July Critical Mass

Oh well. I've done it again. The good old friday night bike ride around central London. "Less cars, more bikes!"
Ok, so it's all becoming very similar now. Same route, escorted by a troupe of policemen on bikes. Same old hippy bikers. It's still tons of fun though and the mobile sound systems add a few lively beats to the ride. It was all very peaceful tonight - apart from a poor guy who decided to stage a sitting protest in the middle of Clerkenwell Rd, on his own. Bless him, he soon realised he was better off on his bike than off it.
Going past the Foundry, we were greeted and cheered by a mass of couriers and fixie enthusiasts, all waiting for us to clear off and start their alleycat race. Quite an impressive band of guys -and girls- they are. All a bit scary, just far too serious bikers.
Well the highlight of this fairly uneventful ride was the appearance of the wonderful filmmaker, Lucas Brunelle, whizzing past on his sexy bike, with a double camera attached to his helmet. Nice.... I bet he'll be following alleycat later and I can't wait to see his next video on youtube. If I'm lucky, there might even be a glimpse of me in the background taking pictures. I doubt it.
Second highlight of the evening: a super smooth, super quick ride back home, crossing paths with a couple of alleycat racers, going ridiculously fast. Ah, the joys of inner city cycling on a friday night....

narrow minded f****r

I don't like swearing that much, but sometimes it's good to just let it all out. I know a few patronising people out there, I know some people just like to feel in power, but this is just really pathetic. Ok, so here's the story. Sunday afternoon, Clerkenwell, Roseberry avenue. The whole area is cut off to traffic for a street festival. Roads are clear of cars, cyclists are free to go down Roseberry avenue. So I reach the traffic lights at Mount Pleasant. No cars, so I don't stop at the red light. A delightful cop in a high-vis jacket, with obviously nothing else to do that day, whistles and shouts 'stop - now'! Next to him, another biker (who I later realised had just been lectured by that cop), red and puffy. So, not quite getting what he was on about, and quite naively, I stop. 'off your bike!' 'come here'. 'now!". WTF??? What's the aggressive tone for on such a beautiful day? Still not quite getting it, I laugh, thinking the guy must be off his head. Not one car in sight, it's been sunny all day after weeks of rain, the guy can't be serious. And then he gets into a long, pathetic lecture on how I -like the other poor cyclist- just went through a red light, why should he be paying his taxes to see people like me have accidents (isn't that my problem, not his?), he threatens to arrest me (laughing didn't do me any favours) and starts shouting out loud - 'what makes you so special as a cyclist??'. Twice. Pedestrians walk past, laughing and wondering what can possibly be wrong with him. The guy seriously has issues. Just get a life, get on a bike and stop harassing cyclists for going through red lights when roads are blocked off and they aren't endangering anyone. Humiliating and narrow minded bastard. I'm convinced not all cops are like him - but what an utterly annoying man.

I'll be doing my bit for all the cyclists out there and joining critical mass again this friday - any good excuse to go through a few red lights and piss off a few cops and cars.

compromising

I need to make a compromise. I love cycling - it's my main mode of transport. I love yoga - it's now one of my main interests. Cycling tightens up hamstrings, knees and thighs, which in turn makes stretching harder and more challenging. So basically, the increasing time I spend practising just ends up counterbalancing the damage I inflict to my legs. However, in turn, cycling strengthens legs, which gives more power in some postures. So what do I do? Do I need to choose between two equally important activities? I choose to keep on riding and keep on stretching. I love challenges, so let's see how long I can keep this one up. Don't yogis also travel on bikes?