Candy Cranks

Cycling Nation Malacca 2010 from Crank Arm Steady on Vimeo.

“If you’ve never seen footage of the Copenhagen people riding bikes during rush hour - get ready - it’s quite a site, as nearly 38% of all transportation trips in Copenhagen are done by bike.  With plenty of safe, bicycle infrastructure (including hundreds of miles of physically separated cycletracks) its no wonder that you see all kinds of people on bikes everywhere.  55% of all riders are female, and you see kids as young as 3 or 4 riding with packs of adults.”

Via Here

Video of Thom Browne’s Moncler Gamme Bleu Spring 2011 show at Milan’s Velodromo Vigorelli football stadium.

Via GQ

Love it.

mont ventoux fixed - the film from Free To Ride on Vimeo.

Some lovely video of Mick from I feel like a little kid and his ascent to the top of Mont Ventoux.

I’m a sucker for coloured lights and things that glitter, lovin’ these wheel lights.

Yesterday morning I received the following email from a friend:

Hi,

So we were on our way home after pedaling the new pedal powered parade float through the big gay parade, when the master link on the drive chain from the back three pedalers broke.

So the float is parked in a 24-hour parking garage and we are putting together a new crew to pedal home when Colin replaces the master link today. Pedalers will get a Central Co-op gift card and love, in addition to slack-jawed stares and whoops from astonished passers-by.

BUT! i’m trapped in jury duty right now. i expect to be kicked out once they realize what a crackpot i am but who knows?

Please reply to me if you want to get on board and i will communicate soon.

Sounds like an adventure, right?! So of course I said “I’m IN!” The rest of the day at work was spent excitedly bouncing around the office and grinning, waiting for the adventure to begin. I’d seen some of Colin’s creations at various other events like the Dead Baby Downhill, but I wasn’t sure what to expect from the pedal-powered float.

After getting a cup of my favorite mango tea at Trabant, I set off for the parking garage at 3rd & Stewart. Upon arrival, I sighted the pedal-powered float on the 2nd story of the parking garage, but I couldn’t figure out how to gain egress without encountering a lot of very mindless drivers streaming up and down the narrow corkscrew ramps of the garage. Thankfully, the attendant gave me directions to the elevator around the corner, and my puzzle was solved.

My co-pedalers and I hung around, laughing and talking while waiting for Haulin Colin to arrive with a new Master Link to replace the broken one. He brought three, “just in case!” Finally, the broken link was replaced and we were ready to roll.

We loaded up our bikes on the back and secured them, tucked bags in, set up the cd player on full volume, and took our places. As the shortest pedalers, Kashina and I took the outer two front seats, and our co-pedalers filled in around us. Colin at the wheel: “It’s just like driving a regular manual transmission, but only 3 speeds, and the clutch is a little different.” I laughed hardest at this–I’ve never had a driver’s license, and I find myself very clumsy at the task of steering anything remotely car-like!

Each seat on the float is nicely set-up with toe clips/straps, a water bottle holder (or two!) and within an arms reach of a nice loud bell. Joe and I rang ours with impunity at first, then only when we were changing lanes, or to catch the attention of pedestrians, or just to celebrate…okay, we rang the bell a lot, it was fun!

After coasting down the corkscrew ramp, we paid the parking garage attendant and we were off. Pedestrians stopped in the middle of crosswalks to take pictures, giggle, and point. Other cyclists passed us, shouting encouragement and laughing. As we made our way up the hill, people were walking faster than we were inching along, so some folks would walk a few blocks up the hill in order to get a better picture.

One cyclist couldn’t believe his eyes, I thought he was going to crash as he looked over his shoulder at us again and again. Finally, he pulled off and took a picture without plowing his pretty grey and orange SS commuter into a line of parked cars.

I expected to get a lot of angry honks from cars, but people mostly just gave us waves and smiles and shouted nice things out their windows: “You’re awesome! You can do it! You’re almost there!” and gave us a wide berth, despite the fact that we were crawling through downtown/Capitol Hill at rush hour.

We passed two police officers and Web explained that we were just taking a Pride parade float home from downtown. They just waved us on, which was good–Seattle PD has been under fire recently for their use of unnecessary force, as well as overt racism, but I digress.

After getting over I-5, we started to get hot and tired, but we were only a third of the way there. We started imploring passersby, “bring us beer! cupcakes! ice cream! custard!” whatever we passed. Finally, someone heard our cry and brought us refreshment as we pedaled thru the tree-filled triangle park at Pike & Madison, nearly to the crest of the hill.

Coasting down the hill to the Union Street Farm we hit top speed, >30 MPH–that’s ~50 kilometres an hour! Colin deftly maneuvered us to landing without bumping into anything, and our exhausted and sweaty arrival was met with applause and shouts of congratulations.

All in all, an exhilarating and fun way to spend a Monday evening, and I giggled the whole exhausted ride home–tho Cheasty Boulevard has never seemed quite so long or steep. Much thanks to Web and Colin for the opportunity to wheel their amazing collaborative contraption! I’m already looking forwards to future pedal-float events. Sadly, my camera was at home charging its constantly-drained battery, but Byron over at Bikehugger was kind enough to upload a video. Maybe some other Seattle cyclists caught some pics? I’ll add them to the post if you leave a link in the comments!

Keep the rubber side down,

Nova*

THE KEIRIN from Lfour

Saturday, local track enthusiast Lucius premiered the film he put together from the first Pro Series held at Dick Lane Velodrome.  It’s available online now for all those unable to see it then.  It really captures the energy of the event and the bumpiness and steep banking of our track. Enjoy!

I’ve been making progress on my wheelies. I even made a pack with myself that I will at least attempt to jump a few stairs by the end of the summer, too. Juliet makes me want to stop doing homework and play bikes allll day. [Hopefully it doesn't torrential downpour on my days off, so I can. Sidenote: Since KC has been experiencing cray cray flash flood rain, the HellKat Hustle got moved to next Saturday, June  19. Click here for more details about this race.]

After last September’s full-house fashion show and party at Merlin, Cyclechic, the after-party of Critical Mass, is back! The cycle-themed event on April 24th will be brought to you by the one-year-old cyclechic.hu website, having joined forces with MTV Switch and West-Balkán to celebrate everything bike and fashion related and show that long gone are the times when cycling was considered geeky and frumpish. The all-night extravaganza will kick off at 8:30 p.m. with not one but three fashion shows, showcasing the latest trends for you (and your two-wheeler) to savor.