Style over sense

I know it's not new news, but I saw the Chanel bike again on a post that linked to an article in the Telegraph. So Chanel bring out a bike for £6900. This is the same money as you could by two eye-wateringly expensive Condor Diamantes with Campag Record and still have some change for an energy drink - or whatever Diamante owners go for. Alternatively you could buy 12 Bromptons and have change for a whole wardrobe of dayglo jackets - or whatever Brompton owners go for.

I notice that like all highly exclusive (read expensive) products, the Chanel bike is a limited edition. Limited presumably because the manufacturers have to stop work every half an hour with giggling fits over the fact nobody noticed the extra zero they added to the end of the retail price. This is essentially a nicely spec'd £500 roadster with a fancy paint job and two girls handbags attached to the rear rack. Most of the population of Copenhagen ride something similar for 10% of the price tag.

I just don't get why when a fashion house conducts a branding exercise, whatever was the lucky recipient becomes fashionable. Fine if it's Timothy Everest smartening up M&S's suits - they both know something about the rag trade. Or Linda Barker desperately attempting to take the chav out of dfs sofa range (has anyone ever paid full price for one of their sofas?) But Chanel and cycling just don't seem good bedfellows.

Hand shadows

I was back on the bike yesterday which felt great. I got home late thanks to SWTrains deciding to stop all the trains running through my station. This meant a taxi ride with the bike (who ever designed London's black cab was a cyclist - just open the door, turn the bars and you can sit with your bike) followed by six miles of cycling through crisp, moonlight woodlands.

When I wasn't being blinded by oncoming motorists, I noticed that the new bike light I'd bought created a great shadow on the tarmac. The brake lever and drop of the bar looked just like a kneeling elephant.

Sport relief

I've never been into telethons. Just the thought of all that goodwill is exhausting and none are ever going to come close to Live Aid. Sport Relief is one of the many events that passed me by so I was surprised to see Alan Shearer and Adrian Chiles beaming out of today's Evening Standard. Apparently they cycled 335 miles from Newcastle to London in two days - a good haul by anyone's standards.

Specialised must be delighted by the fact that they were able to so completely brand these two and pass it all off as "charidy".

The website has a few videos of the pair that will be familiar to any cyclist who has a few miles in thier legs - standing, munching flapjacks on a petrol station forecourt watching the traffic flow past.

My pervious post was inspired by a radio interview with Alan Shearer, perhaps if I'd listened properly I would have heard him mention this ride.

There is some irony in hearing Adrian Chiles describe how "deep he's had to dig" on this ride. Perhaps next time Nicole Cooke's up for Sports Personality of the Year he won't be tempted to ask patronising questions such as "do you fall off much?" If only Nicole been at BBC Television Centre to greet Chiles and ask him if his legs ached.