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