Sobering Sight

I left for work a little bit later than normal today, full of the joys of the glorious summer weather and being able to feel the warmth of the sun whilst commuting into central London. Sadly all this was brought to an abrupt halt as I got to the junction at Oval Tube station to be greeted by a police cordon. Little numbered signs scattered the scene around an articulated lorry indicating what could possibly have been a shooting but, as I rounded the cordon, the horrifying sight of a cycle helmet lying on the floor made it clear what had happened. Once on the other side of the cordon I could see the utterly mangled mess of a bike frame. It was yet another case of a blind side and, whilst it is impossible to apportion blame when the facts are unknown to me, it simply underlines the continuing dangers of cycling in the city. No matter what the weather you have to be constantly aware and alert of what others are doing.

3rd July - whilst travelling home tonight, I saw a sign at the spot appealing for witnesses to a fatality. A very sad way to start the weekend.

Veliberty

Whilst working in Paris this weekend I wasted a little time in the sunshine by watching the activity buzzing around the local Velib park in the Place de la Madeleine. It's fascinating (and mildly scary) to watch people pootling amongst the erratic traffic around the Place as if they were cycling down a tree lined country road in deepest Burgundy. The velib park is like a beehive as people flitter to the terminal and flitter away on foot or on 2 wheels. I also saw the same thing in Bologna 2 weeks ago (prior to starting this blog so no pics of the more functional looking bikes) and await the scheme's arrival in London with much interest. Will Londoners succumb to the seeming ease of use in the same way as the rest of Europe or will we spend a painful year of seeing the creative ways in which a public scheme can be 'customised', vandalised or simply erased from the streets. Oh, for the continental mentality toward the bike.

The First Post & Tom Boonen

It's about time I started to note my observations on what is fast turning into an obsession - cycling. The pleasure (?) of commuting during the week on my Moulton and the thrill of carbon fibre on the weekends all lead to me wanting to note experiences, gripes and chapeau's. I'm nothing if not sporadic so don't expect this to be a daily journal just simply a cathartic exercise for my own indulgence.

As it's post number 1 I'll start big - Tornado Tom. Disgraced for the second year running (is this intentional?), it seems that our Tom simply doesn't relish the challenge of King Cav when it comes to the grandest stage of them all. Aghast to be seen going backwards on Il Poggio it seems that his need to become 'a bit more Colombian' has gone a tad too far casting a shadow over his hitherto admired palmares. The upside is that, when searching for a suitably crazed image of the man, I came across the site of Stephan van Fleteren and his beautiful portrait work including 'Flandrians', which captures the true depth of feeling that runs through the motherland of cycling.

Picture by Stephan Vanfleteren - www.stephanvanfleteren.com