The Bicycle at War

Twice in the 20th century the bicycle made a significant difference to the outcome of military campaigns. In the 1941 Japanese invasion of Malaya and the 1954 Vietnamese victory over the French at Dien Bien Phu, the winners made extensive use of bicycles.

Japanese Bicycle Infantry 1942

The Japanese army that invading Malaya did not bring bikes they looted local bikes. Once established ashore they quickly looted all available bikes and got their infantry mounted. They quickly established air, naval and armored supremacy and began to push south.

The motorised British defenders were road bound, Japanese bicycle infantry moved quickly inland on jungle trails, outflanking the defenders. Almost every time the British tried to set up a defense line on the coastal roads, Japanese infantry cycled through the jungle, infiltrated their rear and threaten  lines of supply and communication.

Blowing bridges, did not slow down bicycle infantry, they quickly improvised crude bridges and kept rolling south. By mid February it was over, the British garrison at Singapore surrendered. It was the most humiliating defeat in British history, and the bicycle played a major part.

Viet Minh Bicycle Porters

The 1954 the French base in the remote Dien Bien Phu valley in Vietnam was intended as a trap for the Viet Minh guerillas. The base was to be supplied by air, the plan was to draw the Viet Minh into the open and destroy them. But the Viet Minh cut trails through many hundreds of miles of jungle from supply bases in China, manhandled a powerful collection of heavy artillery and anti aircraft guns to Dien Bien Phu and sorrounded the French with a force of five divisions.

The Viet Minh supplied their forces through the 57 day siege with an army of bicycle porters and pack animals. A bicycle porters carried up to 200 kilos (440 pounds) on a standard bicycle. They replaced the seat with a short holding stick and walked alongside. It was the most amazing feat of logistics in the history of warfare and the bicycle was critical to its outcome.

Since 1940 warfare has been dominated by oil powered machines, in the post peak oil world the power of the bicycle as a force multiplier will likely see it move centre stage as a machine of war.

A short history of Bicycle Infantry in Wikipedia

Wild Camping In Ireland

Irish campsites charge anything from seven to twelve euros for a solo touring cyclist to pitch a tent for a night. Many campsites are noisy and located close to towns. A bit like the suburbs only with everyone in tents and caravans. If this sounds like hell and you’d rather watch the sun go down listening to bird song and the wind blowing, out in the countryside, wild camping is a viable alternative in Ireland.

Wild Camping Mullaghmore, Co Sligo

Much of rural Ireland is sparsely populated, very quiet and has very low crime rates. There are no dangerous wild animals. If a few precautions are taken it’s a very safe place to wild camp. Most land on the island of Ireland is privately owned. However many farmers will give you permission to camp a night on their land if you ask.

If you camp on privately owned land without permission, be discreet, use a small dark tent (dark green or camo is good) and pitch in an unobtrusive place. Do it far from houses, make no noise, light no fires, damage no property and leave no rubbish behind. Make sure livestock do not have access to your campsite, you don’t want to wake up with a herd of curious cattle in your camp. Arrive late and leave early.

If you are asked to leave do so quickly and politely. In Irish law trespass is a civil matter not a criminal offense. It will only become a matter for the Garda (police) if you refuse to leave when asked.

There are two types of common land in Ireland bogland and upland. Not all bogland and upland is commonage but a lot of it is. If you camp discreetly in bogland or upland you will very rarely be disturbed. In hot dry weather (not very common in Ireland) there areas are prone to wildfires, so be very, very careful with any naked flame.

Public land can be a very good place to camp if you arrive early and leave late as public sector staff generally work office hours. Good campsites can be found at places where the public have access to lakeshores, seashores, river banks and canals. A lot of the woodland plantations in Ireland particularly on the uplands are state owned. Many have forest roads with barriers that exclude motor vehicles but can be bypassed with bicycles. In a wooded area in dry weather be very careful with any flame.

When wild camping in woodland and bogland you will meet the midge. The midge is a tiny blood sucking fly. Its bite does not transmit disease, nor does it cause serious pain or swelling except to those rare people who have an allergic reaction. It is however very itchy when they are actually biting and they bite in great numbers. They stay out of bright daylight and only bite in the open on very dull days and in the evening twilight, but at Ireland’s latitude summer evening twilight is long.

Sitting in the open where midges are active is very unpleasant. If your camp is full of them you will have to get into your tent and close the insect proof mesh door. If your wild camping with just a tarpaulin or a bivy bag make sure to also have a mosquito net for midges. Midges fly very slowly, so if you keep moving they will not catch you and if you are in a windy place they get blown away.

I often camp wild but I also use campsites. Campsites are secure, your gear can be left unattended, you can go to the pub and not worry about your equipment. Sometimes when touring in mountain country I like to stay two consecutive nights at a campsite and spend the day in between cycling an unloaded bike in the mountains. More fun than hauling a fully loaded bike up a mountain.

The Irish Cycling Renaissance

The Irish people seem to be falling in love with the bicycle. In the 15 months since I returned to cycling I've noticed many more cyclists on the rural back roads around home. It's rare to go cycling now and not meet at least one other cyclist and often a lot more than that. The number of sportives and fun cycles in the area is  growing and the number of people taking part in them is also growing.

The Bicycle is conquering the Emerald Isle

The Irish Times recently had an article about the surge in Irish cycling.
“Tots on trikes, robed barristers on racers, high-heeled hairdressers on High Nellies – Ireland has gone mad for cycling. Once empty cycle lanes are now red conveyor belts of pedallers, and rush hour junctions are a jam of wheels. It’s clear we’re having a love affair with the bike”.

A report published by the Irish Bicycle Business Association (IBBA) claims 90,000 bikes were bought in two years as a result of a government Bike to Work Scheme, which gives workers a tax break for buying a bike to travel to work. According to the IBBA this generated €138.68 million in sales. Since the scheme was introduced at least 50 new bicycle shops have opened and 767 jobs have been created or preserved.

Padraig Ryan, transport co-ordinator with Temple Street Children’s University Hospital in Dublin, says there has been a 450% increase in the number of staff cycling to work, since the introduction of the government scheme. In the same period the membership of Cycling Ireland, the governing body of cycling in Ireland has grown from 5,000 to 10,000.

Bike Stands, Achill Island, Co Mayo

According to a report from the Taiwan Trade Centre, in London there was a 294 percent increase in the export of bikes from Taiwan to Ireland in 2010.

For the last four years almost all the economic news out of Ireland has been bad, tales of woe and trouble abound. But the bicycle business has a different story to tell. As so often before when times get bad and people need to help themselves and improve their situation they turn to the bicycle.



Taiwan Trade Centre Report

Irish Times Article

Irish Bicycle Business Association Website

Cycling Ireland Website

How I Came to Love Big Bike Tyres

In June the excellent Bicycle Quarterly had a very good article about tests they performed on bike tyres to establish how tyre size impacted rolling resistance. The results were surprising.

I had always assumed that a narrow tyre like the 700 x 23 on the typical road bike would have less rolling resistance than a fatter tyre like a 700 x 35 on a hybrid or touring bike. But the Bicycle Quarterly tests found that the opposite is true, the fat 35 tyre has less rolling resistance than the thin 23.

The Schwalbe Marathon 700c x 35c

I always liked a fat 35 tyre, on the kind of rough rural roads I ride on it is much more comfortable. In the harvest season rural Irish roads are often very mucky from dirt carried out of fields by tractors, a 35 is much safer. On the rough gravel and dirt paths I often ride on a 23 tyre is useless.

I doubted the results of the Bicycle Quarterly tests, they were counter intuitive. But last week I was riding my Raleigh Royal with its Schwalbe Marathon 35s on a wet road, when I noticed that the tyres were bone dry apart from a very narrow wet strip in the centre of the tyre. I suddenly realised why the Bicycle Quarterly tests were right. Even thought the 35 is much wider than a 23, when inflated to full pressure its shape does not distort under the weight of the rider. There is actually very little rubber in contact with the road on a fully inflated 35.

No doubt there are advantages to a 23, it is lighter and slightly more aerodynamic than a 35. This will make a difference at racing speeds, but for most cyclists a fat, comfortable, puncture resistant, threaded 35 tyre is a much better bet than a slick 23.

The Bicycle Quarterly article

The Schwalbe Marathon Tyre - 700c x 35c from Halfords