Handbags and Handlebars

A Year of Pretty People on Pretty Bikes

2010-12-22T01:04:00.000-08:00

I've been a bad blogger this year. But I wanted to take a moment to share some of my favourite piccies of people I snapped, all in the name of bike fun. Hurrah!

First up - my friend Jeff, on a bikeride along the beautiful Columbia Gorge Historic Highway. One of my favourite bike rides in the world. He calls his bike style (knitted wool 70s-style bike jersey etc) "Retro-Grouch"! I haven't ridden with Jeff in a while now, because he is into this crazy thing called randoneuring, which I apparently can't even spell, let alone partake in. A typical randonering bikeride might be - out to Astoria, and then down to San Francisco, and back, all before teatime. Or something!

Biking to brunch at Old Wives' Tales with my friend Levi. I think he wins the award for having the prettiest bicycle in Portland, hands-down! And the coolest hat, what.

My friend Charity is a total baddass. In the time it takes me to make a Tofurky sandwich, she has completed a semester in nursing school, travelled to Peru, completed sixteen triathalons, and lord knows what else! (I may be exaggerating, but you get the gist). But the reason I like her the most, is she colour-coordinates her racing gear. Even her iPod headphones match! Here she is on the Monster Cookie Ride Metric Century (proving we will do anything for cookies, glorious cookies...) -

My friend Brian accompanies me on all the baddass Portland bikerides I secretly want to participate in, but feel far too uncool to attempt to join in alone! Here he is looking fabulous on the Star Trek vs Star Wars ride at Pedalpalooza this year -

My good friend Franco, looking dapper with his two-wheeled steed, on a bikeride to the awesome Indian Chaat House Food Cart (ohhhhh, that food cart. Be still my heart).

I must profess that I don't actually know whose legs these belong to. But let's not be disconcerted! They belonged to somebody on a fabulous bike ride I partook in, and I think they deserve an honourable mention. They remind me of Peter Pan (if Peter Pan had a fancy for bikes. And neon pink).

This lady is called Esther. She always seems to look totally fabulous whenever I see her around Portland on a bike. She won the award for Most Stylin' Lady at the Alternative Alice Awards this year, and she deserved every single bit of it! Here she is on the Tweed Ride at the beginning of this year!

April! On her Move by Bike earlier this year to her new digs with her sweetie Shawn. April always looks fabulous wherever she goes. Love the stripes!

My good friend Karl! Upon learning I had a tragic conflict that rendered me unable to do the Pedalpalooza Tutu Food Cart Ride, Karl graciously stepped in, nabbed my favourite tutu, and did it himself, so that I could live vicariously through his fun! Way to go, Karl! (I hate you).

And let's not forget this year's World Naked Bikeride. We had a bbq, and then all painted ourselves before having a big bike parade down to the start of the ride...

But finally, what year would be complete without a bike wedding?! My friend Julie got married in a fabulous Fourth of July wedding to her sweetie Thomas this summer, in true bikey fashion! Here she is, just married! Congratulations Julie!

The daily grind...

2010-05-09T12:44:00.000-07:00

On my daily bike commute home last week across the Bside Bridge. Behold!

I was so happy I was biking, and could stop and snap some gorgeous piccies. A crowd of people on foot heading towards me, away from the rainbow, looked at me like I was somewhat crazy for stopping on my bike to take pictures of apparently nothing more than a staggeringly ugly bridge on a grey, dreary day. They all turned around on the sidewalk to see what the hell I could possibly be photographing.

The collective "Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh! That's fucking amaaaaaaaazing!" could be heard for miles around.

Silly Easter Bunny Fotobooth Fun!

2010-04-04T16:42:00.000-07:00

Every year here in Portland, Carye Bye of the fabulous Red Bat Press letterpress, hosts the annual Bunnies on Bikes Ride on Easter Sunday. Every year as per usual, I totally space on getting my bunny ears together in time. Luckily, the dollar store saved my ass this year, hurrah! They have just about *everything* you can possibly think of, and then some. Seriously, just about everything under the sun can be acquired at a dollar store... weird teatowels, enormous jars of hand sanitizer, adorable root beer float glasses, glitter nail polish, fake sumptuous flowers, yummy choccy biccies, fabulous patterned crockery - oh lord, their fabulous crockery! - and more fake cheez products than you can shake a stick at. If that's your thing! (It's not).

Anyway! I picked up these awesome dollar store craft supplies - pink hearts on pink KEBAB sticks, and cute little mini-Easter-coloured pompoms. Being the creative tortured artiste that I am, I spent hours agonizing how to create a pair of designer bunny ears, before chucking all caution to the wind and... sticking the latter haphazardly onto the former in about three minutes flat with children's pritt stik. Et voila! Behold this year's bunny ears:

I also decorated my bicycle with pretty daffodils, which I often do when springtime rolls around. I usually intend to keep the decorations up only for a day or so, but I think they look fabulous, and they often generate smiles from drivers, so they often end up staying on my bike all spring and summer. My costume in previous years has included Cute Fluffy White Ears Bunny, avec Matching Terrifying Wal-Mart Stuffed Musical Anamatronic Singing Bunny Toy Mascot (gifted to me by the mum of a little baby girl I used to nanny for, who was so petrified by said stuffed musical rabbit, she would burst into tears every time it came into her field of vision...) and Cavewoman Flinstones Bunny!

PS - The organizer of the Bunnies on Bikes ride, Carye, is an amazing artist. Check out the Bunny on a Bike woodcut she did above! Happy Easter

Spokes Before Blokes

2010-04-01T22:45:00.000-07:00

The Spokes, those fabulous, fearless mini-bike dance troupe ladies from my hometown of Manchester in the United Kingdom, have just come out with some effing AWESOME new bikey fun stickers to celebrate the city's upcoming I Bike Mchr Festival. I have already been head-over-heels in love with their bike dance troupe for some time now. Now I am head-over-heels in love with their stickers, which I promptly got my grubby mittz on here in Portland, via the glories of the international transatlantic postal service. My absolute favourite is their "Spokes Before Blokes" sticker, which I immediately plastered onto the fenders of on my little bicycle.

Here's my favourite sticker, on my gloriously clashing pink fenders -

Enjoy!

Why Don't Teenage Girls in England Cycle Anymore?

2010-02-01T01:48:00.000-08:00

This fabulous, fabulous documentary has been making major headlines on the internet recently. Released last month to critical acclaim, Beauty and the Bike asks why teenaged girls in Darlington, England no longer ride bicycles, yet their German contemporaries in the city of Bremen still do by the thousands. Apparently, it all comes down to two factors -

1) Safety - Wow, no big surprise there. Girls interviewed said they felt nervous and threatened by England's very auto-dependent and car-centric culture, which in turn made them reluctant to try bicycling (alas, as a girl who grew up in England, I can understand their hesitation...).

2) Fashion - The girls were in strong unison here. Suuuure, they would consider giving bicycling a go, if only they saw more chic, fashionable girls out on bicycles to inspire them first. Apparently, lightning-bolt-Lance-Armstrong-wannabe-dudes careening around in ugly neon spandex just isn't that inspiring to teenage girls. Gosh. Fancy that!

It just goes to show that the more people out there who just be themselves and express their individuality by cycling in their regular, gorgeous clothes, the more of the next generation we might just happen to encourage to give bicycling a try!

Glampuss Ahoy

2010-01-31T00:39:00.000-08:00

It's so incredibly rare that I flip through a fashion magazine and come across an outfit that I utterly adore and also find remotely wearable. As a cyclist, I've noticed I frequently find myself subconsciously pooh-poohing almost any outfit I see that doesn't allow me to a) pedal through a rainstorm; b) stagger frantically after a bus; or c) flee hysterically from a crazed ninja.

Here's a couple of magazine spreads I tore out a couple of years back from Glamour and Teen Vogue, respectively. (Yes. Teen Vogue. So shoot me. Nashville International Airport wasn't exactly renowned for its extensive stockage of the New Yorker and Harper's back when I frequented it in 2005. And airports are funny places! I swear they brainwash you! You find yourself thinking.... "I need to buy some cough sweets...... and...... some tartan duty-free tea-towels...... and...... a map of Belgium....... and...... a six dollar pack of M&Ms...... and...... a two-foot teddy bear from the video arcade...... and...... a magazine designed for a readership eight years' younger than me!" etc etc) But to digress. What I love about these photospreads all is that they all feature chic, everyday clothes and footwear a girl could comfortably bicycle in, day in, day out looking totally fabulous. Squeee! Enjoy!

PS. Ahem. Yeah, and then there was that totally kickass pirate costume ♥ Admit you love it really, or ye be walkin the plank to Davy Jones' locker, argh!

Portland's First Tweed Ride

2010-01-30T21:14:00.000-08:00

A huge crowd of dapper lasses and lads turned out for Portland's First Annual Tweed Ride! It was really fun to see everybody's unique interpretation on a theme. Everyone's outfits were beyond fabulous. The judges must have had an awfully hard time picking any fashionista winners out of the crowd. Thankyou so much to the organisers for putting on a really fun event in the depths of Portland's miserable winter! Here's a couple of photos I snapped...

Want to see more photos? Go here!

Inaugural Portland Tweed Ride Outfit

2010-01-30T16:45:00.001-08:00

Today was Portland's first annual Tweed Ride! Here's what I threw together...

A few words about the outfit. It was a lot of fun running around like a headless chicken trying to throw it together the day before the ride. Most of the stuff was already lurking in my closet, so no $$ required. I wanted to look ladylike and sophisticated whilst bicycling (ha!), but I also wanted to be comfy and warm. The addition of warm, thick tights; bright, cozy armwarmers; and a goofy woolly Shaun-the-sheep jumper helped achieve this. Lordy, if there's anything worse than cold wind whooshing up your jumper sleeves on a cold Portland winter ride, I've yet to encounter it, brrrrr.

Let's have a quick natter about shoes... When bicycling here in cold, miserable, rainy Portland during wintertime, I tend to wuss-out regarding anything on my feet that isn't either a) a pair of sassy cute wellies or b) my awesome brown leather REI Merrell Tetra Launch Waterproof boots avec Polartec fleece lining. Those Tetra Launch boots? Seriously, be still, my heart.

I wanted cute, colourful heels for this ride. I think I pulled it off, but ohhh god. My tootsies were chilly by the end of the ride. I talked to a couple of girls on the ride and asked how their feet were doing in tights and heels. "Freeeezing! I can't remember what my toes feel like..." etc was the general consensus. I wonder how all the well-heeled girls I see biking around in high heels in Portland during chilly weather manage it? What's the secret, ladies?

Fabulous poster by Portland designer extraordinaire Gabe Tiller.

Red Red Red!

2010-01-29T18:09:00.000-08:00

Red frame? Check. Red panniers? Check. Red heels? Check! Roll on summer, already. We're waiting. Photograph from the divine Velorbis Bicycles site. If you love gorgeous, vintage-style contemporary cycles, I suggest you get thee there!

Zut alors, bikespiration!

2010-01-29T17:29:00.000-08:00

Gorgeous autumn day for a ride along the Seine. Pretty, pretty pic via Anthony Rojas.

Welcome!

2010-01-29T17:01:00.000-08:00

If there is an artist out there who has captured the way I feel about bicycling more than Portland artist and bike-funnist Margaret Beeson, I've yet to find him or her. I can't think of a single better way to kick off this little pedal-powered blog, than with one of her paintings that now hangs beautifully in my flat. You can check out her other bicycle-themed works here.