When I ride my bike alone, I never listen to music, the engagement with the terrain is enough for me and when my mind wanders, I do often follow a train of thought in my head, as was the case on when I rode a revised 40km Gö dirt road Omloop .
Campagnolo v Shimano
As I sat in a Central London restaurant in the 1990’s at an adjacent table two men in business suits were having a strong discussion of which was best. Shimano or Campagnolo? I was naturally taken aback hearing this old chestnut expressed in an out of context setting and I listened in until my manners stopped my eavesdropping. It was surreal and today, you would have to add SRAM to the mix.
Recently I lamented that for the first time no Men’s World Team will ride Campagnolo equipped bikes in the 2024 road race season, and this earned some comment. Some not so positive.
Angels
” How Many Angels Can Dance on The Head of a Pin? is now widely seen as a metaphor for a pointless discussion after 17th century Protestants used it to belittle Catholic religious doctrine.
What theologian Thomas Aquinas was tackling in his Summa Theologica (1270); “Can several angels be in the same place? was to explain the wonder (or absurdity) of the Catholic faith and that God’s works were unfathomable to us mortal coil dwellers. This was an attempt by Aquinas to bolster the leap of faith required as a followers.
Tea
In 1946 George Orwell the author of the dystopian novel Animal Farm (1945) in an essay for the London Evening Standard newspaper had his own moment of reflection, about tea. As he said at the time “Tea is one of the mainstays of civilization in this country (UK) and causes violent disputes about how it should be made” , he thus published 11 rules of how good tea should be made.
Believe me when I say that this is fighting talk for someone.
He wrote: “Tenthly, one should pour tea into the cup first. This is one of the most controversial points of all; indeed, in every family in Britain there are probably two schools of thought on the subject. The milk-first school can bring forward some fairly strong arguments, but I maintain that my own argument is unanswerable. This is that, by putting the tea in first and stirring as one pours, one can exactly regulate the amount of milk whereas one is liable to put in too much milk if one does it the other way round.”
As far as I am concerned it’s only natural for us all to possess a point of view but to be a slave to doctrine is suspect especially when entrenched tribe like in a school of thought.
When I got home from my ride, I had of course a cup of tea and I broke Orwell’s 10th rule. I probably also broke many of the perceived rules embedded in cycling tradition.
Milk first – breaking Orwell’s 10th tea making rule
Bike
I rode my road bike ( The Omloop is a homage to a great Belgian road race ) fitted with Panaracer Gravel King (28/26) tires, the biggest problem is the limited frame clearance offered with race bike geometry in muddy conditions. It is super speedy (despite my legs) on the asphalt dirt road, and requires caution upon gravel and all rough stuff.
The Ride: 39.6km
34.2km: dirt road (concrete/asphalt), cobbles cycle paths, Ribinou, gravel.
5.4km: Public Road – Asphalt and open to cars etc.
Three hills plus 4 cobble, 5 gravel & 1 Ribinou sectors.
Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/10627293577
Komoot: https://www.komoot.com/tour/1422466497
Garmin: https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/13660244710
Attention
The Gö Gravel Rides are suggested routes for a bike tour and not a race or competition. Should you decide to follow our tour description or a GPS of the route described, you do so at your own risk.
You are responsible for cycling as you think you can, according to your ability and fitness level.
Die Gö Gravel Rides sind vorgeschlagene Strecken für eine Fahrradtour und kein Rennen oder Wettbewerb. Sollten Sie sich entscheiden, unserer Tourenbeschreibung oder einem GPS der beschriebenen Route zu folgen, tun Sie dies auf eigene Gefahr.
Sie sind für das Radfahren verantwortlich, wie Sie es für möglich halten, entsprechend Ihren Fähigkeiten und Ihrem Fitnessniveau.
Velo Klubhaus 
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