London Nocturne 2012, it’s coming

Next week

Stroud Scramble- This weekend

A quest, a treasure hunt, a test of wits, ability, sensability, and laugh ability… all by bicycle

Scramblers will gather at Noah’s Ark bike shop, Brimscombe on Saturday 2nd June at 10.30am

They will receive a list of challenges, and will hence launch themselves on their bikes into the South Cotswold hills, aiming to complete as many as possible before the clock chimes 1pm

Many challenges will be based locally, so the distance you cycle is as long, or as short as you want it to be.

Completed challenges will earn a certain number of points depending on the skill, wit, bravery and/or foolishness required

Be there or be square!!!

Cycling in Italy

This man found this dog in a cardboard box dumped by the river. He took the dog  in and they have been companions ever since. The dog is now 18 years old and can not walk very well so the man carries him in a basket on the front of his bike. He was a very nice man and is an active campaigner  for making Rome a safer city to ride in.

Lago Maggiore, north of Milan.

This wall was inside a bike store I visited in Turbigo, north of Milan. The small town features (most years) in the Giro route and their is a strong sense of pride and love of cycling amongst the town folk. The gent that owned the shop had been a mechanic at 24 Giro d’Italia races. He had a picture of him and Moser on the wall. The walls of the shop were lined with glorious photographs of cycling greats.

Bella Italia.

We didn’t go hell for leather when we went to Italy, we tootled on town bikes. We rode down river paths and across cobbled plazas. We stopped and talked to fishermen and admired their catch. We drank from water fountains at the side of the road and cooled down with our feet dipped in the stream.

Spot the puppy.

This store is owned by an ex pro. He was very passionate about cycling and very fond of talking.I figured if his  legs work as his fast as his jaw it’s no surprise he was a pro.  The store was filled with carbon Wilier Triestinas and the such and their were plenty of lycra clad men with their noses pressed against the store windows admiring the top end machines.

This is Brigola. She looks nice as pie, but she is not. She is viscous and calculating in her impromptu attacks. She has drawn my blood twice. I forgive her because she is cute to look at, but I don’t forget. Her card is marked.

A trip to Italy is not complete without an obligatory trip to some ruins to praise the prowess of Romans. This particular spot,Ostia Antica is the site of the old Roman port town. All the goods would be unloaded from the ships into warehouses here and then transported the 30 or so km into Rome. I took this photo whilst stood at the top of the theatre. I also visited the bar where the sailors would drink after a long journey; unbelievably you can still make out the shape of the oven where the food was baked.

And that was my trip to Italy. It was a real pleasure to explore the city and the countryside on town bikes and take it easy.

Lusting after these

Damn, these are just delicious. I would like to get rid of my wire hangers that come free with the dry cleaning and replace them with a combination of the above. Ideally I would have the full Philip Lim collection to hang on them. Building on this I would also like a wardrobe instead of a rail. And a roll top bath with a skylight above it.

You can read more about these hangers and their maker here

Bikes at home

New road bikes

We have lots of road bikes in, please accept my apologies for the lack of pictures and info. Rob worships them so much he won’t let me take ‘rubbish’ pictures with my phone. Next week we will have an update on the road bikes we have in stock. Meanwhile it gives you a good excuse to nip into the shop and have a browse- which is always a nice thing to do on a saturday arvo.

The ‘It’ factor

Some people just have ‘It’. You can not describe ‘It’. ‘It’ is not tangible. ‘It’ is not measurable. ‘It’ can be found in the most surprising of places and you can’t really understand why ‘It’ is there.

Some say people are born with ‘It’, some say they develop ‘It’. To be honest I don’t know, I just know that this girl has ‘It’.

 

Bobbins Bramble

It’s just come in. It arrived today. Rob built it about an hour ago. I saw it 4 minutes ago.

My mind has been pre occupied with the idea of selling my 2 little shoppers and buying this for the last 3.99 minutes.

The Bramble has 6 derailleur gears and is styled on a traditional 1940′s upright.  .  The Bramble comes in Golden green and Plum (I think it looks a little bronzey) and it’s just so nice.
Imagine riding along in a bright summer dress and a huge pair of shades and your hair all bouncy like you had just stepped out of the salon.

Women your country needs you, buy a bike.

£345.00

Fred Perry x Angry Ray x Bradley Wiggins

I am sure you are only to aware that we had Bradley Wiggins, the mod cycling champ grace our presence a few weeks ago. Mr Wiggins was modeling the new Fred Perry cycling range and the photoshoot took place here. Just as the photshoot got into full swing and the photographer had Mr Wiggins perfectly framed in the doorway Angry Ray showed up on his black mountain bike wearing black shades and a grimace.

 Bradley posed in the doorway haplessly unawares of what lurked behind him.  Rob and I found the whole situation very amusing.  Ray asked who the fella was and what all the fuss was about. We told him it was Bradley Wiggins “who’s that then?” he asked. We told him he was a champion cyclist, famous world over. Angry Ray made some comment that I could not possibly repeat on here. And that is why he is Angry Ray.

About a month or so before the shoot in the shop Fred Perry used some our bikes for a studio photoshoot.  You can see more of our bikes and handsome fellas in stylish cycling tops by clicking here.

A dog riding a bike?

This video has changed everything. I thought I knew what I wanted out of life until I saw this. Now I know I just want a giant hairy dog to hang out with on my bike.

NB: I am not entirely sure cycling is particularly good for dogs. I would say don’t try this at home, not with any pets, especially birds because they don’t have knees.