I very rarely mention cycling on this blog even though I live and breath it 40-hours a week.  Whatever the case I’m retracting that and here we go!  It’s a funny old thing, riding a bicycle.  Initially it was my sport.  I dared not think of other forms of using a bicycle, such as riding as a commuter, or in normal clothes.  Why would you ride without lycra?  More commonly these days I think why would you ride with lycra?!  It is an adventurous past time.  One where you can have the thrill of competition and adrenalin, or simply just get you from A to B.  Likewise you can connect with your environment, instead of being enclosed in a metal box, and get some exercise at the same time.  I thought when I gave up the ‘sport’ of cycling that would be it.  Little did I know that there are so many parts to the gig of cycling that it really does suit everyone in some way or another.

Jan Gehl, an urban designer who played a big part in Copenhagen’s cycling revival talks about cycling as the way to humanize cities.  The more I ride for transport the more I see the wisdom in this.  Before cars bicycles gave freedom to roam to many people, then the metal boxes took over which from the outset looked wonderful, and in many ways still is but when you look at cities and the roads that dominate, as opposed to the people, it is hard to see why cars are not banned from most city centres.  Lately I read that taxi’s account for something crazy like 70% of London’s traffic, yet only account for 2% of the movement of people.

Thankfully there is somewhat of a revolution happening, even in London with the hire bike scheme where you can, for £45 a year use the Barclays bikes, placed at 330 spots around the city.  With Barcelona, Paris, Copenhagen and many other cities continuing to add these to their infrastructure I hope the revolution of the bicycle continues.

Lately I pimped my ride by adding white tyres, a white seat, and white grips to my fixie (pictured above).  It was time to treat it after a long haul of mistreatment in autumn and spring.  Dressing up your bicycle to make it your own, is of course essential when fanatical about cycling.

On the weekend I had one mission: clean my poor fixie of its 2-3 months of dirt and grime from commuting. The basement carpark of my building is home to many bikes. In the darkness I found this Bianchi Pista. I am not sure if it abandoned. Even though it is the size of a gate, I am hoping it is abandoned so I can restore it to fixie greatness.  Next stop is the caretaker to find out if it is indeed a homeless gem.

I miss my bike!  I say that to myself as I see a group of fixie riders cruise down my street pulling manuals – one handed.  My reservation to ‘snow ride’ on my fixie with 23mm tyres is fence sitting.  Shall I, shall I not?  Just as I type this I look out the window and see it is snowing again!

- Stephen James Joyce

Outside Dizengoff yesterday.

Spotted on Ponsonby Road, outside SPQR a few weeks ago I couldn’t resist taking a photo of this.  The number of pimped out fixies spotted around Ponsonby is growing.  Nothing I have seen is quite to this extreme though.  I love it!  The only beige I like!

This was taken with my old 1961 Canon Canonet.  The camera is appears works superbly which I’m happy about.  Now I just need to work on the photographer…