I made it!

Last Sunday I successfully completed the London to Brighton bike ride in aid of the British Heart Foundation. First off, thanks to all those who sponsored me – it’s a great cause and they need every penny they can get. You can find out more about how they use the money here.

The day was great. Perfect weather – very little wind, sunny, but not too hot. A great crowd of people (27,000 of us) and a great atmosphere. Exceptional organisation and great support from local people along the route. I completed the course in 3 hours and 50 minutes. Although the first few miles were quite slow due to stop start progress through traffic, once we hit the country lanes things moved much more freely.

It was great to see people on tandems, Choppers, roller blades and in fancy dress.

The highlight? Reaching the top of Ditchling Beacon – I was one of the few who rode all the way – and taking in the amazing views across the Sussex countryside.

Will I do it again? Definitely. I may even put a team together for next year.

Getting ready for Sunday

The London to Brighton bike ride is fast approaching. Just 2 days to go. I’ve been dithering over which bike to use. Should I go on the road bike, which is faster but which is harder in traffic because the brakes are not so good and I’m still getting used to stopping and starting with cleats on? Or should I go with the hybrid/commuter bike, which is a little slower but much better in traffic as I sit more upright and have better visibility? It also has much better brakes (V-brakes) and toe clips on the pedals which are considerably easier in stop-start traffic.

On balance, not knowing what 27,000 cycles going in the same direction at the same time actually feels like I think I’ll err on the side of caution and go with the hybrid bike. Next decision is what to take. Looks like rain, so my waterproof jacket will be a must, plus a couple of water bottles, phone and roadside repair kit. Maybe also a spare pair of socks and a dry shirt would be a good idea. I think that’s probably all.

If you’re doing the ride, good luck and do look out for me. I’ll be the confused one wearing number 16640, starting from Clapham at 8.00am.

New Toy 2

I've had the car a week now and not had much chance to get it out and play - largely due to the rain. However, I do have a list of jobs to do before it'll be ready for track days. I think the car is fast enough already (almost 168 bhp in a very light car), so I want to make sure it goes round the corners, stops and is safe. First will be a new roll bar - one with four legs and a cross brace to replace the standard Tiger offering which I think might just fold in the event of a heavy accident. Having seen this I think that's the minimum standard. Next will be four new wheels fitted with Toyo R888 road legal race tyres. Then an aeroscreen in place of the standard windscreen which will be reserved for road use only. I'll probably fabricate that myself using perspex and modified screen supports. And some green stuff brake pads to make sure the car stops as quickly as it accelerates. The car already has full harnesses, so once strapped in, you stay in. The Tiger is being rolling road tuned in a few days time, following which it'll be down to Brands Hatch to get the noise level checked to make sure it is within the track maximum. Fingers crossed as if it's not, that'll mean a new exhaust with a larger silencer.

Double Edged Sword

I’ve been a flexible worker for a number of years. I have zero dependency on paper or a physical presence and excellent technology which means I can work from just about anywhere. And it has proved quite liberating. One of the main drivers behind the ‘blending’ I have talked about in previous posts. However, it can be a double edged sword from the enterprise perspective.

When we all worked together in an open plan office, one of the key components of knowledge management – people to people conversations – happened naturally. If you learned something useful you could tell your colleagues. If someone in your team needed help, they could raise their head and ask. Chances are, someone in the same office would know the answer. And you would overhear conversations which might not be relevant at the time but which you could store away for when you needed to ‘know’ something.

With flexible working, you lose much of that. You lose much of the context for a piece of knowledge – “Jane did it this way when she was up against a tight deadline” The latter half of the sentence being the context. Because flexible workers are not usually in the same place at the same time, this can drive an increase in the use of asynchronous tools such as email. In their own way, these tools then spawn a set of behaviours which can dilute decision taking and reduce the agility of a business. Things such as copying everyone to cover your back. Or asking ten other people instead of taking the decision yourself.

So, on the one side there are major benefits from flexible working around increases in productivity and motivation amongst flexible workers, and on the other side the same people can become increasingly isolated, disconnected and out of the knowledge loop.

All this is just one of the reasons social networking tools such as Facebook and Twitter should be explored enterprise use. They can re-connect people and begin to restore the context. Because they are open for viewing by everyone in your extended network – not just the people on the email distribution list – they can provide that always on stream of context. What I’m doing. Issues I have. Help I need. It’s all out there again.

New Search Engine

http://beta.searchme.com/ This is an interesting concept. At first sight it gives more context for any particular search, however, I wonder how it would handle searches which return a large volume of results. It’s not immediately clear how you refine your search, and its not easy to quickly scan your first set of results to check if you’re close to a hit. I’ll persevere though and may write about my experiences some more. (As an aside, it crashed my PC the first time I used it at work – XP, locked down build)

Dusty

I don’t know why, but I started listening to Dusty Springfield on the MP3 player at work today. I haven’t listened to her for a while. Wow, she was great. I was listening to a collection of her greatest songs. All the favourites were there. It’s not that she’s got a great voice, but her phrasing is spot on and the emotion that comes through her interpretations is just spine tingling. Well worth another listen if you’ve got Dusty in your collection. If you haven’t you should try it. My favourites today – “I’m Coming Home Again” and “Yesterday, When I Was Young”.

Something Unexpected

On Saturdays I try to go for a long bike ride. Not only do I generally enjoy it, but it also helps in the build up to the London to Brighton bike ride on 15 June. This past weekend I headed up from the Kent/London borders to central London then south through Croydon and into the Surrey hills looping back home via Westerham. It was a round trip of 54 miles and the ride along the top of the hills was just terrific – magnificent views, made more pleasurable knowing that the longest and worst hills were behind me. This week however there were some unexpected pleasures. Firstly, cycling high up the hill above Westerham I passed a dedicated guy standing in a field practising his bagpipes. It hadn’t occurred to me before that finding a suitable place to practice that particular instrument must be tough at times, especially if you’re a beginner. Frankly, I could think of no better place than the middle of a field. There he was, in a field, the mist rising and the stirring sound of the pipes being sent down the hill for all to hear. Shortly afterwards, I was joined by a crow that flew alongside me for at least 2 minutes, almost with arms reach. What a beautiful bird. Amazing. Then I got brought back to earth with a bang – this time by a Currys delivery van that nearly knocked me off the bike because he didn’t look when he turned out of a side street. Idiot! Finally, I’m still getting used to having cleats on the bike – shoes which clip to the pedals. Sometimes you forget when you come to a stop. And when you forget you fall off. I fell off.