Hello Strangers!

It has been too long since we blogged.  J-Bot has been a busy busy girl of late and her lovely designs are about to be showcased in this years Mercedes Benz Fashion Week!! Exciting times...

New York Babushka by Jai Saunders

You can find out more about Jai's collection here and here.

S-boy has been working on an independent documentary called "Killing Off the Beat".  Follow this journey here.   Here is a brief outline of the film...

Forensic, detailed and literary in the style of Werner Herzog and Errol Morris, ‘Killing Off The Beat’ will follow moves to unravel and shed further light on a dark part of Sydney’s recent history that likely saw close to 100 men fall prey to ‘gay-hate killings’ – many of which were not properly investigated by police at the time despite links between a large number of the incidents.

Spanning a period between the first Mardi Gras in 1978 to the present day, the film will focus on a number of key threads as community and political pressure continues to grow for a Royal Commission or another independent high-level body to look at the historical ‘gay-hate killings’, while compelling current-day cases of alleged police brutality will suggest an uneasy relationship continues to exist between the LGBTI community and NSW Police to this day.

I on the other hand, have been bikeling through life as usual... A nice job change but still on a bike friendly route sees me cycling to work each day.   I am amazed by the reaction when people at my new workplace found out that I cycle to work.  It is a mixture of awe, wonder and why and how.  Once I explain that it just takes a few good purchases (waterproof bag, jelly shoes - for rain, lights for night and a basket for your stuff), they seem to be more open to it.  Although it does make me think about why we are so scared to get a bit wet by rain on the odd occasion.  

So thats about it for me at the moment, although I did recently purchase a second-hand go pro camera which I am going to pop on my bike.  I thought I would film my ride to work and take you all on the ride with me.

Won't be so long till next time xx

Happy Velo Day!!

Happy Velo Day to all the bike riders, bike mechanics, bike planners, and bike community out there!

WE LOVE YOU (AND YOUR BIKE)!!

Now usually at this time of year we would be waking up early tomorrow and heading to the Bourke St cycleway to spread the bike love message, but sadly this year we are busy busy.  Life has got in the way.  Soo we got in early and put a little cheer up already for all you lovely bicyclists tomorrow!

Now to see if you can find our little messages…

(Cross fingers - that most messages remain intact until this time)     XXXX

And if you aren't riding along Bourke tomorrow - never fear.. We took pics and will blog happily about them soon!

Back in the Day!

I love old childhood pics of people on bikes.  The two below are S-boy and his brothers riding.  So cute.  All four of them still ride when they can.  It can be a fun and frustrating experience to teach children to ride bikes but it really is just one of those life skills that just keeps on giving.  Like learning to swim.

 

This picture below is S-boys dad riding in Turkey (possibly Sinop).  He would probably be around 20 yrs old here (last guy on the right).  I love that there is a gang all dressed lovely ready for a ride.

So it might be time to revisit your old bike snaps... It will make you warm and fuzzy for bikes all the more!

The Need for Tweed - Satisfied!

Oh lovely dapper gents and well-heeled ladies, its that time of year again.  The time of year where the combined forces of Seventy8 and Rocket Fuel co-conspire and sweat blood to bring you the most stylish ride of the year..

Bring your own picnic, don't forget your camera and come dressed in your finest tweedy apparel...  All details are here: Sydney Tweed Ride!  Hope to see you there!!

**** New date for Sydney Tweed Ride*** Due to rain, the ride has been postponed to Sunday 21st July.  We are going - are you???

Vivid Bike Light Spectacular

Guess what bikeling friends...?  Its time for the Vivid Festival again in Sydney which means we are organising our Vivid Bike Light Spectacular!  For those of you new to our Vivid ride - check out pics from our last Vivid event here: http://featherbrigade.blogspot.com.au/2011/06/vivid-night-of-lights.html

This year we are doing things a little differently.  For starters it will be a longer bike ride, starting from Sydney Uni.  We will wind along the waterfront of Glebe and Prymont before bedazzling Darling Harbour and then whizzing around Walsh Bay before heading up to the Rocks and then finding a suitable stopping point near the MCA.  There we will have a vote for "Best Decorated Bike" and "Best Decorated Person" with prizes (oooh).  After that the fun you have is up to you - check out the lights of Vivid on the festival walk (and don't forget your camera).  We will have a follow up competition on our blog for the "Most Creative Photo" from the night, so happy snapping!

Ideas for lights - think battery-powered fairy lights, glow sticks, light sticks, twirlywhirls, wheel lights, light up toys, solar powered lights.  Let your imagination take over!  Our favourite was the glow sticks taped to wheel spokes - very effective.  We found our lights at Kmart, $2 dollar shops and Ebay.

Ideas for high vis - wear your high vis in different ways, snap bands, arm bands, Tron stripes... the possiblities are endless!!   We ask that you come ready to ride on the night so we can all admire each other and then GET BIKELING!

Feel free to contact us via facebook or through the blog if you have any questions.  We look forward to seeing you there, no matter what 'type' of bikelist you are and  - SPREAD THE WORD!

Today We Did This

Just like the title of this lazy Sunday blog -  Today we did this...

 It did involve some bikes...

And more of this...

And some random sewing...

And more pretty bikes.

 Many musical instruments...

And some actual riding....

So what were we doing?  We were practising ukulele-playing and having a half-hearted jam session in the sunshine, on a glorious day.  Hope your Sunday was fun and lazyish too!

Come Ride with Us!

Come with us for a ride in our hood.  This is the Glebe Foreshore Bike Path, with new and improved paths and lighting thanks to the City Of Sydney using taxpayer's dollars wisely.  Enjoy!

Dublin Bike Facts

Some facts about bikes and Dublin:

Bikes will naturally gather together in herds.

Sometimes the sun shines.

There are some pretty cool guys who really know how to "portage" their stuff.

Photos by L-Pop.

j.xoxo

Yeah Girl (c.1890)

I can't help but steal this from a funny little web comic which I highly recommend everyone wasting an hour or so browsing, Hark, A Vagrant

As the author/artist/creator Kate Beaton puts it, in her commentary "The greatest thing about the invention of the bicycle and ladies starting to ride them is: everything. The clothes! The bikes! The attitude! But perhaps especially: the scads of satirical cartoons made at the time that were supposed to make women look shocking and inappropriate but just makes them look super stylish and badass instead."

And how!

I want in on some of that Mutton-Sleeve action!

j.xoxo

Get Festive... Or Else!

You'd better not shout.

You'd better not cry.

You'd better be good, I'm telling you why...

Santa Claus is coming to town...

When I was a kid Christmas carols were just Christmas carols, to be sung at things like Carols-in-the-Domain, reasonably innocent, although slightly confusing with their manically joyful songs about fun-loving Santa, and serious, somewhat dour songs about this baby called Jesus. But as I've grown older, and consequently more cynical and bitter, some of these songs have taken on a much more sinister air, as per example above. Lets not even go into frosty the snowman-we'll just say one word: Nightmare. Considering a lot of kids find Santa terrifying anyway (A big, old, fat guy who watches you at night and breaks into your house? What's so scary about that??) I've been thinking Christmas should get a make over... with the help of bicycles!

Christmas Inc. needs to take a course at the school of modern marketing and get on board the bicycle band-wagon.* Because if you can tell one thing from a plethora of recent advertising for all sort of products it's that BIKES SELL!

(Super-Hot-Girls on bikes also helps "sell", but I don't think we need to include S-H-G with Santa's new Image... It'd be all sorts of wrong.)

Cotton On Body has launched it's swimwear range this week, employing the locale of Byron Bay, Dancing Man, hot girls, and bikes of course! Bondi Beach Cruisers have their great trailer also using the holy trinity of girls-beach-bikes (sacrilegious pun intended, sorry god). Even lots of recent car advertising has used bikes, and that's the one that really confuses me, because most car drivers hate bicycles...

Back to XXXmas-

 

 

At least with all the pedalling he can work off all of those cookies and milk brandy milk. He might even loose the paunch, get healthy and live for another million years. And that's the story of how bicycles saved Christmas. Yay!

j.xoxo

*A Bicycle Band-Wagon would be very cool.

FABRIC BIKE

I'll let you in on a little secret... I'm a little bit in love with the girls from The Deadly Nightshades.

Why? Well, their Toronto based (Torontoan? Torontoist? Torontonian? I dunno... someone let me know what the correct term for a Toronto resident is...) bike gang has to be one of the coolest out there. The girls are artsy and craftsy and have a whole bunch of bike love. Plus their gang colour just happens to be my favourite colour, seafoam green! Ummm, are long distance gang memberships available?? 'Cause I want to join!

Their film FABRIC BIKE recently premiered at the New York Bicycle Film Festival, and I'm so excited that it's showing as part of the Urban Bike Shorts programme at our very own Sydney BFF. I can't wait to see the full thing, but until then here's the trailer...

FABRIC BIKE Trailer from The Deadly Nightshades on Vimeo.

There is sooo much happening in the next few weeks, bike and BFF related. It's going to be a busy month, can't wait!

j.xoxo