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We're with Marks and Sparks. We have lots and lots of shockingly expensive bikes and they've been surprisingly lovely.

And cheap.

Now that is a fucking great picture ! How far do you have to commute on that, and I'll bet you average a much higher speed than the Apollo owner.

Not far. About five miles.

It's only been in to work a few times. Mainly because there's a chuffing great big hill between home and the office in NW London and penny farthings are a little suboptimal for fast descents...

points and laughs at peekay

"Oh I couldn't possibly cycle into work, it's far too dangerous out there these days"
"It's not you I worry about, it's all those drivers"
"It's all main roads, there's no cyclepaths on my route to work"
"The roads will be full of people who can't take the tube today"

Shut up you whinging cunts:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/8092228.stm

positively incandescent

I'm Race Director for The Race Against Time, the only high speed, fully supported Land's End to John O'Groats event in aid of the Bishop Simeon Trust, supporting HIV/AIDS projects in South Africa. The ride leaves on the 21st June and we've had a rider pull out at short notice due to injury.

The Race Against Time is a unique endurance challenge, now in its 6th year. It involves a group of cyclists going from Lands End to John O’Groats in just six days – that’s an average of 145 miles a day, and a total of 874 miles in less than a week. I rode it last year and it was quite the best cycle event I have ever taken part in.

As in previous years, we'll be looking after riders all the way and your food, accommodation and if you can get to and from our London HQ, even travel is included. With multiple support vehicles, we'll be with the team on the road the entire day, providing you with all the help that you need. At night, you'll have your luggage brought to your room, your dinner cooked and your kit laundered. You'll even get a professional sports massage from time to time!

We normally ask for a commitment to raise at least £2000 sponsorship from every rider, but as there is less than a fortnight to go and everything's set, for the right rider, we'll accept a minimum of £500 and ask that you raise as much as you can towards a target of £1000.

If you'd like to apply for this unique opportunity, you'll need to act fast. Apart from having a suitable road bike, you'll need to be fit enough to complete the challenge and we'll need a deposit of £300. If you'd like to know more, please contact me at this email address:

fixiechick hotmail co uk

It's the ideal LEL warm up event, too...

Real men use sand paper.

That would really wipe the smile off your face.

Blimey. Chapeau to all of them - but especially Tom and Mike for doing it on fixed. That takes grit, that does.

At the offices of cycletraining.co.uk, they have old sets of handlebars bolted to the walls to use as coathooks. I thought that was very cool (but then I'm easily impressed...)

I have a black 46T 130PCD from an FSA if it's of any use? Hardly used at all as I tend to prefer 48x18...

They are £2 in decatholon, wilko & asda if I remember correctly. Mightve been less.

Although I'm sure that some are okay, in my experience, cheap tubes are generally a false economy. They perish, split and the valves tend to break too easily. These days, I buy Specialized or other good quality tubes and repair them when they puncture.

You do repair your punctured tubes, don't you?

Oh bum. My partner (who is a gurl) and I are going to be making our way back from John o'Groats that day, having just finished this ride.

But we're so there for the next one.

Cool riding, fantastic shots! Did you have to use a fill-in flash to get some of the ones that were into the sun?

Very true, Peter.

Logic FAIL then...

Old fashioned leather cycling shoes look like the sort of thing sex offenders would wear.

That idea is utter, utter bollocks.

We have no experience on fixed gears but are planning to go on a long distance ride across Asia for about five thousand miles on fixies. Is this a good idea? Any suggestions?

Choose Big tyres, strong steel frames, lightweight kit and Brooks saddles. Choose a fucking big tool kit. Choose Sudocrem, Germoline, Terra Nova tents and Thermarests. Choose lugs, 531 and cantilever brakes. Choose a fixed-free double sided hub. Choose flat pedals and powergrips. Choose your riding partners. Choose Ortlieb and Carradice luggage. Choose not to buy your bike on hire purchase in a range of fucking enamel finishes. Choose building your own wheels and wondering what the hell you're doing at the side of the road with a Spokey. Choose sitting on your saddle hour after mind-numbing hour, watching the miles crawl by, stuffing cheap shite food into your mouth at every opportunity. Choose rotting away at the end of it all, pishing your last in a miserable airport, nothing more than an embarrassment to the selfish, fucked-up trustafarian gap year students they've spawned to replace you.

Choose your future. Choose fixed.

charlotte on her penny farthing at CM. would have shouted do a skid, but didn't seem appropriate somehow..

I would have done, you know. Then I'd have ridden backwards and bunny hopped onto the pavement, before fishing a jelly baby out of my bag and ripping it's head off with my bare teeth...

1.spaghoops.
2.El Guapo
3.Eddie
4.Jayloo

1. badtmy
   
2. moog
   
3. clefty
   
4. kattt smells
   
5. Oliver Schick
   
6. 50/14
   
7. Crazy James
   
8. Aleksi
   13.Hellomiles
   
9. BlueQuinn
   
10. woman Tynan
    
11. Markyboy
    
12. Multigrooves
    
13. PicKle
    
14. el squire (we're in)
    
15. ev
    
16. mattty?
    
17. Stix
    
18. Brucy
    
19. Mettie
    
20. Temper
    
21. Plurabelle
    
22. Spins
    
23. samuelglanville
    
24. steves
    
25. marcom
    
26. Todd
    
27. jaygee
    
28. photoben
    
29. horatio
    
30. lal
    
31. murtle
    
32. a1astair
    
33. Pistaboy
    
34. Tomasito
    
35. Biancha\
    
36. Broker
    
37. Dammit
    
38. shootthebreeze
    
39. teenslain
    
40. Radius
    
41. spudger
    
42. Wiganwill
    
43. DMCZone
    
44. Lebowski
    
45. BDW
    
46. Hovis Brown
    
47. alockett
    
48. Hippy
    
49. Sharkstar
    
50. Cajeta
    
51. Ted Lancaster
    
52. Stringerman (north drinks)
    
53. brett
    59.Brows
    
54. Charco (SE Beers)
    
55. fred
    
56. billysan
    
57. Andrea
    
58. Balki
    
59. CliveO
    
60. wibble
    
61. 
    
62. Malwinka
    
63. Hippy
    
64. claus
    
65. stevo_com
    
66. Dancing James
    73.Ekomouse
    
67. flickwg -
    
68. Ali_W
    
69. Shippey
    
70. Bad Matt
    
71. Paramounted
    
72. wools
    
73. JonoMarshall
    
74. Gustav
    
75. Hobo
    
76. maxcrowe - west drinks
    
77. Lolo
    
78. d.mac
    
79. fruitbat
    
80. Bobby Dids
    
81. Tika (and son)
    
82. ASM
    
83. MAT
    
84. Donut!
    
85. Slaytanic1
    
86. Sol
    
87. bobob -
    
88. Archi Pelago
    
89. forms
    
90. villa-ru - vain enough to go twice...
    
91. PinkGottiMobbs
    
92. Aroogah
    
93. Buddha Fingaz
    
94. Dan(JDSH)
    
95. edscoble
    
96. Trip
    
97. supertony007
    
98. Fasteddy
    
99. Van Damage
    
100. Charlotte
     

That sounds like an absolutely brilliant plan. You'll have to push up Finchingfield, and down into Sudbury, as well as probably a few other downhills, but it might just work!

Are Joff and Kat planning to do it, as well?

Hell yeah. And my mate Andy, who has the best mutton chop sideburns in the whole world evah.

There's a modern one going for cheap in my local bike shop, which seemed like a fun possibility for a Sunday mess-about bike but you're now putting me off that idea. I thought it'd be like the penny equivalent of a BMX but maybe not.

I love the idea of the originals. I'm just a bit... umm... nervous? It's the idea of having to stop suddenly when nob peds walk under your front wheel etc. Aren't you in danger of flipping over that front wheel and face-planting from a great height if you reflexively slam on the front brake?

Yes.

Come on, you've sold us the plusses, what about the minuses?

^^^ That.

clenches

Apart from the fact that it's a proper old-style HOOGE penny, what made you pick that monster in favour of one of the 36" front wheel moden-style ones with pneumatic tyres etc? Did you try them both and prefer the old one? Authenticity? Quirkiness?

Enquiring minds need to know... :-)

The "modern" ones are just horrid, for so many reasons. The small wheel means you can't really pedal fast enough and they just look wrong.

My one looks fairly authentic, but it is in fact quite up to date in the way it's built. Original Pennies would have radial spoking (yes, really). Mine has sixty four spokes and is built five-cross for strength. The modern alloy rims and Greentyres mean that it rides well and is much more durable. It even has an inch and a quarter A-headset... The bloke who built it rode round the world on his!

If you want a homebrew Penny on the cheap, you could always do what my mate Andy did...

www.pennyfakething.com

I really want to see your ordinary in person. Where are you based?
Whats it like up hills?

If you can't make it to West Drinks one evening, come on the Dunwich Dynamo! Me and some other people on pennies are going to see if we can ride it.

Hills are... difficult. But not impossible. It's descending that's the real problem.

It looks fantastic Charlotte!! :-)

Perhaps it's the sunshine in so many of the shots, perhaps it's your smile, but you make that look like BIG FUN. And I can completely ID with passing cars smiling - I was a little surprised not to see peds staring after the two of you in half the shots.

Couple of questions for you though...

What's the ride like, in terms of (dis)comfort?

Since I bought one of these, not so bad at all. You're very upright and it's quite tough on the sit-bones. Mind you, it's a very involving ride - you're using your arms, your legs and your whole body to muscle the thing along the road. Ten miles onna penny is hard work!

And how much is a new wheel set, if you had a spill?

It would have to be a pretty bad smash to bend up the wheel so bad that it couldn't be repaired. I think if I had that sort of spill, I'd be more worried about mending me first.

Either way, less than an Arraspok I'd have thought...

Great video, Charlotte!

Now ... why did you need to get your bike home on the Tube again ... ? ;)

Erm, 'cos I couldn't ride it a month ago and I was shitscared...?

Can you trackstand an ordinary, and why no bottle cage?

I can't trackstand a regular fixed wheel bike, so no chance on an Ordinary. There are no cages, 'cos riding one-handed isn't really possible. I'll keep my drinks in my bag.

What are your gearwheel inches, by the way? Your rear wheel looks extra tiny, but perhaps that's only the perspective of being filmed from the front.

The big wheel is 49". The little one is Brompton-sized. Both with solid tyres, of course (so the back one looks even smaller...)