the bike show

Alastair Humphreys has cycled round the world ‘the hard way’: four years, sixty countries and forty-six thousand miles. In the first of a two part special he tells the story of his epic adventure from Yorkshire to South Africa and Chile to Colombia. Thunder and Sunshine, the second volume of his travelogue is out now, [...]

 

 11 August 2008: Around the world the hard way (part one) [29:54m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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On this week’s show we ask whether the bicycle and cycling are inherently left-wing or right-wing. Featuring Ruth Beale and Karen Breneman, two artists who recently rode together from London to the Institute for the Art and Practice of Dissent at Home in Liverpool in search of cycling’s socialist and non-conformist past, present and future. [...]

 

 4 August 2008: Cycling, politics and ideology [30:13m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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Looking back at this year’s Tour De France, with Guy Andrews, editor of Rouleur magazine and author and broadcaster Graeme Fife. As well as discussing the racing, we go into what it means for a small towns when it plays host to a stage of Le Tour de France. You can listen to an hour-long [...]

 

 28 July 2008: Looking back at Le Tour [29:20m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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This year’s Dunwich Dynamo was perfect: a dry, moonlit night, a tail wind and a hot sunny morning on the beach. Around 500 people enjoyed the sixteenth edition of the classic British night ride that covers some 120 miles (190 kilometres) through north east London, Essex and Suffolk. But you don’t have to wait until [...]

 

 21 July 2008: Sublime overnights: Dunwich Dynamo 16 and S24O with Grant Peterson [29:50m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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Celebrating Bastille Day and the first week of Le Tour De France plus a discussion of civilised streets with Louise Duggan, streets advisor at the UK’s Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE). Just six days until this year’s Dunwich Dynamo….
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 The Bike Show: 14 July 2008: Vive Le Tour // London Street Design [29:57m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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A ride along the splendid London end of the Grand Union Canal with Rob Ainsley, London cyclist and author of 50 Quirky Bike Rides, a new book about weird and wonderful places to go on bicycles in England and Wales. We visit a canal that passes over a motorway and take advantage of a little [...]

 

 The Bike Show: 7 July 2008: 50 Quirky Bike Rides [29:09m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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A tour of London lidos by bicycle with Jason Cobb, a lido enthusiast, cyclist, photographer and author of Onion Bag Blog, a blog devoted to life in the Stockwell-Oval-Brixton triangle. Taking in Brockwell Lido, the ghost of Kennington Lido, the Serpentine Lido, the refurbished London Fields Lido and an unexpected audience with Brixton’s wheelbuilding legend [...]

 

 30 June 2008: London lidos by bicycle [30:06m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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Featuring an interview with Stephen Bayley, design editor of The Observer, about his guided cycle ride around the houses and homes of celebrated London artists and architects which kicks of a fantastic programme of bicycle tours as part of the London Festival of Architecture. Stephanie Laslett of Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios explains why architects love [...]

 

 23 June 2008: London architecture by bike and a Rapha exclusive [30:46m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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 The Bike Show - 16 June 2008 - From the Tropics to the Stones [30:00m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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 3 March 2008: Cycling Troubadours [30:00m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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Kieron Yates and Matt Tempest report from Paris on the Vélib bike hire system that has brough 20,000 bicycles to the streets and transformed the French capital overnight into a cycling metropolis. Can it work in London?
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Photo by Deep Blue

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Jack Thurston is away and in his place Amy Cooper presents a show devoted to the swashbuckling Trixie Chix, London’s female fixed wheel freestylers. Will Amy and her sit-up-and-beg town bike cut the mustard with the trackstanding, bike polo playing, long skidding, backwards circling Trixies? Find out…
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 18 February 2008: Trixie Chix [23:14m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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In a special Valentine’s Day edition, sultry Southwark Cyclist Miss Alex Crawford explains why cycling is so good for flirting while love goddess Venus Kamura tells of the fifth annual Reclaim Love ‘happening’ on Saturday 16 February at the Eros Statue on Piccadilly Circus. Over the past few days, all across the bicycling world, there [...]

 

 11 February 2007: Love [29:06m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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Private companies and revenue-hungry government agencies have always had a stranglehold on the world’s best maps, until the arrival of Open Street Map, a volunteer-driven effort akin to Wikipedia for mapping and cartography. OSM offers endless customisation possibilities, is entirely open source and in many parts of the world is rivaling the best online and [...]

 

 The Bike Show from Resonance FM: Reclaim the Street(maps) [31:29m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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Totnes in South Devon is where the rapidly growing ‘transition town’ movement all began. Transition towns are a response to the problem of resource depletion, peak oil and climate change and embrace the practical and more esoteric aspects of changing lifestyles and mindsets. Totnes and the surrounding countryside - like many rural areas - remain [...]

 

 Transition Town Bicycling [30:02m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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Paul Wonnacott has been buying, repairing and selling on used bicycles in the English countryside for almost thirty years. In an extended interview he looks back at the changes he’s observed in the bicycle manufacturing industry (most of them bad) and grapples with a hoarder’s inner demon as he watches his huge stock literally pile [...]

 

 21 January 2008: Hidden Treasure [30:21m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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Southwark Council plans to ban cyclists from a key stretch of the Thames Path, which runs along the south bank of the Thames, alongside the Tate Modern and the Globe Theatre. Jack Thurston canvases the (mixed) opinions of passersby and rapidly discovers that no one has been consulted about this proposed new byelaw. Koy Thomson, [...]

 

 14 January 2008: Are cycling Waterloo sunsets under threat? [29:53m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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The closing of one year and start of another is the time where many of us resolve to turn over a new leaf, change our life or otherwise embark on a virtuous but most probably doomed attempt at self-improvement. London cyclist and underground bicycle advocate Amy Cooper joins Jack Thurston in the studio for a [...]

 

 7 January 2008: New Year's Resolutions [29:26m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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Does the coming of Olympics in 2012 spell disaster for cycle sport in London or will it bring much needed regeneration of a neglected part of the city? A ride with Patrick Field around the perimeter fence of the construction site in north east London and an interview with Michael Humphreys, chair of the [...]

 

 17 December 2007: London Olympics 2012 [29:20m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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Reigning Rollapaluza champion and two-time ‘Raphapaluza’ winner Simon Jackson gives his tips on how to win at the frenzied sport of static bike racing. Plus a preview of the upcoming ITV comedy-drama series Bike Squad (aka “The Bill on bikes”) with Robert Collins of the Daily Telegraph.
Get down to the Bicycology film night on Thursday [...]

 

 10 December 2007: How to Win at Roller-Racing [29:40m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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Over the past five years a craze for riding bicycles with only one gear and no freewheel has taken off, in New York, London, Sydney and cities all around the world. We take a long hard look at the merits and excesses of the scene. Featuring an extended interview with the mystery man behind the [...]

 

 The Bike Show: 3 December 2007: fixed fever [30:16m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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A Christmas books special with guests George Theohari (author of the newly published Cyclist’€™s Companion), Guy Andrews (editor of Rouleur) and Graeme Fife (among the UK’s leading cycle writer whose memoirs were published this year). Includes readings from Tim Krabbé’s The Rider, Jerome K. Jerome’s Three Men On The Bummel, Flann O’Brien’s The Third Policeman [...]

 

 The Bike Show: 26 November 2007: Christmas books special [30:14m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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The Bike Show returns for its winter season with guest in the studio Buffalo Bill reporting on this year’s Cycle Messenger World Championship in Dublin and Kieron Yates on taking part in the epic and grueling 1200 kilometer non-stop race from Paris to Brest and back.
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 The Bike Show: 19 November 2007: Tales of the summer: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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In conversation with Julian Bray, a journalist and rider with the Rapha Condor team. Julian came to competitive cycling after falling in love with the continental tradition of the cyclosportive: mass-participation road races of historic or cultural significance, such as the annual Etape du Tour and the Gran Fondo Campagnolo. We discuss the appeal of [...]

 

 2 July 2007: The Lowdown on Cyclosportives [30:00m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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Preview of a new exhibition of stunning photographs by internationally acclaimed photojournalist Stefan Vanfleteren that capture the essence of Flemish cycle racing. Interviews with Vanfleteren and with British former world champion Tony Doyle and three times Paris-Roubaix winner Johan Museeuw aka ‘The Lion of Flanders’. Live music from the sensational Orchestre International du Vetex. If [...]

 

 25 June 2007: Flandrien [26:53m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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T’ain’t what you do, it’s the way that you do it. Andrea Casalotti of Velorution and Jean-Marie Orhan (Frenchman-about-town and founding member of the Tweed Cycling Club) offer sartorial advice to urban cyclists. Tribute is paid to the stylish riders of the golden era of professional bicycle racing, including a pilgrimage up Le Mont Ventoux [...]

 

 The Bike Show: Style on two wheels [30:00m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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The Bike Show this week has a distinctly Mediterranean and gastronomic feel. Kieron Yates reports from northern Italy, the world capital of the Slow Food movement, on a ’slow bicycle’ ride along the length of the River Po (for more on ABICI bikes, look here) Meanwhile, Jack Thurston is joined by William Greswell in the [...]

 

 The Bike Show: 'Slow Bicycling' in Italy; on two wheels in Provence [30:21m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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The Bike Show visits Paris’s 11th Fête du Vélo. Among the subjects discussed are Paris’s growing love affair with the Brompton folding bicycle, how Cannondale are marketing the latest urban bikes in France, a new puncture proof Dutch tyre and Les Dérailleurs, France’s gay and lesbian friendly cycle touring club. We also discuss unicycling with [...]

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This week features a ride in the hills of north Kent hills with writer, broadcaster and cyclist Graeme Fife. Graeme is the author of several of the best English language books about cycling and Le Tour de France. His new book has just been published. It’s a very personal memoir entitled The Beautiful Machine: A [...]

 

 28 May 2007: Graeme Fife's life in cycling: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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The Bike Show returns to Essex and Martin Newell, writer, poet, musician and horticultural assassin, for another helping of Spoke N Word. This year’s programme features a new route from Wivenhoe to Bentley Green, reported to be the largest village green in England. We cross fields, pass through woodland and finish on a series of [...]

 

 Poetry on a country ride with Martin Newell: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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Returning for the summer season, The Bike Show turns to the trials of US cycling star Floyd Landis, whose sensational victory in the 2006 Tour de France was thrown into doubt after he failed a test for the banned drug testosterone. We also hear an extended talk on road danger in a global context by [...]

 

 Resonance FM: The Bike Show: 14 May 2007: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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The Bike Show is officially off air at the moment, but I couldn’t resist a podcast-only edition to discuss the Evening Standard’s Damscene conversion to the way of the bicycle. For years, London’s leading daily newspaper has been in thrall to unreconstructed petrolheads, but this week the paper has come out for cycling with a [...]

 

 'Stannerd' comes out for cycling: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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We test out Andy Cox’s prototype singing bicycle, for use in the performance of Godfried Willem Raes’s Second Symphony. Down the line from San Francisco, Jon Winston fills us in on Bay Area cycle culture and his own Bikescape bicycling podcast. Come back soon for details of the London 2007 performance of the Symphony for [...]

 

 The word from San Francisco and a singing bicycle prototype [28:41m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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A look at London Mayor Ken Livingstone’s ambition for London to be the greenest major city in the world. Host Jack Thurston and Erica Jobson of Futerra, the London-based sustainable development communications consultancy discuss the role of government and the part that individual lifestyle choices can play in reducing the emission of climate change [...]

 

 5 March 2007: Green London? [31:33m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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Looking ahead to the 2007 Bicycle Film Festival, which has plans for screenings in 15 countries including a third year in London. In the studio is the BFF’s London coordinator Roxy Erickson. We discuss how to make a great bicycle film, even if you’re not an experienced filmmaker. We also tap our feet to the [...]

 

 26 February 2007: Calling All Bicycle Filmmakers! [29:29m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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Another thrilling dip into the world of experimental music involving bicycles. With guest in the studio Andy Cox, guitarist in The Beat, Fine Young Cannibals and Cribabi, who is known to play the occasional bicycle. We feature Frank Zappa’s first ever TV appearance (see below) - playing a bike! Plus music made by Sylvia Hallett, [...]

 

 More experimental bicycle music [29:08m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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In this week’s show we hear from Patrick Field about how to survive the grueling Paris-Brest-Paris: by riding a recumbent. Also a look at the blossoming world of bicycle radio and podcasting and a look ahead to the best in cyclosportives in 2007.
Links:
Bikescape podcast from San Francisco.
Rapha’s ‘Culture Clash’ Roller Race at Shoreditch Town [...]

 

 Cyclosportives, bicycle podcasting and Budapest: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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First run in 1891 as a race designed to demonstrate the practicality of the bicycle, Paris Brest Paris has since become a four yearly event that attracts long distance cyclists from around the world. This year is a Paris Brest Paris year and Kieron Yates - this week standing in for Jack Thurston - talks [...]

 

 Going the Distance and the Physics of the Bicycle: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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Could 2007 be the best year yet for cycling in London? In the studio with Guy Andrews, editor of Rouleur magazine and Barry Mason of Southwark Cyclists. We discuss the coming of Le Tour de France to London, the 15th Dunwich Dynamo and other group rides organized by Southwark Cyclists and ask whether London cycling [...]

 

 Looking forward to a great year for cycling: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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Women bike messengers might cut a better figure on the roads than their grungy, bearded and tattooed male counterparts, but are the girls better at their jobs than the boys? The answer is yes, if a handful of London’s women bike messengers are to be believed. For details on the upcoming Roller Races, look here.
We [...]

 

 Women bike messengers and a ride through a very long tunnel [29:20m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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In the second half of a ride with London cyclist Patrick Field, we cruise on the Woolwich Ferry, ride along the Thames Path through Greenwich before crossing in a tunnel under the Thames to the Isle of Dogs and from there onwards to old pumping station in Wapping converted into a arts space and cafe.
Along [...]

 

 Doorstep Adventures with Patrick Field (part two): Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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Riding with Patrick Field, legendary London cyclist, thinker and writer, on a leisurely route east from Hackney along the top of a giant Victorian sewerage outflow pipe towards the River Thames. We take in ancient trading routes, cross the River Lea and pass through land that will be home to the London Olympics in 2012. [...]

 

 Doorstep adventures with Patrick Field (Part one): Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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Back in the Resonance FM studio with Danish bike messenger elf Therese Bjorn to talk Christmas on bicycles. What to buy, what to do… and we take a look at the new London Scorcher bicycle from Velorution and Therese gives a thumbs up to Pac Designs messenger bags.

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 The Christmas edition: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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In the Belgian capital of Brussels, road-testing Cyclocity, a new concept in bicycle hire - sturdy bikes you can pick up and leave in different places around the city that cost just one euro an hour. Jack Thurston and William Greswell are soon distracted by EU monumentalist architecture, horse meat steaks and a winter wonderland [...]

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A special edition from the German capital city and well-known haven for cyclists. Riding with Berlin blogger Maisie Hitchcock, we discuss the changing face of Berlin, the legacy of the Cold War and the achingly hip Berlin music scene, all the while finding out what a great place this is to ride a bike.
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 Berlin special: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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It’s cold outside, so stay at home and turn your bicycle into a musical instrument! Featuring performances by Stephen Schweitzer’s
Bikelophone (pictured left), electro-acoustic composer David Berezan and the Tea and Toast Band.
And we set a new challenge for London’s musical cyclists in 2007, the year that the Tour de France comes to our [...]