Candy Cranks

May 22nd 2010 - 10h00 AM - Merlion Park.
More info, HERE.

Mick from ifeellikealittlekid has been riding through South America and it looks like he’s been having an amazing time.

A small selection of some of the great pics Mick has taken so far.

Rio De Janeiro, Brazil

Iguazu Falls, Argentina

Argentina

Chile

Salar De Uyuni, Bolivia

Death Rd, Bolivia

Ecuador

Looks incredible Mick! So jealous See more of his travels here.

Mick already has his next trip planned, he’s heading over to do the Paris Roubaix in France along with 15 other riders from around the globe. The riders will all be on fixed bikes and the route covers 260km, 53km of that being on cobblestones.

Good luck Mick! More info on the Roubaix ride.

I had trip away to Melbourne for the weekend to catch up with some mates and do a bit of shopping. Melbourne’s a great place to ride, it’s flat, designed in a grid and it’s lot more bike friendly than Sydney. It not only has large bike paths clearly marked, it has great shops, cafes, bars and coffee. A mate recommended the “Seven Seeds” cafe which served up quite possibly the best coffee I’ve ever had. I know, big call, but it was amazing and I’m pretty fussy with my coffee. The food was delicious, the cafe big and airy but the stand out feature had to be the indoor bike parking. You could hang or park your bike anywhere along one of the inside walls, brilliant!

Melbourne has a lot a great features but it’s not really known for it’s weather, Tarn and I experienced every season in one day and what display it was. A beautiful warm sunny day soon turned grey as some ginormous clouds darkened the sky.  We were on our way to Pony Bikes and just made it inside before the rain came down. This was followed closely by hail that was absolutely insane, some of the biggest hail stones I’d seen came crashing down all over the city. Cars were dented, trees were shredded and the streets were flooded, the accumulated ice, leaves and rain made Melbourne look like a giant Mohito which was fine by me, it’s my fave drink

Tarn and I dropped into Pony Bikes to say ‘Hi’ to Sasha and check out her bike shop in West Melbourne that’s been open for about a year now. It’s female run shop and Sasha has been working in the bike scene for over a decade. The shop looks great and Sasha’s work is ace, she specialises in custom builds, repairs and maintenance.

Pony Bikes leather jacket by 002.

Sasha at the helm. Thanks for saving us from the Hail Sasha, see ya soon!!

Saturday morning we got up and started riding to the Richmond, VA convention center, hoping we’d find a place to stop and eat breakfast on the way. We seriously hit the jackpot! If you know me, you know I’m all about breakfast. I wish we had a place like City Diner in Nashville. Not only was the food great, but the service was amazing too; City Diner saved my life this past weekend. All photos by Keith Gallagher.

The North American Handmade Bicycle Show had a lot going on. There were so many insane bikes and parts to even name them all. I met the guys at Urban Velo, and they were really cool. I also ran into Ben and the rest of the Cinelli guys again. Here are some pictures that Keith took while we wandered around the show. More photos here.

Primate Frames, maker of the lovely Candy Cranks frames and other bicycle beauties like The Wasp, has a new website. There’s an array of new bikes on display including mountains bike, 29′ers, single speeds, fixies, aerotube bikes, a 24″ as well as the monster downhill bike he’s building as a personal project.

Check out the new site here.

Filming Myself in the Snow from Quarter Productions on Vimeo.

It snowed like crazy and I took the opportunity to go out for an hour or so and film myself trying some tricks. Shot and edited in 3 hours. Nothing special, just looks pretty. Riding bmx in the snow is damn near impossible!

5D MkII w/ Sigma 70-200mm 2.8 is my camera.
Efterklang - “Mirador” is the song you heard .
iloveqp.com is my website.
openbicycle.com is where i fix my bike.

A major change I have noticed in Dublin since I have been away is the Dublin Bike Scheme;  it is a bicycle rental scheme that was launched in Dublin last September.

Dublin City has made 450 bicycles publicly available from 40 locations around the city in a scheme similar to that which exists in Paris and done in conjunction with the same private partner - outdoor advertising company JC Decaux.

People are able to pick up a bike whenever they need it and drop it back to any one of the locations when they are done. A Smart-card system handles issues like deposits and payments. A Long Term Card costs €10 per annum (I got one of these in my stocking for Christmas ) or a three day ticket costs €2 - ideal for a weekend tourist! And once you have registered, the first 30 minutes of every journey is free, a nice touch!

The system seems to be working really well - I often go past docking stations with no bicycles left! Its great to see a lot more cyclists around the city!

http://www.dublinbikes.ie

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This is totally silly but I love it!

I’ve been lazy and just finished sorting out my great memories of bike trip to Australia. I miss the weather back thereee, it is snowing here in Nagoya today, awwwww! so I would like to share some pics of my holidays to keep warm here like the sumer time…

Riding in Melbourne is great. It’s really flat and everything is close together so it is easy to ride around.

I went to see my friends there. I met these lovely messengers at CMWC Tokyo.

The funniest guys in Melbourne! Gotta see Brian & Lane if you are ever around there. They know how to throw a party. It is really great to have cool friends all over the world.

Melbourne was over 37℃, I was just about sit down in the shade of a tree… then 2 guys on bikes came up and said “Are you Brian’s friend?” I was like “Yeees…” Mmmm, I recognized him by his dread locks hair from CMWC tokyo. We didn’t know each other, he is from Dublin and Im from Nagoya but we start getting some drinks and became friends. It was just an accident that we met in Melbourne but it happens when you ride a bicycle!

For New Years Party…

Swimming in the living room!?

OMG these guys were so hilarious! They have a swimming pool in the living room, RAD!!!

Ausie BBQ

Exploring the city...

Lots of good coffee shops in Fitzroy

NUTS! tee & Love Wheels Nagoya Calendar. *Thank you*

Thanks a lot  to everyone who made my trip so much fun, to all the great people I met who helped me out, put me up and showed me an awesome time. All the things made me want to move into Australia more. Im definitely coming back soon. See ya!

Don't stop! GO TRAVEL THE WORLD!

My Bike Journey to Sydney → HERE!

More pics of Melburn → HERE!

The man himself

Stefan with his bubble ensemble

Jay in his Best Dressed Luigi outfit and bike

Princess Peaches x 2

Lee, Sohpie, B (first girl on points), Oi

002 and Jewlz

Riders before the race

Mario impersonator

I had a great time at the Super Mario Track race on Saturday night, the moon was full, the weather was warm and Em and I were good to go in our matching Princess Peaches outfits. We rocked up to the usual haunt, The Cricketers in Surry Hills with Jay (Em’s boyfriend) who had the most superb Luigi costume and car/bike combo I’ve ever seen. Not surprisingly he won Best Dressed.

After much chat and bike perving Lewis (The Ringleader) came out with the manifesto in hand. After a couple of minutes Em had the route, check points and strategy sussed, she had her “I’m in the mood to kick some arse” Tiara on and I had a feeling the arse about to be kicked was mine.

Lewis gave the green light and it was game on, I looked around to find Em and she was already 10 metres up the hill and on a mission, “Shit!” I’d better get my pink sparkly skirt into gear. First stop, Harry’s Café De Wheels, via Kings Cross (Sydney’s red light district). I thought it may be interesting riding through that part of town dressed as we were, but all Em and I heard were yells of encouragement “Tutu! I love you!” “Go Pinkie!”

Next stop York St, via half a dozen flights of stairs that I’d much rather forget about and through The Domain avoiding concert goers on the footpath. Oops, “Sorry!” I got too close to the back of another rider and ended up kissing his back wheel.

Onto Wharf 10  at the harbours edge, this is where I lost Em, she was out of sight and I made the mistake of following another rider who was more lost than me. Quick call to Em, some general directions and we were back on track, up the hill to Broadway. Em was in fine form, she was up those hills like the Energizer Bunny, she was pushing me to my limits and I realised this wasn’t going to be my usual alley cat cruise around the city dropping into checkpoints to socialise and have shots of Vodka. After receiving lipstick kisses from the Three Point Turnz girls we were off to Hyde Park to pick up the secret checkpoint manifesto.

We were greeted by Susan who offered up a lucky dip that in my case was not so lucky, I pulled a ghost blooper which resulted in a shot of rum, yech. Collected the manifesto and away to the secret checkpoint to find the boys, once there we partook in a game of foot down to get our manifestos signed.

We were on the home stretch, Moore Park, Em was off in a puff of pink and blue. Screaming through the city, like horses that know they’re on their way back to the stables after a long ride. “Where is everyone?” It’s a decent sized park with not much light and a few hills. I was looking forward to flopping my ridiculously hot and sweaty body onto the hopefully cool grass when a child’s bike was thrust before me. One more checkpoint to complete, ride the kid’s bike around the 3 grassy hills, back onto the path and you’re done.

After a gathering and presentation on the grass we all made it back to The Cricketers for some drinks and tales of accidents and near misses. I have to say I enjoyed this alley cat the most out of all of the ones I ‘competed’ in. I don’t know whether it was the silly outfit or the full moon or whether it was because it’s the first time I’ve actually competed, and that was only because I was chasing Em. I’ve never been to an alley cat that has recognised female winners as well as male winners so maybe having that extra recognition made it seem more worthwhile competing. There were more girls than I’d seen before turn up to this one which was great, about 8 all up. B was the first girl in points and Em and I were the first girls across the line, the results show Emily + Meg tied but Emily definitely won, she totally kicked my arse and I’m happy for it!!

Check out Em’s version of the night here.

Some more pics here.

And a big thanks to Lewis and Le Pista for organising the event.

Veja and Cyclope, the first cycle shop in Paris to specialise in fixed-gear, have joined forces to create an exclusive fixed gear trainer.
- Made of ecological materials.
- Limited Edition: 384 pairs.
- Available in store from the 1st February 2010 at Offspring Neal Street (London) and Paper Scissors Stone* (Leeds)
- Pre-order at Paper Scissors Stone from Wednesday 27th January.
- £95

*Brainchild of Artist Si Scott and The Electronic Poet’s Steve Banks, Paper Scissors Stone is an eclectic mixture of concept store and exhibition space.

1:44 - Shibuya

1:47 - Aoyama

1:54 - Nishi Azabu

2:00-5:45 - Italian Restaurant in Nishi Azabu

6:00 - Specialized in Aoyama

6:15 - Nishi Shinjuku

6:30 - Koenji

Stella McCartney has released a nice range of cycle wear, she’s incorporated some of her usual style options, lots of seams and gathered pin tucks. I like the simple lines, the orange gilet is lovely, I would like to have seen a wider range of colours, maybe there’s more available in store.

More info here. Thanks for tip Prolls.