Wednesday 30 December 2009

The New Commute

So I've moved house.
Excellent.

I lost my bike lights on the way (about £140 worth)
Not so great.

I bought some new lights after consulting with the purse-strings (i.e. wife).
Good. :)

I found my lost lights in the glove compartment of the car.
Oops! :oops:


Yesterday was my first commute to work from the new house in Torrance. I'm used to commuting 5 miles each way, now it is 10 miles with some extra hills thrown in (one is officially 12%). So here is a video of the first half of my commute which is rural/suburban.



I think I am going to enjoy this.


.

Monday 14 December 2009

My Last Cycle commute today...

....on my 5 mile each way route will be tonight on the way home. From Sunday (next day I am working), it will be approximately 11.5 miles each way (it can be 10 miles on busier roads) with a reasonable amount of climbing on the way home!

Hopefully this will offset the turkey/roast potato/cake/beer habit over the festive period!

Oh and from Wednesday I'll have a garage.

I'm a happy camper!

Tuesday 8 December 2009

190 miles

I have big plans for next year. As well as settling in to our new house (moving on the 16th) and having our third child (due in January), I intend to do a really big cycle. REALLY BIG.

Why?

Well, for charity of course....wait, WAIT! Don't click away from the page! Read on as this is going to cause me considerable pain!

So how far is this really big cycle? 190 miles to be approximate.

So how many days am I going to do this over? One.

One? One?!!

Yes I am going to ride 190 miles in a day.



The plan is to ride from my home to my in-laws. So Glasgow to Blackpool (ish). This trip is significant for a number of reasons. Firstly, my mother who died earlier this year from MND used to holiday in Blackpool every year. She took me down to Blackpool many times as a child. So this is a trip she would make often, although not by bike. It is also a trip that many other Glaswegians make every year. It's a bit of a tradition. So I felt the need to follow tradition, all be it on a bike.

Oh and my in-laws live there. So I would have somewhere cheep to sleep afterwards.

So once I have convinced my wife of this madness I will start hatching my plans. I will need a route (only approximate at the moment), I will need sponsorship and that is where you will come in, and I will need a bum made of Kevlar.

At the moment the plan is to do it late June early July 2010. So watch this space for more details....

Friday 6 November 2009

It's been a while...

Yes it has been a while since I posted. Sorry. I've had a bit of a busy life recently with some ups and downs. The big down is that my mother unfortunately died in October. She had been suffering from a particularly progressive form of MND for about 3 years, and unfortunately passed away after contracting pneumonia. I aim to do a difficult sportive next year with the aim of supporting related charities, so watch this space.

It's not all been bad though, as I will be a new dad (for the third time!) in January, and if all the lawery things go well I will be moving house in mid December. The best thing about the house move is that the commute will be twice as long!


With all of the above happening, and being incredibly busy at work, I've not had time to post here. However, I'm back and I will aim to post at least once a week.


You know me, I always have something to say!

Monday 22 June 2009

Ton is Done!


I did it, I did it, I did it!

<< (myself and HLaB from CycleChat) But blimey it was hard at times... Here's the story... I got into Stirling the night before to ensure I didn't need to get up too early. Arrived at the B&B and asked if I could put my bike into the garage as arranged. No problem. 'How will I get it out in the morning?' (They would still be in bed). 'Oh, it isn't locked. It's not a problem, I've never had my bike stolen' (£99 Halfords job)

Woke up in the morning and to my surprise the bike was still there.

Kick off was at 7:30 and I got into the second start group (about 30 riders). Started at a gentle enough pace, but it soon cranked up. I've never been in Peloton before and I seemed to get dragged into one that cranked up the speed. Wow, that was fun! We were coasting along from Stirling to the Dukes Pass at between 18-25mph on the flats. Yee haa!I was amazed at the difference that being in a group made. A huge one, and when I took the front (oh yes I did!) it was significantly harder. When behind other cyclists I found I could often freewheel and had to use the brakes a fair amount.

The peloton broke up at the pass, or should I say I lost it. It's a fair hill, not one i have done before, but not as bad as I had feared. I was glad to get it out the way as I was familiar with the next big hill (Crow Road) and so I thought the rest would be relatively easy. Oh no. Oh, and I missed the piper at the top.

Around Loch Katrine, was beautiful. Really, really beautiful scenery, If you haven't been there before, go there. Just be sure to avoid midge season. Today was midge season. It was a bit like cycling through a starfield screensaver, except it was midges. Oh and you couldn't see them, but you could feel them striking your face. I had to stop at one point just to scratch my head.

The cycling around here also had some surprises in the shape of hills. Lots and lots of steep little energy sapping hills around every corner that don't seem to register on profiles! Following on from Dukes pass made them hard work, but it was a challenge after all!

Passing back through Aberfoyle on the way back a small crowd of magnatom fans.... sorry I mean race supporters had gathered and cheered us on. Much appreciated. I also picked up a cycle buddy for a while who helped pull me along which was great (and hard at the same time, as I felt obliged to help out every once in a while and he wasn't a slow coach!). I pulled into the lunch stop, he didn't. He is a proper cyclist. Respect!

Lunch was nice and it meant that I could check for texts and fix my tracker which appeared to have malfunctioned. Probably spent about 45 minutes here chatting, meeting folk from work who I didn't know were there!

Onward and forward. Along a long stretch of the A81. Now it began to hurt. I don't think the rest had done any good and my legs were like lead. The A81 was also not the most inspiring road to cycle on (and quite busy with cars). It was a long slog into a newly developed head wind. It hurt for quite a while. It was hard. I just kept gong. Along here a friend from cyclechat popped up behind me, all smiles. He told me he started about 50 minutes after me. It hurt a bit more. I remembered how he had a dodgy hamstring and would be cycling at 75%. It hurt a wee bit more. I waved him on and off he shot. I hit bottom and swore. Barsteward! (Not personal of course!).

I took some big gulps of my energy juice and after a while I got my second breeze. Things started picking up, which was good, especially with Crow Road on the horizon.

I joined some roads I knew well and I got back into a rhythm. In fact I found myself encouraging another cyclist who was going through a rough patch. I got to Crow Road and buckled down, knowing what was ahead. Luckily the rhythm remained. It was hard. It was 'I have about 70 miles already in my legs' hard, but my legs knew what to do. Keep going. All credit to them, they did!

I got to the car park - the false summit, which when you go past it reveals more big rises. Until today I have lost heart here and stopped. Not today. No way would it defeat me. And it didn't! Just after the car park another cyclechatter appeared behind me. He had popped out to say hi (not doing the trossachs ton). He accompanied me up the rest of Crow Road (sorry for the language!) and down the other side. He kept up most of the way.

Then came the slog back to Stirling. With the big hill out the way it should be easy. Nope. Another one of those sections with short steep hills around every corner, and this went on all the way back to Stirling, about 15 miles. Now that section was HARD (and everyone said that at the end!). Not only that it had lots of loose stones which appeared on most of the downhills. Has any of the locals bought a lot of stone recently!

I didn't hit a low like before but it was HARD. Did I say it was hard? Yes it was hard. The legs were sore and tired and my neck hurt on the downhills. I wasn't sure which was worse, my legs going uphill, or my neck going downhill.

100 miles came and passed (on a hill) and no sign of Stirling! What! A trick (or was it to do with shortcuts or long routes, but that is another story!). How much further!? 2.51 miles to be precise! The finished approached (which was on grass?!?!) and I crossed it without falling off! I did it!



What hurt:
Legs - mainly hamstrings.
Neck towards the end.
Back before lunch stop, fine after that.
Numb fingers, but not a major problem. I am coping better with it.

I have lots of midge bites!

Stats:

Average speed 16.2mph
Total Ride (rolling) time: 6 hours 13 minutes
Distance: 102.51 miles

Friday 19 June 2009

Track my Ton!

So all the talk is over. On Sunday I take on the Ton.

I feel ready.....ish. I'm sure I'll make it to the end (barring mechanical failure or heart attack!) but I'm not sure if I will take 6 hours (aye right) or 10. Someone could always run a book on my time! I'd be putting your money on the longer times

Many, many thanks to everyone who has sponsored me. At the time of writing this I have raised £540 for my mums hospice and £240 for Action Medical Research. Very impressive with some money still to come in (have you sponsored me yet?!).

To spice things up a little I will be using a GPS tracker to record my ride, and with a little bit of interwebby magic, you can follow me live below! From about 7:30am onwards on Sunday (21st June) you can follow my position and speed on the ton course. It starts from Stirling and ends in Stirling.

So feel free to leave comments here encouraging me to go faster, get to the end, to try and retake the lead from the snail that has gone past me etc.

Wish me luck!

P.S. The track point at time of writing is not at my house. Too many bus drivers/taxi drivers etc would be interested in that information....



GPS tracking powered by InstaMapper.com





Friday 12 June 2009

Last Big Training Run

So today was my last big training run (been off on holiday!). Took a difficult route (for me) over both Tak Ma Doon and Crow Road (I have discovered that the climb is much easier heading south over Crow Road!).

The contrast to last weeks run was huge! Beautiful sunshine, little wind, and my legs seemed to be supercharged! Managed to do the route with good average of 16.2mph with no stopping at the top of the hills (or on the way up!).

I also had a play with a live tracker application on my mobile which seemed to work really well, so for the big event I will have my mobile set up with an extra battery pack so that I can be tracked on my journey. So if you want to see my progress I'll be posting the link so that you can follow me live!

If you happen to live nearby you could also pop out and cheer me on (or boo at me if that takes you fancy!).

All I've got to hope for now is some kind weather and that Swine Flu doesn't pay a visit!

Wish me luck and remember to sponsor me if you haven't already!

Sunday 7 June 2009

Cold, wet and hard work...

Another training run today (tracked on my new HTC Magic mobile phone, cool phone!). I had intended taking in Tak Ma Doon and Crow road today. However, the weather, cold, wet and a strong easterly, put an end to that. That and the fact that I lost a full energy drink bottle half way through, meant I decided not to take on Crow Road.

Todays ride hurt!!

However, not a bad training run as it will have worked my body!

49.3 miles, moving average speed 15.71mph (damn wind and rain!), average speed (including stops, i.e. where is my drink bottle!?) 14.79mph, maximum speed 35.8 (a lot lower than the last time at 48.8!).

The best bit was that I didn't stop at the top of Tak ma Doon, I just kept going. Progress!

The worst bit is that my bike fiddling (oo-er) hasn't solved my numb fingers problem. I am loathed to change too much leading up to the 100 mile ride, so I think I'll just have to cope with it.

Only 2 weeks till the ton. Yikes!

Remember and sponsor my pain...

Sunday 24 May 2009

Brown Trouser Moment

As you may have read I've been training for the Trossachs Ton for the last month and a bit. It's been going fairly well. Before today I've done four 40 mile runs over a reasonably hilly route (one of the hills on the T Ton).

So I thought I'd up it a bit today and went for a 50 miler on this route taking in Tak Ma Doon road (going North). My first time for this hill.

I was well chuffed today as I managed to make it to the top without stopping once! OK I may have been traveling at 5mph in places, still, I was pleased

However, it was the downhill that was to leave the biggest impression!

Wow! That is some downhill. The road was very smooth and had some undulations on the way down which had my heart in my mouth on a few occasions. However, that wasn't the brown trouser moment... that came when near the bottom travelling 40mph+ (My max was 48.8mph!) I spotted some water in a dip in the road. No problem I thought. I'd seen some water across the roads in a few places, not deep and flowing very slowly. It was only when I was about 20m away that I noticed that it wasn't just a trickle of water. In fact it was a proper mini ford with raised cobbled stones etc.

Oh bu%%er!!

There was no time to reduce the speed (about 40mph) and no chance of evasive action I just had to hope for the best....

As I hit the ford I could feel the bike lifting off the ground and I had lost control. I was at the mercy of gravity and lady luck. I could feel the bike start to tilt to the right underneath me, so I braced for impact. As my bike came back down (on the wheels!) it wobbled and I was sure I was coming off. AMAZINGLY the bike righted itself and I managed to gain control again and kill the speed.

I survived!

I carried on cycling for about 10 minutes before I decided to stop and take stock. That was very VERY close to being a complete wipe out! I would have been in a very bad way had I came off. I will be taking the descent of Tak Ma Doon a little more cautiously in future!

Anyhoos, despite the drama and the significant headwind on the way back, I managed an average of 16.5mph over the 50 miles. I was very happy with this.

Once I was home and had time to reflect I realised that as I jumped over the ford there had been a gust of wind that just so happened to blow through my helmet vents. I reckon it was this that helped to stabilise me enough to make my safe landing. Thank goodness I had my helmet on....

Monday 18 May 2009

Training for the Ton

I haven't posted much recently. I've been out on the bike instead!

I've decided that just turning up for the Trossachs Ton (100 mile ride) without training, was probably not a great idea. So I have set some time aside each weekend to get out on the bike and get some miles, and more importantly, some hills into my legs. So I've been doing this loop over the last four weeks




It is 40 miles and takes in the mighty Crow Road climb into the Campsies.

My first ride was a bit of a shock, as I hadn't attempted such a big hill before. Ouch! I had to stop several times on the way up! Even the sheep seemed to be laughing at my first attempt! However, I'm getting better now and finding that my climbing technique has been improving.

I'm managing to do the ride in about 2.5 hours (average speed of just over 16mph) which I think for a newbie isn't too bad. It hurts, but it's a sort of fun hurt....if you know what I mean!

Always one to spot a videoing oppertunity, I decided to take my camera along for one of the rides... up and down




Oh! Don't forget to sponsor me!

Wednesday 15 April 2009

100 Mile Madness

It's official. I've gone completely bonkers! I've lost all contact with planet Earth.

I've decided to do a 100 mile cycle ride!

In one go. No stopping..... Ok maybe the odd cake stop, but that's all.

Why?

Why not!

Anyway I'm not just doing it for the fun?!?! I'm doing it for charity. In fact I am doing it for two charities!

I am taking part in the Trossachs Ton on the 21st of June (yes not only is it 100 miles, but it has big hills as well!) This is a ride organised by Action Medical Research. AMR are a leading independent medical research charity specialising in children’s health. They provide funding for ground breaking research (being a researcher myself I appreciate this!) and have been doing so for almost 60 years. Details of some of the breakthroughs that AMR have played a part in can be found here.

The second charity is a little closer to home for me. Unfortunately my mother suffers from a form of Motor Neuron Disease (Progressive Bulbar Palsy). This has had profound effects on my mothers life. She is now unable to talk and has to take much of her food through feeding tubes. However, she is still enjoying life and she and my sister (who is her main carer) have had amazing physical and emotional support from our local hospice (Accord Hospice). We expect this support to continue as my mothers disease progresses.

Therefore, I ask you to support my madness, to encourage me to cycle further than I have ever done before, and to test how much pain my bottom can take (no innuendos please!).

So please support, as best you can, my two charities by making donations to Action Medical research here or to the Accord Hospice here.

Of course, you are welcome to donate to both. That way you would be giving to vital medical research and to patient led medical/emotional care all at the same time. :-)

If your a cyclist you could always take part in the event as well.... Come along and see Magnatom writhe in pain! :-o

Friday 10 April 2009

Life or Death?

This isn't my video, but I thought it was worth posting here.




I know a lot of cyclists know how dangerous undertaking a bus/HGV etc is. However, some don't. So I think bringing videos like this to people's attention every so often, is a good thing. Even if just one person sees a video like this and learns not to do it, then it is worth it.

Had the cyclist kept going, or had the bus crept over to the left 20cm the cyclist could have been killed.

It isn't worth it...

Sunday 22 March 2009

New Clyde Tunnel Entrance and Exit

I've used the Clyde Tunnel since I started cycle commuting over 3 years ago. In that time I've only once felt threatened (neds with sticks). Even then, they didn't bother with me. However, I can understand the perception that the tunnel is dangerous or scary. Thus a lot of people don't use what could be a convenient shortcut.

To try and address this issue, the council have installed a new entrance and exit system in the southbound tunnel, and have plans to extend the system to the other tunnel, finance permitting.



So what do you think?

I plan to send this link to Glasgow City Council, so air your views of this new system here. I have my own views but I don't want to bias anything.

I will of course remove any abusive etc posts.

Tuesday 17 March 2009

I've been asked on a number of occasions to put a video up of my whole commute (minus a little bit at the start and end). So I've finally go around to it.

Here it is. A randomly chosen, typical commute, where nothing much happens. An enjoyable ride to work.



It's sped up to fit youtube and to spice it up (whooo hooo!) I added some appropriate music, selected from the youtube music library.

Enjoy.

If that is the right word!

Tuesday 10 February 2009

My New Bike

I've been cycling on a Ridgeback Cyclone (2005) for 3 and a half years now. In that time it has served me well on my daily 10 miles of commute. It has not been a fair weather bike. It has cycled through sun, rain, heavy rain, unbelievably heavy rain, light rain, mizzle, wind, snow, ice, fog and rain.

In that time I have replaced the chain twice, cassette twice, the head set, the front chainrings and crank, the bottom bracket, front and rear wheels, front and rear tyres, a good number of brake pads, several cables, and the rear mech.

It has been through a lot.

However, it is heavy and not great for longer rides, especially where hills were involved! As well as this, my oldest boy (3 and a half) has learned to cycle. So it would be nice to have enough bikes for the family to go on rides, with my youngest (20 months) in a child carrier. So at last I had my excuse to buy a bike.

I wanted a road bike, capable of being used as a fair weather commuter, and a longer distance recreational rider. Something that would help me at least keep within a mile or two of the proper cyclists that I sometimes ride with from cyclechat.

So I took a day off work and set out looking for bikes in some of the Glasgow bike shops (the ones on cyclescheme).

Dales is a large bike shop in Glasgow and I went expecting good customer service and advice. I could not have been more wrong. The young lad who came to help me didn't have a blind clue about what he was talking about. In fact he tried to encourage me to buy a bike that he claimed would take full mudguards which it was blatently obvious to me wouldn't. They also wouldn't let me try any bikes as they were just too busy and I would need to book for another day. The shop was quiet. To me it just seemed that they weren't interested in selling me a bike, so I left vowing never to go back again.

Alpine Bikes faired much better. Again, I had a young assistant helping me, but he knew what he was talking about, listened to my needs and set up a bike for me to go for a test ride on. Very helpful and I would be happy to go back again in the future. The bike (a Trek 1.5 just wasn't right for me. My only gripe was their lack of stock.


Billy Bilsland's in the Saltmarket, was by far the best shop I visited. Don't be mislead by the current web site. Yes they do sell Raleigh bikes, they have to make ends meet. They also sell some excellent road bikes, Kinesis and Pinarellos. However, it's not the bikes they sell that make the difference it is the service and the knowledge of Neil, who currently runs the shop, that sets it apart. From the moment I entered the shop Neil asked all of the right questions and quickly understood what I was looking for. He spent a lot of time explaining what he could do for me, and what they offered, and was happy to chat about cycling in general as well. He soon set up a bike for me to have a ride of and was happy for me to take the bike for a good long ride.

It wasn't just the service that he offered for me, then and there that impressed me, it was the fact that if I bought a bike made up from one of his frames, he would offer lifetime free services (labour) and would always be willing for me to bring the bike back for a tweak here or there to get everything just right. After riding the bike (A Kinesis Racelight T) and hearing what he had to say, I was sold. I set about the business of deciding on exactly what form the bike would take.

I was lucky. He had some high range parts in that were going spare and he could do me a Racelight Tk with some Ultegra parts on (mixed with 105) for a good price. He'd make it up for me and let me test ride the next time I could make it in. Upon test riding it and taking advice from others on how good a bargain it was, I signed on the dotted line and got myself the bike.

Here it is.
For those who care, and that might be no-one, it's a Racelight Tk with Ultegra shifters, rear mech, and cassette. The from mech is a 105. It has Mavic Aksium wheels, and an ITM Visia carbon fork. The cassette is a 11-23 and the front chainrings are 50-34. The cassette might be a little high geared from me, I need to do more riding to check.
I'm just about to add mudguards, bottle holder and possibly a computer.







It's a world of difference from my old hybrid and I might even try and keep it clean.

So in the future, expect to see me moving faster in my videos, at least when the weather is nice enough to take my new stead for a ride....

Monday 12 January 2009

Magnatom FAQ

I've decided to write a FAQ that I can refer to, as I am often asked the same questions over and over again on youtube and elsewhere. So here goes...

(Questions have derived from common youtube/internet questions. Of course the questions have been sanitised. More questions will be added as required or as requested).

You don't have a life do you?

Yes I do thanks. Quite a good one in fact. I've got a good and interesting job, a family, quite a few friends and some interesting hobbies not related to cycling.

Do you even know how to drive?

Yes I do. I passed my test first time and I am considering taking an advanced driver test this year (2009).

Do you own a car?

My wife and I between us own a car. Quite a big car in fact, a 7 seater people carrier.

Why don't you pay road tax?

Because there is no such thing as road tax. There is vehicle excise duty which my wife and I pay for our car.

OK, then, but you don't pay VED for your bike, so why should you be allowed to use the roads?

VED does not pay for the roads. It goes into a general taxation pot. The same pot that income tax, VAT, etc go into. I pay probably more than my fair share of tax, and so help with the upkeep of roads.

Anyway I pay the correct VED for my bikes emission band.

Do you think you are a policeman?

No. But I have a truncheon....

Why do you cycle in the middle of the road?

I don't. The broken white line can be slippy.

OK then, wise guy, why do you cycle in the middle of the lane?

I only cycle in the middle of the lane (primary road position) when I feel it is necessary for my safety. The rest of the time I cycle either 1m from the edge of the road or where a cars left tyre would typically be, depending on the road.

So how can cycling in the middle of the lane be safer?

It can be safer for a number of reasons. It can prevent unsafe overtakes where there isn't enough room for a bike and a car. An overtaking car should leave enough room for a cyclist to fall over when overtaking (i.e. at least 3ft). Drivers are not always aware of hazards that may cause cyclists problems, i.e potholes, gusts of wind etc. That is why we need a bit of room.

It can keep cyclist out of the door zone, i.e. the area where car doors open on to. Cyclists have been killed by doors opening on to them. People getting out of cars don't always look.

It can make me visible i.e. fully within the line of sight of drivers. This is especially important on roundabouts. Drivers looking on to a roundabout expect to see vehicles in the middle of the lane, not at the edge of the lane, so they are more likely to miss a cyclist at the edge. Thus the risk of being pulled out on is reduced by taking the primary position.


Fair enough, but in most of your clips your in the middle of the lane. You just like holding cars up don't you?

No way! There is nothing worse than having an impatient driver behind you. I'd much rather have them in front of me where I can see them and where I am in control of my own risk.

My videos on youtube, tend to be at trouble spots on my commute. That is, areas on my commute where there are parked cars, there is a junction, there is an approaching pinch point, blind hump etc. These are the very places where I take a stronger road position. In the areas where I feel safe enough to take a secondary position there are fewer incidents. Not because of my change in road position, but because it is a safer road.


But your holding cars up! Surely you should just get out of the way!?

I will get out of the way when it is safe to do so. Anyway I rarely hold a car up for more than a few seconds. I often find that following a dangerous overtake, that I catch up with the offending car/driver at the next junction/lights/traffic jam. Often the overtake is pointless. On a normal morning or evening rush hour, I can get to work/home quicker on my bike than in my car. You could almost argue that cars are holding me up. But I won't.

If there is a cycle lane, you MUST use it!

Rubbish. It is rare for cycle lanes to be mandatory. Thanks goodness. Generally there are very badly designed don't provide enough room and can often lead cyclists into situations that are dangerous! Cycle lanes are usually there, not to improve the safety of cyclists, but to allow councils to tick boxes. Check out this web site for some examples of cycle lane design.

But it is cyclists like you who cause all of the congestion in the rush hours (someone actually suggested this to me on one of my videos)!


LOL!!

If it is so stressful and your having so many incidents, why do you cycle to work?

I love cycling to work. It is one of the highlights of my day (actually cycling home is better!). I'm outdoors, getting exercise, I'm not held up in traffic jams, and there is nothing like cycling on a fresh cold, still winters morning. The vast majority of my commutes are happy and incident free.


So don't you ever make mistakes then?

Yes I do. In fact there are a number of videos where I admit from the start that I made a mistake. However, what matters is that I am constantly trying to improve.

Why do you shout at drivers?

I try not to, and if you compare some of my earlier videos with my later ones I think you would see an improvement. It is easy with hindsight to criticise my reactions, and yes I agree I should 'rise above' it. However, it is hard when someone has risked your life for the sake of a few seconds off their journey to keep level headed. However, I never hurl abuse, I generally just want to know why someone did what they did. I just have to shout less and swear less.

Doesn't wearing a helmet camera encourage you to look for trouble?

Personally no. Who I am with the camera is who I am without it. My wife would happily confirm this for you! However, I can understand how using a camera could encourage some to look for trouble. However, to cycle in such a way to intentionally cause incidents, whilst doing so safely would take considerable bike skills, which I don't possess! Anyway, on my commutes, I have one of two things on my mind, getting to work, or getting home to my family.

You seem to have a lot of incidents!

Actually I don't, and the majority of the incidents I do have are relatively minor. By that I mean, although my safety might have been compromised, it was not seriously so. If i didn't have these incidents recorded I would probably forget about them. However, I post them, just to show what happens to cyclists on the road.
As well as this a good number of my videos are about other things, such as heavy rain, other cyclists, people weeing in cycle lanes etc. So it turns out that I have incidents (most of which are minor) on about 3% of my commutes. So not as many as it might appear.
It also fluctuates. Towards the end of 2008 I had a long period of about 3 months where virtually nothing happened that endangered me (apart from one door opening but that was a young girl, so all was forgiven!). I cycled exactly the same way during those 3 months as I normally do.

You block views and users that you don't agree with on youtube


No I don't. Have a look at the posts. You will see a lot of comments posted that I don't agree with. What I will do is block someone who is abusive.
I try to answer as many questions as possible, however, my time is limited. So if I feel someone is trolling I will stop replying. Reasoned, questions or points that are contrary to my world view are always welcome. I don't have all the answers.