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DANNY ROBINS: AN INDIE GUIDE TO... CYCLING.
Post categories: Danny Robins
|09:23 UK time, Thursday, 5 August 2010
Have you noticed cycling is the coolest thing in the world right now?
It ticks both environmentally-friendly and recession-friendly boxes and is surely the ultimate indie way to get about.
Top Shop even stock a range for ladies cyclists now, made by trendy East London designers Cyclodelic.
And for cool one off cycke jerseys designed by artists check out Milltag.
And with loads of cycle cafes opening up and trendy cycling blogs, this truly is the year of the bike.
London - City of Cycles....
Part of the reason there's been so much attention on cycling recently is because this month London has officially gone bike-friendly. The mayor, Boris Johnson, is of course a keen cyclist and July saw the opening of two of his schemes - a major cycle hire scheme across the city and first of the 'cycle super highways'.
If you haven't seen the hire bikes yet, here's a pic.
They're not very cool, which I guess is good as it means they won't get nicked. They're aimed at people doing short journeys - the first half an hour is free. Up to an hour is £1 but the longer you have it, the steeper the charges get - 6 hours is £35 and 24 hours is £50, so if you wanted a bike for a day or two you'd be better off going to a company that hires them out or even buying one.
The Cycle Super Highways have had slightly mixed reviews so far. Only 2 of the planned 12 opened this month - Barking to Tower Gateway and Merton to City. They're blue lanes painted on the road that, in theory, cars can't go in but at the moment as they're not city-wide London still doesn't have that feeling that a lot of other European cities have that cyclists can go anywhere safely.
Still, it's the first time in this country that cyclists have been thought of as something to be helped and not just tolerated.
There's also a new book out called Where to Ride - London by Nick Woodford, which gives lots of good tips for cycle routes.
One Nation on a Bike...
It's not just London that's getting on its bike. Manchester has the Love Your Bike initiative.
They organise a communal bike ride on the last Friday of every month.
A lot of cities are getting more cycle conscious now. It'll be interesting to see if it leads to better cycle paths across the UK.
Cycle Protests...
Some people get quite militant about cyclists rights.
In June there was the World Naked Bike Ride in 9 cities across the UK - there'll be another one next year in case you missed it!
If you like the idea of a mass protest ride, Crictical Mass also organise one on the last Friday of every month in London where they jam the streets with bikes to slow cars down.
Cycle Cafe Culture
Cycle Cafes are cafes you can actually take your bike into that often have bike shops or repair centres attached. This is a really new trend. I think the first one in London only opened in 2008. They're inspired by the sort of places you can find in Copenhagen and Amsterdam where you can have a coffee or a beer whilst you get your bike fixed or just eat lunch without worrying if your bike is safe outside.
With all the bike buzz in London, there's been quite a few springing up in the capital lately - perhaps it's no surprise they are almost all around the uber-cool East London area.
Look Mum No Hands! Is the new trendiest place in trendy Shoreditch. It only opened in April but it's already really popular. It's got bike-lock-friendly plant pots on the pavement, a cafe and fully licensed bar and a bike workshop it the back. When the Tour De France was on, they were showing it on big screens. They do a nice line in caps for kids that say 'Look Mum No Hands!' too.
Trendy cycle gear manufacturer Rapha have opened up pop up stores in both London and New York - which also have cafes and yes, they show cycling on the telly too. The London one is on Clerkenwell Road.
Other London Cycle Cafes to check out:
CycleLab workshop and juice bar, on Pitfield Street in Islington.
Lock 7 on Broadway Market in Hackney (one of the first cycle cafes in London).
And cool Japanese bike company Tokyobike have just opened a pop up store in Spitalfield Market with a permanent store and cafe to come.
Bristol has had its own cycle cafe for a lot longer than London. The Mud Dock Cafe is a bike shop with a very good cafe attached right by the river next to the Thekla - Bristol's nightclub on a boat.
And for cyclists attempting a less urban more ambitious ride, Penrith have the less trendy but very nice looking Greystoke Cycle Cafe.
Getting involved...
If you're a beginner and are wondering what's what in the world of cycling, you could do worse than checking out the Guardian's Bike Podcast.
There's also loads of cycle blogs. www.copenhagenize.com is the most famous one, but there's loads of British ones too, like I Bike London.
There's a quite a few devoted to cycle fashion - how to look good whilst on a bike, such as https://londoncyclechic.blogspot.com/ and https://ridingpretty.blogspot.com/ which features some very fetching photos of a burberry bike tool kit carrier...
There's a list of the Top 50 from around the world here
Reading the blogs you start to get a grip on some of the trends and issues within the cycle community. Things like single speed bikes (no gears) very trendy right now and electric bikes (a new phenomenon on the market).
Also, there seems to be a sub-culture devoted to helmet-less cycling - the bike equivalent of going commando.
www.bikeradar.com is also a good source of info.
Bike Holidays
If you find you enjoy cycling so much you actually want to do it on holiday too, check out Skedaddle who run cool cycling trips abroad. They go everywhere - Europe, Asia, Africa, South America.
It's quite nice to have a clear route and a set challenge with a cycle holiday. In the UK, a lot of people do the C2C or Coast to Coast - you can follow the route of Hadrian's Wall if you like.
Holland Bike and Barge sounds like a pretty cool option - no hills there either. And there are some quite exciting options such as Cuba and Japan - where you finish cycling on a volcanic island. Of course, it's a great way to see a country, you can stop whenever you want, you really meet people and you're totally open to all the smells, sounds and sensations (and rain of course!)
If you'd rather be a free spirit, you can of course organise your own trip but it's worth making sure you really know the routes you're going to take so you take the scenic route and don't end up going down a motorway.
Travelling around Europe you could combine train and bike for the ultimate green holiday.
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