On my way Oxford - so blessed!

As I write this I am sitting on the Oxford Tube (which is actually a bus service (called a 'coach' service in the UK) between London's Victoria station and Oxford).

My time in London was both productive and fun. I had the privilege of staying in a friend's flat which was very central. On Friday when I arrived. I had three meetings to go to - I cycled to all of them, and to dinner with my sister in law, on Doris the Brompton. It was super!

Saturday was a free day (except for one short informal meeting with a friend from a local Church). I was still struggling with a head and chest cold so I took it easy in the morning, met my friend, and then too a long slow ride out to Richmond. On Saturday evening I came back and caught up on email, administration and did some preparation for the Oxford Institute and a few other calls and meetings I have lined up for this week.

Each day I have also spent an hour or so on Skype or FaceTime with Megie, Courtney and Liam. I cannot tell you how thankful I am for that technology that allows me to stay in touch when them. While I was out cycling I even called them using Viber - it was like having a normal cell phone conversation! All of this was possible because I bought a Vodafone SIM card a few trips ago and loaded that into my iPhone again with a web and SMS plan. I get 500mb of data for the 10 days. It is so useful - I don't think I would have been able to cycle around London with google maps! And of course being able to Skype, Viber and have access to my emails is a massive help!

Yesterday (Sunday) I attended the 9.30 communion service at Holy Trinity Brompton. It was a wonderful service. I have worshiped there many times over the years I have been coming to London. The first time was in 2005 when Sandy Millar was still the Vicar. This Sunday's service was marvelous. They had planned for children and families, there was great worship, a superb message, and enough liturgy and the sacrament to satisfy my 'high(er-ish) church' inclinations. I felt renewed and blessed after the service.

While I am an extrovert, I find that as I grow older I have needed more silence, solitude and reflective time. My life is so busy, I need time to pray, to think and just to be still on God's presence. Sunday gave me that opportunity.

My friend, Wessel Bentley, arrived in London at around 5pm and we took the rest of the day to cycle through London and show him the sights. He hired a Boris bike while I rode Doris the Brompton. We did 28 km and saw Hyde Park, the Royal Albert Hall, Kensington Gardens, Marble Arch, Buckingham Palace, the Mall, Trafalgar Square (South Africa House), Scotland Yard, Methodist Central Hall, Westminster Abbey, the Houses of Parliament, Big Ben, Lambeth Palace, the South Bank of the Thames, the London Eye, the Tate modern (and Founders Arms pub for a Guinness), the Millennium Bridge, St Paul's, the Tower of London, Tower Bridge, Burger King in Gloucester street, and Harrods before hitting home! So awesome!

This is an important week. It is the 13th Oxford Institute of Methodist Theological Studies at Oxford University. I have three tasks, first I am charging one of the plenary sessions at which Prof Rui de Souza Josgrilberg is the plenary speaker. Then I am co-chair of the Theology and Ethics working group with Prof Sergei Nikolaev. I will also be presenting my paper on Church and state in that group (please see my earlier post on this blog for details of that).

During the week I will also be doing a webinar on faith and the workplace for Call42 - I am excited about that! People will link in from all over and I will do a presentation and have a Q and A session on my experience of faith in the world of work (some of which is based on my work in the Corporate world, some from my book 'Transform your work life' and some from ore recent research and reading).

I will also be meeting my friend and fellow Methodist, Len Sweet, who is teaching in Oxford this week.

Lastly, our EXPOSED - shining a light on corruption campaign is launching in Nigeria on Tuesday! I pre recorded a video message for their launch and will be watching the event with great excitement and interest. Nigeria is critical to the continent of Africa, and even the Church across the world! Some of the largest, most vibrant and most influential Christian movements of our time come from that nation of 170 million people who are active in their country and spread throughout the world.

Together with these activities I have a few conference calls for Unashamedly Ethical and EXPOSED to be on during the week, and need to stay on top of email and office work.

As always, I am missing Megie, Courtney and Liam terribly! I cannot wait to be home with them!

I would appreciate your prayers for my wonderful family, and for the activities that will take place this week.

Wessel and I were saying last night as we sat chatting along the Thames just how fortunate and blessed we are! I am so aware of that blessing, and so thankful to God! It is truly unmerited. But, I am grateful each and every day for the opportunities I have been given by God, and the grace of others!

A Brompton ride the Richmond and back

I arrived in London safe and sound just around 7am on Friday the 9th of August. After collecting my luggage and clearing customs (where I had to have the Brompton B bag scanned twice to convince the customs officer that there was nothing untoward in the bag!) I made my way to the lovely flat that I am staying in near Harrods in Kensington.

I unpacked my Brompton and found that it was in perfect condition.  The only little bit of 'repair' that was needed was to bend the front and back mudguards back into their proper place again (obviously when the bag was put in the hold it got a little squashed under some other luggage). I put the clamps back in the bike, pumped the wheels, had a shower and a shave and headed to my first meeting at Elephant and Castle - it was awesome! A quick 7km ride.  See the Endomondo track below.

I had two other meetings on Friday, and cycled to both, and then met my sister in law and a friend in Covent Garden for dinner.  All of the rides were great - although I am still struggling with a bit of a head and chest cold.

This morning I woke up a little later (a good night's sleep after a long flight and a busy day is always welcome). Then I cycled to Hammersmith and back to get some stuff sorted out for my luggage. After that I went for a lovely long ride to Richmond from Kensington (with a bit of Hyde Park at the start), ate a lovely lunch at the Orange pub in Richmond and then cycled back to Kensington (41km - slow, but fun).

Here is the Endomondo track for that ride.

Here are a few pictures from the ride. The Tow Paths along the Thames were not all smooth riding - in some places they were not paved at all.  Then I found few KM's of cobble stone - Paris Roubaix on a Brompton!

Here is a lovely picture of my Black Brooks leather saddle.  They are very comfortable and durable. I have this black one on my M3L and a brown one on my M6L.

One of the great things about a Brompton is that you are allowed to take it to places where most other bicycles would not be allowed! Here's Doris in the 'Orange' pub in Richmond where I stopped for lunch.

This is the business end of my Brompton! I love my little brass bell (helpful when riding in the city - pedestrians seldom look where they are going. A little ring of the bell alerts them that I am coming and keeps them, and me, safe).

A Brompton and some House Boats along the Thames.

This evening I got back to my accomodation and spent a few hours doing some administration, catching up on emails, and doing some preperation for this week's conference at Oxford University. It was wonderful doing a bit of admin knowing that I had just had a lovely day of cycling.

My cold even feels a bit better!

Packing my Brompton M3L bicycle for a trip to London and Oxford

Last night I packed my beloved Bromtpon M3L folding bicycle into a Brompton B bag so that I can have a bicycle with me in the UK while I am there for 10 days. I am training for a 200km mountainbike ride in November (the Wines2Whales) and I can't allow travel to drop my fitness! So, Doris the Brompton is coming along. Not to mention that it saves lots of money and time to ride around London and Oxford on a Bromtpon instead of using the tube and buses.

There are many posts about flying with a Brompton. My biggest issues were bike safety and weight. I needed to ensure that the bike doesn't get damaged in transit, but also that it doesn't exceed the 30kg weight limit when I add clothes and toiletries in the bag with the bike. I use the Brompton B Bag since it is quite large (I can pack the bike and my clothes / toiletries into the bag), and it has wheels and a few handles. I am fortunate to have Voyager status on Star Alliance airlines and that allows me to take 30 kg of luggage, as opposed to the regular 20 kg that other passengers can take.

Here are a few pictures of my packing.

1. First I removed the clamps from the steering column and the frame and put those into a small bag (they can very easily get bent or broken), then I put some clothing over the extruding parts (saddle and the front fold, and a scarf over the left folded pedal).

2. Next I put the Brompton cover over the bicycle since I will be packing clothes around it and don't want to get grease or oil on my clothing.

3. Next I put the Brompton with its cover into the Brompton B Bag.

4. Then, I packed my clothes around the sides of the Brompton - notice that I put my shirts and jackets into a suit bag to protect them and folder them over the top bar of the bike. The rest of my clothes were then put into the open spaces in the bag. There are lots of those!

5. When I got to the airport I had the bag wrapped in plastic to protect it (notice that I had the center and front handles exposed so that I can still lift and drag the bag). You'll also see that the bag, with my clothes for 10 days, weighs in at 27kg. The bike and bag actually weigh around 15kg. So, I have 12kg of 'stuff'. Since I have some meetings and will be presenting a paper at an academic conference in Oxford I had to take smart shirts, jackets, ties and the like.

So, let's hope and pray that it arrives safely at Heathrow and I can ride it! By the way, I let the air out of the tyres (important!) so that the added pressure during the flight doesn't pop the tubes. I also put a pump, spare tube, lights and a puncture repair kit in the bag.

Check back to see how I get along once I am in London!

30daysofbiking (30 days of biking 2013)

We were away for the Easter weekend in Grabouw. It was wonderful to be with friends and family, and to be riding some of the world's best mountainbiking trails!

Today was special for another reason - it is the start of '30daysofbiking' They have the following to say about this fun, and wortwhile, cause:

30 Days of Biking, whose fourth year begins April 1, has one rule: Bike somewhere every day for 30 days—around the block, 20 miles to work, whatever suits you—then share your adventures online. We advocate daily bicycling because we believe it enriches lives and preserves the Earth. A worldwide, thousands-strong community of joyful cyclists has been forming around that idea since April 2010—and will further amass in 2013! We ride our bikes every day.

I didn't get to ride my Brompton today - but I did start 30daysofbiking by doing a GREAT Moutnainbike ride on my Mongoose out in some of the most remarkable mountains and singletrack in the world - Lebanon trails in Grabouw.  Here is a picture, and here’s the Endomondo trail.

A great 70km ride with my wife!

So my wife Megan and I went for our 70km ride this morning.  It was pouring with rain, but since we get so few opportunities to ride together we decided that we would ride regardless.  It was wonderful! I am so proud of Megan - she rode very strong for the whole 70km!  I think she is going to have a very comfortable 110km Argus ride in a few weeks time.

Today I decided to ride with her on Darth (Vader!) my Black M6L Brompton.  It was great to have 6 gears instead of just the 3 gears on Doris.  The bike was so comfortable.  I realise that I am a little fitter than some riders and accustomed to doing longer rides in tougher terrain (sometimes more than a hundred km on dirt on my mountainbike), but this bike is just so easy to ride! It rolled up (and down) the hills around Cape Town.  Shifting the gears does take a little getting used to.  On my old Brompton I have to pedal backwards to change gears on the 3 speed Sturmey Archer hub.  On this bike it seems that I don't need to pedal backwards, I just need to freewheel in order to change the 3 gears in the internal hub.  Then, (for those who don't know) there are two sprokets externally mounted on the hub (as opossed to 1 on the M3L).  The larger (upper) cog is naturally for higher cadence (easier gearing) while the smaller (lower) cog is for lower cadence and harder gears.

I changed gears in this way - imagine that you are riding up a steep hill (from the Lord Charles Hotel on the R44 up towards Steynsrust on the Stellenbosch road).  You start in your hardest gear (i.e., lower cadence and highest speed) = 3rd gear in the hub, smaller cog at the back.  I would call this 6th gear.  As the hill gets steeper you change from the small external cog to the large external cog (left hand shifter).  You are still in 3rd gear in the hub.  This is 5th gear.  Then to shift down you drop the internal gear from 3rd to 2nd in the hub using the right hand shifter (freewheeling), and shift from the large cog to the small cog using the left shifter (this is 4th gear)... 

The challenge is that since you have to freewheel to shift the internal hub gears, but need to pedal forward to change the external cog gears, there is always a little space between your current gear and the gear you want to be in (e.g., 6th and 5th) where you are in the wrong gear. 

Still, I got used to it quite quickly and was shifting up and down without any hassles.  The gears are wonderfully spaced! My lowest gear (1st) is fine for the hills and climbs around Cape Town, and the highest gear (6th) is OK for most descents.  If I was riding on my own I think I would have run out of top gears on my descents.

A few other things I noticed with the M6L is that the Brompton Green tires are very nice.  They roll very smoothly, and as any seasoned cyclist will know - riding in the rain most frequently results in punctures (since you cannot see glass, nails, stones and other things that can cause punctures).  These tires were bullet proof!  Super!

So, all in all a great ride with my wife! A great ride on my Brompton.

If you're interested in seeing the Garmin data from this morning's ride take a look below.

Doris the Brompton Bicycle has a brother!

Doris the (yellow) Brompton has a younger brother!

Darth (Vader!) arrived from the UK yesterday!

Darth is a near mint 2011 M6L Brompton that I bought secondhand from Richard. Darth is a black beauty! In this picture my daughter Courtney is riding Doris and my wife Megan is riding Darth!

I can’t wait to take Darth out for a nice long ride this weekend. The extra gears will certainly help on the hills around Stellenbosch and Somerset West! Darth has 6 gears, whereas Doris only has 3.

Darth also came with a Brompton C bag which is awesome! I sold my iPhone 4 to pay for Darth - a good trade in my opinion.

Why Darth!? Well a black beast like this has to have a strong name - so Darth Vader seemed fitting! Plus it starts with a ‘D’ and fits nicely alongside Doris.

Now I know of 3 Bromptons in South Africa - my two in Cape Town and one other owned by a colleague from the University of Pretoria who is living in George (I think his wife may also have one, so there could be 4!?)

This weekend my wife Megan and I will do a little bit more training for the Cape Argus Pick n Pay cycle tour which takes place on the 10th of March.  Megan's fitness is coming along very nicely! She rode an Argus about a decade ago and did nicely.

I'm fortunate to have done 11 Argus rides over the years - the 110km ride along the coastline of Cape Town is spectacular.  There are few places in the world that are as beautiful.  In addition to this, the spirit of the close to 40 thousand timed riders is magnificent!

Since Darth (my M6L Brompton folding bike) has arrived from the UK I will be doing the training ride on him tomorrow.  There are lots of hills around Cape Town, so have 6 gears on Darth (as opposed to the 3 gears or Doris) is a great blessing! Although, I will confess that the Schwalbe Kojak tires on Doris, and the 13 year old Sturmey Archer rear hub, are much smoother than the Brompton treaded tires and 6 speed Shimano hub on Darth! I also prefer my brown leather Brooks saddle on Doris for the longer rides (tomorrow we will do 70 km).  But, it is important to get some time in the saddle of the bike that I will ride on the day!

Training for the Cape Argus Pick n Pay cycle tour on a Brompton Folding Bicycle!

If you want to follow my progress towards this year's Cape Argus cycle tour on my Brompton then please see my Brompton tumblr blog for more pictures and details about my training and my gear at http://capetownbrompton.tumblr.com

I planned to join some friends for a long road ride this morning on my 'full size' steel frame bike (we planned to do 75km).  I put the new slicks onto the bike yesterday evening and got my gear ready last night.

This morning I woke at 5.30 as planned and went out to my garage to get the Diamondback only to find that I must have pinched the tube on the front wheel when I put the new tires on!  So, the front wheel was flat.

So, even though I had not intended to ride Doris my Brompton folding bike on this ride I quickly popped back inside and fetched her! 

It was a beautiful ride this morning.  I only did 60 km because I needed to be home by 8.45am so that I could take care of my kids while my wife went out to run a course with some young folks from our Church.

I rode from my home near Beaumont Primary school in Somerset West up Old Stellenbosch road (it is not quite as steep as Irene, and only have 3 gears is a bit of a handicap on the Cape Town hills!) I met the other guys, Graham Power and Graham Vermooten, at the Steynsrust bridge.  Both of them have beautiful full carbon road bikes. We then went on to the R44.  It quickly became clear that my gearing and little wheels simply would not match their gears and super light bikes!  I couldn't get low enough gears on the hills to climb comfortably, and ran out of gears on the downhills.

Along the way to Stellenbosch the Wannabees road group caught us.  You should have heard the comments from the seriously kitted out, and seriously fit riders! "Hey, you've lost half your bike", "Is that a toy?", "Did you loose a bet or something?"

Still, I managed to stick with the group up to the Stellenbosch airfield.  When we got to De Kleine Zalze I said to Graham P and Graham V that they should go ahead and not hang about for me.  I think they went out to Klapmuts.  I would have loved to stay with them but knew I couldn't keep up!

So, I turned at Dorp Street and headed out towards Polkadraai, and then turned towards Spier Wine Estate (this photo was taken at that turn).  From there I rode to Zetler road past the Strawberry farm, back onto the R44, over the top of Steynsrust to the beach and back home to Somerset West.  The climb up towards Bredell road on the R44 was not too bad at all.  I dropped to my lowest gear and just turned the pedals.  It did mean that I passed quite a few less fit riders (I'm sure seeing a Brompton pass you is not all that much fun!)  But, I have to keep my cadence up to keep moving forward!  The ride past the beach was beautiful, but very windy! 

The Southeaster pumps in Strand at this time of the year - good training for the Argus.  A few years ago I rode in the 'Cape of Storms' Argus (that was the year I met Matt Damon (him on the right and me on the left of this picture - he was in South Africa for the filming of the movie Invictus and rode the Cape Argus Cycle tour for the MAD (Make A Difference) charity).  The wind was so strong that many people never completed the ride that year.  So a bit of headwind training is always welcome!

I am constantly amazed at how well this little bike handles the long distances and the steep climbs!

But, if the truth be told, I will probably ride my mountainbike or my old steel frame Diamondback with slicks if I am going to ride in a group.  No matter how fit you are you will struggle to keep up with other strong riders on their full carbon, super light, 20 plus speed road bikes!

digitaldion:

An early morning ride. Such beauty! Such fun! #brompton #brooks #cows #Stellenbosch - (at Vredenheim Wine Farm)

My Brompton folding bike is here!

There she is! My lovely old Brompton M3L.

I Won this classic folding bike in an auction on eBay! She's old and a bit scratched. But I am pleased to have a classic Brompton for cycling while I travel! And I cannot complain about the price! What is more is that is was for sale from a guy in Norwich, so while we have been holidaying in Wickmere I popped out to meet him at the station and collect it. Benny showed me how to fold and unfold the bike.

I'll post some more about this classic old beauty in the days ahead.

Now I just have to get the bike home to Cape Town! It is small enough to fit into a regular suitcase - so that is probably what I will do, pack it with my clothes and check it in.