replace the entire thing if it's a no-brand fitting)

- Being brand new it will usually come with some sort of guarantee

- It won't be worn at all, so easy to keep on top of cleanliness, maintenance etc

With the same budget, you could purchase yourself a second hand bike that perhaps retailed originally for around £800 - £1000.

Some things to consider if buying a second hand bike:

- It's likely to be much lighter

- It will usually have much higher spec gears etc

- If you're lucky the previous owner may have even upgraded certain elements.

- The owner will usually be more than happy to give you lots of advice and show you how to work it.

- Some people buy a high spec bike with the best intentions, but never give it much use, in this case you will have a great bike with hardly any wear, just make sure it had been properly maintained.

- Serious cyclists often have both a summer & winter bike. The winter bike is used in cold, wet conditions where grit may have been spread on the roads, and the summer bike is ridden in lovely dry conditions. I wouldn't recommend purchasing a second hand winter bike, but if you can get your hands on a second hand summer bike you are normally onto a winner as it will have been meticulously cared for.

- Be prepared for wear & tear

The first thing to note, is that there are considerably fewer choices of female specific bikes out there, than male or unisex. This can be good if you get overwhelmed by choice, but most of the time the bikes are more expensive, with lower spec & are often pink...

Men & women differ in their body geometry. Women have longer legs, and shorter torsos, and men vice versa. This means that even if you are both the same height, a woman can usually go to a slightly bigger frame. There are all sorts of online calculators out there than can help you work out what frame size you need, but it's not just about the height, you also need to consider the reach from the seat post to the handlebars, this is something that can vary widely between frames, even if the height is the same size. The best thing to do is get out there and try some out. It's not really a case of one size fits all, and you can always make little adjustments that can tweak the fit once you've got the frame.

I think if you can get onto the frame comfortably, there is room to move the seat post up and down a little, and you don't feel too stretched out or upright when reaching for the handlebars, you're onto a winner.

Ok so you've got your bike, you've set your saddle height according to THIS LINK taken it out for a good ride, but it doesn't feel quite right.

- are you saddle sore?

- are you pushing yourself forward or backward in the saddle?

- are you resting your hands naturally in a position a bit closer or further away from you?

- do you feel you're leaning too far forward or upright?

- are your knees coming up too high?

- is there pain in your hands from reaching for the gear levers or engaging the brakes?

These are all things that you can easily do something about!

I will be explaining how to tweak the things that will make your road bike fit you better in the parts that will follow this post.

Book review - A Room with a View

This was the first novel assigned to be read in the vintage book group I attend. I downloaded it on iBooks for around 69p, and to be perfectly honest, I'm glad I didn't spend a penny more, and that I won't have a copy of it clogging up my bookcase.

The book was written by E.M. Forster, and published in 1908. I lost my patience with this book pretty early on. Having read the blurb, describing this book as a "comedy" I was expecting something fast paced, a bit racy and combined with some great characters. What I actually got was frustrating characters, narration which danced about so much that I managed to miss both a snog AND a murder, and a snails pace storyline that left me hoping that something hilarious was about to happen.

Unfortunately I didn't LOL once, and I got so frustrated with the main character (Lucy) that I actually stopped reading. She was your typical female character who was so naive, dainty & clueless that I wanted to thrust my hands into the pages and give her a bit of a shake! She supposedly had all this passion built up inside her, but I found it impossible to believe.

I very rarely stop reading a book, but life is too short to spend time reading something that doesn't pull you in. 

Perhaps I missed the point with this? Perhaps this novel just doesn't possess the same sort of shock factor as it did when it was written (a middle class girl getting mixed up with a working class boy)? I just found the whole thing a bit mild, predictable and slow. Very disappointing, I'd love to hear if you've read it though, what did you think?

Frosty walk to Higger Tor

I haven't really been sleeping very well recently, on this particular day I had to get up early anyway to drop James off at the train station, and I was having the following day off as holiday. I guess I was just feeling too excited to sleep, and I spent all night with a busy brain planning what to cook for James, and what I'd do with my rare day off.

I decided to go for a solo winter walk to Higger Tor, I was going to take a flask of hot chocolate, sit on top of rocky outcrop, and drink it. What better way to celebrate winter in the peaks?

I couldn't sleep with the excitement of a nice day ahead of me, I was wide awake at 4:30am and had given up on getting back to sleep so I got up and made some coconut drop scones for our breakfast. After dropping James off, I was walking around Aldi to get some picnic bits & I came across my best friend, Sean! So I invited him along on my wintery adventure.

I did a route out of a book called "short walks in the Peak District" published by Collins ramblers. But we decided to do it backwards. 

Once we got out there it so so peaceful, there was a beautiful frost hanging lower down the valley and the air was fresh. We did the walk with equal measures of giggles, chatty conversation & comfortable silences. I wish I could start every day with a frosty walk...

And I made my daydreams come true with the hot chocolate on top of Higger Tor!

DIY How to clean a vintage bicycle

I LOVE cycling, I cycle to and from my studio every day, rain or shine. Since moving house my beloved bike has had to be kept in the outhouse (with it's front tyre sticking out). Although I use it every day, I really neglected it on the maintenance front.

On the Sheffield hills it was really dragging, making strange clicking noises & it was covered in rust. When I really looked at it in daylight, I was pretty embarrassed by how I had let it get. However, this is a story with a happy ending, with a bit of TLC I have brought my bike back to life and it's whizzing up and down the hills better than ever!

So what do you need? Surprisingly, not a lot.

- Selection of wire brushes

- WD40 (I was told afterwards that GT85 is less corrosive, but I had a LOT of rust to get through)

- Lubricating maintenance spray

- Lube (no tittering please)

- Multitool

- Brooks Proofide (if you have a leather saddle)

- Bucket of warm soapy water (washing up liquid is fine)

- Selection of clean but old tea towels, soft sponge, dish cloths

- Mr Muscle furniture polish (optional)

Ok, that looks like a lot, but most of it you will have lying around the house. 

I started by giving the chain & cogs a good spray with the WD40 so it could do its thing while I worked on the disgraceful wheels. 

Using the stiffest & medium brush I started removing the rust. It's a bit labour intensive, you have to scrub between each spoke, but you get a big payoff really quickly!

Next start scrubbing the chain and cogs with the brushes again. Once you have got the majority of the rust off, you can reapply some WD40 and start moving the pedals backwards while holding a tea towel around the chain.  This will help get even more muck off.

Make sure you are happy with the results of the rust removal before you start cleaning the frame, as it will just flick dirt all over you freshly cleaned bike if you go back to it.

With some hot soapy water and a sponge start working from your seat post and handlebars down onto the frame, clean the wheels and pedals, then do the gears and chain last. 

Dry it off with a clean tea towel, then apply the polish to the frame only! Don't polish your wheels as it will affect the braking power. 

Spray your bike maintenance spray on all the moving parts of your bike, including brake levers, inside the gear changers, pedals, cogs etc. 

Grab the lube and pop one drop on each chain link, then slowly turn the pedals backwards to help the lube soak down. If you have Sturmey Archer gears (built into the back wheel hub) there should be a little cap, open it and pop some lube in there too. 

Finally you can get the Proofide and using a soft cloth, work it into the leather. 

And voila! Your bike is road worthy again and you will be receiving glances for all the right reasons!

Book review - The Picture of Dorian Gray

I believe this was the only novel written by Oscar Wilde, first published in 1891 this book still maintains a great deal of the shock factor it created upon its release.

I will confess that before I read this book, I had been seriously slack on the book front for a long time, I'm not quite sure what made me read it, but I'm so glad I did. It fully absorbed me into a believable world of characters, passions, innocence, debauched antics and society in the 19th century.

The book explores morality and pursuing exploits purely for your satisfaction. It poses the question that if the risk of loss was taken away, would you act differently?

I don't want to spoil it for you, but the book is really fast paced, exciting and really throws you into the feelings of the characters, their inner turmoils, temptations & adorations. There is an almost devil & angel style battle going on at points, and you start inwardly shouting at the character.

Here are a couple of my favourite quotes;

“To realise one's nature perfectly—that is what each of us is here for. People are afraid of themselves, nowadays. They have forgotten the highest of all duties, the duty that one owes to one's self. Of course they are charitable. They feed the hungry, and clothe the beggar. But their own souls starve, and are naked. Courage has gone out of our race. Perhaps we never really had it. The terror of society, which is the basis of morals, the terror of God, which is the secret of religion—these are the two things that govern us. And yet——”

“My dear Gladys!" cried Lord Henry. "How can you say that? Romance lives by repetition, and repetition converts an appetite into an art. Besides, each time that one loves is the only time one has ever loved. Difference of object does not alter singleness of passion. It merely intensifies it. We can have in life but one great experience at best, and the secret of life is to reproduce that experience as often as possible.”

I was a little bit naughty at first, and this book was downloaded on iBooks for free, but I loved it so much I purchased this lovely penguin edition when I saw it in a shop. I can't wait to read it again and it has even been selected as the next read at the vintage book group I attend. The perfect excuse to get reabsorbed into it. 

Have you read this book? What did you think?

Little wooden chaps!

A couple of months ago I received an email from Cat Powel, who is the Art Felt manager for the Sheffield Children's hospital. She needed volunteers to help paint some little wooden figures that they use in the speech & hearing department. They were in need of a little bit of love after many years of use. I applied for a little gang of them to be sent out to me, and they arrived looking a little bit like this.

The one at the front with the red hat on is the bus driver. The figures are used during hearing tests. When the child can hear a tone, they place a figurine into a vehicle. I was asked to repaint the figures to reflect the diversity of the hospital visitors, but I had creative licence to do what I liked design wise... 

I wanted to keep some characters as people (as they are extremely well loved around Sheffield), but I also wanted to put my own twist on them, which meant animals!

These are the finished figures. 

I was really pleased with how they turned out, and hope they get many more years of love in the future. I'm now awaiting my next batch of items to be delivered for painting (vehicles this time I think). 

If you would like to get involved in the project, please contact Cat who I'm sure would love to hear from you! http://www.tchc.org.uk/artfelt-contact-us

Whitby!

Having lived in Yorkshire for 8 years of my life, I thought it was an outrage that I had never ventured to the beautiful coastal town of Whitby before. I eventually visited last year on what I think was probably that last sunny day of 2013.

 We were greeted by colourful fishing boats bobbing about in the harbour, skinny little seaside houses, and scrawny children leaning over the railing with crabbing lines & plastic buckets.

I'd been reading about "must visit" places, and dragged James through the crowds, up cobble streets and led him up a steep street until we arrived at Fortune's. Looking at a map wasn't necessary, you could follow your nose the whole way, it was delicious sweet & salty woodsmoke that was wafting down the streets from a tiny little fish smokers.

We had to rush, as they only stay open until they've sold all the kippers for the day. We selected what size we wanted and they were wrapped up in newspaper by a friendly lady. They also sell a homemade pate which looked delicious!

Walking around there was a great atmosphere about the place. The scenery was tranquil & relaxing, but there was so much activity, hustle & bustle, things were happening all around us. People paddling, rowing, fishing, working, relaxing, walking, morris dancing, shopping, eating, queue jumping,  playing, waiting, rushing...

Of course when it came to lunch time, there was no question of what we were going to eat, it was just a question of which Fish & Chip shop to choose. We went for the one with the longest queue, because they must be brilliant to be making so many people wait about in this weather!

After scoffing our faces on dinner, we walked up to get out to the sea, as you might imagine, there were some lovely colourful beach huts. It looked like you could rent them which would be a lovely idea if you were planning a couple of days there with your family.

After a meander back through the streets exploring tiny shops, boutiques & antique centres, we headed for an ice cream and made our way back to the car. It was a wonderful day out, it's so great that places like this are only up the road. It's amazing how much you can take your location for granted sometimes. I really must plan some more little day trips in 2014.