bone- shaker magazine

issue #2 , a two-wheeled . Its forerunner was the dandy-horse, or hobby-horse, invented by a German civil servant, Baron Drais, in Mannheim in 1818; the rider propelled himself forward by pushing first one foot and then the other against the SUBMISSIONS ground. Kirkpatrick MacMillan, a young blacksmith from Dumfries, If you wish to make your mark in the fixed cranks to the axle of the rear next issue of Boneshaker or simply of the dandyhorse, and operated want to recommend people or projects them with his feet by means of two that you think we should feature, then long levers; this enabled him to ride please do get in touch. We look without putting his feet on the ground. forward to hearing from you. A German mechanic fitted pedals to the front wheel of the vehicle, and a www.boneshakermag.com Frenchman made the front wheel [email protected] larger than rear wheel in order to increase the speed. This was the so-called “bone-shaker” which developed into the “penny-farthing” when the front wheel was enormously © dynamoworks enlarged.

Well, its been a whirlwind few I’ve realised their story is similar months since the launch of Issue to ours. We have set off on this #1 of Boneshaker and we couldn’t ride, meeting incredible people have had a better response from along the way – not only artists, our readers, contributors and photographers, film-makers and stockists alike... writers – but also enthusiasts with wider ideas on how to save the The magazine has very quickly world via the humble bicycle... become a global affair. With or as Gav Strange would say, submissions from people who ‘two circles and some straight’. have left behind the normality of daily working life to venture Long may we ride together... into the world on their , some with no specific end point John Coe in mind... seeing where their Creative Director journey takes them. www.boneshakermagazine.com

www.rob-hunter.co.uk Contents Contents Brixton Cycles 4 My Beautiful Bike 10 Merthyr to Mayo 12 Bike Paintings 18 Meadowbank Velodrome 24 Holland, Spring 2010 28 Long Distance 30 Bringing the Sounds to the Streets 38 Ken Stanek 40 Dokumenta Ciclista 44 Crash Bang Crunch 48 Slowcoast Soundslide 50 Böikzmöind 52 ‘Augmentation’ 56

contributors adam faraday, filip k, tom simpson, rujina alam, edwin jimenez, ken stanek, taliah lempert, robert hunter, chris @ dynamoworks, peter locke, gavin wilshen, phil davies, katie t, nick hand, tom germain, becca voelcker, cass gilbert, gav strange, jet mcdonald, saddle man, nick souček, imogen, john coe & jimmy ell

backpats and handclaps yael ben-gigi, mike white, jethro brice, gavin wilshen, taylor bros & the bristol bike project crew

copyrights & disclaimers Boneshaker is a quarterly publication. The articles published reflect the opinions of their respective authors and are not necessarily those of the publishers and editorial team. ©2010 Boneshaker.

Printed on paper from sustainable sources by Taylor Brothers Bristol Ltd. 13-25 Wilder Street, Bristol BS2 8PY / Tel 0117 924 5452

Conceived, compiled & edited by jimmy ell Designed and published by coecreative / www.coecreative.com Cover image by taliah lempert / www.bicyclepaintings.com tomsimpsonphotographer.blogspot.com words and photography tom simpson www.brixtoncycles.co.uk

This, combined with decades of neglect, desperation and simmering racial tension, resulted in some of the worst rioting London had ever seen. Brixton, a district in south London, wasn’t exactly a place where people wanted to be, and predictably, property prices fell. For a group of bicycle BRIXTON enthusiasts, though, this presented an exciting opportunity...

Ken Livingstone, known to the One such policy was a series of dictate what happens. In 1983, Thatcherite government of the time grants which were made available this group of cyclists took the as Red Ken for his socialist leanings, for people wishing to start their opportunity and proceeded to CYCLES became leader of the Greater own businesses. open Brixton Cycles: A Workers’ London Assembly (GLC) in 1981. Co-operative. Workers’ co-operatives are UP THE WORKERS Bucking the right-wing political traditionally businesses in which Whilst the original founders are long trends of the time, he proceeded all the workers own an equal share. gone and many members have On Saturday 11th April 1981, Brixton burned. The Brixton to implement all kinds of socialist They run the co-op in a democratic since joined and left, there is still a riots were a result of the police’s heavy-handed stop and policies, including lowering fares manner, voting on issues which core group of workers continuing to on public transport and declaring affect their business, rather than run this fantastic enterprise right in search tactics, which backfired spectacularly. London a ‘nuclear-free zone’. having a single ‘boss’-figure to the heart of Brixton.

7 8 Ken Livingstone’s socialist policies obviously the shop-floor monkeys, were in total contrast to Thatcher’s and the guy in the back room is the right-wing beliefs. Especially when mechanic. But the lines are blurred you consider that whilst Red Ken in Brixton Cycles, and rather than was advocating and supporting the having people fit specific roles, the foundation of workers’ co-operatives, workers seem to work independently Thatcher was de-nationalising of each other. It’s like watching an ant companies left right and centre, colony at work, the only difference dismantling Britain’s heavy industry being that an ant colony has a queen and instigating the Poll Tax. That these behind the scenes. two ideologies could co-exist in the same country, especially at the height The ant colony that is Brixton Cycles of the Cold War, is amazing. In terms is found at the corner of Stockwell of small business though, are the two Skatepark on Stockwell Road, right ideologies really that far apart? next to the famous Brixton Academy music venue. It’s on the bottom floor On the one hand, capitalism is all about of a block of council houses that make making a profit. Is Brixton Cycles all up a small part of the Stockwell Park about profit? Well, maybe, but in a Estate. This slice of South London is different way, and in a way which is and always has been a cultural melting fairer to its workers and its customers pot – look around and you’ll see people – it’s a question of motivation. Maggie from Ghana, Somalia, Sierra Leone, Zimmerman, a 27 year-old from Texas, Guyana, Nigeria, Peru, Portugal, Brazil, has been working at Brixton Cycles for Spain, China, Japan, Poland... name a “ I honestly don’t think I have ever seen a bike shop as bustling as this in my 20 years of .”

3 years now. She feels that working as country and you’ll probably be able part of a co-operative gives you greater to find a small community settled freedom to affect your business. ‘Often, somewhere in Brixton. here, I feel free to go that extra mile, to work harder, because it’s for myself And so it seems appropriate that and because it’s for my customers’. In situated in this melting pot is this a more traditional working structure, amazing bicycle shop, founded on hard work is rewarded by promotion socialist principles. The shop floor is a up the career ladder, and with that maze of bicycles, and the back rooms comes greater pay. Sadly, a career an even greater maze of bicycle boxes, ladder is an abstract. In a co-operative, spare parts, tools and more, yes more, the rewards come in greater dividends bicycles. Yet despite its tight confines, for both you and your colleagues. It’s this place is constantly busy. In fact, tangible, and easily defined, rather than on Saturdays, when they operate being based on an abstract concept of their morning repair surgery, it’s not what others think of you. unusual to have a queue stretching out of the door as far as twenty yards This difference in approach is evident down the road. I honestly don’t think I upon entering and observing the have ever seen a bike shop as bustling staff at work in Brixton Cycles. In a as this in my 20 years of cycling. Is normal bike shop, you can discern the this a result of its somewhat unique hierarchy in a matter of seconds: that structure? According to Barney man is clearly the manager, they are Stutter, who has been working here

9 10 for 23 years, it most definitely is. ‘I read in a magazine, Nancy who was very scary, and that was when Brixton I think it was the New Statesman, that the most Cycles was in a shop the size of a shoebox . Coming from

1 2 profitable businesses tend to be either worker-owned Mid-Wales to post-riot Brixton was my university and or, like John Lewis, a co-co, whereby they’re not a my education’. full co-op, but the workers still have a real input in decision-making. The ‘equal say’ part is what people often cite as a downfall in the co-operative system. Simply speaking, John Lewis, a United Kingdom workers’ co-operative it’s harder to get a decision out of a co-operative than it retailer, is an interesting comparison. It’s one of the is to get one out of an individual. Taken from the view of largest department stores in the UK, yet it is run a salesman, would you rather try to pitch something to a almost as a democracy, with members elected to a crowd of people or to one single person? series of councils. Even the board of directors is voted on by everyone who works for the Partnership. The Although it’s inevitable that reaching a consensus about organisation in Brixton Cycles is somewhat simpler; something is going to take slightly longer than if the initially a new member has a ‘trial day’, and, so long as decision were left to one person, does that really matter? everyone gets along and they can do a half-decent The decision-making process at Brixton Cycles always Sean Connery impression and their taste in music isn’t takes less than a week due to their weekly business 3 4 too awful (a few have slipped through the net on this meetings and, according to Barney, the direction one apparently), they become a probationary member that the business is heading is always a popular topic for six months. Once those six months are up they that comes up for discussion. But are there any other become a full member of the co-operative, with the downsides to this way of working? Maggie seems to basic tenet of ‘equal pay, equal say’. think not. ‘There are always the inevitable clashes of

“It’s like watching an ant colony at work, the only difference being that an ant colony has a queen behind the scenes.”

The ‘equal pay’ part of the deal is one of the major draws personality’, she says, ‘but if you have a clash of for many people wishing to work here, and despite the personalities under the more traditional structure, 5 6 fact that the shop is located in one of London’s poorest who’s your recourse then? If you have a consistent areas, it actually pays on average 60% better than your problem getting along with someone, then often The Brixton Cycles Workers’ Co-Operative are: typical bike shop. This has led to a whole manner of that’s just human nature – you either sort it out, or you run-ins with other bicycle shops, with mechanics all end up with a ‘we’ll agree to disagree’ scenario’. Tappan Perkins (1) obviously eager to work here. John Farry (2) All pros and cons of the co-operative system Billy Prendergast (3) Barney started working at Brixton Cycles in 1983 and is considered, one thing is for sure: it is working. Jim Sullivan (4) Nigel Brook (5) now the longest-serving member. He says of that time, Brixton Cycles has now been running for 29 years, Maggie Zimmerman (6) ‘I saw these things around which they now call mountain and is very rarely empty. It is a fantastic and Barney Stutter (7) bikes and I bought one of the first mountain bikes in the inspiring example of working from the ground Mogford (8) country – a Ridgeback, I think... then it was like the road up, not the top down, and when you speak to the Lincoln Romain to Damascus. The skies opened, the sun shone down and person behind the counter, they will make sure Simon Bendall I realised that that’s what everyone needs... I went to the you get the best service possible, because it’s their Kath Roberts Sarah Weir Yellow Pages looking at bike shops and I got as far as ‘B’ business that’s at stake, and not someone else’s. 7 8 Nahtt and managed to get an interview with a woman called And that’s the bottom line.

11 12 Words Rujina Alam / Photography Ben Zen Photographic

My Beautiful Bike

My bicycle has had a hard life. I found it in a bush with a battered frame and busted tyres, but I was drawn to it because of its sparkly blue finish, oddly-matching and the charming collection of peace stickers that adorned its frame. Having talked about getting a bike for weeks, I knew I had to have it and so I dragged it out of the bush and over to my friend’s house. En route, I bumped into a man who told me it was a 1970’s Raleigh Shopper, that it was a ‘real gem’ and that ‘they really don’t make them like this anymore’. He offered to fix the wheels for me for just ten pounds and so I took him up on his offer. Almost two hours later (and after trying to persuade me to kiss him as payment!), he had brought it back to life and I have loved it ever since.

Not so long ago, I fitted it with a chirpy little bell which quickly led to me being called ‘ting-a-ling’ by the locals, have replaced the tyres with original white-wall ones and have attached a wicker basket to the front for my shopping, so as to stop me wobbling along whilst previously trying to balance shopping bags on the handlebars. Despite these various safety measures, my bike has been involved in several mishaps - I’ve crashed it into a metal post whilst admiring another girl’s jeans; I’ve skidded on the ice and grazed both my elbows; and I’ve fallen off in front of an audience outside a busy cafe window, from wh¡ch I still carry the scars on my left foot!

Accidents aside, my bike and I have had lots of adventures together. Last year, I dressed it up as a fairy and rode in a large street carnival procession and more recently, I have helped to transport my friend’s cat, Boris, to the vet, as he howls when he’s taken in the car. I use my bike on a day-to-day basis to run errands and to get to work appointments, although this sometimes involves riding it to the bus stop, locking it up and then getting on the bus. Amazingly, on one occasion whilst it was locked up by the bus stop, a cheeky thief decided to steal my lock but left my bike!

My Raleigh Shopper is the original city bike - it has been involved in a few collisions, I have to push it up the slightest of inclines and it is the source of endless amusement for all of my friends, but it’s mine and I wouldn’t be without it.

13 14 words Katie T illustrator [email protected] photography www.merthyrtomayo.org

e first began organising the ride as Change on this scale requires diverse groups a fairly small crew from a cycling of people to come together, to find common W collective called Bicycology. However, ground and to explore solutions for new ways we made our planning meetings open to anyone of living and working in solidarity with each who wanted to participate, and other people other. Through our interaction with these two quickly joined the process, including some who communities, the people we met en route and had long-term involvement in the campaign with each other, we hoped to be a small part of in Mayo. We came from different perspectives, that process. and there were many reasons why each of us wanted to make the journey; it was about a love Over several months, around fifteen of us laid of cycling, showing solidarity with a community the foundations for the ride: we planned a route, a solidarity fighting corporate power, highlighting issues built a website, distributed information, raised around climate change and climate justice, money, gained publicity, networked with the two bike ride supporting communities’ rights to local local campaigns, made flags and banners, created sovereignty, attempting to reduce feelings of a puppet show, organised accommodation and isolation that can often exist for small campaigns events en route and bought huge quantities of and, through travelling by bicycle, it was also about food. We also produced a newspaper to distribute demonstrating the possibilities of long distance as we travelled; it highlighted the two campaigns, travel without reliance on fossil fuels. explored the links between them and explained the reasons behind our journey. We set dates for To a large extent it was about joining up the dots. the ride, timing our trip to arrive for the start of 67 cyclists, 433 miles, 14 days of sunshine The social and environmental problems affecting the annual Rossport Solidarity Camp summer and 2 communities in resistance... the community in Mayo are not unique; they are gathering. By the time we were ready to leave, repeated across the globe in the places where over sixty people had signed up to join the A mission, an adventure, a holiday fossil fuels are sourced. They are the inevitable two-week ride... with a difference... result of our society’s addiction to carbon and an economic system that puts profit before people Cyclists joining in the UK met in Merthyr on May A journey from Merthyr to Mayo. and requires infinite growth on a finite planet. To 21st. As we viewed the town from the hilltops illustrate this understanding, we decided to make above, the scar in the landscape created by the our start point as important as our destination. mine was undeniable. Heading into town, we In Merthyr Tydfil, the community are fighting the met with local campaigners and ran a stall in development of Britain’s largest open-cast coal the centre; we talked to people about the ride mine. The mine impacts heavily on the health and handed out our newspaper. In the evening and well-being of residents, and the negative we held an event with local people, with food, environmental consequences of coal use are well discussion, music, screen-printing, and a paper documented. Some of us had spent time working cut-out puppet show. The following morning, we with the community in Merthyr and, due to the awoke to glorious sunshine and began our first ometime in 2009, the seed of an idea was planted. Inspired by tales of an Irish community’s ten-year many parallels with the campaign in Mayo, this day’s cycling to catch the overnight ferry from fight to protect their health and environment, as Shell (a multinational petroleum company of Dutch became the logical place to begin Swansea to Cork. S and British origins) attempts to build a huge experimental gas development in their area, a suggestion our journey. was made to organise a bike ride which would travel to meet the community and offer support. Arriving in Cork, we joined up with the rest of the

Several months later, the seed had grown into something beautiful (if, perhaps, a little strange) and a travelling The problems facing these communities (and cyclists making the journey to Mayo. We were a tribe of international cyclists made their way from Merthyr Tydfil in Wales to Rossport, County Mayo on the the world, as the fuels are burnt and contribute diverse bunch: a mix of all ages, backgrounds, north-west coast of Ireland. to climate change) cannot simply be resolved at nationalities and languages. Some of us had a local level – massive social change is needed. cycled long distance before, but many had never This is my story of our journey...

15 16 food, cook and clear up. We decided together the details of the events we were running and who would participate in them.

When riding we generally split into groups of under ten people; the final team always had a mechanic and took responsibility for carrying tools and remaining at the back to help any other groups with mechanical difficulties. We had decided not to use any kind of support vehicle, so those who were able took it in turns to tow the trailers carrying all our communal kit (food, equipment for events, tools etc). In general, it was a near-perfect example of the joys of working collectively.

The ride itself was beautiful; we were blessed with fourteen days of sunshine and the scenery was spectacular. We travelled up through the counties of Cork, Kerry and Clare in Ireland. We swam in ridden more than a few miles. Perhaps the fittest gentle rivers bordered by ancient woodland and of us all were a group of people from Spain and pristine lakes surrounded by majestic mountains. Latin America who had cycled to Cork from We passed along stunning coastal roads where Madrid. Not only had they already travelled steep cliffs met seemingly endless expanses of hundreds of miles, but they were also taking it in deep blue ocean. turns to tow a trailer carrying one of their crew who had an injured leg, and one of them was Travelling by bike, with the wind in your hair riding a fixie! Although most of us had never met and the sun on your back, you get to experience before the ride began, we made connections nature in a really special way; you’re going fast quickly. Living and working together 24/7 for two enough for it to be a viable form of transport, weeks is a definite bonding experience, and by but slow enough that you can still take in all the time the ride finished we had all made many the changing landscapes as you move new friends. through them. “Our rag-tag tribe of cyclists, with our trailers, colourful flags, and booming sound-system, made an interesting spectacle as we took over the roads...!”

From the beginning, we shared responsibility for The journey provided constant affirmation of why the practicalities of the ride. A relatively small we have a world worth fighting for. Everywhere group had planned the ride originally, but it was we went we were met with incredible hospitality. now under the collective ownership of everyone We had arranged accommodation in advance participating. We organised non-hierarchically by making connections with local groups who (i.e. we had no leader) and we came to decisions either supported the campaign in Mayo or were by consensus. Despite the occasional frustration working on other social justice/environmental of late night meetings after long days of riding, it issues. Sometimes we just spent time talking was a really amazing process to be a part of. Each and sharing ideas with our hosts. In other places day, we took it in turns to choose the route, buy we held organised events; these included

17 18 For more info on the two local campaigns visit: www.shelltosea.com www.stopffosyfran.co.uk

For more info on the ride, including a blog of our journey: www.merthyrtomayo.org

bike-fixing workshops, talks about our ride and the After two weeks, we finally arrived in Erris, County reasons behind it, and kids’ workshops. In Castlerea, Mayo in Ireland. Our first stop was Mary’s house, where we helped to organise a solidarity concert outside the we were told food would be waiting for us. Mary is prison where two men from Mayo are currently serving used to feeding the masses. In 2005, when the local sentences for convictions arising from their part in the community picketed the proposed gas refinery site, local campaign. The concert was attended by well over 100 preventing work for over 18 months, it was Mary who people and musicians from across Ireland came to play. manned a trailer providing everyone with a constant supply of tea and scones. We weren’t disappointed; We also formed impromptu “critical masses” when we were met by welcoming locals and an abundance leaving or arriving in new places. Our rag-tag tribe of of delicious food. cyclists, with our trailers, colourful flags, and booming sound-system (towed all the way from Merthyr by a We then cycled to the refinery site, where we were met tandem!), made an interesting spectacle as we took by dozens of cheering people from the community over the roads. In Ireland, due to the mass protests and some of the local campaigners from Merthyr against what is happening in Mayo, Shell has been Tydfil, who had come to share stories with the Mayo forced to re-brand itself as “Topaz”; a typical critical community. A while later we made the final few miles mass would therefore culminate with a musical down to the camp where we spent the weekend occupation of a Topaz garage. Passers by were talking with the local campaigners at the summer generally curious enough to want to talk to us and gathering. It was a perfect end to a perfect journey. we handed out hundreds of our newspapers raising Without doubt, the ride was a success. The two local awareness about the two community campaigns and campaigns felt boosted by the support we offered the successes they have achieved. and we received lots of positive feedback from people in both areas. We forged lasting connections and will Our bikes provided not only a mode of transport, but continue to find ways to work in solidarity with the also built bridges of communication between us and people we met. We all gained a lot personally, from new the people we met. Somehow, travelling by bike made friends to expanded ideas of what is possible when us more approachable; people like cyclists! We were people join together with common aims. For those able to engage with many people about our journey two weeks we formed a new community; we lived and and the reasons behind it and on numerous occasions worked together cooperatively and… it worked! we were told how inspiring it was to see dozens of cyclists travelling together. To make the transition to a system based on social and ecological justice we have to take responsibility Our journey opened up new ideas of what we (and for creating change, both as individuals and, more other people) saw as possible. On bikes ranging from importantly, as local (and global) communities. The act fairly alright to downright shonky, with no high-tech of cycling long distance provided one vision of action gear in sight, we demonstrated that you don’t need that individuals can take to help make a better world a posh bike or fancy kit to cycle long distance. High but, through organising the journey together, and on endorphins and vitamin D, looking happy and working with two community campaigns for social healthy, we formed a pedalling advert for the benefits justice, we also highlighted the power of collective of cycling. Random people we met along the way even organising in achieving social change... from Merthyr grabbed their bikes and joined us on our journey! to Mayo and beyond!

19 20 Bicycle Paintings by Taliah Lempert

Bicyclesare so beautiful...... and such a strong, positive symbol that they still leave me totally inspired, even after fourteen years of making pictures of them.

I started painting pictures of bicycles in 1996. I had hard to use all of the time and often I’ll use other just bought a bike on a whim and was blown away materials if it is too hot in the studio or if I don’t by how fast I could get around, how it expanded have a lot of time. I like being fast and loose with my sense of self and the city and by the power and materials. Whenever I return to oil, though, it’s like beauty of it. I fell in love with cycling and had to a homecoming. shout about it – make some noise. Visual noise. The bicycle always speaks for itself. I like to look Bicycles are great; so beautiful and such a strong, at it and muse. I like the way things catch my positive symbol that still leave me totally inspired, eye - the curve of the handlebars, worn bar tape, even after fourteen years of making pictures of the shape of a seat - the way a bike has become them. Some of my earliest memories are riding with from being ridden. I love the wear, tear and age, my sister in my dad’s bike trailer. He loves cycling suggestive of past journeys and that’s why I’m more and would take us along while he cruised around excited about painting used bikes as opposed to the countryside in Upstate New York. He thinks new ones. Sometimes it’s interesting to know the bikes are important and so gave each of us a good truth and so I research it. When I’ve painted 10 speed as a Bat Mitzva gift. pro-racers’ bikes, I’ve read all I can about the cyclist’s career and looked at lots of photographs And I love art supplies! Oil paint is the best; of the bike in action. But I also enjoy the lovely, lush and rich, and it smells good and feels not-knowing. I have no idea who rode some good to smush around. I love how it looks, but it’s of my favorite bikes but I can just feel it. www.bicyclepaintings.com

21 22 I have quite a few bikes myself. My two main commuter bikes are the Bianchi, that I’ve had for a long time, and le crap shleppeur, my newest bike, that has folding racks and a trailer hitch, which I use for carrying a lot of groceries, supplies and artwork. I also have a fancy road bike for dedicated road riding – it’s a steel frame with campy 10 speed, and a nice track bike for the track. I also have a street fixed-gear that was my first track bike and a custom single-speed that my boyfriend built.

I have a thing for vintage cruisers and have a few from the 1950s and 60s; a pair of early 60s chrome Spaceliners, a 1950-something Rollfast Space Racer (that’s awesome and a better ride than you’d think), a big Schwinn Fleet, a chrome 3 speed, the Fleetwood and a big Rollfast cruiser tandem, that looks like a batmobile with pin stripes and tail fins. It’s the mile-wide-smile ride! I’ve also got an 1898 triple that’s mostly for looking at and painting – I have ridden it a couple of times and might restore it but it looks wonderful as is and hangs in the hallway.

When I paint my own bikes it can be like knowing something so well that it is part of yourself, at once integral, deeply personal and taken for granted. Once, I created a large picture of my road bike but didn’t notice until after I’d finished, that I’d made the chainring enormous! It cracked me up. I also painted my street track bike with a zebra mask I had put on it as part of my Halloween costume. In the painting I almost wanted to keep it covered because it was so personal. I like painting my own bikes but I wouldn’t want to just work with them. I really want to describe and celebrate my community.

I didn’t have any bike friends when I started riding a bike here in 1996, but have made them quickly. Within a couple of years, I got to know a ton of messengers and was doing alley cat races and met people doing Critical Mass and bicycle activism and advocacy. I like to paint bikes that I associate with my friends. It’s a collaboration. I can get pretty emotional about that – it’s exciting to paint something that’s important to someone.

I love the process, not just of my work, but of most art I enjoy. Process is exciting. The studio section of my website is my favorite part. I started keeping it in 2000 and have posted photos almost every day that I’ve worked in the studio since. It’s cool to see how my ideas evolve and develop and a fun way to share my most recent work and interesting to see what people like – I’d love it if my favorite artists kept studio pages too.

23 24 Cycling in NewYork City is great. I love the hustle and bustle, the architecture, and sometimes even the traffic! I’ve got a lot of favorite places to ride. Long rides out to Far Rockaway Beach are great in the summer and the other direction, over the George Washington Bridge and up along the Hudson, is a much-cycled road ride. I raced at Kissena Velodrome for six years and still love the ride out to the track, winding through a bunch of different neighborhoods.

It took me a couple of years to perfect the way. In the last few years, NYC has gotten a lot more bike-friendly and has a bunch of new bike routes. There’s also a great new lane from my house to downtown Brooklyn; 4 miles of very low traffic where I hardly need to stop and I can get a good rhythm going. We go visit my boyfriend’s family in Northern California each year and the riding out there is so amazing that it almost makes me want to move.

It took me a little while to recognize the current because, for the last 15 years, bikes have been a big part of my life and most of the people I know ride them. If all the people you know ride bikes and then, still, all the people you know ride bikes, it doesn’t seem like an increase. But suddenly I realized that there are all these new bike lanes and tons and tons more people riding. It’s awesome! I’ve been riding up the Williamsburg Bridge, and at times, there’s so many people on bikes when it always used to be so desolate. I love it! There’s lots more stylish bikes too. I really like that there’s more going on here than I could possibly know. Different communities with different focuses on cycling. I love the bike culture here and hope it keeps growing.

I’m happy with the way things are right now for me, so it’s full steam ahead. I plan to focus on painting and to take it in a little bit of a new direction. I feel some large canvasses coming on, with a lot of really active, drippy, good paint. I’m working with a lot of my friends’ bikes and have also recently been painting a lot of hand-built bikes put together by my frame-builder friends. I love that my work reflects my community. It’s a balance to keep on making work and supporting myself with it. A bit like riding a bicycle.

25 26 meadowbank velodrome edinburgh, UK

27 28 text and images www.dynamoworks.co.uk

Originally built for the 1970 Commonwealth Amongst all this circumspection, a new and Games, the Meadowbank Velodrome was enthusiastic, if somewhat naive, breed recently rebuilt for the 1986 event, only to be heavily emerged. May 2010 saw the venue hosting the boycotted by 32 nations because of UK British and Irish Cycle Courier Championships. interests in South Africa. Weekend tourists caught fleeting glimpses of speeding racers throughout the city and Subsequent years have seen the track falling subtle skills on the track were taught by into an increasingly unstable condition but regular trackside officials. amateur racing continues, unabated, and minor repairs and maintenance are shared Comparisons about cycling often refer to between a small band of race organisers and the symbiosis of man and machine, and track Edinburgh Council. racing is surely its zenith. As Flann O’Brien famously wrote in ‘The Third Policeman’: Olympic gold medalist Cris Hoy continues to champion the track, which is where his cycling “The bike moved beneath me with career started, as does his father David. agile sympathy in a swift, airy However, a potential new covered track stride, finding smooth ways among for the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games the stoney tracks, swaying and might signal the final bell at Meadowbank bending skillfully to match my and the future remains uncertain. changing attitudes.” www.beccavoelcker.co.uk

If in Britain we made more cycle-path Holland, Spring 2010 provision, and prevaricated or titillated less...

I trudge prosaically along the Herengracht, This is not to say Dutch cyclists lack style – I Amsterdam’s dogs speeding past in bike baskets. lose count of the number of dresses, suits and ‘’ describes me well, a tourist from high-heels worn, and no lycra in sight. Cycling a nation still wobbly on its bike. is part of life here – both as a means to an end and as a pastime equivalent to the passeggiata. It is no coincidence that most Dutch bike blogs It is not weather or wardrobe dependent. Police show blurred action-shots of cyclists, whereas patrol and couples date on bikes. Women scoot ours show us holding our bikes like accessories. past singing. They hold phones, other hands, take-away coffees, umbrellas and suitcases. If labelling something ‘Dutch’ traditionally means it is less than it seems (Dutch metal, While it is true that Holland is blissfully flat, ...we might avoid seeming as indulgent Dutch courage, Dutch treat), then a Briton it is less British terrain but more British traffic and cumbersome as our cars. posing with a bicycle (think David Cameron) and attitudes that curb our cycling. Travelling is more Dutch than a Dutchman. between Amsterdam and Delft yesterday I passed miles of cycle paths separate from the roads. Omafiets – Grannybikes – rattle over Amsterdam’s cobbles, tinkered to scoop up children / In more urban areas, although bikes are grandchildren, dogs (in aforementioned baskets adjacent to cars, they outnumber them and due to lack of time for walkies), and groceries. make them seem embarrassingly indulgent and Bikes with makeshift trailers, buckets, seats cumbersome. If in Britain we made more and panniers append the streets like mobile cycle-path provision, and prevaricated or favelas. Here bikes are not the supermodel titillated less, we might avoid seeming as grannies paraded down Brick Lane on Sundays. indulgent and cumbersome as our cars.

31 32 words jimmy Ell map photography dynamoworks

Travelling by bicycle is a magical and mysterious thing. To feel the topography of your landscape coursing through your limbs is an invigorating, engaging and salubrious experience. It is a silent, clean and effective method of travel, driven only by your willpower and curiosity as to what might be around the next bend.

In a world where, more often than not, it is all about where we are headed – our destination and getting there fast – the process of how we actually arrive there is overlooked. Moving by bike unquestionably shifts the emphasis back on to the process itself and promotes a ‘nowness’ that is impossible to avoid or to resist.

And it really is no surprise how people are more likely to welcome you, quietly wheeling, into their world; on a fully-laden bicycle, you are immediately perceived as non-threatening, vulnerable and, almost always, intriguing.

So, whether it be a straightforward daily commute, an epic, long-distance trip from this point to that, or simply moving for the sake of motion itself, embrace that wanderlust, saddle up and get liberated...

34 May 2010 – May 2011 Jet McDonald BRISTOL, UK - INDIA

It is difficult to pack for a year’s cycle trip. If you wanted to take all the advice offered by friends and the limitless internet forums you would take a spare bike and a dumper truck of gadgets or, at the other end of the spectrum, a featherlight racing bike, a pair of see-through underpants and a Platinum credit card. The answer for my girlfriend and me lay in packing half an hour before we were due to hand over our keys to the guys moving into our house and head off on a year-long cycle ride to India from Bristol. Having stayed up all night sorting out just what we had to do with our lives, there was no time left to think about the niceties and we just rammed what would fit into our panniers.

Now we’re on the road in France and it’s easier to make sense of what we should and shouldn’t have taken. Trouser gaiters? Nope. Two pairs of waterproof gloves. Duh! A complete map of UK cycle routes. Eh? In France? No doubt as we continue on our journey to India from Bristol over the next year we will discard and accrue multiple items like magpies, each item randomly strapped on with bungies and bits of rope.

Ultimately the best advice to anyone considering a prolonged overland bike tour is to just go. Necessity, boringly, is the mother of invention and will produce whatever you need, usually late at night in a tent porch with a pair of pliers and a ziptie.

As to route planning, the main thing we did in advance was start the application process for an Iranian visa which we heard can be notoriously difficult. We didn’t get Lonely Planets or guide books, and have harvested maps, mostly, from Tourist Info. A month on and this seems to have worked. We have a small GPS and this has been very helpful, together with the Tourist Info maps, for staying off the main roads and out of the cities. Leaving our destinations to chance has meant some unexpected finds, such an eccentric village festival north of Paris and a ‘Lord of the Rings’-like chalk road winding through Normandy. If there has to be one rule for relaxed overland cycling, it must be “stay out of the cities.”

One thing I would recommend people do, whether they are cycling to Timbuktu or cycling round the block, is to read Dervla Murphy’s book, ‘Full Tilt’, the story of a young Irish woman in the Sixties who cycled to India from her home country on a single speed Raleigh via Afghanistan with a revolver strapped to her leg. After all the prattle about gear and endurance calories, this book is an inspiration for those who see the bike simply as a means to freedom and adventure.

My girlfriend and I are not bike nerds (though Jen would argue I am heading that way), we are just a couple of daydreamy folk who just want to see the world in the slow lane. Three weeks into our trip and only just approaching Germany, our daily mileage would make most Speedy McCreedys (as we call the brightly-costumed lycra-clad racers who overtake our overladen bike trucks) weep with laughter. But we are quite happy pootling along the smallest roads, thanks, and if we don’t make it to India then, hey, we’ll have had some good picnics along the way. And boy, are they mighty picnics. I’ve never eaten so much in my life. The legs are emissaries of the stomach and it’s ‘munch, munch, munch’ all day long. Pastry, pastry, pastry.

The bike itself is a highly evolved extension of the legs and has suffered the same aches and pains as the body but with more audible twangs. Talking of which, I currently have a twanging sound in the front wheel hub but I’m sure the Vorsprung Germans will sort out that for me... when, of course, we eventually get there...

www.biketales.wordpress.com

35 February - April 2010 SADDLEMAN CAMBRIDGE, UK - LEBANON

Some people dream of adventures but need a deadline to get going. I’m definitely one of them. So an invitation to holiday in Lebanon and some time to spare got me started on the bike trip. It was a simple plan; my friends and family would fly and I would wend my way down the Danube, all to arrive at the same point. Friends seemed concerned when they heard about my adventure and would ask me how much training I had done. The answer was always ‘very little’ as it seemed pointless spending time cycling around England when the energy could be saved to head in the direction I needed to go.

As the date of departure came close, avoidance strategies became more appealing, like hiding away in a hotel somewhere near home for six weeks and then getting the train to Lebanon. But my pride was on the line, so instead, I employed a few delaying tactics, such as it would be so insensitive to leave on Valentines Day. That sounded reasonable and gained me another 24 hours.

Finally the day came and I was waved off down the road, bike loaded to the gunnels. Risking a last look back, it was disconcerting to see how quickly the family turned and retreated to the house and their normal lives. The message was clear. I was on my own. The next few days of cold and pain across northern France were to confirm this reality, but then a breakthrough came as muscles hardened and ‘Weak Wimp of the West’ became ‘Saddle Man’ - he who laughs at hills and sniggers at snow, but is still a bit afraid of headwinds.

But of course, you are never alone. In fact, I made three very dear friends during my trip. They were Front Wheel, Back Wheel and Chain. We worked as a team but each with a different personality. I felt closest to Front Wheel. He tended to be a bit fickle; turning this way and that, never able to make up his mind, but he was brave and fearless and prepared to strike out ahead of the othe