Amazing night ..

I'm paying for it now !

i want one !

leaving work is weird..

.. but at least it leaves me a ton of time to go and ride bikes !

100 single ladies

This morning at Piccadilly .. gutted i missed it !

Amusing

My mate Butters makes me laugh ..

Cyclodelic launch ride

Last night SBC and me all headed down to support our friend Amy and the launch of her and her friends Sarahs' Cyclodelic line launching in the mighty Topshop. I'm long withstanding fan of Topshop and i have to say i can't support things like this enough ! Its great to see a small , passionate business run by two cyclists getting the platform to take their line to the masses. The line has some really great pieces. Personally, im going to go and get one of their printed scarves. So cute !

Anyway the ride was super mellow and fun, we had a printed map for our check points provided , thats' unlike any other alleycat i have been on ! Oh and champagne at one checkpoint! Very fun . The Guardian had a wee article in it today and i really agree , we needs more girls on bikeys ! Now then, get your on bike, get yourself down Toppers and get yourself some Cyclodelic!

Thanks Winston for the pics ...

Foxx and Me Choolie



Me




Hot ladies

I heart Joe Mchale

Joe Mchale - he is too brilliant ! I cant wait till im in america and i can watch the soup on the telly instead of online !

Fame at last ...

I just found this from the Ride site , fame at last eh ! Its a nice little write up about my leaving do although im not sure what emphasis i was trying to do with my hands! Link to article is here and photos too. it was a great night !


Kat Mackenzie leaving Red Bull…


Alot of the readers of this site wont know who Kat Mackenzie is, but no doubt every one of you will have seen an event she has organized or know a rider she has hooked up. Kat Mackenzie was in charge of Freesports at Red Bull UK and looked after both Kye Forte and Sebastian Keep. Kat is directly responsible for both of the Empire of Dirt events which arguably was the best UK BMX event of all time. We’ve got Kat to thank for that…

Last night was her sending off party at Red Bull HQ in London. Thanks for the good times Kat, take care and have fun…

-Robin

The perfect Californian swimsuit

When you are pale and scottish like little me , the annual purchase of awesome swimwear is quite the challenge. We need to choose colours that don't wash out the scottish pale, cover as much as possible without looking like a nun and still look rad. I found Pistol Panties a year ago, and their stuff is officially amazing. I ordered their Jane suit online only to find that they only had it in coral. Everyone knows that coral + white =ew so i resigned myself to disappointment . On my way back from seeing the guys at Urb - Orbis today about the possibility of some projects i popped into local Shoreditch shop Bordello only to find that they can find me the one i want ! Yay for shops close to home !

Im very excited !

Empire of the Sun

New favourite band and also name of one of my favourite films from the 80's. Come play London ozzos!

Lovely London Sunshine !

So it decided to finally be sunny yesterday on the last day of the bank holiday. Bank holidays don't mean so much to me at the moment since 'every day is a holiday! Half the crew were sidelined by a late night session at the London Fields so i couldn't get them up but Foxx, Ian and I were joined by Cp on her first day on a bike and we went on a lovely deserted ride through the city to southbank where we rode a few spots; outside the national theatre, by the millennium bridge and St Paul's. I was trying wheelies all day which was super fun apart from the fact i haven't got the hips quite right yet! got a few pop ups which felt so good that i have decided to spend most of today keeping trying ! Yay! London was so pretty , i am so in love with it when its sunny.

Being out and about meant we bumped into some pals .. First up was nate who i love and havent seen for a criminal amount of time! Then Ricky who i don't think i have seen since Empire ! He was careering around with all the Nike 6.0 team on a London trip. Talking of BMX. i checked out to see what Kye and Co are getting up to on their Oz trip and found this amazing wee clip they put together! Officially awesome.


On The Road With United :: Melbourne Australia :: 05.04.09 from Channel 4Down on Vimeo.

Je voudrais ...

GOOD-BYE JOE LIGHTENING

Ah. It's a bitter sweet day as i say good-bye to Joe Lightening ! He has given me almost two years of good times, but as soon as i got my other bike in August he has been relegated to the back of 'bike corner' in our house and was rarely used. The good news is that he has gone to my best pal and she will give him a wonderful home. I did him up for her for the transfer. which was fun . New white deep v's to white hubs, new white vittorias, miche crankset , front brakey sorted avec purps cable, new chain and its a winner ! I'd say add a new white charge paddle or a white turbo and some white grips and its' on !




To welcome her induction (which i'm sooo happy about!) and partly cos I have time right now to plan a full week for her i have suggested;

1. Monday - Bikey session around the "Iron works veledrome" . i.e our kitchen table
2. Tuesday - Riding her into work, coffee stop on way
- Evening -Trix in Spitalfields, can o kronie and noodle king.
3. Wednesday - Easties at the Royal Inn on the park
4. Thursday - Hang out with SBC and go for city burn
5. Fri - Sun - General east hang out , maybe even trip to Mitchison Road.

I'm very excited about this ! So for me it currently means just 1 bike which we all know is unacceptable ... BUT .. I am going to US of A for a while and If i can get my lovely friend Ted persuaded, then I'll be getting a custom frame before the end of summer .. C'mon Tedder, you know its a good idea !

AW.

Now, this has been on youtube for a gazillion years and I've just found but lets just all repeat after me:

"CUTE !"





AND FUNNY!



HAPPY EASTER EVERYONE

XX

Another sad sad day for London cyclists

I'm incredibly sad today as again the London roads have claimed another cyclist. In fact this now takes the number of cyclists killed this YEAR in accidents' involving HGVs' to 4. The last fatality was yesterday . I am incredibly sad as this accident took place on the route that i have travelled twice a day, every day for the last 5 years. I stumbled up on the scene late this morning after an appointment in Regents Park and what i saw made me cry. There was a stationery 'London Concrete' lorry in the middle of a left turn, a completely mangled bike and a rucksack still trapped underneath the back two wheels.

As a Hackney Wick resident , i travel alongside 'London Concrete' and other HGV/Plant lorries on their way to and from the Olympic site every day. These lorries frequently scare the living daylights out of me and know its time for the Mayor to STEP UP and do something about this. The city has a lot to sort out for cyclists & motorists. We need better education for starters . Green bike lanes in London are NOT safe, they do not grant a cyclist immunity from left hand turning vehicles. ASL boxes are not safe either, motorists and especially motorbikes always stop in them more give space for cyclists to be in them. Constant railway works and the Olympic build mean that hundreds of extra lorries are careering around our narrow victorian streets, not often with the knowledge of where they are going or pace of London traffic. We need education and we need to educate both cyclists and motorists - especially lorry drivers on increasing their awareness and giving respect and space to others on the road.

I'm not sure what we as a cycling community are going to do about it but as i cycled home to write this behind a non-indicating London Concrete Lorry i decided that I am 100% going to do my little part to try and make a change.

Like our Eilidh Memorial spoke card said: RIDE ON, RIDE FREE x

best birthday ever ..

So fulfilled life time ambition to learn vogue by Madonna .. sweet ! thanks to Sam for the photies !

rollapul-ow!-za

5 x 1k of hell !

I finished 7th overall in league but we were stoked on 3rd and 4th in the finals ! Go 'Team in your face, yo!"

matilda sansom foxx

oh how i will miss her !

Happy birthday ME!

WOOHOO, i love my birthday! Check list is go:

1. learn vogue dance routine with friends last night in 80s get up. check
2. Lie in with gato . check
3. take myself for bike ride.
4. lunch with the girls
5. another bike ride
6. coffee with mels birthday cup cake brownies
7. out with the bestest bunch of peoples ever. check! Half of them are at the brits .. boo but they are so rad and posted me a message ! Yeah timo !

Kitten and Cutters

A ton of bike has gone recently . Mostly due to the 'working for me now' factor and the start of british summer time ! YES !
Foxx and I did the Rollapulaza 1k finals last week . We suprised ourselves and did pretty good - 3rd and 4th and knocked a ton of time off our bests! I shall post pics. Foxx just got a new bikey too which is sweet - the volume cutter . Hers looks way nicer than this but you can see what the frame looks like on this pic.




I've also been hanging out with my best pal - Matilda Sansom-Foxx who seems to be pretty stoked that im around the house more. Im trying to get her to perfect her posing but she always seems kind of non - plussed. I love her soo much it hurts! This is me generally annoying her through the medium of kisses ..

Missing you already !

Missing me already!

Well after almost a decade with the Red Bull, Ive decided to leave and am out of there at the end of the month. I've had an absolute ball but i want to do something new- spend some time in the US of A and Canada, write my movie and spend all day trying wheelies ! As they are rather awesome they have decided to throw me a bash at our offices, where i will be able to robot dance to my hearts' content with all my pals. Im currently making them a double disc CD for my leaving called, "MIssing me Already" and "Missing you Already" so they can play my music on the stereo when i go . I created a game called 'The Hour of Power' at work whereby i used to play 80s power ballads and make the office put they arms above their head and sway along. They will probably miss that. Im not 100% on the content yet but i know that Lionel Richies' All Night Long will be the last track ! Ive ended every party i've had since 1998 with that and never had a single complaint !

Ghost Bikes

There has been a recent campaign to get some ghost bikes redone in London by members of my forum. Our safety on the roads has been on my mind a lot recently; fuelled by Mel's coller bone accident, the death of the girlfriend of a forum member and by nearly witnessing a fellow cyclist being crushed. London is awash with HGVs', all careering towards the Olympic site and along our narrow streets, often seeming to not know where they are going . For me ghost bikes are some positive out of tragedy . If the site of them catches just one drivers' breath and make him consider his actions more then all cyclists safety will benefit in the future.



(image from gorillaphoto)

New shop is nearly go !

Shop 14 , a new bikey shop is opening up just off Brick Lane on the weekend. I'm have decided to go off snowboarding and am going to miss its opening and bloomin ' Valentines alleycat too. Which is annoying, but at least it gives another slow person the chance to get DFL !

The list of what they will be stocking looks amazing and my friends over at fixed gear london are really involved too, including me Julie who has designed a T for them. She also has some of new ones on her Hell Yeah label . I shall mostly be wearing this as a dress , amazing !




Oh and note to weather .. feel free to stop raining, sleeting, hailing or snowing at time you please ! We are done with it now !

i love this more ..

my head is in a spin , my feet don't touch the ground ..

Wow. So last few weeks been a 'challenge' to say the least . A ton of stuff has happened :

SBC entered the rollerace league. We sucked but we can only get better in the Madison at Rollapaluza Kinspin 2 this Friday ... EEK!

Took new whip to Richmond park , lockring cracked .. on hill . Survived but had to get train home. Annoying.

Finally admiited to getting the computers "spinning wheel of doom" and "whirring fan of death" sorted . about to shell out £450 for the repair . Ouch.

oh yeah .. and my kittens' become a teenager and currently is over cuddles. Distressing.

oh well at least Beyonce is still awesome ..



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I said puck you miss !

Best thing to come out of Oz since brunch and invisible zinc ? Answer is Summer Heights High . Tune in !

Everyone alright for Sunday drinking ?

Been a really nice weekend of chilling and some riding. Got the new whip finished so im all happy with that, its such a lovely ride i'm hooked already. With bike 2 finished i decided to take a potter to Tour De Ville for a bit of a window shop on Saturday. LOTS of lovely things in there. Ian remarked that the ideal number of bikes is n=+1. N being the number of bikes you currently have. I agree, you always need a new one.

On Sunday we all met up for a spot of lunch at the Brittania which could soon be a new local. A quiet Sunday roast turned into tequila drinking carnage and dancing in the pub. Its was fun times until i heard that my little Mel went and cracked her little head again pedalling home. Booze pedalling not to be advised. I think im going to knit her a massive beanie helmet to keep her head safe. Get well soon mel ! x

Big bunch of trouble makers .......!

Cycle Chic?

Seeing the response from the London community to Topshops' new window display has made me think a lot about the what heck we all have to wear when we cycle. I have concluded that its bloody impossible to look 'chic' in London when you put the miles in on your bike .. Especially between November and March when you have to face rain, sleat , hail, wind, extreme cold and the ocassional ray of sunshine.

We all met for a burn last night and between us we could have completely beaten this guy in the layer-stakes.

We all tend to favour the tights, jeans , leggings, double socks, boots, double t , jumper, battered old riding puffa, scarf , hat and double gloves combo . You wont find that on a manequin in topshop i tell you.

I will however, shout about a few welcome additions to the cycling wardrobe which you should seriously get involved with if you going to see the winter though.

1. American apparel winter leggings .. warm..






2. Legwarmers - put the 80ss back on speed dial - they will bridge the gap between calf and foot where all the cold air gets tractorbeamed in and makes your toes freeze. Im keeping the colour simple though, lets not get too carried away !






3. Fleece lined boots . Ive currently swapped my vans classics for winter and am rolling in a black pair of vintage leather boots . Im holding out for a pair of these though - toasty!






I conclude cycle chic is hard . It also means you have to stash a second wardrobe at work and you tend to leave the exact thing you want to wear on a saturday in the office on the weekend!

Roll on summer when it can be jeans and a hell yeah t shirt again !

James Bond made me do it !

well check this out ! How can you not have a burns supper when Hoy, Sean and lulu have sang to you to make you all homesick and proud ? How could you not ? ! Ill ignore the fact that Hoy aside, the other two of them probably now live in the Bahamas and that haggis is pretty wrong and dig out the whisky glasses in a couple of weeks time ! 250 years old is very old indeed !

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Merry Christmas!

Just about to pop back on the plane after 5 very relaxing days avec la familia in bonnie scotland . Nice to not have an agenda and to relax with them. We haven't all been together for a long time . Went to local pub as i believe is mandatory over the period to play my favourite game of "Guess whose aged the most" . Thanks to early adoption of sun cream and cocoa butter i do believe that myself and the sister have got off quite well ! Now, its back to London. Hoping to get all waifs and strays together tomorrow so we can have a burn . I've finished the new whip .. almost ... so i shall get to it tomorrow and post some pics. Then, im off to the snow for new year , which im incredibly excited about . I only managed three days riding last year so lets just hope the cycle legs hold me in good stead . OH and the snow is good very good !

SBC in Huck Magazine

Rather amusingly we were recently in a shoot for Huck magazine . You can see the rest of the pics here

check out this its rad ..

J'ai casse ma genou ..

Im cycling a LOT at the moment and my knee is hurting . Ouch . I'm considering some lovely knee warmers for the winter. Purps of course.

In other news last weekend , the weekend of Halloween was one of the most fun Ive had for years. I had the luck of getting to go to two fancy dressers. Friday was a bit rushed so 80s prom queen it was and snow white on Saturday ! On Saturday the standard was off the richter so Ive posted a few of these. My highlight was Mel' who knocked up her outfit in about half an hour before leaving and was amazing. Blue Peter indeed !















It made me all nostalgic about Glasgow from about 1999 where we all used to get obsessed about Halloween at our favourite club night, Optimo. That place fully bought into the yankie dress as whatever you fancy (not a sexy witch,ladies). Good memories of images us all dressed up like Incredible Hulk , a Geisha, Nelly , Princess Di and a Nun all heading out with our friend who always and only used to dress as a cowboy . There was probably Buckfast involved in them days . In fact there was definitely Buckfast involved, it was Glasgow.

Anyway, funny how a little thing can trigger off homesickness . Im wanting to Loch Ness it soon to See padre and madre. I thought i would go to weegie to meet sister in Nov but apparently the train for le weekend is £300. Insania ! So ill be on couch with gato me thinks.

Sunday Times style !

Amusing write up but who cares, its the Sunday Times. A bible of mine since forever.

Looking 'ot foxx !



Foxx (second left ) made the Sunday Times style along with Em , Agata and Estelle.

wheres' dicko ? A trip to Berlin

So im just back from a weekend with Sam , Dicko, Foxx and me Julie to berlin. It was officially awesome which was good news.

We had to get up at minging o clock on friday (3am) to get to the airport . Would have been fine if foxx and i hadn't drank a ton of red wine with ians' amazing dad whilst bikey dismantling and trying to keep the gato out of our bike bags the night before.

We arrived safely though apart from Sam's bike whose chainring got squished on the way out (thanks ryan air). this meant she had to hire a dutch bike all weekend - thank god she does triathlons as bombing around on that tank all weekend looked exhausting ! I stupidly left my camera in the office, so i felt like id lost an arm most of the weekend, so many beautiful things to capture out there. So without many pictures to show, only thing i can really say about Berlin is GO THERE!

Cheap to drink and eat, super laid back people , nice pretzels and amazingly nice and well organised flea markets and vintage shops. It was my dream cOme true.

We stayed at the worlds nicest ever hostel . They even let us build our bikes up in reception

. I vote yes on it !

We also hooked up with some of the people from the keirin cafe and their forum . They gave us a wee tour on the friday which was jolly nice of them . Welcome in London anytime !

here are a couple of pics - ill post more when i steal some !

Tim and Gend rule ..

Ive just returned from Austria, where i went in "team mum" capacity to cheer Gee and Rach . Cp and i even made signs ! It was 25 euros and 45 minutes of cardboard and ribbon frenzy but i think it was worth it , i have been threatening to do it for years . I forgot to take a single picture which is very unlike me but we did end up on the dirt website .. not looking my best but heh, you cant win them all !




2 days of solid rain , 5 billion jaegerbombs and fun times,austria party followed by a stop for what can only be described as a "danger cycle" we headed to the red bull student conference where we were to present what we do to about 150 new student brand manager recruits . Only hitch in the plan was that i got flu ! Two days of lying in bed only to get out to do my presentation and roll my eyes at the carnage happening outside my room (no luck, i was in the room beside the bar !)

So anyway we did the usual when we were there and filmed a music video with the kids - a favourite of mine 'Together in Electric Dreams' by the Human league.

After a week in the mountains all i can think of is . God i MISS snowboarding ! Im really excited about it this year - I managed 6 weeks in 0607 and only 3days last year , such as my schedule went . Oh well, i have 4 weeks left to take this year so im plotting holidays with heather this weekend . i want to go to Bali in november for a wee surf and then morzine for hogmonay and new year. Sweet jesus, i cant wait . Im thinking as funds are the purps /blue outfit combo shall live to fight another year !


Talking of the soon to be ultrafamous and lending mee a tenner pals .. this is still my favourite music video of their ever ..

Meet Jim Lightening !

WOO HOO . I just bought joe a brother .. and he was cheeeeeap on ebays ! again ! woo hoo ! He wont look like this when im finished with him . He'll look even better !

summers over ..

Usually this time of year is when we start to think about snow and about the end of summer. Since we didn't actually have one i shouldn't be sad about the changing season but i am ! gutted . Also, my whole office has come down with some type of man flu which i seem to have contracted, gutted x 2 !
Another reason to be sad is that after 4 months in cinemas sex and the city is nowhere to be seen and i am thoroughly disappointed that i didnt manage to go see it.

Maybe its "the recession" that's making me miserable ?! Ill never claim to be an expert on such things but it seems to be an utterly self fulfilling prophecy on many accounts. The media tell us how bad it is and we stop spending and everyone pees their pants about it . Anyway, i went out an bought some rad patent heeled brogues in protest at the recession today . that'll teach you Gordon Brown .

amsterdammed

I went to amsterdam. Saw 2 fixed gears which is 1 less than the number of steaks i ate . It was so nice to get away , ive been grounded for so long i've felt like concorde. Rose wine, cappys, bikey times , pottering in rad, super well organised vintage shops . Es bueno.

oh .. and i met a new bikey friend ! We had fun !

what a cola crap !

Ironically , i just popped out for a wee can (never a bottle!) of DC and someone just tried to sample me with a rival cola with all the vitamins i would need for the day !! Seriously - all the vitamins ! In one caramel flavoured e-numbered beverage ! They say miracles don't happen ! I say rubbish and balls !


(NB - if someone wants to invented a diet coke that will come round my house and tidy my room and do my washing after im done with it then i vote OUI!)

No more !

One of my favourite people leaves me at work today . Yes , the Sophie More is err no more and im very sad .

She has given me years of endless amusement and good work time banter .
We have been planning for a long time to do a TV series Called "Mack and More - Girls on tour" whereby we would take a Thelma and Louise style jaunt through the best scottish distilleries in a lovely convertable car. Thankfully she is buggering off to work for a very well know 'sour mash whiskey' company so mack and more can go global . Freaking sweet ! You heard it hear first , im sure we will soon become the new hot power duo of TV! Shove it back to newcastle Ant and Dec, retire Fern and Phil, get back to radio Holly and Fern !

Today its all about the More, going to make her get on the booze train and get her wreckatronnic at her leaving bash !

big bunch o ?

I spend so much time careering around in circles with lots of bike geeks. Im wondering what the correct terminology for a collection of them is ... .. Hmm .. A gaggle of geeks anyone ?

everyone loves a montage !

Empire struck back !

Well , well and well again ... its over and it was seriously nuts . I was so uber happy at the end i cried -- Oh the emotion ! It was coincidently at the time when the Dj played Journey so ill blame that too .. good times .

the only pic i took all week ! BUSY !






We made a window with Kye and Oakley ! Kye and Gem came up to check it ! His face was massive in Covent Garden ! Thanks heezer !



Josh Stead .. got to have a heli shot !



Winners .. boys done good !

I'm in Devon and Empire is back ! Im excited like a mum at her childs' school sports day ! more to come !

She is be be back !

Goodness, explanation needed !

I had a fall out with googlemail but im back .. all seven of you that read this must be so pleased !

right, must think of something witty after a 6 week break!