A classic year?

Spring is definitely in the air at the moment after what seems like months of winter, it's finally feeling a bit warmer.
And, of course, the spring classics are in full flow. I was pleased to see somebody other than the nailed on favourite win the Amstel Gold yesterday. The racing was much more enjoyable than the fayre we were served up at the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix.

Amazing performance from Cancellara but surely the other riders have got to take the race to him and disrupt his plan?
Still, there's the Fleche Wallonne on Wednesday and Liege-Bastogne-Liege on Sunday to look forward to before the big tour stuff starts.
Not a classic year for the classics yet!

Just what is the Cheadle Package?

In follow up to the recent post about extra cycling facilities in Manchester, I have now got some information on the mysteriously named 'Cheadle Package'.
According to local Lib Dems, the package will '... greatly improve the links from Gatley, Cheadle, Cheadle Hulme and Heald Green towards Manchester.' 
Billed as a 'Million pound boost to cycling in the Cheadle area', the Cheadle Package actually consists of just over half a million quids work of bike lanes.
The deets are as follows:

• New off-carriageway route along Kingsway from the Gatley lights to the Manchester border.
• New on-carriageway route along Manchester Road from Cheadle towards Parrs Wood
• New safe cycling route (mostly on-road but small section of off road) from Broadway along High Grove Road, Milton Crescent, Wensley Road and Marchbank Drive to join up with Kingsway (and so give a safe route for cyclists wanting to avoid the Kingsway/Gatley Road junction).
• New safe cycling route from Wilmslow Road, Cheadle along Warren Avenue, The Crescent, Hall Street, Brook Road and Mill Lane to join up with Manchester Road.
• New section connecting Grange Avenue, Cheadle Hulme to existing signed route along Queen’s Road.

So, there you have it - the Cheadle Package mystery resolved - thanks to Jon Grieve.

Cheadle, yesterday

Nice things to lock your bike to #8 - Chorlton

Looking pretty robust down at The tram station

It's a sign

This looks transparent in the photo - it's not. Didn't realise it at the time...

Manchester gets 100 new advance stop junctions and 50 trixie mirrors

According to this list of national cycling safety improvements being paid for by the Department for Transport you and me, Manchester is getting 100 new advanced stop lines at traffic lights and 50 new trxie mirrors.
I know what you're thinking. What the f**k is a trxie mirror? Right?
Well maybe not but for the uninitiated [of which I was one 3 minutes ago] a trixie mirror is a circular mirror bolted to a set of traffic lights.
It's used by drivers of HGVs to spy shy cyclists who are obscured by the doors of their behemoth vehicles - presuming they stop in the right place that is.
Best described as 'a good start.'

Freedom for Trixies

There is also something planned in Stockport called 'The Cheadle Package' which could be almost anything - the mind boggles. 

Lovely stuff from @homemadecyclist

You'll have sussed by now that I'm a sucker for anything which is artistically designed, beautiful and isn't the vehicle for corporate fig leafery.
Scoring very highly in all categories are the designs from the Homemade Cyclist. In homage to this weekend's Paris-Roubaix, I offer you the below - it's the way I cut & paste em!

Avec chein

Beautiful online Campag museum

Tons of beautiful images of Campagnolo components and stuff on this new Virtual Museum website created to mark the company's 80th anniversary. 
Unusually for Italian engineering, the site works as well as it looks.

It's not a geranium