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As I wrote to the editor yesterday before the article went to print:
"Hi Lucy,
I've been talking to Alice about your fixed gear piece. Firstly let me say that I'm happy that it sounds like someone is writing a positive piece about the culture and also 'm happy to be a part of that.
But, I've been supplying photos to the photo desk and it's gotten me a bit worried. As you know the media seems to give lots of inches to lollipop ladies complaining about cyclists while giving less inches to the fact that two messengers were just hit last week by HGV's (one may never walk again) and another commuter cyclist was just killed. So it worries me when someone gets excited about "brakeless fixies".
Fixed Gear doesn't equal riding brakeless, it's a misnomer. The drive shaft on a fixed gear bike counts for a brake. This is why while it is the law to ride with two working mechanical brakes fixed gear's can be ridden with only one hand brake. Working the drive shaft by providing resistance with your legs is a brake.
Also it is not the majority of fixed riders that "ride brakeless" (meaning a hand brake).So looking for photos that are showing only brakeless bikes may give a wrong and prejudicial viewpoint to the average reader.
Feel free to call and discuss this, I know you're on deadline. And like I said, I'm looking forward to some great Sunday reading tomorrow!
Roxy"
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JOL
Bret's Gravity bike.
oops didn't see this.
So it's a sled.
Leather Jacket, Slip on canvas vans. Erm.
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OCD [quote]Hammo Fastboy cycles, Ezra's Girl.
She is track standing on a bed![/quote]
What you can't see is the hand frame left holding her up.
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Why big fat disc brakes if there's no way to make it go? I don't understand.
Do you sit and do a sort of Fred Flintstone kinda thing? -
dude, seriously sue!
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I called the cops when my flat mate and I spotted her stolen laptop on gumtree (it had a visible scratch).
They said buy it. It turned out not to be hers (scratch on wrong side) so we never followed through.I say exactly what you said, go buy the bike, tell the cops your going to. I'd be very tough on the cops and say that "I can either bring every bike lover I know, or the cops can come with".
I wouldn't be that confrontational with the thief. I'd probably just buy it and eat it. Though I would try to them at their place or say when I get there that I need a receipt for my taxes.Once you've bought stolen goods from someone, they can be charged with selling them.
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did it lose it's handlebars in the war?
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Last night I missed the Arty Cat because I was shooting the Cambridge vs Oxford Rugby match. I was getting texts about the race and missing everyone. A rugby player hit on me saying "Have you worked up the courage to ask for my number yet" and it made me realize I haven't had to deal with a proper tw*t male in a long time.
That made me love you guys more!.....however the previous conversation is slowly wearing that extra love down a bit..... ;-)
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thanks Chris, I thought putting all that juicy info up for debate would stimulate. apparently no one noticed. Ah well, I had a really good night.
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winston [quote]roxy The best aid to being a good rider is being good at it, equipment is secondondary.
So true, didn't Lance say something like that too???[/quote]
Yeah, when he lost his ball.
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So I can honestly say that this was a highly enjoyable night, that the Mayor was incredibly candid and unrehearsed, that while political it was not politicized and that the members of assembly that appeared for questions as well were very helpful.
I dragged Tramps along for moral support and honestly to not be bored to tears but even he enjoyed himself (I was pretty sure he'd plug in his ipod when the talking started).
I didn't get to ask my bike questions as the way the night was set up they gave 20 minutes to each topic (crime, transport, olympics, etc). However I filled out both Tramps and my questionaires and they have promised answers to all of them within six weeks so I will post the answers when I receive them.
I would highly recommend going to one of these nights. It was entertaining and truly informative.
Ken was very candid about what parts of London ways he finds crap and what he's really fighting for. He took a lot of heat and treated the questions with respect. Honestly giving lots of answers that I would find most politicians to be scared of.
He will sue all the way through the UK and EU courts before ever seeing another runway built in Heathrow.
He insulted the Evening Standard (they sent a journalist to question him! wankers!)
He insulted the BNP rep who showed up.
He thinks chewing gum companies should have to pay for street cleaning.
He took a lot of heat over free newspapers but only has control over Metro existing.
He handled the proper crazies that showed up with respect (including the blind guy that could blatantly see!)
Has very mixed feeling about the Oxford Street tram as he agrees Oxford St is embarrassing and basically a bus garage but that it would put lots of pressure on Wigmore Street, etc...
One amazing big Jamaican lady asked if bus drivers were trained properly (all the stopping and starting and braking and honking) it was hilarious! Ken said that they employ mystery passengers to ride the buses and report on the drivers. He honestly hooked this lady up with who hanldes that and asked her to apply. I think we should all do that!In regards to the Olympics I did get a chance to ask a question. I said that I used to cycle in Lea Valley and that it was a beautiful blank green space full of wildlife and that building on that goes against his claims about protecting the environment. His answer didn't please me but he said that, while it may have been pretty it was some of the most polluted land in Britain and that the Olympics is cleaning all the Mercury etc out of the land. Had I had a rebuttal I probably would of said that turning it into allotments, etc would have allowed for that as well.
As for cycling,
I still don't know if he has a clue. However there were so many cyclists there! He's very sure of the whole rent-a-bike plan. His goal is 10% of trips in London to be by bike and thinks it's possible. No other cyclists asked questions regarding HGV's, media attitude, etc...
However one mother who brought her teenage son there was terrific. Said she always cycled with him when he was little and kept him on the pavement (and still would, f*ck the fines), She said that if he wants to compare London to other European cities (which he had done when talking about percentage of trips) he should stop prosecuting RL Jumping and allow bikes to turn left on red like the other major cities he mentioned do. She pointed out an intersection [Tramps can you remember which one?] and he took addresses and said he'd look into it.I am disappointed I didn't get to ask my bike questions but I was satisfied by the night. AND if I was allowed to vote in this country (where I've paid taxes for 6 years goddammit!!!) I would vote to keep Ken as London's mayor in a second.
The most interesting things he said overall for me was his introduction. He explained that whoever the next Mayor is will have more control, rights, and access to budget than ever before as government will be handing lots of power to the Mayor. That the next mayor will have an extremely important role, perhaps more important than any other time in regards to everything from building new homes to the environment to the olympics, etc.. His plans for this seemed to be based in a true knowledge of what London needs and what the actual Londoners want.
The host asked the assembly if their was one change that should be made in how the Mayor works with the assembly what would it be.
Answer: The Mayor only needs 9 out of 25 votes to pass his budget. Because of this he is able to 'bribe' people like the Greens for votes by offering them more power somewhere else. the assembly guy Peter Hulme [one london] said a simple majority is better.My personal opinion was that since it's easier to 'bribe' the smaller independent parties than the big ones perhaps this is actually good becasue it gives the smaller parties a bit more power. But Hulme is from One London, a small party so maybe not...
He said that had the Mayor have to answer more to the government/assembly he never could have introduced the c charge, etc...
I'll keep posting other topics as I think of them. I know it was going to be broadcasted on TV and Radio so you could check it out. It was fun and informative to go.
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I want it!!
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trampsparadise [quote]pj [quote]trampsparadise [quote]pj life of a messenger:
lay in bed past three or four 'snoozes' from alarm.
get up,
call into your controller and say your on the road
eat 3 breakfasts consisting of carbs, carbs, and carbs. Add soya milk or whatever is this weeks idea for maximum energy, minimum waste.
wait for job.
listen to hardcore techno, old school punk rock and/or hip-hop on your ipod to get in the mood, OR read some psuedo-political/transcendental/spiritual book that allows for rationalization of lifestyle.
wait for job.
put on the same carefully colour co-ordinated outfit, jersey, black 3/4 length trousery combo, black shoes that you wore yesterday, and the day before,and the one before that. Though socks may be changed.
wait for job.
If it's winter stuff shoes with paper. If it's summer, spring, winter, or fall, curse yourself for forgetting to put gloves, shoe liners, etc on radiator to dry the night before.
wait for job.
check your email, surf the web, text your mates on your company's XDA,
wait for job.
pack bag to weigh at least 5 pounds before even picking up first package of the day. curse yourself for forgetting to take out yesterday's (last week's) now smushed food from bag.
get first job of the day.
ride around town, not being paid properly for your wealth of knowledge of London's streets and you can only laugh when black cabbie asks you for directions OR ride around town stealing work off of skilled knowledgeable couriers while you think you're being cool by being a 'real-life messenger' but you quit come winter.
Go to pub, talk about near misses and bike parts. Drink beer like it's the holy grail.
don't even bother to wonder if you even have unique proletariat values
get hit one too many times, learn a trade, move into a profession = quit.
become a controller = quit
die = quit
game over..[/quote]
There, corrected.[/quote]
wife and girlfriend's point of view
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Ok, well even though we've got some terrific brains on the case here, I will still be going tonight, and I find it depressing that I still have a ticket available.
I'm off to town now so call me if you want to be pro active with me.If you don't want to ask a question I am more than happy to have you come along just for moral support and if you get picked I'll ask the question for you!
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Ok, the Trixie's have our official team ready to enter!
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The best aid to being a good rider is being good at it, equipment is secondondary, let's shut down the forum, all this talk about gear is totally useless.
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Having gone to the bbc3 tv listings, which are amusing, I believe the 'plus size girl' show is actually called Find Me That Face.
I heart lily allen
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MrSmith "just preferred the ergonomics, features and glass."
why do people call lenses "glass" ?
been in the photography business 15 years and never heard a photographer call lenses "glass". i guess it's a geek forum thing like the word "fixie" which is equally obnoxious :-)You are an active member of an internet-based bicycle community, geek is relative.
As for the term 'glass' it's an incredibly important term and not one that is used instead of another term. The glass that goes into a lens is very important. The quality of it means more to a camera than just about any other single part of a camera.
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do you need a ticket?
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ha! We're actually trying to egg the star of the show into telling as we've been bribed to secrecy. Maybe she'll come out on here!?!?
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Whew, I was worried I'd actually have to attend tomorrow.
Hey Velocity Boy, thanks for getting Red Ken's spokesman to come to us! That's service!!
LFGSS
London Fixed Gear and Single-Speed is a community of fixed gear and single-speed cyclists.
Alice was incredibly nice when I talked to her. She seemed very interested and seemed genuinely concerned with getting the piece right. Until getting specific photo requests and seeing where it was headed I was excited about the article. She made it clear she didn't have final edit.
As you may have noticed they didn't use one of my photos nor any of the other photographer's work I sent them to. New York, WTF?
When I called Alice on saturday with my concerns she immediately put me in touch with her editor. Her editor, Lucy, assured me that they were putting out a balanced piece.
I have written to both of them [at 1am this morning] explaining what parts [all of it] of the article I find objectional or just plain wrong. I haven't heard back yet.