Bad call

Bad call, originally uploaded by Lady Muck.

Zombie weekend in central London....

02102007

Shiny shiny

Chrome hull, originally uploaded by bent udder.

What do you get if you spend £30,000 (Rumoured) on paint? Lots and lots of attention. The hull of Fortis Excel is reflective, so it reflects the colour and texture of everything the boat sails over. It looks to be a grey-ish base colour, by the way - it's not just the water of Dartmouth.

Passes the time...

This year, the organisers of Cowes Week arranged for demonstration races of the Extreme 40 fleet off the green at Cowes in the evenings after racing. We had a tough time keeping up with the boats once they were up to speed, and at one point were targeted by a grinning Shirley Robertson. Not that she had an axe to grind from her days in the 707 fleet, you understand...

Growing up

, originally uploaded by bent udder.

Another school friend, another wedding. Congratulations, Gill and Ro!

From the Clifton suspension bridge

from the Clifton suspension bridge, originally uploaded by bent udder.

What a corking weekend.

Sushicam

A different sort of street art

It's pretty easy to get a bit jaded about publicity stunts, working in Soho. From the incredibly annoying Nokia PR stunt involving a droning idiot, some red ropes and a loud hailer outside our office window, to the short lived Wrangler footprints, it's all much of a muchness to your average Soho cynic.

Then the National Gallery does this:



I was there for the launch, which was held in The Shaston Arms, a pub 'round the corner from work. Bacon butties and coffee at 9.30, plus a viewing of Rubens' Samson and Delilah, up close and personal. Brilliant. At the moment my personal favourite is The Fighting Temeraire in Golden Square.

Much was said at the launch by Charles Saumarez-Smith, director of the National Gallery, about taking art onto the streets, and letting people who wouldn't normally go into the gallery see some amazing paintings. It's also bringing some truly beautiful things into places that can be a little concretey at times - espciallay Ganton Street. Anyway, more at The Grand Tour web site. Enjoy.

Security - how not to do it

If you're a security screener at Los Angeles International Airport - or just about any airport, for that matter, you should probably be in the 90 - odd per cent of the English speaking world that understands that the word 'Pilot' has more than one meaning. And in LA, the phrase 'Shooting a Pilot' shouldn't just mean that, you know, you have a gun, and you want to shoot someone who flies planes for a living. Oh no. Looks like they aren't that clever after all.

the finger

the finger, originally uploaded by crankslave.

To say I'm jealous would be an understatement. Phil the Horse has cadged a job fixing bikes (OK, OK, he's also a brilliant bike mechanic with an encyclopedic knowledge of Shimano road groupos) in Morzine for the summer. And J & R went out to see him last week. Grrr.

China Pig

China Pig, originally uploaded by bent udder.

Another day of smashing riding. I've been trying to play around with the panoramic function on my Kodak camera - it's very neat. This is the best pic I could get, last Saturday on China Pig. Hopefully it will become a bit easier to get the shot right in future! The problem seems to be with exposure, but I'm not sure.

We're looking for a designer

Journalist Jobs - GorkanaPR

Or here's the spec:

Based in the ComputerActive editorial team, the Designer is responsible for creating graphical material for ComputerActive.

Principal responsibilities include:

Interpreting each design brief to maximize its visual impact within given parameters

Producing graphical material to agreed deadlines

Contributing to the development of the graphic design in ComputerActive including keeping abreast of new styles, technology and techniques

Online design – preparing images for use in a variety of media

Ideally, candidates should have an art/design based education (minimum of 2 years study) and relevant art experience gained in a publishing or related industry. You should be able to generate graphic material using computers, and be experienced in using Apple MACS, Quark, Illustrator and Photoshop.

To apply, please email your CV to hr@vnu.co.uk, stating the role you are applying for in the title of your email.

09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0

HD DVD crack problems ahoy. The internet does tend to view DRM as dumbness, and route 'round it. This is just another example.

Break the time barrier with Betamax

Take a look at this Sony Betamax promotional video from 1975. Fantastic.

Shiny, shiny new things

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Happy Birthday Roly!

Happy Birthday Roly!, originally uploaded by crankslave.

Best. Roly. Picture. Ever.

707 Nationals, 2006

sample post

Another sign of the impending apocalypse

LG has just sent in a phone with a dial that lets you scratch to tunes. it sounds alarmingly like Nathan Barley's phone - which apparently had 'primitive decks' on it.

Self facilitating media nodes, indeed.

Luckily, it seems that the boutiques nearby used by Wags' Boutique are now closed. The queue of sad and desperate people outside them in the morning and afternoons was quite depressing.

Fish finder

I can see a phone I own, a Nokia N70, on Bluetooth. I've not used it for a few weeks, and I removed the SIM card and put it in another phone because I'd get fed up with the N70's incredibly slow behaviour - it's a pretty good phone, but only if you're prepared to wait.

However, I don't know where it actually, physically *is*. I can see it on Bluetooth, but I can't find it. Shit.

Training route two

Now with added Box Hill zigzag climb. 22 miles is still puny. But in the dark when it's raining, it feels like a decent ride.

Memories of the Unabomber

So, the chap arrested
over a letter bombing campaign was a cyclist. Nice write-up from Matt Seaton at the Grauniad.
I can't help remembering the Bike Mag column that came out after the arrest of the unabomber years ago. It said somethign to the effect that the writer's first reaction at seing the picture of Kascynski's shack was: 'Cool - A Schwinn Stingray'. I felt the same. Oh dear.

"Just look at the penalty for failure, dude"

Ouch

Smooth Booth

If you don't mind lots of swearing from an angry incoherent man (not Nick) then you might want to listen to this bit of audio.

Nick's someone I've worked for and with several times over the years. Making random threats against him is not a good thing to do, and it's probably just cost Seana a bit more than whatever money they'd not paid to Nick. The world's leading.... has a full write up.

Start 'em young

104_0097.jpg, originally uploaded by bent udder.

Back

07022007294, originally uploaded by bent udder.

Canada was rather cold. -35 c in places. But it was fun...

DeKerf lives!

Great news. Dekerf Cycle Innovations was due to close its doors at the end of this month, but a mass outpouring of support from owners, fans and the itinerent internet lynch mob has persuaded Chris DeKerf to keep plugging away.
A new web site will be launched shortly.

Hello, Felix

IMG_0055, originally uploaded by Dom Perry.

Bike test

Test Commencal, originally uploaded by bent udder.

I've been shopping around for a replacement for my Sub 5, and one of the makers that has really caught my eye is Commencal.

So far I've tried the Meta 4 and the Meta 5.5. The 4 is snappy as all get out once you get the shock setup right (ahem), and I really enjoyed riding it. The Meta 5.5 cruises really well, and felt smashing on the steep stuff, but was more of a handful to climb.

Oh, and I've now established that Maxxis High Rollers are lovely on hardpack but horrible in the mud. The Meta 4 was running some very nice Intense tyres that Crankslave really rates. They rolled well for 2.25" tyres, but the tiny little pimple tread did not do well on leaf mulch or in mud, sliding for quite a while until they gripped.

Gill and Ro have a blog

Travels in Canada - hello!

Scary good DH track

24 hrs Finale 2006

24 hrs Finale 2006, originally uploaded by crankslave.

Nice dry trails to swoon over during the current downpour. More pics on Crankslave's Flickr stream...

Hey! Churchill!

or:
head wobbles like the nodding dog in the Churchill insurance adverts. Looks a bit special in the opening frames. Sounds a bit special elsewhere. Not as awful as I thought it was. But still pretty awful.

Roger Melly...

I have a face for radio, so this morning's interview on CNBC about the new Apple iPhone could best be described as daunting. I've no idea how I did, but started wibbling a little towards the end about smartphone manufacturers. Hopefully it wasn't too embarassing.

Stuff I didn't get time to say:

The iPhone has no 3g capability at the moment - outside Cingular's US EDGE network, data is going to move at the speed of frozen treacle onto this device.

It's not a Smartphone, and it's not necessarily going to compete with Smartphones. It's a combined video player, iPod and phone with some good data chops - I like the push IMAP Yahoo mail idea, which brings it into conflict with RIM's consumer devices, and the Exchange compatibility, which will annoy everyone else. There's another reason it's not a smartphone -s ee below.

It's a closed platform. You can't go out and download third party widgets to it - it has to be stuff Apple has written or approved. This is probably pretty sensible in terms of keeping the phone stable and bug-free, but isn't so great if you want to put the squichy blue ball widget on your phone. I was a bit skeptical about this until I realised I've installed an IM client, a new version of Opera and a GMail app on my phone in the last couple of months and use all of them. I love Firefox, but won't be able to use it on the iPhone. Grr.

The battery can't be changed by the man on the street - you'll most likely have to send it back to Apple.

Various people, inlcuding David Pogue, have said the new keyboard input method is a sod to use on account of the lack of feedback. That said, he's very positive about the device overall.

Anyway, we'll not be seeing too many of them over here for a while - we have to wait until October before they ship. Apple only expects to ship 1m in the first year of production, and 10m by 2008 - not huge numbers in a 1bn - a - year handset market. Tough numbers for Apple, puny ones in relation to the rest.

Possible other problems: relations with network operators - different markets behave differently. The need to keep pricing low - I don't expect to pay for a Symbian phone at all when I renew my contract. Finally, the competition from companies like HTC, Nokia, Motorola and Samsung. Two years is one hell of a long time in the mobile phone industry.

P S Hyde

, originally uploaded by bent udder.

The last minute New Years' trip to the River Medina on the Isle of Wight was a bit of a mad scramble (S and I made the ferry at Southampton with minutes to go) but very good fun.

In the boat yard near our house on the Medina was the P S Hyde, an old paddle steamer. She had been beached there in the 60s, and the marshes had silted up around her. More pics on Flickr.

Tess on the beach, Isle of Wight

, originally uploaded by bent udder.

Mud (ow) mud...

This year's Salisbury Plain Challenge was muddy but not too sticky. 45k feels like a long old ride while you're doing it, but not too bad once you've finished and polished off an entire bag of fizzy cola bottles in five minutes.

This was my first go at it, and I made a couple of mistakes. Firstly, I just took water - not electrolytes or fancy energy drinks. I felt a bit knackered at the 35k point, and got quite painful cramps shortly after in my quads, which had me off the bike making 'ow! ow!' noises for a couple of minutes. Next time I'll be packing something to stop the cramps.

Secondly, I took too much stuff - I'd have been quicker without the hydration pack and probably not had that nasty back pain at about the 10km stage. I took a chunking great waterproof with me which came off after five minutes of sprinting at the start, about halfway up the first, horrible, road climb. I also finished with about half a bag of water - a couple of water bottles, one with energy drink and one with water, would have been more suitable.

Finally, Nutri-Grain cake bars are the foodstuff of THE DEVIL and not good ride food. I thought they'd be easier to digest and chew as they were moister than Alpen bars, but they just formed a sticky clag and soaked up all the moisture in my mouth.

That said, I scoffed a strawberry Alpen bar about 2kim from the finish and promptly sped past eight riders. Alpen bars it is. The strawberry ones are ace.

James was chuffed to finish ahead of Jenn, who was on a cyclocross bike and moving at her normal, rapid pace. James said he could see her about 200 yards ahead for the first bit of the race, and spent a lot of energy catching her up. Jenn said pretty much the same thing about seeing him riding 200 yards ahead of her for the last half of the race. James may be the first singlespeed finisher.

Emma was a bit down the results. I expected her to hand my hat to me, as we're about the same speed usually, but I'd not ridden since late December. A square wheel day, I think.

Raluca had fun in the 30km race, and got to ride around with Emma on some of the shared bits. She's braver than me for riding it on her Soma.