I seem to have been very busy recently doing, well, a wide variety of things, mainly un-related to motorcycling. Sure, I have been travelling a little, but without a motorbike. I have been helping one of my sons move into a flat and helping another with his ideas for starting a bicycle business. I have been writing my book again and my third son has been helping me with creating the maps for that. My brother and his wife have been over to see us from Switzerland, so there have been some family get-togethers. I have recently booked two motorcycle trips for next year, one predictable and the other not (which will be the subject of a separate post).
Jackie and I were meant to go to Germany to meet up with some previous work colleagues, but that had to be cancelled due to a death in my family – an Aunt that I was quite close to.
I had put off looking at and dealing with a substantial amount of paperwork and I just had to tackle it. Boring, essential, but way too time-consuming for me.
All of these things has meant I have been neglecting my own and others’ blogs recently, but I intend to begin to put that right, starting now.
I would like to ask for some advice please. Does anyone out there reading this use an iPad for their blogging?
Due to no longer wanting to carry a laptop with me on my bike trips, I have recently succumbed to the delights (jury is still out on that one) of an iPad and I am testing how to use it for my blog posts when on the road. I can see how to do most of this, but I am struggling with one aspect and it is that I want some advice on. I use Blogger and I am not going to change from that – it works for me and I follow the adage ‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”. The trouble is when adding pictures to a blog post, you have to specify the location of the picture file on your computer and well, as far as I can see, you cannot do that on an iPad. So, I have looked at the other way of adding a photo to your post and that is by linking to a picture already on the web. I have never used this method, but it looks as if I will need to do so. I believe I will need to upload my photos first to something like Flickr and then link to them there.
Okay, here is the advice part....
Have I got it right about uploading to something like Flickr and then linking to the photo on there?
If I have, is Flickr the best system to use, or do my wise readers have a better solution? Any help will be greatly appreciated.
Some of my readers may know that I spent a good few years working on the London 2012 Olympics.
Back in 2004, I was asked to develop the strategy for how all of the venues, facilities and infrastructure needed for the London Games would be constructed. This was used as part of London’s bid to be the Host City for the Games and even though it played just a small part in convincing the International Olympic Committee to award the Games to London, I was immensely proud that my team and I helped bring the Games to my city.
I continued to work on the London 2012 Olympic Games and developed that previous strategy into the detailed plans that showed how everything would be done, at what time, the logistics needed, how the construction would take place, how and when the venues would be completed, how the test sports events would take place and all the other things needed to deliver the facilities in time.
When all the plans had been developed and the full construction team were clear about what needed to be done and how, it was time for me to leave the project in the hands of the delivery teams and I moved onto helping the Russian Government with their preparations for the Winter Olympic Games in Sochi 2014.
I am a Londoner and very proud of my city. Working on the London 2012 Olympic Games was without a doubt the pinnacle of my career and made me even more proud. After I left the project I kept up-to-date with how the construction was progressing and occasionally went back to see how the construction was progressing.
One of these such visits back to the Olympic Park was very recently, I went to see all of the completed venues. It was very rewarding to see that the construction had followed the plans I had developed years earlier. I enjoyed seeing the venues and of course a few photos were taken....
My friend Paul and I in the new Velodrome.... at 42 degrees, the banking of the track is very steep....
The two of us standing on the 10m diving board in the iconic Aquatics Centre....
The two of us standing in one of the doorways of the basketball venue. The doors have to be this high to accommodate the very tall basketball players....
I loved seeing how well the venues have been constructed. I am looking forward to the evening of Friday 27th July 2012 when Jackie and I will be sitting in the Olympic Stadium waiting for the Opening Ceremony to start. Fantastic!
I have said it before, but I love maps. They guide you to places, they take you along roads you wouldn’t otherwise know were there, let alone find.
Studying a map and then making decisions about where to ride on a trip can be very rewarding and for some, this planning gives a foretaste of what is to come – the ride itself.
I enjoy seeing on peoples blogs, the routes that other people take, but I have one plea – please make them bigger so we can see the context. Very often the map is so zoomed in, we can see the detail, but we have no idea where in the particular country the route is. If needed, make two maps, some general and one detailed, and add them both to your blogs.
I have recently added to the bottom of my blog some big scale maps showing the overall routes I have taken on some of my recent rides. Will others do the same?
Probably like me, you have at some point wondered what the future of motorcycling will be when the world can no longer afford the remaining petrol, or gas. It will be horrible, right? No longer will we be able to enjoy the wind rushing past us, the throaty sound of our engines, nor the feeling of exhilaration as we power around those bends. It will be a sad day when the freedom our bikes give us, will be gone.
The future can only be weak electric bikes with no character or potentially dangerous hydrogen-powered future craft. Ho hum.
At least, that’s what I thought.
WRONG!
I have just returned from a couple of weeks on holiday with the American side of my family (many of you will know that my wife Jackie is American) and this year we rented a house in Santa Cruz, California. While there, we did all the good touristy things like go to the boardwalk, rode the train at Roaring Camp and saw the Mystery Spot. But, I hadn’t been on a bike for a couple of weeks, so I took a look at the web to find something motorbike related I could go see.
I found an electric bike company based there called Zero Motorcycles, so I gave them a call and went to meetthem, and to go for a test ride.
With an idea that was formed in a Santa Cruz garage, the firm is now one of the world’s leading electric bike manufacturers. Zero saw that there was only one way for people to be convinced about their bikes. To use their own words “Since 2006, when the first prototypes were produced, Zero has invited motorcyclists to go for a ride. Some things are better experienced than explained”. I liked this approach and so after a quick tour of their facilities in hills of Santa Cruz, I went for a ride on an electric bike, for the first time.
I rode this S model....
I was given a quick explanation of the bikes controls and then Zero’s Service Manager, Matt Feinstein and I headed out for a test ride. It takes just a few minutes to get used to the bike. There are essentially just three main controls – throttle, front brake and rear brake, which are all pretty much the same as on a petrol-engined bike. There is no clutch, but one long gear, so no gear lever either for your left foot. It is pretty much twist and go, and oh boy, does it go!
Two things immediately struck me. The bike is almost totally silent and wow, it is just like riding a “normal” bike. The only noise you can hear is the wind, some tire noise and a slight noise from the electric motor, but the latter is very quiet indeed. The bike handled very well, the brakes were good and acceleration was a lot better than I thought it would be. Sure, it doesn’t have the initial grunt and low-down torque normally associated with bikes, but it wasn’t that far off. The bike handled just like any other and within just a few minutes, Matt had lead me down a section of freeway to get an idea of the speed (we were doing 70 mph) and then onto a twisty road to see how the machine handled the bends, which was very good indeed. Overall, I was surprised by just how good this bike was. We arrived back at the Zero premises and I had a huge grin on my face – it had been a blast!
Zero make a range of seven bikes... The Zero S, which was the street bike I rode, for normal urban street riding.....
The Zero DS, a street bike with on/off road capabilities, with longer suspension travel, slightly wider tires....
The Zero XU, which is more like a city commuter bike, including a removable power pack, so it can be charged in an apartment. This bike would be very easy for a complete novice to ride....
Then four dirt bikes, the first being the Zero X....
Then the same bike, but in street legal mode, with lights etc....
The bigger and more tuned Zero MX....
Finally, the same MX bike, but with lights etc making it street legal....
I found this Zero Motorcycles promotional video on the web.....
Range is obviously important on any bike and especially so on today’s electric bikes. The Zero street bikes do about 43 miles (of simulated urban riding) before needing to be charged, the commuter bike gets about 25 miles and the dirt bikes about 30-60 minutes of riding depending on how hard you twist the throttle. Speeds are just under 70 mph for the street bikes, 51 mph for the commuter bike and 53-57 mph for the dirt bikes. Batteries in all the bikes are Li-ion technology and the cost to charge the bikes is very cheap at $0.48 for the street bikes and $0.21 for the others.
I was told the cost of the bikes is between $7,500 for the smaller bikes to about $10,000 for the bigger versions.
For all electric bikes, the future is about improving the range and getting the battery charge times down. The launch of the Zero 2012 models will see street bikes with a range of about 100 miles, which isn’t too far away from some traditional engined bikes now. Present day charge times are about 4 hours for street bikes and 2 hours for the dirt bikes, which Zero hope to get down to about 40 minutes. That will make using future generation bikes as a replacement for petrol-engined bikes very possible, as a street bike with a 100 mile range that can be recharged in 40 minutes while eating lunch very realistic.
Thanks must go to Matt for taking me out for a ride and telling me about the company and the bikes, at short notice. He did a great job. This is Matt....
A couple of pictures of the Zero facilities. They were careful not to let me see the R&D department....
Finally, in the reception area was a Zero electric racing bike, which was entered into the TTX GP series for electric powered bikes....
Zero Motorcycles have an expanding dealer network. If you want to take a ride on one of these bikes yourself, check out their website.
Before I went to see Zero, I was worried about the future of motorcycling. What I found pleasantly shocked me.
I left there with the knowledge that the future of motorcycling would actually be quite good.
