Month: November 2016

Gear up – keep yourself safe

Visiting Altberg, the boot factory in Richmond, has been a dream of mine for a few years. Ever since I replaced my race boots some 5 years ago I have tried to find good waterproof boots with a thicker sole which would reduce the vibrations transferred from the foot pegs. This summer, when travelling up to Scotland, we found ourselves rather close to Richmond so we decided to pop by. The shop is actually in the boot factory and you can see the boots being made there, something rare these days when most things read “made in China”. Another thing that is unique with Altberg is that they measure your feet and can make alterations to the boots if they don’t fit your feet. Being, of necessity, a fan of tall boots I had two versions to choose from and I was trying them both, pacing around the shop (I hate shopping, remember). I wasn’t too keen on the lace up boot since I thought that would be too warm in summer (in Spain especially) but the other model, the police boot, were so uncomfortable. The salesman – actually not a salesman, a bootmaker by his own words “we’re not salesmen, we’re bootmakers, we don’t tell people what to buy we tell them how things are” – patiently explained to me how boots work and listened to my thoughts. As a response to me saying “it feels counterintuitive to buy a boot that is uncomfortable” he simply took my riding boot (the leaking ones I got in Germany in July, as a replacement for the other leaking ones I bought last year) and scrunched it up like a bare foot running shoe and said: “this is why your boots are comfortable, they have no protection”. When Christopher and I had recovered from the shock, I bought the police boots and off we went. One week later the boots were broken in and are now a superb fit, I absolutely love them.

Altberg police boots, warm, dry and stylish
Altberg police boots, warm, dry and stylish

When it comes to safety in gear I’m willing to spend a lot of money for the right stuff. Having said that, I must also point out that the Altberg boots are not any more expensive than other upper-range boots, and will last many years. At least according to my many British friends who wear them and swear by them. Another piece of gear where a perfect fit is an absolute necessity is the helmet. My helmet is 4 years old now and does not need replacement by age and, by washing the interior, I got rid of the smell of wet dog caused by a combination of sweat and rain. However, the view through the visor wasn’t all that good and the helmet wasn’t a snug fit anymore. During an outing to Fowlers in Bristol, I took the opportunity to try on new helmets for fun – I was only planning to buy a new visor and pin lock. The new Shoei model was a perfect fit and I was tempted to simply get it but I told the salesman that I was actually only looking for a new visor and I showed him my helmet while admitting that it did feel a bit large these days. The amazing thing here is that this salesman didn’t jump at the opportunity of selling a customer a well-fitting helmet but instead said that my helmet would have a life length of 5-7 years and that he could see if he had any cheek pads in stock to improve the fit. In addition, he offered to clean my visor and see how damaged it was. Instead of selling me a new visor and pin lock he showed me that the visor was not too bad, if I just got a new pin lock it would be quite ok. He changed the cheek pads, put in the new pin lock and let me try the helmet and decide what I thought. The fit was snug again and I had those nicely puffed up cheeks that a well-fitting helmet gives. In addition, the vision had improved with the replacement of the pin lock. He also put some silicone on the opening mechanism so the visor opens and closes smoothly a ain. All in all, he charged me £50 for that. That is what I call good service! In addition, not only did I save a lot of money by prolonging the life of my present helmet, which is still undamaged and safe, I avoided overconsumption and acted environmentally friendly.

Ah, look at these lovely puffy cheeks, helmet is snug and comfy again
Ah, look at these lovely puffy cheeks, helmet is snug and comfy again

How are you gearing up to keep yourself safe on the road? What is your  favourite gear? I’d be happy to know – please coment below, lets share tips and ideas!

New Zealand on my mind

“I won’t leave chocolate behind!” I declared as I struggled to finish a particularly generous piece of muddy mud cake at the beach café in Kaikoura. My newfound friends would just have to wait for me while I kept on munching. We were a small group of female riders from Sweden, Australia and Germany who had signed up for the Towanda Tour of New Zealand following the international WIMA rally near Lake Taupo on the North Island. We had been touring for two weeks together – riding the most spectacular twisty ocean roads, mountains roads and forest roads. The scenery changed between extremes: like the whole continent of Europe crammed into two small islands; Swiss mountains, Norwegian fiords, Swedish forests, Icelandic volcanos… The roads snaked up and down the mountain sides, stretched through the open plains, in and out of forests, gorges and along the waterfront. The traffic was scarce so we had the roads mainly to ourselves as we rode past volcanos, glaciers, bush forest and strange rock formations – it felt like an adventure and I loved it. These roads were made for riding!

64 kilometres of enticing twisty road coming up
64 kilometres of enticing twisty road coming up
It is like riding in the Alps on our way to the fjord, aka Milfords Sound
It is like riding in the Alps on our way to the fjord, aka Milfords Sound
The Towanda group
The Towanda group

Our guide, Tina, led us on the best routes around the islands and she had a great knowledge about the culture and history – as well as where to eat the best food and the most scrumptious cakes. I was impressed by the many vegetarian options, something I wasn’t spoiled with in Sweden some 11 years ago. The people were friendly and it was easy to strike up a conversation, another cultural difference I suppose, but to me it just seemed like everyone was so happy we had come all this way to experience their country and take an interest in their culture. In addition, I learned that people in New Zealand use their motorbikes all year around, something you can only dream of in my home country. I had found my place, I wanted to live here! But as immigrating to New Zealand is particularly difficult, “marry a kiwi” recommended the British-born woman working in the motorbike rental shop with a laugh: “it is the best way into the country”. However, I was unsuccessful pursuing that and my travel companions claimed it was due to my habit of drying my tatty long johns from the curtain rail. Somehow, they thought that this particular garment wasn’t doing me any favours and, in fact, they later gifted me some nylon stockings. Despite this, I failed to find a kiwi husband but I later found a country closer by that caters for my yearning of all year-round riding and a partner who accepts tatty long johns as part of life’s necessities. Even so, I always wanted to go back to New Zealand – to experience it all again, ride the roads, meet the people and eat muddy mud cake. Therefore, the news of the earthquake in New Zealand affects me profoundly. I have been there, in Kaikoura, the town that now is being evacuated from the sea by ships – it was a lovely place along the coast on the South Island, where we stopped on route for a coffee break. My thoughts go to the people who live there, people that I met, even though it was long ago, lovely people who contributed to my affection for New Zealand and my longing to go back.

Me and the Moriaki Boulders - unique and unexplained stone formations on the South Island
Me and the Moriaki Boulders – unique and unexplained stone formations on the South Island
Hot and steamy near Rotorua up on the North Island
Hot and steamy near Rotorua up on the North Island

Guy Fawkes Night and all things fire

Remember, remember, the fifth of November

Gunpowder treason and plot

We see no reason why gunpowder treason

Should ever be forgot…

After my successful run at Beachy Head I thought I’d return to the alternative training at the gym. Although I initially hated spinning, it is now starting to grow on me – my friend Merete claims this is one of my best assets, that I can learn to love things I previously disliked. Anyway, the spinning did give results and I reasoned that I might as well continue taking the class while in Weymouth. As Guy Fawkes Night was coming up, the musical theme for the class was fire and, while peddling with all our might, we listened to songs like Ring of Fire by Johnny Cash and all I could think of was that my legs were on fire and that “it burns burns burns”. After all, a quite suitable theme for a spinning class.

While I can admit that spinning is an effective form of training, I now hold proof of that, it was refreshing to start Saturday morning taking the pushbike down to Park Run. After all, bikes are better when they move, it makes more sense. The Park Run in Weymouth has a very nice course in a forest park and part of the path is non-tarmacked so I dared to push a bit, which resulted in a sub 30min result. I’m back in the game! Now I need to continue with training slow and steady. At Beachy Head, I talked to a runner who had her 42nd birthday on the day and she was running the full marathon. So, I got a new idea – if not before, I want to be back in 2 years’ time for the 42k.

Weymouth parkrun in Lodmoor country park
Weymouth parkrun in Lodmoor country park

But I’m digressing, I was going to tell you about our Guy Fawkes Night outing. I must admit that I didn’t know much about this celebration before the spinning class, I had to read up a bit about the history of the tradition to burn guys, the fireworks and all that. I learned that Guy Fawkes was only one of several men who plotted and planned to blow up parliament – well the actual target was the king, and the reason was that the king was Protestant and wouldn’t allow Catholic worship. Why Guy was singled out as the guy had more to do with that he was found with his fingers in the pie – or in this case on the explosives in the cellar underneath the parliament – he wasn’t even the leader of the group. The tradition says he was killed in three ways: hung, drawn and quartered – this to emphasise the gravity of his treason. But, actually, he killed himself by jumping of the scaffold and broke his neck. This is my very abbreviated take on this British celebration, if you want to read more the Daily Telegraph has a quite informative article. Now, 400 years later it is a rather nice family celebration with a bonfire and fireworks – and the children make guys that are burned on the bonfire – which seems quite grotesque in my foreign eyes. Nevertheless, we had a nice outing on the Weymouth beach, drank some coffee by the warmth of the bonfire and enjoyed the fireworks which lit up the whole bay. Then we rushed home to warm up our toes in front of our own private fire.

Fireworks over the Weymouth bay Photo courtesy: Christopher Harry Calvert
Fireworks over the Weymouth bay Photo courtesy: Christopher Harry Calvert