Bikes + Skirts + NYC = Celebrating Freedom + Fashion

Ladies and gents... don't you forget the Skirts On Bikes is tomorrow evening, Thursday, June 30th. You've very likely already heard about Jasmijn Rijcken's story, but just in case, you can read A Long Explanation of Why the Biking-While-Sexy Story Is No Hoax

FYI, I'll be taking a little break from this lil' ol' blog for the next couple weeks but will return... in the meantime happy riding!

Julie's pink fyxation

grips / bar end plugs / pedals / tires by Fyxation

via The Julie Blog

The sweet and charming Julie - from The Julie Blog - recently found herself in need of a new bike when finding her Schwinn sadly manged beyond repair earlier this month. Without hesitation she picked out a new Linus... but this ain't no typical Linus with those bright treads!

Fyxation offers bike accessories in ultra bright pop-y colours - not just hot pink, but really the pink is just SO HOT. Visit Julie's site {here} for a special Fyxation treat... until the end of June!

saddling up - bike seat meets furniture

Mishmash (2011) by Jeremy Petrus  in collaboration with Selle Royal
via DesignMilk

Bike Bench (2005) by Sebastian Errazurizh

Tokyo Design Week (2009) by Hiroshige Koike of Scarabikes
via DesignBoom

"Chair for Janez Suhadolc"(2011) by Bruno Urh
via Core77

Hiroshige Koike / Jeremy Petrus / Bruno Urh

... four designers decide to keep the bike seat from going outdoors. Just a guess, but Mishmash may win in the comfort category.

via the Alps: 4 days touring

Cycling is a bit of a family affair. That's my cousin Victor who arrived last week in Venice by ferry (wearing a FTLOB Tee ♥) after crossing the Eastern Alps... Victor, who lives in Geneva, met up with his brother-in-law, who lives in Sweden, for four days of touring through Austria, a detour into Slovenia, to end in Italia! Here's their Google Maps itinerary which begins in Linz, Austria and ends in Venezia (Venice!) by ferry. While the weather forecast just before departure was dim:

it was fortunately neither prohibitive nor correct! Oh, and about the ascents...

we climbed a total of 2700m on the first day, some 1400 on the second and probably about 2000 on the third - the 4th day was flat: we were riding at 35km/h like maniacs across southern Italy. also tried to get it calculated using veloroutes.org... but it wasn't working.

A totally dreamy trip. The photos are so beautiful - makes it mighty tempting to buy an airplane ticket + bike shipping case!

off to a good start!

Entering Slovenia soon..

Arrivati in Udine! (After crossing 2 passes in Slovenia, 2000m climb. Over with the Alps!)

happy summer solstice

at the campground the night before the 2010 North Fork Century

A little shout out to SUMMER - yeah! In honor of this most wonderful day (+ season) -- a couple photos from one of my favorite seasonal activities: century rides. I snapped these (before and after) last summer's annual North Fork Century which begins in Greenport, Long Island (where you can camp ♥ out the night before) and winds through vineyards and alongside sandy beaches ♥  ♥ ♥

at a rest stop, which served us the most amazing slices of fresh out of the oven pies

my friend Sara post ride - who doesn't love a ride that ends at a Brewery + w/ an ice cream truck

that evening's sunset

This summer's North Fork Century ride takes place... Sunday, August 28th + pencil in these other rides by the same great organizers:

Bike the River
A nice day of cycling along the Hudson

July 17th, 2011

The Farm Ride

Departing from Amherst, MA-- ride one day or all three!

August 12th-14th, 2011

{Oh, and don't forget that you RIDE FOR FREE if you spend $750+ at a local NYC bike shop this summer -- details here!}

Meet Your (bike) Match & Garden Party - Bike Portraits

Last Saturday's Meet Your (bike) Match & Garden Party was a sun-shining fun-filled success. There was lots of test riding and posing with bikes (along with hysterical laughter) which photographer Eric Wolfe did one outstanding job capturing. THANK YOU, ERIC!!! (That's Nona and me up above!)

We had the pleasure of having a few special guests - like the couple who had just gotten married (seriously) and jumped into the photo shoot, the girls on roller blades who got in on the action, and those riding by on their own bikes with nice little accents including a iced-coffee in a bottle cage and cute little dog in a basket.  I was also thrilled that three of my friends stopped by and left with new bikes (Linus, Biria, and a vintage Schwinn) of their very own!!!

The event was the brainchild of cycling fashion designer Nona Varnado, as part of the The Bird Wheel Collective's Bike Month Ladies Program, and put together this nice description of the very first Meet Your (bike) Match...

The idea behind the Meet Your (bike) Match parties is to get people who don’t own a bike – to come down to a bike shop and check out a wide range of options. Since we (The Bird Wheel: a group of passionate women cyclists) were at Hudson Urban Bicycle (The HUB) on Charles Street in the West Village – that meant a great range of classic used Schwinns & Raleighs to brand new Linus (USA), ABICI (IT) and Batavus (DK) upright and commuter bikes. And have a party! The HUB is fortunate to be on a lovely block right next to the Hudson river with a lovely outdoor space that has been transformed into a garden area. It was just waiting to be turned into a photo shoot & party!

So that’s what we did. The first step was to invite anyone who wants a bike but doesn’t have one. Then invite friends who already have bikes… but you know,  you want another one.

If you want to be sure to hear about future Meet Your (bike) Match parties in NYC -- and. yes, more are in the works -- shot an email to: email@fortheloveofbikes.com to be added to the mailing list!

In the meantime, enjoy and ride on...

WISH YOU WERE AT TOPSHOP goes biking

Spotting a cute gaggle of girls with vintage bikes outfitted with handlebar streamers and little flags in SoHo yesterday naturally peeked my curiosity. Turns out another fashion + bike advertising campaign... they were biking around and handing out store coupons for $10-$100 off (and chance to win $1,000) IF you 'like' them on Facebook... part of the WISH YOU WERE AT TOPSHOP campaign going on in a slew of cities this week. Since they're mobile you can track them down via their Twitter feed for their next give away site. No doubt, pretty cute.

BAGGU goes NEON

via Baggu.com

Who couldn't use an extra splash of neon / day glo?! Just love how your visibility increases exponentially! American Apparel has been making this great Nylon Cordura Backpack in Hunter Orange for years and I always love spotting one from a block away (really!) So, I was also really excited to see BAGGU (the makers of those reusable grocery bags in loads of colour/pattern options) just came out with their lightweight ripstop nylon daypack that folds into its own pocket... in NEON! Either on your back or in your bike basket - these little guys will POP!

via America Apparel