(Rap Battle:) Mountain Biker vs. Road Biker

As we're approaching our 100th blog post (in fact next post!) I want to tell you that there might be some changes to Ensliga Bergens cykelklubb, and to this blog. We're thinking about expanding into mountain biking. Or rather, I (yours truly) am thinking about it. And since there are numerous subdisciplins to mountain biking, to be specific I'm thinking about taking up cross country. Now, actually I would love to be able to say that I am thinking about taking up downhill, but I'm not. I think that downhill bikes are just awesome. Some of these bikes look mean, in a really cool way. And downhill riding seems absolutely great. For example, check out this awesome video with equally awesome Claudia Clement:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxPtq8hSisE

(We didn't take this photo. We borrowed it from Claudia Clement's flickr page. Hope that's OK!)

As I said before I would love to say that I am thinking about taking up downhill riding. But there is that question of economy... I can't afford one of these awesome downhill bikes, and travelling to mountain areas to ride it. If you have that kind of money, that's great for you, but I don't.

So instead I am thinking about cross country. Actually, when I first got into biking I started with a mountain bike. I wrote about this in a previous post. It's not strange. This was in the early 1990's, and mountain biking (no subdisciples back then) was the new black. You could see videos of guys (yeah, mostly guys) riding around in forests and down hills on these steel hardtails with 26" wheels on MTV. Yeah, MTV showed music videos and sometimes clips from new "radical" sports like snowboarding and mountain biking back then. Different times! But anyway I was hooked, rode my mountain bike all around the countryside and started buying mountain biking magazines. Then, my bike was stolen. Thanks to Mum and the insurance I got a new bike. It was a cheap mountain bike-ish bike, kind of heavy and slow. Since this bike wasn't that fun to ride I kind of lost interest. The bike worked and I used it to get to and from school and jobs, it worked (except when I lived in the north of Sweden and the gears froze) and that was it.

Then that bike got stolen too, some years later. But then, like an angel from the sky my friend Christian offered me to buy his old Orange Clockwork mountain bike. Even today, I don't know why. (And neither does he, he has confessed later.)  Compared to today's full suspension carbon bikes with 29" wheels this bike is kind of ancient but it is simply lots of fun. After a couple of years, though, I was curious about road biking and so I started with that. I bought a scruffy old road bike, renovated it and got hooked on that. (Maybe I'm simply hooked on bikes?)

This is what she looked like a couple of years ago, after years of mistreatment, bumps and crashes. Since then I have taken her apart completely and renovated her. But more about that in future posts. And to sum things up here I am thinking about starting riding cross country again. Not seriously competing, not instead of riding road bikes, but as a way to have fun.

So:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wx2e9jSSK6E

Ride safe!

The Times They Are a-Changin'

Is that one of the most trite phrases ever, since Bob Dylan released his third album in 1964? Probably. But the fact is that they are. We discovered something on a bike ride recently. Just to give you an idea of where we are:

Along a huge, highly trafficated motorway, pretty much in the middle of nowhere. (A desolate industrial area in the outskirts of city - you can find these areas all around the world.) You can ride your bike here, but you don't really want to. Riding on a bike lane just 10 metres from a six lane motorway, and with that industrial landscape on the other side, bushes and chain-link fencing is simply just boring. This is a landscape designed for cars, designed for passing through.

And in the middle of this bike-hostile environment is a drive-in hamburger restaurant. Just as designed for cars as the rest of the area, put there to be able to sell you something quick to eat, without having to leave your car.

But on our latest trip along this motorway we noticed that there's a bike stand outside this drive-in hamburger restaurant. And there's even a bike parked there!

When there are bike stands outside drive-in hamburger resturants, far from the city centre, with bikes parked there it is pretty clear that something is happening...

Peak oil? Or maybe he (it's a guy's bike) just really wanted to ride his bike? The times they are a-changin'

Ride safe!

Bikes vs Cars

Yes, notice the small letters. This blog post is not about the film BIKES vs CARS, but about this article:

http://www.wired.com/2014/11/9-things-drivers-need-stop-saying-bikes-vs-cars-debate/

(Every urban bicyclist's nigthmare. This picture gives us shivers.)

Ride safe!

(As yet) unnamed Mustang, part 1

I haven't given her a name yet, but I might. (If you have any tips, write to me!) This probably is, or will be, my latest project. I found this old 10-speed Mustang bicycle standing abandoned by a train station. It's in a pretty bad state but that's actually how I want it. Unlike the vintage Peugeot Aubisque I found I plan to use this bike myself, as a winter commuter bike. You know, hardcore, gritty slush and cold... So you see, I won't have her sandblasted, painted and lacquered. The only thing I am going to do is clean her and replace all the broken or missing parts. I might use the luggage carrier and I will add mudgards. A winter commuter bike, with focus on "commuter". And "winter". And "bike"...

I haven't done anything, except pick her up from the lost property office, where she has been standing for three months. (Handed in to the police and reported as "found" in december last year, and now, three months later I have paperwork that says that the bike is mine.) So if this bike turns out to be in a really bad shape I'll just recycle it. But I will give her a chance.

That's all I have to say about it right now. I must confess that I don't know much about it. Mustang was an old Swedish bicycle brand, started in 1947 by the Trelleborgs Velocipedfabrik bicycle factory, but the bicycles themselves were made in Japan after production was discontinued in Sweden, in 1994. This bicycle of mine is made in Japan and... probably not that good. But again: that's actually how I want it.

So: Pictures! (And revelling in bicycle mistreatment...)

Ride safe!

BIKES vs CARS. For the last time. At least for now...

Yeah. We might come back to this. It is important! But anyway this Friday was the première of the film "BIKES vs CARS". Here in Gothenburg the showing of the film was preceded by a slow roll from the bicycles café Llama Lloyd, and followed by a panel debate. So let's go through the day!

The slow roll gathered about twelve people. We didn't think that was much, but it was obviously more than the organisers had calculated with, and comments on Llama Lloyd's instagram page suggests that twelve people was more than usual - there have been slow rolls starting out from the café before.

(This photo is from Llama Lloyd's facebook page. And this slow roll had no affiliations with Ensliga Bergens cykelklubb, other than the fact that a couple of us were there.)

The idea to have a slow roll was great, and even though Llama Lloyd is in the other side of Gothenburg we're definitely up for going back to check it out further, since it seems really nice. However, the slow roll wasn't really that slow... Perhaps the guide had never done this thing before, set a fast pace and didn't make sure that everyone kept up. A little miss. But we all arrived at the cinema safely.

Then the film. It's hard to give it a rating... say... from 1 to 5, since it wasn't that kind of movie. We thought it was really good. Of course it was depressing to learn that Toronto's mayor Rob Ford removed bike lanes in the city, and that he had a majority of the voters behind him, or how the car industry actively discarded public transportation in Los Angeles. But learning how Aline Cavalcante and her friends fight for better and safer lanes for bicyclists in São Paulo, following Dan Koeppel's enthusiastic search for a discarded bike lane bridge in Los Angeles, hearing the insightful comments from architect and former urban planning minister Raquel Rolnik... Interesting, insightful and inspiring! Anyone who is interested in bicycles, bicycling and urban planning should see this film.

Aline Cavalcante. We borrowed the picture from her (or your, if Aline is reading this) twitter account. Hope that's OK!

Dan Koeppel. We borrowed the picture from City Walk. Hope that's OK!

Raquel Rolnik. We borrowed the picture from The Guardian. Hope that's OK!

The showing of the film was followed by a panel debate. Also a great idea. Unfortunately the moderator... simply wasn't very good. He was poorly prepared, did not distribute the questions evenly between the four debaters, made strange comments about women and fear, and could not keep the audience in order. And it didn't take long for the debate to grow into quarreling in the audience and complaining about the bike lanes in Gothenburg. Especially one aggressive acting man and one extremely negative woman made us a bit uncomfortable, and we left.

Lessons learned? Bikes vs Cars is well worth seeing. And if you're going to do something, make sure that you are well prepared. Also, try to maintain a positive attitude. (Yeah, that goes for us too.)

Ride safe!

International Women's Day

Today, on International Women's Day, we here in Ensliga Bergens cykelklubb would like to congratulate all women. Whether you ride bicycles or not, this is for you!

(We borrowed the picture from Cool Backgrounds HD. Hope that's OK!)

Ride safe!

BIKES vs CARS. Again. Again.

Yes, we keep nagging about it. This is a very serious issue. How many cars can this planet take? How can we make more people ride bikes? However, this is the last nagging post - we promise! Next time we update, we hope to be able to present some photos from the première and give you a review of the film.

Until then, though, the last photos:

(These photos weren't, of course, taken by us. We borrowed them from Folkets Bio. Hope that's OK! The same goes for the pics in the previous post.)

Ride safe!

BIKES vs CARS. Again.

Since we still think that this is a very important issue. How many cars can this planet of ours take? And why aren't steps taken everywhere to make cycling easier and nicer?

This Friday it's the première of Fredrik Gertten's new movie "BIKES vs CARS". We haven't read any actual reviews of it, but we want to see it anyway.

So on Friday, here in Gothenburg, there will be a slow roll from a bicycle café to the cinema, a showing of the film and afterwards a panel debate. It could be really interesting. Read more about it here!

And for more reading (only in Swedish, though):

http://www.sydsvenskan.se/kultur--nojen/bilist-mot-cyklist-i-fredrik-gerttens-nya-dokumentarfilm-bikes-vs-cars/

http://www.svd.se/kultur/varldens-cyklister-tvingas-bli-aktivister_4368825.svd

http://www.dn.se/kultur-noje/film-tv/broder-med-blick-for-livets-berattelser/

And just to promote it all even more, a couple of random photos that we guess are from the film:

Ride safe!

The living dead (CARS vs BIKES)

The scariest movie I have ever seen is in fact not a movie but a TV series: The Kingdom, by Lars von Trier. It scared the crap out of me. But that's nothing compared to the hate that car drivers have for bicyclists: The reading below is as scary as it is sad.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/men/active/10322541/CycleHatred-naming-and-shaming-the-anti-cyclist-Twitter-trolls.html

https://twitter.com/CycleHatred

(We borrowed the photo from Twitter. Hope that's OK! Note the "cyclists hit" tally marks on the right door.)

It feels a bit ironic to write this but...

Ride safe!