What the....Mungo

I've ordered a pile of stuff from On-one ready for the 'new project'. I'm keeping most of it secret but I thought I would share these Mungo bars with you

Firstly I can assure you that bar tape will not be staying. I only used it because it was free and I know i'm going to be pulling it off in a few weeks time. I'm either going to move the bars over to the new project or I will be playing around with the position of the brake levers. I ordered some brown leather tape from Wiggle weeks ago but i'm still waiting for it to come into stock. Besides, I didn't want to waste my expensive tape until I know I wont be pulling the bar off any time soon.

The Mungo bars look like a normal set of bars that someones sat on and bent the ends upwards. It's much easier to get 'on the drops' with these bars. I hardly ever used the drops on the fixie. Yet I found myself using them a lot with these bars. I actually found it easier to use the drops while out of the saddle going uphill than using the tops of the bar.

The brakes are easier to use at an angle. It's easier to grab the end of the brake lever and therefore apply more force.

The downsides:

You're not as areodynamic using these bars as you are using a traditional set and riding on the drops; Not only are you not as low down but your shoulders are further apart. But as I never rode on the drops anyway this shouldn't be a problem.

The Mungo bars are too wide to get through anti-motorcycling barriers. I have 6 of these barriers to get through on my commute. It never occured to me these bars would be too wide. To get the bike through these barriers with these bars fitted I have to stop, turn the bar to the side, and then lift the front wheel through.

With traditional bars I can just role through the barriers, all be it very slowly. (I nearly always catch my sholder or my bag).

And last but not least they look wrong! I just hope they look a lot better with the correct bar tape.

The north wind will blow and we shall have snow

I set off early for a MTB ride this morning. The roads were lethal. They hadn't been gritted and the snow had been compacted by the traffic over night and then frozen. Thankfully I wasn't riding on the roads much at all. I was taking the National cycle track all the way to Macclesfield. From there it was just a short hop on the back roads to the forest (my final destination).

The snow was only light when I set off and it was pretty easy going. Unfortunately, progress was slow because of the all the dog walkers and styles along this path forcing me to come to a hault every few yards. .

Just outside Congleton I stopped on one of the bridges over the road to watch the cars slide down a hill. Car after car did the same mistake. They'd come down the hill too quickly, get to the bend half way down and then brake. Once on the brakes they slip all over the place.

I set off again mutting to myself about how some people have no sense. If they know it's slippy then why didn't they slow down a bit? It was at this moment, going down the same hill (but on the cycle-track not the road) that I realised the bike was sliding about a bit too much. I stupidly touched the brakes. The moment my fingers touched the brakes the bike just vanished from under me and fell flat onto the tarmac. I was now sliding down this hill on my belly.

I had just done exactly the same as all the drivers had. Gone to fast then tried to brake on ice. - doh! Luckily I had worn my protective body armour so I wasn't injured. I haven't worn this armour for nearly a year. I'd only worn it today because it keeps me nice and warm!

I got back on the bike and tried to cycle off. There came this load crunch and the chain snapped. Just great. I now had to race to re-join the chain before my hands froze from not wearing my gloves.

I continued on to Macclesfield forest. I had originally planned to do a loop of the forest but the snow was far too deep. I got 3/4 of the way up the hill before I gave up and turned back around. I could have pushed to the top of the hill but I didn't see the point. I would have only ended up with cold feet and I would have probably had to push back down too.

The way home was un-eventful until I got back to my road. The local kids had been sledging down the road; and they'd done a very effective job of getting their bob-sleigh run nice and icy. Yet again I got to test out just how effective this body armour is. I found myself sliding down the road. This time, much to the amusement of the kids, I slid along on my back with the bike on top of me.

This bikes a little quicker

I dragged poor Laura along to play with some motorcycles today. (It turns out she loved them). I was playing with the idea of riding a motorbike to and from work instead of cycling. I had this idea that it would be a lot cheaper than the car but safer than the push-bike. I think i'm going to stick to cycling though. I have just one word to explain what put me off. WINDCHILL.

The afternoon was spent making (and eating) cookies

A snowy fixed wheel commute

I walked out of work last night and onto the industrial site road. It had been polished to a glassy shine by all the traffic/ trucks going up and down it. I couldn't walk along the road. How was I going to cycle home in this!! I took one look at the traffic and decided it would be easier to walk home than to try and talk someone into giving me a lift. The queue in the photograph bellow was a good mile long up to a set of traffic lights!


I'm lucky enough to have a commute thats near enough entirely off-road so I didn't need to worry about traffic. My only trouble was going to be staying upright. Should I push home or should I risk riding? I decided to risk riding. How hard could riding a slick tyred bike in the snow be? I set off slowly down the cycle path expecting to come a cropper any moment. However, I needn't of worried. The bike wasn't slipping at all. I found I could ride home just as quick as normal. Quicker than normal infact because I had the path all to myself with nobody to get in my way.


I got to the stretch where it's either a short section beside the canal or 100yrds down a country road. I was all set to take the canal when I noticed there was a police car at the end of the road. They'd shut the road. Curiosity got the better off me and I decided to take the road instead of the canal. As I got to the junction the police lady told me I would never get along the road with the bike, it's far too slippery. Never? - That was it, I couldn't resist trying!

There had obviously been chaos along this road. Water had run down the ride of the road and frozen creating a skating rink. There were still three cars buried in the hedge on the 100yrds that I rode along. If the road hadn't of been shut and traffic free I certainly wouldn't have been on it. However, provided I didn't ride on the icy bit I wasn't having any trouble riding along.

I loved riding home in the snow. I certainly wouldn't like have been on the road on a bike in the snow though. I'm not sure I want to be in my car on the roads when they're like that!

Car shopping

I think it's time to invest in a new car.

I have an engine fault and an electronics fault and the back of the car is full of water. Neither the engine fault or the electronics fault are serious. The engine fault is just a blocked fuel hose and the electronic fault is a blown brake bulb. The fact that the floor of the car seems to fill with water ever time it rains is a little bit more worrying.

The trouble is the fuel consumption. I am getting an impressive 17mpg.
Having looked up the official figures. The car apparently only does 28mpg urban. Add in headlights, heaters, and the fact the automatic choke will be out in winter and I guess 17mpg is about right.

1 gallon = 4.5 litres
So 17 miles per gallon = 3.5miles per litre
Therefore my 8mile commute (each way) costs about £4.50 a time in petrol alone!


So the question is what can I get instead?
I want something cheap with good a good urban fuel consumption. The main choices are less than appealing. .

The ford car: Seems cheap and tinny. It's also very hard to get a bike in the back.

The Fiat Panda: I really don't like the yellow but at least it's not red. If this car were red then it would be the spitting image of Postman Pats van. The only plus point I can find is my bikes fit in the back.

The Daewoo Matiz: It looks like it's been put on a hot wash and shrunk.

I think i'm just going to cycle more and leave the car at home more often. That way I'm sure I will save a fortune on petrol and I wont have to drive one of the above abominations.

A Christmasy weekend

I've been close to loosing the Christmas spirit. The tree has been destroyed by the cat and everywhere seems packed out. I can't help it, I hate queuing! Thankfully, this weekend has saved everything.

On Saturday we went to the Christmas (German) markets at Manchester in the morning and then repaired the tree in the evening. I was very glad that we went to the markets nice and early. By the afternoon they were so packed you had to queue up just to look at the stalls. (I'd have hated that!)

I'm afraid my favorite part of the market was the singing reindeer. How sad is that!

Sunday was the club ride. A somewhat unusual wintery ride to Eccleshaw. There were several stretches of rough untarmaced road and a few people decided to jump off their bikes and roll around in the mud a bit; something to do with ice apparently.

My new 32mm tyres (yes, they're getting wider). Slid all over the place on the bends but combined with a Brooks (bird) saddle they did provide an extremely comfortable ride.

I think I clocked up about 80ish miles thanks to riding a few miles before / after.

Sunday afternoon was spent decorating (and cleaning) the bike, watching the movie Elf and eating roasted Chestnuts on the sofa. A lovely Christmasy afternoon.

Laura's Christmas tree won't last long

Put up Laura's Christmas tree this Saturday and have a funny feeling we'll putting it up again next Saturday!