More than a few people have raised objections to the way the Mayor of London has, for the relatively modest sum of £5 million a year for 5 years, given Barclays bank the right to paint large swathes of London’s public highway in its corporate shade of blue, have its name emblazoned on street signs [...]
Entries from July 2010
Scrub away, scrub away, scrub away
July 29th, 2010 · 5 Comments
Tags: Art and design · Gear · London
Looking back at Le Tour and ahead to ‘Bicycle Thieves’
July 27th, 2010 · 1 Comment
Lionel Birnie of Cycling Weekly shares his best moments of this year’s sensational Tour De France. Plus we look ahead to Bicycle Thieves, which combines theatre and BMXing on the streets of London, as part of the InTransit festival. Book tickets for just £4 here or by calling 0845 230 9769.
Tags: Events · Film · London · People · Podcast · Tour de France
Velocio’s 7 Commandments for the Wise Cyclist
July 22nd, 2010 · 2 Comments
Paul de Vivie (1853-1930), who wrote as ‘Velocio’, was an early advocate of the bicycle, supposed inventor of the derailleur and the father of French cycle touring. Here are his seven commandments for the wise cyclist:
1. Keep your stops short and few.
2. Eat before you’re hungry, drink before you’re thirsty.
3. Never get too tired [...]
Tags: France · History · People · Touring
Talking Le Tour with Paul Fournel
July 21st, 2010 · 5 Comments
An extended, hour long edition of the show featuring French writer, poet, cyclist and cultural ambassador Paul Fournel (pictured). We stroll from the French House in Soho to the Rapha Cycle Club in Clerkenwell, to visit an exhibition of a hundred years of racing bicycles. The exhibition runs for two more weeks and is well [...]
Tags: Advocacy · France · Gear · History · Literature · London · People · Podcast · Sport · Tour de France
London Assembly Member Jenny Jones rides the Cycle Superhighway
July 16th, 2010 · 9 Comments
Jenny Jones asks all the right questions. Good, campaigning stuff from the Green Party Assembly member.
Tags: Advocacy · London · People · Road safety
Road Test: London’s new cycle hire bikes
July 14th, 2010 · 19 Comments
On 30 July, 6,000 bicycles will be available for hire on the streets of London. Registration costs £1 a day, £5 a week or £45 a year and the bicycles are free for the first 30 minutes, then a rising scale of £1 for the first hour, £4 for the first 90 minutes, £15 up [...]
Tags: Art and design · Gear · London
Gavin Turk’s ‘Les Bikes du Bois Rond’
July 14th, 2010 · No Comments
Tim Dawson joins artist Gavin Turk on the first of two rides in the East Anglian countryside. Plus a detailed look at the Mayor of London’s new cycle hire bikes, with Transport for London’s Gary McGowan, technical adviser to the special projects team.
To join the second of Gavin Turk’s rides, starting in Ipswich, on 17 [...]
Tags: Art and design · London · People · Podcast
Un Tour de France de Londres with Stephen Bayley
July 8th, 2010 · No Comments
As part of this year’s London Festival of Architecture, Stephen Bayley leads a ride around the best of French architecture, art and design to be found on the streets of London. Stephen Bayley is the Observer’s architecture and design critic, the founding director of the Design Museum and in 1989 was a made a Chevalier [...]
Tags: Architecture · Art and design · History · London · Podcast · Rides · Tour de France
Le Tour des Vins de France (part two)
July 1st, 2010 · 5 Comments
After a week of hard drinking racing, the peloton will have earned its high altitude rest day on 12 July. The race continues with another punishing Alpine stage in which the riders must haul themselves over four different climbs culminating in the Col de la Madeleine (2000 metres above sea level) and you may want [...]
Tags: Tour de France


