Folding bike...

Here I am on Tuesday morning - 9.30pm. There's a man here fixing a satellite dish to the house and I've just got back from an early 12 miles 'around the block' The sun is shining, it feels warm and welcoming, a real pleasure to be out riding on such a beautiful morning. Once again I had pondered about wearing shorts - I didn't, but it would have been okay, the sun creating enough warmth to justify it. I was out yesterday afternoon for a long ride and it surprised me how many cyclists were wearing shorts - but then it was warm and sunny yesterday too. I even saw one cyclist riding without a shirt - that's right, totally bare from the waist up - and from the waist down he had shorts.

The Sky team, high after winning the recent Paris-Nice classic were brought swiftly back to reality last weekend at the Milan San-Remo. This is the longest single day classic - around 300km. Mark Cavendish had been widely tipped to win and join the few riders who have managed it whilst wearing the rainbow jersey of World Champion. But sadly it wasn't to be - from all accounts Mark was crippled by the climbs - he simply couldn't keep up. We all know he's the daddy when it comes to a sprint - if he can get into the right position with 500 metres to go there's no one in the world to touch him - but climbing? - well lets just say he struggles. I imagine he'll do well in the Tour de France though, at least on the 'sprinters' stages and then there's the Olympics - he's one of the favourites for the road race event - we'll see.

I was reading an interesting article about folding bikes. Now I know that these small-wheeled collapsibles are ingenious and practical - but they've never appealed to me, they have never been head-turners and I have never had the need to consider buying one. That may be about to change though. Mark Saunders, a British cycle designer, believes he has developed a machine that combines 'fold-it-into-your-boot' usefulness with a 'look' that will bring you out in goosepimples.

The iF Urban 700c is claimed to be the first folding bike to feature the same wheels as a road racing bike - hence the 700c designation. It certainly looks the part. The engineering is, apparently. flawless. You'll find it on the web - here's a couple of photos.